Is it just me or is Raw putting so much more emphasis on the “wrestling” recently. There have been a lot less silly backstage segments, and matches (that don’t feature awful divas that cant wrestle) are being given a lot longer to go on. Look at Orton vs Ambrose. That match (given the result) would usually have been 5 minutes shorter at least. I’m not complaining at all, this is something I have been asking for, for ages!
Tonight was a good night for matches as well, but we’ll get to those in more detail as we go on.
Roman Is Raw Has Another Meaning
I like Roman Reigns, and I can see what WWE and Vince see in him and why they want him to be the top guy going forward. His presence in the main event makes sense now that The Shield is no more but I have to say it, I think it might be a bit too soon.
Now the current plan, if you believe the dirt sheets, is for Roman to face Triple H at Summerslam or Night of Champions (or possibly Survivor Series) to build Roman iup heading towards a potential Royal Rumble victory. This would take him to the main event of Wrestlemania where he would face Brock Lesnar and de-throne him to have his big Wrestlemania moment. There are a couple of problems with this:
- How do you keep the title on Brock from Summerlam (apparently) all the way to Wrestlemania when he has limited dates?
- What do you do with Roman between NOC and Royal Rumble? There are only a finite number of people he can face, and he shouldnt be in the title picture the whole time or the eventual match with Lesnar will have less impact.
- Is it too soon for Roman to be propelled to that level?
That last point is important, especially given what we saw in the opening segment tonight. They gave him an empty ring and a mic, and the results were mixed at best. When it comes to physicality, and ring presence, Roman has IT. But given what I saw and heard on the mic tonight, Roman is Raw! He needs to work on his timing, and his delivery. Slow, methodical and intense is a good way to go, and a great way to not be the next Cena / Rock / Hogan. But there is a fine line between slow and snails pace. He also needs to work on his ad-libbing a little bit, since he got a tiny bit flustered by the crowd.
I have every faith that Roman will be the next big thing, and will be a mega star on the same level as John Cena and The Rock, but, remember, “all things in time”.
Now, whether he should be the ONLY mega star they create in the next few years is another topic altogether and not something we have time for today!
Twin Magic
The Uso’s faced the Wyatt Family again tonight and as usual, the match was awesome! With a rapidly dwindling tag division, there are only so many opponents for the tag champs, so you have to go with what works. And Uso’s vs Wyatt’s works gangbusters!
There were a lot of near falls, exciting almost finishes, and high flying (and I include Luke Harper in that!).My absolute favourite moment in this match has to be:
Hopefully, they are building to a title change at Battleground with the Wyatt’s going over and thus opening the doors to The Ascension to come in and challenge them at Summerslam in freak team vs freak team!
Canada Lost Its Swagger
During the Rusev / Rob Van Dam match, which wasn’t really an exciting affair, Zeb Colter appeared on the second screen to challenge Rusev to a match at Battleground against Jack Swagger. Not only that, but Jack Swagger did not appear on Raw to attack Rusev or have any sort of confrontation with him. I assume this was because of his previous convictions for marijuana posession and driving under the influence, but it really put a stop to the momentum gained from last weeks amazingly logical segment where Zeb and Swagger challenged Rusev and Lana because they are REAL AMERICANS WHO LOVE AMERICA!
It also cemented a long overdue Jack Swagger face turn, and turned Zeb from xenophobic nutjob, into that uncle you laugh uncomfortably at when you all get together at Christmas!
Dat Orton / Ambrose Match!
A lot of people compare Dean Ambrose to Rowdy Roddy Piper at times. I for one, think that is fairly accurate, but to use a comparison to a more recent superstar, I can see shades of Randy Orton in him. Now that might be an unpopular statement to make but hear me out. Both men have (or had in Orton’s case) serious mental issues. They both have a weird slow burning intensity in the ring and both men are gifted athletes. I can’t really explain much better than that, it’s just something I see in the 2 of them, a similarity that can’t be ignored.
The match itself was great, and hopefully an indication of the future of the top tier of talent. I worry sometimes that with Roman being pushed to the moon and Seth holding the MitB contract, Dean will get left behind and lost in a mid-card shuffle. Now, the Ambrose / Rollins feud (which kind of took a break tonight it seems) has the potential to be a show stealer regardless of where it takes place, and can / should go on for a few months, with both men getting victories back and forth. After that, lets not have Ambrose get shuffled down, why not have him fight for the title? Why not put him in a feud with Kane, or a lengthier feud with Orton so he can get his win back (why he lost tonight is beyond me!).I can’t complain too much when this was the end of the match though:
There was also a pretty obvious botch during the match, with Ambrose coming off the top rope to….nothing. Its hard to tell whether this was Ambrose doing the wrong thing at the wrong time or if Orton didn’t turn around to hit the dropkick on Ambrose in mid-air:
Anyway, as long as Ambrose remains as relevant as his former Shield brethren, then we won’t have a problem. You have the potential to create 3 mega stars here WWE, please don’t screw it up.
Unoriginal Matches…With Meaning!
A match we’ve seen 1000 times before. A good match, sure, but an unoriginal one. However, this time it was in order to gain something; a shot at the United States Championship. This gave it a much needed jolt as both men brought their A game in order to gain the opportunity to challenge Sheamus. The result is questionable as Del Rio has won the majority of his encounters with Ziggler, and Dolph could use the win to keep any momentum he had going, but it is what it is, and it makes sense for the title match to be face vs heel anyway.
Sandhart </3
I was sure, and I mean sure, that we had seen the last of “Damien Sandow plays dress up” last week with the (admittedly amazing) Vince McMahon impression. But alas, it was not to be and this week we got Bret ‘The Hitman’ Sandhart.
Noone is going to win any awards for creativity here, and I’m sure Bret Hart can’t be too happy, but, when is he?!
The following Sheamus / Sandhart match wasn’t great and the result was kind of obvious to anyone with a brain.
Cool Dad Still Got Some Moves!
I’ve made plenty of jokes about Chris Jericho being “cool dad” in the past, but I’ve never once disputed his ability between the ropes. A year away hasn’t slowed him down a bit (neither has age for that matter) and Jericho can still pull out high quality matches with the right opponents. As for Miz, well I have always been a closet Miz fan, and even though he has been phoning in a lot of his promos and performances this past couple of years (especially since his push back down the card in 2011) he’s back with a fresh character twist and a renewed energy that sees him putting in more effort than he was last year!
The match was great, with both men getting in the appropriate amount of offense and even though Jericho won, I can see them having a couple more matches including one at Battleground as they build to the match between Jericho and Wyatt at Summerslam.
Speaking of Wyatt, he and Jericho had an awesome verbal exchange post-match that makes me VERY excited for the build of this feud and the eventual match between the two should be great given what both men are capable of on grand stages!
Pourri Cesaro!
I’m not sure what is going on with Cesaro at the moment. He seems like the obvious favourite to win the Battleground Battle Royal in a few weeks, but he has now lost 2 straight matches to Kofi Kingston which does not bode well when you consider that little over a week ago, he was in the championship ladder match. Apparently the loss to Kofi does not mean they are not pushing Cesaro anymore (again, if you believe the dirt sheets) but what possible reason do they have for making him lose to the irrelevant Kofi Kingston twice in one week then?
A Glimpse Of Things To Come?
To me, the main event with John Cena facing Seth Rollins was not just a thrown together match that didn’t involve any of the other 3 men in the Fatal 4 Way match at Battleground. No, it was so much more! This was a test of Seth Rollins’ ability to bring it against WWE’s current top guy. And boy did he deliver! This match was a great showing from both men, with Rollins looking more than capable of taking it to Cena and potentially besting him in the long run given the opportunity.
To me, this proves that Rollins is not a flash in the pan, and certainly won’t be a Damien Sandow-like MitB winner. Seth Rollins may be the new CM Punk and we should all forget about Punk (because he’s gone, and we need to accept that!) and be excited that someone like Rollins has stepped into his place. Believe that!
If I’m wrong and Cena wins everything, buries all 3 members of The Shield, and The Authority, along with the rest of the roster (and given the track record, its a real and scary possibility), then I’m out:
And for those wondering if Rollins cashed in the contract tonight:
Peace!
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