Csonka’s WWE Raw Review 8.03.15

MONDAY NIGHT RAW 8.03.15

OFFICIAL RESULTS
~ WWE World Title Match: Champion Seth Rollins defeated Neville @ 13:05 via pin [***½]
~ The New Day and The Ascension defeated Los Matadores and The Lucha Dragons @ 8:18 via pin [**]
~ Charlotte and Becky Lynch defeated Nikki and Brie Bella @ 13:10 via submission [**¼]
~ Rusev defeated Mark Henry @ 2:00 via pin [NR]
~ King Barrett defeated Zack Ryder @ 1:50 via pin [NR]
~ Paige defeated Naomi @ 7:20 via submission [*½]
~ Reigns, Ambrose and Orton defeated Wyatt, Harper and Sheamus @ 16:50 via [***]

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* We got a 10-bell salute to Roddy Piper, as well as a video tribute to start off the show. You can read my Roddy Piper tribute column here.

* Reigns, Ambrose and Orton vs. Wyatt, Harper and Sheamus will face off tonight.

Seth Rollins Talks.: Rollins of course came out and gloated about breaking Cena’s nose, like any proper heel would. The Cena haters were out in full force thanking Rollins for what he did. Rollins showed video and images of Cena’s busted face, and felt that the match needed to be stopped, because he’s a humanitarian. Cena simply caught him, in a moment of weakness, and that is why he lost, but it won’t happen again. He then challenged Cena to a title vs. title match at Summerslam, noting that if Cena isn’t a man, he could surrender the title to him. He then announced that he would have a WWE World Title open challenge. Overall this worked, Rollins as the heel should take credit for hurting the hero. Also, challenging Cena (and using Cena’s own open challenge deal) will either set up the match or allow him to brag if it is true that Cena cannot compete at Summerslam.

Seth Rollins’ Open Challenge: Apparently Rollins had rules, where the opponent had to be under six foot tall and under 200 pounds. JoJo questioned him on this, and the opponent was going to be Torito. Instead, Rollins got Neville. So they basically told everyone that Neville was the closest dude to a midget on the roster, not sure I would have went there, but that’s just me. Neville ran wild early, hitting dives and such and then they worked through the commercial break. Rollins took control during the commercial break, and continued when we came back from commercial. Neville fought back, tried a reverse RANA (it didn’t come off well in any way) but he got a good reaction off the near fall. They had a really good crowd here, reacting well to the near falls, especially on Neville’s pedigree counter. They did it again when Neville hit the red arrow, but Rollins’ foot was in the ropes. That was nice, I love when they really get people. Neville missed the second red arrow, ate a pedigree and that was all. Neville had some awesome energy here, and the people reacted well and wanted to believe that Neville had a real chance. This was so much fun, they got some great reactions and Neville looking devastated when he lost was exactly what it needed to be. This is the kind of outing that helps elevate Neville, and also keeps the portrayal of Rollins as the champions that escapes by the skin of his teeth. The difference here was that Rollins didn’t need a bunch of help, he won when the other guy made a mistake, and due to that didn’t come off like a joke as he has most of his reign.

Smackdown Rematch Special – Los Matadores and The Lucha Dragons vs. The New Day and The Ascension: The Smackdown rematch special, including the PTP being on commentary. One of the matadors took the place of Sin Cara this time, as the heels got the heat on him. Embarrassingly mistimed spot with the Ascension as the Matadore right before the commercial break, it looked as if they paused the tape to work this distraction spot. They worked through the commercial, the second half had some fun spots. This was very similar in layout to the Smackdown match, but this time the heel team got the win when Kofi pinned Kalisto. It’s a fun little match, but it’s just guys trading wins while PTP sits on commentary as we build to the big show, multi-tag match because no teams have been built up. The answer of tossing tons of teams out there of Mania, EC and Summerslam is the wrong one, and continues to feel lazy.

– End hour one.

Nikki & Brie Bella w/Fox vs. Charlotte and Becky Lynch w/Paige: Both teams got mini-box promos before the match. Commentary, doing their job for once, informed us that Becky picked up her first singles win on the main roster on last week’s Main Event, over Brie Bella. Paige’s friends controlled in the early minutes, and then Charlotte and Brie had an odd spot in the corner, where Brie tried to attack her, but they stopped and stared at each other as time stood still. Nikki eventually pulled her off the ropes to get the heatless heat. After a lifeless heat, Becky got the tag and almost made Brie tap, but she got the ropes. They then went to a commercial. Ok guys, not every match needs to go to commercial for the illusion that it’s a long match. I appreciate giving the ladies time, but this is the third match in a row that went to commercial. The work was fine, but the crowd was not into this much until about 12-minutes in when the hot tag/homestretch. Charlotte made Nikki tap to pick up the win. This was an overall pretty average outing, with a good final minute.

* JoJo interviewed Team BAD backstage, they had watched the match and were not impressed. They then cut an unfocused and not very good promo. Tamina creeped on JoJo a bit as they finished.

MIZ TV: Miz actually took the time to pay tribute to Roddy Piper, which was cool. After running down The Ryback, Kevin Owens was introduced. Owens, always the great heel, admitted he was a Miz fan and owned all of his movies on Blu-ray. Before he could get too far into running Cesaro down, the man himself came to the ring. Owens claimed Cesaro was jealous of him, not just because Owens beat Cena, but because Cesaro will never be able to match his God-given ability for this business. Cesaro fired back in good babyface fashion, and then called Owens an embarrassment. Cesaro challenged Owens, who refused noting that he would fight anyone, anytime for the right price. Cesaro kept mocking Owens for walking, and when Miz tried to get involved, Owens slammed them together and we had a brief skirmish. But of course, when Cesaro had the upper hand, Owens bailed. This was one of the better Miz TV segments, maybe ever, with some nice work by Owens and Cesaro to hype their (likely) Summerslam match. I tend to really hate the Miz TV stuff, but that was good stuff.

* Paige will face Naomi tonight.

* They showed the Ronda Rousey tribute to Roddy Piper from UFC 190.

Rusev w/Summer vs. Mark Henry: This is your HOSSWEIGHT DIVISION special attraction for the evening. This is exactly what it should have been. It was short, there was clubberin, and Rusev won clean with little resistance. This was an effective use of Henry at this stage, because people still react to him, and Rusev is the guy that should be winning. Most importantly, there was no wacky stuff with Lana. Rusev went out there, destroyed a man and that was that.

* Bray Wyatt cut a promo about flowers being pretty until you rip off the pedals. Luke Harper was upset about this, because he has put a lot of hours into his garden. Actually, Wyatt compared the flower to Wyatt, beautiful because they chose him and gave him everything, but when it’s all stripped away, he’s just like anyone else. Sheamus then found his way to the island and appeared from the smoke monster, and discussed the fact that he wants to destroy Orton.

Zack Ryder Still Has a Job vs. King Barrett May Actually Win: This was another enhancement match, with some back and forth and then Barrett winning; it was every Ryder 2-minute job match you’ve ever seen. The right guy won, Ryder got in a bit too much I feel though. Barrett needs serious rehab as a character, he need to go out there and simply maul a guy like Ryder. Also, I would have spaced out the Barrett and Rusev matches more, since they were so similar. But the idea behind this was correct, and Barrett winning was obviously the right move.

* New Day faces The Prime Time Players and Mark Henry on Smackdown. I guess Neville isn’t their friend anymore.

* End hour two.

Paul and Brock Talk: Heyman wanted to make some things clear, Taker started this fight, and that he’s not the same man he was. He’s now a vengeful man, a man who becomes a bitch when in Lesnar’s presence because Lesnar owns him. They also used some videos in here to set Heyman’s points. Lesnar made his way to the ring, and then tossed on part of the steps so he could stand on them. Heyman ran down the destruction of Taker the last time they met, even stating that Taker begged Vince for a rematch with Taker. Vince refused because he knew the same thing would happen again. Heyman then went into big time pitch mode, hyping the rematch at Summerslam as too big for WrestleMania. He added that Taker needed an ambulance, the hospital and a year off; this time he will need last rites, because he will rest in pieces. This was an overall great hype segment for the rematch.

* Commentary shows images of the busted up Cena from last week, and speculates on a possible return at Summerslam to face Rollins.

Paige w/Becky and Charlotte vs. Naomi w/Tamina and Sasha: Team Bella watched on from backstage. Paige dominated early, and then Sasha distracted Paige, leading to Naomi hitting a really sloppy version of what appeared to be a back stabber. Naomi took over, and I’d say she worked the heat, but there really wasn’t any. Paige made her comeback to just about no reaction, and this match his feeling really long. Naomi would miss a high cross, and then Paige got the scorpion cross lock for the win. Paige’s baby face comebacks are completely lacking any emotion. It felt long, wasn’t as clean as the previous divas tag, and had no heat. Moving on.

* Stardust cuts a wacky promo about Neville for Facebook, mocking him for listening to the fans and losing.

* Stephen Amell (from Arrow will be at Raw next week to confront Stardust.

* We get a Roddy Piper tribute now. Silly me, I thought it was something new, it was just the same video from the beginning of Raw.

* Reigns and Ambrose cut a promo hyping the main event. Ambrose paid tribute to Piper, and basically said it was time to stop talking and to kick ass. Orton appeared, and said they can do anything they want, but leave Sheamus to him. Well then, they can’t exactly do anything now can they because you just basically gave them a condition to your participation.

Reigns, Ambrose and Orton vs. Wyatt, Harper and Sheamus: Not quite the Shield cleared the ring early, and Ambrose hit his elbow to the floor onto not quite the Wyatt Family, leading to the commercial break at about a minute into the match. After the break, Wyatt was doing his best to avoid Reigns, who appeared more aggressive tonight. The heels then got the heat on Ambrose, and we went through another commercial. Post break the heat continued, and then Ambrose finally got the got tag to Orton. It broke down with everyone getting involved, and Orton then getting the tag to Reigns. He worked over Sheamus, and then ran wild on the heel team. We then got the big move buffet, finishing with a spear on Sheamus to give the faces the win. This was a good little tag, with a great closing stretch, making it a good way to close the show.

* End scene.

* Thanks for reading.

It’s a kilt Roddy, not a skirt, it’s a kilt…

6.9

The final score: review Average

The 411

Not a bad show at all this week. The opening match and Heyman promo were the highlights of the show, and the rest was largely fine to good, with nothing that really pissed me off tonight. Hopefully they build off of this and make the build to Summerslam work.