GIVING IT TO YOU RAW WITH SLAMMYS…What Happened Last Night (Dec. 8th, 2014)
So,
it was a busy Monday night being the last RAW
before TLC and the Slammys to be presented, as well. The WWE brought in Seth Green to help with
the night’s festivities and to be honest, I thought he’d have more fun with it
but, he came off surprisingly out of place.
Perhaps the wrestling backdrop just isn’t his bag (^_~) but he played
along fairly well, regardless. It wasn’t
really a night of thrills or surprises and the action was palatable. Yet, with so much going on, it was hard to
focus on anything so RAW appears to
get a pass, critique-wise, by default.
Since
the theme was the Slammy Awards, each match was kinda bookend-ed with a
presentation yet, I couldn’t really care less about who won what because, just like
any award show on MTV the whole thing basically boiled down to a popularity
contest but, if you want a breakdown go ahead and click here. I’ll blog about the “real” action.
The
first match of the night that we eventually get to is between Dolph Ziggler and
Seth Rollins. Since this was evenly
matched, I enjoyed it thoroughly and these 2 didn’t disappoint. Ziggler was ready to go and Rollins was eager
to please. Yet, with Ziggler on the rise
naturally Rollins goes to his dastardly tactics and incorporates J&J
Security to ensure some sort of victory.
It’s okay, though. I don’t know if
this will evolve into a full-blown rivalry but with Ziggler selling his ass off
at the moment and Rollins being the current Heel of all Heels, we can at least
generally expect good action when the 2 of them get together.
Next
up, the New Day continues to shine as Kofi Kingston throws a little gasoline on
the fire in a match against Stardust.
Apparently, The Brothers Dust and 2 of the 3 members of The New Day are
going to open TLC on Sunday so, this match was a nice little preview. Good action, creative moves, the only thing
is that I kinda don’t see the feud, though.
I get the feeling these guys are probably friends outside the ring. Which is fine, I’m not gonna knock
camaraderie but if the goal is to sell a feud, I’m just not seeing it so…yeah,
either have a sportsmanlike competition or get nasty, one or the other.
To
follow, my girl Nattie takes the ring as fair juxtaposition to the introduction
of Charlotte, Ric Flair’s daughter, up from the minor leagues to take a swing
at the big time. Well, I liked how this
match was more like a wrasslin’ match than I’ve ever seen with the ladies and
given who’s in the ring, it should be but, Charlotte
After
that, we get some intrigue as Bray Wyatt makes his way to the ring with,
whodathunk, something to say. This was
further emphasized by the fact that Wyatt, had to interrupt Paul Heyman going
on and on about Brock Lesnar in order to say his piece. He’s not happy. He saw his poor rocking chair laid to waste and now we, the audience, offend him
too. Well, Wyatt will have his sweet
revenge and it will come on Sunday.
After we all put on our best and stroll back home from a day of doing
what the Lord asks, we will witness true pain as he lays it upon the poor, lost
soul, Dean Ambrose. But wait…what’s that
sound? Could it be sirens, as would come
from an ambulance? We look to the entry
ramp and backing up is indeed an ambulance and in it, Dean Ambrose. Fitted with a neck brace that only serves to
chafe, Ambrose basically declares that he’s ready to play for
blood. We’ll see who’ll be leaving on a stretcher come TLC.
We
then have ourselves a sort of “let’s see what happens” match between Luke
Harper and Erick Rowan. I say that
because though, we have the fledgling makings of an off-kilter rivalry, nothing
has been done to really fuel this fire.
And what has been done, many of us are not sure we should take seriously
because it is tinged with the deranged.
That, I actually don’t have a problem with, to be honest, the more Ren & Stimpy-esque they are, the
better. For some reason, I don’t see
these guys getting too heavy, but I see them getting weird, strange and
possibly funny. They may get darker down
the line when their personas are more established but for now, I see them
simply needing to gain footing with the crowd and I get the feeling we don’t
really know what to do with them. And on
a side note, does anyone else find it creepy that the kids seem to be digging on
Rowan’s goat mask? I don’t know, to me
that would seem like a red flag but, I guess if it’s kept in context…Anyway,
the match wasn’t bad but yeah, for guys like this, you’d like some lead up but,
the way they handled it was smart in my opinion. I could be giving credit where it isn’t due
but the lack of impetus gets evened out by their “special” natures. They act like they know that TLC seems to be the theme at the moment and they obligingly try to keep in time. It’s like when Harper threw Ziggler at The
Authority to illustrate what side he chose to play on. They know they have to “play along” so to
speak but they do so in their unconventional manner. Harper brings a ladder to the match and his
use of which earns him a disqualification but it’s easy to see that he may
believe that’s what you’re supposed to do right now. It’s endearing, actually. They just want to fit in.
We
look to our playbills and see that we have Rusev and Jack Swagger up next and now their starting to get this feud
right. You don’t really have to do much
with these 2 given what’s already established and now with Zeb Colter
supposedly laid up with a busted leg due to Rusev, Swagger’s all gassed up with
personal vendetta and it works. Lana and
Rusev tried to do their Heel-ly duty of berating America Russia
Next, we have ourselves a 6-Man-Tag with The Usos and Ryback up against
Dad/Kane, The Miz and Damien Mizdow.
Well, there are feuds o’plenty in this match and they all get stirred up
a bit. It was actually pretty clear that
was the point. The match itself was
adequate but we’re really gathered here today to see the temperature get turned
up on The Miz and Jimmy Uso and Dad and Ryback.
Naturally, I’m more interested in Dad’s match because with The Miz…who
really cares? I mean honestly, he’s clearly comedic relief and so I see no
seriously juicy turn taking place but we might get a fun match. When it comes to Dad and Ryback though, I
just wonder about Dad. Though he looks
great for pushing 50, he just can’t take it like he used to and Ryback is often
set to “Steamroll” so, I worry Dad might get squashed because they can but, who
knows. They may make it interesting,
yet.
We
then go to another Diva’s match which is clearly just something to do as AJ Lee
goes up against “Legs McGillicutty” a.k.a. SummerRae. SummerRae is getting fairly decent in the
ring though she keeps the screaming and hair-flipping as heel-appeal. But it all goes down to the Black Widow in the
end so…there’s that. Seth Green sat in
on commentary but, again, I was surprised at how kinda awkward he came
off. Telling ya, I bet a bong hit and a
beer would have set him right.
After
some meandering, we finally arrive at the night’s main event in John Cena vs.
Big Show. I think I missed when their
beef got started. There may be none at all,
just needed a match with some heavy hitters and so, they throwdown. Yet, I really never noticed how small Cena is in
comparison to the Big Show. Of course,
pretty much anyone is but, it was almost comical how much Big Show towered over
Cena. Cena even pulled out the Carey
Elwes move he did on Andre the Giant from The
Princess Bride and straight sleeper holds him. I’ve never seen this actually work. I know it can, but I’ve never seen it, you
know, choreographed to be effective in a match.
I also don’t know what Cena’s trying to prove with all these up-and-over
body slams. Glad he can do it, doesn’t
mean it should be done. It just makes
everyone wince, and not in the good way.
Nevertheless, it looks like Cena’s gonna get the pin when Rollins and
J&J bust up the party and force the DQ.
Ziggler then enters the fray to back up Cena. Big Show regains his senses and knocks everyone
out. Rowan then comes out to say what’s
up to Big Show but Luke Harper still has something to say first. Then Show feels he should share something
with Rowan and Chokeslams him onto some “steel steps”. That appears to be Ryback’s cue to get
involved and he comes to Rowan’s rescue. Then Dad suggests that Ryback take
a seat and beats him down with a folding chair.
Elsewhere, Ziggler lands a Superkick to Big Show and Harper counters by
tossing Ziggler through a table. Cena
manages to get himself over there to adjust Harper’s attitude but Rollins looks
for the opening and lands on Cena with a Curb Stomp. To prove he’s a “big man” J&J hoist Cena
up for Rollins to execute the PowerBomb and Cena goes crashing through an announce table. Meh, I’ve seen worse…definitely seen better
too…
See
You Friday,
-Nicole Alexis.
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