Read on for my thoughts on last night's Raw.
I was really into the Taker/Brock segment. It took me a while to be excited about another Taker Mania match, but I'm there now. It could be a war.
Very impressed by Big E vs. Del Rio. Del Rio works incredibly hard and Big E seems to be finding himself more. In another four years he'll be 32 with eight years of experience. That's a pretty deadly combination for a potential main eventer.
I can see why they'd have Cena go over Bray at Mania, but I'd really love to see a big star-making moment for Wyatt. He could really be a big villain for WWE (like Barrett could have been before him).
I'm not sure what the point was of trying to make a stipulation for the Divas match before just making it another one-fall match. I half-expected Vickie to add herself or something to add something special to it. I think it's way too early for Raquel Diaz to debut. Anyway...
Summer Rae vs. Natalya was fine enough. It's pretty telling they're the focus of the Divas' Title match instead of, you know... the Divas Champion. She should have a big promo tonight.
Heel Haitch is such a guilty pleasure. So egotistical and dismissive. I keep thinking of Eric Bischoff's comment about how people don't want to boo HHH; they want to BE HHH. He can pretty much book himself in any top match with any top star, take up a lot of TV time, etc. I do think the ruthless beating of Bryan changed that, but often HHH is presented as being the smug cool kid who's above everyone else. He's definitely being presented as bigger than Batista or Orton at this point.
The ending was silly, but I enjoyed the eight-man tag. It is nice to see the Tag Team Titles given some importance. I wanted that damn Dumpster match at Mania between NAO and the Usos. I don't think there's enough juice in things for that feud to go on to Extreme Rules, but that match would be a great way to wrap things up for the Outlaws. Heck, NAO don't do live events anymore, so I don't anticipate things going that long.
Pretty good tag match. Fandango and Sandow's a pretty interesting pairing. I can see that being a successful comedy act.
It is pretty telling WWE's putting a 44-year-old Road Dogg, 46-year-old Kane and 50-year-old Billy Gunn in the ring at Mania. Of course, Batista's 45, Triple H is 44 and Taker's 49 and they're all in top matches. Age isn't everything, but it's worth noting the number of younger stars who could have been in big roles this year.
Wyatt vs. Truth was pretty much a foregone conclusion, but that's OK! They needed to build Bray before his match with Cena.
That post-match kicked ass.
I think AJ vs. Naomi in a Lumberjill match actually would have worked for Mania to culminate the "Total Divas" feud and play off Naomi's injury. Maybe they just didn't trust Naomi at that grand of a stage being so fresh from injury or plan to move the title to Tamina or something. Anyway, good match.
Until that ending line, the Cena promo was actually pretty good. I've mostly been happy with Cena as far as actually taking the feud seriously.
I liked the panel segment. It breaks up the LONG format of Raws.
I liked Reigns vs. Kane. I don't think I could handle a whole night of big guy matches with no Cesaros, Rollinses, etc. but I enjoy them here and there. I hope Reigns is a future star.
Good post-match to set things for Sunday.
That was kind of a disappointing use of Piper. I'm glad he was used, but his segments used to really mean a lot. That said, the action involved was pretty good. I'm a little surprised Rey and Sin Cara went after each other, but it is every man for himself. I think we'll get a surprise winner on Sunday. Show's too obvious. RVD? Rusev?
I mostly liked the main event. I'm glad Bryan got to have a big moment to close the show and maybe he'll get the same privilege at WrestleMania? He should leave with both titles held high.
More wrestling coming up.
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