First off, as I hope all readers and fans have had a happy holiday season, and a happy new year to all. We return to WWE RAW, the first of the new calendar year of 2016.
In recapping, we had our WWE Oscars equivalent, the Slammy’s, and last week’s drummed up return of John Cena versus Del Rio for the United States title. Cena won by a disqualification based on interference, and Roman saved the day. This appearance of Roman led to the segue of what was to be tonight’s main event on January 4th 2016.
The WWE champion is Roman Reigns who achieved his dream on Raw, and defeating Sheamus; and fans also got treated to the over-authorities dictatorship versus the baby face; the one of defiance and anti-authority. It is boss versus employee storyline once again, and taking elements of a prior era as Mr. McMahon went to jail once again and arrested, as he did years earlier, but featured Steve Austin. Roman Reigns versus The Authority and Vince McMahon has similar intangibles to the Attitude Era elements only, in which Steve Austin is the Roman Reigns “spot” of 2015-2016.
As for the Slammy’s, the most notable awards are Superstar of the Year, which was earned by Seth Rollins who appeared live, his first since the knee injury. Breakout superstar of the year, despite Creative not giving him many good feuds to sink his teeth into or a significant feud- this award went to Neville.
The Match of the Year went to the Hell in the Cell bout featuring Brock Lesnar and the Undertaker, their culmination in a long-brewing rivalry. The OMG, Oh My God moment award was given to Kalisto for his unbelievable performance and subsequent moment during TLC. You may recall, it was during the triple threat ladder tag team match at the TLC pay per view. It pitted Lucha Dragons, The New Day and the Uso’s.
Now, onto the night’s action for January 4th, for this evening Monday Night RAW. Tonight featured a repeated return bout featuring Kevin Owens and Neville, with Dean Ambrose on commentary. A great hotly contested bout, great athletes and performance, but left little Creatively regarding angles, or to make both Neville and Owens credible, or a threat to the IC title. It was one sided, and Owens won the bout; but what does it do for Neville? It featured foreshadowing and build up for the Owens-Ambrose feud, and soon to be altercation post-match. This match was a good opener for the show, but Creatively an afterthought. Realistically, Neville is a great athlete, but horribly misused and underutilized. He goes from NXT champion to the mid-card level with no real advancement, hokey feuds, and no depth to his storyline or persona. Furthermore, given his talent, how is it that he is regulated to the guy who has great matches, and that’s it?
Equally as confusing on RAW, after all the backstage vignettes and mini skits, we see Titus O Neil versus Stardust, and in which O’Neil won the bout. Again, great performers who bust their tails in the ring, but what did this match prove? Where is the story going? Based on the backstage vignettes and comedic relief, how can we take this match (and the performers) seriously?
Becky Lynch defeated Charlotte in Divas action and now as we see more of a heel turn from Charlotte. Earlier snippets of cheating and uncharacteristic “baby face” tactics were evident over the past few weeks; and recurring here on January 4th. Maybe Paige was onto something when she hinted that Charlotte is just like her Dad, and now several weeks later, Charlotte is taking a page (no pun intended) from the Nature Boy’s book.
In other action, Heath Slater returned to in ring action and is forming a new mid-carders faction featuring Adam Rose, Bo Dallas and Curtis Axel. Slater defeated the often under-utilized and stuck in bad storylines Dolph Ziggler in singles competition. What more can WWE do to best use Ziggler and rebuild him? The same question is asked about Bray and the Wyatt’s who interfered in a no contest bout of Ryback versus the Big Show. Hopefully Bray will get a singles push and be a long shot dark horse to win the Royal Rumble. He (Wyatt and Ziggler) both are being booked too wishy-washy, and with no credible seriousness to him anymore. He and his team defeated Team ECW who honestly, with all due respect is a nostalgia act used for a ratings pop. The men who represent the ECW now on WWE still have much to give, do and contribute. Those ECW men are great athletes, but let them contribute on their own merits, and make new memories, and not carry the old ones that died in 2001.
Chris Jericho also returned for a ratings pop and hyped his return and entry into the Royal Rumble. Jericho interrupted a New Day promo who wrestled The Dudley Boys and Kalisto in a 6 man tag team bout.
League of Nations members Alberto Del Rio and Rusev teamed up to defeat the Uso’s in tag team competition. The main event featured Roman Reigns defending his title versus Sheamus with Vince McMahon as guest referee. Roman defeated Sheamus in the bout, after much controversy being thrown into the mix. No interference was seen, but former crooked ref Armstrong came in to try and sway the tide, along with slow counts deliberately from McMahon. Alas, Reigns would not be denied on this night, and win the bout.
However, more developments would ensue and for the first time ever, as Reigns will be featured in the Royal Rumble match and defending his title in the Rumble bout. Is this too predictable, that Roman will overcome the odds? Or is WWE going to kill his momentum too soon and end his championship run early at the Rumble? If Reigns does lose, how does he get rebuild into a contender again?
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