Post Wrestlemania 31/RAW thoughts

This will not be a typical review, as all of those have already been written about what went on on the "Grandest stage of them all" and you can find lot of truth in them, if you look through the fingers. I decided to wait with writing anything about the event until the motions cool down, until I get the fallout from the RAW next day, until everyone who has anything to say about it, already said everything they had to say about it. I needed my time to think. 

With pretty much almost all that is to say about the even already been said, I can focus on thoughts, rather than events themselves and I do like to be in that kind of situation. In the past days there has been a lot of praise being sent to the WWE on the what we witnessed and some of it is earned, I will not dwell on the hypocrites that went out of their way to flack WWE for everything and now are almost bending over to suck their managerial penis. I am not one of those people. I never saw this years Wrestlemania as a tragedy, but a very uninspired period of time in sports entertainment, my mind has not been persuaded to think otherwise and I can still see past the smoke and mirrors. 

When it comes to what went on on Sunday, as I expected, everything was rather average, mediocre even at times. And still, a bunch of people liked it, some even say this was the best even in year. That is just lying to yourself, but let's leave the delusions of some for a different day. Maybe they feel so good about it, because in comparison the previous months were just bad overall? Maybe. Among the matches we got, there was a lot of good work done and no one can deny it. My gripe is not with the wrestlers, not with the performers, not with the commentators (kind of), not with the referees. I have a problem with how those in charge decided to write the scenarios and book the matches.  Now I see no reason to really talk about every match, but there is a few that just don't sit right.

The match 14 years in the making was pointless, no, really, think about it. When you had Triple H and Sting in the ring, you expected to get some kind of motivation, any kind of threat, have the stakes high and there wasn't anything like that. We got an ok match from the craft point of view. Taking into account the age of both men participating, it was better than most expected and that's a good thing. What wasn't a good thing was the intervention in the middle of it. Sure it was a nice thing to see, New World Order vs. Degeneration X, one problem with this one though... Everyone in that set up, except for Hulk Hogan, is good friends with Triple H. There was no reason for Hall and Nash to go out there to help Sting... None, nada, null. And due to respect I have to all involved I will not dwell on how bad it looked when all those guys, CLEARLY pass their prime got into each others faces. It was bad, and I will leave it at that. Some say it was a nostalgia moment, I say it was just a waste of the weeks we spent watching the build for this match in the past weeks. Not only that, but the ending for this match made me feel disgusted with what I saw, honestly - and I am not even exaggerating - I almost turned off Wrestlemania completely. Triple H winning was a slap to the face in it's own merit, showing that since they own Sting now, they will shit even more, than they already did in the past years, on WCW. They bought the company all those years ago and now they own Sting as well. What made the ending even more stupid and sad, was that Sting after a loss due to taking a shot with a sledgehammer to the head, just stood up and shook hands with the old Big Nose. Sure this isn't unheard of between rivals to happen, but the circumstances made it just an idiotic gesture to make. And no, I will not look at this through nostalgia goggles. Adding insult to injury after RAW the next day in an interview Sting said that he hopes WWE has anything else for him to do and if they don't that would be a shame. That just makes me shake my head... The Icon Sting pretty much just bent over and took WWE's cock up his ass and begged for more. 

I was correct on the outcome for the Cena-Rusev match and I am happy I had been. The match was a very decent one and the outcome really gives us a lot of opportunities for the future. Having Cena carry the US title very effectively takes him out from the main event picture for at least a few months. At the same time it releases Rusev to start moving up, since he quite effectively grew out of midcard status and needs to go to bigger things. We definitely will get a rematch, most likely at Extreme Rules and I do hope the results from Mania stay. Of course now that Rusev is no longer the undefeated, like it or not, WWE will have to tweak his gimmick or he will fall into obscurity. Another good thing about what happened is that now we will really be able to see if Rusev can create a more three dimensional character outside of "Me Russian, me better than American". That is really the guy I am worried about being ready for the big leagues.

The guy I am not worried about being ready on the other hand is the guy everyone was saying he isn't, Roman Reigns. In the match with Brock he showed us that he is capable of hanging around with the big dogs and despite what the haters constantly tried to say about this, the match was exactly what you should expect to become. Some say Roman almost got no offense in and while that is the truth, those people don't see the bigger picture. Brock Lesnar was the problem here, he was booked so strong in the past year that there wasn't really any other way to write this match. Lesnar had to be this dominant beast and any offense Reigns got in only made sense after he wounded Brock and got him staggering. It also showed that while Reigns didn't get too much attack, he held up to the suplexes and blows Lesnar was dishing out, which - like it or not - bought him a couple extra supporters. The cashing in by Rollins was also a good move by WWE, in a way they ate the cake and still got the cake. Lesnar no longer can hold WWE hostage, we will finally against see the champion more then once every few months and it wasn't Reigns that took the title of Lesnar. Pretty much everything the fans had problems with solved. And I'm ok with that. What transpired the next day personally I would book completely different. Rollins comes out and brags about winning the title, then we have Lesnar come out and nervous Rollins. Lesnar says "Don't worry boy, I'm not here to hurt you. Enjoy your five minutes of fame, I have a rematch for that *points at the title* so keep that in mind, but today I have other business to finish. Rollins leaves and Lesnar calls out Reigns. That way we could have Seth focus on the angle with Orton to build up some credibility he lost after being booked like a bitch for months and Roman gets more time to build his position up as the top babyface in the company. 

The story they made is not something I like, but I guess we have to deal with it now.

I am not going to write too much about the Battle Royal outside of that it was booked really badly. Hideo Itami who made his debut in main roster got the bitch treatment in his first showing to a big part of WWE fans and got easily disposed off. Cesaro, the winner of the match the previous year didn't even make it to final three, Ryback and Mark Henry got eliminated quickly, Kane almost haven't done anything and was there pretty much just to be there, Sandow who essentially should have won this - since they actually are doing something with his character - lost to Big Show, for whom this win means pretty much nothing and will be worth next to nothing by the next few months.

Outside of that, there isn't anything I really felt like saying. The "oh-so-hyped" by the IWC ladder match did not deliver and in terms of ladder matches, which always been a cluster fuck, was pretty dull. It was good overall, but was not a show-stealer, as was supposedly meant to happen. Randy vs. Rollins was good, Tag Team match was fun as usual, Diva match was... there, Taker vs. Wyatt lost a bunch by having the match happen before sun went down and due to Bray's injury. 

Where to go now? I have some ideas, but since it's clear WWE will do anything they feel like doing, regardless if it makes sense or not, I will bring them up when I will feel they are appropriate to share. 

When it comes to Wrestlemania this year we definitely didn't get the spectacle we all wanted to get and the build up to it was lacking as well. It didn't have much of the "special" feeling. The RAW after Mania had also grown certain type of expectations to it and it was barely above the usual. Supposedly the Mania and after Mania crowds are the best and all I wanted to chant at them was "overrated" and when they started the chant that they are awesome all I said was "oh get over yourselves, we had better crowds on regular RAWs".

Road to Blandness - Wrestlemania 31 Predictions & Raw Thoughts

So here we are, finally Wrestlemania is here and it's time to get excited...? I would, but I have a hard time doing just that. When it comes to the event, for the first time in a long time, I really don't know who will win in any of the matches and that's not a good thing. But wait, you'd ask, Joe... Isn't this what you've been bitching and moaning and whining and crying and ranting about for the past 5 years or so in different outlets? For wrestling to not be so predictable? And you'd be right, I have been talking a lot about that, but it's not that simple as you think.

You could have Vincent Kennedy McMahon come out to the ring, take his pants off and dip his penis in cow urine for an hour while humming the "Four Seasons". Would you expect that? No, no you wouldn't expect that to happen. I'm sure there would be some people that would find that entertaining, but most of us would not. Just because something is unexpected and unpredictable, does not mean it's good and doesn't really mean that anything of quality can come from it.
Wrestling is a very specific form of art, it needs the heroes, it needs antagonists, it needs to have people that the crowd can get behind and cheer, there is a need for favorites. And that is the problem right there, the story build ups for the line up sucked balls. You need to give people a clear hero of the story and a clear villain, a probable winner and a most likely loser, that is how wrestling works since the very beginning. People need that to care about what is going on, if they don't have a favorite to win, they won't get invested in the story and won't care about the match. And I am not talking about a clear jobber fighting a monster-beast. You achieve that through logic and intelligent storytelling. You need to think what impact certain things will have on the progression of your characters and at the end of the day, you need to make people care one way or the other. That is where the builds failed badly this year. None of the match-ups produced what I am talking about here, what's worse, none were even build to make someone look strong.

Everyone is so anal about Roman Reigns being booked to look strong, but seriously look what did they do to him. While he won the Rumble, but the ring was cleared mostly by Kane and Big Show and in the end even the Rock was helping him. He lost matches on RAW, he got beat up a couple times and while there were a few times when he got the upper hand, there was never really a moment when he was booked to "look strong", cause "just" winning matches doesn't do that. Brock Lesnar on the other hand has been booked way too strong, maybe rightfully so, but when you write a character to be basically indestructible, you create a problem, a huge problem for the future. Who is going to beat the monster-beast that chewed through everyone along it's path? Starting to get it? In wrestling there are only two types of characters that could do it and it would be done the right way. Someone equal or the ultimate underdog, problem is Roman Reigns is neither. He isn't even that big of a guy honestly and yet, he is still booked as the powerhouse, here's a hint, he's not. There was a few way to book Roman the right way and WWE went the way of doing it wrong. I'm not a hater, Roman could be great in the position he currently is, but not as the character he currently portraits. That being said, with the news of Lesnar staying with WWE, anything could happen in this match, with this match and after this match.

The match internet fans seem to be most excited for is the ladder match for the Intercontinental championship. Why? Because it has in it the biggest amount of internet darlings in wrestling world today. But the build for this one was just plain stupid. I am not going to go into details about that after Fast Lane there is no room in this for Dean Ambrose, who lost the first match for the title, therefore doesn't even deserve a rematch for it - that already is up in my review from that event. Like I already wrote before, the story here was utterly garbage and just pointless. For weeks we had Wade Barrett lose matches with current participants and for weeks we had the Intercontinental title being stolen and being passed out like in a game of hot potato. That was dumb. Apparently, because everyone wasted Barrett ass, they gained the status of number one contenders to the title. After that the belt itself was just a marker for the crowd, "oh, he holds the title, he is in the match". Why it was dumb? Because it didn't change anything. At the end of the day you could give the belt to a million people in a row and still the champion will be Wade Barrett. It's not like a few years ago with the Hardcore Championship, where there was a 24/7 rule, and the champion was constantly defending the title. No, here only the hands holding the strap changed, which ultimately still belonged to Barrett. Quality-wise, this match most likely will be the match of the night, simply because there will be enough people to provide a good amount of fast paced action, but it feels rushed and sloppily slapped together.

Something a lot of fans was waiting for, including myself, was the debut of Sting. He was one of my top five in the '90s and his "Crow" character to this day is my favorite gimmick of all time. I can only speak for myself, I was excited to finally see Sting in WWE. And then reality started to kick me in the testicles, crushing one dream after another, giving back the regular mush that is known as the "WWE treatment". Everyone wanted to see Undertaker face Sting, even if they wouldn't be fighting each other, even if it would only mean that they will stand in the ring, one time, first time for the last time. We will not get that, instead the egomaniac himself, Big Nose Triple H had to make it once again, all about himself. For weeks we had Triple H come out and talk how he destroyed WCW, how Sting was afraid to come to WWE due to HHH being there. He made it all about himself and about WCW vs. WWE. That was the worst way to push this story. Instead of focusing on what Sting did since appearing at Survivor Series, they made it about the past, 14 years back to the past. And now, we are to believe and get excited about a match that doesn't have any bearing on the present whatsoever. The could make it a power struggle, they could make it as Sting vs. Authority and even push it through till Summerslam, they could make Sting the General Manager of RAW, they could make Sting a guardian for a young star that fights against Authority, they could have done so many things differently and so much better with Sting... But no, the aging, egocentrical asshole that only got to where he is, because he fucked the boss's daughter gets the spotlight once again, from fear of getting irrelevant, again. This match is only about what Triple H did to WCW and Sting is - as he said - taking HHH down. Bull. Shit.

Can someone tell me why is WWE ruining everything good they have and making it as mediocre as possible? I already ranted about the Rusev-Cena situation, so I won't go into that too deeply again. This could've been a very good build to most likely a decent match. There was a chance for Rusev to finally move on to bigger, better things with the feud involving John Cena. It didn't start as some guy coming to the rescue of USA and we actually saw the human side of Cena as well, with his age and credo being questioned as he was put in a situation where his being even on Wrestlemania wasn't certain. There was actual potential. And then someone decided to pull the plug and to run the back up "USA vs. Russia" usual menu. The resolve for the uncertainty was solved in two weeks and the focus switched entirely to the great, american hero fighting against the big, bad russian. There is just nothing more I could add. They had an unpolished gem that needed some work and instead they decided to play around with turds.

Going down the card, you could maybe notice that I almost always skipped over Bray Wyatt segments. No it's not because I didn't notice them. It's because there wasn't exactly too much to say about them. Bray Wyatt, with the absence of the Undertaker, had to carry the whole feud for weeks and he did a good job doing so. Problem is, we didn't see the Undertaker even once the whole time. Which means that however he looks like and in whatever shape he currently is, we are going to have to make out our minds about it when we see it. I didn't exactly see anything wrong on Bray's part, just when his opponent was nowhere to be seen, he couldn't exactly build upon him, react to him, so the promos were kind of the same, the Bray Wyatt-ish mumbo-jumbo as always. If this is the last match for the Undertaker, which is entirely possible, I really don't have any feelings about it, one way or the other.

Randy vs. Seth, another one with the potential for a slow build and great payoff, again, wasted for the immediate gratification and polarization. Randy Orton should have slowly shown signs that he doesn't want to be in Authority, get angry at people messing him up and eventually explode at everyone. But not after a week or in one episode, but gradually. And what was the point of the beat down all around the arena? That is something you save to blow off a feud, that is what you do when you want a heel to get over at the start of an angle or a face to end one. Both Randy and Seth are good in-ring performers and we could get a very nice match. The problem is that there is no point really. They won't top the beat down Seth got and they won't erase the fact Orton already made Rollins his bitch. Plus with Seth being the poster boy of Authority, we all know this is not going to be a clean match, which for me personally, sucks on a whole different level.

So them tag teams, ain't a whole lot of them, aren't there? Yeah... I don't want to dwell on either tag team match nor the Diva match, because it makes me sad. The tag match will be a 4 tag team match for the championship and that is almost all the active tag teams in WWE, currently. With the Divas championship match it's going to be the another variation of Bella Twins vs. AJ Lee/Paige, AGAIN. I really enjoy tag team wrestling and women wrestling, it can be done so truly great, just... not in WWE. The tag match while entertaining won't really matter, cause every team involved will get a shot sooner than later - due to the limited amount of possible contenders and the Diva match regardless of the result will still mean we will get a Nikki Bella vs. AJ/Paige for the title later. It's so hard to really care, it honestly makes me sad to think about it.

And lastly the battle Royal with everyone we couldn't fit in the main card or the ladder match, because on Wrestlemania everyone gets a paycheck. I have bad memories after the Battle Royal last year, when we had Cesaro win it, get over, and then crash and burn. I certainly don't want that to repeat.


Like I wrote above, I really don't have a clear "in my mind this guy is winning/losing" candidates. For every question "who?" and "why?" I could give an answer opposite to the one given here and still believe in what I'd say.

Predictions: 

WWE World Heavyweight Championship: Brock Lesnar vs. Roman Reigns
Winner: Roman Reigns
Why? Because WWE needs to create new main eventers for the long haul and they have to start somewhere. Plus Rollins cashing in on Roman - regardless if it's going to work or not - is a better choice than doing that on Lesnar. And let's face it, Roman needs this more than Brock.

United States Championship: Rusev vs. John Cena
Winner: John Cena
Why? Everyone has to lose someday and Rusev is not an exception. If he doesn't lose this, there is no one else to face at his level. He needs to lose this belt to move up to the main event. And what better place to do it if not at Wrestlemania? If Rusev won't lose this, he will be stuck in mid card, that he already grown out of for a long time. Plus this gives both men something to do on the next PPV with a rematch for Rusev.

Intercontinental Championship: Wade Barrett vs. Dean Ambrose vs. Daniel Bryan vs. R-Truth vs. Dolph Ziggler vs. Stardust vs. Luke Harper
Winner: Daniel Bryan
Why? He is the most popular guy here and with the way WWE antagonized it's fans due to Bryan's booking, they have to give them something back. Plus Daniel has a DVD coming out, so why not use that as a marketing tool.

WWE Tag Team Championships: Tyson Kidd & Cesaro vs. Los Matadores vs. The New Day vs. The Usos
Winners: Kidd & Cesaro
Why? Because it doesn't matter. There are 4-6 tag teams in main roster WWE, depending on how you look at it. And every one of them is going to get their shot, eventually.

Undertaker vs. Bray Wyatt
Winner: Bray Wyatt
Why? Because it's most likely the last match for the Undertaker and in wrestling it's a common thing for the retiring wrestler to lose his last match thus putting over the guy beating him. And honestly, that isn't the match people will remember Undertaker for.

Sting vs. Triple H
Winner: Sting
Why? Because WWE wants to have Sting in their Hall of Fame, and they can't since Sting never worked for them. Plus Sting in the past was very protective of his character, so I doubt he would come to WWE only to lose.

Randy Orton vs. Seth Rollins
Winner: Randy Orton
Why? Because Rollins will get DQ'ed. Not much else to say here really. This story was empty, they didn't have time to set it up and they wasted the time they had.

Bella Twins vs. Aj Lee & Paige
Winners: Aj Lee & Paige
Why? Because like with tag teams, it doesn't matter. We have literally a few active women performers in WWE so no matter who wins this, it doesn't change a thing.

Battle Royal for the "André the Giant Memorial" Trophy
Winner: Damien Sandow
Why? Because give credit where credit is due, he's put up with a huge load of crap in the last year. He should win this, because he deserves to win this.

Monday Night RAW 9th March 2015

I am beginning to lose all hope I ever had in WWE. I admit, I should see that earlier, but sadly, they just can't help themselves from fucking something up. We are in the "Road to Wrestlemania" period of time and excitement and interest should be surrounding us. The storylines should be plentiful and everyone should be waiting in anxiety for the day of the big event. It's not like that, it's not like that at all, and that is entirely WWE's fault.

The match everyone is talking about, the WWEWHC match, for all the wrong reasons isn't even that bad itself. Sure, it may not cater to what the internet fans wanted, but on the other hand - as I stated before - it the first Wrestlemania in a long time where WWE actually invested their time into creating a new main event guy. Some people say Roman is not ready, I say, we will see how ready he is. The worst thing that could happen is WWE will get burned and maybe that will give them something to think, or maybe it won't on the other hand... For me personally this match is annoying for entirely different reason. I hate the build up, I hate the stakes we have here. Do you even care that the match is for the title? WWE certainly doesn't care, since all they do is put constant emphasis on whether or not Lesnar will be beaten, as if Brock himself was the championship.

The next match that for some stupid reason they decided to let all steam out of is Randy Orton vs. Seth Rollins. We KNEW that it will happen, no one had any doubts about it, but was it really necessary to have a beat down now? The match will still happen, there is no question about it, but after that beat-down, is there even a point to it? Seth Rollins had his ass handed to him and stuffed down his throat. That is not the way a feud should start, or is it restart...? Anyways, that is something you leave for a blow off, cause how do you top it? Where do you go from here? Whatever they will do will be overshadowed by what happened on RAW. Randy made Rollins his bitch and fucked him hard, that is what I will remember about this feud.

And going to the only match I am actually interested in, or maybe I should say "was", since they did exactly what I said they shouldn't do with the Cena vs. Rusev story. They decided to make it about "America". They had a nice build up, interesting situation and even despite the fact title was kind of omitted, it was intriguing. But we can't have that, can we now? No, we cannot, we have to suck USA's penis until it blows. So now we get pretty much exactly the same story as with Jack Swagger, as with Mark Henry, as with Big Show, just the player in it is more important then before, cause Cena still matters. In this episode we saw Lana agree to a match with Cena and they could always use that as an argument that it was her and not Rusev who agreed, as was stated by Stephanie. I don't know anymore, I just lost interest.

The Triple H vs. Sting match is simply put, stupid. Are we really making this just about WCW? A long time too late for this to have any kind of bearing on anything. It should have been about the power, about who controls the company, about something that people that were not even a sperm at that time could relate to. This kind of match, with that motivation, with that reasoning and that kind of build up is just stupid.

Have you noticed how most people involved in big matches for Wrestlemania are simply put not there? While I do understand and kind of agree with the decision to hide Undertaker until the last moment, he isn't the only person that is treated like that. We have Lesnar, who comes around when he pleases, Undertaker, who understandably is built up for a return and then we have Sting, who we saw I think 3 times in the entire feud with Triple H. While mute Sting had his charm, they had to ruin it with a bad promo about WCW and a match 14 years in the making. Who are they trying to kid?

Is it sad that in this episode we saw almost the entire tag team division of WWE main roster in 2-3 matches? And is it sad that we had two Diva matches and I can't force myself to care, even though I try very hard. I really do. Oh yeah, and of course let's not forget about the game of hot potato with the IC belt. Is there an actual reason for this? I mean, we had in the history the Hardcore Championship, which was defended on a 24/7 rule, but then you always had a champion holding it. Now that IC belt is just a marker to let know the audience who will be involved in the title match. Just because someone holds the belt doesn't make him a champion, Wade Barrett still holds that title, belt or not. To the match he still will come out as the Intercontinental Champion. So stealing it, is pretty much, say it with me, ENTIRELY POINTLESS.

Overall this episode was a huge let down on so many levels. It failed in almost every aspect and this close to Wrestlemania, that is sad. But I will end on a positive note. The video material for that Connor kid, that was nice, got me a little teary eyed. And Stephanie talking in the video, I smiled and said to myself "Girl, you are such a mom". I'm not heartless, emotionless machine - even if I might seem like it sometimes-  it moved me and that's not a bad thing.

Monday Night RAW 2nd March 2015

The RAW this week showed clearly why we are not on the "Road to Wrestlemania" and instead we found ourselves on the "Road to Nowhere". In theory we do have things going on, a lot of things going on, but in practice that late into the calendar before Wrestlemania, the most interesting part of the show was an appearance from Jon Steward. 

Booker T during the tag team match summed up the situation of tag team wrestling in WWE perfectly "It's not about the titles, it's about if you mess with my wife you mess with me". And I don't have anything against a storyline like that, I really don't. It sucks monkey tits, but when the tag team never do get any attention, some form, any form, of a story is welcomed. The problem is that this is a story between tag team champions, and saying it has nothing to do with the championships? That is just sending the titles on the fast lane (pun intended) to what Madusa did with WWF Women Championship in WCW. They are sending those titles to a dumpster, they already removed almost every tag team from the roaster, so what is the point of the titles if there is no one left to fight for them?

On the other hand we have a weird situation with the Intercontinental Championship, where it seems everyone can have a shot at the title as long as they steal the strap from the actual champion. Seriously. R-Truth, Dean Ambrose, Luke Harper, Daniel Bryan, Dolph Ziggler... Apparently all you needed to do, to get a title shot around here is just take the belt and BAM! You have a shot. Remember when I was writing about Fast Lane? I said that if Wade Barrett wins, Ambrose has absolutely no reason anymore to be anywhere near that title. I was wrong, what was I thinking trying to apply actual logic to WWE booking. And for the champion, Barrett doesn't hold his championship very often, doesn't he? He doesn't win much either. On the side note, did you notice how Luke Harper basically looks like Dean Ambrose's dirty uncle? They both play a crazy character, they both come out in jeans and white-ish/gray-ish shirt, hell, even their theme songs in a way are similar. 

The story I found very interesting, the situation between John Cena and Rusev is still the match I am waiting the most for. The problem with this match is the same problem I have with Brock Lesnar overall. Rusev is the champion, United States champion, right? Then why the whole thing isn't about the title? I get it, Cena wants to win and his focus isn't on the belt, but why shouldn't it be? Either way I actually liked what they did with Stephanie coming out and telling Cena that if he wants Rusev, he has to make Rusev want him and if he doesn't get Rusev to agree to a match, Cena will not be at Mania this year. Now let's not kid ourselves here, the match will happen, but depending on what direction they will take it could lead to some character changes in both of them - and that wouldn't be a bad thing.

Moving on, I have to admit, in this episode I saw Roman Reigns the way I want Roman Reigns to be, sadly it was just at the end of RAW after the match with Rollins ended. His facial expression was pure perfection and his eyes went all crazy. After that it was pure destruction. That is what this character needs to be, not some lovey-dovey good guy who loves everyone, but reall badass, who might lose a match, but will make his opponent remember him for a long time. Keep Reigns like that and it will definitely win fans over, cause that is where he shines, fast paced, high impact moves and ground-pound style of in-ring work. 

Speaking of Rollins, the story between him and Orton seem to be developing slower then anticipated, but that might be for the better, not to have it fired on all cylinders at this point yet, but slowly build it up before it goes down. Honestly it might even be a good idea to keep them apart only hinting at a confrontation until the last moment. 

Did I forget about something? Oh right, AJ's return. She came back to save Paige from Bella Twins and no one cared, at least that is how it seemed, since every moron in the arena was chanting CM Punk. Guess who is going to have tag team matches for the reminder of pre-Mania season? 

Monday Night RAW 5th January 2015

Nothing feels as good as a good old fashion bullshit. No, I am serious, there isn't a thing like the feeling you get when you're pissed off right at the start of the new year. I will assume you know me enough or at least read the title to know, that I am talking about last episode of RAW.

I really am not sure what angers me more, the rehashed storylines, the constant stupidity in booking or maybe, just maybe, the fact TNA did put up a far superior show for much less money. I will admit here I do not watch all wrestling, there is a lot of it these days and I don't have the chance to see it all and TNA was something I was skipping for quite some time now. Not that I don't know what was going on there and who is who, I used to watch it a year or two ago, so I was not completely in the dark. But this is not about that, one thing to say is that it was a far better show.

The first signs that RAW will suck came last week, when we saw the stupidely-idiotic story of breaking Edge's neck and the return of Authority. I should've known better, I did know better, I knew it would end up like it. WWE is not capable of making things like this work. But, let's start from the beginning... 

We all knew that Authority will return, Cena was given that power for a reason, the problem here though is that it was done too early. We just got rid of them, we just had Dolph Ziggler crowned a hero of WWE, he go a prize for match of the year... Ryback was still moving forward, regaining momentum he lost, slowly getting actually better and Eric Rowan, well... He didn't fully failed yet... All in all everything is heading the right way. So, since everything is going the way it should be going, let's completely change the scenery and fuck it up. Why? Because soap opera writers, that's why.

Of course we had to get a tired, eye-rolling, revenge story from Triple H and Stephanie, again. Wasn't the whole build up to Survivor Series a revenge story? Authority was punishing team Cena for joining John in the first place? Yeah, that rings a bell, doesn't it? And now, mere 6-7 weeks later we get the same thing, again. Dolph Ziggler was forced to put his title on the line against the returning Wade Barrett. While I have nothing against Bad New Barrett, I do believe having Kane interfere in this match making it a 2 out of 3 was just insulting to Dolph. Some could say that WWE took away the IC title from Dolph, because he will be pushed further up. Now, while I do admit it is an option, it will not happen anytime soon. The next special event will see Cena fight and - according to rumors - win the WWEWHC title. That means Lesnar would get a rematch sometime in the future. What about Daniel Brian? Roman Reigns? Seth Rollins? There are people already up in the food chain, that will get the main title push before Ziggler gets it. Plus the whole "firing" angle from the end of the show is just stupid.

Those are exactly the reasons why this angle just doesn't work. There is too many top names involved, and they are names that do need to be pushed now. Plus with all of them surely going into Royal Rumble, there is no way they will stay away for longer then a week or two. Especially with people like Ryback involved, who simply put, needs the exposure. Everything combined not only made the Survivor Series match basically worthless, but will also render whatever will happen now, that's right, completely pointless. 

And that is what you get when you let soap opera writers write a wrestling show. You get predictability, redundancy, nonsense and constant rehashing of old ideas. 

Moving on, I was kind of high on the Ascension debut, last week, kind of... Then they came out this week and more then less made themselves a pair of Road Warriors wannabees. Maybe what they do works better at an NXT event, where you have the same people every time, always chanting, always active, but their shtick just doesn't cut it in the main roster. They seemed sluggish and not at all interesting. I still wish them luck, but I don't know anymore. 

Dean Ambrose lost another storyline, this time to Bray Wyatt. Is WWE trying to make him fail? Cause he is on the way down, not only going down, but spiraling down with open arms. Why? 

It was just not good overall, everything reused, rehashed, burned out, used out, worthless, pointless, stupid. And that is seriously, seriously sad. WWE with their millions and millions could do far, far better. We have so many problems here that I don't even know where to start pointing them out. 

Monday Night RAW 29 December 2014

Here we are my friends, the last RAW of the year and my review on the last day of the year. Sorry for lack of review last week, but I did have other things on my head and they were indeed more important. Anyways, last RAW of 2014 came and went and... it fucking sucked! 

In this episode we had a very good match between the Usos and Miz with Sandow, a return of Wade Barrett and a debut of the tag team - Ascension. That is the positive part of what I had the opportunity to watch. The problems are in the same places as they usually are and due to new year coming, I don't really feel like going into every single match in detail, like I usually do. Instead you'll have to suffer through my ranting about the stupid stupids and idiotic idiots, but hey, what's new?

What is new? Well, nothing in WWE apparently. Stating from the very good match for the tag team titles. It was a very entertaining one, especially at the end. There was action, fast paced tag ins, lots of stuff happening, exactly what wrestling fans need and like, and in the end the belts changed hands, great, the people who payed for tickets got back their money worth. The problem starts with what is was going on later with the ex-champions. Miz and Sandow get another match, but it's not a rematch, which they are due, mind you, but against the newly debuting Ascension. What was wrong with that? Well, the stupid part of this was that they got mauled by the newcomers, crushed and utterly squashed. I understand that any newly arriving talents needs a good showing at the start of their main roster run. But here's the problem, like them or not (and I don't), Miz and Sandow were the champions, sure, the tag team belts don't mean much nowadays, but still. And now they are just treated like garbage. Really? They go from champions to dog food? That is the right kind of booking? And I will remind you again that Miz and Sandow have a rematch coming sometime in the future. How can they be seen as a credible threat when they just got steamrolled? They mean nothing now. Another thing is why put the belts on the Usos again? They had the titles for a big chunk of 2014, why not let Miz and Sandow get the win and them feud for the titles with the debuting team? That would give them a bit more credibility and wouldn't make them look so weak. Stupid.

 

Another thing that really annoyed me was the inconsistent booking of the Big Show. And no, I am not talking about his constant turns face-heel, no. I am talking about making him look like a total bitch one weak and absolute juggernaut the next week. Consistency people! Ever heard about that word? It helps people get involved into what they are watching, cause they can cheer or boo the character. Big Show doesn't have a character, he is simply not liked by the crowd. You'd say that it is his job, wouldn't you? Sure, he is a heel, he is a bad guy, he shouldn't be liked, he should be booed, of course. But in his case the "hate" comes from the negative feelings towards the person behind the name "Big Show". And why should they care? The WWE certainly does not. They completely forgot about giving Show a character outside of being an asshole, so he is treated like one. Unless that is the character, in which case I would not be amused.

 

And then we come to mister "Money in the Bank", who supposedly had such a wonderful year. And I am not going to say it was not a year in which Seth Rollins had a lot to do and say. The problem and stupidity here is the way his character was written. After splitting form the Shield and joining the Authority, he was booked as a typical vagina heel. He couldn't do anything by himself and pretty much, he still can't. Yeah, maybe he had a good year, but it was in a sense that there was a lot of him, not because he achieved so much. And suddenly at the end we are going to believe that he would really paralyze a man? How stupid do they think the fans are? Even the ones that do believe in wrestling are not going to buy it. And Big Show would just take part in that willingly? That is a criminal offense, and he is supposed to be playing that guy who cares about family? Seriously, that is just dumb.

 

And speaking of dumb, the Authority returns, because Cena gives in when Rollins threatens that he will paralyze Edge. I knew they will return some day. They gave Cena that option for a reason, the power to bring them back. It was obvious it will happen. But the moronic part is that there have been how long since they left? Six weeks? And they are bringing them back? Are you that desperate for a storyline you will destroy something big that happened less then 2 months ago? It was supposed to be a match that will change WWE forever and what? Forever lasts 6 weeks? Why turn the match at Survivor Series meaningless? Why make Dolph's match of the year reward pointless? Why cross out the whole build up for this story? Is Triple H and Steph so afraid to be off camera?

 

Honestly, this episode was supposed to be special, Edge and Christian was supposed to be fun and they were just awkward. The Diva's champion wasn't even there, as in at all. And we had the return of Authority. Stupid, dumb. Fucking Bullshit!

 

Monday Night RAW 15 December 2014

I probably should write this in order, but somehow I am never able to do it. And right now I even don't want to do it. So as you all probably know, on the last episode of RAW we saw the return of the champion that is never there. Everyone was saying how it is great that the champion is never there, cause when he does appear it makes that episode that much special. Well fuck you "everyone", it does not. I heard after watching that there was some rumors saying Brock would be there, but I did not know anything about it and when it did happen I DID NOT think "Holy Shit! It's Brock, oh yeah, it was worth watching!". No, instead my mind drifted into a bit more trivial places. I started thinking "Oh, wow... They finally managed to get his ass from the couch" and "oooh, so that is how that title looks like now". And yes, I am admitting I completely forgot how the title looked like. 

So yes, I do have a problem with a part time champion, especially when the part timer in question doesn't care about wrestling. That is why people treat the Rock with SO MUCH more respect. He will show up on RAW even when he is just in the area, when he was the champion, he at least took some effort so the people could see the champion. And no, Paul Heyman is not enough to cover for the absence of Lesnar. Oh yeah, I went there, Heyman maybe used to be to the shit in his golden days, but due to moronic booking and overbooking WWE is doing all his value is completely lost. And if you're not down with that, it's not the best for business.

This episode was hosted by Chris Jericho and instead of actually using a very capable active performer, they wasted him in the starting segment by doing an almost thirty minute long segment dominated by Heyman, Rollins and Cena, then we had a little backstage piece with Fandango...away, there was a short "Highlight Reel" with Rusev, showing once again we... should... hate... him...? And then when Brock showed up and demolished Chris. Great use, bravo. Was it really beyond your little brains to have Jericho really go at it with Fandango? They have history together, the angle with the Slammy could help Fandango, but nope. It's better for business to throw Jericho for Lesnar to eat up. 

As you can probably see I am not exactly happy with what I saw.

 

Luke Harper and Big Show vs. Dolph Ziggler and Eric Rowan

What is there to say? Eric Rowan is getting pinned by Big Show, again. Just because Show is getting an angle with Roman Reigns. What is even more annoying is that when it cam to Roman's segment, Big Show came down got hit in the face and walked away. It's just a throaway angle to get Reigns back on track and it shows.

Winners: Luke Harper and Big Show

 

The Bella Twins vs. Alicia Fox and Natalya

A waste of talent in Natalya, still no explanation for a buddy-buddy reunion with the Bellas and Alicia, just to attach someone at all. No new contender for the Diva title, no interest in it. I'd call it a wasted 5 minutes, but I haven't check the time, so I can't really say how much time I wasted watching this.

Winners: Alicia Fox and Natalya

 

The New Day vs. Dust Brothers

It's hard to say who is in the worse shape when it comes to the standing with the company. The Dust Brothers are certainly during a de-push, but the New Day is getting very little positive reactions. I even heard chants "New Day sucks!" and they are supposed to be faces in this, right? When it comes to the match, it was nowhere near the capabilities of all involved, but as a match was harmless.

Winners: The New Day

 

Kane vs. Adam Rose

Kane appeared backstage, said Rose has a match with him and that's it. Kane wins the match and kick Bunny's ass. There's nothing else to say here.

Winner: Kane

 

Paul Heyman vs. Chris Jericho

I already ranted on this in the beginning. This is the point where Brock Lesnar showed up. And as I said, it wasn't surprising, it wasn't "must see", he just was there. But I already said it. What I do want to mention here is the pointless voting they made people go on. Ok, I get it, the WWE app is free and the vote doesn't cost anything. Sure, I get it, but if you are using the voting a a cheap ploy to keep your app relevant, then you better deliver, or don't promise people something they won't see either way. 

Winner: Match didn't happen

 

The Miz vs. Jimmy Uso

So they do sort of continue the story with Naomi, but I don't feel it. There is not enough Naomi in this, a few scenes backstage do not create interest. She should be out and next to the ring AND have backstage segments. That would create some tension and not how they are doing it. "I invite you to my talk show, but don't tell your husband", says the Miz on a TELEVISED program and right after that even commentators comment on it. I don't know how this plays out, but if they are going to play it like Jimmy didn't know about it, then I lost all hope.

Winner: Jimmy Uso

 

Seth Rollins vs. John Cena

So in the end Lesnar shows up, beat up Cena and Paul Heyman makes a pact with Rollins. Ok... So getting it straight... Lesnar "kills" Cena, who he has to face anyways, but leaves the guy who already attacked him once and still can attack him whenever he wants to, alone. Then Lesnar's manager makes a deal with the same guy... Oh yeah, that is one full proof plan, certainly geniuses worked on that. But let me ask you one thing, did you actually say it out loud? No, no reason, just asking.

Winner: Seth Rollins

 

 

Overall: 3 out 10 - For a fallout show, that was meant to keep the interest going from people that seen TLC this failed, on many levels. It didn't deliver on the guest host, and this time it was someone who could. It didn't deliver on the storylines, and on a show like this it should. We had as per usual some wasted potential and stupid decisions. And again, no, not having your champion on TV for months doesn't make it special, it makes it dumb.

 

Monday Night RAW 8 December 2014 - The Slammies

While I understand the need of having and award outside of the championships in WWE, I kind of fail to see the point of most of categories they did put in them. But hey, since no one is going to give you an award, why not make it up and give it to yourself. If that wasn't the point, then I don't know what would it be. Personally I feel like there only should be four categories: Match of the year, Rivalry of the year, Superstar of the year and Diva of the year. That's it, there is no need for the "most funny moment" (that wasn't funny) or the "twitter handle". I mean really... But hey, we have a whole train wreck to go through, let's dig in!

• Fan Participation award goes for the "You sold out" chant. - Really? That is something people chant at literally every single heel that sides with someone in power. Out of all other options the one that was actually something unique was "We the People" and "He's got the whole world in his hands", those actually played a part in someone character and gimmick. 
• Double-Cross of the Year goes for "Seth Rollins turning on Shield". - It is strange that they deliberately skipped the first half of the year, with every option for this category coming from the second half, but hey, maybe I'm reading too deep into it. Out of the possible choices, yes this one was the biggest turn of the year, can't argue with it.
• Animal of the year goes to the "Bunny". - I seriously fail to see a reason behind an award for this and I don't really have anything to say about it. In the grand scheme of things, maybe that makes sense.
• Best Actor goes to "The Rock". - Ok, this was a no contest here. There isn't too many people coming out of WWE that made it big in movies and the Rock is undoubtedly the greatest example of someone that has, with Batista right behind him. Putting the Miz and Sandow here was pointless, really, really pointless.
• "HEELZiggler" wins the Twitter handle of the year award. - Again, why does this category even exist? I get it, WWE gets moist every time Twitter is mentioned, but do we have to?
• Rivalry of the year goes to "Daniel Brian vs. Authority". - No argument from me here, it was annoying at times and felt forced at other times, but in WWE this year I do think this was the best feud we had.
• Hugh Jackman gets the award for being the best RAW guest host. - I guess that's fine, it's not like the other options were any better, it's just I find the whole concept of "guest host" stupid.
• Best couple of the year went to Daniel Brian and Brie Bella. - Ok, are we talking about on screen or off screen? Cause off screen there is no way to know that, we don't really have any "inside look" into the houses of any of those people. On screen on the other hand no doubt should go to Triple H and Stephanie. Daniel and Brie didn't really do anything together. They had some interaction before Wrestlemania, but that was it. Brie adapted some of the theatrics from her husband, that's it. Triple H and Stephanie were a far better couple.
• Faction of the year award went to Shield. - There was no real competition, maybe Wyatts, maybe the Authority. But when it comes to sheer power and dominance and actual fan interest, Shield was the best. 
• Sami Zayn gets the NXT Superstar of the year. - I don't really watch NXT all that much, so I will go with this choice.
• Anti-Gravity moment of the year went to "Seth Rollins dives off the balcony at Payback". - I actually remember that spot quite well and he didn't actually jump, it was more like control falling then actual jumping. That didn't really have a whole lot in common with anything "anti-gravity". If anything Kofi Kingston's jump at Royal Rumble had more to do with the category.

That part was done on WWE.com and contained, let's not kid ourselves, mostly stupid categories that show they really run out of ideas. Seriously, "Twitter handle of the year"? Yes, I still can't get over it... Let's see will they treat the on-screen, internet portion of the program with a little more dignity. 

• Insult of the year goes to the king of insults and catchphrases, the Rock. - While they are cheesy and corny, every wrestling fan loves to her them and love to hear the Rock speak. It's a dumb category and I never liked it, but even I can see some value here.
• WWE Tag Team of the year goes to the Usos. - And that is funny, cause - more or less - in the possible choices they listed the entire tag team division in the main roster. That is funny and sad at the same time. The Usos deserved it, but it would be nice if they had some actual competition.
• Breakout Star of the year went to Dean Ambrose. - While I can see why it happened, is this really the best choice? Ambrose was a star with Shield before this year begun. He didn't really broke-out, he did have to "brake-off" from the Shield-shadow. Seth Rollins wouldn't be the better choice either, cause he didn't brake-out either. Rollins was adopted by the Authority and made a star. The real breakout star of this year is... Rusev. Say what you will, but he actually is a heel that barely ever does anything heelish. Lana is the talker and he just fights, the only bad thing he did was getting Zeb Coulter written off TV. Have you ever noticed it? If not for the "Uuuuuu we hate all russians and russians hate us", he would be a babyface and it would be very simple to turn him face and keep it logical.
• The "hastag of the year" award for "#RKOOutofnowhere". - Another dumb Twitter related thing... I have nothing to say. It's dumb, stupid and let's move on.

So that was it. I really don't see a reason why the award for tag teams couldn't be kept to the actual episode, but maybe I expect too much. And speaking of the actual episode...

• "This is Awesome" moment of the year went to "Debut of Sting". - I won't object here. Not because I don't have anything to say, but because out of the other options, there really wasn't anything better. Don't get me wrong, it was awesome to see Sting, but it's not like there wasn't anything better this year.
• Surprise return of the year went to the Ultimate Warrior coming back at Hall of Fame ceremony. - I will not bash the Warrior, but this category is named "surprise return", you know, as in something no one expected. And out of the options given, the actual surprise was when the Rock returned and confronted Rusev. and that was really unexpected, because the Rock just happened to be around in the city on unrelated business and decided to drop by.
• Brock Lesnar defeating the Undertaker at Wrestlemania got the reward for the OMG Shocking moment of the year. - No argument from me at that. Something happened that just never happened and almost no one believed it would.
• WWE Diva of the year for AJ Lee. - There wasn't exactly a whole lot of other options. At this point it was either one of the Bellas or AJ. It's sad that just few year ago we had a lot more to choose from, there was some actual competition in the women division. Out of the options give I guess AJ was the best choice, but only because there was nothing better.
• LOL Moment of the year goes to Damien Sandow as the Miz. - If all your attempts at humor are just "so" great, then what you expect? It was probably the only real option that was somewhat amusing on the list.
• Match of the year went to the match at Survivor Series between team Cena and team Authority. - The only part of this patch that actually deserve this award is the last part, where only Dolph Ziggler stayed on the babyface side. Looking at it as a whole? No, it was not.
• Extreme moment of the year went to Chris Jericho for hitting a crossbody from the top of the cage. - I admit that spot was nice, but it wasn't anything really special. Anyone who watches wrestling outside of WWE will see hundreds of spots like this everywhere. Good on Jericho to do it, it really helped to raise the meaning of the match with Bray Wyatt, but other then that it wasn't special, or even that extreme. 
• Superstar of the Year went to Roman Reigns. - People don't like this choice, but they fail to remember the first half of the year where Roman really was the next best thing. Now I know he lacks in many areas, I pointed that myself many times in the past, but that is the future face of the company. You might not like it, but you have to deal with it. 

And that is it for the Slammy Awards. Is there really a point to them? I don't know, maybe there is, maybe there used to be. For me they can stay, but please, you don't need so many categories... Really, you don't. Four big one is enough and build a show around that. We will appreciate it, we will like it, I know I will.

Overall: 4 out of 10. - Since WWE didn't focus on the matches giving us a more or less "rehash" version of Survivor Series, I will not focus on them either. There was no real development in the storylines or characters, the whole "Anonymous GM" was dropped completely and everything still looks like nothing changed and Authority is still around. I just failed to be entertained this weeks.

Monday Night RAW 1 December 2014

Yay another episode of RAW and this time everyone was full of anticipation. Everyone wanted to know if WWE will address in any way, shape or form what CM Punk said on Cabana's podcast. Well, everyone is a bit of an overstatement, but a lot of people were genuinely expecting them doing something, hinting at something he said. They did not. I didn't really expect anything on TV, but I did expect at least a statement. What Punk said was a lot of bad things and even if it was just "his side of the story, from his point of view" it was still a LOT of harmful stuff to the public image of WWE. If there won't be any counteraction on their part, it is pretty much as good as saying "yeah, he told the truth". And no, Vince on Stone Cold's podcast after RAW doesn't count as an official statement - although it is an interesting watch and worth the time. So yeah, no trace of Punk on RAW and I think that is for the better, we did - of course - get the usual idiots chanting "CM Punk" at AJ, but hey, can't win'em all. 

 

Tag Team Turmoil: Cesaro & Tyson Kidd vs. The Dust Brothers vs. A New Day vs. Adam Rose and Bunny vs. The Usos

There are two types of story telling in wrestling, you can do it by literally telling the story or by the in-ring action. And recently all we get from the tag team division is the second type. Maybe that is for the better, since the action we get in those matches is usually very nice and almost always those are the most entertaining matches on the card. This one was not one of those matches though. We got a standard few minute matches in succession until we get the winners and the new contenders to the titles, Usos. What is weird here is that the New Day, which is the newest stable in WWE, got eliminated fast and didn't even really show anything. Now, I am not saying they should get the opportunity to get the titles right away, but logic would dictate to promote the new faction, which did not happen.

Winners and no 1 contenders for Tag Team Championships: The Usos

 

Eric Rowan vs. Big Show

I know they are trying to make Big Show seem like a threat, but he is not. No one is taking Big Show seriously after his 5 million character changes a month. Well, that is not true, but it is a fact that he probably is - or Mark Henry - the guy that went through the biggest amount of turns in his career. I remember the time where he literally was a face one week, turned heel the next and got back to being face a week or two later. Don't get me wrong, when a change is needed it is needed, but in his case it is not. Getting to Rowan, I am still interested in what WWE is going to with him, but they already missed an opportunity to give his persona some, very obvious, development.

Winner: Eric Rowan by DQ

 

Fandango vs. Jack Swagger

Rosa Mendes still can't dance. The match didn't happen. Moving on.

Winner: Fandango by Forfeit

 

Damien Sandow vs. Fernando

The match did happen, but it was just a throw away, since the only real development was between The Miz and one of the Usos, can't remember which one, because the Miz was getting too friendly with Naomi, his wife. Sandow, wins, but who cares, right? 

Winner: Damien Sandow

 

R-Truth vs. Bray Wyatt

You know, I often find myself forgetting about certain people that they are still employed by the WWE and Truth is one of those people. And that is sad, cause he - while not the youngest guy on the roster - can still be fun to watch. It is a shame that the only reason he got on RAW was to get fed to Bray. And speaking of Wyatt, while I can see the appeal of the match with Ambrose, I still don't really see any reason for this whole storyline happening and I am kind of like that. I like to know why things happen. And no, because "reasons" is not a very good answer. After the match we get a confrontation with Ambrose and Wyatt's chair gets destroyed, as Bray looks horrified and Cole talks something about it being sacred... I didn't know there was any significance to that. Did they ever reference the chair that way? 

Winner: Bray Wyatt

 

The Bella Twins vs. AJ Lee & Naomi

Probably the most pointless use of the fan voting system ever in the existence of that option in WWE. Well the only Diva we saw in the program so far was Naomi and who wins the vote... Naomi. Really... The match is mercifully short and the face (?) team wins. On a side note, is the whole story between Bellas resolved? Cause while you can still see the egocentric behavior in Nikki, Brie seems to barely care about it. Good to know we wasted on this storyline weeks of TV time. 

Winners: AJ Lee & Naomi

 

John Cena, Ryback and Dolph Ziggler vs. Seth Rollins, Kane and Luke Harper

The main event is more or less the main event from Survivor Series, only... worse. The only people missing were Rusev, who got into it with Swagger earlier in the night and Mark Henry. Other then that we had the starting teams, then an interference from the Big Show and a save from Eric Rowan. The match wasn't as good, since there was nothing at stake, the storyline wasn't as good, since there was no storyline and overall people involved didn't care as much and it showed. This was also the part were I said WWE missed a very simple and obvious chance to develop Rowan's persona. After making the save, right before hitting the Big Show with steps, he should put the steps down, take a mic, say "I am not a bully", put on the sheep mask and then leave. 

Winners: John Cena, Ryback and Dolph Ziggler

 

Overall: 3 out of 10 - This episode was barely worth watching. If you care for any real storylines watch the Wyatt and Ambrose part. In terms of matches, there was nothing really worth it this week. We did get a segment with the laptop GM and an announcement about TLC and Cena's match, but in general there really wasn't anything you "must see". After RAW the interview with Vince was very good, and that would be what I would advice you to really see. 

Monday Night RAW 24 November 2014

With a little renovation in my apartment going on, I didn't have time to write yesterday, like I usually do. But hey, it's not like there was anything too badly groundbreaking present. Coming from an event that was suppose to change everything the outcome turned out just a flash from the past. The return of the Anonymous RAW General Manager is basically the way for WWE to not do anything and seem like they did a whole lot. While there is a chance it could be interesting, from experience I can tell you that more or less all we will get is next couple weeks everyone will be saying it was Stephanie and Triple H or maybe Vince himself. Also, does it mean Michael Cole is turning heel? That could be good, if we get rid of Jerry Lawler and turn JBL face. The whole RAW was basically just a fallout episode from the previous night, so don't expect a whole lot of insight from me. We did get an Eric Rowan vs. Big Show beginning, but yes, pretty much.

Mark Henry vs. Ryback

A squash on Henry, perfect. What more to say? Henry gets his ass handed to him in two minutes or so.

Winner: Ryback

 

Dean Ambrose vs. Luke Harper

The best match of the night and it only served as an extension for the Wyatt Ambrose feud. Bray attack at the end, Harper is nowhere to be seen aaaaand scene. Lovely.

Winner: Dean Ambrose by DQ

 

The Miz and Damien Sandow vs. Dust Brothers - For the Tag Team Championships

I am starting to get The Miz and Sandow. Sandow is the fan favorite and thanks to him the Miz is tolerable for the fans. In a way it's a great idea, but how long they will keep it? WWE loves to split tag teams and there is no doubt that they will do that with them as well. Dust Brothers are on a down slope, but hey, it's WWE, every tag team gets a shot sooner then later, since there is only a couple of them. 

Winners: The Miz and Damien Sandow

 

Fandango vs. Justin Gabriel

Another showing of why Rosa Mendes should not dance. I have seen enough "Dancing with the stars" to know how not to dance, and that is more or less exactly what it would be. Short match, sorry Justin, lowcard hell for you.

Winner: Fandango

 

Brie Bella vs. AJ Lee

And we see again why Bella Twins should not try to act. Just keep it to the ring ladies, you are somewhat tolerable there, so yeah. We will get a series of confrontations like this, most likely leading to a rematch between AJ and Nikki. The thing I wonder though is does it mean Brie and Nikki are on the same page again? 

Winner: Brie Bella

 

Adam Rose and Bunny vs. Tyson Kidd and Natalya

A match, all I will say. Both Tyson and Natalya deserve better, as does Adam. The Bunny is just a stupid, stupid concept, let's just have a match between Rose and Bunny and put this down to rest.

Winners: Tyson Kidd and Natalya

 

John Cena and Dolph Ziggler vs. Seth Rollins, Jamie Noble and Joey Mercury

So there was a vote on... You know, no. I am not going to talk about it, it was a waste of time for everyone. Jamie Noble and Joey Mercury are far too good of a talent to be misused like that. I really disliked this more then I should and I can see that.

Winners: John Cena and Dolph Ziggler

 

Overall: 6 out of 10 - This was basically a rerun of the event from previous night. Pretty much almost every person that did take part in Survivor Series was there, but in a much less significant role. It was ok, I guess, but Survivor Series was suppose to be ground breaking, change the face of WWE for ever and all that good shit and... we go the return of the Anonymous RAW General Manager. 

Monday Night RAW 17 November 2014

Hello everyone in the weekly dose of my rumblings and this week there isn't exactly whole lot to rumble about without going into predictions for the Survivor Series event. I will not do it now, since I do plan on putting that in it's own thing later in the week, but you will still get a piece of my mind as always.

The show starts with Authority, who else talking about how they have the superior team and how John Cena has absolutely no chance of winning anything. They also say that John Cena's team will have a lot of problems tonight since they will be decimated... blah blah blah. You know what I mean? I know you know. We head that part so many times that I am sure anyone could repeat it in their sleep. So yeah, I am not exactly excited by the build up to the Survivor Series, the booking on this one is very chaotic, as I will point out later.

 

Dolph Ziggler vs. Luke Harper - For Intercontinental Championship

Ziggler gets attacked right before the whole thing started and ends up losing the title. Which basically automatically gives Dolph an opponent for the next couple shows. I do get why WWE decided to put the belt on Harper, he just got back and there was literally no reason as to why we should care about him. Now he is the champion, so there is at least a bit of legitimacy behind him, but I prefer to wait and see what will be the next move on WWE's part. They are masters at creating great potential, but failing completely to capitalize on the momentum behind it, so yeah. The match could've been ok, if it would be clean, as it was it was sub par. Waaaaay below of what Ziggler is capable of. 

Winner and new champion: Luke Harper

 

Adam Rose vs. Tyson Kidd

Tyson Kidd is really an unlucky guy, when it comes to wrestling at least (hey, his wife is Natalya and that's a personal win on his part). For a long time he was non-existing - outside of an unimportant match here and there, then he resurfaced... on Total Divas. Now he plays a part of... a guy? I really don't know what gimmick is he supposed to have. He is arrogant like a typical heel and all, but other then that, he doesn't really do that much or has an actual character. Plus this match was only used to build up the story of... Adam Rose and the Bunny. Seriously. I am unimpressed. 

Winner: Tyson Kidd

 

Ryback vs. Cesaro

Again Cesaro shows why he should be much bigger star then he is. He actually manages to pull a decent match out of Ryback and it was not a squash. I mean, there was no doubt who will win here, but at least they didn't make Cesaro lose in five seconds. Ryback continues his returning winning streak, it shouldn't last very long this time, since it is only a refresher and not a character builder, but still... We should see a few more singles win before the Big Guy loses.

Winner: Ryback

 

Rusev vs. Heath Slater

Yawn... Another Rusev squash. Do I really need to comment? Slater came out dressed as U.S.A. flag and got his ass handed to him in few seconds. Did you expect anything else?

Winner: Rusev

 

Big Show vs. Sheamus - Winner gets a WWEWHC title shot

I really don't know what to think about this. The match was below average, but that is not the point. Stephanie came out and announced that not only Sheamus and Show will fight each other, but the winner will get a title shot at the WWEWHC title. Now I know it was not announced, but technically when Henry and Rusev attacked, Sheamus was hit first... And in every wrestling book that means Sheamus wins by disqualification, and Stephanie didn't say anything about the way he had to win. It is on camera, Sheamus has a title shot. The thing I am confused is, did they do it on purpose? Cause from storyline perspective, why would Stephanie give a shot to any of them? But it was made official, and due to interference Sheamus wins, cause a win by DQ is still a win. 

Winner: Technically Sheamus

 

Nikki Bella vs. Fake AJ Lee (Brie)

While I stopped having issues with the matches Bella twins are in, they aren't great, but they aren't horrible either... I still do have a problem with pointless storylines and this one is pretty darn pointless. I get it, she has a title shot, then make it about it, focus on the title and as even AJ herself noticed on commentary for this match "It's just another way to humiliate Brie". Exactly my point, it's not about the fucking title, which should be the main point. It's a short match and barely worth watching.

Winner: Fake AJ Lee

 

The Usos and Los Matadores vs. Dust Brothers, The Miz and Damien Sandow

A quick paced and action packed match. Lots of tag-in and tag-outs and heels win. No one really cared about the match itself, the crowd just wanted to see Sandow in the ring. The match was decent, but it would really benefit if given more time.

Winners: Dust Brothers, The Miz and Damien Sandow

 

 

Overall: 4 out of 10 - As a go home show, the last episode of RAW before a big event, it didn't really do it's job. So in the end John Cena comes out alone, then a beat up Ziggler joins him and and beat up Big Show. After that we get a surprise addition of Eric Rowan. Why? As I said last week, Luke Harper needed a counter part on the babyface team, as that is how it usually works, but why Rowan? He never interacted with Cena and they never gave a reason as to why he joined the team, he just did. Fuck you, that's why. And then Ryback joins in, again, why? He had one segment with Cena in which he told Cena to fuck off. Why the change of heart? We don't know, there was no follow up. Fuck you, that's why. 

Monday Night RAW 10 November 2014

Is it just me, or does WWE really is lacking in star power? When I seen the teams for Survivor Series, all I could say was "ok... that's it?". I mean, no disrespect to anyone involved in that match, but it does feel a little lackluster. Now, while the heel team seems kind of ok-ish, the babyface one is nothing special. We have John Cena, of course, Dolph Ziggler and in this episode they were joined by Big Show and Sheamus. Apparently Jack Swagger was a temporary addition and now they are missing the fifth one, which could go for either Ryback or Orton. Sure, there are other options, And even a couple plausible ones, but I don't think there is a place for other people within the storyline. The heel team consists of Seth Rollins, Kane, Mark Henry, Rusev and if what they are hinting at is happening, Luke Harper is joining as well. Usually the members in teams in those traditional matches have something linking them... We have Sheamus going after Rusev, Big Show seeking revenge on Mark Henry, Ziggler that had a lot to do with Kane in recent weeks and John Cena facing Seth Rollins. Now, if the fifth heel member is Harper, there isn't really a pair for him. Harper was gone for quite some time and there isn't really any unresolved business with anyone in the roster. If we are going this route, then the best choice would be Ryback, since he doesn't have any ties with anyone currently either. Personally I would keep Ryback away from this team match, unless face team is meant to win. Ryback just came back, he cannot lose a big profile match, even in a tag team.

 

Seth Rollins vs. Jack Swagger

I like Jack, people like Jack, really. You can say someone is pretty damn over when the United Kingdom is cheering "We the People!". And yet he never gets any love from the management. While it wouldn't raise the level of stardom in the babyface team, it's quite low anyway, why not give Swagger a chance? He fucked up in the past, but that was when? Over 2 years ago?

Winner: Seth Rollins

 

Paige vs. Alicia Fox

And here ladies and gentlemen is a great example of a pointless match. It was short, it was fast and Paige won to make the home crowd happy. Yay! Carpenter dream wins!

Winner: Paige

 

Sheamus vs. Rusev - For the United States Championship

I still don't give a shit about Rusev story arc, but I have to admit matches with Sheamus are his biggest challenge to date. It's kind of weird that we won't see any of the singles titles on the line at Survivor Series (yes, Diva title will, but I am talking only about titles that kind of matter). The match was ok and it served as a bridge for Sheamus to join Cena's team at SS.

Winner: Rusev via Count Out

 

Los Matadores vs. The Miz and Damien Sandow

Damien Sandow was very well received, again. And that is all that I will say, since the match itself was kind of "meh". Nothing terrible, but not worth watching.

Winners: The Miz and Damien Sandow

 

Dolph Ziggler vs. Mark Henry

The match started and almost immediately finished with Henry getting disqualified on purpose. Big Show runs out to make a save and announce officially he joins team Cena. Really not much to say here otherwise. 

Winner: Dolph Ziggler by DQ

 

Brie Bella vs. AJ Lee

This was purely pointless. Match started and I am almost certain, that it didn't last even 2 minutes. Maybe I would say something about it, if there would be something to say about it. 

Winner: AJ Lee

 

Tyson Kidd vs. Adam Rose

I know that WWE gave up on the Adam Rose character and I know they don't have much faith in Tyson Kidd, so... Not much weight in this match. Nothing at stake and the commentators not caring about it. It was decent, while it lasted. Rose attacks the Bunny again, and supposedly that means Bunny will get a match. Natalia this time was not with Tyson, but we did get an Eric Rowan appearance. 

Winner: Tyson Kidd

 

John Cena vs. Ryback

It was a match, I can tell you that. There wasn't anything wrong with it, but since the whole heel team for Survivor Series was there, no one cared about the action in the ring. Everyone knew heels will attack eventually and just waited for that. And we were not disappointed. Kane attacks, gets Ryback disqualified, Ryback attacks Rollins and then everyone stormed the ring. Everyone except Dolph Ziggler, who was thrown into the Authority office be Luke Harper who seemed like he wanted to join the team. 

Winner: John Cena by DQ

 

 

Overall: 5 out of 10. If you watch WWE just for wrestling there isn't anything I would recommend, matches were either pointless or extremely short. I guess if I had to choose... Sheamus vs. Rusev at least was a normal match, but the ending sucked. Very heavy on the story episode and I know there is quite a few people that watch it just for that, so there is that.

Monday Night RAW 3 November 2014

This week's RAW starts of with a nice surprise, for a change... It's Authority, again, but this time Vince McMahon comes out with them. From what I read online, so take it with a grain of salt, it might be related to a storyline that was not started from around Wrestlemania. Back then Vince was meant to come back and a power struggle was meant to happen between the two fractions for who will rule over WWE. Now, I am not one of the people that believes in what he reads online, but the announcement made by Vince - that if Team Authority loses at Survivor Series, they will no longer be in charge - could very well be the start of that. 

The question now is, does that mean Mr McMahon will be appearing in a greater role in the coming weeks? If the rumors are true, I would expect that to be happening. After all, what's a power struggle if there is no one to fight against. Many people are wondering as well, does that mean, WWE finally sees "The Authority" project has run it's course. Personally I think it did. It wasn't all that great in the first place and in recent months it was pretty much the same, week after week. Don't get me wrong, I am all for eating pancakes, but how many weeks can you eat pancakes in a row, before you decide you don't want to touch another pancake in your life? Know what I'm saying? So yeah, the current situation has a potential to bring a very needed freshness to a very stale idea. But, as I always, we shall see what the future will bring, as this might as well be just a work in progress, to build up interest in the PPV aaand... Nothing will change, Authority will win and we go back to stuffing pancakes down out throats every weeks until we puke everything out.

 

Dean Ambrose vs. Cesaro

Cesaro seems to become a complete jobber. I know that technically, he is jobbing to someone way higher on the food chain then him, but Ambrose is - like it or not - not yet a main event star. Oh, I don't mean he doesn't have abilities, I know very well what he is capable of doing, but in WWE he is not in the first row of a marching band, barely in the second row. So the loses Cesaro is gaining from those encounters seem to hurt him more then helping Dean. If you don't follow, let me explain better... Remember how Jericho puts over pretty much everyone WWE asks him to put over? That is because Jericho used to have something called "Rubbing off power". You fought Jericho and won, some of the credibility "rubbed" off him onto you. I say used to, cause while I love Chris and I know he can still go, in terms of WWE status, his credibility is very low, because of all the loses he gained over the years. And with lowered credibility, the "rubbing off" power fades as well. Now getting back to Cesaro, he didn't have a whole lot of credibility since he sided with Heyman, when WWE dropped the ball on an organic face turn that was happening with him. Everything was lost and now Cesaro is on a downhill slope. His credibility is slowly getting ruined and a win against him now has almost no "rub off". It's sad to see that happen to a great talent like him. 

Winner: Dean Ambrose

 

Jimmy Uso vs. The Miz

So I am guessing this will be a reoccurring thing we have here. First it's a tag team, then a singles match, are we going to get a tag match next? Or a singles match, but with the other half of the teams. The match itself was ok at best. But with Usos coming out from a series of very entertaining matches against the Dust brothers, the quality and my expectations a far, far lower with Miz being involved. Another great showing... for Damien Sandow, at least in the eyes of the crowd. Let's be honest here, the actual, serious part of Sandow's career is done. You do not get back from a comedy role like this, not without a whole lot of work WWE is almost 100% guaranteed not to put in, just to give Damien some actual credibility back. He took over the role Santino Marella had, and while he does it well, it's a shame, he is getting wasted on stuff like that. 

Winner: The Miz

 

Sheamus vs. Tyson Kidd

I really cannot get into what they are trying to do with Kidd these days. Is there an actual idea behind his character or is just "a guy" that comes down to the ring with his wife? Cause that's what is looks like. Don't get me wrong, I know Tyson is a workhorse, and all... But this is the big leagues, this just doesn't generate interest. His bad on the microphone, when I listened to him on the commentary during one of Natalya's matches, every word he said sounded so forced. Nothing about him feels natural and I don't know at this point is it his fault or the material he was given. A win by count-out is a lousy win, always was, always will be, but I guess he won.

Winner: Tyson Kidd

 

Dolph Ziggler vs. Seth Rollins - For the Intercontinental Championship

One of the two matches that actually mattered in this episode of RAW. The continuation of the Survivor Series team storyline. The Authority comes out to meat Ziggler in the ring and they try to pull him away from Cena. He tells them basically to fuck off and we get a match against Rollins. Since there is no actual contender for the title and Dolph is not involved in any story other then the team one, there is no chance Rollins is taking the belt. Rollins is not going to get demoted to being the IC champion. And yes, it does pain me to say "demoted to IC champion". As a match it was ok, at least while it lasted. At the finish we get Orton RKO'ing Rollins.

Winner: Technically Rollins via DQ, but I don't remember was it actually announced or the match just stopped

 

Ryback vs. Titus O'Neil

I really don't have a whole lot to say here. Ryback has his old babyface gimmick back and it suits him far better then the failed heel attempt. It's a squash match with little value, I see quite a few of those in his future.

Winner: Ryback

 

Mark Henry vs. Big Show

Another try at Mark Henry being heel. Ekhm... Let me tell you how this will go. Henry will be dominating and everyone will be happy, but since he doesn't have a whole lot of personality or the wrestling ability, he will start to become more and more boring. Then we will either see him getting hurt, again, or turn face for no apparent reason. Big Show is Big Show, he does what he can do with what he has, but you can see it very well he doesn't have a whole lot left in the tank. The days of giants are passing and it will be a sad day when the last one of them goes away.

Winner: Big Show via DQ

 

Nikki Bella vs. Emma

Nikki wins. Do you really expect me to say more? It was a mediocre, short match that ended with Brie being forced to slap AJ Lee that sat in the commentary. I try to get invested, I honestly try. I even don't skip the Diva matches when I watch. I try, the universe be my witness I try. I just can't find it in me to actually care about ANYTHING a Bella is involved in. 

Winner: Nikki Bella

 

Rusev vs. Ryder

Poor, poor Zack. Once so full of potential and it all goes down the drain of wrestling past. You were once on the top of the world and now... It's just sad to see that happen. Ryder isn't a great performer, but he has his strengths and one problem... WWE never gave him an actual chance. People say that Cena killed Ryder and that is just a bunch of bullshit. What killed Ryder was that stupid storyline with Eve Torres and Kane. That is what stopped his momentum, that is what halted his push. Relationship storylines almost never work and when you are chosen by the brass at the scapegoat, then you might as well pack your bags and go. Honestly that is what I hope Ryder will do. While WWE probably pays nicely, how much Ryder could actually be earning if he is almost never on TV, never on PPV. Run Zack, run while you still have a couple years left in your body. The match was a squash.

Winner: Rusev

 

Fernando vs. Stardust

Are we really going to give Los Matadores a title shot? I know WWE is short on tag teams, but Los Matadores? Stardus loses this one in a very insulting fashion. I am starting to get afraid WWE is giving up on Dust Brothers... First they get steam rolled by Show and Henry, now this. I have bad feelings about this.

Winner: Fernando

 

Seth Rollins vs. Randy Orton

And here we get to the part of the show I like to call... "Guess when and how Randy will get injured!". If you read any wrestling news sites, you probably already know that Orton is going to film a movie, so he needs some time off. And what happens when someone needs time off? Usually they do an injury angle, it's simple to execute, doesn't take a whole lot of thinking and gives a perfectly good reason for why someone is not appearing on TV. Here the injury came after the match, which I am thankful for, first main event in a long time that actually ended with a clean finish and after a nice match as well. After the match Orton is livid and fakes some hands shakes, just to RKO Rollins and then get attacked by everyone after punching Triple H. Well, it is official, Orton might not be a full on babyface, but he is definitely not a part of Authority anymore. That makes you wonder, does it mean he will join team Cena in the end? Maybe, probably, but let's not run that far in the future. For now Randy is gone, can you guess who will brag about it next week?

Winner: Seth Rollins

 

Sheamus vs. Rusev - For the United States Championship

This one actually makes sense, for once. United States championship is the perfect title for Rusev, at least for now. It actually fits the whole bad Russian gimmick. But of course, I wouldn't be myself if I would not see a problem here. Creative REALLY needs to give Rusev something other then being the "big, bad, evil Russian". When he loses, and eventually he will lose, he needs to get a place to land. He needs a hook to grab on the way down to stay relevant and you don't achieve that in a week or even a month, not for that kind of character. For now let us applause an actually good decision made by WWE. And Sheamus, well, he didn't really do anything with that title and at least now he has a reason to fight. He will lose the rematch without a doubt, but maybe that will let him get back to the main event. If Team Authority gets Rusev into their team, Sheamus will probably join Cena.  

Winner: Rusev

 

 

Overall: 6 out of 10 - Storyline-wise the only really meaningful parts are, again, at the beginning and at the end. If you care about matches, I guess the main event wasn't bad, just don't expect fireworks and you might get some entertainment out it.

Monday Night RAW 27 October 2014

Welcome back to a weekly dose of my venting and ranting about WWE's main show. 

 

This time, for a change, we start with Authority in the ring talking about how great Seth Rollins truly is and how Randy Orton lost to John Cena in the cell. That, what a surprise brings out Randall and he is not exactly happy, to say the least. He has a brief promo and then goes after Rollins ending the segment with an RKO. This basically confirms what was almost sure since last week, that Orton and Rollins will have a program together. I am down for that to be honest. Rollins needs to be finally shown as a credible wrestler, he cannot hide forever behind "the boss" and maybe this time they will take advantage of the person they chose. A loss with Rollins will not hurt Orton, he is in the business for far too long and is far too well established to get damaged. In said feud it is definitely Randy, who will take on the role of face, but it might be more interesting then just that. 

At one point of the episode John Cena came out for a promo and was confronted by Stephanie McMahon and then HHH. They tried to convince John to join their team at Survivor Series, since we will get a traditional tag match. Cena, of course, says no and HHH announces that it will be Team Authority vs. Team Cena. And since Brock Lesnar still doesn't give a shit about WWE, it is basically just another way to turn the spotlight away from the missing belt. The team situation could be interesting as well. With Randy Orton's face turn happening, he might be forced into Team Authority, which could further the story between Seth and him. There is also a good chance that if Rollins will become the heel team leader, Randy will join Cena. And the third option would be to take out the feuding two into a singles match. But that most likely will not happen, as without Randy and Seth, Team Authority is left with Kane and... HHH maybe? So yeah, not really believing in that scenario. Plus since Dolph Ziggler is in Cena's team, we have an almost guaranteed Cesaro add-on to the heels team. I will be observing as the situation will unfold, but for now... Color me interested, don't waste it.

 

Mark Henry and Big Show vs. The Dust Brothers - For the Tag Team Championships

I really do not like what they did here. So the match went like this... Big Show and Henry dominated the tag champions and in the process Mark Henry turned heel on Big Show knocking him out and planting Stardust on him for the win. I understand that WWE need to do it, but why during a match with a credible tag team? Why squash the Dusts? I was seriously angry when watching that. This run is one of Goldust's best ones in his career and Cody seems to work the gimmick nicely (still think he should be a singles wrestler, but that's just me). And they just give a title shot to Show and Henry, no rhyme or reason... Just go and kill the tag champions, because no one cares about tag team champions. I am really pissed off about this. Couldn't they used one of the joke teams? Was Slater and O'Neil really too busy? Since there was never a title holder change in mind, would it really matter who they squashed? No, it wouldn't. They fucked up and I don't care about Henry turning heel again. I actually care about tag team wrestling, unlike the WWE apparently.

Winners: The Dust Brothers

 

AJ Lee vs. Alicia Fox - For the Divas Championship

I know I already said it on a different occasion, but what exactly was the point of this match? It didn't establish anything in relation to the Divas Championship, which should be the point. If anything, it established a conflict between Paige and Alicia, and I am guessing this was not exactly the point of it...? This makes me wonder, since the rumors say WWE is not giving the title to a "Total Diva", is this the time to bring new women from NXT? 

Winner: AJ Lee

 

The Usos vs Damien Sandow and The Miz

Have I ever told you guys, how much I hate The Miz? Well, I do, and not because he is a bad guy. Any match Miz is in I will cheer the other side. Since Usos finished their work with Dusts for now, they needed something to do and I guess Miz and Damien were that something. An average match, again Sandow is getting the most attention and seems to be growing in popularity. The match ends with the Usos switching places and taking the win. It most likely was not the last confrontation.

Winners: The Usos

 

Bo Dallas vs. Ryback

So... Ryback is back. Apparently as a face this time, which seems better since the last time when he tried playing a bad guy it fell completely flat. I think it is time to start saying "Bye-bye" to Bo. He had a promising start, annoying, but promising, had his ups and more ups... But now he is heading straight down and for now I don't see any way to stop it. Ryback on the other hand got a very good reaction from the crowd, but we shall see if that will stay, we had been in this situation and you never know when WWE might decided to pull the "fuck up" lever. The tag team with Axel, I assume, is no longer as well. Another prospect for the Team Cena at SS? That could certainly bring Ryback back into the main event fast and not feel forced. But hey, there is still time left, we'll see what happens with that.

Winner: Ryback

 

Casaro vs. Dean Ambrose

Poor, poor Cesaro. What did he do to deserve this kind of treatment? A performer of his caliber ANYWHERE else would be holding the main title long time ago, but in WWE he is used as a jobber. First they don't let him win anything and now they just throw him out like a piece of meat for Ambrose. It's really pissing me off, he deserves so much more and yet they are holding him back. What are you waiting for retards?! 

Winner: Match never started

 

Nikki Bella vs. Naomi

This match was meaningless as a match, didn't help anyone, didn't hurt anyone. Storyline wise we saw that Brie, reluctantly, helped her sister win this. The only way this could go and have even a slight amount of sense is that we see Brie helping Nikki with less and less disgust, which would lead into a heel turn and the Bella Twins reunion. Not sure how this would work with Daniel Bryan being the crowd favorite when he comes back. But the new "news" say he will be having that second surgery and if that is true, the healing process might take a while. In the world of Divas heel/face turns can happen on a weekly basis, so maybe that could work...? I don't know, or to be honest, really care.

Winner: Nikki Bella

 

Kane vs. Dolph Ziggler

Winner: Dolph Ziggler

I will bind those two matches together since they are very closely related. First we see Dolph Ziggler talk to John Cena backstage, most likely about being a part of Team Cena for the Survivor Series. After that we see Kane confronting Ziggler and telling him that since it is seen as a threat to Authority to talk to Cena, Kane will take out the threat. This gives us a match between the Intercontinental Champion and Kane. The match was enjoyable to watch and I think a worth while. One thing that is more and more obvious with each showing, is that Kane is nearing the end of his career. While he can still deliver a good match, in my opinion, there isn't anything left of the "rubbing power" he once had. A win over Kane did absolutely nothing for Dolph, a win is a win, still. After that ended Seth Rollins attacked and was chased away by John Cena, with whom he will be having a match next.

This one was pretty similar and pretty much as expected. Since Rollins is playing the pussy-heel, we had an unavoidable interference from Kane, when John was starting to win. That bring out Dolph Ziggler and this brings out - for some reason - the rest of the locker room. The episode ends with Cena standing in the ring alone surrounded by everyone and the Authority on the ramp looking at each other. Not sure yet how to feel about it, I guess we shall see what future will bring and who will join which team. Right now I am interested, but that can fade with each bad decision. 

John Cena vs. Seth Rollins

Winner: John Cena via DQ

 

 

Overall: 5 out of 10 - If you are a fan, you already seen it, if you haven't watch it, just to know what we are in for in the coming weeks.