RAW Review and Reactions
Last week on RAW we saw Roman Reigns become the number one contender for Seth Rollins WWE World Heavyweight Championship after knocking off Kevin Owens, Dolph Ziggler, and Alberto Del Rio in a fatal four way main event. This week on RAW Reigns kick started the night cutting a not so great but predicable promo. To be honest this is something that we should start expecting. Reigns is the top dog right now. He's coming after that WWE World Heavyweight Championship and he's beaming with momentum. The WWE are going to be throwing him at us left right and centre and so last night's opening didn't really come as a surprise what so ever. Rollins mic work of the night was strong as per usual. I know I have said it a billion times before but he has really improved greatly over the past year with he's mic ability and in my opinion he saved this opening just by saying a thew little words. However, when you pay closer attention to what Rollins was saying this was much more than a thew little words. Rollins was tuned in typical Rollins when he started the mind games, attempting to get into the head of Roman Reigns. A little back handed compliment involved Rollins claiming that he choose Reigns to be apart of the Shield for a reason, he know's he has something special but he also made it perfectly clear that if Roman thinks that he is going to be able to do something that no other WWE superstar has been able to do since Wrestlemania, defeat Seth Rollins for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship then he was very very wrong. Before the former tag team champions could collide they were greatly interrupted by Triple H and Stephanie McMahon, the Authority who made two major announcements. The first being that in three weeks time at the Survivor Series pay per view Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins will go one on one for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. The second being that the night's main event would be a traditional Survivor Series style five on five elimination match. The opening to last night's show was quick and simple. There was no fussing around and there were no unnecessary moments. The two announcements and the segment as a whole was fairly predicable but the theme of the month is Survivor Series and it all seemed to fit together really well with the night. Not to mention that the more the Reigns VS Rollins match is hyped the more I gain excitement for it. The WWE are building up a solid storyline that for once isn't complicated and is very easy to get into.
The first match of the night was a one on one between Dolph Ziggler and the current Intercontinental Champion, Kevin Owens. The booking decision was smart and made perfect sense. The two superstars have had a handful of solid matches in the past whether it came from RAW, Smackdown, or main event. Their both really over at the moment and they both can do a lot of good for one another. Owens needs he's booking to remain strong especially due to the fact that he isn't currently involved in a major storyline, witch to be honest I kind of like. Seeing him jump into strong matches here and there will always be something I would much rather see than a feud between him and Ryback. Since becoming Champion Owens has been working he's butt off wrestling week in and week out often two times a night in really really strong matches. Now, with big names like John Cena and Randy Orton out of action it means that superstars like Owens and Ziggler in particular will be able to take a great deal of the spotlight and really shine. Ziggler at the moment, as we know has started a fresh feud with Tyler Breeze witch has bags of potential and so with that in mind this match was slightly predicable but I knew I was going to enjoy it anyway. The start of the match saw Owens work on the injured leg of Ziggler witch was of course caused by two attacks from Tyler Breeze over recent weeks. Throughout the match we saw that injured leg really come into play. The match was a lot slower than I was expecting it to be because of the leg and Owens spent most of the time completely in control with Ziggler getting very little offence. It wasn't long into the match that we saw Breeze and Summer Rae make their way to ringside where eventually it would be a distraction from Tyler Breeze that would cost Dolph the match up. Like I said, a predicable end result but it made perfect sense. Breeze is looking really really strong right now and the constant attacks to Ziggler just makes he's first main roster match even more anticipated. The build up to the one one one match between Ziggler and Breeze is going well so far and last night was a great development in the storyline so I can't complain.
One of my personal biggest disappointments of the night last night had to be the one on one between Cesaro and The Miz. Yes, just like everyone else I'm getting bored of repeating myself when it comes to Cesaro. It's beyond frustrating seeing him booked amazingly well one week and terribly bad the next. He may have looked extremely strong last night in he's match up but the match itself didn't allow him to be pushed to he's limits as much as he should be and the competition did feel high enough for him. There is a feel of a lack of competition at the moment with so many superstars being out of action but every single part of me just wants to see more of Cesaro and wants to see him used properly. I understand that they for some reason are still pushing this growing feud between Cesaro and Stardust, and just so you know nothing has changed in the past week. I still hate this idea, but if their going to do they may as well get it over and done with because dragging it out isn't adding any interest to the story. Well not in my opinion anyway. Back to last night's actual match and like I said, Cesaro was strong throughout and hit some great spots picking up a clear victory in the end.
Personally, my highlight of the night was without a doubt the Bray Wyatt promo. I honestly don't even know where to begin with this. Just when you think Wyatt can't do anything better when it comes to he's promo work he goes and does what he did last night and deliver something truly amazing. I know I'm probably just very easily pleased and there was a lot of you who may not didn't like the promo at all but I really did honestly love it. With all four member's of the Wyatt family in the ring, Bray directed he's every word at Kane and the Undertaker. After taking them pretty much hostage Wyatt claimed that he was summing all of hell's evil and that with the souls of Kane and Taker being owned by him now he, Bray Wyatt, had all the power. It was after this that simulated the thunder and lighting used in the Undertaker's entrance, set of Kane's corner pyro, and ignited a fireworks display. This was something very different to what we have been seeing with promo work for a long time. It was that type of different programming that the WWE have been needing to freshen things up a little and it proved that supernatural storyline's and characters now day's in the company can actually work. Wyatt's delivery of every single word was strong and convincing and he had me quite literally on the edge of my seat throughout. This part of the night did exactly what it
After starting a winning streak last Thursday on Smackdown, the Lucha Dragons set out to continue building momentum last night when they challenged the team of King Barrett and Mr Money in the bank, Sheamus. To be honest, I think it's about time that the Lucha Dragons got their push. They have been waiting long enough and even while they haven't been involved in any strong storyline's they have been keeping busy and working really hard. Whether it was a mini feud with Kevin Owens, match after match against the Ascension on Superstars and Main event, or a solid performance on RAW and Smackdown every now and then, these guys have been proving they are championship material from the moment they arrived on the main roster. Their very impressive, they have great chemistry, and are easily marketed, the WWE have every reason to start focusing them around the tag team championships. As for Barrett and Sheamus if you read my RAW Predictions last night (witch will be linked bellow) then you will know that I'm a big big fan of these two working together as a tag team, witch has even come to a surprise to me considering how much I dislike two random superstars being put together as a legit tag team. Now, I mentioned a couple of months back how I would love to see Barrett turn baby face but he's work with Sheamus is so strong that I think I can wait just a little longer for a turn. They both have such great chemistry, working amazingly well with one another, and just like the Lucha Dragons they are so easily marketed. Everything about them being a team just works and I actually think it's unfortunate that Rusev is injured because keeping him as a part of this team would have been a great move to make. Anyway, back to last night and the actual match;throughout the match both teams used what they knew they were good at to their advantage. For the Lucha Dragons it was their speed and for Barrett and Sheamus it was their sheer force and sir advantage witch they used many times throughout this match to gain the upper hand and slow the Lucha Dragons down. The European superstars had a great tactic of keeping their opponents grounded and worn down making it impossible to inject their high flying style to the match up. However, once the tag was made and Kalisto stormed into the match their plan was thrown out of the window and the pace of the match increased massively and eventually it was Kalisto who picked up the victory. Now, even though this match was surprisingly really solid I didn't completely understand the booking. If the WWE are trying to push Barrett and Sheamus as a new strong, dominate tag tea then why less than three weeks into them being put together would they have them be defeated cleanly on RAW? Saying that, the Lucha Dragons after this win are high on momentum and their road to becoming tag team champions is looking very very promising.
With Alberto Del Rio still trying to keep momentum at a high after he's shock return last week and capturing the United States Championship. If I'm being completely honest, I didn't have much interest for this match for all the obvious reasons. The match was predicable and it didn't do anything to highlight Del Rio or spotlight him in a favourable light. I hate to say it but this kind of felt like the start of the United States Championship going backwards. For months and months we have seen John Cena work extremely hard to make this feel like a major and important championship, with solid feuds against the likes of Rusev, Seth Rollins, and Kevin Owens but this match last night felt like it was the first step in the title going straight back to the midcard. Del Rio dominated ninety five percent of the match with Truth getting a couple of decent spots but there was nothing special in this match what so ever. I also wrote in my notes that I still have no idea if Alberto is supposed to be working as a heel or a baby face right now. I have to mention that I did really like the little backstage segment between Jack Swagger and Zeb Colter. It was nice to see that they actually remembered him. What I'm hopeing is that the WWE realise they have a great opportunity to do something really strong between Del Rio and Swagger over the next couple of months or so.
A couple of hours before RAW, WWE broke the news that last night we would be seeing a fatal four way match between Brie Bella, Sasha Banks, Paige, and Becky Lynch with the winner going on to face Charlotte for the Divas Championship at Survivor Series. Of course this was a predicable match and I think it's safe to say that most of us knew that Paige was walking away with this victory. They have been building her up for a title shot throughout the past month and after her attack on Charlotte last week I knew that it was only a matter of time before she was given a championship match. Again. However, I was glad that she had to fight for it instead of just being given the match, and it was great to see something that wasn't a divas tag team match for a change. The picks for the fatal four way were interesting but they did make sense. I do believe that Naomi deserves not a title shot but an actual championship reign, however, they were only ever going to put one member of team B.A.D into the match and with her popularity Sasha Banks was always going to be the top pick and to be fair she has already earned her right to a championship shot a while back. Brie Bella was of course representing team Bella but personally I would have much rather had seen Natalya in the match. With the current story we have been seeing develop with Nattie it seemed to make perfect sense to me that she would be in the match. Then we have Becky Lynch who for storyline purposes made perfect sense to be in the match. Personally I don't think there was any one particular stand out of this match. The spotlight was put on each diva throughout the match with every single one of them getting their stand out moment of the match. Of course Brie used those strong kicks to the chest, reminiscent of her husband Daniel Bryan, Becky Lynch took everyone to her own version of suplex city, there was one she hit on Brie witch looked pretty nasty. During the closing moments Brie Bella looked to be closing in on a victory when Sasha Banks was able to come back into the ring and hit the banks statement witch left every single pat of me wishing Sasha could actually win the match but of course Paige broke up the hold, throwing banks out of the ring and eventually hitting the ram-Paige on Becky to pick up the victory. There were a couple of really strong spots during this match but like I say every single week, I just wish the match was a touch longer and we didn't have a commercial break, but it was a solid match and I did enjoy it and the fact it was given such hype.
Seth Rollins team mates for the night's main event had been confirmed throughout the show and they consisted of the tag team champions the New Day including a returning Xavier Woods and the current Intercontinental Champion, Kevin Owens. Even though I was expecting Alberto Del Rio to be apart of team Rollins I thought it was a great little mixture. Rollins and Owens have great chemistry and have proven on several occasions that they can work amazingly well together and I of course loved the fact that the New Day were in the main event once again. I said it last week but it really is refreshing seeing a tag team especially the champs booked so strongly. So we knew who was competing for team Rollins but when it came to the members of team Reigns, that had been kept a secret all night and the WWE waited until the very last minuet to introduce the team. Fan's were on their feet for a team that consisted of Dean Ambrose, Ryback, and the returning Usos. I mentioned in my prediction post last night that the Usos were set to make their return very soon but if I'm being honest I wasn't expecting them to be back last night but I liked that they were and that they were in the main event. The match itself was actually really good. Yes it was another "tag team" style match but the fact it was an elimination match made me much more interested and invested in it. I do still believe that the main reason tag team wrestling in the WWE is struggling so much now days is because of continuous random tag team matches booked week in and week out but I did really enjoy this match last night. Xavier Woods was first out lasting quite literally a matter of seconds after being fed a lovely frog splash from Jey Uso. Fellow New Day member Kofi Kingston followed out next when he too was taken out by the same finisher. After that it was time for team Rollins to even things up a little with Big E eliminating Jey Uso with a big ending and Kevin Owens taking out Jimmy Uso with a pop up powerbomb. I'm of course expecting some amazing work between the Usos and the
I don't think last night's show was anything special but we did have a couple of solid matches and promos. There were a couple of interesting story developments and despite not being the biggest Uso fan it was great seeing them both back inside a WWE ring. Remember you can let me know what you thought of last night's show by leaving a comment bellow or by tweeting me at @TezangiVictoria.
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