BRM Reviews the 4/7/2014 Raw

[Big Red Machine]

DANIEL BRYAN VIDEO PACKAGE- GREAT!

OPENING SEGMENT- AWESOME
Now THAT is how a babyface should gloat! A great moment for Dragon… then Hunter books himself vs. Dragon for the title for later tonight.

HUNTER, STEPH, ORTON, & DAVE BACKSTAGE- decent, but it really makes me wonder why they booked Dave to tap last night instead of Orton. Orton & Batista both want a rematch with Dragon. Steph says they’ll get shots eventually, but for tonight she books them in a tag title match against the Usos.

THE WYATT FAMILY vs. SHEAMUS, BIG E. LANGSTON, & JOHN CENA- 7/10
While Rowan and Sheamus were in the ring together, I could not help but think how crazy it would be if you combined their hair onto one person. The match was great. The crowd was super-ultra pro Wyatt, reminding me why I love the post-Raw Mania. The Inter-job-inental Champion loses again.

BO DALLAS HYPE VIDEO- I want to push Bo off of the mountain that guy was climbing.

FANDANGO & SUMMER RAE vs. SANTINO MARELLA & EMMA- 0.5/10
So short it was pointless, but I’ll give it a 0.5 because Emma got the win.

HEYMAN (& BROCK) PROMO-
“BULLSH*T!” chants. Heyman says that Brock is here to put tears in the eyes of children. The crowd cheered. Speaking of eyes, Brock has a nasty shiner. Heyman talks up Taker’s injuries and the fact that Vince went to the hospital with Taker in the middle of Wrestlemania. Heyman talked up the fact that everyone gave Taker a standing ovation but no one did so for Brock, even thought Brock was the winner… but that’s okay because Brock Lesnar respects no one (“he barely tolerates me”). Then he said a lot more stuff which I don’t feel like recapping here. Just watch it for yourself because it was AWESOME.

ADAM ROSE IS COMING SOON- I really think this gimmick needs more refinement. He’s just a guy with an awesome entrance. Other than that, we don’t know anything about him at all.

WWE TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: The Usos(c) vs. Randy Orton & Batista- no rating. Okay segment.
Match goes to a quick double count-out. Orton and Batista destroy the Usos afterwards.

ROB VAN DAM vs. DAMIEN SANDOW- 3/10
Short but fun.

REY MYSTERIO JR. vs. BAD NEWS BARRETT-
A surprisingly large pop for Barrett. The crowd was really into him. He won, too, which was even more surprising. I’m almost certain they changed the finish on the fly, and it was definitely the right move.

ZACK RYDER vs. ALEXANDER RUSEV (w/Lana)- GREAT squash.

WARRIOR PROMO- AWESOME!

AJ PROMO- great. AND HOLY F*CKING SH*T ITS PAIGE!

WWE DIVAS TITLE MATCH: AJ Lee(c) (w/Tamina) vs. Paige- DUD!
Yes. You read that right. AJ destroys Paige for a few minutes, then Paige gets in ONE MOVE… WHICH WAS BOTCHED… and that was it. Paige should have gotten a full comeback and some hope spots to build it up.

CESARO STUFF- I was all set for Cesaro to turn babyface here… and then they swerved me and put Cesaro with Heyman! This pairing will be fantastic! Paul E. bills Cesaro as the “King of Swing”… and even got people to chant it… in 2014!
Swagger jumps Cesaro from behind and breaks the trophy, but Cesaro gets the better of hi in the end.
CESARO (w/Paul Heyman) vs. JACK SWAGGER (w/Zeb Coulter)- 5/10
Apparently we’re having a match already. Well… at least we didn’t get a real finish.

THE SHIELD & THE AUTHORITY BACKSTAGE- Steph tries to get Kane and the Shield on the same page so they can screw Dragon out of the title. They argue. Kane admits that Hunter was the one who ordered the ambush on Smackdown a few weeks ago.

WWE WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE MATCH: Daniel Bryan(c) vs. Triple H (w/Stephanie McMahon)- no rating. AWESOME SEGMENT!
First Orton and Batista come out and attack Dragon, each giving him their finisher. Then Kane comes out and gives Dragon a chokeslam. Hunter orders the bell to be ring. Then the Shield come out (all wearing Mortis masks) and face off with the other three while Hunter tries to keep the peace.
THEN REIGNS SPEARS HUNTER!
A big brawl breaks out! Awesomeness ensues. Hunter eats a running knee from Dragon! The Authority then pull Hunter out of the ring.

An awesome post-Mania Raw, as always, though the Divas Title change sucked.

[NWK2000]

I mean, yeah the Paige match was bad, but realistically Paige was the only person who could take the title off of AJ right now, and it sets up a feud between them. The possibilities allow me to overlook the match itself, and just celebrate that Paige is the champ.

[Big Red Machine]

I mean, yeah the Paige match was bad, but realistically Paige was the only person who could take the title off of AJ right now, and it sets up a feud between them. The possibilities allow me to overlook the match itself, and just celebrate that Paige is the champ.

Yes, Paige was the only girl who could have taken the title off of AJ (aside from maybe Tamina)... but that's because they killed everyone else last night. If they had done things right, they could have built Naomi up for a very big title match at Mania (which I have heard was the original plan). Instead they did this giant clusterf*ck that there was no way it could possibly have been good, that seemed to have been done specifically for the purpose of putting the title on Paige the next night.

[NWK2000]

I mean, yeah the Paige match was bad, but realistically Paige was the only person who could take the title off of AJ right now, and it sets up a feud between them. The possibilities allow me to overlook the match itself, and just celebrate that Paige is the champ.

Yes, Paige was the only girl who could have taken the title off of AJ (aside from maybe Tamina)... but that's because they killed everyone else last night. If they had done things right, they could have built Naomi up for a very big title match at Mania (which I have heard was the original plan). Instead they did this giant clusterf*ck that there was no way it could possibly have been good, that seemed to have been done specifically for the purpose of putting the title on Paige the next night.

I almost can cut the creative team slack for that. They were trying to build Naomi vs AJ like you said but Naomi got injured, and so they lost a crapton of time.

Also, I realized that the match between Paige and AJ made sense simply because Paige made it expressly clear she wasn't ready, just wanted to congradulate AJ and leave, but it was AJ's stupid ass thaqt slapped Paige around and then demanded the title be up for grabs. It made great sense given the circumstances.

[cero2k]

I mean, yeah the Paige match was bad, but realistically Paige was the only person who could take the title off of AJ right now, and it sets up a feud between them. The possibilities allow me to overlook the match itself, and just celebrate that Paige is the champ.

Yes, Paige was the only girl who could have taken the title off of AJ (aside from maybe Tamina)... but that's because they killed everyone else last night. If they had done things right, they could have built Naomi up for a very big title match at Mania (which I have heard was the original plan). Instead they did this giant clusterf*ck that there was no way it could possibly have been good, that seemed to have been done specifically for the purpose of putting the title on Paige the next night.

yet this is sooo much better than naomi, or brie, or natalya winning the title, who, IMO, are not really title worthy

[NWK2000]

I mean, yeah the Paige match was bad, but realistically Paige was the only person who could take the title off of AJ right now, and it sets up a feud between them. The possibilities allow me to overlook the match itself, and just celebrate that Paige is the champ.

Yes, Paige was the only girl who could have taken the title off of AJ (aside from maybe Tamina)... but that's because they killed everyone else last night. If they had done things right, they could have built Naomi up for a very big title match at Mania (which I have heard was the original plan). Instead they did this giant clusterf*ck that there was no way it could possibly have been good, that seemed to have been done specifically for the purpose of putting the title on Paige the next night.

yet this is sooo much better than naomi, or brie, or natalya winning the title, who, IMO, are not really title worthy

I wouldn't go as far to say none of them are title worthy. Paige however, was made immensely more titleworthy by the fact that she proceeded to cut the most emotional heartfelt promo I've heard in a while.

[Big Red Machine]

I mean, yeah the Paige match was bad, but realistically Paige was the only person who could take the title off of AJ right now, and it sets up a feud between them. The possibilities allow me to overlook the match itself, and just celebrate that Paige is the champ.

Yes, Paige was the only girl who could have taken the title off of AJ (aside from maybe Tamina)... but that's because they killed everyone else last night. If they had done things right, they could have built Naomi up for a very big title match at Mania (which I have heard was the original plan). Instead they did this giant clusterf*ck that there was no way it could possibly have been good, that seemed to have been done specifically for the purpose of putting the title on Paige the next night.

I almost can cut the creative team slack for that. They were trying to build Naomi vs AJ like you said but Naomi got injured, and so they lost a crapton of time.

Also, I realized that the match between Paige and AJ made sense simply because Paige made it expressly clear she wasn't ready, just wanted to congradulate AJ and leave, but it was AJ's stupid ass thaqt slapped Paige around and then demanded the title be up for grabs. It made great sense given the circumstances.

They had PLENTY of time to rebuild Naomi.
Also, I though Paige came off as very... meek... in her segment. She did not have the same personality as NXT Paige.
I also don't see how this excuses AJ losing in just one move.

[Big Red Machine]

I mean, yeah the Paige match was bad, but realistically Paige was the only person who could take the title off of AJ right now, and it sets up a feud between them. The possibilities allow me to overlook the match itself, and just celebrate that Paige is the champ.

Yes, Paige was the only girl who could have taken the title off of AJ (aside from maybe Tamina)... but that's because they killed everyone else last night. If they had done things right, they could have built Naomi up for a very big title match at Mania (which I have heard was the original plan). Instead they did this giant clusterf*ck that there was no way it could possibly have been good, that seemed to have been done specifically for the purpose of putting the title on Paige the next night.

yet this is sooo much better than naomi, or brie, or natalya winning the title, who, IMO, are not really title worthy

But they could have done SOO much more with AJ. Nikki had an "unresolved" win over her, as did Naomi. Alicia Fox could have been built into something (and she really deserves it with how much she has improved). Then, of course, you have the Tamina program. They could have extended AJ's run until Summer Slam and done the same thing with Paige the night after Summer Slam, except that you give Paige time to drop the NXT Women's Title and AJ's claim to have beaten the whole division is stronger if she has random wins over girls like Rosa and Layla where she has actually beaten them instead of a fourteen woman clusterf*ck.

[cero2k]

yet this is sooo much better than naomi, or brie, or natalya winning the title, who, IMO, are not really title worthy

But they could have done SOO much more with AJ. Nikki had an "unresolved" win over her, as did Naomi. Alicia Fox could have been built into something (and she really deserves it with how much she has improved). Then, of course, you have the Tamina program. They could have extended AJ's run until Summer Slam and done the same thing with Paige the night after Summer Slam, except that you give Paige time to drop the NXT Women's Title and AJ's claim to have beaten the whole division is stronger if she has random wins over girls like Rosa and Layla where she has actually beaten them instead of a fourteen woman clusterf*ck.

of course they could, but what's the point in having AJ keep defeating everyone, sure Naomi and Nikki may have had wins in the past over AJ, so what? AJ was 5 days short from 300 days of defending the title and beating every total diva out there. With Paige at least (1) new face credible because we haven't seen AJ beat her over and over again (2) keeps the title away from the total divas. I agree that i didn't like the execution of the segment, but i'm 100% behind the title change now. Any day that a real wrestler gets the title and not a total diva, i'm a happy fan

[NWK2000]

I also think Paige being out of character and meek was her simply being respectful to a woman who has legitimately been the best Diva in years, she would've looked like a complete bitch if she trash talked the champ on her first night on Raw. Now though, I think we're gonna get some more stuff that involves the Paige we're used to.

[Earth Child]

This was the first RAW I watched in a VERY long time and really enjoyed myself. Maybe I'll watch it again next week.

[Big Red Machine]

This was the first RAW I watched in a VERY long time and really enjoyed myself. Maybe I'll watch it again next week.

You have missed a lot. The show has been pretty awesome for the past two months.

[badnewzxl]

yet this is sooo much better than naomi, or brie, or natalya winning the title, who, IMO, are not really title worthy

But they could have done SOO much more with AJ. Nikki had an "unresolved" win over her, as did Naomi. Alicia Fox could have been built into something (and she really deserves it with how much she has improved). Then, of course, you have the Tamina program. They could have extended AJ's run until Summer Slam and done the same thing with Paige the night after Summer Slam, except that you give Paige time to drop the NXT Women's Title and AJ's claim to have beaten the whole division is stronger if she has random wins over girls like Rosa and Layla where she has actually beaten them instead of a fourteen woman clusterf*ck.

of course they could, but what's the point in having AJ keep defeating everyone, sure Naomi and Nikki may have had wins in the past over AJ, so what? AJ was 5 days short from 300 days of defending the title and beating every total diva out there. With Paige at least (1) new face credible because we haven't seen AJ beat her over and over again (2) keeps the title away from the total divas. I agree that i didn't like the execution of the segment, but i'm 100% behind the title change now. Any day that a real wrestler gets the title and not a total diva, i'm a happy fan

Good point; Naomi was the only one who had the fans even remotely interested and that went away when she got injured. BRM's right; they COULD have rebuilt Naomi, but they didn't so here we are....

[Earth Child]

This was the first RAW I watched in a VERY long time and really enjoyed myself. Maybe I'll watch it again next week.

You have missed a lot. The show has been pretty awesome for the past two months.

I've been getting the general gist from reading your reviews.