RAW Review and Reactions
This weeks Monday night RAW kick started with a rare appearance from the Undertaker. The pop he got from the live crowd last night was just as big as anyone could have expected. I remember me and my mum were in the kitchen getting some food and I heard the first "dong", I literally dropped my food and came into the living room and did not take my eyes off of the TV. I tweeted out that hearing the Undertakers theme was such a childhood flashback. I'm instantly taking backing to being an eight year old kid and being excited, speechless and kinda scared. I was literally hanging on he's every movement, he's every word. He had the exact same affect as he did when I watched him compete on RAW as a child. He brought a whole new feel to the show that we haven't had for years. He brought the intensity, he brought the fear, he brought the amazing blue lighting. Words cannot describe just how happy this opening made me. I think because he is hardly on RAW it was just such a special moment. He of course went straight into a deep, dark promo directing he's every single word to Brock Lesnar. Mentioning the fact that Lesnar has not been quiet about he's win at Wrestlemania last year. He made it perfectly clear that he was coming after the beast and that he was going to make sure that he was going to challenge he's mortality and conquer what is yet to be conquered. I freaking loved this opening! It was intense, it was gripping. Every single word was haunting. Brock Lesnar VS Undertaker at Summer Slam has been booked and I cannot freaking wait!
It was then time for some divas action and after what took place at Battleground, Charlotte had earned the chance to go one on one with Brie Bella while Brie Bella had the chance to get some retribution against the former NXT Women's champion. I was genuinely really excited for this match. After what we saw go down in that triple threat back at Battleground was amazing and it was such an insight to how much the divas division is turning a whole new page and how the diva revolution is taking over the WWE. For once the booking made sense. I was excited for a one on one, main roster divas match and we were allowed to expect a lot from the actual match. Don't get me wrong, I was a little on edge. I wasn't one hundred percent sure that the WWE would maintain that high level of action from the divas division that we have seen over the past week, but I think the WWE Universe will be like this for a while Doubting and not getting their hopes up too much. The WWE need to prove they really do want to make a change and make women in the WWE a big deal and make them equal to the male superstars. But I wanted to stay positive. At Battleground we saw Brie Bell put on one of the best performances I have ever seen from her. Charlotte is the perfect women for her to go one on one with. She can push her in a way that no other diva can or has done in the past. I was so glad to see this match take place early in the night. Things really did feel different during last nights show. With Taker kicking it off, a huge, completely different main event and he divas having the first match of the night, I was left very very satisfied. So we had team Bad, Sasha Banks, Naomi, and Tamina on commentary and of course the rest of the members of both team Paige and team Bella at ringside. We also learnt that Charlotte is now a fully active member of the roster. Onto the actual match and we saw Brie Bella take early control of the action. The chanting from Nikki Bella and Alicia Fox had be wanting to rip my ears off but it didn't last too long, thank god. I'm liking how Brie is being forced to show more in the ring. She's much more talented in the ring then we give her credit for and she is proving that. She really held her own in this match and pulled some great moves out. Because the matches are longer and because the competition is even tougher we're starting to see more of her move set and I've been so impressed. She spent a great deal of time in control of this match but Charlotte did great herself. She has everyone on their feet and gave us a level of competition we haven't had on the main roster in the divas division for a very very long time. In the end after using the figure eight she picked up another big victory.
Up next, tag team action as the tag team champions, the Prime Time Players took on Los Matadores. A predicable match. I understand that the champs are looking for new competition but I wasn't expecting all that much from this match what so ever. Like I said it was predicable but with the tag team division being so strong this year I once again stayed positive and paid close attention to the action. First thing I need to say about this match is Darren freaking Young. This guy keeps on impressing me week after week after week. He's has a great level of both speed and strength but he's such a gifted wrestler. He's been on the scene for a while now and has been trying to really make it in the WWE for the past five years but we are only just starting to see what he can do in the ring. Last night we saw him take early control and hit some great moves. He also sold pretty freaking well too. What I love about Darren Young is how neat, how clean he's moves are executed. Everything just flows so so well and it looks good. When Titus got in the ring he of course upped the level power. Seriously, the way that he throws he's opponents around the ring has me speechless every time. Towards the end of the match we saw the New Day come out and cause the distraction allowing Los Matadors to get a pretty important victory over the tag team champs. I actually really liked that the work between the New Day and the Prime Time Players continued. They have great chemistry and now we have an even deeper story to go on. The New Day of course kept me very entertained last night and I loved their part of the show. Maybe I'm just easily pleased when it comes to these guys.
The Miz was in action next and after complaining to Triple H about what the Big Show had done to him the previous night at Battleground, the host of Tough Enough Tough Talk got a match he wasn't really expecting to say the least as Triple H gave him a one on one match against the Big Show himself. I was expecting this match to take place if I'm being honest. With Ryback out of action and with what we saw at Battleground it was an expected match for the night. I did really seeing the fact that even though Ryback is out of action their not rushing and pushing Miz and Show into something completely different. Their still working their feud and I like that, even though I think the Big show is worth more than that. The problem I had with this match was that had no idea who I was suppose to be rooting for. Who was suppose to be the bad guy and who was suppose to be the good guy? I liked the promo Show delivered after the match. It was a great way to promote and let everyone know about the fact that Show was going to be on Tough Enough the following night. I was surprised with just how much I liked this part of the show and the segment. It was done well and I like how the feud between Ryback, Big Show and Miz is continuing even though Ryback is out of action. I still don't like the fact Miz is getting the joke treatment.
Heyman promo time. One of my favourite times in the world. Of course Heyman was out there to talk about the actions that took place the previous night at Battleground during the main event. He mentioned the fact that the reason Brock Lesnar was not the current WWE World Heavyweight Champion right then and there was not because Seth Rollins out wrestled Lesnar. It wasn't because Seth Rollins pinned or made Lesnar submit, but it was because the Undertaker decided to come back for revenge. He took us through some of the great names that failed to end the Undertakers streak over the years and even though Brock didn't have a good night at Battleground he made him sound like the best thing since sliced bread. As usual Heyman cut one phenomenal promo and had me wishing that Summer Slam was right freaking now. He sold that main event in true Paul Heyman style. Just as the promo was closing and Heyman really went in on Taker that big Dong went off again....yeah I'm getting way too comfortable with saying that word now. In a matter of second Taker was in that ring cornering Heyman and in five seconds (literally, five seconds, I counted) Lesnar was
With Luke Harper making a surprise return last night and assisting Bray Wyatt in he's victory over Roman Reigns the next match saw the former Intercontinental champion take on Reigns in one on one action. I was one hundred percent expecting this match. I mentioned in my prediction post (witch will also be linked bellow) that I was expecting this match to take place last night and I didn't have a problem with it what so ever. The booking made sense, it worked with the storyline and I do think that these two superstars can bring out the best in each other. In my opinion however there was only way this match could go and that was a clean victory for Luke Harper. Harper's been out of action for a while now and he was seriously in need of a victory and it was important that both he and Wyatt maintained that high level of momentum. You guy's all know how much I love Luke Harper and how passionate I am about him so I was on the edge of my seat for this one and I as preparing myself to go one big twitter rant. I was however also looking forward to seeing Roman Reigns compete. I know. It's fine, I will give you a little second to go and read over that again. Yes, I did just say I was looking forward to seeing Roman Reigns compete. I know, I never in a million years thought I would say that but he really really impressed me at Battleground. Since the Royal Rumble he has been on a mission to prove people wrong and slowly he has been doing just that. I'm not going to sit here and say that I'm a Roman Reigns mega fan because I'm not but he's winning me over week after week and he's showing some seriously big improvements that I can't deny. I do still think that a slow approach is the best approach. There's no need to rush him into the top spot any time soon. Let him work these big, interesting, feuds it will do no harm what so ever. Reigns did have Ambrose a ringside last night witch was great. I mean I aint complaining about some Ambrose on RAW. Reigns did take early control of the match and spent most of the first half of the match staying in control witch to be honest, I was expecting. Harper did bring a great amount of character to the match but I was pretty disappointed with he's all round performance. I think because I always have such high expectations of Harper I'm more harsh and critical. When Harper was actually in control he was very dominate. Using he's size advantage and targeting the throat area and the elbow at times. They did work really well together throughout this match and the addition of Wyatt and Ambrose at ringside brought that extra feel to it. There was a good story to the match being told and I liked that. The match did end up ending in DQ, as I expected. There was so much chemistry between all four superstars. I have to admit I did have a little Wyatt/Shield flashback and it did get me very very excited. Don't interpret that in the wrong way guys.
We then heard from the WWE World Heavyweight Champion, Seth Rollins and it was about bloody time because I was beginning to forget that we even had a champion. Now, I'm rally worried for Seth Rollins right now. It was not a great night for him last night and neither was it at Battleground. He's really not being booked great right now and he isn't coming across like a WWE World Heavyweight Champion. He looks weak right now and you guys know how much I love Rollins so I'm hopeing he has something big around the corner. The problem I had was that I just didn't feel like the Lesnar/Rollins feud ended right. It wasn't a satisfying ending at all to their feud. Last night Rollins did cut a really strong promo but it just felt like the same old thing. He really needs to start changing things up now. I was very surprised to see Cena come down to the ring last night. Now, this proved my point I made in yesterdays blog post. If they dropped the United States championship to Kevin Owens at Battleground, now would have been the perfect time to put Cena back in a feud with Seth Rollins and the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. It would of made the segment mean more and seem much better last night. What I did like however was seeing how much attention the United States Championship got last night. Seeing both champions in the ring looked good and came across good. I did actually really like this segment last night. It had a good feel it and I liked the chemistry between the two and the direction it was going in. A very interesting story being told and another good part to the show.
We then to my surprised were treated to another divas match. That's right we had TWO divas matches last night and this time Paige and Becky Lynch took on Naomi and the NXT Women's champion Sasha Banks. I wasn't expecting to get two divas matches last night but I was so glad that we did. This was just another showcase of the big changes being made in the WWE and the divas division. I'm loving the diva revolution right now. The women are freaking owning it and I have to say Nikki Bella did a great job on commentary throughout this match last night alongside the rest of team Bella. Naomi was very very dominate in this match. Her and Sasha worked really really well together. Naomi looked strong and dominate throughout the match. She was very very aggressive and I like that about her, I like it a heck of a lot. I was also really surprised with the amount of strength Paige showed throughout this match too. Every single diva had time to shine and had a good showing. I honestly could have had a little cry over this match and the entire night for the women. It was just such a great night for the women of the WWE. They really are making an impact and the change is amazing. It's about time the WWE started making these changes and their doing it perfectly. Finally, they are listening to the fans! It was great seeing both teams work so so well. The match flowed well, it had a good feel to it, a good story. Sasha Banks was another big stand out of the match and night. She previously did a great job on commentary and in this match she brought so much character and some sass. She slows the pace down but she keeps you interested and captivated. We know that we can expect the best from her and she did so great last night. She played a vital role throughout and in the end she picked up her first win on RAW. Great match. I really did enjoy this one. Amazing showing from all four divas.
Finally, our main event, and after spending months asking, in fact beginning for the WWE to give us something different in a main event we finally got that. For once we didn't have Seth Rollins and Kane take on Roman Reigns and someone else in a main event. For once I was able to stay awake and look forward to a main event. For once I wasn't staying up, watching the show and waiting for a main event that felt like a chore to watch. What we were treated to was one monster of a main event at United States Champion John Cena teamed up with Randy Orton and Cesaro to take on the team of Kevin Owns, Rusev, and Mr Money in the bank, Sheamus. Now, that is a monster of a main event. That is something I can look forward to and be excited about. It felt so good seeing some different faces in the main event picture. By different faces I mean Cesaro, Rusev, Sheamus, and of course Kevin Owens. I don't think I have been this excited for a RAW main event in a good couple of years. Starting off the match were John Cena and Kevin Owens but Kevin Owens being Kevin Owens very quickly made the tag to Rusev and as soon as Rusev has beaten Cena down enough Owens was right back in that ring taking it to John Cena. Throughout the match Owns played a very dominate role even when he wasn't actually competing. He clearly took on the role of team leader and did he's best to make sure all eyes where on him. There was a lot of character in this match, a lot of story and so it made it such an easy watch. It was so easy to get into the match and enjoy it. Not to mention Summer Rae was great eye candy for us all. Cesaro was very impressive throughout this match also. He worked exceptionally well with every single superstar. It didn't matter who he was in the ring with whether it be Rusev or Sheamus or Kevin Owens he made it work. He made them look and he made
All round I thought it was yet another great show last night. I really really enjoyed RAW this week. I stayed wide awake throughout the show witch is rare. It was really hard choosing a favourite moment, I love the promos from both Undertaker and Paul Heyman, I loved the fact we got two divas match, I loved the brawl between Taker and Lesnar and of course the great main event. It felt like I was watching the RAW after Wrestlemania it was that good last night. I'm gonna once again rate the show a nine out of ten but I want to know what you thought. Let me know what you of last night's show by leaving a comment bellow or by tweeting me at @TezangiVictoria.
WWE Battleground Review and Reactions
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