wrestling / TV Reports
Csonka’s WWE Raw Review 10.19.15
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MONDAY NIGHT RAW 10.19.15
OFFICIAL RESULTS
– New Day defeated John Cena and the Dudleyz @ 8:35 via pin [**¾]
– Nikki Bella and Alicia Fox defeated Naomi and Sasha Banks @ 8:40 via pin [**]
– Non-Title Match: Champion Seth Rollins defeated The Ryback @ 4:05 via pin [*]
– Barrett, Sheamus and Rusev defeated Dolph Ziggler, Cesaro and Neville @ 12:59 via pin [***]
– Non-Title Match: Champion Charlotte defeated Brie Bella @ 5:28 via submission [*]
– Non-Title Match: Champion Kevin Owens defeated Mark Henry @ 3:45 via pin [** – one for each man for pulling off that pop up powerbomb]
– The Wyatts defeated Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns @ 14:09 via DQ [**½]
* It was announced during the Raw Pre-Show that The Authority has suspended Kane as Director of Operations.
OH HEY IT’S STONE COLD: According to Cole, this is Austin’s first live appearance in over four years on Raw. Austin came out for a feel good moment. He played to the crowd a bit, which they loved, and then introduced the Undertaker. I hope they sing Margaritaville. Austin left, so they didn’t sing Margaritaville. Taker promised to do bad things to Lesnar at HIAC, but before he could continue, Heyman and Brock arrived. Heyman did a good job of selling Sunday’s match, and told Taker that Lesnar took everything away from him. Taker said he had nothing to lose and called out Lesnar. Lesnar teased going to the ring which Heyman was not a fan of. Lesnar finally backed off, and Taker gave him the cutthroat sign. So they obviously front-loaded the show in an effort to get viewers to stay, which isn’t the worst idea, but you have to wonder if they blew their load early. As for the segment, it’s hard to complain about because it was there to sell the post Raw podcast, but more importantly, the HIAC main event. In that regard, it delivered and was shorter than most opening segments. Was it still opening the show with talking like every week? Yes, something we’re unfortunately probably never getting rid of.
* Cena will have a US Title Open Challenge at Hell in a Cell.
John Cena and the Dudleyz vs. The New Day: Well it’s a week late, but I am glad that they are having the match to play off of New Day’s attack from two weeks ago. Woods is still carrying the mangled trombone from the beat down on Smackdown. New Day cut a fun promo, burying Dallas sports for being booty and proclaiming themselves unicorns, because they brought magic back to WWE. The Dudleyz ran wild and we went to a commercial break. When we came back from the break, new Day had the heat on Cena. Devon eventually got the hot tag, he ran wild until Bubba got posted. Cena hit a high cross to the floor, but as Devon got distracted, Woods rolled him up and grabbed the tights for the win. Post match, John Cena and the Dudleyz attacked, and Kofi and Big E escaped. Poor Xavier Woods was left alone, ate the AA and a powerbomb through the table. Kofi and Big E begging for them to stop (PLEASE, YOU MADE YOUR POINT) was well done. That was a fun little match, with a surprising victory for New Day.
* Cole informs us that Randy Orton did not make the tour of Mexico, and is not here tonight. JBL says that the Wyatt family got to Orton, and injured him once again. We see Ambrose talking with Finlay and Malenko backstage. What did we learn here? Randy Orton don’t work no pre-show matches.
* Post commercial Renee interviews Dean Ambrose. Ambrose is sick and tired of this crap, he has a fight to pick and he isn’t waiting.
Nikki Bella and Alicia Fox w/Brie vs. Naomi and Sasha Banks w/Tamina: They worked for about a minute before going to the commercial. Naomi and Banks controlled, hitting a modified AWA special right before the break. After the break, team Bella took control and had the heat on Naomi. Naomi and Nikki didn’t work as smoothly together as they could have, they had some hiccups that really took away at times. Nothing big and nothing horrible, but constant little issues that held then back. Brie distracted Naomi, allowing Nikki to take out Banks and then hit the rack attack on Naomi for the win. Nikki winning is the right call, and pinning Naomi is the right call because they seem to have plans for Banks. I just loathe that they did the same distraction finish they seem to run in every Bellas match. The match was ok.
* Triple H talks with HBK backstage.
HOLY SHIT IT’S TED NUGE… oh, it’s Shawn Michaels…: Shawn ate some pizza from fans in the front row, not exactly sanitary. Shawn ate some pizza from fans in the front row, not exactly sanitary. Shawn ate some pizza from fans in the front row, not exactly sanitary. came out for his hype segment for the PPV, discussing his first cell match with Taker. After hyping both Cell matches, Seth Rollins came to the ring. Can we get Seth Rollins some new music please? It is so generic and when it hits I expect Jumpin Joey Maggs to come out. Please get the guy some music fitting of a main event guy, just because they job him every week doesn’t mean his music has to remain to be shit. Rollins claimed Shawn was supposed to introduce him, but Shawn said he decided to ignore the orders and have fun. Rollins claimed to be the new and better Shawn Michaels, and Shawn ran him down for trying to be the next him. Shawn never wanted to be the second coming of anyone because he wanted to become the best ever. Rollins claimed Shawn was jealous and that he had a WrestleMania moment that eclipsed anything Shawn ever did. Tried to leave and demanded that they hit his music, it never played. Shawn said he had a match that is coming up next, against the Ryback. Shawn then had them hit his music and he left. This was an under whelming segment overall, and another segment that did nothing but make Rollins look like shit, as if the general booking of his as of late hasn’t been enough.
Non-Title Match: Champion Seth Rollins vs. The Ryback: Ryback attacked and controlled early, but they went to the floor and Rollins slammed him to the apron and then the steps. After a suicide dive, Rollins rolled him back into the ring. Ryback then fought back and used a bunch of power moves, not really selling the injury as much as he could have. Rollins tried to bail, but Ryback attacked the ribs and hit a pedigree and won. The match was bland and not all that good, also the booking here was shit. While Rollins needed a victory, why sacrifice Ryback, who has an IC Title match? I think they wanted to work the injury to give Ryback an excuse when he loses on Sunday. Why not just have Owens run down and have the heels beat him down? This would have been a perfectly acceptable DQ finish, protecting both guys and still working the injury angle.
* We get highlights of the Summer/Ru-Ru angle.
Dolph Ziggler, Cesaro and Neville and vs. Rusev. Barrett and Sheamus: Combining matches from last week, but at least it’s not just another straight up rematch. The good thing is that WWE tends to run fun six-man matches, and there is a ton of talent in there, so this could be good. They did some good back and forth early, until Neville got distracted and almost died as he got hit from the apron and sent into the announce table. After the break, Rusev was working over Neville. The heels kept cutting Neville off, until he finally scored the hot tag to Cesaro. He worked the running uppercuts to Sheamus, teased the swing but instead went up top and hit a high cross for a near fall. They did a double down, and then Ziggler and Barrett got tags. Rusev tried to interfere and failed, Ziggler then hit the fameasser on Barrett for a near fall. Ziggler and Barrett worked well together and provided a few fun near falls. We have the big move buffet, Neville hit a big dive and Sheamus then hit a brogue kick to Ziggler in the ropes, and Barrett got the pin. That was a fun match, the best of the show so far. I also like that they continue to build the teamwork of Barrett and Sheamus, with a play off of the finishes that they did last week. Everyone involved seems to be directionless, the good news is that the wrestling was good and Barrett and Sheamus are actually gaining some momentum.
* Shawn and Flair talk backstage.
* Ziggler and Summer will be guests on Miz TV on this week’s Smackdown.
Ric Flair Talks: Flair put over Dallas and Mania coming to the area. He then announced that “HIS MAIN MAN Roman Reigns” would team with Ambrose later tonight. Reigns then came out to the ring, but before he could talk, The Wyatt Family (minus Harper but with Rowan) appeared on the ramp. Reigns got two chairs, say in one and offered the other to Wyatt. Also they really haven’t said much about Rowan being there and Harper being absent. So let me get this straight, these two men, who have been trying to eliminate each other, are going to have a civil conversation. OK then. Reigns called Wyatt a bully who gets off on the pain of others, and then claimed he is afraid to do things on his own so he always has others with him. After claiming Wyatt was a bully, Reigns did the tough guy chest poke repeatedly on Wyatt. They briefly brawled, and Reigns used a chair to take out all three. Ambrose ran in to help, and they stood tall in the ring. Can anyone tell me where Luke Harper is? It was fine, but didn’t do that much to get me interested in their PPV match. Also, this comes off confusing as hell. Rollins, Stephanie and Triple H talked backstage, and Shawn arrived. Apparently the main event will be a handicap match, so Shawn suggested that Rollins team with his old partners. Triple H said it wasn’t fair, so Shawn called Rollins a small child that needed protected. Rollins of course fell for the mind fuck and agreed to team with Reigns and Ambrose. So let me get this straight, we were going to waste a Shield reunion on free TV with no build? It was Ambrose and Orton vs. Strowman and Harper. Then tonight it turned to Ambrose vs. Strowman and Harper with the Orton “injury”. Then it was going to be Ambrose vs. Strowman and Harper tonight. AND THEN it goes to Reigns and Ambrose vs. Strowman and Harper tonight. AND THEN it goes to Reigns and Ambrose vs. “The Wyatts” in a handicap match, Erick Rowan is back and THERE IS NO MENTION OF HARPER BEING ABSENT. What in the actual fuck?
Non-Title Match: Champion Charlotte w/Becky vs. Brie Bella w/Nikki and Fox: Paige awkwardly watched on from backstage. Charlotte controlled and tosses Brie to the floor, and then held the ropes for her and mockingly invited her back in. Nikki distracted Charlotte, allowing Brie to take control. Brie worked a heatless heat segment, and then Charlotte fought back and scored with the figure eight for the win. It wasn’t that it was bad (ok, it wasn’t all that good) but it was just boring. Charlotte winning is the good that came from this.
* Renee interviews Paige and questions if she attacked Natalya on Smackdown. Paige gets flustered and acts like nothing is wrong, and she just wants to put things behind her and move on. She claimed it could have been Naomi, Banks, Lita or even Alundra Blaze. Paige then called Renee Sally Jessie Rafael in an extremely dated reference, and then said Renee wasn’t even as good looking as Erin Andrews. Start the build to Paige vs. Renee at Mania!
Non-Title Match: Champion Kevin Owens vs. Mark Henry: Owens had control and then Henry got in his stuff since they were in Texas. Henry talked shit (“I BEEN A BULLY FOR 19 YEARS”) and aggressively walked wild. Owens then hit a pop up powerbomb for the win, yes, yes you read that right. Another good win for Owens to keep his momentum going, also credit to Henry for going up for that big time because it puts over Owens’ finish even more. Post match, Ryback came out. Owens tried to escape and Henry tossed him back in the ring so Ryback could hit a powerbomb. Basically they realized that they made Ryback look like shit earlier in the show. So they had him come out to get some heat on Owens to not sell his injuries that they made sure to say would be an issue on Sunday. That only makes the earlier match between Ryback and Rollins even more useless.
* Renee caught up with Rollins, and he claimed this is not a Shield reunion, this is about him proving himself.
* We get a HIAC hype video for Taker vs. Lesnar.
* So Harper is mysteriously MIA, he’s coming out during the main event dressed as Kane, isn’t he? It makes sense since they have basically ignored that he is not around.
* A rematch featuring Dolph Ziggler, Cesaro and Neville and vs. Rusev. Barrett and Sheamus is the new pre-show match.
Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns vs. The Wyatts (Wyatt, Rowan and Strowman): Cole finally noted during the Wyatt’s entrance that Harper is missing tonight. Rollins tried to be the boss of the team, and was going to start, but pussied out and tagged in Reigns. Rollins eventually tagged in, got worked over and bailed to the floor, complaining that he already wrestled once tonight. After the break the Wyatts had a short heat on Reigns, but Ambrose got the tag. He threw everything at Strowman, but got cut off and Wyatt tagged in and they worked the heat on Ambrose. Strowman took out Reigns, leaving Rollins on the apron. Ambrose crawled for the tag, but Rollins fell to the floor and held his knee, because he’s a dick. Ambrose kept fighting, Reigns was back and tagged in. He ran wild on the Wyatts, and the crowd got into it. It eventually broke down, Strowman had the big hug on Reigns, but Ambrose got a kendo stick and attacked him for a DQ. The Wyatts beat down Ambrose, Reigns hit his big dive onto the Wyatts and then speared Wyatt as Rowan tried to break it up and failed. He then ate a spear from Reigns and he stood tall. No Luke Harper then. So that was a thing. It was a perfectly acceptable match, but it lacked the juice that the previous encounters between the two parties had.
* End scene.
* Thanks for reading.
“Byyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyye Felicia!”
The show felt easier to watch tonight and had less issues than in the previous weeks, but was far from what I would call a show that made me interested in the PPV. It was just a show.
