Live Fan Report From Monday’s Raw Calls The Show Awful

Credit Tyler England and prowrestling.net:

The doors opened just after 5:30PM, which is early for a Raw taping. There were metal detectors in place (a first for Bridgestone Arena) and they were not allowing any bags/backpacks in the building. A few fans were turned around because of this and it made for longer wait times to scan tickets.

I would say the arena was about 70 percent full. Most of the upper deck behind the hard camera was tarped off and the section to the side on the upper deck. A usual turnout for Nashville at this time of year. Things got rolling around 6:30 with the Superstars taping.

I had decent hopes going into Raw, but I was let down big time. I have attended numerous Raws and pay-per-views, but this was bar none the worst of them. It felt like a complete waste of money beyond the main event, which was good but nowhere near worth the money for the tickets.

Triple H got the mixed reaction like always to start the show. I was somewhat surprised to see Sheamus get a ho-hum reaction, then I remembered he was on the jobber card until Sunday night. The promo hit points, but the live crowd just didn’t respond beyond the “You look stupid” chants. Most people in my section were scurrying to the isle to wait for Roman Reigns’ cue anyways, which was less interest in the segment. Reigns was the easily the most popular man in the house. He got HUGE reactions all night long, and even got “ROMAN” chants ( I don’t know if they made TV but they were legit.) It is nice to see him getting these reactions, the guy has came leaps and bounds over what he was this past WrestleMania season. When Rusev appeared from under the ring, he got no reaction whatsoever, just like the main event announcement from Stephanie McMahon – a shocker considering the Nashville crowd has proven to be hot for many events.

The Dudleys and the Wyatts had a meaningful match and each team got nice reactions. Wyatt needs to rebound in a strong way to get him ready for WM this year, and a meaningful feud with the Dudleys would be nice to see. Some people were disappointed to not get the table spot, but it’s become the usual on WWE TV.

Another shocker for me was the Sasha Banks vs. Becky Lynch match. Sasha has been getting awesome support from a lot of live crowds lately, but this was embarrassing. Part of the crowd was chanting something regarding Sasha and the others were chanting “No she’s not.” I couldn’t tell if this was a boredom chant or what but it was uncalled for. The match itself received little to no reaction.

Some people, including myself got excited for the New Day open challenge segment as we speculated the Brothers of Destruction might answer the challenge (especially since they had just shown still shots of their match with the Wyatts from Survivor Series), but obviously that wasn’t the case. I have enjoyed the New Day schtick but this segment dragged and went on too long. The Triple Threat match would have been nice to see, but I guess Vince feels that Heath Slater comedy is better. Overall, its nice to see the Usos back but another failed segment in my book.

I am glad to see Goldust back, but it would be nice to see him either reunite with Cody/Stardust or create a meaningful mid-card feud with him. He should not be relegated to low-card time filling tag matches.

The State of Mex-America Address was just odd and felt out of place. WWE has done little to nothing with the Alberto Del Rio character since he returned, and now they are trying him as a heel (which WWE has plenty of.) Maybe Jack Swagger returning can help out, but I’m not getting my hopes up after so many lousy weeks of TV.

Finally, the 9:00 hour was a decent boost to the show with the Charlotte and Paige angle. The matches have meaning to them and the women work well together. This was a long match so the crowd died down but popped for the big spots and the announce table spot. Overall, the feud is a nice touch to the women’s division.

I have already voiced my opinion on Heath Slater, but does he really need to job to Ryback to more cement his position? I miss when WWE made Nashville feel big with the FGL performances. Now it’s just another comedy act and time filler.

The tag match between Tyler Breeze and Kevin Owens vs. Dolph Ziggler and Dean Ambrose was nice. Breeze has a cool entrance to see live. The program between Owens and Ambrose can be awesome if it is built right. I suspect we will get a gimmick match at TLC for the Intercontinental Championship, which is fine with me.

The main event was easily the best match of the night, more because all the guys worked hard, especially Rusev, who took some mean bumps. It was a nice finish to an otherwise awful show, and even it had to end in DQ. I guess thats just how it is. We knew Sheamus would get involved so it was no surprise, but Reigns could have really used the win to help him here.

After the cameras stopped rolling, Reigns cut a promo about how he had emergency hernia surgery in Nashville last year and didn’t know if he would ever come back. He said the fans were awesome tonight and thanked all of us. He slapped hands with fans at ringside to close the show.
This was just an awful show that never got rolling. The comedy and filler skits were too much, and very little felt meaningful. How low does the rating and viewership have to get before WWE realizes that?

WWE returns to Nashville on Monday, February 29, 2015 with Monday Night Raw. The pre-sale code is TICKETS on ticketmaster.

Thanks and happy Thanksgiving from mine to yours.