GIVING IT TO YOU RAW…What Happened Last Night (Oct. 27th, 2014)

So Hell in a Cell is done and dusted and the landscape we’re left with has Seth Rollins reigning as Heel Supreme.  Dean Ambrose is still hungry for Rollins’ face/blood.  John Cena is ready to dance with Brock “Gun Jack” Lesnar again.  Big Show took a dirty beating from Rusev.  Brie is now Nikki’s bitch.  Dolph Ziggler retains his title along with Sheamus…anything else?  Oh, AJ Lee is still crazy and Divas Champion.  And Bray Wyatt gets the save on Ambrose’s loss as well, which is why we start RAW basically where we left off.  Nothing fully resolved and geared to set the scene for the next pay-per-view, Survivor Series, towards the end of next month.

We open with The Authority coming out to celebrate and congratulate their ultimate heel, Seth Rollins, in winning his match at Hell in a Cell Sunday night.  He’s coming up so despicably well, truly a delight for The Authority to see.  Everyone seems pleased with Rollins’ progress, except Randy Orton.  Orton was a lot of fun last night.  He was all chomping at the bit, pissed that this pissant, Rollins is getting all this praise for being a little shit when he’s there, busting his ass and not even getting Title shots. It’s bullshit!  According to Orton, yet the Authority try to calm him down but he’s not having it.  “Naw, fuck this guy!...” And he pushes through to RKO Rollins and leaves him for dead on the ground.  Orton slides out the ring, disrobes and marches backstage. He’s sick of this shit!  For once, I could half believe him.  It’s definitely an easy storyline to back and with Orton’s clout and “douche-itude” and Rollins’ punk-assedness we are set for the makings for a nasty little feud.  We’ll see where Creative goes with it.

The first full match of the evening pits the retaining Tag Team Champions in Gold and Stardust up against The Biggest of Men, Big Show and Mark Henry a.k.a. “World’s Strongest Man”.  Well, this match served as the basis for Henry’s Heel-turn, which I’m not sure is entirely necessary but, Henry has proved himself a professional in the WWE.  He works with whatever he’s given and I salute him.  Yet, I’m not sure this is the best way to go with him.  I’ve read that he’s a good heel and he is but, given how we have the undisputed enemy in Rusev coming up the ranks, it doesn’t seem like a good time to have in-fighting but that may be the point.  Who knows.  I don’t really expect WWE Creative to go into too much depth in any direction but, Henry’s motivations for this turn seem petty at best.  I just think, with talent like Henry, if he’s gonna turn, set it up to make more sense than suddenly, "Big Show is jealous of me!"  How so?  Given what’s been presented thus far, the lead-up comes out of nowhere though we’ve been basically waiting for this moment.  This is a prime example of either underestimating the audience or being oblivious to basic story structure.  Though neither is good if one does this for a living, let’s hope it’s mostly the former because that at least allows hope for immediate turn-around.

In any case, next up is another match between AJ Lee and Alicia Fox.  Though, AJ Lee came out on top again, at least it was more due to the “dissension” growing between Paige and Alicia and not because AJ somehow climbed up and beat someone with 20lbs on her. So, that’s an improvement but it is starting to get a little boring with no one stepping up and acting like true competition.   Again, this may be a place where AJ should be reconsidered.  It doesn’t really matter which way they go.  They can keep things comedic and maybe have the Divas steal her title belt as a prank or something or it could get semi-believable with some pointed trash talk and belt hunting.  Whatever the case, they should try something that would at least be feasible in a bar as opposed to a playground.

After that, we get John Cena in the ring with the mic and then we get Stephanie McMahon in the ring on the mic.  Apparently, the name of the game is “Join us, John…” You’re only kinda liked, getting old…might as well live out your golden years in the lap of luxury and privilege and become...one of us.  Well, we all know that Cena’s got it good.  None of us, except maybe for the youngins, really think that Cena’s suffering.  That may be a mild source of contempt for we the audience, actually.  Not that we don’t want anyone to succeed it’s just we need that delicate balance of badass-etry, relatability, and honesty.  Whoever wears the crown has to keep it real above all else.  Cena’s been a great Face and stands by whatever he feels is true for his WWE persona but the We would prefer someone we could have a beer with and though I’m sure that’s not impossible with Cena, one just gets the feeling that you’ll always be shaking hands with a figurehead and not so much a person.  The Rock may have gone Hollywood but you’d generally take him over Cena ‘cause, on a basic level, he keeps it real.  Same with Stone Cold, same with HBK, Mick Foley, even Triple H.  When it comes down to it, these guys are brawlers and had to make shit work.  Cena came in when stuff was going already.  Groundwork was laid.  He comes off cookie-cutter and we like brass knuckles.   You see what I mean?  But, it’s because of that, that the ploy to overtly turn Cena wasn’t compelling.  He’s not going to.  Cena will be Face to the end and even if he turned, we’d just be like “Aw, they just ran out of ideas…”  Whichever, anyway, this all leads to Triple H saying you better think about the future but in the meantime, get ready for Survivor Series ‘cause it’s gonna be You vs. Us.

To follow, we have The Usos, entertain and bedazzle their way through The Miz and Damien “Mizdow”.  This was a basic comedic relief match that was well executed as usual so, no complaints.  It simply was what it was.  You get your money’s worth.  The Usos make up for the HIAC loss but still stay on course to regain the title eventually.

Then, we have the return of Ryback and I’m glad to see him back.  I don’t know if he just pissed someone off earlier, lost focus or what culmination of things came about, outside of injury, to put him on his previous track but I’m glad the WWE is willing to give him a do-over.  Given the state of things, it can’t really hurt.  He returns at a good time to reestablish himself on solid ground and seeing how he decimated Bo Dallas in his “Welcome Back” match, I doubt that’ll be hard.  Just by looking at him, this is how he should be booked.  He’s a monstrous guy that most would have no part of and he should be played as such.  People should think twice and gulp when having to deal with him unless they’re in his same weight class and even then, he shouldn’t be taken lightly.  There’s plenty of potential here, against Rusev, against Mark Henry, Big Show, Sheamus and definitely Roman Reigns upon his return.  They can get a lot out of this guy if they play him right and I think it only behooves business to do so.

We get increasingly engaging as the night goes on with the next match-up being between Dean Ambrose and Cesaro.  Now, this is what I like to see.  You do good, you get rewarded and I believe Cesaro, having done the work, is getting the due and respect he deserves.  Granted, he was simply out-psychoed by Dean Ambrose to set up the beginnings of his rivalry with Bray Wyatt.  The booking was telling in my opinion.  He’s out there with Dean Ambrose at least.  That’s better than going at it with The Miz again, even if you're just pounced on by some loony.   Though I would have liked to see more of a match, I do like the suspense being created between Ambrose and Bray Wyatt and I’m actually looking forward to how their rivalry evolves.

Moving along, we get into another Divas match with Nikki Bella and her now “personal assistant” Brie trailing behind, up against Naomi for a singles match.  I’m not really sure what they plan to do with these chicks.  I think Naomi is being underused given her athleticism and what the WWE is leaning in favor of just seems like their doing their top Faces a favor.  Some instance of sympathy is conjured when we see Brie being forced to assist her sister during the match by distracting Naomi so Nikki can get the win but, whether they’re actually going to play up Nikki’s Heel-itude or simply sprinkle bitchery about at leisure remains to be seen.  Suppose we’ll see…

In any case we’re brought to Dad/Korporate Kane’s, “I don’t care for who you’re hanging out with…” match against Dolph Ziggler.  With Survivor Series coming up and Cena being put in the underdog position, he’s looking for supporters and Ziggler, believe it or not, has been solid when it counts of late.  To be honest, I thought the match between Ziggler and Cesaro on SmackDown was better than the one at HIAC but regardless, like Cesaro, Ziggler too is getting his due and no better is that illustrated in “fraternizing” with Cena backstage.  Well, being on The Authority’s side, Dad doesn’t take too kindly to those against it and so, Dad decides to give Ziggler what “fer”.  I was genuinely torn during this one.  I love Dad but since he’s a heel, it’s hard to say which way they’ll go.  Dad’s solid despite this and does put a foot up Ziggler’s ass but, Ziggler being shown as a scrappy fighter, for the most part, sneaks out a pin.  Yet, you know how it goes here.  You may have “won” but you’re still gonna lose.  And in Authority fashion, Kane and heel-eriffic Rollins come out and stomp Ziggler down.  Aw well.  Cena does come out to help his boy but, it all comes off a bit too little, too late.

We then come to the Main Event, Seth Rollins vs. John Cena.  Personally, I view this match up as a bit off, again due to the size difference.  Like when Rollins is up against Reigns, I don’t think matches like this should really last too long.  Rollins did do his part in deciding that now is the time to play up his injuries from HIAC in a ploy to play off sympathies but I don’t think Cena fell for it, as he shouldn’t have.  I wouldn’t and I think I’m pretty all right in terms of quality people.  That punk deserves anything he gets and he’s playing his character perfectly.   I hope he takes notes from Triple H and learns to love the hate. 

Anyway, it’s not a bad match, technically speaking; they trade good blows, give it a good go but again, I’m thinking the whole time, “Just kick his ass!” Cena’s gotta have at least 50lbs on him.  Put him in a trashcan!  But no, we need to stir up some suspense so the blows continue to get traded until Cena locks Rollins up in a STF and Dad, being the great heel he is, comes in and busts it all up.  Yes, Cena wins by disqualification but that doesn’t stop a brawl from breaking out.  Ziggler comes out first to back up Cena but Jaime Noble and Joey Mercury, who are starting to get their fair share of TV time, head out to stomp out Ziggler.  Well, Ziggler might as well have gotten hit by a pitch because the benches clear and everyone that’s available comes out and goes to town.  

You can’t even tell who’s with who.  At least in baseball, you got uniforms.  Surprised the Divas didn’t spill out too.  It’s absolute bedlam for a couple minutes.  Standard Heels do heel business and those deemed Face or borderline take to whomever doesn’t have a partner.  Cena regains some of his senses and decides to squash Heath Slater (I’m sure he had it coming) and Bo Dallas (everyone’s fine with that) to make a final statement to The Authority who decide to stroll out and watch yet another one of these.   Well, that’s life in the WWE.   We’ll see what’s up next, come SmackDown.

See You Saturday This Time Around,

-Nicole Alexis.