BRM Reviews the 1/21/2019 Raw (it was... good?!)

[Big Red Machine]

MLK DAY VIDEO- Vince always does these well.

OPENING SEGMENT- not so good
Paul Heyman and Brock Lesnar came out. Heyman cut a promo in which he said that even though Brock had prepared for Braun Strowman- who has a totally different style than Finn Balor- Brock would still win. Vince came out and said that Brock would win as well. Both promos were… fine.
Braun Strowman came out and cut a promo blaming Baron Corbin for the actions that led to him losing his Universal Title shot at the Royal Rumble. This made Braun look bad as, as I noted last week, there was no reason for Corbin’s comments to send Braun into anything even resembling the murderous rage Braun flew into. Braun said Brock was lucky he got stripped of his title shot and demanded to be the #1 contender after Royal Rumble.
This brought Finn Balor out and he cut a promo in which he said the same thing we’d heard Vince, Cole, and Heyman already say: that Balor beat John Cena last week, and that Vince doesn’t believe in Balor but we all should because we all “believe in miracles” (that’s their phrase for this feud, so get ready to be asked if you “believe in miracles” an average of once every five minutes for the next week). At this point I was getting quite bored of this segment… and so was Brock Lesnar, apparently, because he just walked away.
Balor told a more accurate version of the story of David and Goliath (which Vince had changed the ending to earlier), so Vince booked Balor vs. Strowman for right now and asked Brock to watch from ringside. Yeah… there’s no way we’re getting anything other than a f*ck finish here.

FINN BALOR vs. BRAUN STROWMAN- 5.75/10
They spent a few minutes telling a story about the size difference between the two men which is the right story to tell going into Balor vs. Lesnar at the Rumble.
The referee immediately ran over to go check on Balor and stayed with him for a while as Brock and Braun had a stare-down. Said stare-down ended when Balor got back up and yanked Brock off the apron, then dropkicked him in the back, sending Brock’s head into the ringpost. Now that Balor is clearly not in need of immediate medical attention, you’d think the referee would get around to calling for the disqualification on Braun because a non-participant attacked his opponent, but apparently not. He’s just going to let the match continue. Balor runs wild on everyone and eventually hits Braun with the Coup de Grace but then Brock runs in and gives Balor an F-5, and apparently this time it’s a DQ.
The idea of protecting both guys with the finish they did here makes sense (Balor shows that he can overcome the size advantage but we never really find out if he was going to get the pin so Braun doesn’t have to lose, as he will almost certainly be challenging Brock at Mania- if not before then), but the execution killed it for me. Not only was it obviously stupid to book a spot where the referee completely ignores what should have been an obvious disqualification and doubly stupid to then have the finish of the match be a disqualification caused by the same guy from before running in and attacking the same guy he attacked before, but Brock’s entire presence at ringside hurt the match. It would have been much better to have him go to the back before the match and give us a chance to forget about him so we’re more likely to be surprised when he runs in for the DQ than to rub the fact that this match was going to have a f*ck finish in our faces by having Brock hovering around ringside like the Penis Sword Tattoo of Damocles.

They are advertising Rollins vs. McIntyre and Ronda & Nattie vs. Sasha & Bayley for tonight. Those both sound pretty good. Also, Lashley will be having a celebration for his Intercontinental Championship victory, which will be up next.

There is a fan with a sign declaring “Nasty” Ned Brady to the greatest of all time. This is a wrestling show so the sign obviously isn’t referring to Tom Brady, and I’m really not sure what other Bradys there have been in wrestling.

BOBBY LASHLEY’S CHAMPIONSHIP CELEBRATION- fine angle
This was quickly interrupted by Apollo Crews, who wanted a match against Lashley. Lio Rush offered to give him a match if he could beat Lashley in a pose-off. Apollo responded by saying “I don’t even know how to pose,” which seems like it’s pretty likely false. They had a pose-off in which Crews tried to ingratiate himself to the crowd by doing some dancing before each pose. That’s kind of like cheating in my book. Lashley eventually attacked Crews during one of his poses. Crews won the brawl by sending Lashley to the outside, then threw Lio Rush onto Lashley when Lio tried to attack him. We then went to a commercial, and when we came back we were in the middle of…

APOLLO CREWS vs. BOBBY LASHLEY (w/Lio Rush)- 4.5/10
For the record, both of the matches we have seen so far tonight were impromptu matches which started during a commercial. The match was relatively short and was mostly Crews showing off his power and athleticism. The finish saw Lio Rush wind up in the ring and Crews press him over his head but this left him open to a spear from Lashley for the pin. I really don’t understand why they felt the need to do a match at all when they just did that perfectly fine angle. Pick the story up at the Royal Rumble where Crews can eliminate Lashley, then do the match next week not this week.
After the match Seth Rollins came out and had a stare-down with Lashley on the ramp. Seth’s presence took all of the attention away from the fact that Apollo Crews got screwed.

SETH ROLLINS PROMO- great babyface promo.
He’s going to win the Royal Rumble even though he’s smaller than WWE Superstars™ are supposed to be. He says he’s just a regular dude like everyone else who is thankful he gets to wrestle for a living.

DREW MCINTYRE PROMO- great
Drew came out and cut a promo saying he had just as much heart as Seth but was also bigger and more badass. He said he would win the Royal Rumble and that he really hoped he’d be able to throw Seth out as the final elimination.

DREW MCINTYRE vs. SETH ROLLINS- 8/10
Now we’re up to three straight matches that started during a commercial. The match was awesome.

THE REVIVAL MAKE THEIR CASE TO VINCE THAT THEY HAVE BEEN SCREWED IN TAG TITLE MATCHES- bad
They want a good referee assigned to the match as well. Curt Hawkins shows up and Vince tells him he has lost too many matches and needs to “find another line of business.” So Hawkins is fired? No. Vince makes him the referee. Now we’ve even got kayfabe evidence that Vince doesn’t give a sh*t about the tag team division. The Revival then started to suck up to Hawkins.

DEAN AMBROSE PROMO- great!
He’s angry at both Rollins and Lashley, and he’s going to get revenge on them by elimination them from the Royal Rumble. He insists that he is going to win the Royal Rumble.

LUCHA HOUSE PARTY vs. JINDER MAHAL & THE SINGH BROTHERS- 2/10
Hey look! Half way through the show we finally got a match that didn’t start during a commercial.
This was short. Actually pretty much a squash. Gran Metalik got the pin, which I guess means that the rumors of his imminent departure have been greatly exaggerated.

EC III VIDEO PACKAGE- it was just his theme song playing and some posing. Then we saw Ethan posing, which turned out to be a reflection in a mirror. We then panned over to Ethan, who was being quizzed about body-builder things by fellow bodybuilder Dana Brooke. Then The Drifter walked around the corner and the camera decided to follow him rather than listen to any more of Dana and Ethan’s conversation (assuming it even was a conversation. This is now the second week we’ve seen Ethan and he hasn’t said a single word yet even though he has been in a situation where he naturally should both times).

THE DRIFTER SINGS- bad
Corbin came out to interrupt him because The Drifter told Braun which way he went last week. The Drifter orders Corbin’s mic cut and the production people listened to him. Why? Because it’s his scheduled singing time? If that’s the reason then why have they never done so before when someone has interrupted The Drifter’s scheduled concert time?
Anyway, The Drifter sang a song that included the line “Baron against Elias: do we really need to see that again?” After hearing this line, everyone cheered. Then, when the Drifter finished his song (and a short non-angle with Corbin), Cole told us that we would be seeing Elias face Baron Corbin right after this commercial break. Yes, really. They did, in fact, have the babyface tell us that a certain match-up was old, boring, and done to death… and then went ahead and presented us with that exact match. Amazing.

“THE DRIFTER” ELIAS SAMPSON vs. BARON CORBIN- 0.5/10
We’re now four for five with matches starting during a commercial break. Michael Cole teeing us how long Elias last in the Greatest Royal Rumble might well be the first time that match has been mentioned since the week after it happened. The match was short and boring. Apparently shots to the throat are illegal. Who knew?

A MOMENT OF BLISS PART 1: BICKERING OCCURS- bad
Alexa was wearing a very weird revealing dress that I did not understand. If it was green you would have through she was some sort of dryad, but it was black instead. Alexa rand own the women in the Women’s Royal Rumble. I counted twenty-one women in the graphic on the screen. Notably absent from both the graphic and Alexa’s run-down was Lacey Evans (which was made weirder because fellow recent call-up Nikki Cross was there). Also not there was Maria Kanellis (and also the Bella Twins and Maryse, but none of those three are making appearances on WWE TV at the moment while Maria is).
Alexa then brought out her scheduled guest, Nia Jax, and asked her which champion she wanted to face at WrestleMania if she won the Royal Rumble. Before Nia could answer, Ember Moon’s music hit and Ember came out with a mic. As Corey Graves noted, this was quite rude of Ember. Ember complained about not getting invited onto the show and cut a promo saying that she would win the Royal Rumble. Then Alicia Fox came out and claimed to be “the captain of this division,” turning the segment into a joke. Mickie James was out next, saying that she has “stolen the show at WrestleMania before.” I don’t ever remember her doing this. Anyway, Mickie vowed to steal the show again.
They all started to fight over the microphone. The entire Riott Squad, as well as Tamina, Nikki Cross, and Dana Brooke all strode out together in a pack to join in on this pointless argument. Eventually Alexa got up on a chair and lectured them. Corey Graves attempted a Mean Girls reference that failed. The women responded to this in a completely immature manner, having a pointless brawl that spilled backstage. You know… as dumb as their usual obligatory “a brawl in the ring suddenly wind up operating under battle royale rules” segments are, at least you can see how they build up to the match. How does a backstage brawl build up to a Royal Rumble?
A MOMENT OF BLISS, PART 2: TWO MORE ROYAL RUMBLE ENTRANTS ARE ANNOUNCED- good
Rather than following the action, the camera cuts back to Alexa, who then drops the bombshell announcement that she will be returning to action to compete in the Royal Rumble. This got quite the babyface pop.
Lacey Evans then came out, which greatly annoyed Alexa, but Alexa still tried to politely hand her the microphone… but Lacey snatched it out of her hand anyway, getting under Alexa’s skin even more. Lacey declared the other women to be classless and called Alexa “a sawed-off girly runt.” Lacey said she would win the Royal Rumble. Alexa clenched her fists a bit in the background but didn’t do anything, which I think was a mistake. This was a perfect opportunity to turn Alexa babyface by having her slap Lacey across the face or something. Lacey played her part very well, and this was a very good choice of a segment for her first real segment on the main roster.

TITUS O’NEIL PROMO- Titus was cutting a pretty good promo saying he was going to win the Royal Rumble when some asshole just walked right across the shot. Titus scolded him for this. I admire Titus’ ability to not lose his cool. If it were me, I’d have been screaming at this asshole.

HEAVY MACHINERY vs. THE ASCENSION- squash
Michael Cole informed us that “his nickname is ‘All Night’ Tucker Knight because of his stamina in the ring.” It is? Did any of you guys know this? Because I sure as hell didn’t. Cole also attempted to insist to us that Otis dancing and hopping around before doing an elbow drop was “a version of The Worm” despite the fact that the signature worm-like motions that give the move its name were completely absent. Otis then did an actual worm into an elbow drop (dubbed “The Caterpillar”).
Basically this match confirmed everything that we’ve been fearing over the past week: Otis Dozovic is Vince’s new token dancing crazy fat comedy guy. At one point Heavy Machinery even did a Bushwhacker walk.

WWE RAW TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH WITH CURT HAWKINS AS THE SPECIAL GUEST REFEREE: Chad Gable & Bobby Roode(c) vs. The Revival- 4.5/10
Wait… they’re having this match tonight? Why wouldn’t they do this at the PPV on Sunday?
The story of this match was that Hawkins- the guest referee with no previous referring experience- caught every bit of attempted cheating that he usual referees always miss. The Revival tried to cheat a lot but Hawkins always caught them and eventually Gable got a pin via roll-up. Despite The Revival cheating several times and there being nothing wrong in any way with the finishing pinfall, Renee insisted to Cole that “this still feels wrong.” Silly me for giving WWE credit and thinking that they were purposely having Renee side with the supposed heels in this feud in the one instance where the heels are being reasonable to establish her having some integrity on commentary. Nope. She’s just siding with The Revival because apparently she’s a just randomly a heel commentator for this one feud.

POST-MATCH SEGMENT- fine
The Revival attacked Curt Hawkins so Zack Ryder came out to make the save, reforming their tag team. At least they’re doing something with these guys, but I really can’t get excited about a pair of jobbers teaming up.

DASHA FUENTES INTERVIEWS RONDA ROUSEY- mostly a good promo by Ronda
Dasha asked Ronda if she had anything to say to Sasha. Ronda corrects her behavior from last week, finally coming to the conclusion that Sasha has been acting completely unreasonably and Ronda doesn’t her any sort of apology at all. I like her claim that Sasha been doing world traveling instead of trying to be a champion (because Sasha is on TV wrestling pretty much every week), but other than that this was good.

SASHA BANKS & BAYLEY vs. RONDA ROUSEY & NATALYA- 6.75/10
Before the match started Sasha grabbed a mic and cut a great promo on Ronda, which led to an EXCELLENT minute or so where both the referee and their respective partners had to work to keep champion and challenger away from each other (especially Ronda). This was probably the most authentic-feeling segment in WWE in a VERY long time. Then, as the announcers suggested to us that Sasha had found a way to get under Ronda’s skin, the camera actually took the time to SHOW US Nattie getting Ronda to calm down and Ronda taking deep breaths.
And then, right after the bell rang, Sasha took a cheap shot and knocked Ronda off of the apron. Ronda charged right into the ring and had to be backed up by the referee, and all the while Sasha had Nattie in a grounded facelock and grinned at Ronda.
From that point on the match wasn’t anything special, but it sure as hell succeeded in getting me excited for Ronda vs. Sasha, so it was a definite win on the go-home front. Sasha made Nattie tap to the Banks Statement and left the hold in just a little bit longer than necessary, necessitating another pull-apart as we went off the air.


This was a very up-and-down episode of Raw. There were a lot of very bad segments and short, seemingly-pointless matches, but the stuff that was good was pretty darn good, and that excellent go-home segment has me excited for the PPV, so I think I have to give this show a thumbs up.

[Serujuunin]

I have a complaint about this Finn Balor/Brock Lesnar thing.

It’s all over Twitter and things that Finn won’t be “bringing the Demon” to the Royal Rumble because they want that character to be undefeated, so that’s even more confirmation that Finn is absolutely not winning this match, if there was any hope in me for this match in the first place, but they’re doing such a good job on tv of playing it like he legitimately had a chance. Now if he does actually win I’m going to look like a fool, but it’s really hard to suspend disbelief with stuff like that all over the place. It’s like they aren’t even trying to hide the fact that he’s not going to win. And if he doesn’t have an outstanding match with Brock, it’s going to completely neuter any momentum he got up to that point. And what do they do after he loses to Brock?

I am not convinced this is sustainable in the long term.

[Big Red Machine]

I have a complaint about this Finn Balor/Brock Lesnar thing.

It’s all over Twitter and things that Finn won’t be “bringing the Demon” to the Royal Rumble because they want that character to be undefeated, so that’s even more confirmation that Finn is absolutely not winning this match, if there was any hope in me for this match in the first place, but they’re doing such a good job on tv of playing it like he legitimately had a chance. Now if he does actually win I’m going to look like a fool, but it’s really hard to suspend disbelief with stuff like that all over the place. It’s like they aren’t even trying to hide the fact that he’s not going to win. And if he doesn’t have an outstanding match with Brock, it’s going to completely neuter any momentum he got up to that point. And what do they do after he loses to Brock?

I am not convinced this is sustainable in the long term.

Is this talk coming from WWE now? Because people have been theorizing that Balor will be "The Demon" in this match since last week with no actual evidence of it.

I agree about this loss doing too much damage to Balor, but it's not like they can use anyone else without changing their plans (which are clearly either Braun vs. Brock at Mania or the rumored Brock vs. Rollins). Personally, I'd have Drew take the belt from him at Mania and would have done Braun vs. Brock at the Rumble.

I think the best we can hope for coming out of all of this is that Balor is eventually able to be built up again like Joe was after his damaging loss to Brock (and hey... if Balor could recover from losing to Kane in 2017 then he can certainly recover from losing to Brock in 2019, right?).

[Serujuunin]

I have a complaint about this Finn Balor/Brock Lesnar thing.

It’s all over Twitter and things that Finn won’t be “bringing the Demon” to the Royal Rumble because they want that character to be undefeated, so that’s even more confirmation that Finn is absolutely not winning this match, if there was any hope in me for this match in the first place, but they’re doing such a good job on tv of playing it like he legitimately had a chance. Now if he does actually win I’m going to look like a fool, but it’s really hard to suspend disbelief with stuff like that all over the place. It’s like they aren’t even trying to hide the fact that he’s not going to win. And if he doesn’t have an outstanding match with Brock, it’s going to completely neuter any momentum he got up to that point. And what do they do after he loses to Brock?

I am not convinced this is sustainable in the long term.

Is this talk coming from WWE now? Because people have been theorizing that Balor will be "The Demon" in this match since last week with no actual evidence of it.

I agree about this loss doing too much damage to Balor, but it's not like they can use anyone else without changing their plans (which are clearly either Braun vs. Brock at Mania or the rumored Brock vs. Rollins). Personally, I'd have Drew take the belt from him at Mania and would have done Braun vs. Brock at the Rumble.

I think the best we can hope for coming out of all of this is that Balor is eventually able to be built up again like Joe was after his damaging loss to Brock (and hey... if Balor could recover from losing to Kane in 2017 then he can certainly recover from losing to Brock in 2019, right?).

I haven’t been able to track down the source because it’s been redone by everyone (just about every outlet that covers wrestling has an article on it on my news app)- Finn did apparently do an interview I think with EPSN saying he wouldn’t be bringing the demon and I saw this during RAW yesterday. It could very well be a red herring but there it is.

I’m the wrong person to ask about rebounding from big losses- Finn is approaching Jeff Hardy levels of adoration from me at this point to be perfectly honest so I will just be happy to see him at all lol. I just feel like the loss is gonna take the wind out of his sails and then Vince is going to go “See guys, he’s not over, I was right.” And throw the whole idea out. I’m almost convinced at this point that Strowman has to interfere somehow so Finn doesn’t lose cleanly for him to come out of it okay.

I would have loved to see Strowman take it from Lesnar at the Rumble, but they have a way to go to restore his character to a level where it makes sense for him to have it, and I think Vince wants to have it on Lesnar for as long as humanly possible. I really want to believe that Finn is going to walk away with the belt on Sunday but it’s hard, knowing that Vince doesn’t have faith in him.

I kind of also wish they had more than a week to build the story. There could have been more done, and more time to drop some threads on social media and things which seems to be their way, to make it feel more plausible.

I feel like I just talked in a circle, sorry!

[Big Red Machine]

I’m the wrong person to ask about rebounding from big losses- Finn is approaching Jeff Hardy levels of adoration from me at this point to be perfectly honest so I will just be happy to see him at all lol. I just feel like the loss is gonna take the wind out of his sails and then Vince is going to go “See guys, he’s not over, I was right.” And throw the whole idea out. I’m almost convinced at this point that Strowman has to interfere somehow so Finn doesn’t lose cleanly for him to come out of it okay.

Well... if it makes you feel any better, that sort of adoration is the sort of thing that will prevent Vince from trying to say that Balor isn't over. I can't imagine that you're alone in your love for Balor, and unlike Jeff, he's got the indy-darling crowd solidly behind him as well.

[KILLdozer]

I have a complaint about this Finn Balor/Brock Lesnar thing.

It’s all over Twitter and things that Finn won’t be “bringing the Demon” to the Royal Rumble because they want that character to be undefeated, so that’s even more confirmation that Finn is absolutely not winning this match, if there was any hope in me for this match in the first place, but they’re doing such a good job on tv of playing it like he legitimately had a chance. Now if he does actually win I’m going to look like a fool, but it’s really hard to suspend disbelief with stuff like that all over the place. It’s like they aren’t even trying to hide the fact that he’s not going to win. And if he doesn’t have an outstanding match with Brock, it’s going to completely neuter any momentum he got up to that point. And what do they do after he loses to Brock?

I am not convinced this is sustainable in the long term.

Is this talk coming from WWE now? Because people have been theorizing that Balor will be "The Demon" in this match since last week with no actual evidence of it.

I agree about this loss doing too much damage to Balor, but it's not like they can use anyone else without changing their plans (which are clearly either Braun vs. Brock at Mania or the rumored Brock vs. Rollins). Personally, I'd have Drew take the belt from him at Mania and would have done Braun vs. Brock at the Rumble.

I think the best we can hope for coming out of all of this is that Balor is eventually able to be built up again like Joe was after his damaging loss to Brock (and hey... if Balor could recover from losing to Kane in 2017 then he can certainly recover from losing to Brock in 2019, right?).

I haven’t been able to track down the source because it’s been redone by everyone (just about every outlet that covers wrestling has an article on it on my news app)- Finn did apparently do an interview I think with EPSN saying he wouldn’t be bringing the demon and I saw this during RAW yesterday. It could very well be a red herring but there it is.

I’m the wrong person to ask about rebounding from big losses- Finn is approaching Jeff Hardy levels of adoration from me at this point to be perfectly honest so I will just be happy to see him at all lol. I just feel like the loss is gonna take the wind out of his sails and then Vince is going to go “See guys, he’s not over, I was right.” And throw the whole idea out. I’m almost convinced at this point that Strowman has to interfere somehow so Finn doesn’t lose cleanly for him to come out of it okay.

I would have loved to see Strowman take it from Lesnar at the Rumble, but they have a way to go to restore his character to a level where it makes sense for him to have it, and I think Vince wants to have it on Lesnar for as long as humanly possible. I really want to believe that Finn is going to walk away with the belt on Sunday but it’s hard, knowing that Vince doesn’t have faith in him.

I kind of also wish they had more than a week to build the story. There could have been more done, and more time to drop some threads on social media and things which seems to be their way, to make it feel more plausible.

I feel like I just talked in a circle, sorry!

Shut up fatboy! ...uh...Fangirl!

[Serujuunin]

I’m the wrong person to ask about rebounding from big losses- Finn is approaching Jeff Hardy levels of adoration from me at this point to be perfectly honest so I will just be happy to see him at all lol. I just feel like the loss is gonna take the wind out of his sails and then Vince is going to go “See guys, he’s not over, I was right.” And throw the whole idea out. I’m almost convinced at this point that Strowman has to interfere somehow so Finn doesn’t lose cleanly for him to come out of it okay.

Well... if it makes you feel any better, that sort of adoration is the sort of thing that will prevent Vince from trying to say that Balor isn't over. I can't imagine that you're alone in your love for Balor, and unlike Jeff, he's got the indy-darling crowd solidly behind him as well.

Difference there is that they purposefully told the story of Jeff being the underdog and when he won, it felt genuinely like he shouldn't have. This stuff with Finn is like a last minute thrown together thing. I suppose I should give it some time until after the Rumble to decide how I feel about it, but... it just feels haphazard and lacking in something.

[Big Red Machine]

I’m the wrong person to ask about rebounding from big losses- Finn is approaching Jeff Hardy levels of adoration from me at this point to be perfectly honest so I will just be happy to see him at all lol. I just feel like the loss is gonna take the wind out of his sails and then Vince is going to go “See guys, he’s not over, I was right.” And throw the whole idea out. I’m almost convinced at this point that Strowman has to interfere somehow so Finn doesn’t lose cleanly for him to come out of it okay.

Well... if it makes you feel any better, that sort of adoration is the sort of thing that will prevent Vince from trying to say that Balor isn't over. I can't imagine that you're alone in your love for Balor, and unlike Jeff, he's got the indy-darling crowd solidly behind him as well.

Difference there is that they purposefully told the story of Jeff being the underdog and when he won, it felt genuinely like he shouldn't have. This stuff with Finn is like a last minute thrown together thing. I suppose I should give it some time until after the Rumble to decide how I feel about it, but... it just feels haphazard and lacking in something.

It's absolutely haphazard and lacking and was thrown together at the last minute. But even if it isn't the plan right now, if the fan support is there, they can always go back later and paint this as the beginning of a big story of Balor's rise.