BRM Reviews the 2/1/2016 Raw

[Big Red Machine]

OPENING SEGMENT- eh.
Paul Heyman informs us that Brock Lesnar is the “ninth mayor of Suplex City.” I want to know who the preceding eight were. Heyman cut a good promo, then Ambrose came out and cut a good promo… and nothing happened.

KALISTO vs. RUSEV (w/Lana)- 4.75/10
An okay match with a poorly-executed finish (both in terms of Rusev taking the move and the referee’s cadence on the count-out).

DEAN, ROMAN & STEPH BACKSTAGE- boring.
The WWE World Heavyweight Title belt is sitting backstage in a display case. Why isn’t Hunter carrying it around like a champion should?
Also, this area is supposedly Steph’s “office.” It looks nothing like any office I’ve ever been in. Most offices for people who do work have DESKS in them (like Cornette’s did in TNA or Bischoff’s used to on Raw). What this looks like is a set. In other words: it looks phony.
Steph tries to stir up dissension between them. They don’t fall for it. It was very boring. Then Steph books them against the New Day tonight because WWE loves to job out their tag champs.

RENEE YOUNG INTERVIEWS BRIE BELLA- fine
They give an update on Nikki, then plug the WWE Network. I can’t help but notice that Tyson Kidd got nothing of this sort, and he, too is on Total Divas, so I’m not sure why the favoritism.
Then Charlotte shows up to be a heel. Ric Flair is in the background and manages to not sexually harass anyone. I like to think this is because he has learned his lesson. Either that, or he is legit scared of Bryan and Ambrose.

THE USOS vs. THE SOCIAL OUTCASTS (Curtis Axel & Heath Slater) (w/Adam Rose)- 3.5/10
The rest of Meh-volution explain that Bo isn’t here because he is recording a rap album. There promo was painful to listen to. The reason this match was booked was to promote a match of a game called “cornhole” between these two teams this Thursday on the WWE Network. I have never heard of this “cornhole” game before, and I am afraid to Google it.

MIZ TV WITH SPECIAL GUEST AJ STYLES- perfect for what it was. More importantly, the crowd reacted exactly how they needed to. I particularly enjoyed the look of “is this guy serious?” that was plastered on AJ’s face throughout Miz’s rant.

BRIE BELLA (w/Alicia Fox) vs. CHARLOTTE (w/Ric Flair)- 5/10
I assume this is their way of putting off Charlotte vs. Sasha to Mania.

BIG SHOW vs. ERICK ROWAN (w/Braun Strowman & Luke Harper)- DUD!
Bray is not there. There was no explanation for this. I mean… I know what the real reason was, but could we maybe pretend that there is a reason. Or if you can’t come up with something, at least have the announcers say “Hey! Where is Bray Wyatt? If he’s not here, where is he? What manner of nefarious scheme could he be up to?”
So Big Show beats Rowan in no time at all. Then Big Show gets beaten up by Harper and Strowman, with Rowan able to get up and join in before the segment is over. If you wanted Big Show to get beaten up by all three Waytts, why didn’t you just have them attack him for the DQ instead of squashing Rowan like that?
The beating went on for quite a while. The Dudley Boyz, Kane, and Brock Lesnar are all currently feuding with the Wyatts, but none of them came out to help Big Show.

TITUS O’NEIL vs. TYLER BREEZE- 3.75/10
Tyler Breeze cut a good inset promo. I was surprised they let Breeze get so much offense in.

TRIPLE H, PAUL HEYMAN, & BROCK LESNAR BACKSTAGE- eh.
Well… there’s Hunter. On the show and in the building. So why is his title sitting in a display case in Steph’s office?
They tease Hunter vs. Brock for Mania.

We’re getting AJ vs. Miz on Smackdown. Could be fun.

KEVIN OWENS vs. DOLPH ZIGGLER- 7.5/10

TEAM B.A.D. SEGMENT- good
First Sasha came out to cut a promo. Then Naomi and Tamina showed up and seemed unhappy, but then said they were okay with it. I was completely confused as to whether or not they mutually decided to end the stable. I think the big mistake here was to have Sasha not say that she could handle Becky without them at ringside.

BECKY LYNCH vs. SASHA BANKS (w/Naomi & Tamina)- no rating. How good this segment was depends on where they are going for Fastlane and Mania.
The ref sees Tamina holding Becky’s arms behind her back and Naomi about to punch her… and doesn’t call for the DQ. He didn’t even eject them from ringside! Then they attacked Sasha and that was a DQ.
Becky saved Sasha, making Sasha a babyface. Turning Sasha babyface is definitely the right call. The question is whether or not they did it the right way. My expectation during the earlier segment was that Naomi and Tamina would attack Sasha after the match, turning Sasha babyface and setting up Sasha vs. Naomi at Fastlane which would be a win for Sasha as a babyface heading into WrestleMania against heel Charlotte. If that is their plan, then they should have given Sasha a clean win here in a big match, then had Naomi and Tamina jump her afterwards.
But… if they want to do a Triple Threat at Mania between Charlotte, Sasha and Becky, then the way they did it here was the right thing to do as it protects Becky from having to lose and instead of a singles match between Naomi and Sasha it sets up Naomi & Tamina vs. Becky & Sasha.

RENEE YOUNG INTERVIEWS CHRIS JERICHO- good.
Jericho says he will be “paying close attention” to the AJ Styles vs. Miz match on Smackdown.

GOLDUST & R-TRUTH MEET IN THE BATHROOM- terrible, although I giggled at Dustin slipping and stepping right into the toilet bowl.

NEW DAY PROMO- Boring and annoying, except for the joke about fanfics- everything from hinting at Dean/Roman slash-fic to Big E. warning the others not to bring that up by saying “we do not want to go down that rabbit hole,” implying that there is probably New Day slash-fic out there as well.

ROMAN REIGNS & DEAN AMBROSE vs. THE NEW DAY (w/Xavier Woods)- 6.75/10
Paul Heyman is on commentary. He didn’t say much of anything interesting. The tag champs got jobbed out.

POST-MATCH SEGMENT- Brock showed up. Roman and Dean got jumped from behind by the New Day. While Roman fought the New Day, Brock gave Dean an F-5. The whole thing felt extremely anti-climactic.

A very meh Raw made worse by what feels like a major waste of Brock’s presence.

[XIV]

My thoughts are as follows.

When The Big Show me as being beaten up by The Wyatts, my main thought was "a few days ago Big Show made the save for Reigns, Ambrose and Jericho, yet they haven't come to save him? What selfish dicks!"

I love Charlotte, I hate Ric Flair though the way he dances to Charlotte's music, just creeps me out, and there's always that feeling that he may just do something WWE doesn't like like sexually harassing a woman or starting to try and kick Alicia Fox.

Brock should have come out and destroyed The New Day AND Ambrose/Reigns. Because that would give him that unbeatable look.

I like that they're looking like running with Jericho vs AJ. Expect Jericho on commentary for Smackdown. He's done a great job of putting over AJ verbally so far.

[cero2k]

BECKY LYNCH vs. SASHA BANKS (w/Naomi & Tamina)- no rating. How good this segment was depends on where they are going for Fastlane and Mania.
The ref sees Tamina holding Becky’s arms behind her back and Naomi about to punch her… and doesn’t call for the DQ. He didn’t even eject them from ringside! Then they attacked Sasha and that was a DQ.
Becky saved Sasha, making Sasha a babyface. Turning Sasha babyface is definitely the right call. The question is whether or not they did it the right way. My expectation during the earlier segment was that Naomi and Tamina would attack Sasha after the match, turning Sasha babyface and setting up Sasha vs. Naomi at Fastlane which would be a win for Sasha as a babyface heading into WrestleMania against heel Charlotte. If that is their plan, then they should have given Sasha a clean win here in a big match, then had Naomi and Tamina jump her afterwards.
But… if they want to do a Triple Threat at Mania between Charlotte, Sasha and Becky, then the way they did it here was the right thing to do as it protects Becky from having to lose and instead of a singles match between Naomi and Sasha it sets up Naomi & Tamina vs. Becky & Sasha.

i don;t like that they straight up turned Sasha. I think Sasha is over enough that she could have gone in as a tweener or something not defined. I think that since they didn't overexpose her these last months, there is now a built expectation and aura about her. They could really user her as the Brock Lesnar of the divas division right now as in that chick that is tired of playing around with BAD and is finally focused on going for the title. If Charlotte is a heel and Becky is the face, just have her be Sasha fucking Banks.