RAW Review: 15th June

Hello! It's another RAW Review, aren't you lot lucky. With the contentious to say the least Money in the Bank now in the rear-view mirrors we had to move on, and with a lot rumoured for Last Night and them actually having a reasonable amount of time with which to build Battleground I had reasonably high hopes for last nights RAW in which I was hoping to see "the masterplan" that would make all of the stuff at Money in the Bank make sense.

Also, my Ranting days are now behind me- I've become a master in Clap Therapy- and every time something angers me I just clap away that anger. I encourage all of you to embrace the Power of Positivity. NEW... DAY ROCKS, NEW... DAY ROCKS, NEW... DAY ROCKS.

Seth Rollins Opens the Show
Who'd have thought an Opening Promo that included Rollins could actually be entertaining? It just clicked for Rollins last night Promo wise and you only have to hear the crowd reaction when he started going in on Cleveland and their various sports teams to know it. And Rollins has a very long list of people with which to thank for that fact;
Seth Rollins
Seth Rollins
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Johnny Idiot-Face
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Seth Rollins
ARMBAR!
Seth Rollins
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The Moss-Covered Three Handled Family Gredenza
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Seth Rollins
Seth Rollins

I feel like I missed someone, Oh Yeah- Seth Rollins!

The Ambrose thing was interesting and different in that there wasn't an obvious avenue for Ambrose to get the Title Shot he just went down to the ring and demanded one- and him staging a sit-in let me make Snow Angel's jokes so it was all good by me.

Backstage Authority Promo
This was pretty good for what it was, I think we were all just happy they got to the point without a 15 Minute meandering promo for once.

Dean Ambrose v Sheamus
It was the guy who I'm starting to get on board with his Booking at Money in the Bank vs The guy who's booking I thought unnecessary, and not the way round most people would have those two statements. The match was actually pretty good in all honesty- although they booked themselves into a corner because neither guy could really afford a loss last night with the way Money in the Bank went down and that hindered the match to an extent. An Orton v Sheamus feud does very little to excite me- but I think it'll be good for Sheamus because Orton can't necessarily afford to lose- but the loss won't really hurt him so for the position Sheamus is in Orton is the near perfect opposition.

Rollins meets J&J
Rollins was treating J&J like a joke, but behind his eyes was a look of pure fear that Joey Mercury could possibly get a Title shot- because Rollins fear Mercury and one day Mercury is going to be WWE World Heavyweight Champion.

R-Truth v King Barrett
If they weren't making King Barrett into a Jobber I'd have actually liked this segment- I think it's gotten to the point where Truth isn't playing a character and he's just genuinely crazy but nobody has the heart to stop him going through the Curtain. If I put my very optimistic hat on I'd say this was all leading to Barrett completely snapping and going on a brutal heel run- but we all know it's more likely he's going to be teaming with Bo Dallas soon. King BoRrett. Also, I think some people may have missed it- but Truth saying "What's up Coach?!" to Saxton was a stroke of genius and had me on the floor.

Kevin Owens v Dolph Ziggler
Everything about Owens is perfection at this point at this point Cena and maybe Rollins are the only people who can compete with him for the "Superstar" of the Year and his Promo last night was one in a series of really good ones. He knows his character and as such every single word he says you believe it and that in itself makes any Promo infinitely better.

The actual match was a fun one, them going over 2 Ad Breaks was unnecessary and took away from the match in my opinion- this may sound stupid, but if they'd have had a shorter match it would have made more impact. Actually, this is as good a time as any- why the hell was there so many Ad Breaks last night, it's not like there was a lack of avenues to explore after Money in the Bank- while I didn't time it I'd hazard a guess that there was at least 45 Minutes of Adverts last night. So overall it was good- but in terms of character this was just the Pre-Show for Owens.

Divas Backstage Meeting
This was just so "meh". I know I'm saying this in hindsight, but the whole thing was just pointless- oh wait, the whole Divas Division is pointless so this fit right in.

Kane v Randy Orton
I actually liked this match, I've always thought that Authority Figures who were still active should use their power more- so perhaps that's why I liked this match- or maybe I'm still in shock over the fact Kane's won two RAW matches in a row.

Kane and Rollins Backstage
I've lost interest in the "will Kane snap" type story- and I can't really see a scenario where Kane does snap and he looks at all effective now, however the little tease you got when Seth brought up Taker & Paul Bearer was nice and even if we don't see it fully- having Kane on the edge will hopefully lead to somewhere.

Miz v Big Show
The match, well it wasn't really a match let's be honest- but I actually really liked this as a segment. Whether it was Ryback saying "I've got Miz all over me" which had me in hysterics or Miz celebrating a count-out win against Big Show like he'd won the WWE Title at Mania (Too Soon?) I can safely I was Sports Entertained.

Also, and this may not happen- Ryback looked a lot bigger without his Singlet on and looked like more of a beast, so given some of the stories you hear about Vince I wouldn't be surprised to see him getting some new gear pretty soon.

Roman Reigns & Bray Wyatt Promos
THIS IS WHAT I WANT TO SEE! I don't think anyone has any doubts over who is actually going to win this feud- but sometimes in Wrestling it's not about the outcome it's about the journey; and wow did it kick up a notch last night.

Firstly, and this is something I've seen a lot lately- and it was somewhat true with the Ryback Promos but it's nowhere near to the level some are saying. Bray Wyatt's Promos are not boring- just because they're not "I'm going to fight "X" "Boo Me" Promos doesn't mean they're not as much if not more effective than said Promos. The problem for Bray is more to do with the fact it's hard to believe what Bray says anymore because he's lost nearly every big match he's been in. But last night wasn't an "I'm going to beat you" Promo- and you only had to hear the crowd's "OOOHHHHHH" reaction to Bray bringing Roman's kid into it in the creepy way he did to know that in that one Promo people instantly bought back into Bray as a Creepy Heel.

What with it being Summer Holidays now (It is in America, Right?) I may be too ambitious and/or optimistic to think we're going to get a Raven/Tyler/Sandman dynamic with Bray, Roman and Roman's Kid but whatever way they go with it I'm going to be there every step of the way.

The Bellas v Paige
*deep breath* NEW... DAY ROCKS, NEW... DAY ROCKS. You see, Clap Therapy works.

Machine Gun Kelly's thing
This was quite a funny segment because the whole time I was trying to get people to watch Xavier & Kofi playing FIFA on Xavier's new Gaming Channel and then I looked up and it was still going on so I was in Mid-Tweet saying imagine if Owens came out and Powerbombed him, and what do you know Owens came out and Powerbombed him- quickly before I do move on I don't like musicians on RAW in general and the MGK performance was no exception but I do respect him for agreeing to take a Bump that he didn't need to take.

I think Owens is like the IWC Character at this point all of the "Imagine Ifs" that we as fans always do Owens does whether it be feud with Zayn, Beat Cena Clean, Powerbomb MGK etc.

It's funny, well not funny- last summer I was thinking about how I'd book the show different (as we all do I'm sure) and I dreamt up a Faction that would have the Initials I.W.C and it would be the typical "spot monkey" small guys and they would do everything possible with an added flip or somersault or whatever and still lose because well they're the I.W.C and Vince always wins. While it's not like that- it's still quite funny that they're seemingly doing a Self-Aware Internet-y style gimmick for Owens.

Neville & The Primetime Players v The New Day
For me this was one of if not the match of the night- it didn't have a lot going for it in terms of build or anything it was just a really fun little match, it was the pallet cleanser between the two Main Angles- but this proved that the Pallet Cleanser didn't have to be forgettable and I don't think I'll ever get tired of seeing the Red Arrow.

Dean Ambrose & Kane Backstage Promo
I didn't really know what to think about this Promo- I don't think they're going to go with the Odd Couple Tag-Team route with Team Hell No still relatively fresh in people's minds but if Ambrose makes it his mission somewhat to unleash Kane only to then become the target of said Unleashed Kane and get destroyed I'd be all for it. (The reason I think he'll be destroyed is because I think he's off filming something soon- I'm not sure but I remember seeing news of a 7 Film Deal with WWE Studios and I'm pretty sure Ambrose is in one of them).

Seth Rollins reaches the Final Boss
I really liked this segment, I feel like Facial Expressions are somewhat of a last art in Pro Wrestling- but Roman earlier in the night sold the Wyatt/Daughter thing really well because it wasn't an over the top and caricatured reaction, and that was the same with Rollins' Reaction to Brock. He didn't jump around and freak out- his face told the whole story for him. People can slate Brock's limited schedule- although that has almost completely died now because everyone realises what I (and a lot of others) have been saying, Brock is a Special Attraction- and every time he shows up it's can't miss; and you only have to hear the crowds reaction to Brock when he did absolutely nothing other than square off with Rollins to know that. I'm surprised that Brock is wrestling 3 times in just over a Month seemingly and I would assume that Brock agreed to slightly more dates- or his appearances around Rumble season will be more spaced out and Battleground will be this years Night of Champions in terms of him appearing on a "B" PPV.

I think just with Brock's appearance it instantly get's people more interested- and I'm reasonably excited for Battleground and the July 4th thing, but I'm not going to be 100% satisfied until Brock meets New Day and they try to get Brock to Clap.

Thanks for reading as always, as I said in my MITB Review- the fact we've actually got a solid amount of time with which to build the next PPV I'm reasonably optimistic for Battleground and the build for it and last night was a reasonably good start as far as storyline goes heading into Battleground. As I've already said though the one massive issue last night was the Ad Breaks and it stopped me getting really invested into what was going on last night. Anyway, that's a small issue in the grand scheme of things- and remember if you have any residual anger from Money in the Bank just clap it away NEW... DAY ROCKS, NEW... DAY ROCKS, NEW... DAY ROCKS.