RAW Review and Reactions

Hello everyone and welcome back to Talk Wrestling World. It's the night after our weekly does of Monday night RAW witch of course mean's it's time for my RAW Review and Reactions. I have to admit last night was a much easier night for us UK fans considering the show started an hour earlier. Still difficult but easier. With it being less than three week's away from the biggest event of the year, Wrestlemania thirty one, the WWE are under a lot of pressure to deliver and deliver to a high standard. Last night's show focused on building up the Mania card and the stars of the biggest, most important pay per view of the year. But did Randy Orton finally turn on Seth Rollins and the authority? Did we get a divas match announced for this year's Wrestlemania show? And who was named the final man to compete in the Intercontinental championship ladder match for Mania? Today, I'm going to be giving you a full recap of everything that happened during last nights show and what I thought of it as a whole. Bare in mind my comments on Wiz Kahlifa are far from up lifting to say the very least. Some quick reminders before we get started; Wrestlemania season is still going strong on my blog and the link to the most recent post will be bellow alongside the link to last weeks RAW review and Reactions and this weeks RAW Predictions. I uploaded my post yesterday giving you all the information about my Wrestlemania Q&A and that will also be linked bellow. The last thing I'm going to link bellow I my Healthy and Fitness blog witch launched a couple of weeks back so you can go and check that out if you want. Finally, You can let me know what YOU thought of last nights show by leaving a comment bellow or by tweeting me at @TezangiVictoria.

Th night kick started with Randy Orton making he's way to the ring, witch was a nice little change. I say change, it was only a couple of weeks ago he opened the show. Anyway, the viper made he's way to the ring where the rest of the Authority (minus Triple H and Stephanie) awaited he's arrival. The commentators also announced that the main event would see Orton team up with Seth Rollins once again, this time in a handicap match against Roman Reigns. Can I just say I'm sick and tired of these repetitive main events and the WWE need to hurry up and get way more creative on their weekly booking for it's top talent. The opening segment saw the Kane, Big Show, J&J Security, and Seth Rollins welcome back Randy to the "team"...well that was until Jamie Nobel and Joey Mercury made it clear they wasn't planning on making amens with Orton. Rolling took control of most of the segment and it all focused around making it evident that perfectly clear that Orton wasn't playing any games and was one hundred percent back on Team Authority and the WWE universe were stupid for thinking that the true motive behind Randy's recent behaviour is just to sweeten up Rollins and the rest of the Authority until he finally turnt on them. Altogether Seth did a great job opening the show and carrying the segment. If we look back at the past year, he really has improved seriously on the mic and with he's character. During the end of the opening, Orton took turnt the tables and made himself the main attraction once again, pointing out to everyone in the ring how much they have all changed and turnt into Authority puppets. I have to say Randy really did make this whole segment. He's never been the strongest of speakers in the world but he did a great job last night and really kept me entertained and I have to admit I chuckled a little at some of he's comments. In my opinion a decent start to the show.

The first match of the night saw Daniel Bryan go one on one with the Intercontinental Champion (who still does not have he's championship) Bad News Barrett. I'm not gonna lie, I liked this booking. I'm a huge fan of both these superstars, they are both extremely talented, and the match made sense with the current storyline. What I love about these two is how majorly different their in ring style is, they both captivate the audience in different ways and play their roles down to perfection, and with all that in mind, we were guaranteed a great match, given they were provided with the right amount of time.I wasn't expecting the match to take place but I didn't have a problem with it  actually happening. The current storyline surrounding the IC championship has been great. The line up for the Ladder championship match at Wrestlemania is really shaping up to be a strong one, with the best of the best competing. So, with high expectations of this match I was prepared for the best. At this point,  Stardust still had the championship and we once again had R-Truth at commentary witch was a problem for me, I feel like when he is at commentary, the attention is mainly put on him and not the action in the ring. Bryan dominated the match very early on, using he's technical skills to he's
advantage and despite Barrett's tough comebacks, he struggled to get on track and get some offence. When the champ did turn things around we saw that old school, tough, knuckle fighting style come into play and we actually really saw him put the ropes into good use. It was nice to see Barrett take control, he really is working on next to no momentum heading into Wrestlemania and even though he may not be booked to win he's matches at the moment, he's all round performance still counts for a lot. In the end Bryan got the win. I actually turnt my had for what felt like a second and then I heard Bryan music play and he was announced at the winner...Yeah I wasn't expecting that. I was hopeing the match would be longer, but for what we got it was decent. After the match Barrett attacked Bryan but just as he was heading off backstage Ambrose came out and attacked him from behind. I'm still getting use to saying that phrase. It still sounds strange to me and like some kind of sexual innuendo.

Up next, Dean Ambrose took on Stardust, witch I thought was intresting. I've never expected to see the two compete against each other last night. If I'm honest, I wasn't entirely struck on the idea. I think if we were getting Cody Rhodes VS Dean Ambrose it would be a different story, but I just wasn't feeling it last night, but there is no doubt these guys could easily have a great match up, once again given the time. After stealing the championship last week on Smackdown, Stardust came to the ring with the IC title rapped perfectly around he's waist. The match was very split with both superstars getting a fair amount of offence. I don't think either superstar truly "dominated" the match but if I had to choose, I would say Ambrose had the slightly stronger performance, but as I said, it was very split. The commentators did piss me off a lit during this match up, I'm not gonna lie, and just like with the Bryan/Barrett match, R-truth was still on the commentary team. I also felt like the crowd wasn't giving enough in this match. To be fair, they weren't the best crowd in the world, but they just disappointed me during this match. In the end Ambrose got the pin fall win and after Dean went to talk off with the title Barrett made an appearance and began attacking him witch would only lead to all the superstars set to compete at Wrestlemania for the title brawling in the ring. Meanwhile, Truth stole the title...again.

We also learnt last night at the first inductee to the Warrior Award was Connor the Crusher. This really did touch me right in the feels. Just knowing how happy he would of been to be inducted, such a worthy first inductee and a real touching moment of the night.

We then heard from Paul Heyman who of course was there to hype up the Wrestlemania main event witch would see he's client Brock Lesnar defend the WWE World Heavyweight championship against Roman Reigns. At first we got a video package witch mainly put the attention on Roman Reigns. To be honest it was actually a really well put together video and put Reigns across pretty well. I keep saying it but he really has improved big time recently but he does still have a lot of work to do if he is going to turn the fan opinions around completely and prove he is worth the hype and the top spot. After that Paul Heyman took control  and introduced the champion himself, Brock Lesnar. It was great seeing Lesnar back on my TV screen, if I must say so. He was set to make an appearance a couple of weeks ago but didn't actually make it on Live TV, he was rumoured to of had some kind of disagreement with Vince McMahon being the reason he didn't appear but there is no need to go into it. Once again, Paul Heyman delivered an amazing promo to say the very least and sold/hype up the the Wrestlemania main event and I'm gonna be honest, the more they let Heyman speak about the match the more excited I get for it. You guy's all know that I was far from looking forward to the Lesnar/Reigns match but after several promos from Paul Heyman, I'm pretty freaking pumped. Trust me when I say, this was one of the best promo's I have ever heard and it's one I know I'm going to be talking about for years to come.

Talking of promos, Bray Wyatt then made it clear, that Taker should find him tonight.

Tag team action next and it more like "Victoria's idea of hell" match, as Kane and The Big Show took on Ryback and Erick Rowan. Literally the only thing that kept me watching this match and on my sofa was the fact Erick Rowan was in the match. Ryback and Kane kick started the match and Ryback dominated the match very early on, until the tag was made to Show who changed the feel off the match for all the wrong reasons. When Rowan entered the match he took control early on and thanks to Big show accidentally knocking Kane out he was able to get the win. I mentioned last night how Rowan can be a little messy in the ring and kinda awkward but hey, he has had a decent showing over the past year and I love the guy. The main point of this match was to push the Andre the giant battle royal and the growing feud between Big Show and Kane. After the match the two started arguing until Stephanie McMahon made an appearance to break things up and give the two big guys a little reality check, instructed them to leave the arena. After that we got the god awful performance from Wiz Kahlifa. I made enough comments about this last night so let's not go there again.

The divas were up next and you guys will all now know that at Wrestlemania we will get a tag team match up with the Bella's taking on Paige and AJ Lee. I already have mentioned how I think they should of made it into a fatal four way. I hate how we are not seeing the divas championship defended at Wrestlemania, it's just another example of how badly treated the divas division is. What I'm hoping is they manage to get a great match on the night. Anyway, last night saw AJ Lee go one one one with Summer Rae. We saw Paige at ringside for Lee and Summer had Eva Marie and Cameron at ringside for some reason. You guys all know how much I love Summer Rae. I talk about how underrated she is and how much potential she has. Over the past year or Summer really has shined and improved more and more, using everything the WWE has to offer to her advantage. I do however think she is better off working as a baby face even though she does make a great heel. What I'm hopeing is that after Wrestlemania the WWE will turn the attention away from AJ, Paige and the Bella's and allow the other divas on the roster to shine who are just as talented, like Summer Rae, Natalya, Naomi and Layla, I'd really love to see Summer in the divas championship picture. For the time they got in the ring last night they delivered to high standard and put on a decent match and it was nice to not see AJ dominate the match and have Summer get quite a bit of offence. It's clear the WWE are trying to make a difference but they just aren't trying enough and its going to take a lot more than what they are giving us to convince the fans they are taking Give divas a chance seriously.

We also got last night; Rusev VS Curtis Axel. Last week on Smackdown Axel announced he was coming after Rusev and the United States championship and if he defeated Rusev on RAW then he would face him at Wrestlemania for the championship. Before the match we got a pretty decent backstage segment between John Cena and Rusev, it's pretty clear the two will defiantly go one on one for the title at Mania but I wanted to make last night all about Axel who has just been on fire as of late when it comes to all round entertainment. The fact of the matter is, is Axel is actually a very very talented wrestler he just hasn't been able to get on the right track. Before the match even began Rusev got on the attack and the "match" lasted less than minuet with Axel tapping out. After the match Rusev called Cena out and he got what he wanted as the two brawled with Cena coming out on top. To stop Cena, Lana gave Cena what HE wanted, a match at Wrestlemania against Rusev. I have to admit, this feud is actually turning out to be pretty good. We also got another tag team match witch saw the new day (Big E and Xavier Woods were in action last night) take on the tag team champions, Cesaro and Tyson Kidd. A short, decent match with some great spots witch saw the new day knock off the tag team champs witch I was not expecting and I didn't really like. After the match The Usos (and Naomi) made their way to the ring as Naomi and Natalya went one on one. I say it all the time but these two really are the two most talented, athletic, underrate divas on the roster so I was all for a match up between the two. They have had an amazing past month and it wast nice to see them compete one on one, on RAW. I really do wish that we get to see these two go at it in a fifteen minuet match one day because they really would just put on an amazing match. The match was short but had some great spots once again and we got some nice tension shown between the tag team champs and The Usos outside of the ring. Los Matadores were up next as they took on The Usos. Yeah, this was a strange part of the show. A lot of tag team action went down last night but there is yet to be a tag team match announced for Wrestlemania. The match last night between the two teams was okay. By this point in the show I was really tired and I never really had any interest for the match in the first place but it was a strong showing from both tag teams and in the end Los Matadores picked up the win. I'm not liking what the WWE are doing with the tag division. It's just all too much, a simple, plain tag team match for Wrestlemania is enough without trying to make it all complicated.

Bray Wyatt was up next as he entered the ring set to cut yet another promo on the Undertaker. We all know how much of an amazingly talented speaker/mic worker Bray is and since he has been cutting these Taker promo's we have seen some of he's best mic work to date. Last night was just another to add to the list. Pretty much all of us were keeping our fingers crossed for an Undertaker return during last night's show and this promo especially when Wyatt demanded a response from the "dead man" and while we may not have got the Undertaker physically, we sure as hell did a get a message and what a message it was. For me, this was the best part of the night, and Bray Wyatt VS The Undertaker is most probably going to be the Wrestlemania match of the night. Outstanding performance from Bray Wyatt and what a phenomenal message from the legend that is, the Undertaker.

It was then time for the main event as Randy Orton and Mr Money in the bank, Seth Rollins teamed up once again to face Roman Reigns in a two on one handicap match. I wasn't really looking forward to this match as you all know. I have a huge problem with the WWE and it's main event booking. I feel it's very repetitive, and we're just not getting anything new. I get that these are the top stars and with Reigns main eventing the biggest show of them all and him not being fully over with the fans, it's important he get's as much TV time as possible and enough time to improve and show

improvements, but there are ways they can showcase Reigns and top stars like Rollins Orton, without shoving them in repetitive main events week after week after week. It just makes everything so predictable and trust me, the WWE is predictable enough. Going into the match pretty much all anyone could think about was Orton's full face turn, as we all begged for him to finally turn on Rollins during the match. I thought the main event last night was well put together. Reigns had a good, dominating the match very early on as it started with Rollins in the ring. Throughout the match Orton did a good in keeping up he's sneaky little act and made himself the centre of attention without being in the ring, witch included knocking Jamie Nobel out, witch let to Rollins telling both Joey and Jamie to leave the ring area. In the end we finally saw Orton make he's true feelings known after he didn't tag himself in and put two middle fingers up in the air to Rollins. Now that is what I like to see. The distractions allowed Reigns to get a quick win. After the match Orton finally got he's hands on Mr Money in the bank as he gave him a good old fashioned beat down, witch went into the crowd area. When I was actually watching this I did actually say out loud "is he ok" in reference to Rollins. But what I loved the most about this was how much it had that true, crazy, viper feel to it. Last night we were reminded why we truly love Orton. And I have to give it to Rollins, he sold the whole thing really really well. After putting Rollins through the announce table, Randy walked off with a crazy crowed reaction, closing the show.

All round I thought it was a decent show but let me know what you thought by leaving a comment bellow or by tweeting me at @TezangiVictoria.