wrestling / Columns
Wrestling’s 4Rs: The Right, Wrong and Ridiculous of WWE Raw
How the 4Rs of wRestling Work!
Here is a quick explanation of the 4R’s. The column will run TWO times a week. We will group our feelings on the shows in various categories: The Right, the wRong and the Ridiculous. The Right is stuff that worked very well: a great promo, a great match and so on. PuRgatoRy is a section between the right and wrong. It shows equal traits from both sides that cannot be ignored and needs discussed. It is not a bad place per say, as things can get remedied or go the wrong way the very next week. The wRong is what it sounds like: bad matches, bad or boring promos and so on. The Ridiculous is stuff that had no right on TV: Stupid angles and so on. And there is always a possibility of a 5th R, which is as bad as they come. This column is supposed to be analytical, and at the right time very critical of the shows, it was the whole reason it was created. This is not a “mark” column, nor a “smark” column, our goal is to analyze the show from many different fronts, reward the good and call out the bad. We will not apologize for our opinions, they are as they are, whether positive or negative.
By: Jack Stevenson
Raw 5.04.15:
QUICK MATCH RESULTS:
* The New Day d. Randy Orton & Roman Reigns in a 3 on 2 Handicap Match
* Cesaro & Tyson Kidd d. The Ascension
* Dean Ambrose d. Seth Rollins to earn a spot in the Payback Main Event
* Rusev d. Fandango
* Stardust d. R-Truth
* John Cena d. Sami Zayn in the U.S. Open
* Bad News Barrett & Sheamus d. Neville & Dolph Ziggler
* Randy Orton and Roman Reigns went to a no contest
THE RIGHT:
Randy Orton & Roman Reigns vs. The New Day: It was the usual opening to an episode of Monday Night Raw this week- two men had an argument and a match was made as a result. That match was Payback opponents Randy Orton and Roman Reigns being teamed together against the infuriatingly upbeat New Day. A fresh match! A fresh combination of wrestlers! Wow! To be honest, as cookie cutter as the preceding promo was, there were still plenty of fun moments in it- Woods’ branding the promos of Orton and Reigns a “Montreal boo-hoo job” was a great line, as was Big E’s barb that Seth Rollins has Orton’s number on speed dial. This was the episode of Raw where the New Day went from having potential to looking genuinely fantastic- even Randy Orton seemed to appreciate their theme music when it hit, nodding along with a “huh… I can dig this cheerful beat” look on his face. It was a huge win for the Day, even with the numerical advantage against a disharmonious duo. Only the other week that Orton himself was motoring through then tag team champions Cesaro & Tyson Kidd in a handicap match, so it was a very pleasant surprise to see them capitalize on Reigns’ misplaced Spear and snag a win. And then they celebrated for like two hours straight, popping up in the background of a backstage Bellas segment late in the broadcast, howling with joy. The match itself wasn’t amazing, but it was OK, Orton’s hot tag segment was pretty exciting. It seems like he’s really enjoying himself at the moment. This was a very fun way to start the show on the whole.
Dean Ambrose vs. Seth Rollins: Oh man, this was great! One of my favorite matches of the year so far. Before the match, Kane continued to needle Seth Rollins by declaring that an Ambrose victory would see him added to the WWE Championship match at Payback, turning a tricky Triple Threat into a potentially… fatal… four way. Rollins all of a sudden caring deeply for the integrity of last week’s app vote was hilarious. And then the match occurred and it was a barnburner. Bits and pieces of the earlier stages felt a bit flat but the finishing stretch was absolutely scorching, I haven’t been into a WWE match as much as I was this one since the main event of WrestleMania. I really wanted Ambrose to win and it’s great to see him getting another shot at a PPV main event, even if he is just there to make up the numbers. A couple of nitpicks- the Kane-Rollins ‘will they (punch each other in the face) won’t they (punch each other in the face)’ teasing is getting a bit frustrating, every time it looks like one of them has finally done something to push their simmering loathing over the edge, they’ll pull back and try and get along again. Also, it’s a little bit of a shame for the first post Shield match with a proper Reigns/Ambrose/Rollins dynamic to it thrown out on a B-level PPV with little fanfare and Randy Orton hanging around awkwardly. Still, this was a great match, and I’d rather have Ambrose in the main event than out of it. Definitely a fan of this whole deal.
John Cena vs. Sami Zayn: It is 2015 and we’re watching John Cena take on El Generico on Monday Night Raw. Surreal. Numerous internet dwellers had been agitating for this match for weeks, and it turns out that they knew what they were talking about! Zayn received a stirring ovation from his hometown crowd, and gave a terrific account of himself against the more experienced John Cena. Cena for his part contributes volumes to an excellent match, and in his own way did for Zayn what Kurt Angle did for him back in 2002. The near falls were incredibly exciting for a match which could surely only have one result, and Zayn’s big moves looked great, the Blue Thunder Bomb and the Tornado DDT through the ringpost particular stand-outs. Vince Russo wasn’t a big fan, though! Better keep his opinions in mind!
puRgatoRy:
The Ryback and Bray Wyatt feud is furthered in perfunctory fashion: Ryback went down to the ring and claimed not to be scared of Bray Wyatt. Then Wyatt appeared and said he should be, and that was essentially it. Nothing remarkable, but, uh, it reminded us all that the feud existed. I’d probably be harder on this if it was symptomatic of a lacklustre episode of Raw, but the rest of the show was largely super, so it doesn’t seem such a big deal.
Cesaro & Tyson Kidd vs. The Ascension: This didn’t get the chance to develop into anything special, but ’twas fine for it was it was, and to be honest it was quite nice that WWE even had the thought to give Cesaro and Kidd a dominant victory. Cesaro utilized a barrage of running European uppercuts in the corner, which looked cool and felt vicious, and Tyson Kidd’s tope underneath the top rope to the floor was neat as heck.
Fandango vs. Rusev: I still think they’ve not really thought this Rusev/Lana split through, but if Vince McMahon’s heart is set on turning the Ravishing Russian into an All-American girl, they ‘re going about it in an effective manner. Everyone seemed delighted when she spontaneously broke into the Fandango dance while the man himself was flattened by Rusev. I disagree with what they’re trying to achieve, but they’re going about doing so in an entirely logical manner.
Dolph Ziggler & Neville vs. Bad News Barrett & Sheamus: Bad News Barrett was born to rule. He’s got the right look, the right voice and the right mannerisms for a King of the Ring, and hopefully the crown, robe and scepter will inject some life back into what had been a flagging 2015 for him. This match wasn’t as good as it sounds on paper, the show had run out of steam a bit by this point in the show and the atmosphere wasn’t tremendous. It was a decent effort considering the circumstances though, and Neville still impresses week-to-week, even with his theme music from a Nintendo 64 soccer game.
THE wRong:
R-Truth vs. Stardust: I told you they’d do a spider related angle with these guys! I suggested it last week! It says something about how inaccurate most of my predictions are that I’m completely thrilled to have got a really insignificant one right. It is concrete proof that WWE are finally waking up to the idea of hiring me as head writer for Raw on a really fat salary. It turns out that in reality though, angles about one man being afraid of spiders and his foe being fond of spiders are disappointingly shit. Stardust sneaked a win over Truth by tempting him into opening a bag full of fake spiders, filling R-Trizzle with terror. It’s not going to be a feud that will sell out arenas across the country.
Roman Reigns vs. Randy Orton: A disappointing end to a largely very exciting Raw. These two just went through the motions for five minutes or so before the Authority derailed the match; the gimmick where rule-breaking authority figures hand themselves convenient ringside jobs during a match they have an interest in is pretty worn out, even if it did give us ring announcer Jamie Noble proudly informing us all that he is “the secret weapon” in the Authority’s arsenal. Reigns brightened things a little after the match was inevitably derailed with his big plancha onto all his foes, which never fails to impress, and then Dean Ambrose of all people stood tall to end the show, wiping out Orton with Dirty Deeds after the Viper had felled Roman with the RKO. It wasn’t actively bad, but it was a bit of a flat ending. When I am appointed head writer, I will definitely improve on endings like this one.
THE Ridiculous:
NOTHING
Well that was a fucking stellar episode of Raw out of literally nowhere, wasn’t it? We got two excellent matches of real consequence in the form of Ambrose-Rollins and Cena-Zayn, as well as some antics from the New Day that might turn out to be very important in terms of their career trajectory. The not so good stuff was harmless and easy to get through, it was just a really breezy and enjoyable show on the whole. Montreal provided probably the best crowd of the year so far as well. Definitely try and check this episode out if you haven’t already.
Show Rating: 8.0
As a reminder, I will be going by the 411 scale…
0 – 0.9: Torture
1 – 1.9: Extremely Horrendous
2 – 2.9: Very Bad
3 – 3.9: Bad
4 – 4.9: Poor
5 – 5.9: Not So Good
6 – 6.9: Average
7 – 7.9: Good
8 – 8.9:Very Good
9 – 9.9: Amazing
10: Virtually Perfect
EMAIL LARRY – [email protected]