After a week of doing things in the real world, I’m back to talk about this week’s Raw. And what a week to come back. This was a great Raw, guys. Just great. And it mostly belonged to all of my favourite people. But there was one man who stood out among the rest – Mr Antonio Cesaro. Or Cesaro as they’d have us call him now. I’ll get into that more later.
For now, let’s look at the rest of Raw (where I ignore anything Dave Batista does).
Predictable Openers
I’ve never been a fan of these “6 people in the ring saying they’ll win” scenarios because they always say the same things and it almost always leads to the same matches getting made. I won’t complain too much because in the grand scheme of things, we got some great matches out of it.
Bryan vs Christian: We All Know Who’s Winning
This was a good match, but it was mostly anchored by Daniel Bryan. I like Christian as much as the next guy, but he really doesn’t do anything out of this world and all his matches tend to feature the exact same moves. I know that could be said for a lot of people *cough* John Cena *cough*, but at least he changes it up a bit from time to time (more on that later too).
The win could have been a bit more emphatic, but considering what came next, it was forgiveable.
Kane: (Awesome) Corporate Douchebag
Kane is one of those guys that can transition between roles almost seamlessly. He has been a monster first and foremost, but he has played the comedy role, the evil role, the dentist, and now…he’s playing the corporate role. And he’s nailing it!
There’s a certain element of this that just fits. Kane seems more at home being on a mic when he wears a suit I think. Maybe, in part, that’s down to his political aspirations, or maybe he just likes to dress snazzily! Either way, I’m liking this.
The only downside to him picking on Daniel Bryan is that this squashes my dream of a secret alliance between Team Hell No, but there isn’t anyone to blame for that other than CM Punk.
There’s a rumour floating around that Daniel Bryan will be pulling double duty at the Elimination Chamber by facing Kane in a singles match and then going on to be in the Chamber. If that’s true, he’s definitely not winning, but it’ll definitely make him look like the strongest of the bunch, especially if he’s the last one eliminated in the Chamber.
Roman Reigns: Giant Slayer
There’s no denying it now. Roman Reigns is on the fast track to being the next real “face” of the WWE. It has always been strongly hinted at, but week after week, it becomes so much more obvious. I can see him heading into a main-event role by SummerSlam (with a possible Money in the Bank victory to get him there), and staying there for the foreseeable future.
The match between Reigns and Mark Henry didn’t go for very long which leads me , among others, to question his ability to go for long periods in singles matches, but that will come with time. He’s big, athletic and he’s slowly developing a cocky personality which will get him over quite quickly. If we have to have only one “top guy” at a time, we could do a lot worse than Reigns!
#CesaroForChamp
So, this match. I can’t really say anything that hasn’t already been said on numerous other sites. But it was amazing. It was a definite match of the year candidate and the best TV match this year so far.
Cesaro looked like an absolute boss the entire time (even though he lost) and he did some stuff that defies limitations at times. The announcers saying that Cena and Cesaro were “cut from the same cloth” was clearly designed to get Cena more over and to capitalise on some of Cesaro’s growing popularity, but there’s actually some truth to it.
Think about it. Both men are the strongest on the roster. Both perform feats of strength that just defy logic and physics sometimes for men of their size. There are comparisons to be drawn, and it can only help Cesaro in the long run. The announcers also (for once) did a fantastic job of making Cesaro look awesome in defeat. But the match did that for him too.
It’s been quite the week for Cesaro. Last Friday, he pinned Randy Orton clean in the middle of the ring which was shocking to say the least. I was delighted to see this for a couple of reasons:
- Cesaro pinning the champion immediately elevates him
- It shocked us, which is not easy to do these days
- It took him from “dark horse” in the chamber, to “threat”.
Now, there were a few things I didn’t like also:
- He can pin the champ clean but can’t go over Cena? That’s how stars get properly made in WWE. Think about it. If Cesaro had pinned Randy Orton (the champ) and John Cena (the only legit champ) in the same week, he would immediately be propelled into the main-event.
- SmackDown
- SmackDown
- SmackDown
Seriously, why not have Sheamus be the match on SmackDown and give Cesaro the win on Raw in front of a much bigger audience? That would’ve made more sense but either way, it’s a win. They also talked about it on Raw and replayed it, so it all counts.
Cesaro has the momentum. He won’t win the Chamber, and will probably be in an IC title match with Swagger at WrestleMania, but this is a good time for him and he’s being groomed as one of the stars of the future.
Also, for those who haven’t seen it, here’s some highlights of the match he had with Orton on SmackDown:
Before I move on, I have to give credit where credit is due. John Cena may not have been the star of the match on Raw, but he sure as hell impressed me. This is the major issue with Cena though. He’s a good-to-great wrestler wrapped up in a gimmick and atmosphere where he only has to do the bare minimum. If he actually tries, he is awesome.
Also, here’s an endless GIF of Cena being giant swung by Cesaro:
Nothing can follow Cesaro / Cena
It’s a shame that Orton and Sheamus had to follow the match between Cesaro and Cena. Nothing could. Their match was good, but it wasn’t even close to the same caliber. You’ll notice that I’ve skipped the two matches after Cesaro/Cena because they were throwaway and nothing really happened in them.
For whatever reason (and by that I mean, probably none) The Shield interfered causing Orton to lose by DQ. This was probably just a flimsy way to get everyone in the ring for a massive brawl. The crowd went absolutely insane when The Shield and The Wyatts finally went at it. When the 6 people that are in the main-event are in the ring at the same time and that happens, you know that these guys are the future!
Peace out until next week for the post-Chamber Raw.
Recent Comments