Read on for my thoughts on last night's Raw.
I'm really not looking forward to Big Show vs. Cena tonight. I've seen that match a number of times before, including more than ten years ago at WM20.
So-so opening segment. I'm glad Mizdow got some props.
I liked Rollins vs. Ziggler well enough, but I would rather have had Cena vs. Show here and those two headlining the show. It's time to put some new faces in the main event picture, and Rollins and Ziggler have been working incredibly hard to make their marks.
I'm a little surprised Sting's debut won, but I think the recency of it helped. It is a really big moment, though.
Kofi vs. Stardust was pretty good. They're both talented guys.
I liked The New Day having a post-match.
Taker's loss wasn't surprise of the year!? It should definitely be up for something else. John Laurinaitis is meh. Where the heck is Brad Maddox? He should be in charge!
I liked the segment between Rollins and Heyman. WWE should definitely position Mr. MITB as the future.
I liked Charlotte getting some attention before appearing. She'll do great.
Honestly, I've seen better from Charlotte. I was a little let down here. I don't know if it was nerves or what, but this wasn't the big debut I wanted from her. I would have liked for her to have squashed someone like Cameron to get people excited to see her defend her title at the NXT special. Either way, she did well enough for a first big match. I hope we see more of her on the main roster in 2015.
So-so post-match. Why not have Sasha Banks cost Charlotte the match or something to get people to tune in on the Network? Such a missed opportunity.
Not a big fan of Santino's segment. That's kind of weird...
I expected a longer Heyman promo. Wasn't there a Bellas segment they could cut?
REALLY good Wyatt/Ambrose stuff. I think they'll steal the show, although I'm sure Ziggler and Harper will make them earn it.
We've already had enough of Jerry Lawler tonight. Geez.
Really cool moment from AJ giving props to some underappreciated Divas. I hope WWE paid attention to her winning over Brie Bella.
I could not care less about the character of John Cena at this point. Even if he loses at TLC, it's not like he won't get another title match in a few months.
I liked Harper vs. Rowan well enough for setting up Harper's match at TLC. That's what it's all about at this point.
The post-match was good for setting up Rowan's stairs match. It's kind of paint-by-numbers here.
I liked the Usos/Naomi segment. There's good chemistry there.
I'm not looking forward to the "LOL moment" given WWE's comedy tastes.
Beautiful segment with Miz and Mizdow. They're great. The segue to Rusev vs. Swagger was really good, too.
Rusev will undoubtedly beat Swagger, but it should be a good match.
I look forward to The New Day vs. Goldust and Stardust. Two good teams.
Pretty good six-man tag. Mizdow has really earned his Slammy for his work in this role.
Not a bad post-match to use the celebrity appearance.
I'm glad Ziggler got a good moment there, but I think Bryan's win should have won. Maybe it's been long enough to have dropped out of people's minds in a way?
I think Summer Rae vs. AJ was good. Summer's pretty talented when they let her go.
Glad to see RVD again, even if it's just a cameo.
Nice moment for Fandango to steal the spotlight. I want to see him go against Y2J again.
Nice rib on Al Snow by Mick.
Not a bad Big Show promo. I still think Ziggler vs. Rollins should be the focus tonight.
Nice variety of talents to win Superstar of the Year.
I like there being guest GMs each week. I'm interested to see how Y2J does. I'm guessing he announces he'll be in the Rumble.
Big win for Roman. He's not whom I would have picked, but it's interesting he beat Cena. I'm sure the vocal minority will be VERY vocal of him winning and alleging some kind of conspiracy. That'll be fun...
Thank you, Seth Rollins, for stopping that match. That match was the time to do chants for Ambrose, Bryan, Ziggler, etc. to show people want change.
I really liked the ending, although it looks like we're in for Cena OVERCOMING THE ODDS yet again at TLC. Uggghhhhh....
More wrestling coming up.
Have you noticed of late how much the plotlines have revolved around the "face" wrestlers getting the upper hand over the "heels?" Not only in many tag matches of late, but take a look at Luke Harper for Exhibit A. The man has lost each match he has been in since winning the title. Since losing a huge match at Survivor Series, you'd think the WWE would try establishing a bit more credibility for the heels at this point. It just seems like the same old story again with Cena, too. I look forward to seeing your predictions for the upcoming pay-per-view.
ReplyDeleteI definitely think you can make the argument that Ambrose needs a big win at the pay-per-view more than most, if not all of the WWE roster. With Rollins getting the better of their feud, Wyatt's attacks, and Wyatt's win at the last pay-per-view, Ambrose definitely needs the win. I think Wyatt winning or even losing but looking strong would also be a good idea to keep him established as a force, but Ambrose needs a win here.
Which match are you most intrigued with the upcoming pay-per-view? I don't find the Big Show/Rowan match to be my top matchup, but it will be interesting to see who comes out on top of that match. Rowan is a bit up-and-coming while Big Show has always been looked up to by WWE and recently turned heel, so that should be an interesting outcome.
I'm a fan of Kane and feel Mark Henry shouldn't be losing squash matches to Ryback in 30 seconds, but I also feel the future of the company needs to be the focus here. It's clear WWE views Kane and Henry to be wrestlers who are on pay-per-view cards and main events, but will be used to often get wrestlers over and to lose those matches at this point in their careers.
By the way, you mentioned you would have not picked Reigns to win Superstar of the Year. Whom would you have would picked? I personally would have picked Rollins, but one of the negatives of a lot of these fan votes are they will be biased towards the "face" wrestlers. I'm not a fan of that.
ReplyDeleteI think it makes sense to have a period where the faces stand tall after the end of The Authority as the heels scramble to make up for the loss of their leaders. With Brock as champion, Rollins beating Ambrose at HIAC, more than a year of The Authority being in power and putting the screws to Bryan, etc., it's only fair for the faces to have some time to be on top before whatever the next big threat is.
ReplyDeleteI definitely think either Orton or Sting will help Cena win at TLC, so that's at least slightly different from Cena overcoming the odds on his own. I'm very tired of that story as well.
I hope Ambrose wins the Rumble, personally. Ambrose could win to set up Round 3 at Fast Lane on the road to Ambrose vs. Brock at Mania. They could also do Ambrose vs. Rollins at Mania for the briefcase, leading to Ambrose cashing in after a main event of Brock beating someone like Roman Reigns. But maybe Reigns has enough fan support to be the one to beat Brock. I was shocked to see him win Superstar of the Year given how much flak he gets online.
I'm probably most intrigued with Ambrose/Wyatt. I think it should go on last, especially if Cena's going to beat Rollins. We've seen more than enough Cena wins ending PPVs.
I hope Rowan gets the win. He's still growing as a competitor, but WWE's got something in him if they actually push him like he matters. Big Show should go away for a while in 2015 like he did during the firing angle. The character's done pretty much everything he can do.
Henry and Kane are both looking for "the next step" in their careers as far as not being wrestlers. 2015 will almost definitely be Henry's last full year as a wrestler. He'll probably take a backstage role after that. I don't know how much longer Kane will compete, but he's got other irons in the fire. I think to some degree he wants to go be Glenn Jacobs and talk politics, economics, etc.. He and his wife have an insurance agency. That said, he's a company guy. I don't think he's going to disappear just yet.
I imagine if Henry and Kane both gave attitudes of them being full-time wrestlers for another five years or something (injuries notwithstanding), WWE might use them differently.
As for the Slammy, Brock ended Undertaker's streak and dominated John Cena for the WWE Title. I think 2014 was his year in that sense. Bryan was out most of 2014, but he'd be my number two pick.