wrestling / TV Reports
Csonka’s WWE Raw Review 5.23.16
MONDAY NIGHT RAW 5.23.16
OFFICIAL RESULTS
– MITB Qualifying Match: Sami Zayn defeated Sheamus @ 10:05 via pin [**¾]
– New Day defeated The Social Outcasts @ 2:00 via pin [NR]
– MITB Qualifying Non-Title Match: Cesaro defeated IC Champion The Miz @ 11:20 via pin [***½]
– MITB Qualifying Match: Chris Jericho defeated Apollo Crews @ 7:44 via pin [*½]
– Big Cass defeated Bubba Ray Dudley pin @ 3:00 via pin [NR]
– MITB Qualifying Match: Dean Ambrose defeated Dolph Ziggler @ 12:17 via pin [**½]
– MITB Qualifying Match: Kevin Owens defeated AJ Styles @ 16:35 via pin [***¾]
Seth Fucking Rollins: The crowd was red hot for Rollins, and he took a minute to soak it in. He’s been out of his ring for over 200 days, and is back. He is back to regain the title he never lost, and at Extreme Rules, he fired the first shot at Reigns. Rollins then spoke about the fact that the fans had not always been behind him, and that before his injury they all wanted him to lose his title. He claimed that all of the well wishes and fan mail were bullshit, and that he was on his own rehabbing to take back his title and that there is only room for one man on the Seth Rolling hype train, and that was himself. On one hand, I do like that he is coming back and not pandering to the fans. His promo made sense, and I liked that he is all about himself. But with Reigns, I truly believe that the cocky, gives no fucks heel is the best way to go with him and that Rollins as the returning champion who never lost his belt simply works. But WWE wants Reigns as “the face” and is going to keep pushing that instead of embracing the hate. Roman Reigns made his way out to confront Rollins, but Rollins bailed and claimed he would do things on his time. This led to Shane McMahon appearing and basically killing time as he retold the whole story that Rollins just told. Shane then booked Reigns vs. Rollins at MITB. That was a good way to kick things off, Rollins is back, announced his intentions, and then they announced the main event for the PPV.
– Tonight we get MITB qualifying matches.
– Renee Young interviews Sheamus, who runs down Sami Zayn and the new era.
MITB Qualifying Match: Sami Zayn vs. Sheamus: They worked the expected power vs. speed formula to begin, working to the floor where Zayn hit a moonsault off of the barricade. He ate a knee when he tried to reenter the ring, and that took us to the commercial. Post break, Sheamus worked the heat and they went to the top. Zayn fought him off, but then ran into a back breaker for the near fall. Zayn again fought back with a wicked clothesline and Michinoku driver for the near fall. Good fire here from Zayn, but Sheamus cut him off as he tried the lucha run up arm drag. Sheamus kept cutting off Zayn, but he finally hit the helluva kick and picked up the clean win to qualify for MITB. Post match Sheamus was completely pissed off and threw a fit, which I appreciated because he was mad he lost. Pretty good match here, they can do better for sure, but it was fine to kick off the show as far as matches go and Zayn picking up the win is cool with me.
– Renee Young interviews Apollo Crews. Crews spoke about the punishment that Jericho went through at Extreme Rules. Sheamus then arrived and attacked Crews, beating him down and yelling about the new era.
– It’s a New Day, yes it is. They had a big sheet cake in the ring, with Happy Birthday on it. The cake is not for them, instead, it is for Raw’s 1,200th episode celebration. “Happy Birthday Raw!” They mentioned that the cake was not safe in the ring, and Big E took it to the floor and teased throwing it in someone’s face. The Social Outcasts attacked during this and cleared Kofi and Woods from the ring. They did a victory lap.
New Day vs. The Social Outcasts: JIP with the Outcasts in control for a few seconds, but Kofi fought back and then New Day hit the unicorn stampede. They worked over Slater, Axel and Dallas saved him but then ate a dive by Woods. New Day hit the double team big ending, and that was that. Post match, Big E teased eating the cake, but they slammed Slater into it instead and celebrated. This was a fun little segment to get New Day in front of the crowd and allow them to have some fun while picking up a win.
– Miz cut a promo about retaining his title last night, and claimed that he was now going to win MITB and become WWE Champion again. Miz and Maryse were gloriously annoying here as always.
MITB Qualifying Non-Title Match: IC Champion The Miz w/Maryse vs. Cesaro: Cesaro lit Miz up right away with the running uppercuts, getting a near fall off of those and then the running dropkick. Miz bailed to the floor, and ate a cannonball off the apron from Cesaro. Cesaro did the delayed vertical suplex, complete with fight out spot, dropping Miz half way down and then powering him back up. Cesaro sent Miz to the floor, and we went to the commercial break. Post break, Miz worked the heat, going after the shoulder of Cesaro. Cesaro managed to make a comeback with uppercuts, but was slowed due to his shoulder, which Miz kept going back to. Cesaro would hit the Okada like dropkick, sending Miz to the floor and then hit another running uppercut. Cesaro then got a high cross for a near fall. I really did appreciate Miz constantly going back to the shoulder to try and stop or cut off Cesaro. Cesaro then got the swing for a few rotations, but had to let go due to the shoulder. Miz again attacked the shoulder but jumped off the top into the uppercut. The neutralizer scored and Cesaro is in MITB. Considering that Miz pinned him last night, Cesaro gets the win here and likely feuds with Miz after MITB. I am not a big fan of that 50-50 booking, and feel the Miz needs some singles victories to help his run because the act is really good. Anyway, this was a good match with both guys working hard, and I appreciated the attention to detail in regards to the shoulder work.
– Renee Young interviews Seth Rollins, and he plans to win back the title at MITB. Rollins sees Stephanie, who refuses a hug from him. Stephanie says that things are different around here, and she welcomes him back with a handshake.
MITB Qualifying Match: Apollo Crews vs. Chris Jericho: Jericho has bandages on, selling the thumbtack soot from last night. So Crews was attacked backstage earlier in the show, and when he comes out he is all happy, smiling and bouncing around like nothing happened. Jericho tossed his shirt at Crews, and went on the attack right away. Sheamus watched on from backstage as Crews made a comeback, hitting the bandaged areas on Jericho’s back. Jericho took control back, working a solid heat, but also doing the 2016 heel thing of hit and yell a lot. Crews made his comeback after a lackadaisical heat segment by Jericho. He would avoid Jericho’s springboard dropkick, and then hit a moonsault from the apron to the floor. Jericho then slowly countered the Crews powerbomb, and locked in the walls. Crews made the ropes, which angered Jericho. They tried to get too cute, as Crews kipped up (tried to) as Jericho went for the lionsault. It appeared as if Crews wanted to kip up and catch Jericho, but it just looked horrible as Jericho crashed into Crews. Jericho would hit the code breaker and pick up the win. Commentary asked what the attack from Sheamus might have meant to the match, and the answer is NOTHING because Crews never sold it and commentary never made it a focal point. They gave Crews a lot, but the whole reason for the attack was to give Crews an excuse for the loss to a veteran who took advantage of the weakened opponent. But that story was never told, so it came off poorly and the bland match with a lack of any real flow (complete with the Botchamania special) did not help. That bad outing was on everyone, Jericho, Crews, commentary and the agents. Crews hasn’t found himself as a performer on the main roster, and Jericho was not the man to bring it out of him.
– We get another wacky Bob Backlund and Darren Young video package.
– JoJo interviewed Baron Corbin. Corbin won the way because he could. Ziggler appeared and tried to do comedy and ran down Corbin. Corbin says he didn’t want to be a WWE star, he gave out beatings and decided to get paid for it. Lord not another match between these two. Also, their delivery was shit.
– Big Cass arrived, and Enzo was with him! HOW YOU DOIN? The crowd was very happy to see him back. He admitted to his concussion, and said the Dudleyz were out of line. Enzo is on some good shit.
Bubba Ray Dudley w/Devon vs. Big Cass w/Enzo: They worked big man stuff, using their power and Cass had no time for Bubba’s chops. Devon attacked Enzo on the floor, allowing Bubba to take control in the ring as he attacked Cass from behind. Cass quickly made a comeback, they worked to the floor where Cass tossed Enzo into Devon. Back in the ring Cass tossed Bubba off the top, big boot and elbow drop connected and that was that. It was what it needed to be, a reintroduction for Enzo and another win for Cass. It was fine.
Charlotte Talks: Charlotte, Dana Brooke and Ric Flair made their way to the ring. Ric tells Charlotte that he is very proud of her for all she has accomplished since becoming champion. Ric came off very incoherent here, stumbling over his words and it was not good and also quite sad. Charlotte thanks herself, and says that Dana made the right choice. Charlotte spoke about the occasions that Ric missed as the crowd gave her the “WHAT” treatment. Charlotte came off as a bit rattled here due to that. She tried to explain that she understood why Ric was not around, because he was a champion, just like she is now. She then banished Ric, telling him to leave her ring. Charlotte ran down Ric’s generation, noting that they never want to leave. She allowed him to bask in her glory. She’s not Ric Flair’s daughter, he is Charlotte’s dad. She made Ric cry as she got emotional, telling Ric that she doesn’t need him anymore. Charlotte said Ric may be immortal to the fans, but he is dead to her. I have no idea why they are doing this at this stage, you can say that she won without him last night, but it never felt as if they really had a great set up for it. Charlotte was up and down, a bit all over the place, the right thoughts at times but poor execution at others. But even if you play into the fact that she won without him, it wasn’t a good segment. It came across poorly contrived and executed, like they hit 9:30PM and said, “Wait, I got it!” and threw it out there. They advertised this as a segment about the state of the women’s division, and it became about booting Ric as a character. Which in a way is good since a lot of people wanted that, and it did have some lines and such that were good, but it felt like a rushed angle and one I never got into it and just did not think it was good. Finally, it may have helped if there was some groundwork laid, where Ric was becoming jealous of Charlotte’s fame or living too much through her and stealing the spotlight, and then we get this.
MITB Qualifying Match: Dean Ambrose vs. Dolph Ziggler: They worked a clean, back and forth grappling match for three minutes, did a dive tease and then went to commercial. Post break they battled up top and Ambrose hit the superplex for the near fall. Ambrose kept control, sending Ziggler to the floor and then hitting the suicide dive. Back in, Ambrose went up to p, Ziggler ran up but got tossed off and Ambrose hit his elbow, but Ziggler rolled through for a near fall. The fameasser also got a near fall as well. They did a double down spot, and then got up and slugged it out. Superkick by Ziggler, but Ambrose rebounded into the jawbreaker lariat for the near fall. After trading big moves, Ambrose avoided the zigzag, and hit dirty deeds to win. This was a solid match with a strong ending; late in the show they had difficulty keeping the fans fully invested due to the face vs. face dynamic, but we got another clean so all ended well.
– Ric did the sad walk backstage, and got a hug from Arn. Renee Young tried to get some words with him, but he refused and left. Well that certainly feels like the write off.
– The Shining Stars discuss their debut last week. They invited the entire WWE Universe to Puerto Rico.
– Styles came out for his MITB qualifier, and said that he learned how good Roman Reigns is after battling him for the last six weeks. He then claimed that he had Reigns defeated, but the Usos and the Club got involved. Tonight he has an opportunity to get into MITB, and plans to do it on his own. Anderson and Gallows arrived, and were upset with what Styles said. Styles added that this is not Japan, things had changed and he wanted to do this on his own. Anderson said if it was Japan Styles would have bought them drinks after last night for having his back. They added that Styles changed, and Gallows said if they didn’t drop bodies for Styles, he wouldn’t have walked out of a lot of bar fights or made it to Extreme Rules. Styles wants to be friends, but professionally, they should separate. “We’re done.” Gallows and Anderson said that they weren’t brothers or friends anymore. Styles said that this was his ring and they didn’t need to share it any longer, and the good brothers took a walk. Hmmmmmmmmmmmm.
– Cesaro challenges Miz on Smackdown for the IC Title, and Kalisto challenges Rusev in a US Title rematch.
MITB Qualifying Match: AJ Styles vs. Kevin Owens: They beat the hell out of each other at the start, and it made complete sense and I wish that commentary would have discussed the fact that Owens had eliminated Styles from the Rumble the night Styles debuted. They worked a nice back and forth opening, until Owens pulled Styles to the floor and then laid him out with a clothesline after teasing a dive. Styles battled back and sent Owens to the steps, and we took a commercial break. Post break, Owens was in control and teased the powerbomb onto the steps or apron. Styles was able to escape, and started to make a comeback, but Owens was able to counter as commentary noted that Styles may be having back issues from last night’s match. See, it’s not that hard. They had some really good back and forth as they picked up the pace, with Styles getting a nice near fall off of the ushigaroshhi. Owens again countered the clash and destroyed Styles with a fisherman’s buster across his knee for another near fall. Owens went for the big frog splash, but Styles battled him on the ropes. Owens then missed the Mero-sault, and Styles hit the springboard 450 for a great near fall. They again battled to the floor, and Owens laid out Styles with the powerbomb onto the steps. Styles has no regard for his personal safety. They did the countout tease on Styles, who avoided the pop up powerbomb and hit the PELE for a near fall. Styles went for the springboard forearm, but Owens superkicked his leg out from under him and hit the pop up powerbomb for win. Another clean win, which I will not complain about. This was great work from both men, battling against an exhausted crowd. Commentary actually mentioning how Styles was hurting due to his match with Reigns, setting up the spot with the steps was all good set up for the Styles loss. While they didn’t put much into the pre-match promo, you can also assume Styles wasn’t fully into the match, thinking about the confrontation he just had. Owens needed the win, but it may have played better with Anderson and Gallows attacking Styles to really set things up.
– Sami Zayn, Cesaro, Chris Jericho, Dean Ambrose and Kevin Owens have qualified for the MITB match.
– End scene.
– Thanks for reading.
“Byyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyye Felicia!”
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