Csonka’s WWE Raw Review 11.24.14

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 11.24.14

OFFICIAL RESULTS
~ Ryback defeated Mark Henry @ 0:54 via pin [NR under three minutes]
~ IC Title Match: Dean Ambrose defeated Luke Harper © @ 14:30 via DQ [***]
~ Tag Team Title Match: Miz and Sandow © defeated Goldust and Stardust @ 10:10 via pin [**½]
~ Fandango defeated Justin Gabriel @ via pin [NR under three minutes]
~ Brie Bella defeated AJ Lee @ 3:24 via pin [*½]
~ Natalya and Tyson Kidd defeated Adam Rose and the Bunny @ 3:08 via [in [½*]
~ John Cena and Dolph Ziggler defeated Seth Rollins, Noble and Mercury @ 10:10 via [**½]

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The WWE Changed Forever at Survivor Series – So The Authority Opens The Show as Usual – But Then Daniel Bryan Returned: The show of course opened with the Authority coming to the ring to discuss their loss last night. I know that it makes perfect sense, which is why if they wouldn’t do this every damn week that this segment would feel a bit fresher and more important. Anyway, they did a good job of selling their frustration over losing their power, and Steph’s insane fits have been a highlight. It went a bit long, but overall worked. And then, Daniel Bryan made his way to the ring. Bryan did the “YES” chants on the face of both Steph and Triple H, and Steph was close to laughing so hard at one point. He taunted them by doing the YES chant all the way to the back, which the crowd absolutely loved. Bryan revealed that he was running Raw tonight, but that he wasn’t stripping titles or anything like that. He announced Harper defending the IC Title against Ambrose, Rusev had the choice of defending the US title in a company wide battle royal or reciting the pledge of allegiance, Cena and Ziggler will face Rollins and two partners who will be Mercury and Noble (App voting), Kane was demoted to the Director of Food and Beverage and Henry had to face Ryback. For all of those people that say Bryan can’t talk, he came off very well here. He was entertaining, charming and the segment worked overall. We got the fallout from the PPV and the “punishment” for the Authority’s team set. This was long, VERY long at right at 30-minutes, but overall I liked it. The heels are getting their comeuppance, Bryan (who was previously tortured by the Authority) gets some extra revenge, we had good performances, they laid out almost the entire show angle wise and the crowd seemed to really like it. Why? Because they felt as if an angle finally got paid off and they liked what they got. I certainly do NOT want it every week, because basically we get it every week, but I did enjoy this and it worked.

Ryback vs. Mark Henry: They brawled and went to commercial, and then they came back from commercial and the psychology was all fucked up. Henry was struggling to get to his feet following the attack and played valiant babyface and told the ref to ring the bell because he’s brave and will fight. HUH? Makes no sense. Ryback then destroyed him in under a minute, which was the good part.

* Triple H and Stephanie walked and were sad. They met with Vince, who said he wasn’t angry, no he was disappointed. Vince says that they failed him, and that somehow and someway they need to fix this. Vince says that he has never been sorry for anything in his life as Steph tries to apologize, and then adds that the only thing he’s sorry about is that he has to spend thanksgiving with them.

IC Title Match: Luke Harper vs. Dean Ambrose: I see Daniel Bryan is still working his anti-CZW agenda with this match. They worked a very slow beginning portion of the match, it wasn’t bad but it wasn’t exactly keeping my attention all that well. Thankfully they picked up the pacing and started working in their signature stuff, which got me back into it and the live crowd. I was afraid that we were going to get some sort of shit finish here. You can’t beat Ambrose because he has an important match set for TLC, and I wouldn’t beat Harper so soon after winning the title. Which is a way means you shouldn’t book the match, or at the very least come up with a more creative finish. We got one of the more lame DQs I have seen in a long time. Ambrose was going for dirty deeds, Harper ended up pushing him into the ref for a soft ref bump and then the ref DQd Harper. Post match Ambrose went to attack Harper with the TLC toys, but Wyatt attacked and beat down Ambrose and buried him under chairs at the announce table as revenge for the night before. If you drop the lame finish and just have Wyatt attack and then keep it the same I feel this comes off better. Lame finish aside, this developed into a really fun match and the post match attack makes sense coming off of last night and was well done.

* It’s a New Day.

* Larry the Cable Guy and Santino came out to the ring to hype Jingle All The Way 2. Larry came out without a shirt and wearing a clearance Rey Mysterio mask. Shenanigans ensued and then Goldust and Stardust came out.

Tag Team Title Match: Miz and Sandow © vs. Goldust and Stardust: Sandow made good on the fan request and came to the ring with replica title belts. The story of the match was that Miz made the tag to Sandow, much to the delight of the crowd. He then played hurt on the floor, leaving Sandow to survive for himself and essentially go 1 on 2 for a while. Miz then make a blind tag and stole the win after Sandow did all of the work. He then celebrated and acted as if he did all of the work. The thing was after the match the crowd continued to boo Miz and cheer Sandow, but Sandow finally acted as if he cared about the cheers and kept posing to get the pop. The work overall was solid, but the crowd wasn’t into the match much once Sandow had to sell for a while.

* We see Kane looking miserable as he has been reduced to selling concessions. A young lady appeared and played condescending manager, making sure he understands that he is in charge of chips.

Rusev’s Decision: Rusev and Lana are in the ring. They tried to leave without accepting what Daniel Bryan laid down earlier. Bryan appeared, and sent out Sgt. Slaughter to supervise Rusev’s pledge of allegiance. Lana’s reaction to Sarge having the flag dropped was great, she’s really good at her reactions in the background. Sarge tries to lead Lana through the pledge, but Rusev isn’t saying anything. Rusev takes her mic and escorts Lana to the floor. Rusev then looks to attack Sarge, but Swagger hits the ring to make the save. Rusev then escapes, but will apparently not be punished in any way for not listening to the man in authority tonight. Well that’s lame. At least make Swagger vs. Rusev and pretend there are repercussions to not listening to the man in charge.

* Larry the Cable Guy and Santino order a hot dog from Kane, Santino ends up with mustard squirted all over his head.

Justin Gabriel vs. Fandango (Part II): This is a rematch from last night’s Survivor Series preview show. Fandango has Rosa, new music and a new outfit. Otherwise, he’s basically the same. No one cares about this as some of the crowd lightly sings his old theme. Fandango won, and no one cared. And there is no reason to care, Fandango was damaged goods and then they repackaged him as a lamer version of his former self. Plus we already saw this last night, moving on.

* They discuss Show turning on Cena at the Survivor Series.

* Big Show walks and looks mean.

* Kane faces Dean Ambrose tomorrow on Main Event. Hopefully Ambrose actually wins that one.

Big Show Got Some S’Plainin To Do: Show wanted to set the record straight, and to prove that he’s not a bad guy. Show came out and gave this gloriously fake apology, noting that he may be a strong giant physically but that he’s man with a family to support. Show is an underrated performer as far as his promo work, he has great facial expressions and displays great emotion. He asked for a “mulligan” because we all make mistakes. He then snapped into rage when the people chanted that he sold out, noting that he sacrificed his body for the fans and that they didn’t understand anything. Show would challenge anyone to come to the ring, and Erick Rowan made his way out. Show mocked him and called him son, telling him to leave before he gets hurt. Rowan would then clear the ring of Show to little reaction, and eventually some “Erick Rowan” chants. Show’s promo work was really good here, even if it’s his 1000th turn, but the Rowan portion came off weak.

* Noble and Mercury try to tell Rollins that it will all be ok tonight, and that it will be like “Shield 2.0”. Ziggler appeared and said he asked his million plus Twitter followers to vote for the security stooges. Mercury and Noble were excited by this news, Rollins didn’t approve.

Brie Bella vs. AJ Lee: AJ cut a pre-match promo, and noted that Brie is a bigger skank than Nikki. AJ also apparently watched Pitch Perfect recently as she dropped “Les-be-honest” when talking to Brie. Brie worked the arm most of the match, it got a little sloppy leading to Nikki giving Brie the assist, leading to Brie picking up the win. AJ then cut a promo post match noting that it takes two of them to be the champion, and then says that talent is not sexually transmitted. Overall this was an ok segment to continue the drama between the three.

Adam Rose and The Bunny vs. Natalya and Tyson Kidd: Larry the Cable Guy and Santino are on commentary. At one point Natalya tried to check on the Bunny, which pissed off Kidd so he tagged himself back in. The Bunny later accidentally tripped Rose, causing him to lose the match. Rose was pissed as the Bunny tried to apologize. Commentary was absolutely atrocious here as they made Bunny related jokes the entire match. This was an overall horrible segment.

* Renee talks with Ryback about his win over Mark Henry. Thanksgiving is almost here, and the BIG GUY is hungry. He then heads off to the concession stand.

* It’s a New Day… next week on Raw.

* Ryback visits Kane because the Big Guy is hungry. He wants tuna, beef jerky and protein. Kane throws a hot dog at him and Ryback attacks and sprays condiments all over him. Kane runs away and then grabs a bag of peanuts and yells, “Hey Kane, you forgot your nuts, stupid”. What did we learn here? Kane slapped Ryback with his wiener while Ryback held his nuts.

* Cena and Ziggler are with Renee Young. Ziggler says he fought so hard and that the odds were against him, but he needed a miracle. And Sting was that miracle. Cena says that Sting made history, and tonight, with he and Ziggler as a team, the show is about to be stolen.

Handicap Match: John Cena and Dolph Ziggler vs. Seth Rollins, Noble and Mercury: They did some comedy early with Noble and Mercury, which was fine and expected. The heels got the heat and Noble worked a good portion of the match, and he can still go so it worked. I didn’t mind them getting the heat because Cena and especially Ziggler were in a long match last night, and of course they had the numbers. Many times I hate handicap matches when the guys on the disadvantage always win, but it makes sense here. Noble and Mercury are stooges and haven’t been active wrestlers, that’s whey they are here, to lose and protect Rollins. Cena and Ziggler get the double pin and then Bryan returned to toss Rollins into the ring to eat a superkick and AA. The wrestling was fine, and the faces stood tall to continue the good feelings.

* Oh Jesus… the anonymous Raw GM is back! Next week, CYBER MONDAY, order will return to Raw. The chime then went off repeatedly as the show ended.

* End scene.

* Thanks for reading.

“Byyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyye Felicia!”

6.0

The final score: review Average

The 411

This was a show with a lot of promise, and the stuff I enjoyed was good, but there was also a lot that felt like filler or came off poorly. I actually enjoyed the overly long opening promo, as it continued the story from last night and gave the fans a pleasant surprise with Bryan appearing and running the show for the night. They set up a lot of material for the show and not only did I enjoy it, but was optimistic about the show’s quality going forward.

Ryback needed the quick win following his lackluster booking at the PPV, although the psychology was flawed. Harper and Ambrose was a good match and the post match was also good as it played off of last night and also continued the built to the announced TLC match. The tag title match was fun, and the Sandow stuff is largely played well and I appreciate being entertained. I really enjoyed Big Show’s promo work, again he is an underrated performer in that aspect, but I am not exactly thrilled about Show vs. Rowan. Hopefully they surprise us. The main event was enjoyable enough, gave us another feel good ending and sets the stage for next week with the Anonymous GM. Not too thrilled about having that back, but it if is a limited thing, I can roll with it.

But then there was a lot of filler that was either not very good or down right bad. The Rusev segment ended up coming off poorly because there was no culmination, no punishment. He just refuses and gets ran off by Jack Swagger in a disappointing segment. The return of Fandango fell flat for the second straight night. We got just about the exact same match as we got the night before, and it was no better tonight. The divas title feud feels just there until Brie reveals that she only helped Nikki so that she can fight her for the title. AJ’s little rant was fine, but far from a “pipe bomb”. Adam Rose and the Bunny is absolutely horrible and needs to be stuck on Superstars and maybe main event. Unfortunately we have three hours to fill.

Overall I’ll go with an average score. It hit some of the important points coming out of Survivor Series, and had the potential to be really good but simply under achieved.