BRM Reviews the 6/20/2016 Raw

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Big Red Machine
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BRM Reviews the 6/20/2016 Raw

Post by Big Red Machine » Jun 21st, '16, 01:50

DEAN AMBROSE SHOWS UP IN A TAXI- he almost leaves his newly-won title belt in the taxi, so I guess they are going to continue booking him like a clown.

OPENING SEGMENT- You know… just ONCE, I’d like a wrestling promotion to do a show in Las Vegas and resist the urge to make the same, boring clichéd Vegas jokes about getting blackout drunk and/or losing a lot of money on the strip.
Dean cuts a GREAT babyface promo. Then Roman Reigns comes out and gets booed heavily booed. He congratulates his best buddy, but also says that he wants his rematch. Then Seth came out and cut a FANTASTIC fiery promo on Dean and Roman. Seth points out that when he cashed in his MITB contract he “did it to your face” as opposed to jumping someone from behind. Seth and Roman argue while Dean just stands there in the background. Roman figures they should fight to determine who will get his title shot first. Shane comes out and pretty much says that. Rollins is against that and says that Shane should check with Steph first. This leads to dumb humor because Steph isn’t here tonight so Steph pretends to talk to an invisible Steph. Also, Shane casually mentions the draft in passing as if it isn’t a big deal at all. Shane says that because they might be split up by the draft “next month” it is imperative that the match happens tonight. Why? Why can’t they do it next week or on this week’s Smackdown (two things Shane specifically said were out of the question)?
Anyway, we have our match, and also this was also both a pretty great segment and a relatively fast one (as far as WWE opening talking segments tend to go). Both Cole and Shane pushed the match as “WrestleMania caliber/quality.” I really hope that doesn’t become their new standard hype phrase.

COLE TALKS ABOUT THE DRAFT- it will happen on the first live Smackdown on Tuesday, July 19… which is go-home show for the PPV. There are some interesting angles they could run by doing this.

SAMI ZAYN vs. KEVIN OWENS- 6.75/10
Owens attacked Zayn after the match. They got separated by referees. Multiple times. Even backstage after the commercial. Here come some road agents. When Finlay, the “Man Who Loves to Fight” tells you it’s time to stop fighting, then you know it’s time to stop.
I assume they are building to a big blow-off at Battleground which will be pushed as the big blow-off because they are going to be separated in the draft (which is 100% the right thing to do).

I only just noticed this during the brawl, but there are two podiums on stage, one saying Raw and the other saying Smackdown, because WWE thinks that the best way to promote a major event on a professional wrestling show is interior decorating.

JOHN LAURINAITIS SHOWS UP- More importantly, that asshole JBL stole my “patriarch of the Bella Family” joke before I could type it!
He announces the brand extension and draft, even though they’ve already done that. Shane comes out and asks him what the hell he is doing here. He says he wants to run Smackdown. Shane tells him no. They make jokes about him being a “corporate yes-man,” and Shane buries him as one. I have very vivid memories of a tattooed fellow being the first one to level this accusation at Johnny Ace on the air, but I’m probably not supposed to remember that.
Anyway, this was stupid. This is now the third straight week they’ve done the same gag of a past authority figure showing up and saying that they want to run Smackdown, only to be rebuffed by the McMahons because they aren’t even interviewing people for this spot. It was barely funny the first time. The third time it’s just dumb and annoying.

ENZO & CASS PROMO- they cut a promo on Johnny Ace even though he already left.

COLIN CASSADY & ENZO AMORE vs. THE VAUDEVILLAINS- 3.25/10
I feel like I’ve already seen this a million times. WWE has apparently given their finisher the atrocious name of “Badda-boom Shaka-laka.”

AJ STYLES, THE CLUB, & JOHN CENA SEGMENT- This started off feeling both a little bit cartoonish and also like a retread of what we had gotten with AJ and Roman, but when Cena came out and cut his promo on AJ the whole thing really clicked with me. This isn’t a retread of what they did with Roman. What they did with Roman laid the ground-work for this, as the usually trusting John Cena now has a reason not to believe AJ. AJ did move back to being more heelish in this segment, but only after Cena rejected him and condescended (in AJ’s eyes) to him.

KARL ANDERSON vs. JOHN CENA- no rating, interesting segment.
Apparently AJ has booking power. I wish they had let Anderson look a little stronger and I liked the DQ finish, but I thought it should have been only Gallows doing the run-in to keep AJ more ambiguous for a week or two.

JOJO INTERVIEWS SETH ROLLINS- good promo by Seth.

RENEE YOUNG INTEVIEWS BECKY LYNCH- great.
Renee points out that this is far from the first time that a good friend has stabbed Becky in the back. As Steve Corino would interpret this pattern: “Becky Lynch is an awful friend.” Becky started to cut an awesome promo but was interrupted by Nattie assaulting her from behind. Nattie declared that she had decided to start putting herself first.
ZACK RYDER vs. BARON CORBIN- 3/10

SCARY WYATT FAMILY VIDEO- there was some nightmare fuel in here. Also, they misspelled the word “innocence” by using S’s instead of C’s, but that might have been intentional.
Apparently they are returning to TV TONIGHT… and the first time this was mentioned was half way into tonight’s show.

RENEE YOUNG INTERVIEWS PAIGE- Charlotte and Dana showed up to be act like asses in the background and steal the attention. Then they had a verbal confrontation that actually saved this. All three women were great. I think I could grow to love this new sycophantic Dana Brooke character.


WWE WOMEN’S TITLE MATCH: Charlotte(c) (w/Dana Brooke) vs. Paige- 5.75/10
Well I’ll be damned! Last week’s finish actually did matter! The match was really good for the time it got. Paige got beaten down after the match. Then Sasha Banks came out and took out Charlotte. Stuff happened and we wound up with Sasha posing with the belt.

ROMAN REIGNS INTERVIEW- decent.

THE WYATT FAMILY RETURNS- Bray starts to cut a promo but gets interrupted by The New Day. There’s a contrast for you. The New Day make their dumb jokes. I will be extremely unhappy if this segment does not end with the Wyatts mauling The New Day. It didn’t. It just kind of… ended.

TITUS O’NEIL vs. RUSEV (w/Lana)- no rating, decent segment.
So first Rusev came out. Then we went backstage to Titus cutting an angry promo, then Titus came out to the ring. Why not just have Titus cut his promo first?
So they just had a brawl and Rusev eventually retreated. The match never got started.

MIZ & MARYSE PROMO- great heel stuff
The announcers used their intro to this tease that Miz and Maryse could be split up by the draft.

SHANE & JERICHO BACKSTAGE- boring, although they do seem to be laying the groundwork for Jericho to quit for when he goes away.

WINNER FACES DEAN AMBROSE FOR THE WWE WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE AT BATTLEGROUND: Seth Rollins vs. Roman Reigns- 7.5/10
Dean Ambrose did guest commentary. This was the only match all show for which someone did guest commentary, and, consequently, it didn’t come off as lazy and unimportant.
The match was definitely hurt by the fact that I had seen these two last night, but it was still great. They go to a double count-out. We wind up with a triple threat match (Ambrose got to be a babyface by offering to fight both guys on the same night). Douchebag Dean then decided to go rub his title in both guys’ faces. When Roman grabbed Dean’s shoulder to say something to him about this, Dean kicked him in the gut and laid him out with Dirty Deeds. Dean went to leave but saw that Seth was about to attack Roman so he laid Seth out, too.

A much better Raw than usual.
Hold #712: ARM BAR!

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KILLdozer
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Re: BRM Reviews the 6/20/2016 Raw

Post by KILLdozer » Jun 21st, '16, 11:23

What's this about a guy with tattoos?

Randy Orton?
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KILLdozer
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Re: BRM Reviews the 6/20/2016 Raw

Post by KILLdozer » Jun 21st, '16, 11:26

No, fuck O'Neal 's promo altogether.

If Rusev was already down there, so should he have been, as well. You know, your scheduled match is NOW, and you're instead just here in the back talkin' shit instead.
When they come, they'll come at what you love.

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KILLdozer
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Re: BRM Reviews the 6/20/2016 Raw

Post by KILLdozer » Jun 21st, '16, 11:28

I can see what what's her name is trying to say about Dean Ambrose and Steve Austin though after the end segment.

Gets up and shows his ass with the title because he just decides to do so, kick in the gut , finisher.
When they come, they'll come at what you love.

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KILLdozer
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Re: BRM Reviews the 6/20/2016 Raw

Post by KILLdozer » Jun 22nd, '16, 21:30

Yeah... that new day shit actually legitimately made my head hurt. Those dudes are just WAAAAAYYYY too much.

How does, and can, anybody take them seriously, not to mention as champions.
When they come, they'll come at what you love.

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KILLdozer
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Re: BRM Reviews the 6/20/2016 Raw

Post by KILLdozer » Jun 22nd, '16, 22:31

Though I did really like the part about "New Day Falls....
When they come, they'll come at what you love.

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