wrestling / Columns
Wrestling’s 4Rs: The Right, Wrong and Ridiculous of WWE Raw
Loading...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.
Raw 10.24.16:
– Enzo Amore defeated Karl Anderson @ 3:46 (TV time) [**]
– Cesaro & Sheamus defeated New Day @ 8:43 (TV time) [***]
– Bo Dallas defeated Curtis Axel @ 2:56 [NR]
– Golden Truth defeated The Shining Stars @ 3:57 [½*]
– Rich Swann defeated Brian Kendrick @ 4:57 (TV time) [**½]
– Seth Rollins defeated Chris Jericho and Kevin Owens @ 9:50 [**3/4]
THE Right:
The List is Missing!!: Raw started out with Chris Jericho heading to the ring, but he was missing a key accessory, THE LIST! Jericho informed us that someone had stole the list and the main event triple threat match would not happen until Jericho had the list back. Jericho questioning Owens and Stephanie who joined him in the ring was comedic as Jericho was heartbroken his intellectual property was missing. We of course would find out that Seth Rollins was the one who stole the list and stated that Owens and Stephanie’s names were both on the list. Rollins stated Jericho could have his list back as Seth had one of his own, the list of what would never be the same for Kevin Owens again. Strong opening segment that had comedy from Owens and Jericho, along with Rollins reminding us what matches inside hell in a cell are supposed to be about. Owens continuously referring to “Jericho’s stupid list” is also fantastic as it keeps some seriousness with Owens character.
New Day vs. Sheamus & Cesaro: I wasn’t upset when this was announced last week as I figured we would have Xavier tagging with Big E or Kofi here. However I can not see them having Woods in the title match on Sunday, so I must ask why are they giving away the exact same match that is on PPV, on free TV. The match itself was a good one and hopefully just a teaser of a longer match on Sunday. With Cesaro & Sheamus picking up the clean win, I would say we have all the proof we need the New Day will keep rolling. Then it doesn’t look like they will defend at Survivor Series, so they should have the record in the bag.
Stupid Idiot: Jericho was looking for his list in the locker room, where Rollins told Stephanie he left it when he came across Jinder Mahal. Mahal told Jericho that he would teach him a breathing activity to help find the list. Jericho said “stupid idiot” to the beats of Mahal’s breaths. That describes Mahal’s gimmick and whoever asked for it perfectly.
Page Four: Jericho finally found his list, in the hands of Braun Strowman. Two of my Raw favorites; well one legitimately and my biggest Raw guilty pleasure. Strowman noted that he didn’t see Sami Zayn’s name on the list, Jericho shouting that it’s on page four was a good call back as we know Sami is on the list.
See You In Hell: I have read a lot of negative opinions on this segment, but I loved it. Charlotte has had some poor promos this year and her timing is not always the greatest but she stepped up here for the most part. She played her character to a tee, not caring what it would take to get back her title. However, I would have liked for her to show a little more fear or hesitation once Mick started his tangent. Foley’s part of the segment was really what put it over the top for me. Foley felt like both ladies were dismissing just how huge this was and how devastating it could be for their careers. Foley sounded like a concerned father for both ladies here and it brought me back to the Foley of old. I know the concern a lot of people had was that he took away from the ladies as the crowd was chanting his name, but for me the segment as a whole was a winner and added to my anticipation for this one. If people actually had to still buy PPVs, I would say this would have sold a few more people.
puRgatoRy:
Enzo Amore vs. Karl Anderson: Both of these teams are kinda just floating around out there at this point. Anderson & Gallows have to be candidates for the most misused guys since the brand extension with all their losses to The New Day. Enzo & Cass being able to still get their shtick off with the crowd louder than ever once Anderson & Gallows had their mics shut off was the highlight of the entire segment. I do think that these two teams should be able to put together a solid tag match this Sunday and hope Enzo/Cass get the win as Anderson/Gallows feel so dead to me.
Bo Dallas vs. Curtis Axel: God bless this crowd and Curtis Axel’s promo, those are the only things keeping this out of the wrong. Bo Dallas is booty. Axel’s promo before the match was fantastic and a great reminder of his time on NXT, along with his Tyson Kidd feud. If they are going to push an irrelevant mid-card guy down our throats it should be Axel instead of Bo, Young or Titus.
Roman & Rusev… TALK: Both men had brief pre-recorded comments Neither man said anything of note or entertaining.
Brian Kendrick vs. Rich Swann: Really I would classify the entire cruiserweight division in purgatory thus far. Maybe my expectations were to high after the amazing CWC, but it has been hard to get into the division on Raw. The fans got behind Swann tonight, which has been one of the bigger reactions anyone from the division has received on Raw because they have not been given a reason to care. Kendrick losing here makes me think that he will take the belt at Hell in a Cell, or he is going to lose and fade off. The segment a little later on with Kendrick asking TJP to let Brian win was intriguing, I will be interested to see if he continues the character work on Sunday.
BRAUN: As I stated earlier I have loved Braun Strowman on Raw, his squash matches have been hugely entertaining to me. Finally it looks as though Braun has a feud with Sami after last week. I figured the match wouldn’t actually take place on Raw, that way the match could be booked for Hell in a Cell. Nothing wrong with this segment, I am really interested to see what Sami can get out of Braun.
THE wRong:
Arm Wrestling: I groaned as Bayley made her way to the ring for what looked to be a rematch of last weeks awful contest between Bayley and Dana Brooke. I think I groaned more when Brooke announced it was an arm wrestling match. The fans chanted “we want wrestling” and “boring”. I agree. I won’t call it a complete waste of Bayley, as at least she is on TV (hello Tyler Breeze); however it was a complete waste of time.
Faded Stars: Man the second hour really struggled to find any momentum. The six-man tag between the Shining Stars & Titus vs. Golden Truth & Henry last week was pretty bad, but this was even worse. Shining Stars gimmick is terrible, as is that of Titus. O’Neil’s fall after the shove from Henry looked like something out of a Tyler Perry Madea movie with his terrible acting.
Triple Threat: When this match started at 11:01 ET my expectations were pretty low on the match getting any time, however they really used that over run. The match was the handicap match that Rollins had feared but it stayed entertaining. I would have honestly preferred to get this match inside the cell, but know that Rollins vs. Owens will equally deliver. This was a case of booking themselves into a corner though. Do you have Rollins pin Jericho for the third (or fourth?) week in a row? Do you have Rollins pin Owens before their title match? Do you have Rollins eat the pinfall six days away from his title match? Well they ended up going with option A and B, and it came across as a total fluke but still the champ was just pinned 6 days before the title match. At the same time Owens was just pinned by his future challenger in a handicap match. The best booking would have been to have the two men take Rollins out and have Jericho lay down for Owens to win. After that the same beat down that Owens delivered to Rollins post match could have taken place.
THE Ridiculous:
Brock ta— shows up: This was the exact opposite of last week’s Goldberg segment. Last week I was somewhat dreading the return of Goldberg, more because of my disdain for the match happening. However Goldberg knocked it out of the park. This segment was a big swing and a miss that apparently had Mr. McMahon very upset. Did Vince & company seriously think that bringing Brock Lesnar out in his hometown would be a way to get him heel heat? This segment felt incomplete when watching, and reading the headline of McMahon pulling the plug halfway through explained that. A waste of time and I really have no idea what Goldberg has to respond to next week.
