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Csonka’s WWE Raw Review 6.01.15

June 1, 2015 | Posted by Larry Csonka
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Csonka’s WWE Raw Review 6.01.15  

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 6.01.15

OFFICIAL RESULTS
~ Roman Reigns defeated King Barrett @ 14:07 via pin [**¾]
~ Dolph Ziggler defeated Kofi Kingston @ 3:17 via pin []
~ Ziggler, O’Neil and Young defeated New Day @ 5:32 via pin [**¼]
~ Roman Reigns defeated Mark Henry @ 3:52 via pin [*]
~ Divas Title Match: Champion Nikki Bella defeated Paige @ 5:48 via pin [DUD]
~ Randy Orton defeated Sheamus @ 12:57 via DQ [**]
~ Neville defeated Bo Dallas @ 3:10 via pin []
~ Roman Reigns defeated Bray Wyatt @ 12:26 via pin [**]


In a shocking turn of events, the Authority started off the show by talking…: The Hs, Steph, Rollins, J&J and Kane kicked off the show. They were pissed that Ambrose ran off with the title, and threatened to fine, suspend or even fire him unless he delivered the title back to Rollins. Big Brother Roman Reigns came out, and actually did well here getting in shots that Rollins was the worst champion ever, that he lost to Ambrose and that he used to be cool in the Shield but now runs with his mom and dad. Reigns played the messenger, noting that Ambrose would not come back with the title unless he got his match at MITB in a ladder match. He got Rollins so pissed off that he accepted and said he didn’t need anyone to beat Ambrose. Triple H wasn’t pleased, so he decided to punish Reigns by putting him in a match and that if he lost, he lost his MITB spot. Overall strong performances here by all involved, although it feels silly because the Authority could just have a new belt made, could just fire Ambrose and could just remove Reigns from his match all in one promo and be done with it, but it’s wrestling. But it’s the same old shit. Again, my issue with this is not the fact that it was bad or didn’t make sense, it was good and did make sense; it’s the fact that we do it every week and never feels fresh.

Roman Reigns vs. King Barrett: So the big punishment for Roman Reigns was the guy that gets beat like a drum every week, King Barrett. They had a good back and forth match, but I felt that it went too long here. Reigns has been positioned as a top guy, beating the best of the best and only losing by basically being screwed out of the title. Barrett lost to Truth on Smackdown in minutes and was the first guy out of the chamber last night. Having him go long here with Reigns didn’t feel right, although maybe if we had a commentary team that had any talent or credibility, they could have explained that Barrett “looked more aggressive, was angry about his recent performances, and was looking to prove himself against Reigns.” But they didn’t, because they are not good at all. Triple H and Steph met with Reigns after this and informed him that he would have to face Mark Henry tonight, and if he lost he was out of MITB. So that explains why it was so long, I just wish commentary would have helped out the story. Reigns continues to do well in the ring, he’s had good matches since Fast Lane on PPV and continues to feel more comfortable in the ring and filling the gaps that he would previously leave blank. One a side note, they have no fucking clue what to do with Barrett. He’s British, lets make him a king, and it will make him all better!

* Nikki and Paige had an awkward promo backstage, they will meet in a title match tonight.

IC Title Match: Champion The Ryback vs. The Miz: Pre-match The Ryback gave a short promo about winning the title. The match never started, as Big Show made his return and came to the ring. He knocked out The Miz, and then told the Big Guy that he would take the title from him. I have no idea who thinks Ryback vs. Big Show matches are a good idea, but there we go. Also, I wish that they would have actually explained what Miz did to earn a title shot here. It’s the little things.

Kevin Owens Talks: Commentary put over his win from last night huge, and also hyped the rematch for MITB. Owens said that he does exactly what he says he will do he won the NXT title after he said he would, he then followed it up by beating John Cena. He was very proud of his victory over John Cena, but he isn’t happy because of his son. He called home and his wife was proud of his victory, but all his son could ask him was “how was John”? His kid like any other kids look up to Cena like a superhero, the hero Owens never got to be for his kid because he was traveling the world to make a life for his family and to get a chance in the WWE. But he beat “SUPER CENA” and now Cena is full of empty promises. He plans to beat him again at MITB and will prove that being a champion and hero is about more than marketing. Cena then came out and told Owens to shut up and to act like he had been there before. He then discussed all of the hype about the match, and claimed Owens wasn’t even a real man and was jealous of him. He admitted that he was going to give Owens the US Title, because he’s acknowledged that a man will come down to the ring and beat him and Owens did, but he now feels Owens doesn’t deserve it. Bitch move John. Cena says kids look up to him because he is there every week, not because of marketing. His words are from him and reflect his life, and while he takes nothing away from Owens, the passion from the fans is real. Cena pointed out to a kid fighting cancer during the promo and told the young lad to fight, and says he worked for a decade to be able to give to kids like that. That seemed a bit exploitative to me, getting a cheap pop off the kid and all. He then told Owens that the words that define Owens are never give up, and then offered some advice to the “almost man,” think before you speak. He then said he would beat Owens’ ass at MITB because he was a real man. Cena was ready to fight, but Owens bailed. I would have laughed if Owens told Cena, “If you love kids so much, why are you afraid to have them with Nikki?” You know, weave that Total Divas plug in there. Anyway, Kevin Owens was excellent here, because Kevin Owens FEELS REAL. We know he has a wife and kids and that they are what motivates him. We know about the video that appeared on social media where his kid flipped out when his dad debuted, so this didn’t feel like a scripted fake promo, this felt real. He weaved in the believability of his own story and the Internet theme of “Super Cena” to deliver a hell of a promo. Also, he and Cena have great chemistry as far as wrestling and the back and forth here. I didn’t love Cena’s stuff as much as I did the Owens portion, it was the typical Cena stuff but the guy is delivers with passion. I also didn’t like the whole you’re not a real man stuff and the Cena essentially saying that being the better wrestler didn’t matter. Also, I didn’t especially like Owens not getting a rebuttal, he’s looked like such a badass. But with that being said, I felt overall they delivered a really good segment and they are the best feud going in the company right now.

Kofi Kingston vs. Dolph Ziggler: New Day ran down the Spurs and Tim Duncan, and said that they brought a championship to San Antonio. Lana is with Ziggler. Here we go with the two week build, which means that all of the guys in the MITB match will have singles matches against each other to hype the match and ensure most of them look like losers. They worked a short, but fine match for the time given (since they know each other so wel0 and Ziggler won with a roll up reversal. New Day jumped Ziggler, and the PTP made the save to set up a tag title match I would guess. And of course…

Ziggler, O’Neil and Young vs. New Day: And here is our Teddy Long special. JIP, New Day got the heat on Young, Big E got posted and O’Neil got the hot tag and ran wild. He’s really good in short bursts like this. It broke down and got a bit sloppy, and then O’Neil pinned Woods to set up the title shot. It served its purpose, but Ziggler came off as a complete side character to the PTPs and Lana.

Roman Reigns vs. Mark Henry: It was set up earlier in the night that if Reigns loses, he is out of the MITB match. Earlier in the night, Reigns won a 14-minute match with Barrett, and now has to face a fresh Mark Henry. They worked a really slow match here, with Henry dominating with the power and size. They went to the floor, and Reigns hit a Superman punch and then made it back into the ring to win via countout. Post match Henry laid out Reigns with the WSS and the big splash. It plays into the story because Reigns will be made to compete again you’d have to imagine, but it’s 2015 and this is Mark Henry, just have Reigns win and you can tell the same story. Credit to them for working to build sympathy for Reigns, who was sticking up for his friend Ambrose.

* After the commercial, Reigns was informed by Steph and the Hs that he had to face Bray Wyatt later tonight with the same stipulations regarding MITB involved.

* They did a really horrible Sonic commercial with New Day, The Mega Powers and Big Show.

Divas Title Match: Champion Nikki Bella vs. Paige: It’s good to see that Paige can walk after that match at Elimination Chamber, she took some bad bumps on her head that looked like they could have seriously injured her. Nikki was back to heeling it up here in the never-ending identity crisis for the Bellas. They started out fine, but then things got odd and disjointed. Paige hit her finish off the ropes, Nikki rolled to the floor and The Bellas did twin magic as Brie was hiding under the ring. #1. Brie’s outfit wasn’t even that good of a match to Nikki’s. #2. they are easy to tell apart now. #3. The Bellas are heels again without reason. This whole thing was the dirt fucking worst, the whole segment was designed to insult the intelligence of the fan base and reinforces that the division is a complete mess.

Randy Orton vs. Sheamus: Much like Ziggler and Kofi, it’s the season where all of the guys in the MITB match will have singles matches against each other to hype the match and ensure most of them look like losers. Why not have them face guys NOT in the MITB and actually give some guys momentum. The biggest issue for me is that we’ll see these matches, and then by the time we get to MITB I won’t care as much because I have watched the guys in tons of matches, similar to the Chamber match and even the IC Title ladder match at Mania. Anyway, they worked through the commercial and they had a match. It was fine, nothing wrong but they worked and worked and then did the DQ finish and it felt pretty lifeless. Sheamus then beat the shit out of Orton and stood tall. The match was perfectly fine, but the beat down was better. Shorten the match, do the same post match beat down and I think it comes off better.

* Rusev on crutches appeared and was interviewed backstage. Rusev was a sad panda, because he had no title, no woman and no career; he is a broken man with a broken ankle and a broken spirit. This time. He was the one crushed. But he will get all of it back. This was good, as Rusev was coming across like a broken babyface, about to embark on a journey of redemption and then heeled out at the end. Now keep him off TV so that his return means something.

* Kevin Owens will hold his NXT Title open challenge on Smackdown this week.

Bo Dallas vs. Neville: Rematch city, population these guys. Bo Dallas said pre-match that he wanted to help Neville, but now he wanted to hurt him. I’ve watched Neville beat Dallas at least two times in the last two weeks (Smackdown and the PPV) so I am not exactly excited to see this here. Dallas worked a more aggressive style, but then Neville made his comeback and hit the red arrow and that was all. So this was complete filler, and the fans didn’t care until Neville went up top for the red arrow.

Roman Reigns vs. Bray Wyatt: Again, if Reigns loses, he loss his spot in the MITB match. J&J, Kane and Rollins all came out to he ramp as Wyatt took control and then they worked through the commercial. Wyatt dominated Reigns, who had already been through two matches tonight. Wyatt had the heat going on Reigns, but there was not much reaction from the crowd. I would have hoped for more support for Reigns as they had built the story well through out the night. They finally came alive at about the 10-minute mark, when Reigns tried to make his comeback but was but off. Reigns hit the superman punch and they did the double down as the Authority surrounded the ring WHY NOT JUMP WYATT AND GET REIGNS DQ’d? they he’s out of the match. Instead, distraction finish as Reigns pushed Wyatt into Kane, hit the spear and won the match. Post match the Authority looked to attack, but Ambrose’s music made the save. Ambrose hit dirty deeds on Rollins and stood tall alongside Reigns. Ambrose still has possession of the title, because he initially tossed it to him and then took him out. Semantics, but sneaky. The crowd lost their shit for Ambrose’s appearance, so that was good to see. The match was just there.

* End scene.

* Thanks for reading.

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“Byyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyye Felicia!”

6.0
The final score: review Average
The 411
I felt that the show started strong, and it appeared as if we were in for a good night. The opening promo was actually well executed, they established the Reigns angle that would run through out the show, Ryback got his first opponent for the IC Title, the well done Owens vs. Cena segment and then did some built (although flawed in ways) for the MITB match and set up a tag title match. It wasn’t all perfect, but it was a strong start to the show. Then Reigns and Henry wasn’t very good, and Reigns really should have won since it was Henry. The divas title match segment was every thing wrong with that division, Orton vs. Reigns was rather uninspired, and Neville vs. Dallas was complete filler. The main event came off about as well as I expected, but the place went wild for Ambrose and he continues to stand tall against the Authority. All in all some solid work to build MITB, but when all was said and done, I felt this was an average show at best.
legend

article topics :

RAW, Tremendous Tirades, WWE, Larry Csonka