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 9.21.15:
QUICK MATCH RESULTS:
* Neville & The Lucha Dragons d. Stardust & The Ascension
* Ryback d. Bo Dallas
* Charlotte d. Brie Bella
* Sheamus d. Mark Henry
* Rusev & The New Day d. The Dudley Boyz & Dolph Ziggler
* Naomi d. Natalya
* Big Show d. Cesaro
* John Cena d. Seth Rollins to retain the United States Championship
THE Right:
Randy Orton > Chris Jericho: One of the myriad of problems Raw suffers from in 2015 is that its opening segments are, about 75% of the time, formulaic in ring promos that only serve to recap what happened last week or set up the night’s main event or hype the upcoming pay-per-view. These are usually successful at what they set out to do, but two or three different wrestlers taking turns to perform plot exposition at each other doesn’t often make for an electrifying start to the broadcast. This week’s show kicked off with the remnants of the Shield brawling with the retooled Wyatt Family, and while ‘electrifying’ is probably too strong a word, it was a really entertaining and exciting way to open the show, vaguely reminiscent of the halycon days of 2014 when these two factions were engaged in arguably the greatest WWE rivalry of the decade so far. With Chris Jericho nowhere to be seen having been directly responsible for his team’s defeat at Night of Champions, Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose were left to battle valiantly against a numerical disadvantage, a fairly significant one when you consider that Braun Strowman is currently portrayed as being worth five regular humans. All things considered they held their own for an admirably long time, but just as it looked as they would finally succumb to the laws of mathematics, Randy Orton stormed out to ringside to aid the cause, and together the three fan favorites were able to beat the Wyatts out of the ring. I am super pleased that Orton isn’t disappearing for a while as had been rumored and is instead going to war with Bray and his clan, because he really does make a superb foil to them. He’s too ice cold to be affected by their mind games, and he’s also vaguely mad, which definitely helps when you’re fighting a trio of giant, supernatural horror villains from a swamp. Those two attributes also means he fits in well with Reigns and Ambrose, because the former is also ice cold, and the latter is also, well, more than vaguely mad. There is also an argument to be made that Randy Orton is a better wrestler in 2015 than a middle aged and looking it Chris Jericho, so he could be considered an upgrade in that respect as well. I liked everything about this, it moved the Reigns/Ambrose/assorted allies vs. The Wyatts feud along in a wild, super exciting fashion. Plus, Randy Orton vs. Luke Harper? I am surely not the only one who thinks that sounds fucking ace?
The Kane from Spain has Maybe Gone Insane: I mean, on balance you’d have to say he was insane already, but now he appears to be experiencing some kind of split personality disorder. Just one night after returning to the ring at Night of Champions in his trademark mask and red tights to beat the heck out of longstanding enemy Seth Rollins the Big Red Monster appeared on Raw not looking much like a Big Red Monster at all. He was eerily cheerful, dressed in his corporate suit and tie, and professed to have no recollection of attacking Rollins less than 24 hours ago. This all left the WWE Champion very creeped out, and it turned out he had every to be, because in the final act of the show the masked, violent version of Kane returned and dragged Seth through the ring to what we can only assume is hell. As many people have noted, it’s essentially a rehash of TNA’s Joseph Parks storyline from a couple of years ago, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing because that angle was great fun for a little while. With the Undertaker and Brock Lesnar’s match at Hell in a Cell the undisputed star attraction of that show, a credible but relatively low key challenger for Rollins’ title was needed, and hey, why not Kane? It’s not going to be Cesaro or Kevin Owens or whoever we’re dreaming of. They’ve been building towards Kane getting a title shot for months and he and Seth will probably put a solid match together to pay off their long running dislike for each other. In the mean time, the Devil’s Favorite Demon refusing to acknowledge that he is also the WWE’s Favorite Director of Operations will probably lead to some funny moments, and as long as Kane doesn’t actually win the WWE Championship the angle will hopefully be looked back on as a pretty good one.
Dolph Ziggler & The Dudleyz vs. Rusev & The New Day: More fun antics from WWE’s best faction, as they put aside their differences with Rusev over a hearty dinner of chicken and yoghurt, and in the end became so fond of their new ally that Xavier Woods decided to supportively play the Bulgarian Brute’s theme music on his trombone while he beat down his hated rival Dolph Ziggler. Six man tags are usually good fun anyway, they might be my favorite vanilla wrestling stipulation, and this one was no exception. The Dudleyz still feel quite fresh and so it’s good fun to see them run through their old spots, Ziggler took a good beating in the middle portion of the match, and the near falls were typically energetic and enjoyable. A thoroughly likeable outing.
John Cena vs. Seth Rollins: Another terrific outing from two of WWE’s best. I hope it’s their last for a little while because it’s becoming increasingly difficult for them to find new twists on their usual formula, but they definitely managed to pull out one more super contest on this occasion. To me it felt deeply influenced by the American independent style, even more so than the Cena-Owens matches from earlier this year. The pace at which they rattled through big moves and close near falls, the speed at which the momentum swung from one man to the other, it all reminded me of something from Ring of Honor in 2008. I flipping loved Ring of Honor in 2008 so that was fine by me. It’s a bit of a shame that Seth Rollins lost so decisively I suppose- obviously he shouldn’t have won the United States Championship or anything, but it’s two emphatic defeats out of three matches across two evenings for the WWE Championship, and even the match he did win was via an awkward roll up on a 55 year old who’d just come perilously close to having his neck broken. Still, nit picking at modern WWE shows makes it impossible to enjoy them, so it’s best just to focus on the positives- this was a really, really good main event.
puRgatoRy:
Paige Rage: I’m not entirely sure what I make of this angle. Certainly it has some notable fans, with Jim Ross and Mick Foley both lavishing praise on it, but… I don’t know. Charlotte came out with her Dad and her P.C.B pals to celebrate her landmark title victory at Night of Champions, but midway through the festivities Paige snapped and launched into a scathing tirade in which she spat venom at pretty much the entire Divas’ division and made it clear that she was sick of Charlotte and didn’t want to be her pal any more. Technically, it wasn’t the best promo, it was disjointed and rambly and self consciously edgy and shooty. Ooh, we all know why The Bellas have achieved so much success, don’t we! Yeah? John Cena? Daniel Bryan? Yeah? Yeah. Whoever conceived of this promo clearly conceived it to appeal to the internet, to generate a buzz among people like us, but I remember an AJ Lee promo from a couple of years ago that was similar in intent to this one while also being much better, and in the end it didn’t lead to anything significant. On the other hand, it did feel more aggressive and purposeful than anything else that has occurred as a result of the so called ‘Divas Revolution,’ and its scattered, stream of consciousness style seemed kind of appropriate when you consider it was being delivered by this immature, insecure person in their early twenties. It felt like Paige was just trying to hurt people and was saying whatever popped into her head that she thought would work, and that makes a degree of sense. Plus, Paige vs. Charlotte sounds a genuinely good match that I would look forward to seeing, so it’s leading somewhere worthwhile at least. Some notable pluses and some notable minuses then, but at the very least it was better than most of what we’ve seen from the Divas’ division in the last three months or so.
THE wRong:
The Big Show vs. Cesaro: This wasn’t a bad match at all, there were flashes of legitimately good chemistry between these two. Unfortunately, the Big Show won by knocking Cesaro the heck out with his seismic right hand, and few match results could frustrate me more. I know this is a well worn opinion on the internet, but it’s just staggering that it’s Brock Lesnar vs. The Big Show at the Madison Square Garden special event and not Brock Lesnar vs. Cesaro. Even if you approach the decision from a neutral perspective having never seen Show or Cesaro wrestle before, why would you not make the most of Brock Lesnar by giving him the widest variety of opponents, rather than pitting him against someone he’s already fought on numerous different occasions over the last thirteen years? It doesn’t even have to be Cesaro- why not Brock Lesnar vs. Sheamus? Brock Lesnar vs. Big. E? Brock Lesnar vs, fuck it, Bad News Barrett? All of those matches would make what is looking less like a Network special and more a randomly televised house show at Madison Square Garden a much more appealing prospect. Also, it just emasculates the tall, muscled, freakishly strong Cesaro to have him slumping sleepily to the floor, completely vulnerable, after Show has knocked him clean out. It doesn’t matter much if it’s Bo Dallas or something, but it strips the Swiss Superman of his main selling point. I quite like the Big Show really, but this is all deeply disappointing.
THE Ridiculous:
NOTHING
This episode hasn’t exactly been showered with praise from the reviews I’ve seen, but I thought it was really quite good. It was bookended by two strong in ring segments with the Shield/Orton-Wyatt Family brawl and the Cena-Rollins mini epic, and there were some intriguing developments in between, with big changes in direction for the characters of Kane and Paige. Time will tell whether those shifts are for better or for worse, but there was more enough on this particular episode to keep me entertained. I feel this teed up Hell in a Cell quite nicely, on the whole- Taker vs. Lesnar inside the Cell, Rollins vs. Kane, Charlotte vs. Paige and Reigns, Ambrose & Orton vs. The Wyatt Family makes a good spine for a card.
Show Rating: 7.0
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
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