"This is important": Monday Night RAW (6/6/16)

Monday Night RAW kicked off with the most unique opening segment I've ever seen in a long time. Rather than the usual shot of the venue with the pyro going off, it started with Dean Ambrose walking towards the ring, where all 5 of the MITB entrants are perched upon 6 tall ladders, surrounding the MITB briefcase. They all had a funny banter on who was going to win, with Jericho reminding everybody who created this match before it devolved with everyone getting down from the ladders and beating each other up. This lead to a surprise appearance by the infamous former Smack Down general manager, Teddy Long. He tossed out interesting ideas for tag team matches before Stephanie McMahon interrupted him to get all entrants in 3 singles matches (Jericho vs Cesaro, Alberto Del Rio vs Sami Zayn, and Ambrose vs Kevin Owens). The results can be found here.

The other best segment of the night was the banter between AJ Styles, and John Cena. It was not just a typical heel talking down a face. There was a sense of truth in their promo, such as Cena calling Styles a dud for coming to WWE despite being heralded as the "hero of sports entertainment" and Styles flat out saying to Cena that "guys like you bury guys like me." Cena has somehow enlisted the help of The New Day to help him out, which makes sense considering Gallows and Anderson started feuding with them. Speaking of tag teams, thanks to a wonderful idea by Teddy Long, Stephanie added another match for MITB. There will a Fatal 4 Way for the title with The New Day, The Club, Enzo and Cass, and The Vaudevillains.

The absolute worst segment of the night goes to, no surprise, the women's division. Charlotte uncharacteristically issued an apology to the WWE Universe on how she treated her father but still maintained why she had to do it. She mentions that she took in Dana Brooke to be her protege, which saddens me that they had to go this route with her since Emma is still injured. Natalya and Becky came out to try to sway Dana from siding with Charlotte and of course, it doesn't work. There was dead silence for this segment and it pretty much showed that this whole Charlotte and Natalya feud is quickly getting stale. In a 3 hour show, there was no room for any women's wrestling. Not even for freaking Sasha Banks.

Neither Reigns or Rollins made an appearance tonight, which meant the world title was taking a break this week in favor of the MITB feud and Cena vs Styles. They ran 2 lengthy video packages that revisted their history together as The Shield as well as the beginning of their feud from their perspective. Rollins' video package incorporated some segments from his WWE: 24 documentary, which actually made Rollins come off a little different now than his chickenshit heel persona before his injury. No longer backed by The Authority, Rollins wants to prove that he can beat Reigns and he's been waiting 2 years to do it. Reigns video package, on the other hand, conveniently skipped his first 2 title reigns and his reliance on Ambrose and The Usos, despite him saying that he now stands alone. They even showed his WM 32 moment where he holds up the title to a thunderous applause that was clearly edited in. This was a great to build up their feud (and prevent Reigns from getting booed for cutting another promo) than that silly silent treatment they did last week.

To be honest, despite how this episode got mixed reactions by AV Club, I personally enjoyed it. Well, most of it anyways. I do want to note that Ambrose is being heavily featured again. He had a quick backstage segment with Owens, where he noted that Ambrose seems to be going off at the deep end more than usual. In addition to making another appearance on Sports Center with Coach, he has a scheduled match with Jericho on Smack Down. And the previous cancelled Ambrose Asylum (the talk show, not the cage match) returns for the go-home show with 2 very special guests. Once again, Ambrose is being positioned as the favorite to win MITB and they're making it obvious. It's funny that everyone wants to see this happen and knowing WWE, they'll go in a completely different direction and delay pulling the trigger on Ambrose. If he doesn't win, I'm fine with Owens, Zayn or Cesaro walking away with the briefcase.

WWE Extreme Rules 2016 PPV

Last night was WWE's Extreme Rules, the 2nd PPV to quickly follow Payback in the month of May. This was a more satisfying PPV than Payback and best of all, no on-screen injuries occurred! The results can be found here.

Rusev won over Kalisto to become a 2-time US Champion. RuRu came out looking like a monster heel again with his newly modified and brutal looking Accolade. I didn't think resetting him (and Lana's) character would do him any good but it turns out did.

The best match of the night was hands down the IC Title Fatal 4 Way match. Zayn and Owens' hatred for each other was the backdrop for this match, which probably wouldn't have been interesting if it only involved Cesaro and Miz. There were so many great spots, so many nearfalls, and Miz didn't look out of place at all amidst these former indy stars. I was really rooting for Cesaro to win, so I was a bit bummed when he didn't. Miz retaining makes sense because this leaves it open for other guys to go after the title and it frees up Owens, Zayn, and Cesaro.

The Asylum Match was the longest match of the night, clocking in at 26 minutes. It turns out that a short segment was cut from the show and added to Ambrose and Jericho's feud, resulting in an unfortunately long and drawn out match. I'll be honest here; I was bored watching this drag on. I didn't like that every "weapon" they grabbed was literally used once. It wasn't until Ambrose spilled thumbtacks unto the ring that it started building up. Ambrose dropped Jericho unto the tacks AND did Dirty Deeds on him to get another win. I have serious respect for Jericho, who went above and beyond to help put Ambrose over when WWE or Lesnar couldn't for WM 32. This one spot saved it from being the worst match of the night.

No, that goes to the Women's Title match with Natalya and Charlotte. Their match was actually quite good but due to the Asylum match running longer than it was suppose to, their match was shortened to under 10 minutes. Natalya looked like she was winning until she was distracted by Flair's entrance theme playing with Dana Brooke (poorly disguised as Flair) entering the ring to distract Natalya. Charlotte does the Figure 8 and forces Natalya to tap. Charlotte, Ric, and Dana all celebrate in the ring. Another title defense for the new Women's title that ended with Flair interfering.

The main event with Styles and Reigns was fantastic. They brawled outside the ring, unto the kickoff show's glass table, destroyed tables and barricades. Gallows and Anderson and the Usos showed up towards the end of the match and everyone was doing everything to make sure they're guy would win. Styles even went berserk and hit The Bloodline in the back with a steel chair. Just as Styles was getting ready to hit the Phenomenal Forearm, Reigns tackles him in mid-air with a spear for a definitive win. It was expected that Reigns would retain and he was getting showered in boos.

AND THEN CROSSFIT JESUS RETURNED

Rollins came back way earlier than anticipated, probably as quick as Cena's return (which is next Monday). He's going to get such a huge pop on Monday Night RAW. We're all cheering for a returning heel and are actively booing the company's top babyface champ. If Reigns is being intentionally built to be this kayfabe powerful, then it would make his defeat even more satisfying. There's no other person than can take him down a notch than the former champ who never lost his title.

"RESET: Into Darkness": Monday Night RAW (4/25/16)

All good things must come to and end. After having 3 back-to-back shows of Authority-free content, Stephanie McMahon returned to Monday Night RAW (sans HHH) to interrupt Shane. She announced that this was Shane's last night to run RAW because this Sunday at Payback, Vince McMahon will decide if Stephanie or Shane will take control of RAW. Once again, it's another weird stipulation that teases the end of The Authority storyline but at least it has a better and concise buildup, and this doesn't require Shane to do another death-defying stunt.

That opening segment with Stephanie really sucked the air out of the room, as Shane phrased it, and that disinterest affected the rest of show. Sad to say that the show really felt like a chore again, with more segments and promos than actual wrestling matches. The results can be found here.

The major highlights were:

• Chyna, who passed away last week, was acknowledged on RAW via a graphic and a touching video package. Despite their publicly estranged relationship and the personal problems she's had, WWE went out of their way to pay their respects to her. They focused on what she accomplished when she was with WWE and showed clips of her with DX and as Eddie Guerrero's beloved Mamacita.
  
• League of Nations have quietly disbanded and was put into single matches: AJ Styles vs Sheamus, Sami Zayn vs Rusev, and Roman Reigns vs Alberto Del Rio. And they all lost.
  
• The much-awaited in-ring debut of Karl Anderson and Doc Luke Gallows. They got wrestling gear and outfits that matches pretty closely to their NJPW attire. Even their entrance theme sounded similar to the Bullet Club theme. After a lengthy match, they defeated the Usos and started to beat them down until Reigns came out to make the save. Reigns is so tainted that the normally cheered Usos got boos and "USOS SUCKS" chants.
  
• The New Day, The Vaudevillains, and Enzo and Big Cass all came out to do their respective promos. It should be noted that the Tag Team Championship title will not be defended at Payback.
  
• There was a video package that talked about the 14-year history between Owens and Zayn's blood feud featuring commentary from the two. Not only did it explain the feud to casual fans but it also showcased a unique feud that has carried over from several wrestling promotions to WWE. It was a great opener to Sami and Rusev, who had a great match. Sami won, which infuriated Lana enough to throw her shoes at him, and got blindsided by Kevin Owens.
  
• For some freaking reason, there was only one Women's wrestling match again and it was just Natalya defeating Emma. Charlotte was on commentary. Becky, Sasha, and the other women were nowhere to be seen.
  
• Dean Ambrose abandoned his Ambrose Asylum talk show (and potted plant) to call out Jericho for attacking him from behind last week. Although their feud stemmed from Ambrose Asylum taking over The Highlight Reel, the real issue is that Jericho had become an egomaniacal top heel who brags about being untouchable. Ambrose is back in PPV mode and taking on Jericho because that's what he does. Their segment ended with Ambrose trapped in the Walls of Jericho on the announcer's table. Jericho has one-upped Ambrose a few times, so hopefully this means Ambrose gets a win at Payback.
  
• As I mentioned earlier, Reigns is tainted. The problem is that even though Reigns has taken on this tweener-ish persona, WWE isn't helping his image by showcasing a video package where he's meeting with Make-A-Wish kids. Those same kids were there at ringside and Reigns was smiling and interacting with them. When he went into the ring, the crowd resumed booing at him. Gallows and Anderson jump Reigns after he defeated Del Rio. Styles makes the save and tries to keep his brothers out of the ring and ends up getting Superman punched by Reigns. Just when it looked like Reigns was standing tall after taking out Gallows and Anderson, Styles comes back with the Phenomenal Forearm and lays out Reigns.
  
  

By the way, the crowd for this go-home show was pretty bad. AV Club pointed out that they only chanted a few times because the casual fans were supposed to. It's a lukewarm response for a go-home show which sort of takes you out of the matches. Nonetheless, the last 3 weeks for Payback has been handled quite well and the card this Sunday is full of new talent, save for WWE veterans like Jericho, Natalya, The Miz, and Ziggler. The only sad news about Payback is that the promotional materials still features The Wyatt Family and neither Bray or the rest have been seen since his injury.

RIP AMBROSE ASYLUM & POTTED PLANT

2016 - 2016

"KO-Mania": Monday Night RAW (3/21/16)

Last night's Monday Night RAW showed a lot of promise in the first hour. It kicked off with Stephanie cutting a promo about HHH not being present tonight before being interrupted by Roman Reigns, who of course got tremendous boos from the Philly crowd. Reigns actually came off a little better here, shushing Stephanie to make his short promo and even stopping her from slapping him in the face again. Kevin Owens vs AJ Styles was the first match of the night, which was a ridiculously amazing and hard hitting spot fest, only for it to be ruined when Jericho interrupted the match. Owens would then cut a promo about KO-Mania before being interrupted by Dolph Ziggler, The Miz, and Sami Zayn, causing Owens to go to the Authority to arrange a triple-threat match so that the winner would be the #1 contender for his IC title. Later on in the show, Owens would accidentally piss off Stephanie, causing her to book Owens into a 7-man ladder match for the IC title at Wrestlemania, which includes Stardust, Sin Cara, and Zack freakin Ryder.

And that's where RAW, as many describes it best, falls off the cliff. The results can be found here.

Save for a wonderful taped segment with Dean Ambrose and another hardcore legend Terry Funk in a Philly bar, where Funk just flat out gives Ambrose a chainsaw, the rest of RAW was once again filled with random matches and an unusual amount of video packages. This was flat out a mostly terrible show. There are just 2 weeks left before WrestleMania and 5 of the main event performers didn't make an appearance (Shane, Taker, and Lesnar) or wrestled in the ring (HHH and Reigns). Ambrose was the only main eventer who wrestled last night and his opponent was Braun Strowman. BRAUN STROWMAN WAS THE MAIN EVENT OF RAW.

There was also one weird segment that involved Stephanie. She was suddenly apprehensive of Reigns and called Hunter to pick her up. This was HHH's only appearance by the way. They went into the car and waited for the garage door to open up, only to reveal Reigns wearing a hoodie, blocking their way. He approached the car, pulled out HHH, and started beating him up - with Stephanie screaming bloody murder in the background. HHH managed to get one hit on Reigns before getting back into car and driving off. The crowd was dead silent during the segment and when the camera panned to Reigns, they all booed him. Reigns is finally acting like the silent bad-ass but it came WAY too late. These out-of-the-ring and backstage brawls are ok but it's not doing much for Reigns. He's back to tag-teaming with Ambrose for the house shows but he hasn't done a solo match since his return.

The wrestling quality was great (even though most of the matches ended poorly) but the the horrible booking and creative decisions, not to mention the endless commercial breaks and video packages, really brought down the show. Even the normally smarky Philly crowd was dead at the third hour, chanting "THIS IS BORING!" and "WE WANT LESNAR!" The cheered for Ambrose when he abruptly ended the match by hitting Braun with a chair. Neither Ambrose or an unannounced Paul Heyman (who was seen at commentary) got any mic time, which was one of the dumbest things to do for 2 great talkers.

And to make things worse, tonight saw yet another possible and major injury. The dark match was The Wyatt Family vs Reigns, Ambrose, Zayn, and Ziggler. For some unexplained reason, Harper appeared to have sustained an ankle injury as soon as he got into the ring. The babyfaces couldn't really celebrate (not to mention some of the crowd was already leaving and Reigns got the win, of course) and they all looked pretty concern with Harper.

Thank god this was not the go-home show. Now I'm looking forward to Smack Down to see what Lesnar and Ambrose will be doing, and hopefully, it'll be a lot better than what was showcased last night.

"WHAT IS HAPPENING?!": Monday Night RAW (2/22/16)

Just hours before RAW, footage of Brock Lesnar attacking Dean Ambrose outside the arena surfaced, causing a HUGE buzz in the social media of the WWE Universe. Ambrose was then stretchered out of the arena in an ambulance, meaning he'll be missing tonight's show due to the devastating injuries he received after being slammed by Lesnar unto a limo. YEAH FUCKING RIGHT.

Unpredictability seemed to be the theme for tonight's RAW, as the hour kicked off with showing footage of Lesnar beating up Ambrose (again), followed by Vince McMahon introducing the newly created Vincent J McMahon Legacy of Excellence Award. The award went to Stephanie, of course, who was gracious to accept the award (amidst the reign of boos from the audience). Just as she was getting ready to give her acceptance speech, she was interrupted... by none other than Shane McMahon. The reason for Shane's return was that he wanted to take control of Monday Night RAW, after being disgusted with how the ratings, the stock, and roster injuries have been under Stephanie's reign. Vince said he'll do it if Shane fights and win in one match of Vince's choosing, which Shane hastily accepts. The match will take place at Wrestlemania. His opponent is Undertaker. And it will be a Hell In A Cell match.

The rest of RAW was entertaining for the most part. The results can be found here.

The second hour saw Paul Heyman and Lesnar returning, with Heyman cutting a furiously amazing promo on how Brock Lesnar is "THE MAIN EVENT," regardless of him not facing against HHH for the title. Thanks to Ambrose screwing over Lesnar and himself out of the Triple Threat, he needs another Wrestlemania opponent. Ambrose shows up in the same ambulance he was taken out of and crawls towards Lesnar, who literally steps on Ambrose's head as he makes his exit. Ambrose calls out for Lesnar and demands a No Holds Barred Street Fight at Wrestlemania. Lesnar does an F5 on Ambrose and Heyman tells him that his client accepts. Initially, I was worried that Ambrose's momentum has been killed off after losing in Fastlane. Not only did this continue the storyline of "Indestructible" Ambrose, this also marks his first ever one-on-one Wrestlemania match! And thanks to Heyman's emphasis on Lesnar being "THE MAIN EVENT", it's shaping up to actually outshine the main event match with HHH vs Reigns.

The end of the third hour saw a lackluster match between Reigns and Sheamus, which ended in a no contest as HHH appeared and proceeded to take out Reigns. The beatdown got incredibly violent as HHH repeatedly smacked Reigns' head on the announcer's table, leaving his face a bright bloody mess. HHH even did the pedigree on Reigns on the steel steps. This is the heel giving a brutal beatdown to a babyface and yet, the whole crowd was behind the heel the whole time, cheering "YES!" for every smack and yelling "ONE MORE TIME!" for another pedigree. There's 6 more weeks left til Wrestlemania and I can't imagine how Reigns is going to handle this (some asshole fan even threw beer at him during his entrance). He really has to turn heel, otherwise he's going to get booed out of the building in Wrestlemania again.

WWE.com reported that Reigns had to undergo surgery following HHH's attack, which seems to alude to that rumor that Reigns might get written off TV to avoid the boos he'll be getting when RAW comes to Chicago, Philiadelphia, Pittsburgh, and Brooklyn next month. If WWE had to resort to this, this is probably the best choice. It helps to take off all the heat Reigns gets. I'm actually starting to feel a bit sorry for him.

"This makes no sense": Monday Night RAW (1/26/16)

I STILL CAN'T PROCESS THIS.

It's been 24 hours since the Royal Rumble, the PPV that had entertaining title defense matches and where the main event didn't end up with poster boy Roman Reigns retaining his title. It got everybody pumped for the fallout on RAW.

RAW opened up with a typical Authority promo but this time it came from "The Game" HHH wearing his suit and the title. He cut a long promo where he praised Reigns but also talked him down, saying he doesn't deserve the title because of his lack of respect. Stephanie then announced that tonight, they'll be evaluating all the superstar matches and announce the main event for Fastlane on 2/21. The winner for that main event will face against HHH at Wrestlemania. Sounds like this will be a great follow-up show right? Sadly, it wasn't. The results can be found here.

The few highlights for me were:

• Kevin Owens, still selling his injuries from his Last Man Standing match, defeated Ziggler. This match is no different from their previous matches but it was still great to see Owens get a win. As for Ziggler, I really don't know what they're doing with him. Even with updated his look, he's still pretty much directionless.
• AJ Styles defeated Jericho! This was a good match, mostly because Styles is learning to adapt to the WWE style on the fly with fellow veteran Jericho helping him along. Interesting enough, Styles keeps teasing the Styles Clash but has not actually pulled it off yet. And Jericho didn't seem happy with losing to him either.
• Sasha and Becky had a short match due to Charlotte interrupting. I'm incredibly happy that the Divas storyline is focusing on the the NXT Horsewomen, while the Total Divas Brie, Alicia, Paige, and Natalya, have their own pointless match.
• The special guest for tonight was The Rock, who went on a super long and hyped up promo about coming home, making fun of Miz, Big Show, Lana and Rusev, and calling The New Day's unicorn horns "Llama penises." He got the Usos to come out and take out New Day. I didn't like this segment with The Rock but god damn can he get your attention.

The main event match was Reigns and Ambrose vs Sheamus and Rusev. As usual, Ambrose takes the brunt of the offenses from League of Nations while Reigns only gets in for the hot tag. Reigns wins with a spear to Sheamus. After the match ended, Ambrose started angrily clearing the announcer's table while Reigns throws Rusev to the stairs. The "Brothers-in-Arms" got Rusev up to set up for a powerbomb through the table. This was retaliation for what happened with Reigns at the Royal Rumble. Stephanie suddenly comes out and announces that after much evaluation the main event for Fastlane will be Dean Ambrose vs Roman Reigns vs Brock Lesnar.

And this is where RAW leading up to this announcement made the last 3 hours frustrating to process. Why did they announce that they were evaluating ALL the superstars when it came down to the last 2 faces from the Royal Rumble and a guy who didn't even appear on the show? Why did the Authority give Reigns another title shot after making a big deal about taking the title away from him? And why are they throwing IC Champ Ambrose into the title picture? It makes no sense at all.

The 3 possible outcomes don't scream Wrestlemania main event either. Lesnar vs HHH would be a repeat, considering that HHH defeated Lesnar a few years ago. Reigns vs HHH won't be as exciting because Reigns will obviously get his title back and become a 3-time WWE Champ. And Ambrose vs HHH wouldn't work at all because of the current booking, where Ambrose always comes close but never wins the big title. A part of me is holding out hope that, judging from the audience reaction to Ambrose being in the final two against HHH, he might just win Fastlane, which is taking place in his home state of Ohio. Then again, he didn't even win in his hometown on an episode of Smackdown last year. Realistically, he's probably there to take the pin to advance the storyline of Reigns vs The Authority, even though the real story of an organic fan movement like Daniel Bryan is happening with Ambrose.

"One vs All": Monday Night RAW (1/12/16)

Last night's RAW was odd and rushed. The results can be found here. I'm really not sure what to talk about here. I actually have a lot to complain about.

There are a few highlights here:

• Notably, the first title change on TV of 2016, as Kalisto defeated Alberto Del Rio for the US Championship title! Sin Cara's injury was the weird blessing in disguise for Kalisto to finally get a push. 
• Then there's Becky finally snapping and attacking Charlotte, greatly adding more fuel to their feud. This is the first time since the "Divas Revolution" that is focusing on character progression and story building. It's quite sad that this was made possible because Paige and Sasha are currently out due to injuries.
• And finally, there's the increasingly angry Ambrose, who was more focused on busting open Sheamus' head into a pole to care that the match ended in a double count-out. After getting attacked by Owens, he ignored to be looked at by the medics, and yelled at a flustered Renee Young that he was still alive.

Those few highlights were eclipsed by a lot of weird segments and matches, especially the vague main event match hastily put together by Vince McMahon. The first ever "One vs All" was first built as having a portion of the roster go against Reigns, including his brother Ambrose. Then when the main event came, Vince and Stephanie called down all the heels - Kevin Owens, The Cosmic Wasteland, New Day, The Wyatt Family, half of League of Nations, and Tyler Breeze - to wait at ringside. And yet when the bell rang, it was Owens vs Reigns for the duration of the match. The other heels never tagged in, never interfered, and didn't even act like lumberjacks to keep the action in the ring. They were fodder for Lesnar, who entered towards the end of the match and cleared the ring of all the heels before putting the F5 on Reigns.

This feels like this should've been the go-home show. There is still one week left before the Royal Rumble. And with news still churning on the NJPW 4 possibly making their WWE debut a lot sooner than expected, it seems like WWE is frantically trying to rewrite their stories and set up new angles to Wrestlemania

"YOU DESERVE IT": Monday Night RAW (12/14/15)

I can't believe this. We not only got a new Intercontinental Champion with Dean Ambrose from TLC on Sunday, we got a new World Heavyweight Champion with Roman Reigns, all within 24 hours! And the title change happened on Monday Night RAW, which is only the 2nd time it has happened this year. Holy crap!

RAW started off with Stephanie, still reeling from last night's event and calling out Reigns. Reigns came out with a mic (uh oh) and briefly mentioned that it was his daughter's birthday. They had a pretty good back and forth until Stephanie slapped Reigns. Several times. HARD. She said she didn't have the power to fire Roman but she knows someone who can, Vincent Kennedy McMahon, and he was on his way to the ring. You know WWE's getting desperate if they're involving Vince McMahon, who hasn't been on television for a year.

This is day 1 of Ambrose as IC Champ and he was the first match of the night as he went up against Dolph Ziggler. And damn, does Ambrose look good with the belt! Their match had the same tone as their Survivor Series semi-finals match, which was mostly technical. It was getting pretty good until Owens showed up and tossed Ziggler out of the ring, resulting in a no-contest. A pissed off Owens proceeded to Pop Up Powerbomb the HELL out of Ambrose twice. Ziggler got back into the ring to brawl with Owens but was quickly overwhelmed, which led to Owens powerbombing Ziggler unto Ambrose. This was scarily reminiscent of NXT Owens, where he was a merciless killer heel. I am happily anticipating all the mic time and promos that Ambrose and Owens will be cutting.

Vince McMahon arrives (interrupting a match between R-Truth and B- Dallas) and calls out Reigns. He wanted him to apologize for injuring HHH and calling the McMahon's a disgrace, which Reigns refuses. Sheamus comes out and said that he'll beat an apology out of Reigns. He even put his title on the line! Let me repeat that: the champion is issuing the challenger (who lost twice) another rematch. It took Reigns making another stupid balls joke directed at McMahon to make the title match official. And McMahon got the last laugh by kicking Reigns in the balls. Eesh.

The matches that followed were for the most part quite entertaining. The Wyatt Family and Team ECW got a TLC rematch which was more brutal and violent than their tables match, ending with Wyatt Family getting another win. This was a simple reminder on how booking was done right. They brought in veterans to put on a good match and to put over the new talent. This probably marks the end of their feud so it'll be interesting to see who the Wyatt Family will focus on next.

The New Day, in what seemed to be a completely out of character moment, acknowledged The Usos and Lucha Dragons for putting on the best match of the night for the fans from TLC. They extended the olive branch and wanted to call a truce between the two teams, which they obliged. When the New Day went back to being obnoxious about being tag team champs again, The Usos and The Lucha Dragons ganged up and took them out. This was an unusual segment because The New Day never insulted them or attacked them at all; they were being completely respectful. Is this a preview of The New Day becoming faces or The Usos becoming heels?

Fast forward to the main event, which was another slow and brutal match with Sheamus and Reigns. When it seemed like Reigns was going to win, McMahon, who was sitting at ringside, interfered by pulling the ref out before the 3 count. Alberto Del Rio and Rusev came out and Reigns took all of them out with a Superman Punch, including McMahon. Reigns spears and pins Sheamus and wins the match. This same Philadelphia crowd, who booed the hell out of Reigns for winning the Royal Rumble back in January, was now cheering "YOU DESERVE IT!" to him. 

I'll be honest, I have very mixed feelings about this payoff. On one hand, Reigns and Ambrose, the current full-time babyfaces of WWE, are ending the year as new champions for the first time in their singles career. And as I noted earlier, they did a title change on a non-PPV event, which is also a big deal. On the other hand, it felt like Sheamus' cash-in to become the WHC and the formation of the League of Nations was just to make them as obstacles for Reigns to overcome. This was a great moment for Reigns but it doesn't excuse the long and rocky build up from Royal Rumble and Wrestlemania to help him get over. Not to mention the mixed up booking in making him an underdog (Bryan), a superman (Cena), a crazy thief (Ambrose), and an authority defying rebel (Austin).

Putting the analytical smarkiness aside, it's hard to not acknowledge how this is a feel good moment for Reigns. This was the plan along for him and while he'll never escape the "tater tot"s and "wrinkly prunes" lines, there's no denying that he's come a long way as the silent enforcer from The Shield. The major positive I see with this is that creative will finally cool down on focusing solely on making Reigns look strong and spend time in building up the roster. The road to sign-pointing Wrestlemania is underway with Royal Rumble on January 24. The PPV is taking place in Florida, so expect to see a lot of NXT appearances.

WWE TLC 2015 PPV

"THANK YOU ROMAN!"

If there's one thing about professional wrestling sports entertainment, when it's good, it's fucking great. The general apathetic attitude and low expectations for the last PPV of the year resulted in a pretty decent show, at least better in comparison to the disappointing Survivor Series PPV. The changes and progress that the fans wanted happened last night and that eagerness to see the fallout is carrying over for Monday Night RAW. One thing is for sure, it got a lot of people talking in a good way.

Let me be clear: TLC was decent but the buildup for some of the matches like Rusev vs Ryback, Del Rio vs Swagger, and even Team ECW vs The Wyatt Family, were poor or rushed. Even though they had a few good matches and standout moments, the PPV was just that, decent.

Here are the match results:

• Sasha Banks (w/ Naomi and Tamina) defeated Becky Lynch
• The New Day defeated The Lucha Dragons and The Usos
• Rusev w/ Lana defeated Ryback
• Alberto Del Rio defeated Jack Swagger
• The Wyatt Family defeated Team ECW
• Dean Ambrose defeated Kevin Owens
• Charlotte w/ Ric Flair defeated Paige
• Sheamus defeated Roman Reigns

First off, let me just say that I'm scarily becoming like Vince in making mostly accurate predictions. We were able to call out what the next matches would be without looking at live reports. Vince predicted that they would start the PPV strong with the Tag Team Triple Threat match. And that was a smart decision.

I was fearful of this match, mostly because there's a lot of high flyers getting mixed up with ladders and I was afraid that someone was going to get injured. Still, it was a solid match with great spots and with Xavier Woods at commentary, who did an awesome job putting all the other teams over and calling out moves like a pro commentator. Vince predicted that the Usos would win and I said New Day would retain, and thankfully, the latter happened.

Going off from their win, I also predicted that all the heel champs (yes, even current Divas champ Charlotte) would retain their titles. And it looked like that was the trend for the non-title matches, which saw The Wyatt Family defeating Team ECW and Rusev defeating Ryback. So when Ambrose and Owens' match was coming up, I was fine with seeing another heel champ retaining their title until... until...

THIS FUCKING HAPPENED

Dean Ambrose defeated Owens via Hurricanrana to become the new IC Champ! This was truly the biggest surprise of the night. It was a long-awaited payoff for Ambrose when he first set his sights on taking the IC title away from Bad New Barrett back in January. Even though their buildup to this feud was briefly sidelined, with Owens getting sick and Ambrose siding with Reigns and The Usos, not to mention having Ambrose toss popcorn and soda at Owens' face instead of cutting a promo, this was still the only match I cared about. Overall, the match was entertaining and it even had a great moment where Owens barely made a rope break using only one finger! Ambrose was the only babyface to win a match and it was also the only title change in the PPV. This was great for both parties; Ambrose is a new champ and Owens is free to possibly go after another title and having bigger feuds.

The main event TLC match between Sheamus and Reigns was met with apathy and smark from the Boston crowd. They even chanted, "WE WANT CENA! CENA SUCKS!" and "NXT!" because they all know how the match was going to end. The match itself was quite intense, slow, and methodical, but no one was really invested in it. Sheamus was able to retain the title, thanks to Del Rio helping Sheamus up the ladder and Rusev putting Reigns in the Accolade. We were getting a repeat of Reigns looking defeated and walking away as Sheamus celebrated in the middle of the ring on the shoulders of Del Rio and Rusev. And then something miraculous happened; Reigns showed character progression.

For over 10 minutes, Reigns wrecked havoc in the ring. He wasn't just mad that he lost. He was absolutely pissed. He took a chair and started beating up on Del Rio, Rusev, and Sheamus. Several referees, Stephanie, and HHH came out to stop Reigns. HHH tried to calm Reigns down and stupidly turned his back on him, giving Reigns and opportunity to beat the hell out of him with a chair. The crowd, who was chanting for Cena earlier in the match, was now cheering for Reigns. He was finally being the silent bad-ass monster that the fans have been waiting for. And it worked. The crowd chanted, "THANK YOU ROMAN," as he walked back up the ramp, not looking the least bit sorry in taking down LON and HHH.

Now I'm eager to watch RAW tonight. The Authority (mostly Stephanie) will probably make Reigns' life a living hell to get back at him. Which is fine but they have to do a few things here with Reigns' character. Don't make Reigns talk. Don't make him cut another recap promo with a smile on his face. Make Reigns go into berserk mode and live up to his new shirt motto, "Spare no one. Spear everyone." He's not working as another John Cena or Daniel Bryan, so make him be himself. Maybe having the Lunatic Fringe as a buddy might've rubbed off on him after all.

CONGRATS, DEAN AMBROSE!

"TATER TOT SON": Monday Night RAW (12/7/15)

Waiting for changes to happen on Monday Night RAW.

Realizing it's the same old shit.

This is the go-home show? This is supposed to be the show to give the PPV a final push and make people tune in for Sunday? What seemed promising at the beginning, in the form of an unprecedented 16-Man Fatal Four Way match for the first hour, devolved into a mess for the second and third hour. There was no serious story progress and character development and motivation was all over the place. Oh, and Reigns made WWE WHC Sheamus look like a chump again, guaranteeing that Reigns will not walk out with the title this Sunday due to shenanigans. 

On a plus side, they did acknowledge that it was Dean Ambrose's birthday! Also, Popcorn Ambrose made his return and... he came off as a bigger bully than Kevin Owens. At least he got to be in the same ring with Tommy Dreamer! Dreamer threw Moxley into someone's chair 5 years ago at Dragongate.

There were meaningless matches throughout the night and it looks like everything was being rushed to create more time for the final segment of the night with Reigns and Sheamus. From the look of things, there is going to be a lot of anger and frustration from wrestling articles and podcasts for this week's RAW.

From F4W: 

This was a show booked in reverse. We got a solid first hour and it just lost steam from there. Reigns and Sheamus feels like a cold program, which anyone who watched Sheamus win the title would have predicted. I might regret writing this, but Reigns doesn't have that special quality as a main eventer. He can't carry a 10-minute talking segment and the fans don't see him as a top of the card talent. 

From RollingStone:  

They threw everything at the wall last night, from unisex unicorns and 16-man tags to some meta-insight on Lana and Neville getting a backstage pep talk from Donny Deutsch. Very little of it stuck. 

From AV Club:  

As we head into Sunday’s PPV, I feel nothing but apathy, and occasionally downright hatred. Raw is in a dire state right now, and tonight’s episode is a pretty good representation of everything that’s currently wrong with the product. 

From Prowrestling: 

WWE is in a bad place right now. It's not going to change overnight because they are relying mostly on wrestlers who were damaged because of their own parity booking. I would be understanding if the creative was good and it was just taking time for them to establish or reestablish some of these wrestlers, but that's just not the case. There's no light at the end of this tunnel.

From PWTorch:

Overall, an excruciatingly long promo exchange exposing Reigns’s weaknesses and masking his strengths to get to physicality, which seemed to cross over from a “sample of the TLC action” to basically a free meal.

The common theme with all of these reviews was not just RAW being disappointing, messy, and predictable but how the final segment with Reigns and Sheamus, the headline event for TLC, was the major low point of the show. Reigns' weakness is doing long promos and they did it to him again by making recap his rise from The Shield to getting the WWE WHC title, all while climbing up on a ladder to literally illustrate his point. And then he and Sheamus just talked and talked before getting into a brawl that went outside the ring. This was slow and boring to watch - it was noted that empty seats can be seen towards the third hour - which doesn't say much on what to expect for Sunday.

Ambrose and Owens have a contract signing for Thursday Night Smack Down. Hopefully, they'll get to do more here besides having another concession fight. Owens being out last week shouldn't be a reason for a such poor build up for their match, and I hope Ambrose isn't going to side with Reigns in another multi-man match for the final go-home show.

TEAM BAD DAY

"This is the state of WWE": Monday Night RAW (11/30/15)

So I watched tonight's RAW in hopes of seeing how desperate WWE was going to get and, while it had direction, the results were quite messy. It was still better than last week's RAW, however, this show felt like a month's worth of stories crammed into 3 hours. Here's hoping that WWE would actually follow through with this.

Let's start with the good. A brand new stable emerged in the form of League of Nations. Sheamus, Rusev, and Barrett - already known as the European Ultras - welcomed Alberto Del Rio to their fold. This probably meant that they quickly dropped the MexAmerica (and Zeb Colter?) storyline. Sheamus, who was a boring heel met with groans, showed so much personality and cockiness. It was actually nice to see the rest of his guys get the spotlight too.

We also got A New Day filled RAW, appearing in nearly every hour, doing commentary, and doing an awesome WWEShop Cyber Monday ad. These guys are having so much fun that you forget they're suppose to be heels.

And we saw development with the Divas! Charlotte and Becky had a match where Charlotte faked a leg injury while Daddy Ric Flair distracted Becky long enough to lose via rollup. Becky was upset while Charlotte maintained that she was teaching her that they're not on NXT and they're in the big leagues... but you're still my girl! Charlotte is starting to turn heel, Paige is the fan favorite tweener, and Becky is the pure-heart babyface.

The biggest surprise of the night was seeing Tommy Dreamer, an ECW original, coming over to the Dudley Boyz as they issued their challenge to the Wyatt Family. It's not known if Dreamer is going to be with WWE full-time. It's a great way to keep the Dudleys active since they've sadly gotten stale after losing numerous times to The New Day.

The bad was everything else about the show. This was clearly The Roman Reigns Show, who stole the opening segment by Superman Punching Sheamus and taking his belt, all with a big fucking smile on his face. Stealing titles! That sounds so rebellious and fun for Reigns to do! You know who else was doing that? DEAN FUCKING AMBROSE. Reigns' little act pissed off HHH and Stephanie, who informed Reigns that Sheamus is going to defend his title tonight and that he has 5 minutes and 15 seconds (the length of his reign as a champion) to beat him. And just so that we don't forget how much the odds are stacked against Reigns, HHH informed Ambrose that if Reigns loses to Sheamus, he would lose his IC title shot with Owens, which made him pretty angry. Stephanie also informed The Usos that they'll lose their Tag Team title shot with New Day if Reigns loses as well. It's a thinly veiled attempt of getting the fan support from Ambrose and The Usos to root for Reigns.

Of course, Reigns wins via DQ and Sheamus remains the champ, which led to the giant clusterfuck of a main event that saw Reigns, Ambrose and The Usos vs League of Nations AND The New Day. Ambrose ended up being the hot tag (which was said to wake up the audience) and he took out all the heels until he got overwhelmed. Ambrose got pinned by Sheamus and was beaten down by all the heels until Reigns came in to help him. RAW ended with the heels standing strong over a defeated Reigns. Commentary made it a point to focus on Reigns being overwhelmed and not catching a break.

Overall, this was an acceptable RAW. RollingStone, Wrestling Observer, ProWrestling, and AV Club seems to think otherwise. As an Ambrose fan, I was not happy on how he was utilized as a prop for Reigns to get over. Although it was nice of HHH to acknowledge Ambrose and Owens IC title match for TLC, it was even weirder to not see Owens at all last night, despite being advertised. There was a rumor that Owens fell sick and had to fly back home, which means he won't be on Smackdown this week.

I saw this little gem on instagram. Ambrose might've done this move during the commercial break. I love how you can hear the audience laughing after the loud thud. He's a such a goddamn lovable babyface.

Not sure what Dean was thinking.. #WWEraw #wwepittsburgh

A video posted by @bathin_ayyyypex3 on Nov 30, 2015 at 8:52pm PST

"Nothing happened": Monday Night RAW (11/24/15)

Coming off from an extremely disappointing Survivor Series PPV, I opted not to watch RAW live (I watched the livestream 3 hours earlier) and just read the results online. I didn't even do my usual thing and let the TV run in the background until Dean Ambrose showed up, which just happened to be the second to the last match in the third hour before the main event. The only time I tuned in to watch RAW live was just for New Day segment. Then Vince and I went back to watching Supergirl. RAW was so unbearable that we actually watched something on PBS.

Why did we skip RAW? It's because Survivor Series, which should've been THE night to push new stars from the midcard and do something refreshingly different, came up short and WWE went with the safe route. Dirtsheets reported that it was a last-minute decision to have Sheamus cash in because they were afraid the fans were going to boo Reigns as a champ, which they still did after he lost the title. 

Unfortunately, WWE's dumb plan worked because the crowd last night was booing at Sheamus and cheering for Reigns. Reigns used his rematch clause to get his title back, which The Authority refused and said it'll have to wait til TLC in December. So that means Reigns will be chasing after transitional champ Sheamus for the next 3 weeks. "Make Roman Look Strong" is in full fucking effect.

Instead of me summarizing or giving my thoughts on the random matches, I'll just link reviews from the other websites that also reviewed RAW with some choice quotes.

From RollingStone: 

After a rash of injuries, last-minute re-bookings, a tournament and a recent U.K. tour, you can't blame WWE creative for needing a break – that doesn't mean you have to like it, though. 

From AV Club:  

After generating some good will during the build to Survivor Series, WWE has seemingly squandered absolutely all of it with six hours of uninventive, frustrating, straight up terrible programming. 

From F4W:  

There's little hope for this company to build a new star if they keep going back to 1999 in order to find big matches. With HHH as the de facto top heel, that makes Sheamus look like his understudy. In other words, they learned nothing from how poorly Rollins was booked. 

From ProWrestling: 

WWE is in a really bad place right now. Forget Sheamus as champion since he's likely just a transitional guy. The overall roster is just a mess with so few wrestlers that fans seem to truly care about, and Vince McMahon apparently thinking bad comedy and dream sequence product placement spots are acceptable.

WWE should be in full-on panic mode. Their TV ratings for RAW keep fluctuating from acceptable to historically low. More of their superstars are getting injured while a few who were injured several months ago are making their return. They have all these talents that they're putting on the sidelines because they're trying to push THAT ONE GUY. And somehow 3 hours on their A show and 2 hours on their B show isn't enough time for them to do that on a weekly bases.

At least Ambrose is gunning after Owens for the IC title, so that's not so bad.

WWE Survivor Series 2015 PPV

This was not a good PPV. My hand hurts from angrily punching the couch. WWE kept touting that change was coming in the form of a new Champion. We certainly got a new Champion last night but only because it was telegraphed and predictable, much like the rest of the card. This was a chance to not only have a new Champion but to just do something completely new and different in the absence of Rollins, Orton, and Cena. And they went with the safest route possible.

Here are the match results:

• Roman Reigns defeated Alberto Del Rio
• Dean Ambrose defeated Kevin Owens
• Ryback, The Lucha Dragons, and The Usos defeated The New Day, Sheamus and King Barrett
• Charlotte defeated Paige
• Tyler Breeze defeated Dolph Ziggler
• The Brothers of Destruction defeated The Wyatt Family
• Roman Reigns defated Dean Ambrose
• Sheamus defeated Roman Reigns

I'll be honest, the only matches I cared about were the WHC tournament finals. Everyone knew that Reigns was going to win over Del Rio. While Owens advancing would've given a true heel vs face match, it was also obvious that Ambrose was going to advance. The main event for this whole PPV lasted under 10 minutes. 10 FREAKING MINUTES. The match ended abruptly with Reigns winning the title, which left the audience stunned and they were gearing up for Ambrose or Reigns to turn heel. Instead, Ambrose shared a touching moment with his brother and left the ring to let his brother have his moment as confetti and streamers rained on Reigns. HHH, being in best for business mode, went out to congratulate him. Reigns responded by spearing HHH. And then Sheamus runs in to cash in and brogue kicks him. Their match lasted under 40 seconds.

You know what else was infuriating? The whole tournament was essentially pointless. It was obvious that Reigns was going to win but it was also obvious that he was going to get booed too. WWE probably saw how this wasn't going to work out (again) and made the decision for Sheamus to cash in, so the fans can boo him instead. When Survivor Series went off the air, they cut back to Reigns being tearful in the ring and walking back slowly up the ramp. The arena was booing him. The fans are booing WWE's top babyface. That is a big fucking sign that Reigns has to change his character. We are seeing a repeat of Daniel Bryan's "YES" movement but they are putting Reigns in the underdog role instead of Ambrose, the true underdog in all of this mess.

Speaking of which, Ambrose was very different tonight. The backstage segments showed Ambrose being serious, even pissed, as they were nearing the main event. Hell, Ambrose didn't even change shirts and fought against Reigns with his torn tanktop. He was acting heelish, which seemed like a dead giveaway that he really did accept HHH's offer. But that whole attitude change disappeared when Ambrose fist bumped Reigns and left the ring. The last 2 weeks showed a more focused Ambrose who opted for technical moves instead of his wild brawler style. It would be a shame to see him go back to that or worse, go back to being Reigns' buddy again. 

I'm unsure if I want to watch RAW live tonight. Do I want to see The Authority and Sheamus do an opening monologue? Do I want to see Reigns come down and do another recap of what happened to him last night? I can't imagine how to even feel invested in any of the matches going forward unless they continue with Ambrose going after Owens for the IC title. The next PPV is TLC for December and it's already shaping up to have Reigns going after Sheamus for the WHC title. Nothing really changed last night, so I don't expect RAW to be any different.

Nobody wants Ambrose to turn heel?

Here we go again.

It's already known that Reigns and Ambrose would make it to the finals this Sunday. Ambrose made it clear that if it came down to just the 2 of them, even though they're brothers, it's on. To which Reigns replied, "We'll always be brothers. BELEE DAT!" Their budding friendship, where Reigns was Ambrose's cheerleader for the PPV's he headlined and vice versa for the last several months, is begging to come to an end. Basically, no one expects their match to end on friendly terms. Someone's turning heel.

And here's WWE dilemma: They need a new champion, a new top babyface, and a new top heel since John Cena and Rollins, respectively, are out. All of this pressure falls on the current top babyfaces, Reigns and Ambrose. They just can't decide who should play which role.

Reigns needs the heel turn, badly. It's the natural progression for his character who keeps overcoming the odds (ugh) and never gets close to winning the title. Joining The Authority works for him, especially since the fans are now turning against him again. He can be like The Rock and work on his character to be a full-fledged badass before becoming a a true babyface. WWE sees this as a problem (at least for them) because they don't want Reigns to be a heel and lose his fans. The older fans can't buy Reigns as a babyface when he's dressed in black tactical gear and scowls all the time. He's built and booked as a powerhouse, not as an underdog.

Speaking of underdog, the one who truly looks the part is Ambrose. He doesn't have the look of a champion but he has the tenacity and the drive to be one. He just needs to win the championship title as a babyface to vindicate his DQ win against Rollins. This is what everyone wants to see. However, if Ambrose turns heel, he would still get over with the fans (damn that charisma of his). WWE sees this as their best solution and to keep Reigns as the top babyface. The problem is that it'll completely ruin Ambrose's character as this guy who went insane after Rollins betrayed The Shield and him remaining loyal to his only brother, Reigns.

There are so many scenarios for the finals, such as Reigns winning against Ambrose and joining the Authority, or Ambrose revealing that he secretly accept HHH's offer. There's even a possibility that Owens might advance and face off against Reigns. Oh, and Sheamus might cash in his Money In The bank at some point.

The dirtsheets were hit with new rumors that the brass changed their mind about Reigns and are pushing Ambrose to be the new champ instead. Of course, WWE could've intentionally leaked this to get people interested in the PPV, just to see Reigns walking away with the title. He has a freaking video that recaps what happened in the last 7 months! One thing is certain: Reigns will be the new WWE Heavyweight Champion. All hail the Roman Empire, I guess.

Survivor Series Foreshadowing?

http://vince-sheila.tumblr.com/post/133020347162/michael-cole-recently-conducted-a-sit-down

"Rebuild. Redesign. Reclaim.": Monday Night RAW (11/9/15)

Tonight's episode of Monday Night RAW is going to be very different, for both a bad and good reason. Bad because Seth Rollins' major leg injury forced him to immediately vacate the World Heavyweight Championship title. And good because the fans are going to see some major changes and something refreshingly different for the next few weeks leading to Wrestlemania. RAW is filming in the UK, so there are going to be major spoilers leaking before the show airs in its regular 8 PM PST slot on USA Network.

(Note: I'm totally spoiling myself and reading the live ongoing coverage from /r/SC, WrestlingInc, ProWrestlingNet, and PWInsider. I'm still going to watch it live, regardless of the results.)

Here are the match and First-Round Tournament results:

• Roman Reigns defeated Big Show. Roman Reigns advances! OF COURSE HE DOES.
• Kevin Owens defeated Titus O' Neil. Kevin Owens advances!
• Becky Lynch defeated Paige
• Dolph Ziggler defeated The Miz. Dolph Ziggler advances! With a minor knee injury? Shit.
• Natalya defeated Naomi
• Cesaro defeated Sheamus. Cesaro advances!
• Dean Ambrose defeated Tyler Breeze. Dean Ambrose advances! With a shoulder injury? SHIT.
• The New Day defeated The Usos and Neville

The Second-Round matches will begin next week at the go-home show of RAW:

• Roman Reigns vs Cesaro
• Kevin Owens vs Barrett or Neville (First-Round Tournament continuation on Smack Down!)
• Dolph Ziggler vs Dean Ambrose 
• Kalisto or Ryback vs Alberto Del Rio or Stardust (First-Round Tournament continuation on Smack Down!)

----------

RAW opened up with HHH presenting the World Heavyweight Championship title resting on a table as he praised Seth Rollins. While HHH went at length about how great Rollins was, Reigns shows up and enters the ring. From there, HHH's promo takes a different turn; he tells Reigns that as #1 contender, he can skip the tournament and have the title given to him if he joins The Authority. He even went as far to say that Reigns was strongly considered to be their pick before Rollins. Reigns, being the goody two-shoes he is, turns down the offer and HHH bellows, "Welcome to the back of the line!" This segment firmly established that being The Authority's champion will set you and your family for life. Either Reigns will have second thoughts and accept the offer later on or someone else (another heel) would take up on that offer.

The rest of RAW covered 5 of the 8 First-Round Tournament matches, with the last 3 continuing on Thursday Night Smack Down! As evident with the first match with Reigns and Big Show, the bracket had odd choices and pair-ups, such as Ryback vs Kalisto, Titus O' Neil vs Kevin Owens, and Tyler Breeze vs Dean Ambrose. While it was predictable who would win, it didn't take away from the quality of the matches. Well, at least for the important ones. Cesaro was victorious and incredible as usual against Sheamus (and there was a ton of "CESARO SECTION" signs :D). Owens executed a perfectly brutal looking Pop-up Powerbomb against O' Neil and got great heat from mocking England's blind worship with the Queen. And Breeze, making his in-ring Raw debut, took advantage of Ambrose's tweaked shoulder and worked on it until he was defeated by the small package. 

The main event was saved for Bray Wyatt eulogizing about taking away Taker and Kane's powers. AND THEN THEY SHOWED UP. TOGETHER. This was an unexpected surprise and a big fucking treat for the Manchester crowd. Sadly, the Wyatt family came off ridiculously weak and overwhelmed by the two. It also reminded people that practically nothing happens after you get abducted by the Wyatt Family. Another inconsistency is that The Brothers of Destruction also got their powers back, so either they got it back from Wyatt, or there are now 3 supernatural beings with the same powers.

Overall, it was another week with a great and enjoyable RAW and this week is decidedly more crucial with possible changes in the storylines leading to the go-home show and Survivor Series. Another interesting note about the above bracket is that Reigns and Ambrose are positioned directly opposite of each other. There have been heavy, HEAVY talks about turning one of them (specifically Reigns) heel to follow the storyline of Deadly Game, the PPV that centered around the vacated WWF Championship and saw The Rock turning heel against Mick Foley and aligning himself with Vince McMahon. WWE is being forced to get creative in the absence of Cena, Orton, and Rollins. This is a good direction, ratings be damned.

RAW showcased another reason not to turn Ambrose heel just yet. He's so ridiculously silly and charismatic.

Also...

DEAN LEAN AMBROSE