"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.