RAW Review: 28th March

Hello! I know right? Two weeks in a row. That's right, we've got another RAW Review to do- and it is of course the Review for the Go-Home show for Wrestlemania. Last Years Go-Home, I actually can't remember a lot of to be honest- it could have been great. The only thing I can remember from last years Go-Home Show is the Brock/Roman Tug of War to end the show. Which was all kinds of bad, and I thought nothing that happened tonight could get worse than that- so let's see then eh?

Before I start the Review it's time for some Public Service Announcements;

1. I'm aiming for a few extra Posts this week on top of the Reviews, Predictions etc. So keep an eye out for those throughout this week. 
2. The next season of the Fantasy WWE thing I run is starting after Mania Week, if you want to sign up for it let me know on Twitter so I can put your name down
3. Armbar
4. TAKEOVER: DALLAS STARTS AT 3 FUCKING AM UK TIME. JOKE. 
5. New Day Rocks

Undertaker & Shane McMahon Opening Segment

I'm happy to see Shane back, don't get me wrong. But this build has been all over the place, and at times awful for me. Between Shane, Vince and Taker trading the word "Bitch", massive continuity errors and just plain weird segments it's not been nearly as good as it could- and should have been for me. With all that said, I did really like the segment last night. It's not exactly a secret that Taker is lacking somewhat in the Mic department, but Taker knows how to work a crowd like few others- and that compensates a lot for the lack of Mic skills. It was a pretty generic Promo given what's already been said, but his delivery and general aura got it over. The back and forth was decent, we got the mandatory "Bitch" thrown in there- and then we got to the brawl. 

I'm in two minds as to whether I liked the Elbow Drop through the Table. I do get the argument that "Well, they're inside a Cell so they won't use the Announce Desks". I'm not entirely sure they're going to stay in the Cell on Sunday. I don't know how, but I genuinely think Shane's either getting thrown off the Top/Side of the Cell through the Announce Desk- or he's jumping off the side/top through Taker on the Announce Desk. Even with that said, Shane's whole "thing" is doing fucking crazy stuff. That includes but is not limited to jumping off things and being put through/putting others through various things. So why give one could argue Shane's main offensive manoeuvre away on Free TV less than a week before Mania. It was without a doubt a cool spot, I'm not disputing that- however the Go-Home show shouldn't really be the place for cool spots in my opinion. 

Zack Ryder v Chris Jericho

THE WWE ARE LEARNING, GUYS! After last weeks disaster, the WWE realised that if the Babyface in the feud is distracting the Heel in a match- the Heel had better actually lose. I suppose that detail could pretty accurately sum up the Mania build in general, with them completely missing the mark- and then trying to fix it when it's too late.

If you're discussing what's been the best built match for Mania, it's between the Styles/Jericho match and the Divas Triple Threat without a doubt- and depending on how much time it's given AJ/Jericho could properly steal the show on Sunday. Also, ZACK RYDER WON! HE'S GONNA WIN THE IC TITLE! WOO! WOO! WOO! YOU KNOW IT, BRO.

Charlotte v Becky Lynch
As I said a moment ago, AJ/Jericho and the Divas Triple Threat have been the two best built matches for Mania. I think everyone agrees with that, however what I don't agree with is having Sasha win the Title at Mania. Feel free to disagree with me on this, and I suspect a lot of you will; in-terms of the story that's been told in the build to this Mania- Becky Lynch winning makes so much more sense. I haven't read the Smackdown Spoilers, but if this is the last action for this feud before Mania I really hope by the usual logic of looking strong/weak on the Go-Home being an indicator as to whether you're winning or losing at a PPV.

I love Sasha, but the whole thing with Becky has been that she's been overshadowed by Charlotte since they arrived as the Submission Sorority- and Charlotte's wanted to keep her down. Sasha's time will come, but Sunday at least should be Becky Lynch's moment in my opinion. The actual match last night wasn't much, as it should have been given they're wrestling together on Sunday as well- and that fact goes back to my misgivings with the Shane Elbow Drop.

Shane & Vince Backstage Promo
This was a pretty good Promo from Shane, it was a really good (most likely) final Promo that they can take clips of for the Match's Video Package because it detailed the feud pretty well, threw in some personal stuff with Shane & Vince- chuck a (non Flo Rida) track over it and boom.

Big Show & Kane v The Social Outcasts
This was a pretty bad, but definitely necessary segment. They needed to establish who was in the Battle Royal simply put. I didn't count everyone in the ring, but purely from my first impression it didn't look like there was 20 Guys in the ring- which is a good thing because I can't see any of the guys we saw in the ring last night winning the thing. I also needed this segment because I need to know who's in the Battle Royal for a Booking Blog that I'll hopefully get to do this week.

The Unbookables Wrestlemania

Here's a link to last years, basically I took everyone either off the card or in the Battle Royal and made a full card out of it. Just on a personal level I really liked this one.

Triple H & Stephanie Promo
For the first time, I think in history- I actually feel sorry for Triple H. He tried his absolute best to get the crowd last night to boo him. He insulted people's hopes, dreams, called their whole lives meaningless, he played up how much bigger he is, how much richer he is, outright said he's better than everyone and yet still when Roman came out for their brawl Roman was getting booed. A lot can be said about Triple H and how he's gotten to where he currently is in WWE- however in this case Triple H is the one trying to push the deadweight up the Hill. The deadweight isn't even Roman, it's just this current incarnation of Roman that's been murdered by Creative and in turn the Fans.

Kofi Kingston v Alberto Del Rio
There was so much stuff to talk about here. Firstly, how fucking over New Day were last night. Unless I've messed up the dates a bit, this time last year New Day had all of the "New Day Sucks" chants and were just generally buried by the crowd. Now, as I'll discuss a bit later- they were the ones being chanted for during the burial of another match. It's a testament to just how good New Day have been in the last year, and given what Meltzer's said with regard to plans for New Day at Mania I hope they- above pretty much everyone else get their deserved reward at Mania.

Second, Alberto Del Rio's squared collar on his T-Shirt was something else. The match itself was quite fun, but I think that's expected with these two. Without a doubt the highlight was Xavier's "La Cucaracha", and it made me realise that Xavier's getting too fucking good on the Trombone now. He either needs to play badly or upgrade to a Tuba. He can get paid to follow Fat People around.

The stuff with Byron Sa- I mean Coachman after was just bizarre. I mean, I get they had to make the announcement of all the ESPN stuff. However, the whole segment just fell a bit flat for me. I can only assume because of Coach's dance moves. It was good to see him however.

Roman Reigns, The Dudleys, Triple H Backstage Attack
Going back to them doing everything possible to try and get some cheers for Roman- they then moved on to the numbers game part of being a Heel. I'm not exactly sure how we were meant to think The Dudleys could take Roman when unless I'm mistaken he killed them both on Smackdown- but Triple H stepped in pretty quickly at least. Did this segment get any heat? Nope. Just silence.

Kalisto v Konnor
This segment was similar to the Ambrose/Strowman match last week, in that on paper the whole "proving they can kill a monster" type angle is good heading into a match with Ryback. However, I believe this was Konnor's first ever singles match on the Main Roster- and I genuinely can't remember the last time The Ascension won. The Ryback face-off wasn't bad, it's just with absolutely no heat on the feud because of such a bad/non-existent build it just didn't really mean much.

It's a shame for Kalisto as well, because I thought he'd end up in either a Mask vs Mask match with Sin Cara or a Mask vs Hair match with Del Rio. While it wouldn't have been one of the primary focuses of Mania- it would have at least kept some interest on Kalisto as opposed to where he is now.

Paul Heyman, Brock Lesnar, Dean Ambrose Segment
This was just quite weird. On paper, I think the idea of having Ambrose load up on Weapons (because they're weapons, let's not be politically correct) in front of Brock heading into Mania was a good idea. The execution however was horrible. Within kayfabe Ambrose had already been given the Barbed Wire Bat and the Chainsaw. So, how in the fuck did they end up underneath the ring. I can only assume Ambrose hid them there- only to re-take them out later. HE'S A LUNATIC, MAGGLE.

Heyman's Promo was great as usual, and I'm looking forward to Brock bringing his own weapon on Sunday- which is of course Zach Gowan's Prosthetic Leg.

Emma v Paige
There's moments in wrestling that are simply timeless. Hogan bodyslamming Andre, Hogan joining the nWo, Austin 3:16, Daniel Bryan at Mania 30- to name just four examples of many. What we witnessed in this segment may well go down as the best segment in wrestling history.

Firstly, I don't really give a fuck about the match- as is the case with, well everyone. However it gets Summer and Emma on Mania- and on RAW last night, so I'll happily take what I can get. The actual match was just nothing, which is such a shame because these two legitimately kickstarted the whole NXT Women "era".

Right, nobody gives a fuck about that stuff, EVA MARIE'S BACK! AND IT WAS GLORIOUS. Last Night wasn't enough however, I now can't wait for Sunday where Eva can get her Wrestlemania moment in front of 100,000 Eva-Maniacs. I thought this match was going to be used as a means to give Brie a Wrestlemania moment to retire on, and while I think that's still the most likely outcome- most likely as the end for the series finale of Total Divas- there's now a chance the Total Divas turn on Eva leaving her on her own to be killed by Lana's educated feet.

But yeah, BEST. SEGMENT. EVER.

Sami Zayn, Dolph Ziggler & Sin Cara v Kevin Owens, The Miz & Stardust
From the best segment ever, to one of the worst I can remember in quite a while. The match on its own wasn't actually that bad- it was just such a nothing match. Which considering we had Ziggler, Owens, Miz and Zayn involved is criminal on the WWE's part. Actually I lied when I said it wasn't that bad, it was decent for a while- and then it just went on, and on, and on, and on, and on, and on, and on, and on, and on, and on, and on, and on. The pay-off was decent in regard to Owens being left on his own and Zayn pinning him- but I can't help but feel like Zayn pinning Owens should've happened at Mania.

and on.

The Final RAW Segment before Wrestlemania
I'll get this out of the way right off the bat, I don't usually like crowds who just shit on everything- but the "You still suck" chants after Roman's dive were absolutely hilarious.

Going back to Triple H trying his best to get some sort of heat on himself and cheers for Roman, after this segment he literally did everything short of stealing Roman's Wife to get heat on himself. None of it worked. All of it built up to an ending, that wasn't as bad as last years- but it wasn't far off. But Jack Swagger was in the final segment of RAW before Wrestlemania. We The People folks.

Well, that's that done for the build to Wrestlemania then. I can't say it's been a great one, but at the same time with the number of injuries there's been- while that's not an excuse it's perhaps understandable. However, as I said last week- if someone says there's not been anything good in this Mania build they're trying too hard to be smarky.

Anyway, we've got a lot to look forward to this week, whether it's the 3AM START TIME TAKEOVER, Mania itself, the Hall of Fame, Night after Mania RAW and a lot more. So I hope you keep coming back here for the various Posts this week. As I said last week, I'm aiming to get these Posts back to being regular again and I couldn't have picked a better time to do it.

Thanks for reading as always, I'll leave you with some Predictions for Mania Week right off the bat;

1. Balor Club debuts and helps Finn beat Joe
2. Joe debuts on the Night after Mania
3. Enzo & Cass debut on the Night after Mania
4. New Day's Entrance will be one of, if not the highlight of Wrestlemania
5. Asuka beats Bayley
6. The WWE Title feud after this Mania week will be Ambrose/Roman
7. The only singles champion currently, who'll still have their Title after Mania is Kalisto
8. Roman/Triple H will be a lot better than people think it'll be

RAW Review: 21st March

Hello! Well, this has definitely been a long time coming. That's right, these Reviews are finally back for good after a couple of months of general uncertainty and I'm sure much angst on all of your parts. I know there's been a few Reviews this year, but in general there hasn't been- and for that I can only apologise. As I made reference to in said Reviews, I'd been ill for a while- but what I didn't mention was the fact I was still indeed feeling ill while writing them. I don't know why, but I felt almost obliged to try and get the Reviews back ASAP- but to be blunt I just wasn't feeling up to it. So, rather than try and force myself into them- I've taken my time and now I'm ready to be doing these properly again.

I was actually planning on bringing them back for Roadblock- but then a last minute Lee Tomlin Free-Kick happened, and it sent me spiralling into a deep depression.

Anyway, I'm back now- and just in time for the tail-end of the Road to Wrestlemania! I'm genuinely not sure what my Reviews over the last month or two would have been like to be honest. There's been a lot of good stuff in this Mania build, anyone who disagrees is just trying too hard to be smarky. That's not to say there's been bad as well though- and as I'll discuss throughout this Review the bad given where it's positioned on the card is perhaps why- to me, this hasn't really felt like a build to a Wrestlemania. 

Roman Reigns & Stephanie McMahon Promo

Speaking of the bad, it's Roman Reigns. Actually, not specifically Roman Reigns- just the way Roman Reigns is being booked and generally handled. Roman Reigns in a vacuum without the mega-push and killing everyone is a pretty decent worker, who just needs to work on his Mic Skills. However, Roman Reigns in his current situation- about to headline his 2nd consecutive Mania needs to be so much better than he currently is. 

It's weird how I've literally done I think 4 Reviews in 2016, and yet absolutely nothing about Roman's changed when it comes to my opinion of Roman in these Reviews. However, with all that being said- his Promo last night was pretty decent in my opinion. It was decent, crucially because it wasn't a rambling 20 Minute Promo. Roman had a clear point/message, he put it across, and then he left. MAGIC! 

Kevin Owens v AJ Styles

This match was interesting for a number of reasons, primarily- the fact it was actually interesting. I know they did it on Smackdown as well, but I doubt you'll get many people complaining about a Rematch with these two- especially with the amount of time it was given. Simply put, this was an absolutely fucking great match. A lot of praise has to go to the WWE for this match as well. They gave both guys pretty much everything they needed to deliver a really good match, from being the first match on to the amount of time they were given. 

I might as well steal one of Owens' lines seeing as he has enough of them. Last night truly was the "Kevin Owens Show". It definitely needed to be seeing as they literally had 4 Shows (including last night) to announce and book the Ladder Match at Mania, but fair play to the WWE for going all-in on Owens last night. I suppose the one thing you could say about this match, is that this close to Mania neither Owens or AJ was going to be winning clean- and that did take away from some of the false finishes for me. You knew without a doubt that nothing was actually going to happen until Jericho showed up. With that said, it was so much fun just as a standalone match. 

Kevin Owens, Dolph Ziggler, The Miz & Sami Zayn Promo

This was fun for its intended purpose. This is of course my first Review since Sami Zayn came up "for good" a few weeks ago, and that's been a definite positive of this Mania. I had to laugh, I won't name names because I'm not "that guy" but someone I saw on Twitter was saying something along the lines of "Why are they doing Zayn/Owens already?" a few weeks ago- and after last night they were bitching about them not doing Zayn/Owens at Mania. In that respect it's the best of both worlds, we'll get a few spots between the two without a doubt- and I'd expect they'll be the two battling it out on the Ladder to end but it's not the sole focus of the match. 

Also, I'm really happy The Miz hasn't been jammed in the Battle Royal again- because he's been genuinely one of the best performers of 2016 so far in my opinion and deserved to be on the Main Card. 

Dean Ambrose & Terry Funk's "thing"

This was one of the weirdest segments I think I've ever seen. Firstly, Terry Funk is still alive. I do like the idea of former "Hardcore" guys showing up and giving Ambrose their preferred Weapon- if only because there's so many jokes to be made. I'm waiting for Abdullah to show up with a Fork (I don't think that one's been used yet). Ambrose was great in this segment, and really this segment was just perfect for Ambrose's "style" his delivery of "Oh God, it works" was just amazing. 

Big E v Rusev

Firstly, am I completely over the top in love with New Day still? Yes. Am I completely over the top in love with Babyface New Day? No. It's not their best work, but New Day are still generally entertaining- and still one of the better parts of the show as Babyfaces. That may well be an indictment of the show, however. However, the best bit- if you like Babyface New Day that's absolutely great. If you don't, they're turning back in less than two weeks when Enzo & Big Cass show up. 

New Day's Promo beforehand wasn't their best by a long way, but it was still fun with the now expected "hint hint nudge nudge" insider references like referencing Sheamus' real name. Barrett completely no-selling their insults was by far the highlight though. I'm going to miss him in WWE. Although with Galloway as TNA Champion I might be giving Impact another go soon. 

As far as the match goes, it was I'd say an above average match- but for Big E and Rusev it was definitely on their better ones- most definitely their best with each other. I'm not over the moon with the fact the Tag Titles aren't on the line at Mania, but the match is still going to be fun- and I suspect Big E's really going to shine at this years Mania and that's all good by me. 

Wyatt Family Backstage Promo

I've seen a lot said about The Wyatts in my absence on here, and a lot of it hasn't been good. Once again to borrow a former catchphrase of my subject- especially in Bray Wyatt's case "Time is on his side". I think Big Show said it best on Austin's Podcast, nothing that's happened in WWE can't be undone in a year. Yes, Bray isn't in the best shape right now- however given how his character's been positioned he just needs I'd estimate 4-6 Months of a proper push and in a feud(s) that he can sink his teeth into Promo-wise and he's going to be Main Eventing PPV's. A lot of people seem to forget Bray's only 28, and he has 3 other guys to share the "work load" with when it comes to taking bumps etc. In short, Bray Wyatt's going to be fine- even his outlook at present isn't great. 

Big Show, The Social Outcasts & Kane Segment

Firstly, I will admit I'm surprised the Social Outcasts are still a "thing" heading into Mania. Not just because of Slater, but it reminds me a lot of 3MB in the sense they're featured on pretty much everything and then they'll randomly be Future Endeavoured some time this year. This segment was fluff mainly, but it was mildly entertaining fluff. Big Show's upset "Why are you doing this to me "Kane?!" right before Kane Chokeslammed him was fucking hilarious. I'm genuinely not sure who's going to win the Battle Royal this year. I'll wait and see if there's going be an NXT spot in it. 

Chris Jericho v Fandango (No, really)

I wasn't really sure what to make of this match to be honest. I know it's Fandango, but surely it should've been the other way around in the sense of why is the Babyface losing via distraction and the Heel is still winning even when the Babyface tries to "return the favour". That, to me just seems like they're making the Babyface look stupid.

The after-match stuff was fine for the Mania match build. The crowd had long since checked out, so the idea being for the segment to end with "AJ Styles" chants probably wasn't the best one- but they can probably dub them over for Video Packages. 

Zack Ryder v Stardust v Sin Cara- IC Title #1 Contender Match

The match, wasn't really much of a match let's be honest- and it was never meant to be either. It was all about the end goal of working the scenario to get to the 7-Man Ladder Match. In that respect, job done. I still like this build more than the Hot Potato one we had for the Ladder Match at last years Mania. I'm saying that with the fact 3 of the 7 entrants in the match are specifically in the match because Owens identified them as basically jobbers who he could beat with ease. 

Roman Reigns attacks Triple H Backstage

If ever a segment perfectly summed up a feud, it was this. I've had a lot of thinking time in my absence on here- and I've come to the conclusion that Roman Reigns is ridiculously easy to dislike. Not in a personal way, I don't talk about anyone on a personal basis unless it directly impacts the show. Everything about Roman just makes him come off as a bit of a dick to me. Like, every time he's on TV I just notice something about him that annoys me. It's all petty stuff, but Roman just grates with me. That was a bit of a tangent, anyway it's not even that this segment was "bad" I just didn't care about it. The Shutters coming up to reveal Roman to absolutely no crowd reaction just perfectly summed up Roman and this feud. I just don't care. 

Charlotte v Natalya

This whole match/segment annoyed me. I understand having Nattie wrestling Charlotte because aside from Paige she's by far the best worker of the Divas not involved in the Mania feud. However, I'm just bored of this match now- because it's exactly the same match. I don't know if there's somewhere that times it- but I could guarantee there'll be a maximum of 2 Minutes either side of all the Charlotte/Nattie matches we've had recently. Add to that, Becky and Sasha arguing over Jewellery among other things on Commentary and suffice to say this segment was equal parts boring and infuriating. 

Bubba Ray Dudley v R-Truth

If ever a segment screamed "Zero Fucks" it was this one. I don't know if Golden Truth are even officially a "thing" yet, and they're already being used as jobbers to put over other teams. Add to that the fact Bubba beat Truth with a BIG BOOT in 2016 and it was all basically a carbon copy of what we got on Smackdown just... urgh. 

Vince McMahon's Hell in a Cell Announcement

Right, let's get one myth from last night out of the way off the bat. IT'S NOT A RETIREMENT STIPULATION. NOWHERE IN VINCE'S PROMO DID HE SAY TAKER HAD TO RETIRE. That's been annoying me every time I've seen it mentioned since last night. What Vince did say is if Taker lost it'd be his last Wrestlemania. That means there's still 11 other PPV's as well as RAW, Smackdown, Superstars, Main Event, NXT, Network Specials etc. that Taker can wrestle at should he lose at Mania. 

With that out of the way, as I previously mentioned- the crowd had checked out prior to this segment. That didn't change for this segment, and it had a surprisingly little amount of heat on it all things considered. No matter what Vince did he just couldn't elicit a crowd reaction, I'm not sure if that's an indictment of the Crowd, Vince or the Show though. 

Braun Strowman v Dean Ambrose

On paper I'm sure this sounded like a good idea. Ambrose will show, in front of Heyman that he can "slay a beast" in Strowman. However, this, as a Main Event on the second last RAW before Mania was just horrendous. I'm not even going to blame Strowman, because fuck knows how long he's actually been wrestling for and he was just thrown to the wolves- and not for the first time. 

Going back to the point I made right at the start of this Review, this was the Main Event two weeks before Mania- it just doesn't feel like a Mania build. 

Right then, that's the Review all done- we've all made it through unscathed to the best of my knowledge- so really it's job done. Obviously if you're reading this it may not directly affect you because you've still found this Review- but I'm also not going to be doing the ridiculous number of Plugs for these Reviews anymore. Simply put, it's tedious and I don't want to be flooding peoples Twitter with them anymore. However, I'll still obviously tweet them out so all you'll have to do to find them is go on my Twitter after 6pm (GMT/BST). 

Thanks for reading as always, I know there's been shall we say extended gaps between Reviews in 2016- but if you're still reading these thank you- and if you're new to reading these then I hope you stick around. We do of course have Mania fast approaching and I'm hoping to bring out a few extra posts around Mania week- including at least one booking blog. So look out for those, and thanks again for reading- even if the RAW I picked to return on was completely flat.