The Authority & Cena Promo
This was quite strange. I do like The Authority as more neutral figures- I don't know if that's simply because the Heel Authority Figure is possibly the most stale concept in Pro Wrestling at this points, but they're definitely more in the middle than they have been previously. Me being the wordsmith that I am I liken Steph & Trips to that of teachers now, they have their "teachers pet" and there's a few students who are the misbehaving one's who they've taken a dislike to. The Promos were fine, it set up a lot of stuff for the rest of the show and the "theme" of the show was made clear so that was all fine as well.
Big Show v Dean Ambrose
I've watched an unhealthy amount of Wrestling in my life and I've seen some pretty stupid and/or crazy spots. I can safely say after last night I've seen the stupidest spot ever, I just want to know who thought of the spot where Ambrose untied Big Show's shoelaces- only to go off selling in a corner waiting for Big Show to re-tie them (which took forever). What agent was working on the match with them backstage and thought that was a good idea?
The actual story of the match if you want to look at it as some people told me to on Twitter last night if you take everything out of the equation was a good one on balance, but unfortunately you can't take everything else out of the equation. The match was clunky, these two seemingly had negative chemistry with each other and I'm tempted to break something now they're trying to get THE BIG SHOW over as a monster in 20 fucking 15. To cap it all off Big Show destroyed Ambrose so that made Ambrose look weak as anything, then after the match Big Show made himself look like a complete fool- Nobody get's Over... YAY.
Neville v Fandango
This was just weird, everything that took place during the match was decent- but the crowd were just dead and that detracted from the match massively. Then the Stardust Promo was just "meh", I like both guys in this Neville/Stardust feud but they're just treading water until that Amell guy shows up and it's painfully obvious.
Sasha Banks v Paige
This is the first week that this new Divas "Revolution" has started to annoy me. Whoever scripts the Backstage Skits/Promos with the Divas needs to be thrown into the fires of Mount Doom. It was just so unnatural and it was painfully awkward to watch.
The actual match was fine, I'm not expecting amazing things in terms of the in-ring product from the NXT "Divas" yet because they have to adapt to working televised matches multiple times a week. The thing you have to remember is the normal NXT Episodes generally have decent Womens Matches but they're rarely outstanding and then with the way they tape the NXT Women usually get at least a Month in between the end of the Tapings and the Takeover where they can go over every tiny little detail of their match in the Performance Centre multiple times over. Contrast that to when they're on the road and working with different people day-to-day is why I'm not expecting miracles yet, giving time doesn't necessarily guarantee great matches.
THIS WAS WHEN THE SHOW GOT AMAZING.
Rusev, Summer Rae & Lana Segment
I love Rusev. I hated this feud for multiple weeks I'll freely admit it- but ever since Dolph got the kayfabe injury to film something and the focus has been on Rusev and Rusev has been the one to carry the feud it's been great. Rusev's just hilarious, I truly can't do this segment justice- just go watch it, if nothing else than for the Rusev exchange with Summer when they got a Fish out. It was just amazing.
The Lucha Dragons v Los Matadores
I was just about calming down from the hysterics Rusev had me in when they showed they had the PTP on commentary. I was mildly chuckling at some of the stuff Titus said but it was quite disappointing because you could tell they'd told Titus to behave tonight. Then New Day came out and I completely lost it. Everything from the Sign to Kofi's Clapping to Big E for want of a better word prancing down the ramp it was just perfection. I love New Day with all of my heart. NEW... DAY ROCKS, NEW... DAY ROCKS, NEW... DAY ROCKS.
Bray Wyatt and Luke Harper Promo
There is no hope left in this world. The whole day was seemingly hyping the Leo Kruger type thing and it all built to a crescendo with the Adam Rose tweet just before this segment. I never actually thought it would be Leo Kruger, you can go over my tweets- but I had to start hoping given the level of coverage it was getting. But now there's nothing left in this word, I'M DEAD INSIDE... YOU DID THIS.
Becky Lynch & Charlotte v Alicia Fox & Nikki Bella
This was just another solid match, but the fact we're getting two Divas segments- three if you count the Lana and Summer Rae stuff with Rusev as a Divas Segment with all of the Divas having a clear direction storyline wise is most definitely a positive.
Randy Orton v Kevin Owens
As soon as they showed Sheamus was on Commentary it killed the match, without any actual knowledge I'd assume they had Miz and the PTP on Commentary for this segment as much as anything else and to try and convince us that having a person on commentary doesn't mean interference- it failed. You could tell the crowd knew that nothing big was going to happen until Sheamus got involved in some way and that killed the crowd interference to some point. The match itself was fine, but it really felt like they were pacing themselves- which I don't hold against them given the finish. I'm very happy with the 4-Way dynamic assuming that's the way they're going for Summerslam and with it now being 4 Hours there's no excuse other than them not wanting this match to show up some of the other matches on the card to give the match time.
John Cena v Seth Rollins- US Title
I wouldn't have had Seth Tap you know because he's the WWE FUCKING CHAMPION. I was expecting Cena to win tonight so they could give him his "way in" to a match with Seth at Summerslam- but I was expecting like a Top Rope AA or something to end it and for Cena to Pin him. That said, the story of last night was by far the Cena broken nose. I wasn't sure if Cena had stepped in when Rollins went for the Knee or Rollins just went for it and if I'm honest I'm still not sure to be honest. All I know is this got Cena over better than anything else that he did on the show and considering how fucked up his Nose was I can understand why Seth tapped so quickly.
This RAW was definitely a unique episode you have to say that for it. I'm not sure how good of a job it did to build all of the PPV stuff- but I was definitely entertained, I definitely was entertained. If you'd have told me heading into Wrestlemania that Rusev, The New Day and John Cena matches would have been the most consistently entertaining stuff in the Company I'd have called the men in white coats. But here we are and I love it.
Thanks for reading as always, I think we've got 3 more RAWs until Summerslam now- the notable absences last night were Taker and Brock, I know Brock is showing up next week and I'm just praying it'll be a Heyman Promo with no other stuff added on. There's no way they can top the Taker/Lesnar brawl from last weeks RAW, anything physical by comparison will look stupid and/or weak so they need to avoid that at all costs. That said like pretty much all Three Hour RAWs there were some high points and some low points- but I do have to give credit to WWE because the high points are definitely outweighing the low at present. Thanks again for reading and always remember... NEW... DAY ROCKS, NEW... DAY ROCKS, NEW... DAY ROCKS.
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