GIVING IT TO YOU RAW…What Happened Last Night (Dec. 22nd, 2014)

RAW was the expected mixed bag this time around.  One could tell (those who have some knowledge of the matters at hand, anyway) that an effort was being made but, at the same time, it just wasn’t good enough.  What was presented was better than most compared to recent months but, the blatant problems remain and the huge question of how they will be resolved looms.   I for one feel that these changes are long overdue and have been adamant in voicing such.  And so, I can’t help but have a little smug pride in knowing that I was right.  Yet, I shan’t take too much credit.  The problems have been obvious and the general consensus is that changes are necessary it’s just “How?” and “What?” that seem to be the questions that are most up for suggestions.  I like how there’s an “open season” to these times in wrestling.  All it takes is a few good ideas to turn the tide of any revolution.

Our evening of RAW begins with Hulk “Ho-Ho-Hogan”coming out, in full Santa gear, to warm up the Minneapolis crowd.  He promises us so many merry treats for this Holiday Season.  The crowd humors Mr. Hogan in his shtick because given the prevalent seasonal themes, it’s the least they (we by default) can do.  As he brings his segment to a close, John Cena’s music comes on indicating that he has something to say too.  Cena comes out, praises Hogan for all his Hogan-ness and reminds us about his seemingly never-ending feud with Brock Lesnar,who might as well be figment of his imagination at this point.  Yet, seeing how he’s not here, remember how Cena doesn’t like Seth Rollins either?  Well, his is an ass Cena can definitely kick.  And at the mention of his name, Rollins makes his appearance with J&J Security at his side.  He goes on to continue to profess that Cena’s all washed up and that this is the dawning of the “Seth Rollins Era”, which I couldn’t help but chuckle at.  I mean seriously, I like Rollins as a heel.  He seems to love being a little shit but please, The Seth Rollins Era?   I’m sure most people on the outskirts of our enthusiast circles only know him as that other long-haired guy in The Shield if they know of him at all.    But I digress.  Rollins of course also throws in how we need The Authority back and yadda-yadda-yadda.  This all leads up to the announcement of the night’s first match, Rollins vs. Cena…again.

Well, these guys square up and go for it and it’s not a bad match.  It’s just…the basic problem that the WWE and more specifically, RAW is having.  There’s no real impetus for this match up other than Cena being the Main Face and Rollins being the Main Heel.  It’s “Tom” and “Jerry” going for it yet again and that’s fine but the difference is that Tom & Jerry were entertaining and their cartoons about 5 minutes long.  You know what you’re getting.  A Cena vs. Rollins match is becoming like going to see a play.  Once you’ve seen it, you really have to love the work to see it again.   I know that the nature of the WWE is like a traveling circus but the problem is that it’s televised and we’re basically watching them put on the same show in each town.  Sure, it’s new to that live crowd but we’ve been, done seen this already so, how do they keep it fresh?  To answer those questions requires a look at the whole operation.  Seeing how I don’t have all the needed information to make a thorough analysis, I’ll just say this about the match.  It was solid and served its purpose in guiding us toward a Brock Lesnar vs. Cena match up for the Royal Rumble but could you have missed it? Yeah.  Cena took Rollins out in fairly clean fashion with Rollins’ lackeys under their orders to mess things up where they can and in the end, Rollins’ dastardly deeds come to naught.  Nevertheless, you could have gone and loaded up your second load of laundry and not miss a beat.  And they wonder why numbers aren't great.

To follow, we have Fandango and Jack Swagger go at it for no real reason at all other to complete the "solid" that the WWE owed Fandango for his part in putting Roman Reigns over the last couple of weeks.   I say that because in a brief exchange, Fandango picks up the win.  Swagger’s beef with Rusev appears to be suddenly put on the back burner for Ryback to take up the spot of being his main rival.  I don’t mind the change but at the same time, with no real explanation of the change-up, the match simply comes off as something to do to help fill the 3 hours they’ve got.  Now, if the hand-off was made during un-televised live shows, fine but the Announcers should catch us up and perhaps some promo should be shown to the in-house audience during commercial breaks to keep everyone on the same page.  Yet, I get the sneaking suspicion that not that much thought was put into this and that may be an underlying problem WWE Creative is having in general.  You can’t underestimate us.  We’ll start wondering what we’re paying for and worse yet, why we’re watching.

Up next, we have some more filler in Adam Rose and R-Truth having a little dance.  The match itself wasn’t all that bad.  Seeing how both seem to serve more comedic relief than anything else, most watched this to see what would happen with The Bunny, who stayed with the Rosebuds in mild traction, befitted with a neck brace due to Dad’s (Kane’s) last 2 pummelings.   As for the match, Rose and R-Truth end up in a mock dance battle that R-Truth uses to implement a fairly clean roll-up for the pin.  Afterwards, the beleaguered Bunny goes to see if Rose is okay and all he gets is sublimation for his kind gesture as Rose takes the loss out on the Bunny.  He tosses our campy friend into the steps after Spinebusters o’plenty and leaves him spent upon the ground, confirming Adam Rose’s now “Heel” status.

We take a moment to check the playbill to see what’s next and see that’s it’s Big Show vs. Roman Reigns.  Well, this split everyone like the Red Sea.   Most of what I saw on the Twittersphere is that this match sucked and that the crowd was chanting “Boring!” through the first half.   Though, I wouldn’t say it was that as so much it was out of context.  The lead off promos that aired for the both of them didn’t’ whet any appetites either.  Again, Creative needs to reconsider how they present this product.  The Major Networks follow their formula and there’s nothing wrong with using a similar philosophy but what we as wrestling fans love about wrestling is that it’s not like anything else on TV.  It’s distinctly what it is, probably best seen as the original Reality TV programming.  So, in this, they can’t push these guys like actors.  It’s great if a wrestler can act, has stage presence but they shouldn’t have to be actors, per se.  Guys like Dean Ambrose and Bray Wyatt are talkers, naturally.  I get the feeling we can put ‘em on the mic and they’ll talk the whole 3 hours, if they’re allowed.   For these types of guys, have them cut promos and the like.  Guys that need work or have other strengths in certain contexts should be played accordingly.   Big Show can sell his shit but it can’t be stupid and I get the feeling that Reigns is in a place where it’s hard to say what is and isn’t “stupid”. 

Reigns, I’m sure, has to kowtow a bit more to the WWE because of his positioning.  He could blow-up but how that’s done, as we’re all seeing, will be a delicate matter.  He has to stay in favor because if he burns bridges, he could lose internal backing.  That could be used as an interesting storyline but for that, The Authority may have to be reinstated so…maybe in the future. Yet again, I digress.   My point being, even if he does have better ideas of how to present his character, he doesn’t have the solid results to be listened to yet.  So, he may have to “play along” in order to just maintain his position.  And there is the very real possibility that his maturity may be an issue.  I don’t know Reigns as a person.  From what I’ve gleaned about the interwebs, I would say that the real problem that may be at hand is merely him being relatively young.  I know, Ambrose, Rollins and Dolph Ziggler are all about the same age.  So is Rusev and they don’t seem to be having the same problems.   Yet, I wouldn’t be surprised if his upbringing has had something to do with all this.  As far as the smark are concerned, he might as well be part of a wrestling aristocracy.   Given his looks and lineage, getting a push may have seemed inevitable.  Another reason that we as an audience may bridle at him being made “Top Guy”.  He hasn’t necessarily been in a position where he had to work for it, I would say.  Not to say that hard work hasn’t been put in but, it’s the whole “starting from nothing” thing.  The ordeal, changes and hardens one.  It evokes respect for any who have had to endure because to suffer is a difficult thing.  That is why I said that the only way we’re going to get an honest response from Reigns is that in his training, he is put through the ringer.   And in the ring, he will be as well because we see it fit.  He will not attain until he has proven he is worthy to do so.  We the audience will make sure of it.  Creative better put him in some unfair situations that he has to overcome or put Ambrose in a position where he needs help because we’re going to have to see Reigns surmount some sort of adversity as well as be awesome, for a prolonged period of time, before we give him true favor.

In any case, as for their match, as I said, it wasn’t bad.   It was actually more intense than I was even remotely anticipating.  The interwebs was bandying about the rumor that in their first square-off since Reigns’ return, that he might have actually knocked one of Big Show’s teeth out with the Superman Punch but that sounds like fan banter gotten out of control to me.  Yet, even if it’s just kayfabe, these 2 were going at it harder than I was prepared for, which I enjoyed.  I think Reigns’ matches should be full-out affairs, if properly booked.  This rivalry has some loose makings but I’m not sure if it can really go anywhere, given the current structure of things.  Chances are, come next week, they’re both up against other people so yeah...they need to actually flesh these things out or just focus on wrestling.  One or the other because this “half-assedness” is only getting what you’d expect, half-assed results.   Nevertheless, these two do an angry dance which spills out of the ring and over to the Announcers where Big Show gets Superman Punched over the announce table and as he reorients himself, Reigns makes it back into the ring and gets the win via count-out, leaving Big Show livid.  This may have sold more if the rumor was better circulated or utilized as full kayfabe whether it’s true or not but, with an uninformed crowd and Reigns’ whole push in limbo, it didn’t receive the “pop” that it was maybe looking for.

Next up, Natalya has at Brie Bella in what was a promising Divas Match.   The one thing I have liked is how the ladies of WWE are being presented more as wrestlers as opposed to sexy attractions.   The Attitude Era did that well, I think.   The women were at the very least badass.  Now, it’s hard to say.   Nattie though, is a great wrestler and she was able to display that in this match and Brie Bella continues to show improvement.  Yet, it’s Nattie that comes out victorious with some creative choreography by countering a counter to get the pin.  Tyson Kidd was also on hand to “provide support” though the gimmick at the moment is him apparently crushing a bit on Nikki Bella.  Whatever the case, Nikki gets a little too close to the ring after Natalya’s win and she checks her off the apron to make her statement that she’s in it to win it.

Some fluff comes up afterwards with The Brothers Dust facing off against Los Matadores and their ever present El Torito, complete with “reindeer horns”.  I actually didn’t pay much attention to this match, seeing what it was, it was clear that I didn’t need to and that again, is something that the WWE and its Creative have to think about.  If they're fine with their filler and people keep watching, guess there aren’t any complaints but things seem to be going on a downward trend across the board.  I’m sure the New Year will bring plenty of changes…hopefully.  Needless to say, El Torito gets the win in hijinky fashion.

Following that, we have the Intercontinental Championship on the line again and Scrappy McScrapperton a.k.a. Dolph Ziggler goes up against Luke Harper in another stellar match.  Harper is certainly embracing his heelitude with creepy aplomb and I’m glad to see it.  He’s providing a strangely fitting counter for Ziggler’s glitzy, douchy charm, as well.  Harper was brutal in his attack of Ziggler, definitely trying to overpower our scrappy hero but "the Scrap” is just too strong with this one.  After landing a gutsy ZigZag, after what seem endless counters and reversals, Ziggler gets the win and the crowd went wild, for good reason.  Ziggler is my case and point as was Daniel Bryan before him.  True, the WWE Universe loves an underdog but both Bryan and Ziggler have done the work.  They went out there and sold their hearts out and by-gum, they made it!  And I’m proud of the both of them.  This is what makes the Human Condition and indirectly the WWE such a triumph at times.  Odds can be stacked against you, absolutely stacked, and with the right mix of gumption, hard work and resilience, they can be overcome.  Ziggler is Wrestler of the Year by the general media’s consensus because he did the work to get there or at the very least, sold it like he did.  Everyone else, take note…whether you like it or not.

We then come to a round of Piper’s Pit where “Rowdy” Roddy Piper gets in the ring to question Lana and Rusev and their anti-American ways.  I missed out on Piper in his heyday.  All I can see is that he looks vastly different from what he used to but, apparently, like Ric Flair, he’s got a good reputation amongst the ranks so I respect him by default but I admit I don’t really get the appeal.  In any case, naturally we’re all met this evening to see what’s up Lana’s and Rusev’s craw in regards to the United States and it’s basically the same thing it’s always been.  We’re Us and they’re Them.  Piper basically says, what’s wrong with that and Rusev threatens to show him and that’s when Ryback “presents” himself, bow and all.  I thought that was funny actually.  It’s always nice to see the “terrors” show a little humor.  It reminds us, in a good way, that this is all fun and games.   Ryback rushes the ring and Rusev starts to meet the challenge but Ryback is set to “Steamroll”, as usual and just drops fists upon Rusev like he’s laying waste to a Vietnamese jungle.  Rusev counters once they get back in the ring with a series of kicks but Ryback catches one and serves Rusev up a body slam.  These guys make for some good fun and just as it was about to get juicy, Rusev and Lana suddenly don’t want to play anymore as Ryback gets a chance to set off a ShellShock and the 2 scurry away, saving themselves from “real” carnage.

Up next, we have another Christmas Divas Melee, now in the form of a Tag-Team match all involving Paige, Cameron and Summer Rae against Alicia Fox, Emma and Naomi.  To be honest, this was way better than I thought it was going to be.  Given what went down at Tribute to the Troops, I wasn’t expecting much but seeing how plenty has changed since then and now, and I can easily see the Locker Room mentality simply being, "don't suck when in the ring".  And for the most part, the ladies exceed expectations.  Emma was her dorky, charming self and puts up a good fight with her exchange against Paige but, once the other ladies start getting tagged in, the action gets kinda hard to follow but not in a bad way, it’s just, there’s a lot going on.   Yet it all leads to the Face Divas in Alicia Fox, Emma and Naomi coming up with the win.

After that, we have The Miz and Jey Uso go at it for singles action and seeing how there’s no wife to fight over in this case, this was just them going at for shits and giggles.  It was a solid match but, we’ve seen so much of the same, what’s another one so we move right along.

As we keep it going, we finally get to the night’s main event in Dean Ambrose vs. Bray Wyatt.  Of course, we begin with Wyatt on the mic to set the scene and once that’s done, the bell sounds, and Ambrose gets to business.  This match was fun.  With it being Christmas time, the decorations all about certainly came into play and were at times quite clearly positioned to be, taking away from some of the fun, but hey, can’t ask for much at the moment.  Tables and ladders and chairs were also used bountifully since there appears to be a surplus leftover that they’re trying to use up.  I also noticed how Wyatt likes to play with the “kayfabery” by setting up the dangerous stunts by positioning a kendo stick in a way that was sure to take someone’s eye out.  Here they also have to be careful.  Believe it or not, the lot of us don't really want to see anyone get hurt.  We know injuries come with the territory but here’s where the concept of kayfabe may be reconstructed.   With a more cognizant audience, the WWE is going to have to look to theater more and more if it hopes to evolve.  If they're going to implement an injury, it’ll have to be done more engagingly within the construct of a storyline to be truly effective.  Now, injury was only implied with Wyatt’s move but seeing how they aren’t opposed to going there, having used the tactic before TLC, we just have to hope that the WWE is aware that they can’t phone certain things in of this nature if they really want it to work.  Anyway, these 2 were entertaining above all else.  I also like how they’re willing to “play” with each other during their matches.  Last time, I recall Ambrose planting a kiss of his own on Wyatt’s forehead as they lay spent after a tumble outside the ring.   And this time around, Wyatt made use of his sweaty beard by rubbing it all in Ambrose’s face.  It’s little things like that, that can often make a difference.   Yet, after a lot of back and forth, tables, chairs, kendo sticks, ladders and Christmas trees, Wyatt finally gets the pin.  But Ambrose doesn’t like that ending for our story.  He gets up and throws Wyatt onto a ladder.   He then sets up a table, gets himself a ladder, and from the top, lands an elbow on Wyatt sending them all through the table.

Happy Holidays, Everybody!

See You Friday,

-Nicole Alexis.