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Csonka’s WWE Raw Review 1.16.17

January 16, 2017 | Posted by Larry Csonka
6.5
The 411 Rating
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Csonka’s WWE Raw Review 1.16.17  

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Csonka’s WWE Raw Review 1.16.17

OFFICIAL RESULTS
– Enzo and Cass defeated Rusev & Jinder’s New Physique @ 8:40 via pin [**]
– Ariya Daivari defeated Lince Dorado @ 2:22 via submission [NR]
Raw Tag Team Title Match: Anderson & Gallows defeated Champions Sheamus & Cesaro @ 13:30 via DQ [***¼]
Non-Title Match: Tony Nese vs. Rich Swann never started [NR]
– Big E defeated Titus O’Neil @ 4:59 via pin [½*]
– Cedric Alexander defeated The Brian Kendrick @ 4:50 via pin [**½]
– Owens, Jericho & Strowman defeated Rollins, Reigns & Zayn @ 17:25 via pin [***½]


– We open the show with an “In Memory” of Jimmy Snuka graphic.

– We then got the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day video package.

Roman Reigns is Not Here to Complain About Losing The US Title, Proceeds to Basically Complain About Losing The US Title…: Reigns said he would win the Universal title, and threatened to go onto Mania and headline for the third time. Heyman interrupted to remind us that Lesnar was here tonight. Lots of Goldberg chants as Heyman tried to talk. The US Universal champions, Owens and Jericho arrived; they were not impressed by any of this. And now, Seth Fucking Rollins is here, please get these guys away from each other. He now wants to win the Rumble, seemingly forgetting about his vendetta with Triple H; BRAUN IS HERE; Brock is here. Sami Zayn arrived out of the crowd, attacked Strowman, everyone ran wild on Braun, Lesnar hit the ring. Sami and Roman ate some suplexes, Strowman returned to the ring, but ended up bailing. Reigns dropped Lesnar with a superman punch, but ate an F5 for that bullshit. Lots of fun as they went for the frantic top names brawl to send each other a message segment. This is the second time they have done it, so I hope they have something even better planned for the go home segment on the go home show. I think that after the beating he took, I would have kept Zayn out until the Rumble to maximize the reaction when his music hits and he goes after Strowman.

Enzo and Cass vs. Rusev & Jinder’s New Physique: Enzo started off with some sloppy offense, Enzo angered the heels so Cass saved his life and cleared the ring. Enzo is the smart assed little buddy that gets into shit he can’t get out of, and Cass is the sensible one that called ahead and ordered a cab for the end of the bar crawl and still opens doors for the ladies while also getting his buddy out of trouble. Enzo never chips on for his share of the drinks at the end of the night, and also has the alligator arms when it comes to tipping. Basically, they went to a commercial and the first 90-seconds weren’t good. They worked the heat on Enzo, it was fine but lacked any and all aggression from the heels. DDT off the ropes by Enzo, Cass got the hot tag, ran wild and scored a near fall on Jinder, Cass booted Rusev to the floor. Rocket launcher on Jinder connects, Enzo and Cass win. Enzo and Cass defeated Rusev & Jinder’s New Physique @ 8:40 via pin [**] This was a perfectly solid tag match, with an energetic closing stretch. Hopefully this means the end of this horrible feud.

– Jack Gallagher & Austin Aries join commentary.

– They run a stupid segment where Cole says, “Gallagher was informed” of his I Forfeit match tomorrow night. Considering he set it up last week, I am sure he already knew.

Ariya Daivari vs. Lince Dorado: Like most Daivari cruiserweight matches, his opponent does some fun stuff, Daivari slows the action to a crawl before his opponent makes a comeback. Dorado hit a back handspring into a cutter, but then missed the high cross. Daivari hit a bargain basement rainmaker, and then won with the cobra clutch. Ariya Daivari defeated Lince Dorado @ 2:22 via submission [NR] It’s not that Ariya Daivari is bad, I just find him extremely boring and I do not understand how he lucked into so much TV time, considering the talent they have contracted. Gallagher used the time on commentary to push their match tomorrow night; Ariya Daivari got a win to get some momentum so the segment had that going for it. Unfortunately, it was another under three minute special for the cruiserweights.

– We get highlights from the WWE UK Championship Tournament. I have columns on that here and here.

– Earlier today, Nia Jax attacked Sasha Banks during a workout. Nese and Gulak were at ringside and looked to find this amusing.

Raw Tag Team Title Match: Champions Sheamus & Cesaro vs. Anderson & Gallows : Sheamus & Cesaro have announced they will be in the Rumble. Cesaro and Anderson worked a fun back and forth; Sheamus tagged in and took control. He and Cesaro then worked double teams, until Cesaro got cut off, allowing Anderson and Gallows to take control. They worked a good heat on Cesaro; Sheamus got a good hot tag and ran wild. Cesaro accidentally distracted the ref, allowing Anderson and Gallows to take control on Sheamus. Post break, Anderson and Gallows work the heat on Sheamus. They’ve done a good job of cutting off the ring and isolating Sheamus. Cesaro gets the hot tag, runs wild with uppercuts and a dropkick for the near fall on Anderson. Gallows cuts off the swing, sent to the floor and Cesaro up top and hits the high cross to the floor onto Gallows. Springboard uppercut to Anderson gets a near fall. Swing on Anderson, into the sharp shooter but Gallows breaks that up and gets the challengers a near fall. Cesaro fires up, tosses Gallows but eats the spinebuster for 2. Sheamus beats down Anderson and then hits the ref by accident. Anderson and Gallows battle back, hit the magic killer and a new ref is in and they get the pin… BUT the original ref says it was a DQ, and that Anderson and Gallows win by DQ. Anderson & Gallows defeated Champions Sheamus & Cesaro @ 13:30 via DQ [***¼] Good match, they worked well together and the finish keeps the feud going for now.

– We get a memorial video for Jimmy Snuka.

– Emmalina tease.

– Zayn meets with Reigns and Rollins, and is quite frantic as he tries to gameplan for tonight’s match. Rollins says he and Reigns got this. He tries for a Shield salute and is denied.

Tony Nese vs. Rich Swann: Neville attacked Swann before the bell could ring for this rematch. Swann battled back, but Nese got involved and helped to beat down Swann. Neville kicked Swann in the face and stood tall. Tony Nese vs. Rich Swann never started [NR] Neville is an asshole who thinks he has been denied what he feels is his and wanted to send a message to the champion ahead of their Rumble match.

– Random interview dude questions Neville about his attack. Neville calls random dude a hypocrite, just like everyone in this country Swann may think he’s a fighting champion, but he’s already defeated; Neville plans to break him at the rumble and will make him kneel before the king. King Neville is so, so good.

New Day Is Here: New Day is official for the Rumble match. Thy hype the participants in the match, they tease tension, and then claim if one of them win, they all head to the Mania main event. Titus FUCKING O’Neil is back. He is now here to replace the New Day, and not join. He then claims he will take one of their spots, challenging one of them to a match. He will face Big E, who made a pizza porn reference.Ugh…. This again.

Big E vs. Titus O’Neil: This is a completely unsanctioned match for Big E’s Rumble spot. JIP, O’Neil controlled and then Big E fought back, worked an abdominal stretch and smacked O’Neil’s ass in rhythm to the “New Day Rocks” chant. O’Neil shoved Woods down, took control in the ring, and hit a version of the dominator for the near fall. A powerslam followed, then the leg drop and that also got 2. O’Neil then stole Big E’s abdominal stretch spot, but Big E hit clotheslines and a belly to belly. The big splash follows, and then the big ending finishes O’Neil. Big E defeated Titus O’Neil @ 4:59 via pin [½*] Once again, the New Day and Titus O’Neil segments were trash. The pre-match is not good, and it gets worse once they start wrestling. O’Neil is no good, he creates no heat or emotion and his matches are taking years off of my life. O’Neil has been in the WWE since 2009 and is still remarkably bad at his job.

Charlotte Talks: Charlotte spoke about her superiority, but said she worked harder and studied her opponents. Bayley is nothing but average, just like the WWE Universe, which Is why the fans love her. She then shows pics of Bayley fan girling in pictures with Cena, Ivory, RVD and Bret Hart. She then shows off some of Bayley’s poetry, which Charlotte mocked because she was training to be a superior athlete. She then showed a video of Bayley reading a paper she wrote in high school about dreaming about being a pro wrestler. Charlotte then produces the paper and starts to read the paper herself in a mocking tone. Charlotte says this is a pile of empty dreams, just because Bayley wrestled in high school gyms and gas stations means nothing, because Charlotte was born and bred for this. Bayley arrives, Charlotte bails. Bayley is sad because of what Charlotte did, Bayley says that she is not ashamed of her passion and love for WWE. Bayley says she didn’t have a dad make on call to get her in, but her dad took her to every event he could. She knew one day she could make it. Bayley then makes up some little poems about defeating Charlotte at the Rumble. I thought it was going well until it got overly silly with the Bayley poetry party. Charlotte was a great bitchy heel mocking Bayley for her love of wrestling and then Bayley stood up to her well. It ended up as solid overall.

– Owens, Jericho & Strowman had a meeting backstage. Strowman basically wants to kill people tonight, win the Rumble and win the title.

– We get footage of Cedric Alexander breaking up with Alicia Fox last week.

The Brian Kendrick vs. Cedric Alexander: Kendrick used heelish tactics to take control early, Alexander picked up the pacing and sent Kendrick o the floor, hitting a slingshot moonsault to the floor. Kendrick cut him off back in the ring with the leg lariat. Kendrick worked the heat, constantly cutting off Alexander until Alexander hit a back elbow strike and kick. Springboard clothesline by Alexander and that gets 2. Aries says Alexander has more stamina since splitting with Fox. Kendrick countered a belly to back suplex into the captain’s hook. Fox is out, shoves the rope closer to Alexander. Alexander argues with Fox, Kendrick attacks and tells her to beat it. Alexander counters the captain’s hook, hits the lumbar check, and wins. Cedric Alexander defeated The Brian Kendrick @ 4:50 via pin [**½] This ended up as an average match, just as it was picking up, they had to continue on with the Alexander/Fox angle.

– Noam Dar watches on from backstage, Alexander then gives the fake out on the hug and bailed.

– Jax spoke about her attacks on Banks, who is a fake boss who folds when she faces a real woman. She broke the boss and the hype is over.

– Alicia Fox walked and wasn’t happy. She claims that she and Cedric just had a disagreement and yells at poor, random interview dude.

KURT FREAKIN ANGLE IS GOING INTO THE WWE HALL OF FAME: Remember folks, the WWE line is… During Angle’s time away from WWE, he faced WWE stars like Sting, Samoa Joe, Bobby Roode and AJ Styles… “…on the independent scene.” In all seriousness, great video for Kurt.

– Kurt Angle will be on ESPN this week.

Rollins, Reigns & Zayn vs. Owens, Jericho & Strowman: Zayn attacked Strowman before the bell it broke into a big brawl as Strowman started to clear the ring and had a face-off with Reigns before tossing him. My God, it’s Monday night Braun. Post break, the heels had the heat on Reigns, working him over in their corner. Reigns fired up, fought back and tagged in Zayn. Owens and Jericho quickly cut him off, Strowman also got in a cheap shot. They worked a good heat on Zayn, who sells the beating well. Reigns gets the hot tag, working over Owens. It broke down, Strowman shoved Reigns into a superkick by Owens and he got a near fall as we took another commercial break. Post break, they continued the heat on Reigns until he hit the desperation Samoan drop on Owens. Hot tag to Rollins, he runs wild on Jericho. Rollins and Zayn hit dives as Rollins hits the springboard knee to Jericho for a near fall. Jericho fights off the pedigree, Strowman makes the save, taking Zayn out. Superman punch to Strowman. Zayn in and he heads up top, Rollins hits a dive onto Owens and Jericho. Zayn hits the high cross on Strowman for a good near fall. Strowman counters the helluva with the lariat, hits the powerslam and pins Zayn. Owens, Jericho & Strowman defeated Rollins, Reigns & Zayn @ 17:25 via pin [***½] This was an overall very good and fun tag team main event, just the right amount of chaos and blending of the established feuds. The post match angle was also well done, and was one of the hotter closing angles in some time.

– Strowman takes Zayn to the stage, Rollins makes the save with a chair shot and then Reigns lay out Strowman with the spear. Rollins and reigns take apart the commentary table, but Owens and Jericho make the save. Rollins pedigrees Jericho on the stage, but Owens lays out Rollins and Reigns with chair shots. Owens then powerbombs Reigns through the table.

– Owens stands tall. This is the Kevin Owens we have wanted and need.

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– Goldberg returns next week…

“Mama says these my magic shoes. Mama said they would take me anywhere…”

6.5
The final score: review Average
The 411
This week’s show was a step up from last week, with a better sense of urgency, two good and strong tag matches and a hot closing angle. Some of the same issues still remain, but I feel we’re on the right track heading into next week.
legend

article topics :

RAW, Tremendous Tirades, WWE, Larry Csonka