BRM Reviews the 6/1/2015 Raw (Promos: great. Matches: not so much)
Posted: Jun 2nd, '15, 00:04
OPENING SEGMENT- good, although I’m not sure why they are doing a second ladder match at MITB. Hell in a Cell makes the most sense, but they already had one less than a year ago (and you also probably can’t do HIAC and a ladder match on the same show. They did make the ladder match make sense, though, so we’ll see.
IF ROMAN LOSES, HE IS OUT OF MITB: Roman Reigns vs. Bad News Barrett- 6.5/10
So Hunter’s right idea was to book Roman against the guy who always loses? Really?
I think it’s the writing on the waistband, but Wade’s tights look a lot more like underpants than they do like wrestling gear.
ROMAN REIGN & THE AUTHORITY BACKSTAGE- now Roman has to beat Mark Henry to stay in MITB as well.
BYRON SAXTON INTERVIEWS NIKKI BELLA- Nikki said generic stuff but was interrupted when Paige showed up saying she wants the one-on-one title shot she deserves. Nikki says yes. Except that they said it in lame dialogue with horrible overacting on Nikki’s part.
RYBACK PROMO- very good.
WWE INTERCONTINENTAL TITLE MATCH: Ryback(c) vs. The Miz- No rating.
This match is happening because the Authority said so. If they want the belt off of Ryback, why not book him against Bray Wyatt. You know… the guy who beat him at the last PPV? Seems like a better choice than The Miz, who is coming off of getting beaten up on the pre-show by a comedy act
No Summer Rae out here with The Miz?
Instead, Big Show came out, swerved everyone by punching out Miz, then cut a good promo Ryback. This was all well and good, but if this was your endgame, when WHY BOOK THE MIZ MATCH?! By not booking Miz out here you would 1) save Miz from being made to look like a chump, 2), save the time required for Miz’s entrance, and 3) eliminate the plot hole of why Miz is getting this title match.
GGGAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!
KEVIN OWENS PROMO- F*CKING AWESOME!
They are pushing Owens’ victory last night as one of the biggest in WWE history… and it’s pretty hard to argue that.
I love the fact that Owens always brings up the fact that he put Sami Zayn out. If he keeps bringing it up in every promo, they could well bring Sami up to the main roster by having him return from his injury by running out of a crowd (in Montreal, perhaps?) and jumping Owens, and they could just continue their NXT feud on the main roster.
JOHN CENA PROMO TO KEVIN OWENS- also awesome.
Randy Orton is making his return to TV and taking on Sheamus… and we’re hearing about this for the first time over an hour into the show?!
NEW DAY PROMO- decent
DOLPH ZIGGLER (w/Lana) VS. KOFI KINGSTON (w/the New Day)- no rating. Okay segment.
I would have called this good if they just had Dolph win by DQ. There was no reason to beat Kofi here if they were setting up a six man tag.
POST-MATCH ANGLE- The New Day all beat Dolph down, but the Prime Time Players make the save! When we return from commercial, we find ourselves in the middle of…
THE NEW DAY vs. THE PRIME TIME PLAYERS & DOLPH ZIGGLER- 3.5/10
You learn something new every day. Today I learned that Titus O’Neil’s finisher is a Pumphandle Slam.
IF ROMAN LOSES, HE IS OUT OF MITB: Roman Reigns vs. Mark Henry- 4/10
ROMAN REIGNS & THE AUTHORITY BACKSTAGE- okay. So that’s why they did that post-match beatdown. We’re getting Roman vs. Bray later.
SONIC AUDITIONS- dumb and not funny.
Even more disappointingly, this would have been a fine place to do some sort of angle, but instead they gave us “comedy.”
WWE DIVAS TITLE MATCH: Nikki Bella(c) vs. Paige- DUD!
We got some bad action and then an infuriating finish. Is this referee mentally challenged? Their hair is different. Their breasts are different sizes. Their gear is different. WHICH F*CKING IDIOT THOUGHT THIS WAS A GOOD IDEA?!
RANDY ORTON vs. SHEAMUS- 6.75/10
G-D DAMMIT! They cut to a f*cking MITB graphic- the same one we’ve already seen a million times tonight… IN THE MIDDLE OF THE F*CKING MATCH!
Silly, naïve BRM actually thought we’d get 15-20 minutes and a clean finish. I don’t know what possessed me to think that, but that’s what I thought from the moment the match was first announced until Sheamus grabbed that damn chair.
Instead, Orton gets beaten down his first night back to set up a feud between him and Sheamus which will lead to them meeting in… a ladder match with something entirely unrelated on the line and with six other wrestlers in it.
RUSEV PROMO- AWESOME! I had actually typed out a whole thing about how sorry I felt for Rusev during this promo… and they he fired back with that determined and slightly evil “and I will get it all back!” and made it all a heel promo. Awesome!
BO DALLAS vs. ADRIAN NEVILLE- 3/10, but REALLY good for what it was.
I liked the way that Bo’s short pre-match promo both told us how this match would be different from last night’s and also set the tone for Bo’s offense tonight.
WINNER IS IN MITB: Roman Reigns vs. Bray Wyatt- 6.5/10
Well… it closes out the story of the evening well enough.
POST-MATCH- Roman Reigns apparently lent Dean his sound system hacker to play his music at the right time to show up and save Roman from a potential beatdown.
The matches were all eh or worse, but there were some freakin’ awesome promos on this week’s show. As a whole, the show was enjoyable and flew by rather quickly.
IF ROMAN LOSES, HE IS OUT OF MITB: Roman Reigns vs. Bad News Barrett- 6.5/10
So Hunter’s right idea was to book Roman against the guy who always loses? Really?
I think it’s the writing on the waistband, but Wade’s tights look a lot more like underpants than they do like wrestling gear.
ROMAN REIGN & THE AUTHORITY BACKSTAGE- now Roman has to beat Mark Henry to stay in MITB as well.
BYRON SAXTON INTERVIEWS NIKKI BELLA- Nikki said generic stuff but was interrupted when Paige showed up saying she wants the one-on-one title shot she deserves. Nikki says yes. Except that they said it in lame dialogue with horrible overacting on Nikki’s part.
RYBACK PROMO- very good.
WWE INTERCONTINENTAL TITLE MATCH: Ryback(c) vs. The Miz- No rating.
This match is happening because the Authority said so. If they want the belt off of Ryback, why not book him against Bray Wyatt. You know… the guy who beat him at the last PPV? Seems like a better choice than The Miz, who is coming off of getting beaten up on the pre-show by a comedy act
No Summer Rae out here with The Miz?
Instead, Big Show came out, swerved everyone by punching out Miz, then cut a good promo Ryback. This was all well and good, but if this was your endgame, when WHY BOOK THE MIZ MATCH?! By not booking Miz out here you would 1) save Miz from being made to look like a chump, 2), save the time required for Miz’s entrance, and 3) eliminate the plot hole of why Miz is getting this title match.
GGGAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!
KEVIN OWENS PROMO- F*CKING AWESOME!
They are pushing Owens’ victory last night as one of the biggest in WWE history… and it’s pretty hard to argue that.
I love the fact that Owens always brings up the fact that he put Sami Zayn out. If he keeps bringing it up in every promo, they could well bring Sami up to the main roster by having him return from his injury by running out of a crowd (in Montreal, perhaps?) and jumping Owens, and they could just continue their NXT feud on the main roster.
JOHN CENA PROMO TO KEVIN OWENS- also awesome.
Randy Orton is making his return to TV and taking on Sheamus… and we’re hearing about this for the first time over an hour into the show?!
NEW DAY PROMO- decent
DOLPH ZIGGLER (w/Lana) VS. KOFI KINGSTON (w/the New Day)- no rating. Okay segment.
I would have called this good if they just had Dolph win by DQ. There was no reason to beat Kofi here if they were setting up a six man tag.
POST-MATCH ANGLE- The New Day all beat Dolph down, but the Prime Time Players make the save! When we return from commercial, we find ourselves in the middle of…
THE NEW DAY vs. THE PRIME TIME PLAYERS & DOLPH ZIGGLER- 3.5/10
You learn something new every day. Today I learned that Titus O’Neil’s finisher is a Pumphandle Slam.
IF ROMAN LOSES, HE IS OUT OF MITB: Roman Reigns vs. Mark Henry- 4/10
ROMAN REIGNS & THE AUTHORITY BACKSTAGE- okay. So that’s why they did that post-match beatdown. We’re getting Roman vs. Bray later.
SONIC AUDITIONS- dumb and not funny.
Even more disappointingly, this would have been a fine place to do some sort of angle, but instead they gave us “comedy.”
WWE DIVAS TITLE MATCH: Nikki Bella(c) vs. Paige- DUD!
We got some bad action and then an infuriating finish. Is this referee mentally challenged? Their hair is different. Their breasts are different sizes. Their gear is different. WHICH F*CKING IDIOT THOUGHT THIS WAS A GOOD IDEA?!
RANDY ORTON vs. SHEAMUS- 6.75/10
G-D DAMMIT! They cut to a f*cking MITB graphic- the same one we’ve already seen a million times tonight… IN THE MIDDLE OF THE F*CKING MATCH!
Silly, naïve BRM actually thought we’d get 15-20 minutes and a clean finish. I don’t know what possessed me to think that, but that’s what I thought from the moment the match was first announced until Sheamus grabbed that damn chair.
Instead, Orton gets beaten down his first night back to set up a feud between him and Sheamus which will lead to them meeting in… a ladder match with something entirely unrelated on the line and with six other wrestlers in it.
RUSEV PROMO- AWESOME! I had actually typed out a whole thing about how sorry I felt for Rusev during this promo… and they he fired back with that determined and slightly evil “and I will get it all back!” and made it all a heel promo. Awesome!
BO DALLAS vs. ADRIAN NEVILLE- 3/10, but REALLY good for what it was.
I liked the way that Bo’s short pre-match promo both told us how this match would be different from last night’s and also set the tone for Bo’s offense tonight.
WINNER IS IN MITB: Roman Reigns vs. Bray Wyatt- 6.5/10
Well… it closes out the story of the evening well enough.
POST-MATCH- Roman Reigns apparently lent Dean his sound system hacker to play his music at the right time to show up and save Roman from a potential beatdown.
The matches were all eh or worse, but there were some freakin’ awesome promos on this week’s show. As a whole, the show was enjoyable and flew by rather quickly.