BRM Reviews the 2/2/2015 Raw (awesome)
Posted: Feb 3rd, '15, 00:15
OPENING SEGMENT- was it long? Yes. But it wound up being pretty f*cking great!
The Authority is out to monologue. The “controversy” from the Royal Rumble they build up was The Rock’s presence in the match. Cole referred to it as The Rock “making sure that Roman Reigns wouldn’t lose the Royal Rumble” which sounds so heelish; like Roman didn’t really deserve the win, and that he wouldn’t have won without The Rock’s help.
Hunter flat out says that Kane and Big Show attack Roman was okay because he has no problem with bad sportsmanship. Rock interfering was not okay because he isn’t an active member of the roster. Hunter says it is his fault for letting Rock think he can interfere in matches and change WWE business because he let Sting get away with something similar at Survivor Series.
Roman Reigns got a big pop when his name was brought up, a bigger pop at the idea of him challenging Brock for the title, and an even bigger pop than that when he came out. That’s fantastic news for him, and for the company.
Bryan’s pop was just as big, though. He has trimmed his beard and has his hair tied back in a formal manner. He addresses the elephant in the corner of the room: he never lost the title, and hasn’t yet gotten a rematch. He wants one at Mania… and HOLY SH*T HUNTER SEEMS TO BE TOTALLY FINE WITH THIS!
Then Seth Rollins came out (also to a big reaction, with both loud cheers and loud boos)… and they immediately took a page from that old, sh*tty Impact playbook where they go to commercial right when someone comes out to interrupt someone else. Apparently it took Seth an entire commercial break to walk down the ramp. I will say that Seth’s “live TV, huh?” comment made me feel a lot better about this because they were actually acknowledging that this was live, but an effort was made for us fans at home (rather than the way TNA would do things, were it seemed that everyone just stood around for three minutes in the middle of an important discussion.
Rollin was a great heel, explaining why in his view, neither babyface deserved the WrestleMania title shot and why he did (he broke Brock’s ribs) even though it is clear that his case is the weakest because Brock beat him cleanly in the middle of the ring.
Hunter booked the following: Bryan vs. Rollins tonight, with the winner facing Reigns for his #1 contendership at Fast Lane… but only if Roman says yes. He did.
This whole thing was great precisely because everyone played the role most suited to their strengths. Bryan was the consummate babyfaces. Rollins was a cocky heel. Hunter and Steph were the devious manipulative heels (and Steph was especially great), and Roman was the quiet badass. The only time he said anything was when he accepted the match, saying he’d fight anyone, and when he warned Seth “if you come any closer, I’m gonna knock you into next week.”
Then we found out that Roman would be facing Big Show tonight, right after this commercial. Yes. Again. At this point I’m convinced there is someone who has pictures of one of the McMahons doing something very naughty and is threatening to release the pictures unless Reigns and Big Show physically interact on every single show.
ROMAN REIGNS vs. THE BIG SHOW (w/Seth Rollins, Jamie Noble & Joey Mercury)- 3/10
At least they were nice enough to start this during the commercial.
Huh. Reigns lost. After interference, but I still didn’t expect him to get pinned at all. It is a stark contrast to the Cena-esque way they have been booking for the past few months.
HUNTER & STEPH DISCUSS THEIR EVIL PLAN BACKSTAGE- good on one level, bad on another.
They patted themselves on the back for manipulating the fans and the babyfaces, and also explained why Roman had to accept the proposal. That was good. Unfortunately, they hyped up Austin’s live podcast with Hunter tonight by having Hunter brag that no matter what Austin asked, he would manipulate Austin just as easily. In other words: NO ONE SHOULD WATCH THIS PODCAST BECAUSE EVERYTHING HUTNER SAYS WILL BE A LIE!
CURTIS AXEL PROMO- terrible. The first thing he did was COMPLETELY BURY HIMSELF by saying don’t turn the channel,” as if this is everyone’s natural reaction to seeing him come out. Then the announcers buried him for this idiotic goof.
As I’m sure everyone guessed, he claimed that he should main event WrestleMania because he was never eliminated from the Rumble… and if you’re going to do that, why not have him show footage of Roman Reigns going over the top rope to the floor from the last match and have him claim that Roman has now lost the match?
Dean Ambrose came out to a big reaction and they had a brief brawl which ended when Dean dumped Axel over the top rope.
DEAN AMBROSE PROMO- AWESOME!
Among other things, he pointed out that he pinned the IC Champion two weeks ago and thus deserves a title match. It’s like competent people have started writing the show!
Axel jumped Dean from behind, but Dean quickly disposed of him again.
BLACK HISTORY MONTH PROFILE: ERNIE LADD- just like last year’s, this was great. The only thing I would have changed was to make it clear that it was the city of New Orleans (where the game was originally scheduled) that was treating African Americans unequally, rather than the AFL itself.
GOLDUST & STARDUST vs. THE ASCENSION- no rating. Good segment.
Ascension win, Booker stands up for them to JBL, and best of all… Goldust and Stardust argue… and this angle actually appears to be going somewhere! Goldust called Stardust “Cody!” to get his attention, and Stardust responded “don’t ever call me Cody again.” Not how I’d like to see this go, but it was very well done.
JOHN CENA PROMO- eh. I wasn’t into it
He got a very good pop, but I think Bryan, Ambrose, Rollins, and Reigns all got bigger pops. He cut a promo saying that the Authority tried to get him to quit because they cat fire him because that would make people mad. He then “officially welcomed” Ryback, Rowan, and Ziggler, back to Raw, which felt completely unimportant because they’ve been on Samckdown twice and on a PPV since they’ve returned.
Steph showed up on the Tron. Dolph cut a promo on her, so she booked some matches for them all.
LUKE HARPER vs. RYBACK- 6.25/10
CESARO (w/Tyson Kidd & Natalya) vs. JIMMY USO (w/Jey Uso & Naomi)- 5.75/10
Michael Cole informed us that Nattie has set up a double nate for herself and Tyson and Jimmy and Naomi, but Tyson is upset because he and Cesaro want to win the tag titles. Is it bullsh*t high school drama? Almost. But I think that if anyone could make that skit work, it’s Tyson Kidd.
Jey Uso distracted Cesaro while he was on the outside so that Jimmy could attack him. THAT’S WHAT HEELS DO! Other than that, a good match.
So Nattie is a babyface with a heel spouse, and this is an issue… but with Dragon and Brie it is never called out?
MIZ & MIZ-DOW BACKSTAGE- GREAT stuff. Also, everyone needs to listen to the first few minutes of Chris Jericho’s podcast with Miz & Miz-Dow in which Miz presents a BRILLIANT kayfabe explanation for this whole “stunt-double” thing.
This ended with Miz down being fired as a stunt-double… but rehired as a “personal assistant.”
CENA & ROWAN BACKSTAGE- Rowan says that he has been an outcast his whole life, and no one has ever stood up for him the way Cena did. Umm… hello? BRAY WYATT?!
They built up Rowan’s match against Rusev.
DOLPH ZIGGLER vs. BRAY WYATT- 7.5/10
A great match and a clean win for the heel!
HUNTER, STEPH, & ROLLINS HAVE AN EVIL MEETING- well… I guess it will be Orton vs. Rollins at Mania. The only question is whether Orton costs Seth the match tonight or at Fast Lane.
ALICIA FOX vs. PAIGE- 2/10
The Bellas were on commentary and Nikki cut a pretty fantastic promo on Paige calling her a hypocrite… and she’s kind of right. Once you start putting on a bunch of makeup, you can’t be the anti-diva anymore.
Paige won, but Alicia jumped her after the match and held her in a submission while the Bellas sprayed fake tanner on her stomach. That’s the sort of good, old-school angle I wish they did more of nowadays.
SIN CARA vs. THE MIZ (w/Damien Miz-Dow)- 4.25/10
Miz-Dow still wanted to be Miz’s stunt double and Miz would always tell him off, which always led to Cara getting the advantage and- eventually- the win.
BRAY WYATT PROMO- GREAT! But this poor kid has no idea what he’s getting himself into.
One fan had a sign that said “Eat Sleep Sting Repeat,” so I think we can safely assume this fan is a hornet in disguise.
ERICK ROWAN vs. RUSEV (w/Lana)-
Rusev jumped Rowan and beat the crap out of him. The bell never rung so it wasn’t a match, but no one came out to stop Rusev, either. Which really makes Rowan’s new (and only) friend, John Cena, look like a huge dick. Why not just have a match and let Rusev win? Would that really be so hard?
LANA PRESENTS A VIDEO OF RUSEV’S DOMINANCE- AWESOME!
The Russian flag above the ring misfired. The fans went nuts with happiness, while Rusev and Lana went nuts with anger. That was awesome.
DANIEL BRYAN & ROMAN REIGNS BACKSTAGE- Great!
WINNER GOES ON TO FACE ROMAN REIGNS AT FAST LANE TO DETERMINE WHO WILL CHALLENGE FOR THE WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE AT WRESTLEMANIA: Daniel Bryan vs. Seth Rollins (w/Joey Mercury & Jamie Noble)- 8/10
DANIELSON SPECIAL!
Bryan works over Seth’s arm, Seth works over Bryan’s neck. Bryan wins. Hooray!
DANIEL BRYAN PROMO- good. He says he'll beat Roman at Fast Lane and go on to the main event of WrestleMania. The fans all loved this idea.
An awesome episode of Raw. I’m not entirely sure, but I think Triple H may have had Vince, Kevin Dunn, and most of the writing team kidnapped and locked in a closet, and he just sat down with NXT’s Ryan Ward and wrote this show themselves. That’s the only explanation I can think of to explain the MASSIVE improvement in the quality of… well… EVERYTHING.
The Authority is out to monologue. The “controversy” from the Royal Rumble they build up was The Rock’s presence in the match. Cole referred to it as The Rock “making sure that Roman Reigns wouldn’t lose the Royal Rumble” which sounds so heelish; like Roman didn’t really deserve the win, and that he wouldn’t have won without The Rock’s help.
Hunter flat out says that Kane and Big Show attack Roman was okay because he has no problem with bad sportsmanship. Rock interfering was not okay because he isn’t an active member of the roster. Hunter says it is his fault for letting Rock think he can interfere in matches and change WWE business because he let Sting get away with something similar at Survivor Series.
Roman Reigns got a big pop when his name was brought up, a bigger pop at the idea of him challenging Brock for the title, and an even bigger pop than that when he came out. That’s fantastic news for him, and for the company.
Bryan’s pop was just as big, though. He has trimmed his beard and has his hair tied back in a formal manner. He addresses the elephant in the corner of the room: he never lost the title, and hasn’t yet gotten a rematch. He wants one at Mania… and HOLY SH*T HUNTER SEEMS TO BE TOTALLY FINE WITH THIS!
Then Seth Rollins came out (also to a big reaction, with both loud cheers and loud boos)… and they immediately took a page from that old, sh*tty Impact playbook where they go to commercial right when someone comes out to interrupt someone else. Apparently it took Seth an entire commercial break to walk down the ramp. I will say that Seth’s “live TV, huh?” comment made me feel a lot better about this because they were actually acknowledging that this was live, but an effort was made for us fans at home (rather than the way TNA would do things, were it seemed that everyone just stood around for three minutes in the middle of an important discussion.
Rollin was a great heel, explaining why in his view, neither babyface deserved the WrestleMania title shot and why he did (he broke Brock’s ribs) even though it is clear that his case is the weakest because Brock beat him cleanly in the middle of the ring.
Hunter booked the following: Bryan vs. Rollins tonight, with the winner facing Reigns for his #1 contendership at Fast Lane… but only if Roman says yes. He did.
This whole thing was great precisely because everyone played the role most suited to their strengths. Bryan was the consummate babyfaces. Rollins was a cocky heel. Hunter and Steph were the devious manipulative heels (and Steph was especially great), and Roman was the quiet badass. The only time he said anything was when he accepted the match, saying he’d fight anyone, and when he warned Seth “if you come any closer, I’m gonna knock you into next week.”
Then we found out that Roman would be facing Big Show tonight, right after this commercial. Yes. Again. At this point I’m convinced there is someone who has pictures of one of the McMahons doing something very naughty and is threatening to release the pictures unless Reigns and Big Show physically interact on every single show.
ROMAN REIGNS vs. THE BIG SHOW (w/Seth Rollins, Jamie Noble & Joey Mercury)- 3/10
At least they were nice enough to start this during the commercial.
Huh. Reigns lost. After interference, but I still didn’t expect him to get pinned at all. It is a stark contrast to the Cena-esque way they have been booking for the past few months.
HUNTER & STEPH DISCUSS THEIR EVIL PLAN BACKSTAGE- good on one level, bad on another.
They patted themselves on the back for manipulating the fans and the babyfaces, and also explained why Roman had to accept the proposal. That was good. Unfortunately, they hyped up Austin’s live podcast with Hunter tonight by having Hunter brag that no matter what Austin asked, he would manipulate Austin just as easily. In other words: NO ONE SHOULD WATCH THIS PODCAST BECAUSE EVERYTHING HUTNER SAYS WILL BE A LIE!
CURTIS AXEL PROMO- terrible. The first thing he did was COMPLETELY BURY HIMSELF by saying don’t turn the channel,” as if this is everyone’s natural reaction to seeing him come out. Then the announcers buried him for this idiotic goof.
As I’m sure everyone guessed, he claimed that he should main event WrestleMania because he was never eliminated from the Rumble… and if you’re going to do that, why not have him show footage of Roman Reigns going over the top rope to the floor from the last match and have him claim that Roman has now lost the match?
Dean Ambrose came out to a big reaction and they had a brief brawl which ended when Dean dumped Axel over the top rope.
DEAN AMBROSE PROMO- AWESOME!
Among other things, he pointed out that he pinned the IC Champion two weeks ago and thus deserves a title match. It’s like competent people have started writing the show!
Axel jumped Dean from behind, but Dean quickly disposed of him again.
BLACK HISTORY MONTH PROFILE: ERNIE LADD- just like last year’s, this was great. The only thing I would have changed was to make it clear that it was the city of New Orleans (where the game was originally scheduled) that was treating African Americans unequally, rather than the AFL itself.
GOLDUST & STARDUST vs. THE ASCENSION- no rating. Good segment.
Ascension win, Booker stands up for them to JBL, and best of all… Goldust and Stardust argue… and this angle actually appears to be going somewhere! Goldust called Stardust “Cody!” to get his attention, and Stardust responded “don’t ever call me Cody again.” Not how I’d like to see this go, but it was very well done.
JOHN CENA PROMO- eh. I wasn’t into it
He got a very good pop, but I think Bryan, Ambrose, Rollins, and Reigns all got bigger pops. He cut a promo saying that the Authority tried to get him to quit because they cat fire him because that would make people mad. He then “officially welcomed” Ryback, Rowan, and Ziggler, back to Raw, which felt completely unimportant because they’ve been on Samckdown twice and on a PPV since they’ve returned.
Steph showed up on the Tron. Dolph cut a promo on her, so she booked some matches for them all.
LUKE HARPER vs. RYBACK- 6.25/10
CESARO (w/Tyson Kidd & Natalya) vs. JIMMY USO (w/Jey Uso & Naomi)- 5.75/10
Michael Cole informed us that Nattie has set up a double nate for herself and Tyson and Jimmy and Naomi, but Tyson is upset because he and Cesaro want to win the tag titles. Is it bullsh*t high school drama? Almost. But I think that if anyone could make that skit work, it’s Tyson Kidd.
Jey Uso distracted Cesaro while he was on the outside so that Jimmy could attack him. THAT’S WHAT HEELS DO! Other than that, a good match.
So Nattie is a babyface with a heel spouse, and this is an issue… but with Dragon and Brie it is never called out?
MIZ & MIZ-DOW BACKSTAGE- GREAT stuff. Also, everyone needs to listen to the first few minutes of Chris Jericho’s podcast with Miz & Miz-Dow in which Miz presents a BRILLIANT kayfabe explanation for this whole “stunt-double” thing.
This ended with Miz down being fired as a stunt-double… but rehired as a “personal assistant.”
CENA & ROWAN BACKSTAGE- Rowan says that he has been an outcast his whole life, and no one has ever stood up for him the way Cena did. Umm… hello? BRAY WYATT?!
They built up Rowan’s match against Rusev.
DOLPH ZIGGLER vs. BRAY WYATT- 7.5/10
A great match and a clean win for the heel!
HUNTER, STEPH, & ROLLINS HAVE AN EVIL MEETING- well… I guess it will be Orton vs. Rollins at Mania. The only question is whether Orton costs Seth the match tonight or at Fast Lane.
ALICIA FOX vs. PAIGE- 2/10
The Bellas were on commentary and Nikki cut a pretty fantastic promo on Paige calling her a hypocrite… and she’s kind of right. Once you start putting on a bunch of makeup, you can’t be the anti-diva anymore.
Paige won, but Alicia jumped her after the match and held her in a submission while the Bellas sprayed fake tanner on her stomach. That’s the sort of good, old-school angle I wish they did more of nowadays.
SIN CARA vs. THE MIZ (w/Damien Miz-Dow)- 4.25/10
Miz-Dow still wanted to be Miz’s stunt double and Miz would always tell him off, which always led to Cara getting the advantage and- eventually- the win.
BRAY WYATT PROMO- GREAT! But this poor kid has no idea what he’s getting himself into.
One fan had a sign that said “Eat Sleep Sting Repeat,” so I think we can safely assume this fan is a hornet in disguise.
ERICK ROWAN vs. RUSEV (w/Lana)-
Rusev jumped Rowan and beat the crap out of him. The bell never rung so it wasn’t a match, but no one came out to stop Rusev, either. Which really makes Rowan’s new (and only) friend, John Cena, look like a huge dick. Why not just have a match and let Rusev win? Would that really be so hard?
LANA PRESENTS A VIDEO OF RUSEV’S DOMINANCE- AWESOME!
The Russian flag above the ring misfired. The fans went nuts with happiness, while Rusev and Lana went nuts with anger. That was awesome.
DANIEL BRYAN & ROMAN REIGNS BACKSTAGE- Great!
WINNER GOES ON TO FACE ROMAN REIGNS AT FAST LANE TO DETERMINE WHO WILL CHALLENGE FOR THE WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE AT WRESTLEMANIA: Daniel Bryan vs. Seth Rollins (w/Joey Mercury & Jamie Noble)- 8/10
DANIELSON SPECIAL!
Bryan works over Seth’s arm, Seth works over Bryan’s neck. Bryan wins. Hooray!
DANIEL BRYAN PROMO- good. He says he'll beat Roman at Fast Lane and go on to the main event of WrestleMania. The fans all loved this idea.
An awesome episode of Raw. I’m not entirely sure, but I think Triple H may have had Vince, Kevin Dunn, and most of the writing team kidnapped and locked in a closet, and he just sat down with NXT’s Ryan Ward and wrote this show themselves. That’s the only explanation I can think of to explain the MASSIVE improvement in the quality of… well… EVERYTHING.