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.

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Raw 11.14.16:
– Kevin Owens & Roman Reigns d. Cesaro & Sheamus @ 8:36 (SHOWN) [**¾]
– Sami Zayn pinned Bo Dallas @ 2:27 [NR]
– Braun Strowman, Chris Jericho & Seth Rollins d. The New Day @ 10:35 (SHOWN) [**½]
– Brian Kendrick d. Sin Cara @ 8:07 (SHOWN) [½*]
– Charlotte & Sasha Banks d. Alicia Fox & Nia Jax by submission @ 3:58 (SHOWN) [**]
– Big Cass, Enzo Amore, Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson d. Golden Truth & Shining Stars @ 6:03 (SHOWN) [*¼]

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THE Right:

Opening Segment: The opening segment featured all 20 men + women that were representing Raw at Survivor Series, and Brian Kendrick standing on stage. Stephanie & Mick addressed each team about why tonight was so important with Shane McMahon & Daniel Bryan in the arena. Foley & Steph booked a bunch of matches for the night and gave us a good idea of what was ahead for the next three hours. Stephanie threatened if people couldn’t get along that there would be some changes made. While I do tire of the opening talky segment, this was a solid 8 minute segment that set up the whole show nicely.

Scarves: Jericho & Strowman are two of my favorite parts of Raw and this segment profiled both terrifically. Jericho gave Rollins & Strowman scarves as gifts for their partnership tonight. Rollins gave his back, Strowman asked for Jericho’s and then promptly ripped it in half. Just a pure fun segment.

The Summit: The closing segment of Raw was the best part of the build for the men’s Survivor Series match that we have seen. The fire brought to the ring by everyone was fantastic. Styles and Owens interaction was a lot of fun, with both getting in some good jabs at each other. Bray Wyatt (who I cringed seeing wearing a SmackDown shirt) calling out Braun Strowman was an interaction I was looking forward to, and it delivered. Wyatt reminded Strowman that Wyatt built Strowman and now he would destroy him. The brawl to end the show was a predictable end for the night, but the promos used as an avenue to get there were very well executed.

puRgatoRy:
Roman Strong Owens & Reigns vs Cesaro & Sheamus was a good tag match between two teams who don’t like each other very much. :Though Cesaro & Sheamus seem to be settling in as a regular team, they still are not fans of one-another. The end to this match made me start to have a little dread over the upcoming Reigns vs Owens feud. Reigns getting the Superman Punch on Sheamus and putting the legal man Owen on top of Sheamus for the win is great for keeping the legal man in play. However, Reigns made Owens look so secondary with the move and you just know their feud will be filled with stupid fat jokes from Roman. Just let Roman be the US champ and do his thing while Owens plays the main event scene.

Sami vs. Bo: Zayn squashed Dallas in about two minutes in a clash of two former NXT champions. The match was exactly what Sami needed heading into his big IC Title match on Sunday.

Scarves vs. Merch Machines: The New Day cut a fun promo before their match as they tossed out merchandise from a shopping cart. The ability to sell merchandise has no doubt helped New Day keep those tag belts. Bruan, Jericho & Rollins worked well together and were able to sell that they are not friends without going over the top about it. Strowman looked like a beast when taking out Kingston & Big E on the outside. Strowman pinned Woods made the most sense, get the monster over while pinning the least essential member of New Day. The match was nothing special, but Jericho vs Rollins continues to build towards what should be a fantastic match at Road Block with Rollins laying Jericho out post match.

Women’s Tag: Had this match happened earlier in the night there may have been a little more enjoyment. However, this was the third match of the night that teamed people who didn’t like each other and it wouldn’t be the last. The differences between Raw and SmackDown’s build has been starkly different and not in a good way for the red brand. The last two weeks of Raw have featured a bunch of segments for the men, women and tag teams that largely all feel the same. When you are filling half of your three hour show with the same material, just different players it makes things old really fast.

Goldberg & Lesnar Face-to-Face: This segment was just like the feud in general, very middle of the road. When Goldberg first returned a month ago he cut a great promo and had the crowd engaged. Every since then every promo between either party has done very little for me. I am glad they kept Goldberg & Lesnar from actually touching here, this helps the feud build for me. We knew that we would see at least one man wreck those security guards and it was done effectively.

THE wRong:
Cruiserweight Action: Wow, this may be my top candidate for “Worst Raw Match of the Year”. Kendrick and Sin Cara had zero in the chemistry department and the crowd gave zero cares the entire match. I laughed at Kendrick jumping Cara before the match, as that seems to be what happens to the Lucha Dragons before all their matches now. This match received 2 segments and certainly did not need them. The entire contest was bland and sloppy. Not even the slightest reaction from the crowd at the finish. I think this will be the last time I have to write about the CW division, as I think they are heading to SmackDown. For that I am happy, and I hope the division finds the booking it needs on Tuesday nights.

Eight Man Chaos: With New Day, Cesaro and Sheamus already competing tonight that left us with three teams from the Raw side of the Survivor Series Tag still needing a spot. The answer to this was to take those 3 teams, add Golden Truth and give them a two segmented eight man tag. The match was sloppy at times and boring almost all the time. I understand that Enzo & Cass do not have the straps because they are waiting for New Day to get the record first, but I am starting to fear that the fans are going to cool down on them. The Raw tag team division is very much inferior to the diversity that SmackDown has to offer.

THE Ridiculous:
NOTHING

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The 1122nd edition is over…

5.0

The final score: review Not So Good

The 411

Overall there was not a lot to put in the “right” category and that is always a bummer for the go-home show before one of your biggest shows of the year. The opening and closing of the show were the strongest parts, while the rest of it was pretty much right in the middle. I am really hoping that this will be the last week I write about the Cruiserweight division as they are just not working and tonight was abysmal. The path to Road Block will start being built next week, which likely won’t include Lesnar or Goldberg and I think that will be a good thing.