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-THREE 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 1.25.16:
QUICK MATCH RESULTS:
– Kevin Owens d. Dolph Ziggler (***)
– The Dudley Boyz d. The Social Outcasts
– AJ Styles d. Chris Jericho (***½)
– Becky Lynch vs. Sasha Banks went to a no contest
– Bray Wyatt d. Kane
– Natalya & Paige d. Brie Bella & Alicia Fox
– Kalisto d. The Miz
– Roman Reigns & Dean Ambrose d. Sheamus & Rusev
THE Right:
Dolph Ziggler vs. Kevin Owens: I really dug this. Previous meetings between these two have suffered for trying too hard to impress with all these big moves and near falls, and never really working like you’d think they would. This one was a refreshing change- a decent eight or nine minutes of wrestling, a couple of close two counts off relatively restrained moves like the super kick and the German Suplex, and finally Owens winning with the first genuinely big move of the match, his ever impressive Pop up Powerbomb. Indeed, Owens looked really great in this; coming off the back of his tremendous, vicious Last Man Standing match with Dean Ambrose at the Rumble, he displayed steel and resolve to gut out this match and win in such comprehensive fashion. A very effective start to the show.
Chris Jericho vs. AJ Styles: Come on! It’s Chris Jericho vs. AJ Styles! Yes, Jericho’s not what he once was and 2016 is not the year where this particular dream match looks its dreamiest, but still… Chris Jericho vs. AJ Styles! Live! On Monday Night Raw! Professional wrestling is weird and fantastic. And it was a legitimately good match as well, without question the best thing Jericho has done since his return. He seems much more motivated when tasked with keeping up with the crème de la crème like Styles and Neville; there’s no time for dicking about making stupid jokes and coining dreadful catchphrases when you’ve got to prove you can still going in the ring at the highest level. If we’re being brutally honest, Y2J can’t quite manage that, but he’s sufficiently close that it doesn’t particularly spoil the match. He and AJ strung together a really good, well paced ten minutes of back and forth action, and Styles looked terrific, bumping like mad for Jericho’s offense but persevering to pick up the victory. I’m not quite sure why he’s not managed to hit the Styles Clash yet, having to resort to just a pinning combination to pick up the win here- you’d think they’d want to establish his signature moves as quickly as possible for those in the WWE universe that aren’t familiar with him. Still, the early signs are good for AJ in WWE. He’s being treated like a star, the fans love him, he’s put in two impressive performances, and hasn’t once informed us all that queering doesn’t make the world work. It’s going to be fascinating to see the role they find for him at WrestleMania…
The Rock graces us with his presence: I’m not the biggest fan of the Rock in the world but the facts are undeniable; he’s one of the most successful and popular actors in the whole world, and within the wrestling business that popularity is more like a kind of theistic reverence. People adore the guy, and he clearly still possesses a fair amount of fondness for WWE, so of course the opportunity to let him appear on Raw in his home town and just have fun for a bit was not to be passed up. I thought the backstage segment where he wandered around interacting with random passers by was brilliant, especially his encounter with the Big Show, and there was a good deal to like about his in ring confrontation with the New Day as well. Nothing the Rock had to say was particularly funny unless you find the idea of a llama’s penis inherently entertaining, but he brought out the best in Kofi, Big E and Xavier after weeks of listless back and forth with Chris Jericho- their outrage at the Rock saying ‘penis’ was great, as was Xavier’s dead on impression of Rikishi’s ‘I did it for the Rock’ promo, and their ‘champions huddle,’ and their unlikely alliance with Byron Saxton, and… well, it’s just good to have them back on form. It all concluded with the Usos coming out to lay into the New Day, and the Rock joining in with Spinebusters and Rock Bottoms and a People’s Elbow. Good, harmless fun. I’m more optimistic about the Rock’s role at WrestleMania after this.
puRgatoRy:
The Dudley Boyz vs. The Social Outcasts: This was more notable for the pre match angle than the in ring action, with Heath Slater resuming his unusual on again, off again feud with Flo Rida of all people, Bo Dallas joining in the fun to challenge him to a rap battle. It turned out to be moderately amusing and a nice little boost for the Outcasts. The Dudleyz picked up a routine victory in the actual match as Mr. Rida cheered along from ringside, and while none of this will be remembered very far in the future, it was a totally fine midcard tag bout featuring a cameo from a notable celebrity who actually displayed a degree of enthusiasm for getting involved, so it was quite likeable on the whole.
Becky Lynch vs. Sasha Banks: Frustratingly, despite the supremely well executed month long storyline leading up to it, Charlotte vs. Becky Lynch didn’t quite work at the Rumble, disrupted early on by a jarring spot in which Ric Flair kissed Lynch as a creepy mind game, and hampered by an awkward finish in which Becky was blinded by Naitch’s jacket. Sasha Banks is the last of the major participants in the Divas’ Revolution to get a chance at having that elusive, great main roster women’s match, but on this occasion her match with Lynch was nothing to write home about, only three minutes long and ending abruptly with a Charlotte beat down. Hopefully their feud will pick up momentum along the Road to WrestleMania.
Kalisto vs. The Miz: While it does raise the question as to why they had to do the phantom title change with Del Rio on Raw in the first place, it’s really nice to see Kalisto with the U.S. Championship on a permanent basis, clambering out of the tag division and establishing himself as a singles talent worth watching. His match with the consistently underrated Miz was pretty good; Miz adapted smoothly to the high flying antics of his opponent, while Kalisto got all his important spots in, won with a nifty Salida Del Sol, and looks really bright at the moment. It probably didn’t need to go ten minutes, and would have been more energetic and exciting with a couple of minutes shaved off it, but I do think it makes certain wrestlers significant to even have ten solid minutes of the show devoted to them, and that’s the case with Kalisto here. On its own this isn’t good enough to make the right, but if it’s reflective of a successful 2016 for the Lucha Dragon I’ll be very happy indeed.
Roman Reigns & Dean Ambrose vs. Sheamus & Rusev: A palatable formula tag match. It wasn’t anything special, but Ambrose is always sympathetic as the face in peril and Reigns looked snappy and motivated coming in as the house of fire. There was also a cool spot post match, as the fan favorites combined to send Rusev through the announce table with a spectacular powerbomb. Rusev just exploded into the table and it looked great. Post match, Stephanie McMahon announced that Roman Reigns will be beating Dean Ambrose and Brock Lesnar at Fast Lane on his way to his coronation as the John Cena of the 2016-2026 period at WrestleMania 32. On the one hand, that sounds like it will be a brilliant, crazy, utterly unique brawl of a Triple Threat, and I’m definitely excited for it, but on the other, it’s completely predictable (as you may have noticed me alluding to already with some scathing satire), and also doesn’t make much sense from a storyline perspective. I can understand why the Authority would be willing to let Ambrose challenge Triple H for the championship, in that they would want an exciting main event for WrestleMania which Hunter would also have a very good chance of winning, but why Brock Lesnar? Why Roman Reigns? Why two thumping powerhouse juggernauts who have already caused HHH serious physical damage in previous one on one confrontations? Why not, say, Ambrose vs. Ziggler vs. Kalisto, all of whom are credible wrestlers who Triple H would be capable of bullying around? That’s the problem with the authority figure trope in wrestling; at some point, in order to get their comeuppance, they have to make baffling, entirely counter productive decisions. Anyway, that’s my two cents. It’ll be a super match anyhow and I’ll be tuning in for sure, so all my complaints are essentially meaningless. Oh well.
THE wRong:
Kane vs. Bray Wyatt: I don’t recall much about this one aside from there being lots of wandering around and aimless punching, so I imagine it wasn’t very good. I’d say it didn’t hold my attention but it never really had it in the first place. It seems like we’re getting Bray vs. Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania, and while that sounds original and potentially quite cool on paper, it does raise the question as to what the hell Bray has done to deserve it. Outside of some good matches with Roman Reigns his 2015 was a waste of a year that he could have been more productively spent learning to play the piano or ballroom dance or cut promos that have literally any substance to them whatsoever. Brock Lesnar may not show up all that much, but when he does he can be relied upon to kick arse and take names, and I wish he was facing someone at Mania that isn’t trading on past glories that weren’t especially glorious anyway. A minute’s silence for the Lesnar-Owens match that will not be.
THE Ridiculous:
NOTHING
I thought this was a top notch Raw for the first two hours or so, which featured two good matches in Ziggler-Owens and Styles-Jericho, the momentous debut of the Phenomenal One on Raw, and the return of the Rock to cap it off. It fell away a bit in the third hour with a couple of OK but unspectacular matches, and it seemed as if the Miami crowd understandably felt nothing would top their home town hero legend hitting the ring for the first time in nearly a year, but still, two good hours of Raw is more than you often get, and is enough for a reasonably enthusiastic thumbs up from me.
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
“Did someone say… SAWFT?
