Csonka’s WWE Raw Review 12.10.18

Csonka’s WWE Raw Review 12.10.18

OFFICIAL RESULTS
– Raw Tag Title Handicap Match: Roode & Gable defeated Champions AOP & Maverick @ 8:30 via pin [**]
– Drew McIntyre defeated Dolph Ziggler @ 7:50 via pin [**¾]
– Bayley defeated Alicia Fox @ 3:45 via pin [*]
– Lio Rush defeated Elias @ 4:10 via pin [DUD]
– Ember Moon defeated Tamina @ 4:50 via pin [*]
– TLC IC Title Match: Champion Seth Rollins defeated Baron Corbin @ 24:35 [**¾]

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– You can check out my top 32 matches of NOVEMBER list at this link.

Hey Santa, Buddy here. I know Christmas is really all about the kids, but I have a request for you on behalf of the children; I need you to get rid of cancer for Christmas. WWE Monday Night Raw is so bad it’s causing the children of the world cancer at an exponential rate. If you could somehow stop the old man and his bucky beaver mother fucker of a director and put some people in charge who know how to run a wrestling show, the children, who want to stay cancer free, would really appreciate it.

Seth Rollins Talks The State of Raw: Rollins hypes this weekend’s TLC match against Ambrose, but is also here to spit some truth. He invites Baron Corbin to the ring. Corbin says they should be doing this in private, and kisses Rollins’ ass a bit. Rollins tells him to hut up and listen. Rollins says under Corbin’s leadership, Raw has sucked because Corbin has made the show all about him. Corbin says he’s allowing him to vent but that Rollins needs to watch his tone. Rollins praises the roster and the fact that Corbin has no idea what to do with them. Rollins cites the case of the Revival being buried in Lucha House Party matches. He also brings up the horrible PISSING segments. Rollins then runs down Brock for never being here, and hasn’t had a Raw match since 2002. Rollins says fan & roster support, morale, and ratings are at an all time low due to Corbin. Corbin says he doesn’t care, because this is his show, and threatens to make things worse. He will win at TLC, become permanent GM, and then put Rollins through hell. Rollins challenges Corbin to a match right here and now…a TLC match. Corbin refuses. Rollins calls him a coward repeatedly. Corbin finally accepts and it will be for the IC Title. I’m not a fan of them running a TLC match on Raw ahead of the PPV, but I thoroughly enjoyed Rollins burying Corbin here, but it also felt really WCW in the final days. It was Vince scripting a segment blaming himself on how bad ratings have gotten and using Corbin as his surrogate. It’s entertaining on one level, but you really shouldn’t tell your audience the show sucks, no matter how truthful it is.

– Rollins is interviewed backstage. It may not be a smart decision, but he has to be a leader and take a stand.

Roode & Gable vs. AOP & Maverick: Roode & Gable have matching robes now. They attack Gable right away, who is wearing trunk now. AOP work quick tags, but Roode and Gable clear out AOP and attack Maverick. They then toss Maverick over the top and onto AOP. Post break, and AOP is back in control, working over Gable. Maverick slaps Gable around, tags out and Rezar and Akem pummel Gable. Gable manages to make the tag, Roode runs wild and then flies into an overhead toss. Double teams follow on Roode, but Gable makes the save. They hit the super collider, and the neck breaker/powerbomb follows. Maverick tags in and mocks Roode, and gets cradled for the win. Roode & Gable defeated Champions AOP & Maverick @ 8:30 via pin [**] The match was ok, but it was nice to see the babyfaces actually overcome the odds and pull off a win. Unfortunately, the AOP title run was a complete waste filled with piss jokes.

– Roode & Gable celebrate backstage.

Natalya Talks: Natalya says she usually smiles, but has to talk about Ruby Riott. She loves this business and WWE, but Ruby has no respect at all. Ruby made this personal and tried to destroy her father’s legacy. Natalya says she had to fight for everything, brings up the Montreal screw job, and is proud to be a Hart and represent her family. At TLC she will teach Ruby about respect and is dedicating her match Sunday to her father, Jim Neidhart. She will take everything she has and drive Ruby’s ass through a table. The Riott Squad arrives with a table. Ruby mocks Natalya for crying again. Ruby says Natalya doesn’t need respect, she needs a good counselor. Natalya doesn’t represent her family, she disgraces it. Ruby reveals the table has a picture of Jim Neidhart on it. Sunday, at TLC, when she puts her through this table, Natalya and Jim will be closer than ever. They are trying to make people care about Natalya, but I’m just not feeling it at all. It really felt like they were trying too hard here.

– Balor is not here “due to injury.” His match with McIntyre is still advertised for Sunday. McIntyre says he beat Balor so bad, he’s not here tonight, and he will finish the job on Sunday.

Drew McIntyre vs. Dolph Ziggler: This is a rematch from last week, where Dolph won. Dolph attacks at the bell, but McIntyre quickly cuts him off and hits a huge overhead toss for 2. Post break, and McIntyre is in control as they work up top. McIntyre slaps the shit out of Dolph, and hits a super air raid crash for 2, that was a bad landing for Dolph. They work to the floor, and Dolph slams McIntyre to the apron. McIntyre beats the count in shades of last week. Dolph collapses on a superkick attempt. McIntyre talks trash, zigzag by Dolph and that gets 2. McIntyre kills Dolph with the claymore and wins. Drew McIntyre defeated Dolph Ziggler @ 7:50 via pin [**¾] It was pretty good, but played well as McIntyre won and kicked the shit out of Dolph post match to stand tall ahead of Sunday’s PPV.

– Post match, McIntyre kicks the shit out of Dolph until agents and refs make the save. McIntyre hits another claymore an sends Dolph into the LED board.

– We get highlights of Slater beating Rhyno, and that led to Rhyno being gone from Raw and Slater becoming a referee.

Bayley vs. Alicia Fox: Banks, Mahal, & The Singhs are at ringside. They lock up, work into some back and forth until Bayley hits a flying back elbow for 2. Fox cuts her off with a neck breaker and that gets 2. Fox grounds things, but Bayley escapes and hits a Saito suplex. The stunner in the ropes follows, the Singhs distract Bayley and Fox hits a big boot. Apollo arrives and Banks joins him to take out the Singhs and Mahal. Apollo then throws banks into them. Back in, Bayley to belly, and that’s that. Bayley defeated Alicia Fox @ 3:45 via pin [*] The match wasn’t much as they were focused on the stuff on the floor, because Apollo Crews is replacing Finn Balor on tomorrow’s Mixed Match Challenge, teaming with Bayley.

– Charly interviews Ambrose. Ambrose doesn’t care about Rollins, and says he called himself the architect to keep attention on himself. He says Rollins has a huge ego and always had to step on others to be the man. If Rollins is still IC champion after tonight, he’ll take it on Sunday. Ambrose is asked what Roman would think about all of this, and Ambrose says, who cares? They show footage of Ambrose turning on Rollins, the night of Reigns’ leukemia news. We also get footage of last week’ Bane impersonation. Ambrose then stands there like a goof and leaves.

– Elias is here for a special performance. He runs down Lashley and praises San Diego. Elias has a match with Lio Rush tonight and will tease him a lesson. Elias plays his song.

Elias vs. Lio Rush: Lashley is at ringside. Heath Slater is the referee. Lio tries to use his speed to begin, but Elias overpowers him and starts tossing him around. Elias now follows with chops, and whips him to the floor. Lashley gets involved, allowing Lio to attack. He runs wild with kicks, but Elias plants him with a powerbomb and Lashley hits the ring, attacks Elias and intimidates Slater. Lio grabs the guitar, gives it to Lashley and he lays out Elias. Lio covers and Lashley makes Slater count. Lio Rush defeated Elias @ 4:10 via pin [DUD] This was all about screwing Elias and playing up Slater as too scared to do his job because Lashley is pals with Corbin. It was no good.

– Corbin tells Slater he did well tonight, and has another match to ref later.

Time For Another Alexa Bliss Open Forum: Because the last two came off “so well,” we’re getting a third. Alexa arrives, followed by Jax & Tamina. Jax has a statement to make. She’s winning the title on Sunday; she mocks Ronda, and says Ronda should just give her the title to avoid the humiliation of TLC. She doesn’t talk trash; she’s a Samoan woman and Rousey’s biggest fear. This right hand is her weapon, she broke Becky’s face, and on Sunday, she’ll punch Rousey in the face and puncher over and over again until Rousey taps. She runs down Rousey’s accomplishments, but plans to win as she takes out the myth of Rousey. Ronda arrives and says she’s not here to hit poses and wants a fight. She rushes the ring, Tamina & Jax bail, but look to attack, but Ember moon arrives even the odds. At least we avoided the fan question portion. All of Jax’s talking points feel so dated and forced at this point, please don’t let her talk.

Ember Moon vs. Tamina: JIP as Moon takes control and we get a big face off on the floor. Back in and Tamina hits a superkick for 2. Tamina grounds things, but Moon picks up the pace and hits a head scissors. She follows with kicks and a flatliner for 2. Tamina cuts her off with a powerslam and covers for 2. Moon fires back with knee strikes, heads up top, and Ronda takes out Jax. Moon hits the eclipse and wins. Ember Moon defeated Tamina @ 4:50 via pin [*] It wasn’t good, Moon worked really hard and looked like she was running laps around Tamina at times. Tamina is just so bad, no flow to her work, no sense of urgency, and constant positioning issues.

– Corbin is interviewed about his main event match. He doesn’t see this as abuse of power. He just accepted a challenge and is making sure fans see him in a TLC match. Charly says there are rumors that Braun will be at TLC, which Corbin dismisses.

– Official for Sunday…

.@IAmEliasWWE collides with @fightbobby in a #LadderMatch THIS SUNDAY at #WWETLC! The first Superstar who grabs the 🎸can use it as a weapon! #RAW @itsLioRush pic.twitter.com/0DPtIqK2PQ

— WWE (@WWE) December 11, 2018

TLC IC Title Match: Champion Seth Rollins vs. Baron Corbin: In a shocking turnoff events, Corbin has named heath Slater as the referee for this match. They brawl at the bell, and Rollins dumps Corbin to the floor. Rollins follows for more brawling. Back in and Corbin cuts him off and sends Rollins back to he floor. Corbin makes Slater get a ladder, but Rollins is back and attacks Corbin. Post break, and Corbin has a chair and beats down Rollins with repeated chair shots. They spill to the floor, and Corbin maintains control by slamming Rollins to the barricade. Corbin gets a ladder, but Rollins dropkicks it into his chest. Rollins looks to use the ladder; Corbin cuts him off, and suplexes Rollins onto it. Corbin wedges a chair in the ropes, and hits a big lariat on Rollins. Rollins looks to fire up but gets duped to the floor. Corbin looks to climb for the title. Rollins flies in and stops him, hits a superkick but Corbin runs him into the ladder and dumps him. Post break, and Corbin hits deep six. Corbin lays in rights, continuing to slow the pace to a crawl. Rollins fires back, hits an enziguri, and slams Corbin into the chair that had been wedged in the corner. Rollins now follows with chair shots, Corbin powders, and Rollins follows with a suicide dive and another. Corbin cuts off the third and chokeslams Rollins through a table on the floor. Back in and Corbin starts to climb the ladder. Rollins cuts him off with chair shots, and then accidentally takes out Slater with the chair. FUCK REF BUMPS. Rollins sends Corbin to the steps, hits a superkick and lays Corbin on the table on the floor. Rollins heads up top and hits high fly flow and puts Corbin through the table. Rollins climbs the ladder, but Slater is back up and shoves the ladder over. Slater drags Corbin back in and Corbin climbs. Rollins takes out Slater, and powerbombs Corbin through a table. Superkick to Slater, black out to Corbin, and Rollins grabs the belt and retains. Champion Seth Rollins defeated Baron Corbin @ 24:35 [**¾] All praise in the world to Seth Rollins, who busted his ass for 25-minutes to try and make Baron Corbin look like a competent professional wrestler and a real threat to his championship. It really didn’t work, but Rollins put on an amazing one-man show here tonight. Thanks to Rollins, the smoke and mirrors, and the big bumps, it ended up a pretty good match. But really, with nearly 25-minutes, all the advantages, and working with Rollins, the fact that Corbin couldn’t have a very good to great match with Rollins speaks volumes. Corbin’s deficiencies as a worker were on full display here, with poor pacing when in control, bad selling, and just no sense of urgency or real aggression. Add in the cliché evil ref shit to go along with Corbin’s tired act and they are all negatives.

– Post match, Ambrose arrives, and stares down with Rollins.

– End scene.

– Thanks for reading.

~GLORIOUS~

4.0

The final score: review Poor

The 411

WWE Raw continues to be a bad to poor show and heading into a PPV, that’s not good. The shows feel lazy, repetitious, and the TLC build was ok at times, but never came across as the main point of the show, which it should have been. I keep hoping for something to change, but as they say, "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results." Never change Vince.