411’s Instant Analysis: WWE Monday Night Raw 9.08.14

Welcome to 411’s Instant Analysis of Monday Night Raw, with Daniel Wilcox.

Quick Thought: How can you have a season premiere for a television show that has run over 20 years at weekly intervals? Is this season two? I get what they’re going for, but it’s odd and annoying.

MATCH ONE: Steel Cage Match – Bray Wyatt vs. Chris Jericho
Result: Bray Wyatt def. Chris Jericho via escaping the cage @ 17:02

It’s refreshing to kick off the show with a match, and not a paint-by-numbers promo to set up the main event. My intrigue for this match comes from the fact that it’s the rubber match, and yet we know Jericho’s current run is up at Night of Champions. So does the feud end here, and both guys get put into new programs in time for the upcoming pay-per-view, or do we get a non-finish here and a blow off at Night of Champions? Furthermore, I want to see if they can have the next-level mach they should be capable of. Modern cage matches can be a difficult stipulation to get right, and in all fairness I hated parts of this. They hate each other, so naturally they try to run away from one another early and often. Wyatt literally ran for the door at one point – this isn’t necessarily annoying because it makes him look weak, but it’s totally out of character and doesn’t fit the feud. They worked through a commercial, then picked up the pace somewhat and went to the near falls/false finishes sequences. Jericho had the match won via escape, the Wyatt Family blocked his path so Jericho wiped out Wyatt from the top of the cage in what looked like a nasty landing for both. Jericho sold a near injury that would prevent him from escaping. They brawled at the door, Wyatt used the leg injury to crawl out first and get the win. So Wyatt gets the not-quite-clean win and puts a beating on Jericho post-match, so presumably, we go to a final match at the pay-per-view. The match got time, it really picked up after the commercial, the crowd was into it and it furthers an angle, so there’s very little to complain about here.

Rating: 8.0

SEGMENT: Dolph Ziggler Gets Some Promo Time
Secondary champions getting more mic time is something I’ll always approve of. Ziggler’s delivery was competent. And that’s about the only positives I can give about this. We got typical lowbrow WWE comedy, playing off of last week’s hacking scandal. That’s a serious issue, and not one WWE should be using as a crux to generate heat for a feud, particular when the so-called face is clearly in the wrong here. The worst part of it all though? It just wasn’t funny. I look forward to another match between these two, and I’m happy that they weren’t just thrown into a random tag match again this week, but this could have been so much better had they focused on what they’re actually fighting for… the prestigious Intercontinental Championship. Good job on saving the action between these two for the pay-per-view though.

Rating: 5.5

MATCH TWO: Natalya & Rosa Mendes vs. AJ Lee and Paige
Result: AJ Lee submitted Rosa Mendes @ 2:35

The commentary team spent as much time talking about Total Divas as they did the upcoming women’s title match. The story here was that Paige didn’t want to tag AJ Lee in, and then Rosa didn’t want to tag out either, because she has something to prove. That’s a fair story to tell but you need enough time to be able to tell those stories. You can’t promote your reality show, plug the Divas Championship match, put over the in-ring action and the stories of the two pairs of partners in three minutes. Eventually Lee tagged herself in and beat Rosa easy. The work here was fine, but very unspectacular. The mannerisms of the champion and her challenger are great, and they have chemistry so it’s fun to watch. I’d just like to see them get more ring time. For the short time she was in the ring, Natalya looked really crisp too.

Rating: 6.5

Quick Thought: Randy Orton attacking Chris Jericho in the backstage area muddies the waters for Night of Champions even more as we seem to be heading towards Orton/Jericho now. Or will we end up with Reigns/Orton/Jericho/Wyatt?

SEGMENT: Eat. Sleep. Be John Cena. Repeat.
Paul Heyman has the unfortunate problem of being so good on the mic that if he cuts a promo every week, he loses his impact. John Cena was good in his role here, he included some humour in his own promo but kept it subtle, and that helped. Heyman toed the line of a worked shoot when talking about Cena’s character and then Heyman goaded Cena, trying to provoke that little-seen side of Cena. Heyman really turned it on here and summed up what so many online commentators dislike about Cena, but did so in a way that those detractors could never verbalise and did it in a way that made Heyman out to be the asshole. Cena’s rebuttal was fantastic, it was one of John Cena’s best promos in years. When Cena is on, he’s on, and to get Cena at his best sharing the mic with a guy as good as Heyman was an absolute joy. This sold me on the title match at Night of Champion, and gave people a reason to look forward to next week.

Rating: 9.5

MATCH THREE: Sheamus vs. Seth Rollins
Result: Seth Rollins def. Sheamus via pinfall @ 9:15

This is a match that should have been advertised in advance, because it’s relatively fresh, and it had a ton of potential. The commercial really cut the match off at the legs though. They got plenty of action in, but the finish left something to be desired. Seeing guys lose due to a distraction is something WWE does too often, and it’s especially infuriating considering Sheamus is a reigning champion and Rollins isn’t yet booked for the pay-per-view. A non-finish would have been more satisfactory here. That said, we put a spotlight on another mid-card feud, and the in-ring action was good stuff so the overall rating has to fall somewhere in the middle.

Rating: 6.5

SEGMENT: Rusev and Lana Mock the National Anthem
This was every Lana promo you’ve ever heard. It did it’s job though, in that it generated heel heat for Rusev. Thankfully it was quick and relatively painless. Jerry Lawler sitting on the floor while the Russian anthem played was the best part. At first I just thought he fell out of his chair.

Rating: 5.0

MATCH FOUR: Adrian Neville and Sami Zayn vs. Tyler Breeze and Tyson Kidd
Result: Adrain Neville pinned Tyler Breeze @ 4:58

I absolutely love that these guys are getting this exposure. And I know we hate the “season premier” moniker for this show, but this type of thing makes such a tag work, to an extent. Sure, it would be nice if they’d have gotten more time and maybe even full entrances, but we’ll take what we can get. Subtle things like tweaking the lighting and the stage set up made this feel different from what you usually see on Raw, and those touches are greatly appreciated. For three of these guys, this was their biggest exposure to date, but it didn’t show. The in-ring work was exactly what you’d expect it to be. The fans weren’t sure how to react to most of it, but Neville got them into his offence. The champion got the most spotlight, and the pinfall, so there’s little to complain about here. WWE should do this type of thing more often.

Rating: 8.0

SEGMENT: Jerry Springer’s Bella Intervention
Man, I just don’t even know where the hell to start with this. I’ve enjoyed the majority of the Stephanie/Brie/Nikki saga for the past couple of months, even if some of it has been in quite a morbid way. But this was just…. I don’t even know, I have no words. The Bellas’ dad was hilarious. JJ Bella was hilariously bad. The brawl, and Jerry getting his ass handed to him, was awful. Jason getting beaten to the punch by the WWE referees was ridiculous. SpringER doing the stretcher job was amazing. I don’t how long this went on for, but it seemed to last a good while. The best thing I can say is that I laughed out loud on a couple of occasions, I just have no idea if that was the intention or not.

Rating: I’ve no idea, at all.

MATCH FIVE: Goldust and Stardust vs. Los Matadores
Result: Stardust def. A Matador via pinfall @ 2:10

After the Wyatt Family strangely failed to dethrone the Usos, the tag division needed some heels for the champs to work with, but I’m not sure anybody really wants to boo Goldust and Stardust. Putting them in there against a team no one really cares about does not help matters either. The Dust Brothers even worked from the traditional face corner of the ring. The Matadores got the majority of the offence but took the inevitable loss in short time, which was obviously the right outcome. Dark Matter is a pretty nifty finish. The Usos’ post-match attack from behind blurs the lines of heels and faces a little more, but I like both teams and I dig the feud, and I expect good things from their match at Night of Champions. This accomplished everything it needed to.

Rating: 6.5

Quick Thought: The Joan Rivers tribute was a touching, classy move on WWE’s part and there’s absolutely nothing negative to say about it.

MATCH SIX: Titus O’Neil vs. Adam Rose
Result: Adam Rose def. Titus O’Neill via pinfall @ 1:21

I’m fairly sure we saw this last week. Heath Slater is the most underutilized talent on the roster. He’s the Rockstar Spud of WWE. The rabbit got involved again, and hit a pretty good super-kick to take out Slater, and we got post-match shenanigans. This does nothing for anyone involved, and having a segment like this immediately after another 2-minute match kills the pacing of the show, again, and it always happens in the third hour. Literally nothing to see here. The rating would be lower, but it only took up a couple of minutes, and I like Heath Slater.

Rating: 4.0

Quick Thought: WWE production is fantastic. A solitary vignette on Brock Lesnar can sell you on a title match as quickly as weeks of meaningless matches could.

MATCH SEVEN: Randy Orton vs. Roman Reigns
Result: Due to interference, match went to a no-contest @ 21:15

After a chore of an hour, this match could decide whether this will be remembered as a great Raw or an average one. Orton and Reigns had a decent if uninspired match at Summerslam, but it was clear they would be afforded plenty of time to have a top bout here. These guys got plenty of time as they went through two commercial breaks, but they never really went out of second gear until the closing moments. Reigns seemed to have the crowd support behind him here but the jury is still out as to whether he can truly step up to that next level, particularly where his in-ring presence is concerned. At the end of the day though, he went 20-minutes in a one-on-one match and kept the crowd involved, and they may be all that counts in the end. We got the no-contest finish and lowering of the cage as Orton’s plan came to fruition, except he didn’t account for Roman’s comeback. Seth Rollins did a Chris Jericho, which would have been more impactful had Jericho not done the same spot at the top of the night. The beat down ensured, and the fans were waiting for an Ambrose or Jericho save, which never came, and it was good to see the heels get some momentum for once. And of course, this feud must continue. A lengthy main event of good quality, with a satisfactory beat down with dominant heels. Lots to like here.

Rating: 8.0

FINAL THOUGHTS: The show opened strong with the Jericho/Wyatt cage match, we had a couple of OK segments and then the show peaked with the Cena/Heyman interaction. As per usual, there were some booking issues with predictable finishes and the like, but the in-ring action was generally pretty solid. All of the mid-card feuds got a decent amount of spotlight and they continue to build to the Night of Champions pay-per-view without giving too much away. I do feel like Orton/Rollins/Reigns/Jericho/Wyatt should have a match set up for Night of Champions by now, but I’m sure we’ll get something. The second hour wasn’t as strong as the first but did feature good action with Rollins/Sheamus and the NXT stars. You will have either loved or hated the Bella segment, personally I found it perversely entertaining. The show hit the usual pacing issues in the third hour with some short, meaningless matches that should have been spread out throughout the show. The main event featured good in-ring action, got plenty of time and really no one can have any complaints about it. The stuff that needed to deliver did so, and the bad stuff was kept to a minimum, so all in all it’s a fairly easy thumbs up for this show.

Go out of your way to see Wyatt/Jericho, the Cena/Heyman promo, the NXT tag match and the main event. Don’t forget Jerry Spring and the Bellas if you’re into car-crash TV.

FINAL RATING: 7.5

Thanks for reading.