A few weeks ago, I wrote a review of Raw for thefanspodcast.com (check them out!) for the June 9th episode. It is a few weeks old but I thought I would post it anyway, if anyone wants to have a read!
So let’s get straight into it...
Raw kicks off with the authority and their “blockbuster announcement”, which to me is always a good sign, I personally enjoy Triple H and Stephanie segments, they draw heat from the crowd and know exactly how to get a reaction from us. Rumours were rife all day about the condition of Daniel Bryan and if he would be capable of competing at Money in The Bank, our worst nightmares became a reality... a video message from the doctor who performed Daniel Bryan’s surgery was played, informing us that he would be unable to perform at MITB. Daniel Bryan has been stripped of the title. Stephanie and HHH unsurprisingly continued to mock Bryan and his wife Brie Bella. We are then told that for the first time that the MITB ladder match would be for the vacated title and Alberto Del Rio (due to his win last week) will be the first participant in the match, and Orton would be the second because, well, he deserved it. Can’t argue with that, right? HHH then turned his attention to Rollins and announced the Wyatts VS Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns for later on tonight, which would be more of a handicap match as they had neglected themselves from the locker room over the past 18 months. This was an overall great opening to the show, despite the obvious sadness of DB’s situation and his health, we as fans, now know the exact status of the WWE World Heavyweight Championship which for the past few weeks has been completely up in the air and we are guaranteed a new champion in 3 weeks at MITB which overall is pretty exciting, depending on who the participants of the MITB ladder match are... the two participants announced so far, to me are not that exciting. I have never been an ADR fan (Ziggler would have been perfect here) and right now I don’t think that the majority of fans want the title back on Orton but then again, if this is temporary and Bryan is back for Summerslam, putting the title on someone like Orton may be a good idea, rather than an up and coming star and taking it off them, putting it back on Bryan and ruining any credibility they may have had.
The first match of the night is a MITB qualifying match - Sheamus VS Bad News Barrett. We’ve seen this champion V champion match before but I personally never get bored of seeing these two go at it. There were many times throughout this match that I thought Barrett had it but Sheamus got the pin with the Brogue kick. Seeing how over Barrett has been recently, all the momentum he’s gained and well, being a Brit myself, I would have loved to see Barrett win and in the title match but overall this was an incredible match and I don’t think this loss will ruin any of that for him or slow him down. You put these two together and you know you will get flat out brutality. It’s a straight brawl and who doesn’t wanna see an Englishmen and an Irishmen go at it and beat the crap out of each other? But at the same time, as much as I love Barrett, I do think that BOTH these titles should be defended at MITB, WWE has recently put so much time into building the IC and US title back up, why ruin it now? We now know that the US title will definitely not be defended at the PPV. Hopefully the IC title will be.
Next, we have Rusev VS Zack Ryder... do I even need to say what happened? I genuinely do not remember how long this match was, I’m pretty sure it was under a minute. I don’t know how I feel about Rusev yet, put him in a proper feud and not squash matches and fans will pay attention to him and not just Lana (who does an outstanding job might I add!) and I’ll probably feel differently but right now, I’m not interested. Putting these two in a match after Rusev has only recently debuted, we all know what we’re gonna see. Sorry Ryder.
Rybaxel VS Goldust and R-Truth is up next. I’m not gonna lie, I was not expecting to see R-Truth be the one to team up with Goldust but overall it was a decent match. Despite having my doubts straight away, I’ve actually grown to like Rybaxel as a team. Goldust losing here again just shows that maybe he was the weak link instead of Cody... I hope we get more of a depth into this storyline as it does have potential to be great.
We then have a segment with Layla getting her make-up done, insulting Minnesota and mocking Summer Rae with Summer then out of nowhere pouring milk all over her and throwing her into the table. I enjoyed this segment, it’s about time we see some backstage brawling from the women! (If you can call it a brawl...) but overall it was entertaining. Summer Rae is growing on me.
At the top of the hour we have 3MB in the ring, who attempted to rundown the Shield, with Ambrose and Reigns appearing, destroying 3MB and disposing of them like trash. Awesome. They then come back to the ring with Ambrose on the mic. This promo was AMAZING. I’ve been waiting for an Ambrose promo like this for a long, long, long time and the anticipation and expectation for his reaction to Rollin’s betrayal last week were extremely high and boy did he deliver. He is absolutely incredible, his anger and psychotic nature was all too believable and kept me on my toes, I could listen to him talk for hours (if anyone hasn’t seen his previous work in the Indy’s, look up “Jon Moxley promo” you won’t be disappointed). Reigns following up after that I imagine would have been hard but he got the job done, he has definitely improved on the mic and can only get better, the Game of Thrones reference at the end got my seal of approval to! One thing I’ve never really noticed is the chemistry that Reigns and Ambrose have together, without Rollins, they seem much more wild and untamed, bringing a fresh dimension to them that I love. I hope WWE keeps these two together for now, I’m excited to see what happens or if the heel turn for Ambrose will be coming soon... But after that descriptive promo of what Ambrose is gruesomely planning on doing to Rollins, I’d be surprised to see him turn anytime soon. Doing this promo as a babyface, was pretty awesome.
The Usos VS Fandango (with a milky Layla) and Damien Sandow is up. Damien Sandow came out in a full nude body suit, ballet slippers, doing ballet whilst twirling ribbons. I have no words. It’s crazy to think this time last year he won the MITB briefcase... I honestly feel for the guy, but kudos to him for going out there every week and doing what he does... I don’t really have much to say about this besides; it can’t get any worse next week though, can it? Oh yeah, and the Usos won.
Bo Dallas defeats Xavier Woods. I don’t know how I feel about Dallas, he creeps me out that’s for sure. I guess we’ll have to wait and see if I’m a BOliever or not. He is 6-0 now though...watch out Undertaker. But in all seriousness, we need something for us to care for him and right now, WWE just aren’t giving us that.
Paul Heyman is in the ring and cuts a promo, teasing a Brock Lesnar “Wrestlemania Victory Party” and out comes Cesaro...Paul Heyman is hilarious. I know so many people hate Cesaro’s walk, but I love it, it’s so obnoxious and awesome. Cesaro defeats RVD in the second MITB qualifying match. I wasn’t too into this match, there’s no denying, Cesaro is amazing and one of the best in the business today but his matches with RVD just haven’t been all that great and I don’t see the chemistry. Overall, I’m glad Cesaro’s in the title match, having Orton, ADR, Sheamus and RVD would have been awful. I just can’t boo Cesaro, he is too good and I’m sure that applies to many other fans as well.
Seth Rollins comes out, in a black suit, and to new theme music. I am a massive Rollins fan and after following him on twitter for a while and seeing the type of music he’s into (pop-punk/metal etc.) I definitely expected something better, something A LOT better to be honest. This music seemed way too generic and where were the lyrics??? I really hope this is just a part-time thing and he gets something awesome. Anyway, Michael Cole is waiting in the ring to interview Rollins for his actions last week. He receives a lot of boos and a “you sold out” chant. He took control over this segment and barley let Cole talk, claiming that he created the shield and without him, the shield is nothing. He went on to say that he bought in to the evolution of Seth Rollins and that Ambrose and Reigns weren’t his brothers but were his “business partners” (heartbreak). We still don’t have a concise, definitive answer for why Rollins stabbed Ambrose and Reigns in the back, but I do have high hopes for this storyline. Overall, this is keeping me excited, WWE could take this in so many different directions and I’m eager to see where it goes. I’m definitely anticipating when Ambrose and Reigns finally get their hands on Rollins. He then calls out Ambrose and Reigns, leading to Harper and Rowan appearing, with Roman and Dean almost getting to Seth, Bray Wyatt appears allowing Rollins to bail. Cena comes in to make the save and he, Dean and Roman clear the ring and we have our main event match for later on tonight (although this wasn’t said at the time). Overall, Rollins really stepped up here, he had the mic time all to himself for the first time since being on the main roster, and it was a solid promo.
Next is Paige VS Alicia Fox with Aksana in a non-title match. Paige picks up the win with the PTO. I’ve always been a massive fan of Paige since she was in NXT but the way she has been booked on the main roster, with no real feud has really weakened her credibility. She has the potential to be one of the greatest female wrestlers but that’s if she is booked correctly which at the moment, just isn’t happening. Post-match, Alicia Fox goes crazy, throwing popcorn and water all over Aksana.
Jack Swagger with Zeb Colter defeats Santino. I had no interest in this match, Swagger has so much potential but no real direction. Once again, he needs to be booked correctly for the fans to care.
Goldust is backstage, Cody appears and tells him he knows who can be his perfect tag team partner and that will be revealed next week.
The main event is up, Wyatt family VS Ambrose, Reigns and Cena. I was honestly surprised this match received so much time, but I’m glad it did. Ambrose and Reigns begin by working well together and not tagging in Cena, Ambrose gets beat down for a while but then makes the hot tag to Cena who gets a mixed reaction, until he eventually gets beat down and makes the hot tag to Reigns who runs wild, ends up hitting the spear on Harper and scoring the win. Triple H and Rollins look on from backstage. I thought this was a great way to end the show and I’m glad it didn’t end in a DQ, all 6 men delivered and I’m eager to see what happens with all of these guys now, especially Bray Wyatt.
Overall, I thought it was a pretty good Raw, with a couple of pointless matches but Ambrose, Reigns and Rollins really stole the show for me and I’m excited to see where this feud heads.
Until
the next one!
Zara
Zara
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