BRM Reviews the (11/9/2015) Raw

[Big Red Machine]

HUNTER CALLS OUT ROMAN REIGNS AND TALKS ABOUT THE TOURNAMENT TO CROWN A NEW CHAMPION BECAUSE SETH GOT HURT- Seeing as how Roman is already the #1 contender, Hunter offers him a bye into the finals in exchange for joining the Authority, but Roman, like a good babyface, turns him down. This was completely and totally awesome (aside from Hunter botching the pronunciation of the word “monument.”

WORLD TITLE TOURNAMENT FIRST-ROUND MATCH: Roman Reigns vs. Big Show- 7/10
Great match! I really like Big Show as the choice for Roman’s opponent because he is emblematic of the extremely tough road Roman has chosen to take, and the huge obstacles that await him. The only change I would make is that I would have had this go at least twenty minutes just to press how grueling it will be for Roman.

We now get out first look at the brackets for the tournament, and oh boy do I have some things to say, but I’ll spare you all the ranting here and instead rant on things as they come up over the course of this show and Smackdown.

They actually used a video package that included a replay of those cheesy effects from last week’s Bray Wyatt promo abomination.

WORLD TITLE TOURNAMENT FIRST-ROUND MATCH: Kevin Owens vs. Titus O’Neil- 3.25/10
Allow me to say this as politely as a possibly can: HOW THE F*CK DID TITUS O’NEIL wind up in a tournament for the world title?! HE HASN’T EVEN WON A SINGLES MATCH IN FOUR MONTHS! He hasn’t won a match of ANY sort (and this includes house shows) in over a month… and that win was on Superstars. He hasn’t won a match on a show that matters even one iota since the beginning of September!
Kevin Owens cut a great promo on his way down to the ring. Apparently he’s not a fan of monarchy.

RENEE YOUNG INTERVIEWS PAIGE- fantastic! Almost as fantastic as Renee’s reaction to it.

Another video package with those cheesy lighting effects. Also, I hope they realize that every time they say the phrase “consume their souls,” everyone watching rolls their eyes. And not in the cool way like Undertaker. In the “that is SO f*cking lame!” way.

BECKY LYNCH vs. PAIGE- 5/10
Thunderous pop for Paige. And of course with Paige being the #1 contender, they beat her clean in her home country. That was stupid.
Paige attacks Becky after the match and gives her the PTO until Charlotte comes out to make the save. Charlotte got a much bigger pop than I was expecting, considering that she is the one standing between the hometown hero and the championship.

WORLD TITLE TOURNAMENT FIRST-ROUND MATCH: Dolph Ziggler vs. The Miz- 5/10
Short, but GREAT while it lasted.

ZEB & DEL RIO PROMO- Wow. Zeb knows how to push the English’s buttons. And he pulled out some Andy Kaufman stuff, too.
JBL claims that millions of people have applied for citizenship of Meximerica. Does he realize how f*cking stupid he sounds when he says this?
Del Rio will compete in his tournament match on Smackdown.

NATALYA vs. NOAMI (w/Team B.A.D.)- 1/10
Extremely short. Nattie gets beaten up after the match.

WORLD TITLE TOURNAMENT FIRST-ROUND MATCH: Antonio Cesaro vs. Sheamus (w/Wade Barrett)- 7.25/10
Why is Wade out here with Sheamus? Don’t they realize that all this will do is make the British fans more likely to cheer Sheamus? Never mind. Cesaro got the second-biggest pop of the night so far.
HOLY F*CK CESARO WON! (he’s wrestling Roman next week, but this is farther than I expected him to get.

RENEE YOUNG INTERVIEWS TYLER BREEZE & SUMMER RAE- great!

WORLD TITLE TOURNAMENT FIRST-ROUND MATCH: Dean Ambrose vs. Tyler Breeze (w/Summer Rae)- 6.25/10
A fun match, but Breeze losing in his first match was such a stupid idea, especially when the winner would go on to face Ziggler, who Breeze is feuding with.

NEW DAY PROMO- boring

THE NEW DAY vs. NEVILLE & THE USOS- 5/10
The Usos return in the main event of last week’s Raw was so unimportant that it was not mentioned until now, over two and a half hours into the show. I had completely forgotten that it happened.
I laughed when JBL referred to the New Day as the “Gleebirds.” I shuddered when Byrox Saxton uttered the word “jiggle-fest.”
And they jobbed Neville out in his home country, too.

BRAY WYATT PROMO- boring, but at least it was kind of short. Them Kane and Taker chose to make a statement to Bray by taking over the TitanTron and showing clips. That’s… kind of lame for the Brothers of Destruction. Then special effects of fire and better lightning than last week happened. I laughed my ass off at one of the turnbuckle pyros flaming out early.
Then Kane and Taker actually showed up and I got excited!
They get into the ring, and it turns out that the reason Bray’s henchmen weren’t out here with him like they usually are was so that they could magically appear when they were needed. I love Kane and I love Taker and I love them teaming together, but I REALLY wish this feud wasn’t happening.
Kane and Taker beat up Bray, Harper and Rowan while Strowman just stands there. Even when Kane and Taker both have their back turned to him and are about to chokeslam his buddies, Strowman doesn’t move an inch, despite being at most two feet away from Kane and Taker. Kane and Taker eventually become the first people to knock Strowman off of his feet by tossing him over the announce table. Then they give Bray and double chokeslam and now that they’ve had their revenge, I guess the feud is over.

A good show from WWE.

[cero2k]

WORLD TITLE TOURNAMENT FIRST-ROUND MATCH: Roman Reigns vs. Big Show- 7/10
Great match! I really like Big Show as the choice for Roman’s opponent because he is emblematic of the extremely tough road Roman has chosen to take, and the huge obstacles that await him. The only change I would make is that I would have had this go at least twenty minutes just to press how grueling it will be for Roman.
another 'make Roman look strong' run. one was enough for me

We now get out first look at the brackets for the tournament, and oh boy do I have some things to say, but I’ll spare you all the ranting here and instead rant on things as they come up over the course of this show and Smackdown.
i'm not gonna wait. I hate this tournament. One one side, you only have Roman as credible winner, and the othee side has two perfectly good guys to lose to Roman. O'Neil, Breeze, Miz, Kalisto, Neville, Stardust, Barrett, none of them deserve to be there. Granted there aren't many other options, but even Big, Kofi, and a returning Sandow would be 100% better options

BECKY LYNCH vs. PAIGE- 5/10
Thunderous pop for Paige. And of course with Paige being the #1 contender, they beat her clean in her home country. That was stupid.
Paige attacks Becky after the match and gives her the PTO until Charlotte comes out to make the save. Charlotte got a much bigger pop than I was expecting, considering that she is the one standing between the hometown hero and the championship.
WON is reporting something completely different about crowd reaction

[Big Red Machine]

WORLD TITLE TOURNAMENT FIRST-ROUND MATCH: Roman Reigns vs. Big Show- 7/10
Great match! I really like Big Show as the choice for Roman’s opponent because he is emblematic of the extremely tough road Roman has chosen to take, and the huge obstacles that await him. The only change I would make is that I would have had this go at least twenty minutes just to press how grueling it will be for Roman.
another 'make Roman look strong' run. one was enough for me

We now get out first look at the brackets for the tournament, and oh boy do I have some things to say, but I’ll spare you all the ranting here and instead rant on things as they come up over the course of this show and Smackdown.
i'm not gonna wait. I hate this tournament. One one side, you only have Roman as credible winner, and the othee side has two perfectly good guys to lose to Roman. O'Neil, Breeze, Miz, Kalisto, Neville, Stardust, Barrett, none of them deserve to be there. Granted there aren't many other options, but even Big, Kofi, and a returning Sandow would be 100% better options
Miz doesn't even bother me that much as it's not like he's been beaten 24/7 like Barrett or Stardust have. He probably hasn't won in a while, but that is partially as a result of not wrestling much, and he does have that former world champion "credibility" that at least allows you to throw him into the tournament to lose in the first round.
Kofi and Big E. definitely would have made more sense, but if they were inn here, then they wouldn't be able to give us repetitive matches with the Usos until we get sick of said matches before the actual title match at the PPV I assume they're building to.
I would have been perfectly fine with Breeze being in this tournament if they hadn't beaten him right away.
I wonder if being in the UK affected their ability to bring in someone like RVD for one-night deal.

[badnewzxl]

Why is Rusev not in the Tournament?

[Big Red Machine]

Why is Rusev not in the Tournament?

Isn't he injured?

[cero2k]

Why is Rusev not in the Tournament?

Isn't he injured?

yeah, torn bicep or something.

[cero2k]

phpBB [video]

[Big Red Machine]

phpBB [video]

This was completely fantastic, and I'm amazed Renee was able to keep a straight face for as long as she did.