BRM Reviews the 9/26/2016 Raw

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Big Red Machine
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BRM Reviews the 9/26/2016 Raw

Post by Big Red Machine » Sep 27th, '16, 19:28

WWE UNITED STATES TITLE MATCH: Roman Reigns(c) vs. Rusev (w/Lana)- 6.25/10
I was about to make a comment about how strange it is that WWE insists on the champion entering first, even when the champion is a babyface, but apparently they instead decided to cut Rusev’s entrance out of the show- an equally strange decision.
For some reason the crowd is all chanting “We want Lana!” SHE’S STANDING RIGHT THERE! What the hell are you chanting for?
They did some good old-fashioned mat wrestling in the beginning, forcing Cole to say the “W” word TWICE.
I liked the slow pace, but the problem was that it never picked up. I also didn’t like the double count-out finish. After Sheamus vs. Cesaro last night, this was not what I wanted to see. After almost twenty-six minutes, we got a count-out, but they continued fighting. Rusev eventually hit Roman with a chair a few times, and if they had stopped it here it would have at least made some sense as Rusev comes out on top without beating either man, building to a rematch in something like a Falls Count Anywhere match… but instead we got Roman making a comeback and laying Rusev out, meaning that as we stand right now, Roman Reign is the US Champion and has come out on top in their most recent encounter, but Rusev is still deserving of a rematch… which is exactly where we were before this match happened! This wasn’t “building” to anything. This was stalling.

What’s the over/under on whether those signs proclaiming that WWE is better than the debate were planted?

GALLOWS & ANDERSON ARE GETTING A REMATCH TONIGHT- good. They deserve one. Maybe our babyface (and faux babyface) authority figures could take the next logical step and do something to ensure that the cheating that happened last night does occur again tonight by banning Xavier from ringside?

FOLEY DEALS WITH THE CONTROVERSY OF THE SHEAMUS-CESARO FINISH- As far as the execution of his segment, I thought it was very well done. As for the concept… I do like it in theory. Raw needs some more tag teams, and this was a very clever way to get there: it was a swerve that doesn’t in any way contradict anything we were previously told, and it allows for this brand new team to get be given a title shot with the opportunity still feeling like it was earned (plus it gives people like me who really do like Sheamus an opportunity to cheer for him without people looking at us funny). The problem is that I just don’t trust WWE to be able to do the whole “tag team partners who don’t like each other” without overdoing it and having them argue about every little thing and it getting annoying quite quickly (even Team Hell No got annoying pretty quickly, and those are my two all-time favorite wrestlers). The one thing that gives me some hope is that at least in this case they don’t like each other, but it’s not like they hate each other, and it is very easy to do a “growing mutual respect” storyline out of this. Then again, this is WWE, so my hopes aren’t high.
At first I was unhappy that they were doing this before the Gallows & Anderson vs. New Day title match as I thought it made the result of that match go from a 90% chance of New Day retaining to a 100% chance of them retaining because WWE was already setting up their next challengers, but after thinking about it some more, it occurred to me that the (for now) half babyface/half heel Cesaro & Sheamus team that WWE’s usual conventions about not booking matches that aren’t babyface vs. heel or babyface vs. babyface would allow Sheamus & Cesaro (the European Union) to face either the babyface New Day or the heel Gallows & Anderson. (I still think it would have been better to do it after the tag title match and I still think New Day are at least 90% likely to retain, but at least doing this the way they did didn’t totally kill this match).

WWE RAW TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: The New Day(c) (w/Xavier Woods) vs. Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson- 6/10
Yes, they are now the “Raw Tag Team Titles,” which is definitely less cool than having “WWE Tag Team Titles” like they were as of last night, but doing it this way doesn’t make Smackdown’s seem to be at a lower level (being held a joke team is what makes Smackdown’s belts seem to be at a lower level).
New Day win clean, killing Gallows & Anderson dead. Seriously… what sort of f*cking moron would rather see Sheamus & Cesaro vs. New Day as opposed to SHEAMUS & CESARO VS. GALLOWS & ANDERSON?
The match was fine, but it feels like I’ve seen it a million times. The only new element here was Kofi’s (probably) unintentional bleeding all over the place.

STEPH FOOTAGE FROM LAST NIGHT- she blows off Tom Phillips’ question about the overbooking in the PPV main event. Then we see her happily greeting Hunter as he emerges from a limo. So yeah… that pretty much kills all of the mystery here, and also compels me to ask why Hunter was doing something else when there was a PPV to produce. He is the COO, isn’t he? I would much rather have seen them not reveal anything until Steph does her big reveal that she has been lying and she was in cahoots with Hunter all along.

SHEAMUS, CESARO, & FOLEY BACKSTAGE- yup. Sheamus and Cesaro are already arguing over who is carrying who. Foley shows up to explain that this tag team solution is his only choice, saying “what am I going to do? Am I going to put you out there an eighth time? I cannot!” Um… why not? Why is this different than any other time we go to a double count-out?
Mick went on to explain that doing so would mean “losing one of you for good!” WHAT?! Since when? Was there some retirement stip on last night’s match that they forgot to tell us about?
Mick was pleading with them to “change the face of tag team wrestling for good” and other such bullsh*t. He spent most of this promo sounding like he was on the verge of tears. He is very quickly becoming Dixie Carter-level annoying.

BAYLEY vs. ANNA FIELDS- squash.
If they want to do something useful and interesting with Bayley coming out of last night’s loss (and last week’s while we’re at it), a squash victory was the last thing she needed.

TOM PHILLIPS INTERVIEWS BAYLEY- this should just about destroy any confidence anyone has WWE Creative’s ability to get Bayley right. This was a completely generic “new babyface on the roster” promo, except that they threw in the line that she won’t stop until she is “hugging that Women’s Title,” because they’ve got to get the hugging thing over.
Also, she completely buried the Smackdown Women’s Title by finding a million different ways to declare “Charlotte and Sasha” to be the two best female wrestlers in the world.

FOLEY CONFRONTS STEPH ABOUT THE VIDEO- terrible.
Foley is suspicious of last night’s main event because “the referee goes down for minutes,” as if this doesn’t happen all of the time and no one ever calls it suspicious. Steph actually has an explanation for why Hunter wasn’t at the PPV doing his job (he was flying in from somewhere on some other WWE business), and Foley came up with an excuse for why he didn’t come out to send out another referee or order Jericho away or whatever (he was checking on Cesaro). When WWE is doing a better job with the details than ROH, you know something has gone drastically wrong.
Steph yells at Foley, saying it is his job as general manager to maintain the integrity of the matches, even going as far as asking “is it my job as commissioner?”… and my first thought was “YES!” In sports, the general manager is the one who deals with call-ups and making trades and negotiating contracts for the team, while the commissioner is responsible for rooting out cheating and upholding the integrity of the league. Obviously this is a minor thing, but it’s just another instance of WWE not only choosing to not piggyback on common sports terms that most fans already know, but deliberately swimming upstream by going against them, in a move that could only result in possible confusion to fans.
And yes, I do think this sort of thing can cause confusion because this whole discussion left me confused. Since when has there been a separation of responsibilities between the GM and the commissioner on Raw (or Smackdown, for that matter)? Since the draft we’ve seen both Steph and Foley (and Shane and Bryan) making decisions relating to booking matches, punishing people for various offenses, and doing various talent relations/roster management-related tasks. And yet now they’re trying to tell us that there has been a separation of powers (and there must be or else Foley wouldn’t have capitulated to Steph). It feels like they’re pulling it out of their asses, and that kills suspension of disbelief. (And yes, this was another segment where Steph lectures, condescends and verbally removes the spine and genitals from a babyface).

Mick Foley is now being credited with bringing us the Cruiserweight Division, even though I’m certain that decision was announced before Mick’s role was announced, so I guess this is like Shane brining in AJ Styles.
RICH SWANN & CEDRIC ALEXANDER PROMO- Swann is fun-loving. Cedric says they need to be careful and not underestimate their opponents.

LINCE DORADO & DREW GULAK vs. CEDRIC ALEXANDER & RICH SWANN- 6.5/10
This didn’t feel different than any other tag team match, which is exactly what the Cruiserweight Division shouldn’t be.

CESARO & SHEAMUS vs. NICK CUTLER & WILLIS WILLIAMS- no rating, dull segment.
They couldn’t go thirty seconds from the first one emerging from behind the curtain before one did something to annoy the other. We’ve seen this a million times over the years. To be honest, they should have just waited until next week to do this. It serves no purpose to do it here. They already have their title shot, so you might as well take your time with their story going into the PPV. No need to rush.

TJ PERKINS VIDEO PACKAGE- very good.

TOM PHILLIPS INTERVIEWS TJ PERKINS- he was… passable. Then Kendrick showed up and blew him out of the water.

WOMEN’S SEGMENT- great!
Charlotte and Dana come out to celebrate Charlotte’s victory last night. Charlotte cut a good heel promo. Then Sasha came out and said she was still owed her one-on-one rematch (IMO the focus should have been placed on the fact that it was Bayley who got pinned, not Sasha). She wants it right now. Charlotte was utterly fantastic in her trolling response. Sasha was great, as usual. Sasha slapped Charlotte. Dana went after Sasha but got punked out and locked in the Banks Statement. Charlotte broke it up but Sasha dumped them both out of the ring. We’re getting the title match next week.

They’re advertising a Table For Three with Mark Henry, Big Show… and KANE. Just from this one snippet he was so completely out of character that it drove me nuts. I get doing these silly Table For Three things (they’re lame shoot interviews for fans who don’t realize that the most interesting things people have to say are not things they are free to say on the WWE Network without repercussions), but if someone is going to come across SOOOO vastly different from their TV character, they shouldn’t be on it.

ROLLINS & FOLEY BACKSTAGE- did it’s job well.

TJ PERKINS vs. TONY NESE- 6.25/10
Perkins, being the champion, entered first. So Tony Nese got his entrance shown for a non-title match, but Rusev did not get his entrance shown for his US Title match. We got some loud “ROH!” chants during this match, which was weird considering that TJP was never more than a bit player and Nese never appeared in ROH. Then the “CM PUNK!” chants started. Finally we got some “TJP!” chants. Now we’ve got some “RANDY SAVAGE!” chants.
The match was okay. I really think this would have been better served with a shorter match put together specifically to get TJP and his kneebar over.

HISPANIC HERITAGE MONTH PEDRO MORALES VIDEO PACKAGE- I’m pretty sure the narrator’s accident has gotten several degrees thicker since the last time we heard him.

ASHTON KUTCHER & DANNY MASTERSON PROMO- so we’re getting Hyde and Kelso feuding with Owens and Jericho over which pair of them are better friends. Really.

CHRIS JERICHO’S HIGHLIGHT REEL WITH SPECIAL GUEST KEVIN OWEN- Owens cut a good promo. Rollins came out but was forced back. Enzo and Cass showed up and Jericho engaged in “comedy” that at least resulted in only Jericho looking stupid while Owens was still treated with seriousness. The end result of this was…

COLIN CASSADY & ENZO AMORE vs. KEVIN OWENS & CHRIS JERICHO- 7.25/10
Nothing much to say here other than the rating. I was certain that Rollins was going to cause a distraction or something but apparently not.


Also, we learned that Kendrick is getting another title shot next week for absolutely no reason.

This dull show from WWE, despite having some important storyline developments.
Hold #712: ARM BAR!

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Bulletclubfan2014
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Re: BRM Reviews the 9/26/2016 Raw

Post by Bulletclubfan2014 » Sep 27th, '16, 20:46

SHEAMUS, CESARO, & FOLEY BACKSTAGE- yup. Sheamus and Cesaro are already arguing over who is carrying who. Foley shows up to explain that this tag team solution is his only choice, saying “what am I going to do? Am I going to put you out there an eighth time? I cannot!” Um… why not? Why is this different than any other time we go to a double count-out?
Mick went on to explain that doing so would mean “losing one of you for good!” WHAT?! Since when? Was there some retirement stip on last night’s match that they forgot to tell us about?
I think the idea is given how badly Foley's body is banged up from years of hard matches he doesn't want other wrestlers going that hard because while he wants a great show he'd feel bad if they ended up in as bad a shape as him and when he saw how hard the match was between Sheamus vs Cesaro he decided he wasn't going to let them do it again out of fear for there safety
You thought you had all the answers I changed the question -Rowdy Roddy Piper

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Big Red Machine
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Re: BRM Reviews the 9/26/2016 Raw

Post by Big Red Machine » Sep 27th, '16, 20:56

Bulletclubfan2014 wrote:
SHEAMUS, CESARO, & FOLEY BACKSTAGE- yup. Sheamus and Cesaro are already arguing over who is carrying who. Foley shows up to explain that this tag team solution is his only choice, saying “what am I going to do? Am I going to put you out there an eighth time? I cannot!” Um… why not? Why is this different than any other time we go to a double count-out?
Mick went on to explain that doing so would mean “losing one of you for good!” WHAT?! Since when? Was there some retirement stip on last night’s match that they forgot to tell us about?
I think the idea is given how badly Foley's body is banged up from years of hard matches he doesn't want other wrestlers going that hard because while he wants a great show he'd feel bad if they ended up in as bad a shape as him and when he saw how hard the match was between Sheamus vs Cesaro he decided he wasn't going to let them do it again out of fear for there safety
But then he shouldn't let them wrestle anybody and stick in the them Daniel Bryan zone. I think it was just a thing that they said because their view of Foley is that he is the pathos guy and thus his job is to say things that elicit sympathy, be it outrageous stuff like this or stuff about being fired if Raw loses to SD or being duped by Steph even though he really wants to believe her. This Mick Foley, who doesn't want the wrestlers to get hurt, is just another facet of that, but they're too incompetent to make any of it work.
Hold #712: ARM BAR!

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cero2k
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Re: BRM Reviews the 9/26/2016 Raw

Post by cero2k » Sep 27th, '16, 20:59

Big Red Machine wrote:
Bulletclubfan2014 wrote:
SHEAMUS, CESARO, & FOLEY BACKSTAGE- yup. Sheamus and Cesaro are already arguing over who is carrying who. Foley shows up to explain that this tag team solution is his only choice, saying “what am I going to do? Am I going to put you out there an eighth time? I cannot!” Um… why not? Why is this different than any other time we go to a double count-out?
Mick went on to explain that doing so would mean “losing one of you for good!” WHAT?! Since when? Was there some retirement stip on last night’s match that they forgot to tell us about?
I think the idea is given how badly Foley's body is banged up from years of hard matches he doesn't want other wrestlers going that hard because while he wants a great show he'd feel bad if they ended up in as bad a shape as him and when he saw how hard the match was between Sheamus vs Cesaro he decided he wasn't going to let them do it again out of fear for there safety
But then he shouldn't let them wrestle anybody and stick in the them Daniel Bryan zone. I think it was just a thing that they said because their view of Foley is that he is the pathos guy and thus his job is to say things that elicit sympathy, be it outrageous stuff like this or stuff about being fired if Raw loses to SD or being duped by Steph even though he really wants to believe her. This Mick Foley, who doesn't want the wrestlers to get hurt, is just another facet of that, but they're too incompetent to make any of it work.
since WWE has been posting the videos, I want to believe that Cesaro's unhappiness in the RAW brand is canon
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Big Red Machine
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Re: BRM Reviews the 9/26/2016 Raw

Post by Big Red Machine » Sep 27th, '16, 21:45

cero2k wrote:
Big Red Machine wrote:
Bulletclubfan2014 wrote: I think the idea is given how badly Foley's body is banged up from years of hard matches he doesn't want other wrestlers going that hard because while he wants a great show he'd feel bad if they ended up in as bad a shape as him and when he saw how hard the match was between Sheamus vs Cesaro he decided he wasn't going to let them do it again out of fear for there safety
But then he shouldn't let them wrestle anybody and stick in the them Daniel Bryan zone. I think it was just a thing that they said because their view of Foley is that he is the pathos guy and thus his job is to say things that elicit sympathy, be it outrageous stuff like this or stuff about being fired if Raw loses to SD or being duped by Steph even though he really wants to believe her. This Mick Foley, who doesn't want the wrestlers to get hurt, is just another facet of that, but they're too incompetent to make any of it work.
since WWE has been posting the videos, I want to believe that Cesaro's unhappiness in the RAW brand is canon
So you think this is part of that angle? That he doesn't like not getting to finish the series and being stuck teamed with Sheamus instead?

Could be.
Hold #712: ARM BAR!

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cero2k
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Re: BRM Reviews the 9/26/2016 Raw

Post by cero2k » Sep 27th, '16, 22:18

Big Red Machine wrote: So you think this is part of that angle? That he doesn't like not getting to finish the series and being stuck teamed with Sheamus instead?

Could be.
could be, and winning the titles is when he decides to stay
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