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Csonka’s WWE Raw Review 3.23.15

March 23, 2015 | Posted by Larry Csonka
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Csonka’s WWE Raw Review 3.23.15  

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.

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MONDAY NIGHT RAW 3.23.15

OFFICIAL RESULTS
~ Dean Ambrose and R-Truth defeated Stardust and Luke Harper @ 10:37 via pin [**½]
~ Ryback, Zack Ryder, Erick Rowan, Titus O’Neil and Darren Young defeated The Miz, Damien Sandow, Adam Rose, Konnor and Viktor @ 6:05 via pin [**]
~ Randy Orton defeated Seth Rollins and J&J Security @ 3:20 via pin []
~ Divas Title Match: Champion Nikki Bella vs. Paige @ 10:56 via pin [***]
~ . Los Matadores and El Torito defeated Kidd, Cesaro and Natalya @ 4:15 via pin []
~ Non-Title Match: Champion Rusev defeated Jack Swagger @ 4:30 via submission [**]
~ Dolph Ziggler defeated Daniel Bryan @ 11:00 via w/Dean Ambrose as special referee [***]


A Man Called Sting: Sting spoke about being the last soldier standing for WCW, but that he wasn’t here to fight for WCW, but instead to take HHH down. Stephanie then came out to interrupt, and of course had to drop the “you finally made it to the big time” deal. They ran each other down, and she compared Sting to a loyal dog in his allegiance to WCW. She tried to slap him and failed as Sting blocked it, leading to HHH making his appearance. HHH got the sledgehammer, and Sting had the bat. Stephanie tried to talk HHH down, and Sting dropped the bat and challenged him to come into the ring. Stephanie talked HHH down and the segment ended. It was a fine opening with a very good crowd reaction. Overall it was simple, and also effective. I personally wanted to hear more from Sting, he was on tonight and felt as if he was full of energy and wanted to make the most of the moment. The negative to the segment was with so much Stephanie and HHH, it felt like a basic open that we see every week.

* Fan can choose Orton’s opponent tonight; the choices are Kane, Show or Rollins and J&J.

* Nikki will defend her title against AJ or Paige, but AJ and Paige have to make the decision.

Dean Ambrose and R-Truth vs. Stardust and Luke Harper: Barrett is on commentary, and overall did a good job discussing the Mania match and also how he hoped the match would go long and that the four guys would continue to beat on each other to make his path to retain the title easier. This was an overall fine little tag match, with Truth picking up a much needed win (considering his booking in this whole thing). Truth and Ambrose danced a bit to celebrate as Barrett left the ringside area. This was a solid segment with Mania build, but on a personal note I wish that they would not book these guys against either so much as I feel overall that most of them have lost too much.

* They ran a really good sit down interview/video package on Roman Reigns. This was the kind of thing that they should have been running for the last few weeks. It was short, simple and effective.

* They discuss the Twitter back and forth between Bill Simmons and JBL.

* Miz and Sandow spoke with Will Ferrell and Kevin Hart about their new movie. They of course like Sandow more than Miz.

The Miz, Damien Sandow, Adam Rose, Konnor and Viktor vs. Ryback, Zack Ryder, Erick Rowan, Titus O’Neil and Darren Young: Since outside of the segment last week when Kane and Mark Henry tossed them around like goofs, this is the match featuring the largely forgotten competitors (Rose, Konnor, Viktor, Ryder, Young and O’Neil) of the Andre the Giant Battle Royal. Instead of talking about the competitors and the Andre the Giant Battle Royal, JBL and Bill Simmons had some bullshit back and forth. The crowd is good tonight; they were into the match (amazing considering the booking of these guys) and particularly liked Sandow and Ryback. The Ryback once again made Miz his bitch and scored the pin to earn the win for his team. This was solid, there were a lot of moving parts with all of the guys out there, but the guys that needed TV time to let people know that they are in a match at Mania finally got it. I could have done without the Simmons vs. JBL bitchfest on commentary though, because I felt as I they ignored the match. Listen, I know that the Andre the Giant Battle Royal is an excuse to get guys on the card and all, but can we pretend that it means something?

Randy Orton vs. Seth Rollins and J&J Security: J&J Security did the bulk of the work, with Rollins looking to hit cheap shots and running from Orton. I love J&J Security for the fact that they are complete goofs in their role (and I mean that as a compliment) but are still good enough workers so when they wrestle the matches don’t suffer. In the end Rollins ran, Mercury ate an RKO and Orton won, and this was exactly what it should have been, keeping Orton and Rollins’ interaction kept to a minimum. This was more story than action, but was another segment dedicated to building a Mania match, which I appreciate. The negative here was the commentary, as Cole tried to sell that Orton was “finally” getting his hands on Rollins. Apparently he forgot about that massive ass beating Orton laid on Rollins a few weeks back.

* We see clips from last week’s interview where Cole interviewed Cena. AMERICA, FUCK YEAH.

* Rusev faces Jack Swagger for the 719th time later tonight.

* AJ and Paige discuss the offer from Nikki Bella. AJ fears IT’S A TRAP, and Paige mentions that she may be crazy. AJ did not appreciate this.

Divas Title Match: Champion Nikki Bella vs. Paige: AJ Lee and Brie are at ringside. Brie is the worst corner person in the world, her only advice is “come on Nikki”. The match felt a bit clunky early, but I felt that they got into a good rhythm as they went. They have been working together a good bit, and they got time here to show that they could have a good match. It also felt as if the crowd was into this match more than they have been for any WWE women’s match in some time, again they are a good crowd tonight. They had a few good near falls down the stretch before spilling to the floor. AJ took out Brie, and then Paige went to check on AJ and AJ back elbowed her. Nikki then laid out Paige with the elbow, rolled her in and hit the rack attack for the win. The finish felt lazy, and doesn’t make me want to see the Mania match; partly because I hate the “tag team partners that don’t get along” trope and also because to me it takes the focus off of the tag feud. But I will say that the match was really enjoyable. It was nice to see the ladies get time, take advantage of it and also for the crowd to react positively to it.

* Snoop Dogg appears next.

* Snoop heads to the ring as Fox, Rosa, Cameron and Summer dance to the ring with him. Nice to see them get some TV time. I wonder why Emma didn’t get to dance with Snoop, were they afraid that she’d steal his thunder? Snoop talked about Mania, and then Curtis Axel made his way out. Yup. Axel had some horrific fake tanner going on to pay full tribute to Hogan. This led to Hogan coming out, and Snoop seemed legit thrilled by this. Let me tell ya something (check), Brother (check), dude (check), jack (check), slam Andre (check). Hogan laid out Axel with a right; Snoop tossed him and then revealed a Hulkamania shirt and posed with Hogan. It was a segment; at least the live crowd liked it.

* Highlights of last week’s awesome Brock Lesnar sit down interview.

* The tag title match got boned and put on the pre-show.

Tyson Kidd, Cesaro, and Natalya vs. Los Matadores and El Torito: This is our Smackdown rematch special. They did roughly the same match but Torito pinned Natalya this time. At least the guys in the tag title match didn’t eat a pin. The Usos were on commentary, but didn’t really add much. Due to the repetitive nature and the fact that felt so lazy, this was the first thing on the show that I really didn’t like.

* Kane came to collect the IC Title from Barrett so that it can be hung above the ring tonight. Barrett initially refused, Kane threatened to strip him of the title, so he then gave it up

* John Cena, Roman Reigns, Daniel Bryan, and Mark Henry vs. Bray Wyatt, Seth Rollins, Big Show, and Kane is set for Smackdown.

Non-Title Match: Champion Rusev vs. Jack Swagger: Is there really no one else that Rusev can face? They have had like 7 or 8 matches on Raw/SD and or PPV. Rusev won via submission rather easily, as he should leading into Mania. Rusev held onto the accolade, and then John Cena ran down for the save. Rusev made the comeback and slammed Cena to the barricade, the post and over the announce table, working the back as we head into Mania. But he wasn’t done, he superkicked Cena and then cleared the announce table, slammed Cena on it and applied the accolade. I think putting him through the table would have been better, but this worked well enough to sell Rusev as the monster heel in the scenario.

Bray Wyatt Talks: Wyatt cut a promo, discussing people’s fear and that they constantly hide and are liars. He’s different, he tells the truth and is not a liar. He said that he controls the light and the dark, that he’s the judge now as we got thunder and lighting effects. He promised to seal Taker’s fate, and then he will take his place among the gods as the new face of fear. And then at Mania, Taker can rest in peace. He then did the Taker kneel pose. Nothing from Taker, no voodoo, video or anything. Overall this was a good promo, some typical odd stuff from Wyatt, but overall I felt that he sold the match well, especially considering that he’s doing this all on his own.

* Kevin Nash is going into the WWE Hall of Fame.

* Natalya and Kidd did a backstage Burger King commercial, which featured better acting than most episodes of Total Divas.

Daniel Bryan vs. Dolph Ziggler w/special referee Dean Ambrose: Fans voted Dean Ambrose as the special referee. They worked a friendly grappling match early, things intensified and then they got more aggressive and started to lay into one another, which Ambrose appreciated. They picked up things post commercial break, and really delivered a fun home stretch. Ziggler hit a superkick and zigzag for the clean win. Post match Ambrose hit Dirty Deeds on Ziggler and climbed for the title, but then the rest of the title competitors appeared for the big brawl to give the hard sell to the match. It ended with everyone laid out, and Harper either legit hurt or selling a leg injury due to the ladder falling on it. Lets hope he’s ok. The match was good, they tried to sell the ladder match, it was focused and I felt that it worked overall.

Lesnar & Reigns – Face to Face: Paul Heyman continues to earn every penny he’s paid and even the ones he’s not by setting the stage well for the Mania main event. Seriously, the art of the money promo is largely lost in pro wrestling these days, but Paul Heyman still delivers. While many are not sold on the match, Paul is doing everything he can, using everything in he arsenal to put both men over and sell the match. After Paul weaved his magic, Reigns made his way to the ring and stared down with Lesnar. Lesnar held up the title to cheers, and Reigns grabbed it away to jeers. They played tug of war with the title… and faded to black. That was beyond weak, seriously the final shot of the Raw before Mania is a weak tug of war over the title where they looked like they moments away from making out? I guess I was too hopeful for the big brawl with the goofs running out from the back and being flung out as commentary goes insane selling the main event of the biggest show of the year…

* End scene.

* Thanks for reading.

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“Byyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyye Felicia!”

7.0
The final score: review Good
The 411
There was nothing overly spectacular or even great on this show, but I do feel that the show was focused and did an overall good job off setting the stage for WrestleMania. Some of it feels too little and too late, due to the earlier booking for the show leading to this, but I found myself enjoying most of tonight’s effort more than I have in a long time (less frustration for sure). It wasn’t a homerun by any means, the end of the main event angle was beyond weak when that, if anything needed to be the great segment. Paul was awesome, but once he left so did the heat. I think the show was good overall as they stayed away from a lot of the problems that constantly annoy me and worked to sell Mania, I just feel that it needed to be more.
legend

article topics :

RAW, Tremendous Tirades, WWE, Larry Csonka