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| Via WWE.com |
I paid attention here and there for the next few years, but usually I just stuck to the video games and the occasional episode of Smackdown for my fix. All my care for wrestling dissolved by the time I hit 7th or 8th grade. In high school I would get curious here and there and I was at least vaguely aware of what happened. I knew at least a little about Daniel Bryan and CM Punk because I still knew some wrestling fans, but didn't check them out in-depth. When I hit college, I started to get more involved in it. I bought a DVD of the WWE's best cage matches on a whim because it was like $5 at Wal-Mart and I love a good bargain. That made me remember just how dope wrestling is, and I would find myself in Youtube wormholes watching old Shawn Michaels or Hardy Boyz matches, though I didn't really care to check anything new out.
This past summer I finally bit the bullet. I heard about the opportunity for a free month of WWE Network and subscribed so I could watch all the PPVs my parents wouldn't let me buy as a kid. Eventually I got curious and checked out some newer matches, and became engaged in the new storylines, even though some of them were absolutely atrocious (I started watching just as the whole Ziggler/Rusev/Lana/Summer Rae love-rectangle became a thing... ugh). I've been watching near-religiously ever since.
Basically those introductory paragraphs were just me saying, "Hey there are a lot of gaps in my knowledge from 2005-2015 so bear with me please."
I promise my introductions won't be this long and wordy in the future. Actual RAW #analysis after the jump.
[Note: This is late due to busy schedule this week/the fact I didn't have this all planned out until like Tuesday. Gonna have this out Tuesdays from here on out, Wednesday at the latest]
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| Via WWE.com |
Well, That Went Downhill Fast
Raw started with a nice moment of silence for the victims of last weekend's terrorist attacks. The first full segment, though, was Undertaker and Kane cutting a promo on the Wyatt Family only to be interrupted by the Wyatts, who have converted Undertaker's druids to their ways. Taker and Kane then proceed to beat whatever jobbers are under the masks (Hi Heath Slater!). It's boring and seems pointless and doesn't get me excited for the match. Doesn't help that the Brothers of Destruction take like 10 whole minutes to make it to the goshdang ring.
Bray Wyatt was so awesome a few weeks ago. He was cutting promos about LITERALLY STEALING THE SOULS of The Undertaker and Demon Kane. That's awesome. It's silly, yeah, but WWE could benefit from being a little more out-there in its storytelling. It doesn't need to go full-Lucha Underground craziness, but I mean Undertaker and Kane have kayfabe-established supernatural powers, so you can do a storyline that's not exactly rooted in reality. This was fun.
And then last week Taker and Kane came out and pretty much no-sold the entire storyline. They're ok. They have their powers still. Now they just want to beat the hell out of the Wyatts, or really beat the hell into them, since they're literally threatening to send them to hell. I hope the Wyatts end up winning this week, because Bray Wyatt needs to win a feud sometime. I was dismayed when he lost to Reigns because I felt Bray needed it more, but he immediately rebounded when he captured the Taker. It was perfect. I just don't know how he beats the most overpowered character in WWE history and his Literal Demon Brother.
Also, why is this just a tag match? This had Survivor Series written all over it. The Wyatts already have four people on their team. I thought they were gonna keep kidnapping superstars. They started with Taker and Kane and attempted to take Ryback away, too. When they stopped kidnapping people, I thought somebody was going to come to their aid and team up for a Survivor Series match. Instead... it's just the Brothers of Destruction in a tag match against whatever two people Bray chooses? Okay, but this screams missed opportunity. I guess they just couldn't figure out how to tie the Brothers to anybody else to make it work? Whatever.
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| Via WWE.com |
A Look Into the Future
RAW has been pretty excellent since Hell in a Cell, largely because nearly everything seems to matter. That hasn't been the case for a while. You've had feuds like Sheamus vs. Randy Orton where the wrestlers are wrestling because they... want to wrestle each other? Maybe I'm being hyperbolic but I'm pretty sure every Sheamus/Orton promo was "I'M GONNA BROGUE KICK YOU FELLA" "NOT IF I RKO YOU FIRST" "BROGUE KICK" "RKO" BROGUE KICK" "RKO" ad infinitum.
Anyway, things like the tournament for the number one contender and now the WWE Championship tournament have given wrestlers reasons to fight each other aside from "I dunno they don't like each other I guess." Stakes are important and immediately add to the quality of the product, even if the end result is predictable. That's why John Cena's U.S. Championship run was great. Everybody knew Big Match John wasn't going to drop the title on some random episode of Raw, but the Open Challenge matches immediately had stakes which already made them better than SIX MAN TAG MATCH BETWEEN WHATEVER THREE HEELS AND FACES WE FOUND BACKSTAGE.
Kevin Owens and Neville is great. It's so great. Even if they didn't have stakes, it would be great, but I really didn't know where they were going to go with this. KO and Neville are the future of the company, and this was a great showcase of their abilities. Owens is such a great heel and I hope now that Rollins is out for a while that he gets a chance to shine as perhaps even the top heel in the company. Neville is just money in the ring. There are a lot of people who are sick of his formula, but I can't tire of his style. It's just amazing that this dude is doing what he does in the ring. The two of them have great chemistry as well. I wish Neville is given an actual storyline soon. His only real feud of consequence required him to play second fiddle to a television actor.
I kinda want to see these two fight more. They have a little bit of a history since they're both former NXT champs, but they could do more. I want Kevin Owens to hold onto the Intercontinental Championship and make it important until Sami Zayn is good enough to come back and can feud for the title. In the meantime, pair him with guys like Neville where he can have great matches like this. I just don't want the WWE to overlook perhaps two of the most talented people on the roster here. Neville especially needs to be a player above the lower-midcard.
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| Via WWE.com |
Breezing Over the Competition
Next, Tyler Breeze beats R-Truth in a match that basically only exists to showcase Breeze's talents and put him over a little bit. His one match so far was a good match against Dean Ambrose, and it's not like losing to one of the company's top stars means he's getting buried, but it's nice to see him get his first win. He's been on the main roster a few weeks but hasn't had a ton of time to shine in the ring.
The match has lesser stakes than most of the program, which did kind of affect its quality. I mean, nobody realistically thought that Old Man R-Truth was going to beat the young, up-and-coming talent. It also probably went on a bit too long, but it was fine. Breeze is always worth watching. I'm also a fan of the fact that WWE hasn't turned him into a joke, which could have easily happened with his gimmick. Though with JBL talking about Breeze's manliness at one point, that's still a threat.
My one complaint about Breeze is that I don't much care for the Beauty Shot. Everything he does in the ring is rad, but that move underwhelms me as a finisher. I think that the Supermodel Kick is a better finisher for him. Otherwise, I've heard he's been pulling out an unprettier as a finisher, which I like. I mean, you've got a dude nicknamed Prince Pretty using something called an "unprettier." That's a match made in heaven.
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| Via WWE.com |
Breakfast for Dinner
Dolph Ziggler and Dean Ambrose face off in the next tournament matchup, and it's great. Of the guys on the roster who are regularly working, they're two of the most over with the crowd wrestlers. Ziggler's just such a great worker and there's just something magnetic about Ambrose and how he wrestles that draws you in.
I don't have much to say about the match itself other than the fact that it's another great match in this tournament. The best part is after Ambrose wins, he cuts a promo about how things are going to change when he's champion. There's gonna be less talking, more fighting, more pyrotechniiiiiiiics, breakfast for dinner, and replacing Michael Cole with a fishtank.
I want Ambrose to win the whole thing just from this promo. I want the Raw after Survivor Series to just be WWE Champion Dean Ambrose making insane changes to the show. Ambrose gets to watch the show from a throne by the ringside. Byron Saxton and JBL are wearing clown outfits. They break halfway through the show and all the wrestlers have a roundtable discussion about the proper execution of a small package. There's a lion tamer. Please, WWE. We need this.
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| Via WWE.com |
Bootyade
You know an episode of Raw is good when the New Day aren't even the biggest highlight. For the past few months they've been by far the most consistent part of the show aside from maybe Kevin Owens. That's a hard "maybe," because it's almost definitely the New Day.
They cut a fun promo about how everybody is focused on the Undertaker's anniversary and not them, and Big E spouts the eternal words of wisdom that his grand-pappy gave him: "When life gives you booty, make booty-ade." I'm not sure what that means exactly, but I'm putting that phrase to daily usage.
They have a match against Ryback and the Usos, which is fine, I guess. Since I started watching again a few months ago, I didn't know much about the Usos aside from "Jimmy is bad on commentary." I'm not impressed. I love their energy, but they can't make turn that energy into something that makes me excited to actually see them wrestle in the ring. They're okay, I guess. You could do worse. The Usos are just kind of.... there. Ryback is the same way for me in a lot of ways, though he's had his moments lately (the match with Kalisto was great even though he lost). They're all fun and wear colorful clothes, but they don't do a lot for me beyond that.
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| Via WWE.com |
Hail Cesar(o) vs. the Roman Empire
Cesaro fights Roman Reigns and man oh man is it a fun match. As good of a match you'll see on RAW. It's head-and-shoulders above Neville/Owens and Ambrose/Ziggler, which is really saying something.
I've seen a lot of fans talking about how Roman always gets carried in his matches and this was the same and Cesaro carried it. I don't get it. Reigns isn't the best in the ring. He's not as great as a guy like Rollins who has crazy versatility, but he's not bad or even mediocre. He's good. Really good, even. His matches with Bray during that feud were awesome, especially the Hell in a Cell match. I know a lot of people don't like him because he was pushed too soon and his mic work is awful, but how many times does he have to have a great match until people realize that he's dope in the ring? I wouldn't even put that much blame on him for the promos. His delivery can be off sometimes, but half the time WWE is making his promos into recaps of what happened on the last few weeks of Raw. Nobody is going to be able to save some of the garbage they've given Reigns.
Anyway, this match is fantastic. Roman's the clear-cut favorite for the title, but the match builds Cesaro in a way that eventually suspends disbelief and makes you think he actually has a chance at beating the Golden Boy. This seems like a coming out party for Cesaro in a way, even if he lost. And I know that's been done before and then he just kinda sits there on the roster for a few months with nothing important. But it's getting to the point where he's so over with the crowd for his crazy offense that WWE will have to listen. He has potential to be Daniel Bryan 2.0. It looks like he's going to feud with Stardust eventually (or maybe Stardust has started the Stardust Section for no reason, because WWE doesn't know what to do with Stardust at all), and hopefully that will build him for a run with a minor title at some point.
I dunno if Cesaro will ever get quite the push Bryan did, but his fan support can make him mainstay of the upper-midcard for years if it keeps up. And he should be.
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| Via WWE.com |
In Case You Forgot to Go to the Bathroom During Commercial
The Dudley Boyz face the Ascension in a pointless match. How many times are the Dudleys going to squash the Ascension? The Ascension has never been built up as a threat beyond NXT, and the Dudleys are the most decorated tag team in the company's history. There's no way the Dudleys won't win. This match is just there to maybe get some pops for nostalgia's sake, I guess? They don't even put anybody through a table. It's just there. I was excited to see them back after SummerSlam, but WWE needs to figure out something to do with the Dudleys beyond the formula they've had going on. Their feud with the New Day was fun at times, but it's time to turn them into more than a nostalgia act if you're going to keep them around. I'd like to see them work heel since that seems more natural to them and there's like no heel tag team outside of the New Day (unless we're counting Wade Barrett/Sheamus as an official tag team)
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| Via WWE.com |
Nothing About Alberto Del Rio Is Working
Not every tournament match can do the same things that Cesaro/Roman did, but holy crap did Alberto Del Rio/Kalisto suck. I don't know how much more I can say than that. It sucked so much.
Alberto Del Rio doesn't look like he cares. His gimmick is terrible and confusing. What's the point of MexAmerica? Why is Zeb Colter talking about haters? Why can't the clearly talented ADR have anything even close to a decent match with anybody? Is it because he just came here to get paid a ridiculous amount of money and keep cashing checks until Cena takes the U.S. Championship back?
This match can be summarized by the moment when Del Rio accidentally unmasks Kalisto and spends the next few minutes awkwardly trying to put the mask back on him without making it look like he's helping Kalisto. It's awful. I'd rather have a million Dudley Boys/Ascension squashes than this. This is just a waste of talent. Kalisto has been so great and this was a perfect opportunity for him to have a great match. You can do what you did with Neville, Ziggler and Cesaro earlier in the night and give him a strong win.
But it never really had the chance to accomplish that. It never really had a chance to accomplish anything.
As a somewhat related note, I loved Triple H talking with the different contenders this week and trying to get them to join his side. His promo with Cesaro in particular was great. If Triple H is going to be a heel, you have to make it like this. Just have him be a smarmy boss who tries to make sure the top guy in the company is his guy. His work with Roman last week was great too. Don't have this tweener garbage where Triple H and Steph will pop the crowd and then be like NO ACTUALLY WE HATE YOU HAHA. It's the inconsistent, alignment-confused trash that has watered down the product recently. Go full-on heel or full-on face. The Authority is much more interesting this way.
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| Via WWE.com |
The Main Event: Well Then
Before I start talking about... what happened, I just want to say that it was cool that the women's contract signing got the main event on Raw. Hopefully soon they can build the division to the point where an actual match could fill that slot. If the main roster can even somewhat emulate what NXT has done with its women's division, it would be great.
Now, to the contract signing itself. I was into it. Charlotte was a little awkward in her delivery, but I was into it. Her talking about her history with Paige and their similarities as the daughters of wrestlers was good stuff and made it so a feud between two women on the show is something other than THEY'RE JEALOUS or ALL WOMEN ARE CRAAAAAZY or BECAUSE IT'S THE #DIVASREVOLUTION, MAGGLE.
Then it went off the deep end a little bit. Charlotte had mentioned the death of her brother Reid as an inspiration to her to become what she's become today, and then Paige uses Reid's death for heat. Charlotte was crying, and looked legitimately shaken up. She beat down Paige afterwards. It was uncomfortable all around.
Even with that level of discomfort, I was initially okay with it. That's because I severely seem to have overestimated the humanity of the WWE. I assumed that if the company wanted to use Reid as part of an angle, they would have enough tact to get the okay not only from Charlotte, but from her parents. I mean, you'd think they would have the courtesy to call up two-time Hall of Famer Ric Flair, perhaps the greatest wrestler ever, and tell him about the angle. From all reports, they didn't. Charlotte said yes to it, but it's hard to gauge how comfortable she really was with it. This seems like an instance where she said yes to the idea because of pressure (and that seems to be Ric's hypothesis).
The angle is fine if the family is fine with it. The family was not even contacted about it. That is bad and wrong and the WWE should be ashamed of itself for this. It was the cheapest of cheap heat and just left an overall bad taste in my mouth. I'm excited for Paige and Charlotte's match, but I hope they drop this whole business from the story.
FINAL GRADES:
After every write-up, I'm gonna grade each individual segment based on entertainment factor. These aren't gonna be too snooty about what gets high marks and what gets low marks. I like what I like and I don't like what I don't like. Something that gets an "A" doesn't necessarily mean it's a five-star match. It just means I was fully engaged/entertained through the whole match.
Undertaker/Wyatt Promo: C-
Kevin Owens def. Neville: A-
Tyler Breeze def. R-Truth: B-
Dean Ambrose def. Dolph Ziggler: A-
The New Day def. The Usos w/ Ryback: B
Roman Reigns def. Cesaro: A
The Dudley Boyz def. The Ascension: C
Alberto del Rio def. Kalisto: D+
Paige/Charlotte Contract Signing: F
OVERALL GRADE: C+ (that last hour really killed a great episode)
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