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Csonka’s WWE Raw Review 7.27.15

July 27, 2015 | Posted by Larry Csonka
6.5
The 411 Rating
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Csonka’s WWE Raw Review 7.27.15  

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MONDAY NIGHT RAW 7.24.15

OFFICIAL RESULTS
– Big Show defeated Dean Ambrose @ 11:25 via pin []
– Neville vs. defeated Fandango @ 1:45 via pin [NR]
– Sasha Banks defeated Paige @ 13:58 via submission [***¼]
– The Lucha Dragons defeated Low Matadores @ 8:10 via pin [**½]
– Becky Lynch and Charlotte defeated Alicia Fox and Nikki Bella @ 5:55 via submission [**]
– Randy Orton defeated Kevin Owens @ 11:25 via DQ [**½]
US Title Match: Champion John Cena defeated Seth Rollins @ 17:01 via submission [****]


Guess Who Gets to Talk?: Seth Rollins came to the ring with his mom and dad to discuss the kids playing too rough last week. They made the big announcement that Summerslam will be four hours long, with Lesnar vs. Taker as the main event. They then announced Big Show vs. Dean Ambrose, Paige vs. Sasha Banks, Kevin Owens vs. Randy Orton and Fox and Nikki vs. Becky Lynch and Charlotte for tonight’s show. Rollins then spoke about winning the title at Mania, and that he’s a great champion. Enter John Cena, who ran down Rollins and proposed a match for the title tonight. Rollins tried to explain that Cena had to earn his title shot, and then Steph said they should ask the fans. She then told Cena and the crowd tough shit and that there would be no title match tonight. Triple H then made Rollins vs. Cena for the US Title. Triple H and Steph are getting just as bad as the divas in terms of being a face one segment and a heel the next, it’s annoying. This was the usual time killer, because they had graphics ready and could have simply announced the matches from commentary and shot to a match, actually making the show opening different. Then you could have saved Cena and Rollins for another segment later in the show. But we open with the same old shit, it’s technically fine but I would kill for a format and or change in this show’s vibe.

* Steve Austin will host his next live podcast next Monday, and his guest will be… Paige.

Big Show vs. Dean Ambrose: The Miz is out on commentary. Ambrose controlled and hit a dive to Show to take control. He then tried to hit the wacky elbow drop and ate a big chop from Show and then they went to the commercial. After the break, Show controlled and worked the leg, so Ambrose untied his boot to escape. We then waited for almost a full minute for Show to retie the boot as Ambrose just hung out and recovered. Also, listen up Big Show, don’t waste your time working the knee, Ambrose is impervious to leg attacks, he shakes them off moments later. Ambrose fought back after the boot deal, but Show hit that ugly ass reverse powerbomb. Ambrose survived a chokeslam, and then took another and had to fight back from the floor. Show would hit a spear on the floor, and tried to get the countout win, but Ambrose made it back in. Show then cut off a dive with the KO shot, and that got the countout victory for Show. Post match, Show was pissed that Ambrose got to his feet. So Show then tried to spear him through the barricade, and Ambrose moved and then Show went through it and knocked himself out. At the end, Show spent 11 minutes beating the shit out of Ambrose and won, only for Ambrose to stand tall and have his music play. Basically they had nothing for either guy to do, so they booked a match and then realized that nether guy should lose. So they booked the countout finish so Ambrose can look resilient while Show looks like the giant. But then they had to get Ambrose some heat back, so Show bumble fucked around and knocked himself out. This accomplished absolutely nothing of note, was slow and wasn’t really good at all. But hey, they ate up some time!

The Guy That Does The Red Arrow vs. Fandango: Fandango controlled for a bit, Neville took over, hit flashy stuff and then won with the red arrow. Neville is in a program with Stardust, Fandango is a jobber, this is what should have been done and they did it. No complaints. Stardust cut a wacky promo and managed to slip in another Dusty line again this week. Listen, I am not a big fan of the gimmick or anything, but the man gives it 100%. Also, I have no issue with them booking lower card feuds, I have asked for this for some time so that we are doing more than random matches. The program isn’t really connecting with the crowd, but they did the right things here.

* Paige, Charlotte and Becky had a meeting and praised the Diva’s Revolution. Team B.A.D. arrived and said that the revolution was all about them, and they argued. This was useless bickering, not a real promo that could have actually advanced things. Oh, and they made sure to PRAISE MAMMA STEPHANIE for the revolution; once in the segment and once on commentary.

* We get a video package for Sasha Banks.

* End hour one.

Paige vs. Sasha Banks: It greatly annoys me that Sasha Banks doesn’t get to have her title with her. They aren’t hiding it, they announce her as the champion, there is no reason for her to not have the title with her. Also, they set precedent that they will have NXT titles on WWE TV with Owens previously. For all of the talk that they want this revolution to work, maybe treating the women the same as the men would help. All of the team members were at ringside, and Team Bella watched on from backstage. They went back and forth for four minutes, and then Paige sent Sasha to the floor. She basically had to shove the ref out of the way so she could hit a high cross to the floor to wipe out Sasha’s team and they worked through the commercial. During the break the ref tossed the teammates to make it one on one. Following the break, they worked a good match together. They worked hard and got time to actually work instead of being shortchanged. Banks won with the Banks statement, which I feel was the right call at this time. Overall this was good stuff, it was clunky early, but when left alone this was easily the best thing on the show so far. More of that please.

* Rollins cut a promo about his match with Cena tonight, and vowed to go through him tonight because he is the future, and has passed Cena by.

* Summer and Rusev walk.

* Rusev and Summer are in the ring for promo time. Rusev is a smitten kitten for hot and obedient Summer because she healed his soul. Rusev gave her a dog, and said that since the fog is ugly, has skinny legs, pees on himself and is neutered, his name is DOG ZIGGLER. Rusev has the jokes! He then gave her a dead fish, without a head. He named the cold fish Lana. Lana then arrived and was pissed because of Rusev’s actions. Lana then gave Summer the worst leg kick since Rampage Jackson and rubbed her face on the fish. She slapped Rusev and bailed. Summer threw a fit, while I was disappointed that the fish was not used to hit someone. I know some people love the angle, but I am not feeling it at all. Also, it feels as if they are just killing time and doing silly shit until Ziggler is back, I didn’t think this was good, at all. No fish puns from me, I have a feeling that Tony and the guys in the Raw thread covered them all.

* We get highlights of last week’s angle between Taker and Lesnar.

* Lesnar will be on Raw next week.

The Lucha Dragons vs. Los Matadores: The PTP are on commentary, I hope Titus shit talks JBL again. Los Matadores controlled most of the way, and outside of a hiccup or two this was a fun match. I did appreciate the fact that they made mention that the winner could get a shot at the titles, and that the PTP got time on commentary again. Unfortunately the heat for this match was largely non-existent, which is due to the poor booking of the division as a whole. Kalisto got the hot tag, and the crowd reacted better to than that anything else in the match. Of course New Day then came to the ring wit a sign proclaiming Kofi the real dad of the year. Kalisto then scored with a counter to win the match, which unfortunately felt secondary to the New Day/PTP stuff. With the Matadors beating the champs and Lucha Dragons beating them, along with New Day still in the mix, we’re heading towards the lazy major PPV multi-team title match.

Luke Harper Recommits to Bray Wyatt: Wyatt spoke about loving your family, and then told all of the kids that their parents lie to them and don’t love them. This then transformed into a story about an ugly, but loyal pet that Wyatt had. He set that pet free because he was curious, and he came back scarred. This pet was changed and never ran again. He then compared Harper to this ugly pet that he fixed. Harper said his family found him and Wyatt showed him the truth, saying that the fans made his what he is because they shunned him. He then promised his life to Wyatt. Wyatt moved onto Reigns, and noted that Ambrose was in danger, and if Reigns loved him that he should send his brother away before he gets hurt because this is Reigns’ hill to die on. A lot of rambling from Bray, some ok points, but pretty much a dead crowd that didn’t give a shit about the segment as a whole. They could have done a shorter, pre-produced backstage segment and gotten the same point across. I said long ago that I’d much rather see Harper with Wyatt’s push, and I still feel that way.

* End hour two.

Alicia Fox and Nikki w/Brie vs. Becky Lynch and Charlotte w/Paige: Team B.A.D. watched on from backstage. Charlotte had some control early, but then Team Bella took over and worked her over. Becky finally got the tag and ran wild, but unfortunately got no reaction. She picked up the win with her arm bar submission on Fox. Becky needed to get the win there, so that was the right call. The match was ok, nothing special.

Randy Orton vs. Kevin Owens: Sheamus is out on commentary. I am not a fan of them doing this match here, as this feels like it could have been saved for a feud later on. Orton controlled early until they went to the floor, where Owens posted him to take control before the commercial break. They went back and forth, it was a fine but average outing. Owens and Orton didn’t have that instant chemistry that Owens and Cena did. Sheamus then brogue kicked Orton late for the DQ. This led to Cesaro hitting the ring and cleaning house on Sheamus and Owens for a bit. Sheamus would trip up Cesaro, allowing Owens to hit the pop up powerbomb. I am glad they didn’t give a finish away, and in a way they are creating an interesting dynamic for the mid-card with these four. But also, these guys feel as if they are just interchangeable parts, so they really need to tell the story better, especially on commentary. That isn’t happening though. I could see a tag match for Smackdown, possibly a four-way for Summerslam. I did like that Owens wasn’t completely happy with Sheamus, glaring at him post match, playing off of last week’s six-man tag.

* Renee spoke with Cena, he will prove that he is a great champion, because the champ is here.

* On Smackdown, Becky Lynch will face Nikki Bella.

US Title Match: Champion John Cena vs. Seth Rollins: During Cena’s promo he discussed shocking the world if he won tonight, while I appreciate him trying to put over Rollins as world champion, the booking doesn’t reflect that. Rollins is a weasel that retains his title at any cost, so it’s not going to be a shock if John Cena, who has been the definition of successful fighting champion (and a 15 time world champion) were to win here. Who ever decided that this was a good narrative fails at basic writing. If anything, Cena should have just played off of what already exists, “I am the best champion in the company, I will win tonight to prove that and earn a shot at your title”. So the match, they worked through a commercial with Rollins in control post break. Cena tried to fight back and run through his usual repertoire, but Rollins had it scouted and countered out to take back control. Rollins’ knee went into business for itself and jacked Cena, busting him open. His mouth and nose were a mess, yeah he broke his nose there. Pretty sure Seth can see him. Cena attacked right away, but when they did a double down spot the doctor did come in to clean up Cena. Listen, I am perfectly fine with WWE not doing intentional blood, but stop this shit mid-match. If it happens it happens. To Cena’s credit he kept working as the nose swelled up. Rollins hit a superplex and rolled through into a falcon arrow for a sweet near fall. Rollins would miss the Phoenix splash, leading to Cena locking in the STF for the win. I get Cena winning here to set up the Summerslam match, roving that he is worthy, but I hated having Rollins tap out. He’s been booked as a weak champion, and that didn’t help that story. These guys work very well together, and I want to see what they can do at Summerslam.

* End scene.

* Thanks for reading.

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“I’m out…”

6.5
The final score: review Average
The 411
Not a bad show this week. I felt that overall they did a good job with the ladies, I like that they are trying with Neville and Stardust, they are building something with Owens, Orton, Sheamus and Cesaro and the main event was great. The Show vs. Ambrose match was just bad, the tag title scene feels like a complete mess and Bray Wyatt continues to be Bray Wyatt. The usual mix of good and bad (and questionable booking) for sure, but it was far from a bad show this week.
legend

article topics :

RAW, Tremendous Tirades, WWE, Larry Csonka