BATISTA PROMO- FANTASTIC
He says he loves WWE and loves wrestling but he didn’t come back to be liked; he came back to be champ, and everyone will have to deal with it. He says that it is ridiculous that people chant for “195 pound weaklings.” He says he will “destroy all of your heroes” on the way to winning the WWE Title at Wrestlemania.
Ziggler comes out and tells Dave that he can’t tell the fans who to cheer for (which he really didn’t do), then Dolph challenges Batista to match and Batista accepts. Dolph gives Dave a dropkick.
Turning Big Dave heel also guarantees we’ll have someone else added to the WWE Title match at Mania… which basically means either Dragon or Punk! YAY!

MARK HENRY & BIG E. LANGSTON vs. THE REAL AMERICANS (w/Zeb Coulter)- 5.25/10
Early on Swagger angered Cesaro by making an unwanted blind tag so Cesaro repaid him in kind towards the end of the match. Cesaro hit MARK HENRY with the Gotch-style Neutralizer!

VICKIE, DEL RIO, & SHEAMUS BACKSTAGE- decent.

ALBERTO DEL RIO vs. SHEAMUS- 5.5/10
Christian comes out in a black shirt, a blazer, and sunglasses. Yeah. He's definitely going heel. I could go for Sheamus vs. Christian at Mania.
Del Rio and Sheamus have a good little match with Del Rio working over Sheamus' ribs. Sheamus locks on the cloverleaf but Christian attacks him from behind, causing a DQ. They brawl a bit with Sheamus getting the better of it. Then Del Rio jumps Sheamus but Sheamus gives him a Brogue Kick... and then Christian gets back in the ring and gives Sheamus a killswitch.

RUSEV & LANA LIVE PROMO- good.

SHIELD BACKSTAGE- I believe this is the first time they have brought up the fact that before this week, Reigns had only been pinned/submitted/DQed twice. This was a great segment.

BATISTA vs. DOLPH ZIGGLER- 2/10
Whatever the first thing was that Batista did on the outside to get his heat looked really hokey, like Dolph just fell down. Batista proceeded to work over Dolph's knee, but once Dolph started to make his comeback he completely stopped selling it. I wonder if this might have contributed to WWE editing out pro-Ziggler chants in this match (which has to be a slap ion the face to Dolph after they specifically had him cut a promo where he told Batista "you don't tell the fans who to cheer for").

BRAY WYATT PROMO- AWESOME!
Then the Shield show up (with Ambrose leading the way) and they have a staredown., but Hunter shows up and says that he won't let them give this match away with no build. He books the match for Raw and orders the Shield to "stand down." Bray laughs and says "You heard your daddy."
Ambrose and Rollins dive onto Harper and Rowan, then quickly get back into the ring and now Bray is faced with three on one odds, but he just walks away... and the Shield lets him. Hunter also seems to have disappeared. You would think he would show up with tons of security or something to enforce his orders.

WWE DIVAS TITLE MATCH: AJ Lee(c) (w/Tamina) vs. Cameron- DUD!
And the Total Divas hype is back. To hype up "Cameron" they played a video package including clips of her CALLING HERSELF BY HER REAL NAME!
Props to the dude with the "I paid to see AJ Lee" sign. Hopefully someone in WWE takes note of this. AJ is the draw. Not the f*cking Total Divas.
The match was pathetically short and AJ just squashed Cameron, doing nothing for anyone.


KANE & THE NEW AGE OUTLAWS vs. DANIEL BRYAN & THE USOS-6/10
They really rushed through the entrances here. These guys did the best they could with the time they had. Dragon pins one of Hunter's buddies, and the show goes off the air with everyone chanting "YES!"

Lots of recap on this show, but that was expected. Nothing here was unnecessary, either. They just didn't have time because of all of the recaps. Still, that doesn't change the fact that the wrestling here really wasn't that good. Try to watch the Bray Wyatt promo if you can, though.

SHIELD BACKSTAGE- I believe this is the first time they have brought up the fact that before this week, Reigns had only been pinned/submitted/DQed twice. This was a great segment.

I think so; at least the first time since he got pinned the very first time. I like that they don't make a big deal about it tho. That way, the fans aren't just looking to see who'll pin him AND he doesn't get the Goldberg heat EVERY undefeated wrestler gets. Plus, it helps keep him on the same plain as Rollins and Ambrose, whom I still don't think have been given their chance to really stand out (I'm still waiting for Rollins to pull out all his high flying stuff and I can't wait til Ambrose gets time on his own to do his character work).

I am EXTREMELY happy with what they've done with the Shield....

badnewzxl wrote:

SHIELD BACKSTAGE- I believe this is the first time they have brought up the fact that before this week, Reigns had only been pinned/submitted/DQed twice. This was a great segment.

I think so; at least the first time since he got pinned the very first time. I like that they don't make a big deal about it tho. That way, the fans aren't just looking to see who'll pin him AND he doesn't get the Goldberg heat EVERY undefeated wrestler gets. Plus, it helps keep him on the same plain as Rollins and Ambrose, whom I still don't think have been given their chance to really stand out (I'm still waiting for Rollins to pull out all his high flying stuff and I can't wait til Ambrose gets time on his own to do his character work).

I am EXTREMELY happy with what they've done with the Shield....

are you good with the break up, especially if it happens now? or would rather not see it or extend it?

I'd like to see them remain a group through Mania, but I'm hoping for maybe a competitive triple threat for the US Title at Mania. Then the break up can come after then.

I do see them losing to the Wyatts again tonight and the rift between Reigns and Ambrose getting bigger. I'm hoping they let Rollins show a bit more of what he can do tonight, too; I want a Phoenix Splash, dammit!

badnewzxl wrote:I'd like to see them remain a group through Mania, but I'm hoping for maybe a competitive triple threat for the US Title at Mania. Then the break up can come after then.

I do see them losing to the Wyatts again tonight and the rift between Reigns and Ambrose getting bigger. I'm hoping they let Rollins show a bit more of what he can do tonight, too; I want a Phoenix Splash, dammit!

i'm a 100 with you, i think summeslam would be the best point to break them. not to copy tna, but a rift in the MITB match would be the best way to break them up with the big battle coming out on Summerslam (the US title i'd like for Big E to unify with the IC as the rumors have it) hell, to be honest, come extreme rules, I wanna see Shield vs Wyatts in a street fight or something along those lines.

on the phoenix splash, with Neville coming in soon, i wouldn't expect it :\

cero2k wrote:

badnewzxl wrote:I'd like to see them remain a group through Mania, but I'm hoping for maybe a competitive triple threat for the US Title at Mania. Then the break up can come after then.

I do see them losing to the Wyatts again tonight and the rift between Reigns and Ambrose getting bigger. I'm hoping they let Rollins show a bit more of what he can do tonight, too; I want a Phoenix Splash, dammit!

i'm a 100 with you, i think summeslam would be the best point to break them. not to copy tna, but a rift in the MITB match would be the best way to break them up with the big battle coming out on Summerslam (the US title i'd like for Big E to unify with the IC as the rumors have it) hell, to be honest, come extreme rules, I wanna see Shield vs Wyatts in a street fight or something along those lines.

That would feel too much like Sandow vs. Cody. They have been doing this right. Mania is the natural break-up point for these guys.