WWE RAW: Results & Review (16.03.15)
We are only a few weeks away from the 31st WrestleMania event, and the card is building up now, most of the matches having been announced. Some feuds are intriguing, others not so much, but it has potential to be an interesting event, and some of the matches could be very good indeed. Tonight it is up to WWE to keep the hype going for their biggest annual show, and provide reason for people to buy the PPV, subscribe to the WWE Network, and keep tuning in to RAW. Let’s see if they can do that, shall we?
Match Results:
- Nikki Bella pinned AJ Lee
- Ryback beat The Miz
- Cesaro & Kidd defeated The New Day
- Big Show and Erick Rowan went to a No-Contest
- Mark Henry won a Battle Royale
- Ziggler, Ambrose & Bryan beat Barrett, Stardust & Harper
- Seth Rollins and Randy Orton went to a No-Contest
RAW began with Seth Rollins, Kane, Big Show and J&J Security standing in the ring, being showered with boo’s from the Iowa crowd. There were Rollins chant, likely due to the fact that he is from Iowa, but he got heat for ripping on the town, and talking about being the future of WWE. This opening segment, and many other segments throughout the show involving these men, as well as Triple H and Stephanie, were to show dissention in the ranks of The Authority, with them arguing, blowing up, refusing to work together and other things. This all lead to the final segment of the show, which I’ll go into later in this review.
The first match of the show was a women’s match between AJ Lee and Nikki Bella. This definitely went longer than most RAW women’s matches have in recent months, and it was a decent back and forth. It wasn’t a patch on the NXT women’s matches, but it was a start, and it was nice to see a little extra time given to the Divas division here. This was to hype the upcoming ‘Mania match between The Bella Twins and AJ & Paige.
There was further development in the inevitable break-up of The Miz and Mizdow when Ryback pinned The Miz and Sandow smiled at ringside. When the match ended The Miz nailed Mizdow with his finisher, leaving him laying. They will likely be officially split soon, perhaps in time for a pre-show match at WrestleMania?
There was further build given to the Cena/Rusev match that has now been announced for the upcoming PPV. Cena came out to sign the contract for the match, but Rusev brought his lawyer with him and disputed putting the title on the line. Lana wasn’t here (I think she is filming a WWE Films movie) and the fans chanted for her. They drop a Russian flag on Cena at the end of the segment, with the match at ‘Mania still set to happen, obviously.
There was a typically great Paul Heyman promo in which Heyman hyped the Lesnar/Reigns match for WrestleMania, talking about how Brock will continue to hold the WWE World Title hostage after ‘Mania. Reigns interrupted, fans chanted for Daniel Bryan. It was going so well until the Samoan Superman decided to punch a hole in our enjoyment of the Heyman segment. Brock Lesnar appeared in a filmed interview too, saying he was going to mess up Reigns at the big show, and that kind of thing. It wasn’t anything special, but the hype for the WWE World Title match at WrestleMania has been decent considering the fans don’t want one of the guys involved in it.
The Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royale was hyped with a battle royale won by the boring, bland and over-the-hill Mark Henry (the guy has plodded along in WWE for almost 20 years, the time for hanging it up is now). By the way the match at ‘Mania is being promoted, it seems Henry, Big Show, Kane or Ryback are the favourites at the moment. Oh dear.
The best part of the show was the excellent six man tag team match between the team of Dolph Ziggler, Daniel Bryan and Dean Ambrose and the team of Luke Harper, Stardust and Bad News Barrett. It was all action and was filled with excellent brawling, technical sequences and some spots involving the participants’ signature moves. Brilliant stuff from these six great workers. The Intercontinental Title match at WrestleMania has potential to be the best on the entire show, R Truth or no R Truth.
There was another Bray Wyatt promo to hype his match with The Undertaker. Now, I’m all for this match happening, and feel like it could do a great deal for Wyatt’s career if he defeats the dead man at WrestleMania, but not having ‘Taker appear on RAW, or having any truly monumental things happen, is making it a bit samey each week, a real shame because it could have been a dark and sinister angle leading to a very interesting match.
The main event of the show saw Seth Rollins against Randy Orton, with Rollins revealing that the dissention in The Authority was a ruse all along, bringing out Big Show, Kane, Triple H and J&J Security with him for his match with The Viper. The Authority circled the ring, but the lights went out and Sting appeared, which led to Orton and Sting attacking The Authority, and standing tall as the fans chanted for the former face of WCW. The show went off the air with The Authority high-tailing it and Sting and Orton pointing towards their villainous opponents from the middle of the ring.
This was a fairly uninteresting and bland, though there were some decent parts, and one very, very good match. Still, WWE needs to do better than this if it wants to get many fans excited about WrestleMania. This isn’t good enough, simple as that. Until next week.
RAW: Best Match: Bryan, Ziggler & Ambrose vs. Barrett, Stardust & Harper
RAW: Best Talker: Paul Heyman
RAW: Worst Match: Ryback vs. The Miz
RAW: Surprise of the Night: Larry Zybyzko announced for 2015 Hall of Fame
