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Csonka’s WWE Raw Review 5.11.15

May 11, 2015 | Posted by Larry Csonka
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Csonka’s WWE Raw Review 5.11.15  

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 5.11.15

OFFICIAL RESULTS
~ Handicap Match: Dean Ambrose defeated J&J Security @ 5:30 via pin [**½]
~ King Wade Barrett defeated Dolph Ziggler @ 4:17 via pin [*]
~ Erick Rowan defeated Fandango @ 0:35 via pin [NR]
~ John Cena’s US Title Open Challenge Match: Champion John Cena vs. Neville went to a no contest @ 14:30 [***½]
~ Tamina defeated Brie Bella @ 3:30 via pin [*]
~ Macho Mandow vs. AxelMania went to a no contest @ 0:45 [NR]
~ IC Title Match: Abeyance defeated Champion Daniel Bryan @ 0:00 via forfeit [NR]
~ Cesaro defeated Big E @ 8:55 via pin [**½]
~ Non-Title Match: Randy Orton defeated Champion Seth Rollins @ 15:00 via pin [**¾]


Triple H is back… Triple H is talking…: Since he had been off TV for a while, the H’s had to make sure to put some extra stank on the verbal abuse with the “daddy’s home” shit, treating Kane and Rollins like his children. Rollins came out and did the most annoying thing in the world, and retold the whole entire story between he and Kane. Triple H was out here because of all that bullshit, you did not need to tell him the story again. We have watched it all, you do not need to tell us again. The crowd kept chanting for Ambrose for most of the segment. The short version, Rollins wants Kane taken out back and shot. Kane arrived for talking, threatened Rollins and was held back. The whole thing was leading to Triple H telling Kane that if Rollins doesn’t leave Payback with the title his services won’t be needed. More talking, Kane seems to be on the same page for now, and Triple H books him against Reigns. Rollins faces Randy Orton later tonight. Jamie Noble was then awesome and called out Triple H, which led to J&J being booked against Dean Ambrose. Like just about every week, it was not a bad opening segment; it was just the same one that they always do. Someone comes out to talk, there is some sort of confrontation, they set up some sort of match and we move on. It’s usually never a bad opening; it’s just the same old shit every week and I’d just like to see something different to make it feel as if they weren’t booking with fill in the blank wrestling story books. It’s fine, but completely boring and lazy at this point. I don’t need you to reinvent the wheel here, but at least change the brand.

Handicap Match: Dean Ambrose vs. J&J Security: I love J&J, they are still skilled enough and in good enough shape to be believable when they need to be, but also play their role as the new Stooges very well. Anytime they get a bit of run in the ring is a fun time to me. Since they were in Ambrose’s hometown, the crowd was great for this and made it fun to watch. J&J kept staying alive with double teams and such, but Ambrose overcame the odds to score the win. The work was sound, the crowd was good and this is the perfect example of when a guy should win a handicap match. It’s sad in ways that I’d rather watch J&J than a lot of other guys in 20i5.

* Sheamus faces Ziggler and Barrett faces Neville at Payback.

Dolph Ziggler vs. King Wade Barrett: Sheamus is out on commentary. They worked for about 30-seconds, and then went to the commercial. They came back from commercial and worked maybe 90-seconds. We then got the Raw distraction finish (thanks to Sheamus) and Barrett won. This is one of those instances where Barrett needed a win, but they could have booked him against some one else. The distraction finish bullshit is so tired, and Ziggler losing on the Raw before the PPV is not cool. But I guess I am the only one that cares about guys looking somewhat strong heading into a PPV. Or maybe I just get frustrated due to the fact that they are burning me out on every combination of Ziggler, Sheamus, Barrett and Neville. I discussed this in the Smackdown recap, bur I’ll do it here again. Since April 26th: Ziggler & Neville defeated Barrett & Sheamus (SD before Extreme Rules), Neville defeated Barrett (Extreme Rules), Ziggler defeated Sheamus (Extreme Rules), Neville defeated Sheamus (KOTR), Barrett defeated Neville (KOTR), Barrett & Sheamus defeated Ziggler & Neville (Raw), Ziggler vs. Barrett/Ziggler & Neville defeated Barrett & Sheamus (last week’s Smackdown) and now Dolph Ziggler vs. King Wade Barrett. If they were telling some good stories and having great matches it would be a different story, but they are just having matches and trading wins and it all runs together. Sheamus laid out Ziggler with the Brogue Kick post match.

Erick Rowan vs. Fandango: Harper came to the ring with Rowan. We got highlights of Rowan laying the boots to Fandango following Harper’s victory. During the short match, the commentary team decided to try and guess how long the match would last, like Rowan had been running through people left and right. They have seemingly forgot he’s been jobbing or not on TV at all. Rowan won in 35-seconds and this was perfectly fine for what it was, Rowan needed a win and Harper and Rowan will be better back together than when they were apart.

John Cena’s Open Challenge: Cena came out for his “America FUCK YEAH” promo about the title and standing up for what it represents. The sentiment is completely appreciated, I love that he makes the belt feel important, but he says the same thing each week. He discussed how Rusev planned to come on Raw and explain how he would win at Payback, but Cena (against advice) still wanted to do the challenge. Neville answered the challenge. There was a little thing I liked, and that was when Neville would hit a German suplex Cena would bail to the floor. Cena fucking knows better after Lesnar took him to suplex city. As far as the actual match, they did some damn fine work here. Cena was again giving, allowing Neville to shine and look as if he could belong. I truly appreciate Cena being as giving as he is to these guys during the challenge, but they are killing the AA by having just about everyone kick out of it on a weekly basis. Unless they are planning a change of finish for Cena, this is something they should address. That was my main complaint. Neville was rolling and appeared to have Cena in trouble, hit the red arrow and then Rusev got involved to give us a no contest. He then beat Cena down and humbled him in the accolade as the crowd chanted for Lana. This worked to hype the PPV match, and the finish for Neville was very protective. He hit his finish after kicking out of Cena’s, fans then question if he could have actually won. It also shows that Rusev may have been afraid of the possible Neville win, because not only does he want to beat Cena, he wants the title back. There is a place and time for non-finishes; I felt that this one worked very well.

Kane vs. Roman Reigns Never Started: They brawled for what seemed like forever before the match “officially started”. Reigns speared Kane over the announce table and then stood tall and celebrated on top of the announce table. I actually prefer the ringside brawl to the proposed match. This was fine, Kane tried to take out one of Rollins’ opponents and failed and Reigns looked like he could take a beating, overcome and stand tall as he heads into the PPV title match. I know, a title challenge looking strong, shocking. Reigns and Ambrose have been booked strongly thus far tonight, which is a nice change.

Brie Bella w/Nikki vs. Tamina w/Naomi: I could not get into this match at all. They did stuff, and it just existed for me. I just never got into what they were doing and the crowd was on their hands the entire time. Tamina hit a superkick and won clean after a long 3½ minutes. We’re either getting a title match at the PPV or a tag team match, but they didn’t really make it clear.

Macho Mandow vs. Axelmania: They worked for about 45 seconds, and then the Ascension came out and started to yap. Then ran down Mandow and Axelmania, rushed the ring and tried to attack. Mandow and Axelmania fought them off, and then did their version of the Mega Powers uniting. I am sorry, but I hated everything about that. This was the poorest man’s version of the Road Warriors facing off with goofs pretending to be the Mega Powers in 2015.

* We see Tough Enough videos, the Big O and Scarlet Bordeaux were among the people auditioning.

The State of Daniel Bryan Address: Bryan spoke about being gone, seeing doctors and the fact that the fans still support him. He spoke about being stripped of the WWE Title last year, and the fact that the fans gave him that chance. Bryan admitted that the right call was made when he was stripped of the title last year, because the fans deserve a fighting champion. He had an MRI last week, and they do not know how long he will be out of action; he may never wrestle again. He says we deserve guys like Barrett, Ziggler and Ambrose fighting for the title because the IC Title should be defended in this ring, so he is leaving it in the ring and officially relinquishes the title. This was an unfortunate segment for sure, but Bryan did a good job of putting over the belt as he was forced to give it up. As for a solution, they are doing Neville vs. Barrett Sunday and Ziggler vs. Sheamus on Sunday; make that essentially the semifinals and then crown a new champion on Raw next week (or make it a network exclusive match following Raw). As for Bryan, in my opinion, the man has nothing left to prove. If he decides to hang it up, I would completely understand. As a fan I would be disappointed, but would completely understand. I wish him nothing but the best.

Cesaro w/Natalya & Kidd vs. Big E w/Woods and Kofi: The tag title match is set for the PPV, and will be a 2 of 3 falls match. They worked through the commercial, and the opening stretch was really enjoyable, featuring good power stuff and a nice pacing. Post break they had a few hiccups, but were working a really enjoyable match. They made me want to see them in a PPV singles match down the line enjoyed what they tried to do here so much. Cesaro got the win to set the stage for the PPV match.

* Ascension vs. Macho Mandow and Axelmania is set for the Payback pre-game show.

* They are adding a network exclusive PPV, featuring the Elimination Chamber match. This will take place on May 31st. This may be a good place to crown a new IC Champion.

* Kane vs. Reigns is set for Smackdown, and there mush be a winner via pin or submission.

* The Primetime Players mock the New Age Outlaws.

Bray Wyatt Talks: Bray Wyatt makes his way to the ring. He spoke about fear, and that Ryback must be an inspiration for all of the fans because he overcame the odds and came back from his horrible ankle injury. He explained that he is after Ryback because he was in his way. The nightmares won’t stop, and the bad guy just wins sometimes. Ryback then hit the ring and they brawled. Ryback sent Wyatt packing with the meat hook clothesline and stood tall. This was perfectly fine, allowing Ryback to finally get over on Wyatt and to set the stage for their upcoming match.

Non-Title Match: Champion Seth Rollins vs. Randy Orton: They went through the commercial and got a lot of time to work. These guys tend to work well together, and I felt that they did here once again. I do feel that they have done the matches between them too much, so this overall lacked a bit as far as excitement goes. Orton made the comeback and was looking to hit the RKO, but J&J hit the ring for the predictable DQ. In this instance I am again ok with it because neither guy should lose prior to the PPV. They beat down Orton and then Kane hit the ring and got a chair. He watched as Ambrose made the save along with Reigns, and there was a big brawl. The challengers cleared the ring and surrounded Rollins. Kane watched on, but didn’t help. Ambrose hit dirty deeds on Rollins as Kane continued to watch on. Reigns then speared Rollins, and then Orton hit the RKO. Reigns then speared Orton and Ambrose hit dirty deeds on Reigns. Kane simply stood there, watching on. I loved the visual of Ambrose standing tall, but overall not a hot ending to the show as far as making me want to see the match. The Kane thing does nothing for me as we played “what will Kane do” last month, and I am beyond caring about him at this point. Overall this was a solid ending to the show.

* End scene.

* Thanks for reading.

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“Byyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyye Felicia!”

7.0
The final score: review Good
The 411
For the most part I really enjoyed the first 90-minutes of the show, and then we got rough with the ladies and the faux Mega Powers deal. I felt that 30-minutes killed a lot of the momentum. Daniel Bryan’s segment was good in that it felt real (because it is & because Bryan feels so genuine) and he also put over the title, but obviously it’s a sad thing for anyone to continue to have injury issues. The rest of the time I felt they did good work to build to the PPV, and that was the theme for once as far as a go home show goes. There was very little filler, and they seemed focused on continuing feuds, locking in matches and trying to connect what they have done over the last few weeks. The Cena vs. Neville stuff was a really good segment, and they have figured out that Cena has so much equity built up from his tenure that matches like the Neville and Zayn matches can do so much good for guys that they want to be stars. I could do without so much of the Barrett/Sheamus/Neville/Ziggler stuff because it feels so played out, and the faux Mega Powers deal feels so lazy. Lets not try and recover guys, we’ll just do some bullshit from the past and hope people care. But the good outweighed the bad, the show was enjoyable and as opposed to many recent go home shows, this had a solid feeling of trying to sell you on Sunday’s event.
legend

article topics :

RAW, Tremendous Tirades, WWE, Larry Csonka