Read on for my thoughts on last night's Raw.
Booker T. makes sense for a replacement for Lawler in Texas.
I can buy the criticism people have about how there's now good reason to boo Cena, since he brought back The Authority. I wonder how his die-hard fans feel. The guy who said "never give up" panicked and gave in. Is this a moral crisis?
Rollins being added to the main event in the Rumble gives them an "out" to have Brock lose the title without actually being pinned. I think they might go that route, since there's fear Brock's on his way out after WM31. They can still have a big torch-passing moment of him losing at that show without him being WWE Champion one day and gone the next.
Overall, I liked The Authority's return. I'm sure I'll get tired of them again soon, but it's fine so far.
So, I'm glad Dolph had a good win and all, but I think that kind of hurt BNB's momentum to lose so quickly after returning. Also, I saw last week's return as a face turn for Barrett. Either I was mistaken or WWE shifted gears.
Ha. Nice heel move by Kane to keep the match going. I guess he's officially back as the director of operations. No surprise there. What does he do when The Authority's gone for good? I kind of assume we're in for something at WM31 where Sting beats HHH and they lose power with no condition of a return. But, you know, that's just rambling/speculation.
I missed Wasteland as a finisher. Barrett's been solid as a wrestler since NXT Season 1. He's just been missing a little something to get him into the top tier. I think he's continued to improve since those days, but he's kind of refining things from being a C+/B- to maybe a B+/A-. At some point, improvement is kind of incremental. When you're fresh out of the gate with only a few years of experience, there's a lot of room to grow. When you're onto your seventh or eighth year, it's a matter of getting better at things you're already proficient in.
Fall three of Ziggler vs. Barrett was pretty great. Ziggler does remind me of HBK in the ring (the superkicks help that association) - he's not the biggest dog in the fight, but he'll give it his all and go down swinging. I'm mostly OK with him dropping the title after only three weeks, since it sets the stage for him to move higher up the card. Hopefully BNB does well as champ.
I remember Cena's debut. It simultaneously feels like just yesterday and a LONG time ago.
Ha. Reigns does use the Superman Punch, so that promo's appropriate. Will Super Reigns be more tolerable than Super Cena?
I liked Bray's promo. I imagine he'll be in the Royal Rumble with Dean.
Interesting Ascension promo. No idea why they have this gimmick instead of what they had in NXT.
Squash match! Fine for what it was. They can work longer matches, based on their NXT work. They're not green, just being... protected, I guess?
I'm good with that Lana/Rusev promo. When will we see that European Title Lana posted a picture of?
They skipped Cena winning the U.S. Title at WM20. That was a big milestone for him before he became WWE Champion. Maybe they don't want to draw attention to the fact Cena was wrestling Big Show 11 years ago and that really hasn't changed.
Yeah, I'm pretty tired of Reigns vs. Show. Sometimes the period between TLC and the Rumble can drag.
I liked the post-match, for what that's worth. They should do a big gimmick match to blow if off before both of them are in the Rumble.
Raw being live in India is a pretty cool milestone. I wonder how much the WWE Network is there?
Thank you, "Total Divas", for ruining Paige. I'm glad AJ's not on there. I can only imagine what her character would be.
So-so Divas match. I feel like they had 50 segments planned for tonight. Some things are going pretty quickly.
Not a bad post-match. Do we need another talent doing superkicks, though? That move's been pretty overexposed lately.
Good Ambrose promo. I hope there are more like him out there. NXT's got some bright spots in that regard. I can't wait to see what 2015 holds for Kevin Owens and Finn Balor in particular.
Rowan vs. Harper was kind of meh. It was much more about story than I would have liked.
Good post-match. I think there are about 98 members of The Authority now.
I remember Cena being drafted well. If only we knew how much Cena domination was to come...
The Divas booking has been pretty bad since "Total Divas" became a thing. I hope that's what that audience wants, because I sure don't want to see it.
Cool look back at Ambrose/Wyatt.
Wyatt vs. Ambrose was pretty insane, but I expected nothing less from those two. Both men are "keepers" and are grabbing the brass ring. They should have big years in 2015.
I liked the six-person tag well enough. The Miz/Mizdow tandem continues to be fun. Could be a fun feud!
Fine use of Kane again. HHH and Stephanie haven't been overexposed tonight, thank goodness.
Pretty good handicap match. Rollins remains unable to win a singles match clean, but I guess they could have booked him worse.
I couldn't care much less about Paige vs. Nikki. I think it will be good, though.
Interesting match result. At least it didn't hurt Big E.
I half-expected it to be Goldust and Stardust under there, but this is a welcome change of pace. I'm sure Kidd and Cesaro will lose, though...
Good heel move by The Authority. I hope this is just to fill some TV time before those three are back in The Rumble. Sting can bring them back, although I don't know how they can make that make sense.
More wrestling coming up.
No comments:
Post a Comment