OPENING SEGMENT- Ambrose was great. Cena was kind of a dick, but Ambrose called him out on this. Steph & Hunter showed up and tried to taunt them into fighting each other. They booked a triple threat tag team match for right now, which was…

JOHN CENA & DEAN AMBROSE vs. GOLDUST & STARDUST vs. THE USOS- 7/10
Great match, although I think they could have done more with the Cena-Ambrose story. What I didn’t like was the result. If Cena and Ambrose are going to get a tag title shot, that is one thing, but if they aren’t, they shouldn’t have beaten the champions. Also, the crowd was SOOOO into Cody. Did you really HAVE to beat him in his hometown? Will it really screw up their future booking plans (LOL, good one, BRM) to have Goldust take the pin instead?

After the match, Steph and Hunter come out again and Hunter announces that the Contract on a Pole match will be moved up to tonight. Wasn’t the whole point of making them fight to see who get to face Rollins that the loser would be so beaten up that Rollins would be able to pick him apart? Doesn’t not doing the two matches on the same night defeat the whole purpose of this?
This was idiotic.

Cole referred to the Big Show vs. Rusev match from Smackdown a few weeks ago as a “classic.” I haven’t actually seen the match yet, but I will bet one zillion dollars that it was not a “classic.”

AJ LEE & LAYLA EL vs. ALICIA FOX & PAIGE- 0.5/10
They do an inset promo where AJ says that she hates all of the other divas. She is supposed to be the top female babyface. Layla refuses to tag in. AJ manages to get the win anyway, then beats Layla up, too.

ORTON & THE AUTHORITY BACKSTAGE- Orton want the Cena-Ambrose loser at Hell in a Cell. He also wants to be the main event.

RANDY ORTON vs. DOLPH ZIGGLER- 7.75/10
They got a LOT of time, and escalated things nicely. Also, THAT FINISH!
Cesaro was on commentary saying he wants another IC Title shot. Well… I guess Orton is probably in front of you in line now, Cesaro. Also, Rollins came out to watch the match. Surprisingly, neither Cena nor Ambrose attacked him. Instead, he attacked Ziggler.
The more I think about it, the more they should have used someone else in this spot. The IC Champ wouldn’t have to lose, both eliminating the problem of “shouldn’t Orton be the #1 contender,” and allowing Dolph to not lose. I’m also not liking the fact that Cesaro seems to have some pretty legitimate grievances which he has been bringing up for two weeks now, but Dolph hasn’t even acknowledged them. This whole thing would have been better if they had given Orton a short win against a lower card babyface. Then they could do the same thing they did with Rollins attacking after the match, which would lead to the babyface in question facing Rollins next week on Raw, which Rollins would win clean to look good going into the PPV.
I would take the time they gave this and let Cesaro have a long match and a strong, clean win so he looks strong, and let Dolph cut a promo in which he addresses Cesaro’s grievances and says he’ll give him a title shot at Hell in a Cell.

SETH ROLLINS vs. JACK SWAGGER (w/Zeb Coulter)- 7/10
Seth works Swagger’s arm, Swagger works Seth’s knee and ankle. Orton gives Swagger an RKO after the match. Rollins and Orton get in each other’s faces yell at each other.

RENEE YOUNG INTERVIEWS DEAN AMBROSE- Renee is all dressed up like she’s about to go to the prom. Ambrose cut a great promo.

TOM PHILLIPS INTERVIEWS THE BIG SHOW- Big Show cut a good promo. It seems designed to set up Mark Henry screwing him out of a win against Rusev.

LANA PROMO- eh. She makes some good points about Christopher Columbus treating Native Americans poorly, but then makes some Native American stereotype jokes to make sure she offends everyone.

THE BIG SHOW vs. RUSEV (w/Lana)- 6.25/10
HOLY SH*T THAT DROPKICK FROM RUSEV!
The match was going well, but Mark Henry came out and ruined it via DQ. Rusev wound up cornered by the two giants and fought valiantly, making mother Russia proud, but got KOed by Big Show.

RENEE YOUNG INTERVIEWS SHEAMUS- Sheamus cut a good promo. He also called Renee “darling,” so I assume he is the one taking her to prom.

SHEAMUS vs. THE MIZ (w/Damien Miz-Dow)- 4/10

THE TOTAL DIVAS HAVE A SEGMENT WITH A GIANT OF A WOMAN FROM SOME OTHER REALITY SHOW, I THINK- nothing really happened other than Cameron being not nice. Did I mention that this woman was a F*CKING GIANT?

AHA! WWE finally got smart. They booked a match with the Total Divas… AND MADE SURE TO NOT HAVE ROSA WRESTLE!
NATALYA, BRIE BELLA, & NAOMI vs. NIKKI BELLA, SUMMER RAE, & CAMERON- 0.5/10
Rosa Mendes and the giant (not Big Show- I mean the woman from the previous segment) were at ringside because… um…
Summer Rae needs to be given more time in the ring because her character work is awesome.
Two weeks before the PPV, Brie pins Nikki clean in the middle of the ring, because these idiots apparently have no idea what a PPV is for.

RENEE YOUNG INTERVIEWS JOHN CENA- Cena cut a decent promo.

BRAY WYATT VIDEO PACKAGE- awesome. I forgot to write them down, but they played the Harper and Rowan video packages earlier on.

NO HOLDS BARRED CONTRACT ON A POLE MATCH: WINNER FACES SETH ROLLINS AT HELL IN A CELL, LOSER FACES RANDY ORTON: Dean Ambrose vs. John Cena- 3/10
Short, but part of me feels that was for the best. X on a Pole matches are never good (though I actually remember Dolph and Del Rio having a really good one a few years ago). Kane, Orton and Rollins interfered when they got annoyed. They wound up distracting Cena, which allowed Ambrose to get the win. The important thing, though, is that the right guy won.

I am very split on this Raw. I hated most of the booking, but the wrestling was great. From what I’ve heard, it was actually better than Bound For Glory.

NO HOLDS BARRED CONTRACT ON A POLE MATCH: WINNER FACES SETH ROLLINS AT HELL IN A CELL, LOSER FACES RANDY ORTON: Dean Ambrose vs. John Cena- 3/10
Short, but part of me feels that was for the best. X on a Pole matches are never good (though I actually remember Dolph and Del Rio having a really good one a few years ago). Kane, Orton and Rollins interfered when they got annoyed. They wound up distracting Cena, which allowed Ambrose to get the win. The important thing, though, is that the right guy won.

while the right man won, i feel like i've lost at least 60% of the excitement that HIAC would have, now i just know i'm getting Ambrose/Rollins (which i don't think we're getting the payoff yet) and (yet another) Cena/Orton. Before, i was at least intrigued to see the development all happen at the PPV.

I am very split on this Raw. I hated most of the booking, but the wrestling was great. From what I’ve heard, it was actually better than Bound For Glory.

never miss an opportunity to take shots at poor TNA

cero2k wrote:

NO HOLDS BARRED CONTRACT ON A POLE MATCH: WINNER FACES SETH ROLLINS AT HELL IN A CELL, LOSER FACES RANDY ORTON: Dean Ambrose vs. John Cena- 3/10
Short, but part of me feels that was for the best. X on a Pole matches are never good (though I actually remember Dolph and Del Rio having a really good one a few years ago). Kane, Orton and Rollins interfered when they got annoyed. They wound up distracting Cena, which allowed Ambrose to get the win. The important thing, though, is that the right guy won.

while the right man won, i feel like i've lost at least 60% of the excitement that HIAC would have, now i just know i'm getting Ambrose/Rollins (which i don't think we're getting the payoff yet) and (yet another) Cena/Orton. Before, i was at least intrigued to see the development all happen at the PPV.

I agree that it does take some of the excitement out of the PPV (as well as creating the booking problems I stated above).
The card should have been:

Cena vs. Ambrose- Ambrose wins in about ten minutes- then the Authority come out and beat both guys up. Then, just to be an ass, Hunter & Steph book Cena vs. Orton for right now. They can go 20 minutes or so with Orton winning (or more likely, because it is WWE, CenaWinsLOL)
AJ vs. Alicia Fox vs. Paige vs. Layla vs. Emma (and you could even throw in someone else AJ has pissed off) for the Divas Title, with AJ retaining in ten minutes
Sheamus vs. Miz for the US Title- Sheamus wins clean with a HUGE Brogue Kick in twelve minutes. From here you go to an angle where Miz-Dow insists that because Miz's face is damaged, HE should stand in for Miz in his matches while Miz's face heels. You eventually put Miz-Dow over for an undercard title (Royal Rumble seems like a good time for this), then have Miz say that HE should be the champion because Miz-Dow was just standing in for him. Miz-Dow points out that he won a lot while Miz lost a lot. You have Miz cost Miz-Dow the title at Elimination Chamber (with the logic "if I can't have it, then he can't have it either!") and thus turn Miz-Dow face for a match at Wrestlemania, which he will win.

Big Show vs. Rusev- Rusev wins clean.

Dolph vs. Cesaro for the IC Title- give them 25-30 minutes to have an show-stealing athletic spectacle of a match.

Nikki vs. Brie (and you can even do the dumb "loser must be the winner's servant for a month" stip if you REALLY want to)- Nikki wins in five minutes via cheating. This is your popcorn match.

Rollins vs. Ambrose- give them 40 minutes to just tear the roof down. Literally. Like have them tear the cell apart just trying to kill each other. MAKE THEM STARS, and make the people who didn't renew their Network subscriptions very, very sorry.

cero2k wrote:

Big Red Machine wrote: I am very split on this Raw. I hated most of the booking, but the wrestling was great. From what I’ve heard, it was actually better than Bound For Glory.

never miss an opportunity to take shots at poor TNA

Not until they stop deserving it. I'm really crossing my fingers that Joe will end up in ROH before he even Just so TNA will look even more silly. They have brought all of this upon themselves.