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: Tony Acero

Raw 6.22.15:
QUICK MATCH RESULTS:
~ Kane defeated Dean Ambrose @ 11:25 via pin
~ Non-Title Match: Champions The Prime Time Players defeated The Ascension @ 4:05 via pin
~ Sheamus defeated Roman Reigns @ 16:43 via countout
~ Neville defeated Kofi Kingston @ 4:27 via pin
~ King Barrett defeated Zack Ryder @ 3:17 via pin
~ The Bellas defeated Naomi and Tamina @ 3:47 via pin
~ Non-Title Match: Champion Ryback defeated Mark Henry @ 6:25 via pin
~ Dolph Ziggler defeated Adam Rose @ 2:59 via pin

THE Right:
SHEAMUS VS REIGNS: Yes! Keep doing this with Reigns and watch the fans flock to him! Simply put, any hit on Sheamus that leaves a bruise makes any match automaticallym ore interesting, and that was no different tonight. They had a great slow burn in the first half of the match, then after the break, they assured the energy didn’t let up till the very end. It was a solid outing for Sheamus, and proof positive that Reigns does have talent and only needs a little more time to grow. He’s getting there.

SETH’S APOLOGY: The past few times RAW has focused on Seth through the entire show, it’s been relatively entertaining. It’s storytelling, and it’s great. Similarly tonight, Seth started by helping Kane, proposing to J&J a reunion, and both times assured that this was simply due to wanting the fam back together. This resulted in a beatdown of Brock Lesnar that, although went too long, was somewhat needed to bring Seth to the level that they’ve put Brock at. It was well done through the whole show, and Seth was on top of his game. It all lead to the end segment where we thought we were getting another BROCK SMASH moment, only to have Seth mentally and physically win the battle that is RAW. Again, it was mostly needed as Seth should be on equal footing with Brock – even if we will never truly buy that. It’s also worth nothing that those who think Seth can’t beat Brock without help needn’t worry, because he’s got all the help he needs – even if just for tonight. PS: RIP Jamie Noble.

OWENS IS OWENS: Honestly, if John Cena just cut the bullshit out of the entire first promo he made before Owens came out, the segment would have had the same impact with the same end result; that result being that Kevin Owens is awesome and John Cena is stale. Above that, however, I do feel that they let Cena get the upperhand here just a little, and I’m perfectly ok with that. Whether we like it or not, Cena is the Face in this program. Even so, the writing behind this program has been so simple yet gratifying, proving once again that if the WWE wants to, it does. Makes me wonder so much why they don’t want to…

puRgatoRy:
HEYMAN HYPES: Ah, the ol Opening Segment. RAW has a template, and it’s so rare that it deviates from said template that we haven’t had a RAW with NO Opening Segment all year. Seriously…With that being said, if we’re going to have an Opening Segment of RAW, might as well be one with Paul Heyman, who returned in glorious fashion to answer all questions we needed to be answered and leave us with, at the very least, a of Brock Smash. The apology in Noogie that Brock did was very uneasy – as it should have been, and it was all nicely done to return Brock to the forefront of RAW. It’s in puRgatory mainly because RAW can’t seem to let go of the crutch that is the opening segment, and its increasingly bothersome.

KANE VS AMBROSE: I love Ambrose, truly I do, but this match was barely above average. Kane isn’t a bad wrestler, and I’ll argue that he’s one of the best big men in the business. Still, his character is beyond stale, and it shows so much every time he is in the ring. He is simply uninteresting, thus making the matches feel the same way. This isn’t wRong, because I would feel bad saying as much, but man…can we get anyone else in the Kane role now?

PRIME TIME PLAYERS: The tag team division has had some unfortunate incidents recently. With Kidd gone, one of the Usos, and now Rowan injured, we are kind of stuck with the only teams that were made important in the PTPs and New Day. I still feel New Day should not have lost the titles, as this would have possibly been more interesting if there was a chase. Still, they are doing something, and sometimes that’s all we can ever ask for with the WWE. Adding Neville to the mix does bring some energy to the whole thing, but there still seems to be a feeling of them just spinning wheels.

BARRETT BEATS RYDER: Well, he had to get a win sooner or later…

FLYBACK?: There was nothing wRong here, and I’d love to put it in the Right – but something about that end with Big Show trying to talk to Henry bothered me…made me feel like we would see them go at it again, and that frightened my wrestling fan’s little mind. Still, Ryback hitting a frog splash, AND making it look good, was a pleasant surprise, and makes the Shell Shock on Big Show mean more. I’m sure it was done so he wouldn’t HAVE to hit the Shell Shock on Show, and although it’s a sight to see, anything to keep a wrestler safe, I’m for. Also, that little brawl in the back between Show and Ryback? Nicely done for the most part.

THE wRong:
BEING A LEMON: Keep in mind that just because it’s wRong doesn’t mean there’s no saving it. Dolph Ziggler faced Adam Rose both in the ring and with their lady counterparts. I was interested in neither. Lana has fallen so far. True, she is still adorned, and tonight added a small fold in her personality that should spell great results in the future – but it appears that Rusev’s injury really derailed both the story, and the oomph behind all involved. Lana was red hot a month ago, then one kiss later and she’s slowly becoming another Diva on the roster. I have hope that this will be rectified, and soon. I have hope that her hair dropping is a good sign. I have hope that Lana will continue to be something big…but right now? ugh.

THE Ridiculous:
THE BELLAS: In the years of “shades of grey,” we are to understand that some wrestlers will have that heel/face dynamic that allows crowds to attach or detach themselves depending on region, sex, or even age. Solid performers are aware of said dynamic, and know when to toe the line. The Bellas are not such performers, and tonight’s match proved as much. If a heel wrestler faces a heel wrestler, we as fans know that they are both heel, and even if we like one more than the other, we get that both are “bad” people. Let’s say Barrett and Sheamus had a one-on-one tonight; who would we cheer for? Well, probably neither, but we would enjoy the match, and love the hard-hitting style. The Bellas came out tonight, and for whatever reason (seemingly because Naomi and Tamina are heel), they amped up the FACE in their boring ass shtick. They played to the crowd, dropped the heelish tactics. Naomi makes Brie kiss her foot. They even get the face win, complete with a smile from Nikki and a nice raise of the gfinger to the crowd! Never mind the fact that the ref was in a horrible position, Nikki still can’t formulate a good match, and Brie is stuck being sloppy. No, I’m more bothered by the fact that they care so little about the Divas Division that we get matches like this where nothing matters save for the end result that we will hopefully get – one or more NXT Callups.

The 411:
The thing about RAW is that there are things we love about it that we’ve loved about it for a long time now. This meaning not much has changed. We have come to expect great things out of Seth, we’ve come to wait for Kevin Owens to show up, and we know we’ll get at least one Red Arrow. The unfortunate side of that coin is that we also know the crap we are going to get. The point is that the WWE is predictable if nothing else, in that we can expect the crap we don’t like to continue just as much as we’ll see Kevin Owens on our TV, and that’s a problem. If a car’s blinker doesn’t work, we fix it. We don’t let it ride simply because the A/C is great. Come on, WWE…let’s get a smooth ride already…

Show Rating: 6.5

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

The 1001st edition is over…