RAW Review and Reactions

Hello everyone and welcome back to Talk Wrestling World, I hope you are all well and good! So, with just six days until the two thousand and fifteen Hell in a Cell pay per view, last night was of course the official Monday night RAW go home show and what a show we were treated to. With Dallas full of legends such as Shawn Michaels, Ric Flair, the Undertaker, and Stone Cold Steve Austin last night's show was one to tune into and not to miss. However, was the WWE able to deliver strong, consistent show with such huge names on the card? Or was we stuck with another mediocre episode of Monday night RAW? Did an epic main event make or break the night? Did the WWE hype up the up and coming pay per view well enough to get people to tune in? And who after last night will be walking into Hell in a Cell on Sunday with momentum on their side? Well in today's blog post I'm going to be taking you back through all of last night's action telling you what I thought of every single match, promo and segment and how they will all effect this Sunday's live pay per view. Just to remind you before we get into today's blog post, yesterday was the start of my Hell in a Cell prediction post. All week long I will be uploading my predictions for every single match on the card right up until Saturday.  Then on Sunday I will be uploading my support pictures to twitter telling you who I will be backing on the night and of course I will be live tweeting throughout Hell in a Cell. As usual I will link bellow any recent blog post including last weeks RAW Review and Reactions and my first Hell in a Cell prediction post. Finally, you can let me know what you thought of last night's show and what your predictions are for Sunday by leaving a comment bellow or by tweeting me at @TezangiVictoria.

For the first time in years, last night saw WWE Hall of Famer, Stone Cold Steve Austin take the spotlight on Monday night RAW when he kick started the show in Dallas Texas. As announced by WWE last week, Austin was set to host a special edition of the Stone Cold podcast immediately following RAW with special guest, Brock Lesnar. He's appearance last night was simply to promote the podcast, add to the excitement surrounding Lesnar VS Taker, and introduce the Undertaker. Now, the moment may not have lasted very long but the reception that he received from the crowd said it all. The entire WWE universe was delighted to see Austin back inside a WWE ring regardless of how long he was there for and what he was doing. As Taker made he's entrance, Austin exited the ring and that was all we saw of him until the podcast that took place after RAW. The Deadman spent most of he's time last night promising to inflict pain on the beast and finally put an end to what has been a phenomenal rivalry. He reminded both the WWE universe Lesnar and Heyman just how dangerous he is and claimed that he had nothing left to loose. Of course, with Brock Lesnar and The Undertaker both in the same building under the same roof meant that we were going to get some kind of collision and. With Lesnar standing right by he's side, Paul Heyman took tot he mic and continued to hype up the Hell in a cell main event, claiming that he's client was luting after revenge and when the final chapter of this feud is written it will say that Brock Lesnar was the last man standing. Ignoring Heyman's order the beast went charging down to the ring but when realising that Taker had gotten into he's head the mind games were switched and the action was left for Sunday. I really really liked this opening. As a nineties kid it was amazing seeing Lesnar, Taker, Paul Heyman, and Stone Cold Steve Austin all in the opening to Monday night RAW. When Austin's music hit I was expecting him to say and do a little more. He's part of the night felt a little rushed and wasn't as strong as expected. Lesnar and Taker as usual created strong tension and added to the excitement of the night. The whole segment for me did what it was supposed to do. By the end of it I was even more excited for the finals showdown. The fact that the two superstars didn't lay a single finger on each other added to the anticipation of their match up. All the action will be taking place this weekend and the neither of them gave away a thing last night. If you want to see these two collide one last time you're going to have to tune into Hell in a Cell.

Before their Tag team Championship match this weekend against the New Day, the Dudley Boyz found themselves teamed up with the United States Champion John Cena to take part in six man tag team action against their opponents for Sunday. After all the torment that Cena has delt with at the hands of Xavier Woods, Kofi Kingston, and Big E the match made perfect sense and was a strong choice for first match of the night. It was interesting seeing Cena take a slight seat back and for the Dudley Boyz to be the centre of attention. Of course he played a huge role in the match and spent a great deal of time in action but it felt as though this was a night for the Dudley Boyz and they really did take the spotlight. While the New Day took turns in stomping at John Cena the Dudley Boyz had the crowd on their feet cheering their team on. Despite the best efforts from D-Von and Bubba Ray, the closing moments of this match saw Xavier Woods seal a quick roll up victory. However, things were far from over and there was no way the nine time tag team champions were letting the New Day get away with another night of antics. The chaos that followed after the match was one of the most entertaining parts of the night in my opinion. Responding to their loss, the Dudley Boyz sent Xavier Woods though yet another table. Over the past couple of months we have really started to see a much darker side to the New Day. They have found a balance between humour and being a genuinely dangerous tag team. This Sunday they will without a doubt be facing a tough challenge when they take on a tag team destined for the hall of fame but their sneaky victory last night means they are beaming with momentum. But lets not take anything away from D-Von and Bubba Ray. The WWE were clever with their booking last night. The New Day may have picked up the win but the fact that the Dudley Boyz had the last laugh sent a huge message to the tag team champs and meant they are far from lacking momentum themselves. We also learnt during this match that on Sunday at the hell in a cell pay per view, John Cena will hold another open challenge. Who do you think will be superstar to accept Cena's challenge this weekend? Will Dolph Ziggler be looking for chance number two? Will the New Day try and capture more gold? Or will Tyler Breeze make that much anticipated debut?

Up next, Divas action and it won't surprise you to learn that last night saw yet another tag team match. This time Nikki Bella and Alicia Fox were taking on Naomi and Sasha Banks. I will be totally honest, the only reason I had any interest in this match and actually paid attention was because Sasha Banks was competing. Just like the rest of the world, I have grown very bored of the repetitive, predicable tag team matches in the tag division. It's about time the simply split up the teams and started using their other divas on the roster as part of the "revolution". It would be great to actually see Summer Rae get involved and compete, she has great history and chemistry with Charlotte and Sasha Banks so it would be great seeing her get involved with the action. Anyway, back to last night and the early parts of this match were dominated by team BAD however during the commercial break the roles reversed and Alicia and Nikki where able to take control. Naomi did spend the most amount of time in the ring. Sasha was able to get a couple of good spots in but the length of the match and the story being told meant that we didn't see enough of any of these divas especially Banks. Nikki did demonstrate her dominance and strength and in the end used the Rack Attack to pick up the victory ahead of her divas championship match this weekend at Hell in a Cell. It was interesting seeing team B.A.D work as baby faces. The WWE seems to be all over the place when it comes to this team and how they want them to come across. The commentators continue to highlight the "We want Sasha" chants and it's clear that that is the story they are working on to write Sasha out of the team. I did like the fact that Nikki came across like a genuine threat to Charlotte and her divas championship. She had a good night last night and looks good heading into Hell in a Cell.

One of the biggest names to appear at last Monday night RAW was Shawn Michaels who spent a great deal of time goofing around with the fans and getting under the skin of WWE World

Heavyweight Champion, Seth Rollins. Before the champ could make he's presence know. Michaels recalled he's time in the Hell in a Cell structure following that up with more heavy promotion of The Undertaker VS Brock Lesnar and Roman Reigns VS Bray Wyatt. The lack of attention on himself meant that Rollins came down to the ring spitting he's dummy out. Claiming that he was not only better than Shawn Michaels but the legend should be spending he's time talking about Rollins and hyping he's up and coming match this Sunday. He also declared that he was not afraid of facing Kane this weekend and by the end of their match the demon would be just another name who tried and failed to take the WWE World Heavyweight Championship away from him. Both Michaels and Rollins bickered for a little longer and as Rollins was about to walk away Michaels informed him that he had a one on one match against Ryback. Seeing Michaels and Rollins share the ring was a very special moment. Throughout he's career, Seth Rollins has been compared to Shawn Michaels and knowing how much of a fan of he's he is, seeing Rollins involved in a segment with Michaels made this very special. The segment it self didn't make that much sense however. There wasn't much depth and I didn't like how weak Rollins came across. However, the strong mic work from Rollins made this very entertaining despite the fact it didn't make much sense to show Rollins as a superstar not as good as Michaels.
I'll be honest, I wasn't the biggest fan of Ryback VS Seth Rollins. We have seen the pair go one on one on numerous occasions and I have never once been invested and entertained by their matches. I don't think they have the best chemistry and even though Rollins brings out the best in Ryback and he's wrestling abilities their matches just don't do it for me, so I struggled to have interest in this match up. Ryback of coursed used he's power and strength to he's advantage and to get the upper hand. The former Intercontinental Champion spent a great deal of time in control and taking it to the world champ. Throughout the match Rollins focused he's attention on the mid section of the Big Guy and in the end it took a kick to the ribs followed up by a pedigree to pick up the victory.Rollins had spent last night out smarting Ryback and used he's cunning personality to he's own advantage. The match wasn't very long but it was decent. I'm sure if I was more awake and more entertained by the two superstars then I would enjoy the much much much more. I didn't really understand why this match was booked. It did make Ryback look a little weak and as the number one contender for the IC championship he needed to keep momentum at a high and after this match he lost a great deal of that so in my eyes it just made no sense. Booking Rollins in a match against someone who wasn't in a big match up or any match this Sunday would have made much more sense and would have been a smarter idea.

Six man tag team action next as Cesaro, Dolph Ziggler and Adrian Neville took on the team of Bad News Barrett, Sheamus, and Rusev. This was a match that was not only full of six of my own personal favourite WWE superstars of today but six WWE superstars all in need of a big push. I said it last night and I will say it again, all of these men are main event talents. There is no doubt about that. They all bring something very different but very exciting to the table. They all have different styles, different levels of experience and different roles within in the roster. However, they also six superstars who the WWE continue to fail. It does seriously frustrate me because not a single one of the guys has clear direction or involved in a strong storyline and that includes Mr Money in the bank Sheamus. Even though this match had no direction or meaning all of these superstars have a great deal of chemistry and that was so clear in this match up last night. They all got their time to shine and to show what they can do and I only wish that the match was longer. Neville was for me one of the main stand outs. He darted around the ring with he's high flying offence while also taking a beating from the opposing team. Sheamus played the perfect hell last night using cheap-shots throughout while Rusev played he's role throughout the match coming across very dominate and strong. The  one thing that grabbed my attention the most was the amazing chemistry between Sheamus and Barrett. The two work so amazingly well together and I could really geniuenly see them working as a legit tag team in the near future. They have been very impressive together recently and the direction the WWE go in with them should be interesting, but we need to start being reminded that Sheamus is Mr Money in the bank and has a big role to play. This was a chaotic match with a lot going on but I did enjoy it. I am hopeing that the WWE get the shit to together with these guys because it's clear they have no idea what to do with any of them. These tag team matches can't last forever and they all deserve to be involved in something strong.

One of my favourite parts of the show last night was Ric Falir's little promo and the showdown between Bray Wyatt and Roman Reigns. We all knew a week before last night's show that two time Hall of famer Ric Flair would be appearing on RAW this week but what exactly he was going to be doing was never confirmed. It turnt out that he was there to hype up both Wrestlemania thirty two and the up and coming Hell in a cell match up between Reigns and Wyatt. Just like with Stone Cold Steve Austin, Ric Flair wasn't on TV for very long last night and the attention was moved straight back to Sunday's pay per view once again. With Reigns coming down to the ring he was soon interrupted by the Wyatt family witch included a returning Erick Rowan. Of course I was over the moon that Rowan was back but I need to go on a little rant about the fact the WWE made no deal out of Rowan's return what so ever. He just popped up replacing Luke Harper who we have no idea has disappeared too either. I was disappointed with the return but to be honest I was glad that they kept the attention strongly on Reigns and Wyatt. Reigns brought out two chairs, sat in one and invited Bray to come into the ring and sit in the other. Sitting inches from each other the two enemies laid into each other with Reigns taking full control. Honestly, I was once again left so impressed with Reigns. My favourite line of the night was without a doubt "You surround yourself by the mountains because you're scared to be alone". He delivered every single line perfectly and with so much intensity and passion. They both felt like top main event talents and even though last night was full of hall of famers and legends this was without fail my favourite part of the night. Eventually the conversation turnt into chaos and Dean Ambrose soon came down to the ring to assist Reigns in the beat down.

The second divas match of the night had Paige watching from backstage as Brie Bella took on the divas champion, Charlotte and after how the tag team match ended last week the match did make sense last night. Throughout the match Nikki used distractions and tormented the champ to throw her off and give her sister the advantage. Brie of course acted on the distractions and took early control of this match taking it to the divas champion but the strength of agility of Charlotte allowed the champ to gain control and would prove why she is the divas champion. With a spear followed by the figure eight Charlotte was able to pick up a much needed victory before her title defence at Hell in a cell sending her own message to Nikki Bella. After the match Paige and Renee Young upped the sass of the night in a backstage interview. Renee asked Paige if it was she who had attacked Natalya last Thursday on Smackdown. Paige responded by claiming that Lita or Eve cold have been the ones to attack the former divas champion and after insulting Young she left and that was all we saw of Paige. I was glad that she didn't have a huge role last night and the WWE focused their attentions on the actual divas champion and her up and coming match. However, when it comes to the diva stand out of the night Paige takes the prize yet again with her growing strong mic work and what came out of her mouth during the promo. She left us all very entertained and impressed.
One of the weakest matches of the night saw Kevin Owens take on Mark Henry. The match did what it was supposed to do. We were able to see how Owens fairs in a match up against a much larger,stronger and more powerful superstar. Despite taking a beating, Owens proved not even the worlds strongest man was a match for the IC champion. However, after picking up the victory Owens was attacked by Ryback as the former champion sent a message to Owens reminding him that he was coming after that title he once held himself this weekend.

It was announced last night that Randy Orton will no longer be competing alongside Dean Ambrose this Sunday at the Hell in a Cell kick off show after being attacked by the Wyatt family. In my opinion I'm getting bored of Orton coming and going and working so irregularly. I think a great twist would be that it wasn't the Wyatts who attacked Orton but instead was Dean Ambrose. It could easily be the start of something very strong and special. However, back to last night and a missing Orton meant that Ambrose was left alone, but not for long. Roman Reigns agreed to team up alongside

Ambrose to take on the Wyatt family and after wanting to prove he doesn't need protecting by the Authority Rollins put himself in the match to stand alongside he's former Shield partners. Of course the mini Shield reunion put a massive smile on my face even though I knew what to expect from the World Champion. Even though it had been a long time since these three superstars stood alongside one another they chemistry was still there and it felt as though I was watching an old Shield match. However, it of course didn't last very long. Rollins used the typical sneaky, conniving tactics and after playing he's role and taking on the Wyatt family for long enough he left Reigns and Ambrose to fight against the much larger opponents. Throughout the match the chemistry between the two teams was so strong and this is awesome chants echoed throughout the arena before a single punch had been thrown. It was great seeing something different in the main event. It's about time the WWE started putting it's young, up and coming talents in the main event and these guys all took advantage of the attention,spotlight and time they were getting. Both teams spent time in control but the much larger Wyatt family used both their size and the fact that Rollins was not working well with Ambrose and Reigns to their advantage. The closing moments of this match saw Ambrose cause a DQ ending witch simply led to another brawl between the two sides and the entertainment factor increased massively. This was one of the best moments of the night and was without fail the match of the night. I was a little disappointed they didn't have the Wyatts standing tall but this was such an amazing part of the night that I can't fault anything.

I did enjoy last night's show quite a bit. There were a couple of things that disappointed but I have been left excited for Sunday's pay per view. I would love to know what you thought of last nights show so feel free to leave a comment bellow or tweet me at @TezangiVictoria.

Hell in a Cell Predictions: Nikki Bella VS Charlotte
RAW Review and Reactions