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.
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