BRM Reviews the 2/19/2015 Smackdown (bad)

[Big Red Machine]

MIZ PROMO- good.

DANIEL BRYAN vs. THE MIZ (w/Damien Miz-Dow)- no rating. Good segment.
Miz sent Miz-Dow to the back to get some heat, but then Dragon pretty much squashed Miz.
One of the biggest problems WWE has had over the past nine months is an inability to weave things together. They rarely ever kill two birds with one stone. They look at every feud in isolation, and as a result, each segment is used to only build up one story. Every Usos segment is has either been them wrestling the guys they are feuding with (either in a singles or a tag), or them doing commentary for a match involving guys they are feuding with, or their opponents doing commentary on their match, or their opponents jumping them after a match, but unless they are wrestling the guys they are feuding with, their opponents are never relevant. They are just interchangeable “INSERT WRESTLER HERE.”
Here, WWE had two goals: To give Bryan a strong win, and to do a Miz/Miz-Dow segment, and they accomplished both of those things in one segment. They really need to this more.

KANE vs. RYBACK- 4/10

R-TRUTH vs. BAD NEW BARRETT- 2/10
Dean Ambrose was on commentary to put over the IC Title. Michael Cole asked Ambrose how he could possibly think that forcing Barrett to sign the contract the way he did could be legal (and I got the sense that Cole did this on orders from Vince because Saxton flubbed the question). Ambrose’s response was that he went to WWE.com and saw that the match was official, so what he did must have been legal… which makes the company’s lawyers look like complete and total idiots.
The match was okay until its idiotic finish, which saw Ambrose turn his back on the match. For some reason this bothered Barrett, who then yelled at Ambrose, allowing Truth to roll Barrett up for the pin. Champion loses, and this match gets buried, too. WHO DID THIS HELP?!

BRAY WYATT PROMO- okay

ASCENSION PROMO- They said that Flair and Dusty came to Raw to talk about the past, which shows that they clearly didn’t listen to Dusty’s promo. Other than that, this was good.

THE ASCENSION vs. THE NEW DAY (w/Kofi Kingston)- 4/10

ROMAN REIGNS vs. LUKE HARPER- 5.5/10

ERICK ROWAN vs. BIG SHOW- DUD!
Show kicks Rowan’s ass. It was boring. In essence, they broke up the Wyatt Family so that they could make Rowan and Harper into jobbers to the stars.

PAIGE vs. CAMERON- DUD!
The Bellas were on commentary. They wore sunglasses so that they wouldn’t be blinded by Paige’s skin.
The match was short, but nowhere near as short as it should have been. There was no reason whatsoever for Cameron to get in any offense. Paige should have squashed her like a bug to build to the PPV.

RENEE YOUNG INTERVIEWS GOLDUST- good, but it would have SO MUCH BETTER if he had cuts this promo as Dustin, sans facepaint. Also, apparently they’re wrestling each other at Fast Lane.
WHAT THE F*CK?!
You know how guys sometimes take over the Tron to cut a promo? Well Stardust took over one of the monitors backstage so that he could speak to Goldust. WTF?

JIMMY USO (w/Jey Uso & Naomi) vs. TYSON KIDD (Natalya & Cesaro)- DUD!
Cesaro & Tyson cut an inset promo in which Tyson declared teaming with Cesaro to be the best decision he has ever made… while poor Nattie was standing right there.
RUSEV of all people attacks everyone, taking them out with one move each like complete and total jobbers. If you want to do this, have Rusev kill some jobbers, not your tag team title match at Sunday’s PPV.
Then he beat up the Usos some more. None of the babyfaces like Daniel Bryan or Roman Reigns or Ryback or Dolph Ziggler came out to help the Usos because they are all either afraid of Rusev or hate the Usos.
Maybe I’ve been watching too much Lucha Underground, but I also thought this made Naomi look bad. Her husband is getting his ass kicked, and all she does is just stand there and hold his title? YOU HAVE A WEAPON! USE IT! At least have her jump on Rusev’s back and have him fling her off and let her take a bump, too. Don’t have her stand there like a disinterested observer.

SETH ROLLINS vs. DOLPH ZIGGLER- 5/10
Mercury & Noble were barred from ringside for this match.
They wrestled for about a minute, then went to a commercial, and when they came back, Kane, Big Show, Ryback, and Rowan were all at ringside, completely killing my interest in this match.
The match was disappointingly short, to the point where Dolph losing clean feels like a burial.

POST-MATCH ANGLE- Mercury and Noble came out and gave Rollins high fives. That was awesome. Then Seth noted that they had the numbers advantage, so they went and beat the babyfaces up. Where were Daniel Bryan and Roman Reigns?
Also, this whole thing made the two earlier matches completely irrelevant, so why not just cut those matches and give their time to Rollins vs. Ziggler?

A bad, boring episode of Smackdown which I completely regret watching.

STUPID ANNOUNCER QUOTES:
1. Byron Saxton- “Seth Rollins is the one man in the WWE Universe who controls his own destiny.”
WHAT? How does this make any sense? Is Seth the booker now or something?

[cero2k]

RUSEV of all people attacks everyone, taking them out with one move each like complete and total jobbers. If you want to do this, have Rusev kill some jobbers, not your tag team title match at Sunday’s PPV.
Then he beat up the Usos some more. None of the babyfaces like Daniel Bryan or Roman Reigns or Ryback or Dolph Ziggler came out to help the Usos because they are all either afraid of Rusev or hate the Usos.

why would they? it's none of their business and it's not like it's the justice league back there, the only ones that should have done something was Cena or Reigns. Also, Rusev took them out by himself, are you implying that they should gang up on him 3 on 1 again? if two grown ass tag champs can't take a single man out, they deserve to get their asses kicked

[Big Red Machine]

RUSEV of all people attacks everyone, taking them out with one move each like complete and total jobbers. If you want to do this, have Rusev kill some jobbers, not your tag team title match at Sunday’s PPV.
Then he beat up the Usos some more. None of the babyfaces like Daniel Bryan or Roman Reigns or Ryback or Dolph Ziggler came out to help the Usos because they are all either afraid of Rusev or hate the Usos.

why would they? it's none of their business and it's not like it's the justice league back there, the only ones that should have done something was Cena or Reigns. Also, Rusev took them out by himself, are you implying that they should gang up on him 3 on 1 again? if two grown ass tag champs can't take a single man out, they deserve to get their asses kicked

At the point that you are taking out two guys on your own, it doesn't matter if they're the tag champs or not, it's still impressive, so why bury the tag champs?

As for faces helping each other: why isn't it the Justice League? Look at Rowan, Ryback, and Ziggler? They're not friends, yet they have been helping each other.
If Titus O'Neil can save Darren Young a year after turning on him, then guys who seem friendly enough damn well oughta be able to help each other out.

[cero2k]

At the point that you are taking out two guys on your own, it doesn't matter if they're the tag champs or not, it's still impressive, so why bury the tag champs?

As for faces helping each other: why isn't it the Justice League? Look at Rowan, Ryback, and Ziggler? They're not friends, yet they have been helping each other.
If Titus O'Neil can save Darren Young a year after turning on him, then guys who seem friendly enough damn well oughta be able to help each other out.

don't get me wrong, i don't agree with squashing the champs like that either.

Rowan, Ryback, and Ziggler ARE friends, Ziggler is now the Lil'Guy, Rowan hangs out with them because they accept them, doesn't mean they're also friends with everyone else.

Titus O'Neil is a completely different thing, this never applies to former tag teams, they have a past and used to be big friends. Usos could only say that about Tamina or Reigns since they have family ties or tag team history, but that's it. it shouldn't be expected that other babyfaces should come out to help them

[Big Red Machine]

At the point that you are taking out two guys on your own, it doesn't matter if they're the tag champs or not, it's still impressive, so why bury the tag champs?

As for faces helping each other: why isn't it the Justice League? Look at Rowan, Ryback, and Ziggler? They're not friends, yet they have been helping each other.
If Titus O'Neil can save Darren Young a year after turning on him, then guys who seem friendly enough damn well oughta be able to help each other out.

don't get me wrong, i don't agree with squashing the champs like that either.

Rowan, Ryback, and Ziggler ARE friends, Ziggler is now the Lil'Guy, Rowan hangs out with them because they accept them, doesn't mean they're also friends with everyone else.

Titus O'Neil is a completely different thing, this never applies to former tag teams, they have a past and used to be big friends. Usos could only say that about Tamina or Reigns since they have family ties or tag team history, but that's it. it shouldn't be expected that other babyfaces should come out to help them

Since when are those guys friends? They're cut promos together because they're booked in matches together. We don't ever see them hang out together.
If the Divas can all be friends (within face-heel alignment, of course), then why can't the men?

[cero2k]

Since when are those guys friends? They're cut promos together because they're booked in matches together. We don't ever see them hang out together.
If the Divas can all be friends (within face-heel alignment, of course), then why can't the men?

Since they all got fired together, it started a bond. Ryback and Ziggler are definitely friends, they're The Big Guy and The Lil'Guy. Rowan i'm sure he sees Ziggler, Cena, and Ryback as friends, because they accept him, probably not the other way around since they never help him out. They don't need to be together all the time to be friends

and Divas are all 'friends' because they're in that total divas show and forced to interact with each other and they all have to share a single lockeroom, it's easier for them to be friends, when they're all pretty much the same thing, they can relate to each other easily. and i'm not saying the guys can't be friends, but they're simply not, do you think Los Matadors hang out with Ambrose just because they're all face? no, of course not

[Big Red Machine]

Since when are those guys friends? They're cut promos together because they're booked in matches together. We don't ever see them hang out together.
If the Divas can all be friends (within face-heel alignment, of course), then why can't the men?

Since they all got fired together, it started a bond. Ryback and Ziggler are definitely friends, they're The Big Guy and The Lil'Guy. Rowan i'm sure he sees Ziggler, Cena, and Ryback as friends, because they accept him, probably not the other way around since they never help him out. They don't need to be together all the time to be friends

and Divas are all 'friends' because they're in that total divas show and forced to interact with each other and they all have to share a single lockeroom, it's easier for them to be friends, when they're all pretty much the same thing, they can relate to each other easily. and i'm not saying the guys can't be friends, but they're simply not, do you think Los Matadors hang out with Ambrose just because they're all face? no, of course not

I'm not sure that the Big Guy-Little Guy thing is actually happening. They only did it once. So that doesn't count.
As for Rowan, this whole "accepting him" thing is total bullsh*t anyway. When he turned babyface, he was playing chess with Paige backstage like a normal dude. And if none of the babyfaces accept Rowan because he is different, doesn't that make them all heels?
Ambrose and the Matadores? No. Ambrose is supposed to be a bit of a loner. The Matadors and Daniel Bryan and R-Truth and Sheamus? Yes. Yes I do. Why wouldn't all of the generally jovial babyfaces be friends?
And even if they aren't friends, why wouldn't they try to save someone from the evil Russian assaulting them. Where the hell was Jack Swagger or R-Truth or Big E. or anyone else who has stood up for America against the evil Russian?

[cero2k]

I'm not sure that the Big Guy-Little Guy thing is actually happening. They only did it once. So that doesn't count.
As for Rowan, this whole "accepting him" thing is total bullsh*t anyway. When he turned babyface, he was playing chess with Paige backstage like a normal dude. And if none of the babyfaces accept Rowan because he is different, doesn't that make them all heels?
Paige is a weird girl too, it's completely understandable that she would hang out with weirdos like Rowan. and no! of course that doesn't make them heels, not liking someone doesn't make you a bad person, you just don't hang out with him/her

Ambrose and the Matadores? No. Ambrose is supposed to be a bit of a loner. The Matadors and Daniel Bryan and R-Truth and Sheamus? Yes. Yes I do. Why wouldn't all of the generally jovial babyfaces be friends?
because that's not how this world works, i know WWE is a product for kids, but to think that every good guy is jovial happy and are friends is just unrealistic. A lot of people in my office are happy good people, doesn't mean they're all friends.

And even if they aren't friends, why wouldn't they try to save someone from the evil Russian assaulting them. Where the hell was Jack Swagger or R-Truth or Big E. or anyone else who has stood up for America against the evil Russian?
to start off, Rusev is not that evil to be honest, he just wants some respect for his country. And what would any of those guys want to go out, to get their asses kicked once again? nah, and if they did, they'd end up ganging up 3 on 1 on a guy, who are the heels now?

[Big Red Machine]

I'm not sure that the Big Guy-Little Guy thing is actually happening. They only did it once. So that doesn't count.
As for Rowan, this whole "accepting him" thing is total bullsh*t anyway. When he turned babyface, he was playing chess with Paige backstage like a normal dude. And if none of the babyfaces accept Rowan because he is different, doesn't that make them all heels?
Paige is a weird girl too, it's completely understandable that she would hang out with weirdos like Rowan. and no! of course that doesn't make them heels, not liking someone doesn't make you a bad person, you just don't hang out with him/her
Except that Paige isn't weird. She looks different, but she's not weird.
And yes, it doesn't make you a bad person, but it does make you a bad role model.

Ambrose and the Matadores? No. Ambrose is supposed to be a bit of a loner. The Matadors and Daniel Bryan and R-Truth and Sheamus? Yes. Yes I do. Why wouldn't all of the generally jovial babyfaces be friends?
because that's not how this world works, i know WWE is a product for kids, but to think that every good guy is jovial happy and are friends is just unrealistic. A lot of people in my office are happy good people, doesn't mean they're all friends.
Except that with everything we have been told about the brotherhood in the lockerroom, it makes sense that they would be pals.
And even if they aren't friends, why wouldn't they try to save someone from the evil Russian assaulting them. Where the hell was Jack Swagger or R-Truth or Big E. or anyone else who has stood up for America against the evil Russian?
to start off, Rusev is not that evil to be honest, he just wants some respect for his country. And what would any of those guys want to go out, to get their asses kicked once again? nah, and if they did, they'd end up ganging up 3 on 1 on a guy, who are the heels now?
Why would they want to get their asses kicked again? To stand up for their country!

[cero2k]

I'm not sure that the Big Guy-Little Guy thing is actually happening. They only did it once. So that doesn't count.
As for Rowan, this whole "accepting him" thing is total bullsh*t anyway. When he turned babyface, he was playing chess with Paige backstage like a normal dude. And if none of the babyfaces accept Rowan because he is different, doesn't that make them all heels?
Paige is a weird girl too, it's completely understandable that she would hang out with weirdos like Rowan. and no! of course that doesn't make them heels, not liking someone doesn't make you a bad person, you just don't hang out with him/her
Except that Paige isn't weird. She looks different, but she's not weird.
And yes, it doesn't make you a bad person, but it does make you a bad role model.
and she acts completely different from all the divas too, the type of girl that would just be friend with anyone

Ambrose and the Matadores? No. Ambrose is supposed to be a bit of a loner. The Matadors and Daniel Bryan and R-Truth and Sheamus? Yes. Yes I do. Why wouldn't all of the generally jovial babyfaces be friends?
because that's not how this world works, i know WWE is a product for kids, but to think that every good guy is jovial happy and are friends is just unrealistic. A lot of people in my office are happy good people, doesn't mean they're all friends.
Except that with everything we have been told about the brotherhood in the lockerroom, it makes sense that they would be pals.
what brotherhood? and it just doesn't make sense that all faces are friends and all heels are friends. This sounds as bad as that TNA intro with the buses.

And even if they aren't friends, why wouldn't they try to save someone from the evil Russian assaulting them. Where the hell was Jack Swagger or R-Truth or Big E. or anyone else who has stood up for America against the evil Russian?
to start off, Rusev is not that evil to be honest, he just wants some respect for his country. And what would any of those guys want to go out, to get their asses kicked once again? nah, and if they did, they'd end up ganging up 3 on 1 on a guy, who are the heels now?
Why would they want to get their asses kicked again? To stand up for their country!
Except this feud is not about america and Rusev wasn't doing anything about america either.

[Big Red Machine]

I'm not sure that the Big Guy-Little Guy thing is actually happening. They only did it once. So that doesn't count.
As for Rowan, this whole "accepting him" thing is total bullsh*t anyway. When he turned babyface, he was playing chess with Paige backstage like a normal dude. And if none of the babyfaces accept Rowan because he is different, doesn't that make them all heels?
Paige is a weird girl too, it's completely understandable that she would hang out with weirdos like Rowan. and no! of course that doesn't make them heels, not liking someone doesn't make you a bad person, you just don't hang out with him/her
Except that Paige isn't weird. She looks different, but she's not weird.
And yes, it doesn't make you a bad person, but it does make you a bad role model.
and she acts completely different from all the divas too, the type of girl that would just be friend with anyone
And's how they've portrayed Nattie and Naomi, and the Bellas at times, too. Yes. Paige acts different from most of the rest of the Divas. She's not "different" the way Rowan is supposed to be: some sort o social outcast

Ambrose and the Matadores? No. Ambrose is supposed to be a bit of a loner. The Matadors and Daniel Bryan and R-Truth and Sheamus? Yes. Yes I do. Why wouldn't all of the generally jovial babyfaces be friends?
because that's not how this world works, i know WWE is a product for kids, but to think that every good guy is jovial happy and are friends is just unrealistic. A lot of people in my office are happy good people, doesn't mean they're all friends.
Except that with everything we have been told about the brotherhood in the lockerroom, it makes sense that they would be pals.
what brotherhood? and it just doesn't make sense that all faces are friends and all heels are friends. This sounds as bad as that TNA intro with the buses.
Except that was just a random brawl, while is the people actually conceivably being friends. I'm not saying everyone should be friends. I'm saying I want it hard to believe that no one would come out and try to save Usos, either out of friendship, out of American pride (and let's not forget the mean things Rusev has said about Canada, the UK, and presumably everywhere else the WWE has gone, too), or just moral altruism.

And even if they aren't friends, why wouldn't they try to save someone from the evil Russian assaulting them. Where the hell was Jack Swagger or R-Truth or Big E. or anyone else who has stood up for America against the evil Russian?
to start off, Rusev is not that evil to be honest, he just wants some respect for his country. And what would any of those guys want to go out, to get their asses kicked once again? nah, and if they did, they'd end up ganging up 3 on 1 on a guy, who are the heels now?
Why would they want to get their asses kicked again? To stand up for their country!
Except this feud is not about america and Rusev wasn't doing anything about america either.
Not at that exact moment (aside from attacking two American citizens), but the feud has always been about America. That's what Rusev & Lana's characters have been since they debuted.

[WrestlingJoker]

I haven't watched either RAW or SmackDown! in a long ass time, but I read Big Show turned on Kane, supposedly turning babyface again. Now I'm seeing he's teaming with him and fighting DB and whatnot. Did they scrap his turn or something?

[Big Red Machine]

I haven't watched either RAW or SmackDown! in a long ass time, but I read Big Show turned on Kane, supposedly turning babyface again. Now I'm seeing he's teaming with him and fighting DB and whatnot. Did they scrap his turn or something?

Not quite sure. He was poking fun at Triple H on Raw even though he was teaming with Kane. I think maybe that was intended to be the start of the split, and they'll finalize it either at Fast Lane or later on the road to WrestleMania.

[cero2k]

I'm not sure that the Big Guy-Little Guy thing is actually happening. They only did it once. So that doesn't count.
As for Rowan, this whole "accepting him" thing is total bullsh*t anyway. When he turned babyface, he was playing chess with Paige backstage like a normal dude. And if none of the babyfaces accept Rowan because he is different, doesn't that make them all heels?
Paige is a weird girl too, it's completely understandable that she would hang out with weirdos like Rowan. and no! of course that doesn't make them heels, not liking someone doesn't make you a bad person, you just don't hang out with him/her
Except that Paige isn't weird. She looks different, but she's not weird.
And yes, it doesn't make you a bad person, but it does make you a bad role model.
and she acts completely different from all the divas too, the type of girl that would just be friend with anyone
And's how they've portrayed Nattie and Naomi, and the Bellas at times, too. Yes. Paige acts different from most of the rest of the Divas. She's not "different" the way Rowan is supposed to be: some sort o social outcast
i never said that Paige is weird like Roman, but she's weird and different on her own way, she's the type of girl that in high school, would be friends with the social outcasts. Natty, Naomi, or either Bella are nothing like that, nothing.

Ambrose and the Matadores? No. Ambrose is supposed to be a bit of a loner. The Matadors and Daniel Bryan and R-Truth and Sheamus? Yes. Yes I do. Why wouldn't all of the generally jovial babyfaces be friends?
because that's not how this world works, i know WWE is a product for kids, but to think that every good guy is jovial happy and are friends is just unrealistic. A lot of people in my office are happy good people, doesn't mean they're all friends.
Except that with everything we have been told about the brotherhood in the lockerroom, it makes sense that they would be pals.
what brotherhood? and it just doesn't make sense that all faces are friends and all heels are friends. This sounds as bad as that TNA intro with the buses.
Except that was just a random brawl, while is the people actually conceivably being friends. I'm not saying everyone should be friends. I'm saying I want it hard to believe that no one would come out and try to save Usos, either out of friendship, out of American pride (and let's not forget the mean things Rusev has said about Canada, the UK, and presumably everywhere else the WWE has gone, too), or just moral altruism.
how is ganging up 3 on 1 moral altruism? there's already two usos and a woman wrestler out there, and you still want people to come out and help them. I can totally see the american pride part of this, but c'mon

And even if they aren't friends, why wouldn't they try to save someone from the evil Russian assaulting them. Where the hell was Jack Swagger or R-Truth or Big E. or anyone else who has stood up for America against the evil Russian?
to start off, Rusev is not that evil to be honest, he just wants some respect for his country. And what would any of those guys want to go out, to get their asses kicked once again? nah, and if they did, they'd end up ganging up 3 on 1 on a guy, who are the heels now?
Why would they want to get their asses kicked again? To stand up for their country!
Except this feud is not about america and Rusev wasn't doing anything about america either.
Not at that exact moment (aside from attacking two American citizens), but the feud has always been about America. That's what Rusev & Lana's characters have been since they debuted.
attacking american citizens is not an attack on america, its just coincidence in this situation, and this feud is not about America anyway. It's maybe because i'm mostly mexican, but i've never seen Rusev or Lana as super bad guys just because they're russian, i've actually think that america has seen quite discriminatory on the whole Rusev thing, and for once, this feud is not bringing this up, and you're suggesting a bunch of american jobbers come out to help two chumps that couldn't defend themselves and end up making it an america vs world thing again.

[Big Red Machine]

I'm not sure that the Big Guy-Little Guy thing is actually happening. They only did it once. So that doesn't count.
As for Rowan, this whole "accepting him" thing is total bullsh*t anyway. When he turned babyface, he was playing chess with Paige backstage like a normal dude. And if none of the babyfaces accept Rowan because he is different, doesn't that make them all heels?
Paige is a weird girl too, it's completely understandable that she would hang out with weirdos like Rowan. and no! of course that doesn't make them heels, not liking someone doesn't make you a bad person, you just don't hang out with him/her
Except that Paige isn't weird. She looks different, but she's not weird.
And yes, it doesn't make you a bad person, but it does make you a bad role model.
and she acts completely different from all the divas too, the type of girl that would just be friend with anyone
And's how they've portrayed Nattie and Naomi, and the Bellas at times, too. Yes. Paige acts different from most of the rest of the Divas. She's not "different" the way Rowan is supposed to be: some sort o social outcast
i never said that Paige is weird like Roman, but she's weird and different on her own way, she's the type of girl that in high school, would be friends with the social outcasts. Natty, Naomi, or either Bella are nothing like that, nothing.
Based on the way they are portrayed both on Raw and on Total Divas? Nattie and Naomi would be much more likely to be friends with the uncool kids than with the bratty, phony Bella Twins.
My point, though is that Rowan has said that he is a social outcast and that only John Cena will be his friend... so doesn't that make everyone else look bad if John Cena, Paragon of Virtue can see through his awkwardness to be friends with him, but no one else can?

Ambrose and the Matadores? No. Ambrose is supposed to be a bit of a loner. The Matadors and Daniel Bryan and R-Truth and Sheamus? Yes. Yes I do. Why wouldn't all of the generally jovial babyfaces be friends?
because that's not how this world works, i know WWE is a product for kids, but to think that every good guy is jovial happy and are friends is just unrealistic. A lot of people in my office are happy good people, doesn't mean they're all friends.
Except that with everything we have been told about the brotherhood in the lockerroom, it makes sense that they would be pals.
what brotherhood? and it just doesn't make sense that all faces are friends and all heels are friends. This sounds as bad as that TNA intro with the buses.
Except that was just a random brawl, while is the people actually conceivably being friends. I'm not saying everyone should be friends. I'm saying I want it hard to believe that no one would come out and try to save Usos, either out of friendship, out of American pride (and let's not forget the mean things Rusev has said about Canada, the UK, and presumably everywhere else the WWE has gone, too), or just moral altruism.
how is ganging up 3 on 1 moral altruism? there's already two usos and a woman wrestler out there, and you still want people to come out and help them. I can totally see the american pride part of this, but c'mon
It's moral altruism because you are saving two guys who are getting beaten up by someone who attacked them for no reason.
And even if they aren't friends, why wouldn't they try to save someone from the evil Russian assaulting them. Where the hell was Jack Swagger or R-Truth or Big E. or anyone else who has stood up for America against the evil Russian?
to start off, Rusev is not that evil to be honest, he just wants some respect for his country. And what would any of those guys want to go out, to get their asses kicked once again? nah, and if they did, they'd end up ganging up 3 on 1 on a guy, who are the heels now?
Why would they want to get their asses kicked again? To stand up for their country!
Except this feud is not about america and Rusev wasn't doing anything about america either.
Not at that exact moment (aside from attacking two American citizens), but the feud has always been about America. That's what Rusev & Lana's characters have been since they debuted.
attacking american citizens is not an attack on america, its just coincidence in this situation, and this feud is not about America anyway. It's maybe because i'm mostly mexican, but i've never seen Rusev or Lana as super bad guys just because they're russian, i've actually think that america has seen quite discriminatory on the whole Rusev thing, and for once, this feud is not bringing this up, and you're suggesting a bunch of american jobbers come out to help two chumps that couldn't defend themselves and end up making it an america vs world thing again.
Perhaps "evil" Russian isn't the right term, but that is the trope in fiction. He is like the Iron Sheik. He comes out and says that Russia is the best and that the USA (or wherever else they happen to be) sucks. I think it would be interesting to see the reaction he gets in front of a Russian crown (and I really hope it'd be a big babyface reaction), but for the purposes of us non-Russians who like our countries, he is a heel for insulting us and our country. It's not an America vs. the World thing. It's an America (and other slighted countries, but America is the relevant one right now) vs. Russia thing. They should have put him over Regal in the UK and over Yoshi Tatsu in Japan and over Christian in Canada and over the Colons in Puerto Rico, and they should be putting him over Kofi Kingston if they ever go to Ghana.

[WrestlingJoker]

I haven't watched either RAW or SmackDown! in a long ass time, but I read Big Show turned on Kane, supposedly turning babyface again. Now I'm seeing he's teaming with him and fighting DB and whatnot. Did they scrap his turn or something?

Not quite sure. He was poking fun at Triple H on Raw even though he was teaming with Kane. I think maybe that was intended to be the start of the split, and they'll finalize it either at Fast Lane or later on the road to WrestleMania.

I honestly have no idea what to say about that.

[Big Red Machine]

I haven't watched either RAW or SmackDown! in a long ass time, but I read Big Show turned on Kane, supposedly turning babyface again. Now I'm seeing he's teaming with him and fighting DB and whatnot. Did they scrap his turn or something?

Not quite sure. He was poking fun at Triple H on Raw even though he was teaming with Kane. I think maybe that was intended to be the start of the split, and they'll finalize it either at Fast Lane or later on the road to WrestleMania.

I honestly have no idea what to say about that.

Don't worry. Neither does anyone else.