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Csonka’s WWE Raw Review 11.10.14

November 10, 2014 | Posted by Larry Csonka
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Csonka’s WWE Raw Review 11.10.14  

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Introduction
As a reminder, this will not be another traditional recap, but instead it will be a mash up of the Rs, Instant Analysis and my usual Twitter ramblings I would do during the shows; completely uncensored and as the ideas flow unfiltered to the old keyboard. Remember, this is a review; and I am here to review the show. As always, I encourage discussion and even disagreement, just do so in a respectful manner. I will be doing the review for Raw and most PPVs and iPPVs going forward.

“FOR ONLY $9.99 MICHAEL!”

WWE MONDAY NIGHT RAW 11.10.14


OFFICIAL RESULTS
~ Seth Rollins defeated Jack Swagger @ 11:25 via [**¾]
~ Paige defeated Alicia Fox @ 2:20 via pin [NR Under Three Minutes]
~ US Title Match: Rusev © defeated Sheamus @ 15:30 via countout [**]
~ Miz and Sandow defeated Los Matadores @ 4:45 via pin []
~ Non-Title Match: Dolph Ziggler defeated Mark Henry @ 2:48 via DQ [NR Under Three Minutes]
~ Non-Title Match: AJ Lee © defeated Brie Bella @ 2:20 via submission [NR Under Three Minutes]
~ Tyson Kidd defeated Adam Rose @ 2:40 via submission [NR Under Three Minutes]
~ John Cena vs. Ryback went to a no contest @ 15:12 [**]


The Courtship of The Big Guy: This week’s long opening talking segment was all about courting the Ryback onto a Survivor Series team. Cena opened the show and discussed the Survivor Series battle, and asked Ryback to come to the ring. I felt that they did a good job of selling Ryback as an important man to have, and that both sides wanted him. The Authority made their way to the ring and made their case for him. Cena revealed that Jack Swagger was on his team, and Triple H laughed at that, which is shitty because why mock the guy? Sell the fact that he’s a former World Champion, not a laughing stock due to your shitty booking. If they had sold him as a threat and former champion, maybe the angle later would have meant something. Cena tried to give one of his passionate speeches about the fans picking the right guys, but Ryback gave him a spinebuster, because Cena doesn’t sign the big guy’s checks! The opening segment mostly did its job, but came away as a flawed execution of the right idea with the way they reacted to Swagger. Also, it was a 20-minute opening talking segment, and these days there is no way to take me out of a show quicker than to do that.

Seth Rollins vs. Jack Swagger: They got time to work, and overall I felt they delivered a good little TV match. The problem here is with the results. Rollins wins clean and destroys Swagger, making Triple H’s mocking in the opening appear to be accurate and also makes the big hero, John Cena, look like a shitty team captain for picking the joke.

* Dean Ambrose gave a wacky promo backstage, playing with a pen. He said he wouldn’t apologize for being a sinner, and would take Bray down with him.

Paige vs. Alicia Fox: This was an overall fine outing. This is the usual thing where they allow the person performing in front of their home country (Regal and Barrett in the past) to shut down the usual heel role and play up the face reactions. It did make sense as they did have issues in the past and overall this was completely harmless.

* Stephanie met with Lana and Rusev, and Stephanie isn’t a discriminator, she’ll steal the heat from a man and a woman. The way she talked down to Lana, calling her a, “Russian Twit” was completely uncalled for. I hate when they take small shots and do shit like this to acts that are doing well, they completely undervalue how it hurts an act.

* Triple H and Stephanie discussed the new stipulation on the Survivor Series match that Vince added. Stephanie chalked it up to Vince trying to motivate them into fighting for everything they have, but then worried about possibly losing everything that they have. Drama…

Rusev Celebrates – Rusev vs. Sheamus: Lana brought out Rusev for his formal celebration, due to his US Title victory. They had some officially fake looking dudes out there to try and make this look important. Lana spoke of Putin and mother Russia, and we got one of the dudes reading the proclamation, praising Lana and Rusev for their accomplishments. Sheamus appeared, and we had our rematch. I like both guys, but felt that the match overall was lacking. The crowd also seemed to be out of it more than into the action, which is a shame. Noble and Mercury came along to cut Sheamus off while he was on the floor, and distracted him enough to allow Rusev to get the countout victory. I get that they are setting the Survivor Series match, but felt that this took away a bit from Rusev. The guy has been booked well and has been winning on his own; I don’t want to see the goof troop helping him. The match lacked overall, they did fine work for the angle, but I just didn’t personally like all of what they did. Rusev was doing well, and I feel that the association with the Authority will actually do more harm than good.

* Stephanie met with Lana and Rusev again. Rusev agreed to officially join team Authority. Stephanie then took the opportunity to make Lana look like shit again by cutting her off.

* Rollins met with the Big Guy backstage. Rollins thankfully remembered continuity and stated that he knew they had their issues in the past, but that they were on the same team now.

Miz and Sandow vs. Los Matadores: Hornswoggle was dressed as Mini-Miz to continue the never ending feud with Torito. The match was more about Miz and Sandow, and now Hornswogle doing their act and Sandow being more over as a Miz knockoff than the real item. Miz and Sandow won as WWE tried to create some interest in the tag title scene by adding these two teams and giving them some wins. It was perfectly fine.

* Ziggler and Cena met, Swagger is out of action so it’s down to them vs. The Authority. Cena offered Ziggler a chance to jump ship and worry about his title and career, but Ziggler said that they were on the same page and that they need to end the Authority. Triple H then appeared and banned Cena from ringside during Ziggler’s next match.

Dolph Ziggler vs. Mark Henry: Prior to the match, Luke Harper’s eyes cut a promo. Ziggler won via DQ after a slow and not good match. Henry tossed a chair into Ziggler’s face, and then tried to give him the world’s strongest slam on the steps. Big Show made the save, and announced that he was joining Team Cena. The wrestling wasn’t good, but the angle made sense. The Authority banned Cena from ringside, Show previously said he would join the team if Cena wanted him, and Show and Henry obviously have their issues.

* We get a New Day promo, this time featuring Kofi Kingston.

* Show talked with Cena and Ziggler; they were discussing needing two more guys to fill out the team, when Sheamus appeared. He joined the team. It was simple and made sense.

AJ Lee vs. Brie Bella w/Nikki: They had a basic match, it was fine. Nikki spent most of the time yelling at Brie for not doing well enough. AJ caught Brie in the black widow and shoe tapped, allowing Nikki to attack post match and layout AJ with the rack attack. This was more angle than a match, and did a fine job of continuing the build to Nikki vs. AJ, which is official for Survivor Series.

* We get video from the SGT. Dan Rose segment from Smackdown.

* Ryback and Henry met backstage, and Henry reminded Ryback that he beat him at WrestleMania, and then said he was just joking. The Ryback did not look amused.

Tyson Kidd vs. Adam Rose: During the match Erick Rowan randomly appeared, and scared the members of the Exotic Express. He walked around, said “she’s not here” and then left through the crowd. Random. They focused on him for a while and ignored the match. When they came back, Rose yelled at the bunny for going up to the top rope, leading to Kidd getting the sharp shooter and win. Like on Smackdown, Rose was pissed and attacked the bunny. He then danced with the Express. In ways this works to build small things, Rose and the Bunny drama will lead to something apparently, but at least Rose is somewhat interesting with the heel mannerisms. Kidd winning should have been made a bigger deal, and without Natalya out there, it fell flat. Kidd winning could have been a fun moment with the addition of him ignoring Natalya to play into their angle. I’m not really into either feud, because they haven’t made them feel important, but they seem to be trying. They’re just missing the mark, likely because they feel these are not important things. But they are, and there’s a reason that people don’t care about these guys. And that’s because the booking doesn’t give us a reason too.

* Kane, Rollins and Henry complained that Ryback wasn’t a team player. Ryback arrived, and Triple H calmed the waters and told Ryback that he didn’t have to be a team player during the main event, all he had to do was destroy.

* The Highlight Reel returns on Smackdown.

* Highlights from last week’s Peep show, featuring Dean Ambrose and Bray Wyatt’s wacky smoke monster games.

* Bray Wyatt cut a promo, discussing that Ambrose was a sinner. Wyatt brought in the shit about Ambrose’s father again, which continues to feel forced. Wyatt laid out Ambrose’s choices, join him or fight him.

John Cena vs. Ryback: Cena’s team was banned from ringside. Kane, Henry, Rollins, Rusev, Mercury and Noble were all with Ryback. Following up on the tension they had been building during the show, Kane got in Ryback’s face during the match. Cena would send Ryback off the apron into Kane, which added to that. This match felt long, not in a good way, and felt as if they were killing time for the non-finish. That’s not a horrible thing, but it’s hard to get invested into a lot of WWE matches like this when you constantly feel that there may not be an actual finish. The main event lacked energy, excitement from the crowd, and again, a reason to get emotionally invested. Kane eventually got involved, and we got the DQ finish. Ryback didn’t appreciate this, and that led to Ryback attacking Rollins. Ryback got tossed to the floor; the Authority did the gang beat down on Cena. Sheamus arrived and got taken out; Show arrived, took out the goofs and then got laid out. See, they did the ninja movie thing and attacked one at a time; you have to attack in a group for maximum effect. Ryback then came in and took out team Authority on his own. He then left. For those wondering where Ziggler was, we go backstage and see him tossed into Stephanie and Triple H’s office. Luke Harper did the damage, and announces that he is a team player…

* End scene.

* Thanks for reading.

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“Byyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyye Felicia!”

6.0
The final score: review Average
The 411
Overall this was an average, non-offensive show. They could do with cutting one or two of the short matches, ands giving time to other matches and things to make them matter more. Give some things time to develop and cut back on the repeat matches that are often too much a part of the product and the show will be the better for it. A large part of the roster is still under developed and with five hours of primetime TV and an hour of Main Event, that really shouldn’t be the case. And this isn’t just coming from me, the live crowds are telling the company this when they decide to entertain themselves by singing or randomly chanting. They want to have fun, but again, if you give them no reason to care, they won’t.

I wasn’t fan of the interaction between Stephanie and Lana, nor the way that Rusev now seemingly needed help to win. The Rusev/Lana act had been booked well, and not in the traditional “manage helps him win” all the time way. He beat guys, he beat them clean and he win the title. Tonight I felt as if Stephanie cut the legs out from under Lana, and fear that the association with the Authority will hurt the Rusev/Lana act. In theory it should elevate him, but not when Stephanie’s character makes Lana look like shit.

The best thing that they did here was set up the big Survivor Series main event. Rollins, Kane, Rusev, Henry and now it looks like Haper for the Authority vs. Cena, Ziggler, Show, Sheamus and likely Ryback for team Cena. Overall I liked the build to the match, and especially the angle with Harper at the end.

legend

article topics :

RAW, Tremendous Tirades, WWE, Larry Csonka