BRM Reviews the 10/19/2015 Raw

[Big Red Machine]

STEVE AUSTIN SHOWS UP- And that is the biggest pop I’ve heard anywhere in wrestling in quite a long time.
Now he’s bringing out THE UNDERTAKER (who I just remembered is facing Brock on PPV in Hell in a Cell this Sunday. They have done a pretty poor job of building that match up). Speaking of, Brock and Heyman showed up and Heyman cut a promo. Then Taker said he wanted to fight. Brock seemed willing to fight, but then wasn’t, which made him look the heel. One lone idiot in the crowd chanted “ECW!” at this.

Cena will be doing an Open Challenge at the PPV. Way to build up a challenger there, WWE!
If I had to guess, I’d figure the reason they are doing it like this is because they haven’t figured out who the challenge will be yet. That being said, I do like the idea that Cena actually will lose the belt in one of these things

JOHN CENA & THE DUDLEYS vs. THE NEW DAY- 4.5/10
New Day cut a fun pre-match promo in which, among other things, they claimed to be unicorns. JBL said that Big E. was the biggest unicorn he had ever seen, and I was AMAZED that none of the announcers went on to kill that joke.
The match was a lot short than I was expecting. The babyface challengers were pinned cleanly by the heel champions, but then the babyfaces were sore losers and attacked the heels from behind like cowards and then put poor Xavier through a table. That was f*cking terrible. Then, to make it worse, Byron Saxton declared that putting Xavier through a table meant that the Dudleys were ready for their tag title match on the PPV on Sunday… which is a regular match.

DEAN NEEDS A NEW PARTNER- apparently Orton got taken out by the Wyatts (off-screen) so Dean will need a new tag partner. They show us a shot of Dean with Fit Finlay, Dean Malenko, and a referee. I assume that they were explaining the situation to Dean, but as there was no sound, I will instead pretend that Dean was asking Finlay to be his partner because that would be TOTALLY F*CKING AWESOME.

RENEE YOUNG INTERVIEWS DEAN- he says he is going to fight the Wyatts tonight.

NIKKI BELLA & ALICIA FOX (w/Brie Bella) vs. SASHA BANKS & NAOMI (w/Tamina)- 4.25/10

CORPORATE KANE IS SUSPENDED FOR TONIGHT- this seems like the sort of thing you should let us know at the top of the hour. Also, it’s nice to see someone actually get punished for once.
HBK & SETH ROLLINS SEGMENT- bad.
Pretty darn big pop for HBK, as expected. He starts off by plugging the two Hell in a Cell matches at the PPV, and because he started it off being goofy late 2000’s HBK, his hype just didn’t feel genuine. It felt like a paid spokesman who had been sent out there to plug someone else’s matches.
Rollins showed up and said that HBK was supposed to introduce him. Shawn says he never does what he is told, and does so in the most annoying way possible, which made him see a dick in his banter with Seth. Goofy Shawn just doesn’t work.
They then ended the segment by making Seth look like a geek. Also, apparently Hunter did not tell Seth about his match with Ryback which is scheduled for right now… but he did tell HBK about the match. Care to explain how that makes any sense?

SETH ROLLINS vs. RYBACK- 5.75/10
Seth worked the ribs, Ryback worked the back. The match was fine, except for the fact that it never should have happened because it meant they either had to beat the world champion or the guy getting an IC Title shot on PPV in six days (for those wondering, Seth won clean).

SUMMER/DOLPH/RUSEV STUFF- Apparently on Smackdown, WWE decided to, for no reason whatsoever, book a match where the referee was completely biased against one competitor. Unsurprisingly, Summer was not impartial and cost Rusev the match. Michael Cole glorified these actions.

DOLPH ZIGGLER, CESARO, & NEVILLE vs. SHEAMUS, WADE BARRETT, & RUSEV- 7/10
The naïve, crazy, optimistic voice that occasionally pops into my head is back, and this time it’s whispering “maybe the reason Cena & Dudley vs. New Day went so short was to save time for these guys to go 20-30.”
Well… the match didn’t go as long as I would have liked, but it was still pretty great.

RIC FLAIR SEGMENT-
We didn’t get to see Flair do his entrance because apparently it was just that darn important to plug that fact that Dolph and Summer will be on Miz TV on this week’s Smackdown.
Apparently all Ric was out here to do was to tell us that Dean will team with Roman Reigns tonight. That’s a f*cking waste of Flair if ever I‘ve seen one.
So Roman comes out. Then the Wyatts teleport to ringside, and when I say “the Wyatts” I mean Bray, Strowman… and Erick Rowan. No one is surprised by the fact that Eric Rowan was back with the Wyatt Family while Luke Harper was nowhere to be seen.
Roman says he is “calling Bray out” in order to have a sit-down discussion with him. Riveting stuff.
Now Roman is explaining to us that Bray is a bully. He attempts to psychoanalyze Bray, saying that Bray has large friends because he is afraid to be alone. This is SOOOO boring.
Now, just a few moments after calling Bray a bully, Roman starts to poke Bray in the chest, and when Bray dares to respond by attempting to get up from his chair, Roman sucker-punches him… and this is just mere minutes after telling Bray “I won’t stat anything if you don’t start anything.” What an asshole!
In Erick Rowan’s big return to the Wyatt Family, he is immediately hit with a chair and gets no offense in whatsoever. Roman beats the Wyatts up with a chair. The Wyatts regroup, but Dean comes out and the Wyatts run away.

THE AUTHORITY & HBK BACKSTAGE- Hunter and Steph have decided that apparently the PRE-SHOW match for the PPV (Dean & Orton vs. Wyatts) is too big to jeopardize by allowing Dean to compete in a handicap match tonight. So does that mean they are certain Orton will be back by the PPV? Or just a ridiculous plot-hole? Shawn goads Seth into teaming with Dean and Roman tonight against the Wyatt Family. So yes… we’re getting a Shield reunion.
Everyone got their underpants changed?
Okay. Time to continue the review.

CHARLOTTE (w/Becky Lynch) vs. BRIE BELLA (w/Nikki Bella & Alicia Fox)- 4.75/10
Ric Flair is in the building, but he isn’t going to be at ringside for his daughter’s match?

RENEE YOUNG INTERVIEWS PAIGE- eh.
Renee’s evidence for why Paige MUST have been the one to attack Nattie is that they were seen together AN HOUR before the attack. Also, if Nattie got carried out on a stretcher, maybe a replay would help hammer this whole thing home more? Just saying.
I laughed at Paige’s rant that it could have been, among others, Kaitlyn, behind the attack.

KEVIN OWENS vs. MARK HENRY- 3.75/10
Owen bumped around for Henry a bit, but then hit Mark with the pop-up powerbomb for the win. Props to Cole for point out that if Owens can get henry up for the pop-up powerbomb, then he can definitely do so to Ryback.
POST-MATCH SEGMENT- bad.
Ryback showed up. Owens tried to run, but Mark Henry stopped him (not selling the pop-up powerbomb anymore) and then Ryback hit Owens with a powerbomb of his own. This was just babyfaces beating up a heel for no reason.

RENEE YOUNG INTERVIEWS SETH- decent.

At the PPV they are giving us a rematch of the same six-man tag we just saw with a clean finish tonight. So why go to a clean finish tonight?

THE SHIELD vs. THE WYATT FAMILY- 7.25/10
Cole brings up the fact that Randy Orton isn’t here tonight… and Luke Harper also isn’t here tonight. He asks if we think there is any correlation between them. So… does Cole think that Harper and Orton ran off together to elope or something?
Seth abandons Dean and Roman. The Wyatts win by DQ when Dean saves Roman from Strowman’s finisher by hitting Strowman with a Kendo stick. The segment ended with Dean and Roman standing tall after spearing both Bray and Roman.

A much less infuriating Raw than usual, but not very effective as a go-home show.

[badnewzxl]

When did Rowan come back?

[Big Red Machine]

When did Rowan come back?

This show. With no mention at all of the fact that he'd been off TV, or that he and Bray had been on the outs when last we saw them together.

[cero2k]

Cena will be doing an Open Challenge at the PPV. Way to build up a challenger there, WWE!
If I had to guess, I’d figure the reason they are doing it like this is because they haven’t figured out who the challenge will be yet. That being said, I do like the idea that Cena actually will lose the belt in one of these things
i miss the days when titles would change on random RAWs, i was really hoping that they would just do Ziggler/Cena at HIAC and the have Cena lose it on monday or something. Having said that, i have a feeling Prince Pretty takes the title this sunday

DOLPH ZIGGLER, CESARO, & NEVILLE vs. SHEAMUS, WADE BARRETT, & RUSEV- 7/10
The naïve, crazy, optimistic voice that occasionally pops into my head is back, and this time it’s whispering “maybe the reason Cena & Dudley vs. New Day went so short was to save time for these guys to go 20-30.”
Well… the match didn’t go as long as I would have liked, but it was still pretty great.
they may be jobbers, but i finally got my all-european stable

RIC FLAIR SEGMENT-
We didn’t get to see Flair do his entrance because apparently it was just that darn important to plug that fact that Dolph and Summer will be on Miz TV on this week’s Smackdown.
Apparently all Ric was out here to do was to tell us that Dean will team with Roman Reigns tonight. That’s a f*cking waste of Flair if ever I‘ve seen one.
Flair, and Austin, and even HBK, and Lesnar, and Taker. every legend was a waste of money for this show

[Big Red Machine]

Cena will be doing an Open Challenge at the PPV. Way to build up a challenger there, WWE!
If I had to guess, I’d figure the reason they are doing it like this is because they haven’t figured out who the challenge will be yet. That being said, I do like the idea that Cena actually will lose the belt in one of these things
i miss the days when titles would change on random RAWs, i was really hoping that they would just do Ziggler/Cena at HIAC and the have Cena lose it on monday or something.
That would really be the ideal way to do this change, as it would both show that someone actually did take advantage of this opportunity and that putting the title on the line every week actually did cost Cena in the end.
You also bring up a good point about the lack of unpredictability of finishes, and it's not just in title matches. We know that 99 times out of 100, Cena and Roman aren't doing jobs, and we know that certain guys almost certainly are. It would help a lot if they started booking more big tag matches, as you get to give a bunch of different guys the main event positioning, but only one guy actually has to do the job (and you get four guys celebrating the win). We might know that Cena and Roman aren't doing the jobs, but that doesn't mean that a team of Cena, Roman, Dean, Cesaro, and Kidd will necessarily win their match.
Having said that, i have a feeling Prince Pretty takes the title this sunday
I don't think he's winning the belt, but he's a good bet as a challenger if they go your route and have Dolph win it on Monday

DOLPH ZIGGLER, CESARO, & NEVILLE vs. SHEAMUS, WADE BARRETT, & RUSEV- 7/10
The naïve, crazy, optimistic voice that occasionally pops into my head is back, and this time it’s whispering “maybe the reason Cena & Dudley vs. New Day went so short was to save time for these guys to go 20-30.”
Well… the match didn’t go as long as I would have liked, but it was still pretty great.
they may be jobbers, but i finally got my all-european stable
I had Barrett & Cesaro in my on-going fantasy booking as the "European Union," so #BRMBookedItFirst.

RIC FLAIR SEGMENT-
We didn’t get to see Flair do his entrance because apparently it was just that darn important to plug that fact that Dolph and Summer will be on Miz TV on this week’s Smackdown.
Apparently all Ric was out here to do was to tell us that Dean will team with Roman Reigns tonight. That’s a f*cking waste of Flair if ever I‘ve seen one.
Flair, and Austin, and even HBK, and Lesnar, and Taker. every legend was a waste of money for this show
Except that Shawn actually wound up doing something productive, and at least with Austin it felt like he was going to start asking Taker questions or something. With Flair he just came out and said: "Here is my best buddy Roman Reigns. I am standing here, so that you won't boo him."

[badnewzxl]

I know Breeze is slated to join the main roster, but I'm holding out hope that Sami Zayn answers the open challenge instead and takes the title. He's healthy again, right?

[Big Red Machine]

I know Breeze is slated to join the main roster, but I'm holding out hope that Sami Zayn answers the open challenge instead and takes the title. He's healthy again, right?

I don't think so. I thought he was supposed to be ready to go again in January (although I might be confusing him with KENTA).

[cero2k]

I know Breeze is slated to join the main roster, but I'm holding out hope that Sami Zayn answers the open challenge instead and takes the title. He's healthy again, right?

I don't think so. I thought he was supposed to be ready to go again in January (although I might be confusing him with KENTA).

Kenta should be ready to come back now i think, Zayn was supposed to be ready for Jan since everyone wants him to return at the Rumble