Post-Battleground RAW Comments - 21st July 2014

This Raw kept me entertained throughout the 3 hours so let's get straight into it...

Besides certain segments/moments such as Rusev Vs Khali (which was really bad) and Flo-rida’s performance (does anyone even care?!), this was an overall really good episode. I saw a tweet earlier that said something along the lines of “Would you see a wrestling match during a rappers concert?” – so true. I didn’t see one positive thing said about him during Raw; wrestling fans just do not want to see this stuff but if it brings up ratings then I guess we’re just going to have to deal with it…or change the channel.

The opening to Raw wasn’t anything special; Triple H trolling all the Internet fans had me laughing though, “Me and my friend Mark, we're gonna stop watching”. I guess they read all the tweets/comments about Battleground then. I don't think there's anything wrong with people having an opinion. It was pretty boring overall with Randy demanding his rematch, Kane and Reigns following etc. I am a massive fan of Roman but his promos are not keeping up with this push he’s getting, hopefully over time he will improve. The triple threat match (Reigns Vs Kane & Reigns) that followed did its job. Reigns picked up the win with a spear on Kane. Orton not tagging in, and keeping him away from Roman is hinting at a match between the two at SummerSlam, but what would Kane’s role be? This could go a few ways.

The Stephanie/Brie segment was great in terms of progressing their match towards SummerSlam (if the rumours are true), I seriously hope they do have a match with Brie competing for her job. I loved the storytelling of Brie being a paying customer, Steph slapping her/kicking her out of the building now makes them even…until later on in the night that is. Steph is an absolutely incredible heel, it’s thanks to her that fans are so invested in this angle. Its also amazing how this authority angle has gotten both Nikki and Brie over as babyfaces more than anything prior in their careers. 

Steph slapped a paying customer, so what does that mean for her? Getting arrested of course! This was awesome and the fans in attendance being so into this segment really proved how much we want to see a Brie Vs Steph match. Its been a long time since there’s been a reaction like that for two females. Also, anyone notice this guy’s reaction to Brie calling Stephanie a bitch? Hilarious.

Bray Wyatt delivered a solid promo but what’s new? Ziggler and Zack Ryder both won their matches…what is going on?! Was I really watching Raw? But in all seriousness, The Miz Vs Ziggler was a great match; can Ziggler ever have a bad match? This man has so much talent and it is without a doubt, a crime that the company isn’t utilitising him properly. He leaves it all out in the ring and provides us all with constant amazing matches. It’s crazy how despite how WWE have booked/treated him, he STILL gets one of the loudest pops; it’s because we all see how good he truly is.

PAIGE TURNED HEEL. I can’t go on enough about how happy I am about this. Her main roster call up/title run was stale, she has always been better and it seems, more comfortable as a heel. Now we finally get to see her personality and that anti-diva unleashed! I’ve been a fan of hers for a while and this will most likely be heading for a rematch with AJ at SummerSlam, which should now due to this be a much better match compared to their bout at Battleground.

Kofi and Big E lost to Rybaxel with Xavier Woods coming out, cutting a promo and telling them that it is “time to find purpose” and now they have to “take”. This segment got me really excited for what’s to come; all I could think of was, NATION OF DOMINATION?! Yes please. These three guys have become so stale as of late and a fresh new heel faction would be great for them and for us entertainment-wise; add in Titus O’ Neil and I seriously think WWE have something great here.

Cesaro Vs Ambrose was the match I had been waiting for. It is a fresh, new match, something we haven’t seen; they have the potential to headline ‘mania together someday. Both extremely talented men. It was a great paced match and I enjoyed what I saw, I wish it had gone on for longer though. Ambrose lost due to DQ with him hitting Cesaro with a chair just adds on to the fact that Dean just does not care; he is a loose cannon. I was fine with the match ending this way, neither guy should have gone over on the other here. 

Cesaro no longer being a Heyman guy and hinting towards an alignment with the authority is good for him imo. Post-wrestlemania he had an incredible amount of momentum and it just went downhill when he turned heel/aligned himself with Heyman. I do think this departure between the two did come very randomly but hopefully only good things to come for Cesaro; the man is too good to be left behind.

And finally, we find out who will be facing Cena at SummerSlam; was anyone truly surprised? We all knew it was coming but I still marked out for it. Plan C anyone??? Heyman comes out and refers to how Plan A/B have failed due to Ambrose and Reigns and here comes Plan C – BROCK LESNAR. They make their way to the ring and shake HHH’s hand and it is official! Lesnar Vs Cena for the title at SummerSlam is booked! There is no way Brock can lose here or not go over cleanly. Heyman’s promo was amazing, this man on the mic is a genius and he closed the show on a high.

Overall, there was a lack of great wrestling – Ambrose/Cesaro, Ziggler/Miz were the best matches but the show did keep me entertained and it really built on stories heading towards SummerSlam. It was without a doubt a very strong episode and once again, WWE put on a great post-ppv Raw. I’m sure those disappointed with Battleground were not let down by this.

Until the next one!

Zara

Battleground 2014 Review

Well last night was interesting to say the least. I tried to keep this short but it didn’t really happen...I had quite a lot to say! WWE Battleground took place on the 20th of July in Tampa, Florida.

WWE added a random extra match to the pre-show, Fandango Vs Adam Rose. The match lasted about 2 mins with Layla and Summer Rae coming out as rosebuds, both slapping Fandango (should that not have been a DQ?), with Rose hitting his finisher to get the win. Pointless and was put on the pre-show just to kill time I’m assuming.

Naomi Vs Cameron, only had me interested because of Naomi, she is an amazing athlete and has been held down for way too long because of Cameron; I’m glad they’ve finally split. Cameron getting the win with a roll up by grabbing Naomi’s tights only makes sense if there’s a rematch that Naomi win’s cleanly. There’s no way in hell Naomi can lose cleanly to Cameron. 

Going in to Battleground, as the card built up, I would say expectations were definitely quite high, the card looked very strong, it was a solid, stacked card, especially compared to last year’s event. Personally, I was most looking forward to Ambrose/Rollins, Wyatt/Jericho, AJ/Paige.

Battleground kicked off with The Usos Vs Harper/Rowan (2/3 falls); all I can say is WOW. The match started off slow with Harper getting the first pin, one of the Usos getting the second with a roll up to Harper, what happened to get to the third fall was insane. So many amazing spots/false finishes/crazy athleticism – Rowan with the double suplex from the top rope/the sit out power bomb/all the super kicks - I simply couldn’t keep up, it was one of those matches where you are literally screaming at your screen. The Usos retained after a double kick to both Harper and Rowan then a double splash to Harper. I don’t know where this leads both teams, I’m ready for the Ascension from nxt to be called up. But that is what you call stealing the show.

We then get Ambrose/Rollins next; I was surprised they were having this match so soon on the card. The promo for this match was really good and, well, heart wrenching to all us Shield lovers. WHY SETH WHY?!. In all seriousness, the WWE production team never fails to build matches with great promos such as this. We then get an interview with Rollins backstage, saying what he’s gonna do to Ambrose etc. Guess who pops up and attacks him? Ambrose of course! “WHAT ARE YOU GONNA DO TO ME SETH???!” – God, I  do love Dean. Heaps of referees and wwe agents separate the two with Triple H kicking Ambrose out of the building. The match seems to be off.

                                                      (images from dean-ambrose.net)

Paige Vs Aj is up for the Diva’s title. I thought this match would be a lot better than it was, don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t bad but I know that both of these women can do better. There were a few good spots but overall just felt like it lacked something. I’m guessing this isn’t over and I hope to see a Paige heel turn sooner rather than later. Aj picks up the win with the shining wizard.

 Kane/Orton segment is followed by the pre-show panel making a few predictions on the title match. We then have Rusev/Swagger up next, Lana’s promo was slightly uncofomrtable after the recent events and many media outlets have picked up on it. It didn’t bother me too much but I just find it ridiculous how the media will write a story on this, yet avoid real world tragedies. Pathetic. Anyway, this match was pretty decent and Swagger dominated a lot, the ending showed us that this feud is not over. Rusev won with a count out, after Swagger went face first into the ring pole, Rusev climbed back in to the ring on the 9 count; not winning clean here, was a good thing imo, it made Rusev look weaker and highlighted that Swagger has the potential to stop his dominating/winning streak.

 We then get a Stardust/Goldust promo (I don’t get where they’re going with this) followed by Rollins in the ring demanding to be called the winner by forfeit. This happens with Ambrose running in to the arena and attacking Seth (WWE’s security really sucks doesn’t it?), it turns into an absolute massive brawl with dozens of refs/agents etc. trying to rip the two apart with a “let them fight” chant breaking out; Ambrose is literally carried out of the building. Epic. This angle is just getting better and better.

 Wyatt/Jericho follows. This match really disappointed me and I know, a lot of others. The two just were not clicking at all and there was nothing memorable here. Jericho winning off of the code-breaker and slowly going for the pin, just looked really random. I’m guessing we get a rematch at Summerslam with Jericho putting Bray over.

We then see Rollins walking out of the building, in to the parking lot after he orders the security to leave his side. Clearly paranoid about Ambrose, he looks around making sure he isn’t being followed or Ambrose isn’t hiding anywhere. Whilst this happens, what do we see in the corner of our screens? Dean jumping out of the trunk of Seth’s car, attempting to hit him with some kind of pole; this was just hilarious. They both brawl around the parking lot, on top of the car until Seth finally gets in the car and drives off. This entire segment was so attitude era-esque and Ambrose really reminded me of Stone Cold here. We didn’t get a match with these two, but after this, I understand why. Boy, is this match gonna be good when we finally get it (Summerslam I’m guessing). Calling off the match and having this epic storytelling just shows how wwe is building this feud up to be massive, which is what it deserves. I will probably post an entire blog on this particular feud because it has so much potential and is the best thing going right now. Without a doubt, both men are future main eventers and world champions. But this feud has the potential of making both men stars. Roman Reigns who? (jk).

 The Battle Royal for the IC title is up. Bad News Barrett comes out and delivers some bad news for the participants, basically saying he will be back. Long story short, The Miz wins after hiding on the sidelines. Everyone thought Ziggler had won but NOPE. I had Ziggler/Cesaro or Bo winning here. Cesaro being eliminated by Heath Slater was interesting…I don’t really get where WWE are going with him right now. I don't get why they put the title on the Miz, he gets no crowd reaction but I guess we'll see where this goes. 

The main event fatal 4 way for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship was exactly what I expected. Cena retained. The match was okay, I was interested to see how Reigns would do here and I think he did deliver, he will improve, learn and get better over time. Wrestlemania 31 is where I see him winning the title for the first time, that ideally should happen and will be an incredible moment.

Anyone else missing Daniel Bryan as champ? I’m curious to know what direction WWE would have been going in if he hadn’t of got injured. Bryan Vs Lesnar at Summerslam? That would have been something to see.

Overall, battleground involved a lot of storytelling and building towards Summerslam, which now nearly a day after the PPV, I don’t mind. To begin with I thought this was a really weak show, but going over it now, I realise that it has really helped to build towards the biggest show of the summer. I am against 12 ppv’s a year though, just too many imo for them to consistently deliver. Usos/Wyatts and Rollins/Ambrose (without even having a match) stole the show (which shows just how good these two are).

Am I disappointed? A little. But am I excited for Summerslam? 100%. The card is looking to be stacked and solid. Looking forward to Raw tonight. Plan C anyone?

The road to SummerSlam has officially begun.

Zara. 

Late MITB/Raw (29th, 30th June 2014) Comments...

So I thought I would do a short post on MITB and Raw, rather than a full review. I've been super busy with work this week which is why I haven't had time to post about this sooner and I thought a short post on a few of the matches/moments would be better as it's been quite a few days since these events took place.

A lot of people on social media were very sceptical about MITB and whether it delivered or not, a lot of people ranked it very low due to the result of the title ladder match, but whether you agreed or were happy with the outcome of this match or not, you can't ultimately give the entire show a bad review based on this imo. Overall, I really enjoyed mitb and thought it was a fun show, I look forward to mitb each year as I'm sure most fans do (maybe not so much the wrestlers involved) because well...wrestling and ladders...some kind of craziness is bound to ensue. 

The Usos Vs Harper and Rowan for the tag titles was a match I really liked and I'm sure a lot of others did too, both sides put in great effort and it was a fun way to kick off the show. The Usos retained and I'm happy with that outcome - Harper and Rowan holding the tag titles with Bray unsuccessfully climbing the ladder to win the WWE World title wouldn't make any sense. 

The MITB ladder match, stole the show, as I thought it would. We found out on the pre-show that BNB would be unable to compete in the match after he sustained an injury at the hands of Swagger the previous week on Smackdown. Which we then came to later find out on Raw that Barrett has been stripped of the IC title and will be out for months due to this, which completely SUCKS. I'm a massive Barrett fan and it really really is a shame that every time he gains some momentum, it comes crashing back down with an injury. I hope he has a speedy recovery and is back soon! I do hope he can still somehow be featured on WWE tv as his Bad News gimmick could still work without him physically competing. Anyway, back to the match...the addition of Barrett would have definitely added a few more great moments but him not being in the match didn't take away from the greatness of it all. 

Every person in this match got their moment, from Kofi using the ropes as a spring to launch himself, from RVD just going wild, to Ziggler zig-zag-ing Kofi on to the ladder and damaging himself in the process to Ambrose superplex-ing Rollins off the ladder to Kofi throwing Rollins off the ladder, leaving him to land on to another to Swagger powerboming RVD off the ladder. This entire match clearly, just had some amazing, crazy spots that we as fans LOVE to watch and go crazy for. But the biggest thing we got out of this and the story that was ultimately focused/built on, was the Ambrose/Rollins angle. Both men, (especially Ambrose) wanted to tear each other apart. I absolutely loved the storytelling of Dean apparently dislocating his shoulder and him telling the docs to pop it back in, being forced to the back and then eventually after "we want Ambrose chants" coming back out to a crazy babyface pop. He got over BIG at mitb. I wasn't high on the ending of the match, with Ambrose about to win, Kane coming out, attacking him, hitting what was possibly the worst tombstone I have ever seen and helping Rollins climb the ladder. But it got the job done and makes sense for him to win and also tells a great story of Rollins being unable to win on his own and costing the true winner the match. The mix of the crazy spots, athleticism, risk-taking and story-telling is what made this match so awesome.

INSANE...

Moving on to the world title ladder match, after the mitb ladder match, this just felt slow. It felt like an 8 man match with ladders that happened to be there. Don't get me wrong, there were some good moments - the swift RKO to Cesaro off the ladder, Cesaro and Sheamus hanging off the ladder (that was crazy), Orton being busted open. But it just couldn't compete with the first ladder match, Reigns was clearly the most over guy in this match though. So to cut to the chase, Cena wins with no memorable ending, just two AA's to Orton and Kane. I don't know how I feel about this, on one side it makes sense for WWE to put the title back on him after all their losses but from a fans pov, it's just a load of rubbish. He most likely will face Lesnar at Summerslam, but will Cena lose clean? We'll just have to see how this all plays out. 

Overall, I did enjoy the show and I don't regret staying up till 4am to watch this live when I had work at 8 in the morning!

Moving on to Raw (30th June 2014), I thought this was one of the best Raw's we've seen this year. From RVD/Rollins match, to Chris Jericho's shocking return, to the Wyatt's attacking him, to Swagger confronting Rusev, to AJ Lee returning and beating Paige for the Diva's title, to another great Ambrose promo, to Ambrose attacking Rollins after he attempted to cash in, to the stare-down between Reigns and Triple H. 

There were without a doubt a lot of solid moments.

The main event match for the WWE World title at Battleground was announced - Fatal 4 Way - Cena Vs Orton Vs Kane Vs Reigns. Meh. Not particularly excited about this, Cena will 99.9% be winning, it doesn't make any sense story-line wise why Reigns is in this match. But it is, what it is. 

The cover of 2K15 was also revealed, surprise surprise...Cena!...Meh. The fact that no one in the arena cared or even Cena himself not making a big deal about the game, says it all.

Jericho returning was a massive surprise (to those who stayed clear of social media and the internet that is), I love Y2J and the fact that him and Bray will be working together is a call to be excited, looking forward to their promos/matches. Swagger confronting Rusev was a moment waiting to happen, never thought I'd hear such loud "Let's go Swagger" chants but it was something I had been waiting to see. The one thing I don't see though, is Rusev losing to Swagger. AJ Lee returning and beating Paige was definitely exciting, I think we saw a double turn...but I'm glad we saw the women get some mic time and be able to tell a story; I've been waiting for this for a while. This has the potential to be a great feud, given enough time and proper storytelling. Paige is a great, natural heel and her call up to the main roster has been stale, hopefully working with AJ can change this around. Ambrose preventing Rollins to cash in on Cena was great and verified what he said in his promo: "Listen puppet boy, from one scumbag to another, you don't really think this is over do you? Every time you even think about cashing in that contract, I'm gonna be there...I'm gonna haunt you...believe that" (this guy on the mic is incredible, I could listen to him talk for hours). The stare-down between Triple H and Reigns to end the show was definitely a big foreshadowing moment, I have no doubt that we'll be seeing these two go at it, one day, on Reigns' way to becoming a mega-star.

Overall, it was a good few days of wrassling and what I'm most looking forward to now is, SUMMERSLAM. It should be a solid, stacked card.

Until the next one!

Zara