Official Raw/Smackdown Aftermath, Ratings and Review Thread

[The Eighties]

I thought last weeks Raw was pretty dull and this weeks was worse, it was frustrating that they didn't put Rollins into the MITB match like they did with Orton in order for him to use that special treatment to explain his heel turn, he could have said Triple H had an inside track on Bryan's injury and offered him the opportunity last week in return for screwing over his boys.

Rollins promo was well articulated and he delivered with a confidence and composure that actually turned the crowd who were chanting WHAT!? at him, the problem was it all just felt vague.

Ambrose's crazy man promo was decent but Reigns was a bit flat and almost came off as "So I'm going to beat Orton at the next PPV and Triple H at Summerslam while leaving Seth to Dean."

Cesaro vs RVD and Barrett vs Sheamus were ok even if the latter has been done to death with the same outcome almost every time. Jobbing out the Ic champ will never sit well with me.

Unlike many I don't dislike Cena but the moment his music hit to make the save for Ambrose and Reigns Raw became a soundtrack in the background as I got on with other things, I thought he was moving on from his beef with Bray and it would have been a great chance for someone to step up to the plate in Bryan's absence and add a bit of freshness to the mix.

 

[WarroBODFan]

Yeah, wasn't the best Raw, sadly.

Although I'm sad for Daniel Bryan, my interest has been piqued now we're going to have a new champion. Not surprised to see Randy Orton and Cesaro involved. I was a little disappointed to see Sheamus beat BNB, but that's personal preference only.

I enjoyed the Ambrose and Reigns promo, and how descriptive Ambrose was about what he wants to do to Rollins. I thought Reigns was solid. We know he's not a gem on the mic, but he never stumbles over words and seems to be getting more comfortable. I enjoyed it.

Rollins was great on the mic for his promo. Would've liked a bit more in-depth stuff as The Eighties said. I hope we'll get some specifics soon. Is he desiring a WWE title run? Is he in it for the money (kayfabe)? What are his REAL motives? By the way, I quite like his new theme, although a little generic.

I tend to ignore a lot of the Cena hate, but again like Eighties said, as soon as his music hit when he came to save The Shield, I knew he'd be teaming up with them in the main event. This isn't some anti-Cena hatred I'm spitting here, but I don't particularly want to see him and The Shield teaming too many more times.

 

[The Fabulous Rougeau's]

Last night was a really good Raw that had a great pace to it. Last night probably had the best flow since the switch to 3 hours. Really dug the way they handled the younger talent like Bray, Roman, Dean and Seth on this show. It also did a great job of setting the stage for the title ladder match. Really good show all the way around.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

WWE Raw
June 16, 2014
Cleveland, Ohio
Quicken Loans Arena​

Thumbs Up​

Opening Segment - I thought the opening of the show did a good job of setting the tone last night. They didn't spend most of the time out there gloating, as I thought they would, and they use it to put heat on themselves & Seth Rollins while still making Reigns & Ambrose sympathetic. They keep mentioning Daniel Bryan to keep him in the thick of things and the Cleveland crowd was hot for it. The announcement of Cena vs. Kane in a stretcher match didn't do much for me, we all know how it's gonna end, but the idea of a battle royal had me intrigued.

1. Dolph Ziggler vs. Seth Rollins - I could watch these guys wrestle for 30 minutes and not get the least bit bored with it. They put on another in a series of great TV matches that the live crowd ate up. Ziggler may be "injury prone" in the eyes of WWE officials, but it's obvious that fans would like to see something done with him as he's more over now than he's ever been. Ziggler scored some great, believable near falls on Rollins during the bout and it kept people on the edge of their seats. Late in the match, Rollins countered a leaping DDT attempt into the powerbomb against the turnbuckles and it was a pretty impressive display of strength on Rollins' part. Rollins had to shift Ziggler's position without any real help from Ziggler or leverage on his part. Considering Ziggler's around 210-215 lbs., that's not exactly an easy thing to do. Rollins hits another one soon after before delivering the Curb Stomp. As he was going for the pin, Dean Ambrose interferes and starts beating him down, giving Rollins the win via DQ a little past the 11 minute mark. It felt like it went on longer, in a good way. ***1/2

2. Dean Ambrose vs. Wade Barrett - This bout was made after Ambrose challenged Rollins. Triple H popped up on the Titantron and made this bout. A good, physical bout from these two. In Ambrose's mannerisms and his "eccentric" personality, he sorta reminds me a bit of Stone Cold Steve Austin in that he has this "I'm half crazy and I don't give a damn" mentality. They were able to protect both guys here and Ambrose did a great job of selling his "injured" shoulder. The end came with Rollins distracting Ambrose initially, which I thought would lead to him eating the Bull Hammer from Barrett. Ambrose eventually started beating on Rollins and winds up counted out. It woulda been nice to see a definitive winner here, but it's also nice to see WWE finally protecting its heels more, especially its heel champions. ***

Backstage Segments - I'm sure some will hate the notion of Reigns "spiking" The Authority's coffee with something, which led to Stephanie's "puke party" backstage, but I personally enjoyed it. Was it somewhat juvenile? Sure, but it was still funny. My favorite scene from Dumb & Dumber is Harry being hit by the Turbo Lax that Lloyd spiked his drink with earlier in the night. I also thought that Roman Reigns came off as smooth and cool, it was a nice change from him being the brooding, silent muscle so much. I could've done without Vickie freaking out, but I like the idea of her possibly going off on The Authority next week before quitting or something.

Bray Wyatt - I consistently enjoy Wyatt's promo work. He's someone that's genuinely worked hard on his character and has put a lot of passion into it. It's also nice that he's been able to make full use of the additional freedom of being allowed to write his own promos, pending final approval of course. I like the way he put over the WWE World Heavyweight Championship's importance in a different way than what we're used to. Bray using it as a symbol of power & influence is a nice change from the typical "it's been my dream" or "it means wealth & fame" or even the "it means I'm the best" reasons that we most often hear.

3. Sheamus vs. Bray Wyatt - I thought it was a nice, physical match between the two. I've really enjoyed Sheamus' matches all the more since he won the United States Championship as they're not a lot more physical, even more so than before. Wyatt also continues to impress me with his conditioning because, to look at him, you'd simply assume that he's out of shape just because he doesn't go for the bodybuilder or powerlifter type of physique, but his cardio is spot on. While the cheap finish was starting to get old here, I still liked how both guys were able to look good, get in a lot of offense and maintain their own momentum while being protected. Sheamus gets the win via DQ a bit past the 11 minute mark after Harper & Rowan interfere. ***

6. Battle Royal - There'd been a lot of energy all night from the crowd and it helped the battle royal. This match went at a quick pace and the fans were firmly behind Roman Reigns. It was pretty predictable where they were going, but that's not a bad thing when you consider how over Reigns was with the Cleveland crowd. Bo Dallas had a nice showing for himself here and came pretty fairly close to winning the whole thing. The fans really popped when it was Reigns & Rusev one on one. It's a match that'd work great for some crowds and not so much for some, but I enjoyed what we saw. Both guys looked like tanks and they were able to generate enough suspense to make it feasible that it could go either way. In the end, Reigns picks up the win at the 17 minute mark after nailing Rusev on the apron with the Superman Punch. Reigns is now part of the WWE World Heavyweight Championship ladder match at Money in the Bank. ***1/4

Stardust - I don't know where this is going, but I thought Cody Rhodes as Stardust did a great job. It's been so long since we really got to see Cody Rhodes show off his personality that I think we kinda forgot about it. While Stardust is obviously a Goldust clone, he didn't try to behave precisely like Goldie. I think it's ultimately leading to Cody turning on Goldie down the line, but it was still entertaining.

9. John Cena vs. Kane in a stretcher match - A solid outing between Cena & Kane with just enough drama to, at least for a bit, make it seem as though Cena was going to get screwed out of the win. Rollins & Orton interfered and were working over Cena and I'm glad that Cena wasn't the one to overcome things on his own. Ambrose came out and went crazy again on Rollins while Cena & Kane got back into things. I could've done without the goofy notion of Cena struggling to walk with Kane across his shoulders as if Cena was inhumanly exhausted while Kane's weight is doubled. The spot with the steel steps, while not as good as it was in his match with Bray Wyatt, still looked great with Kane. I liked how Kane genuinely did slide back a few feet as a way of selling the impact of the steps in a different way than just dropping like a stone. Cena eventually gets the win after avoiding a chokeslam attempt and AAing Kane onto the stretcher before pushing it over the finish line a bit past the 16 minute mark. ***

Thumbs Down​

5. Adam Rose & Summer Rae vs. Fandango & Layla - Meh, there just wasn't really anything here. I didn't hate it, but I didn't like it. It was all just pure filler.

7. Paige vs. Cameron - The match itself was okay, but it just came off as flat to me. It wasn't really the girls' fault, it's that Vince just seems to have Paige in a holding pattern right now. There's more that he could do with her, and some of the other Divas for that matter, than is being done.

Final Thoughts​

Overall, in my eyes, Raw was a really strong show last night that featured great wrestling content, strong promo work, strong hype for MITB and the show just had a nice flow to it. You could feel more of Vince's influence in a few things, like the puking bit and the couple of filler matches, but there wasn't really anything that I felt that dragged the show down. I actually found the puke bit kinda funny, though I wish Vince would get over whatever this hump is in regards to the Divas. He has some genuinely talented women wrestlers on the roster that people want to see do their thing. At any rate, I thought last night's show as really entertaining with a lot of energy, the live crowd helped out as well. Thinking back on it, Cleveland is also a pretty hot town for WWE, but it doesn't get the sort of attention of London, New York or Chicago.

Grade: A​

 

[The Eighties]

I thought the first half of Raw was pretty solid once the Trips and Steph rerun was out of the way. The Ambrose/Rollins feud built nicely across the entertaining Rollins/Ziggler and Ambrose/Barrett matches.

Bray Wyatt's promo was fantastic and provided a logical reason for a character like him to want the World title. The Bray vs Sheamus match was ok and set up a six man tag for Main Event tonight.

The second half of Raw lost me with the projectile vomiting, Stardust, Kevin Hart and the Stretcher match. I wasn't a fan of a big badass like Reigns using a Home Alone kids prank to get in the battle royal but the match itself was well booked to showcase him and the showdown between him and Rusev at the end worked well.

The Rollins turn continues to make no sense, he sold out to Triple H and yet not only does he not get the same automatic spot in MITB that Orton got, he doesn't even get a chance to qualify for it, bizarre.

 

[The Fabulous Rougeau's]

Another solid show last night although not as strong as the previous weeks. I am really digging how Rollins and Ambrose are carrying themselves post Shield. Ever since the split each guy has been a wonder on the mic. We already knew that of Ambrose, but Rollins in particular is really shinning. I am also digging the look he has with his new wrestling attire. One of the things that worried me post Shield was how these guys would look and I think they hit it out the park with Rollins.

Outside of Rollins and Ambrose the rest of the show was decent with the Stephanie/Vicki and Barrett/Dolph matches standing out. The fans were way into the IC title bout which only added to its greatness.

 

[laodaron]

Highlight of the Go Home show:

Tie. Rollins selling the spike DDT and RVD selling the Curb Stomp.

Second place:

Rollins hitting the Three Amigos and Vicki saying goodbye to us and to Eddie on the stage.

Third place:

Ambrose's run-in and promo saying he was gonna enter the MitB Briefcase match, regardless of being booked or not.

Fourth place:

Wade Barrett hitting the Bull Hammer on Dolph, and then their whole match.

Fifth place:

The Main Event Go Home and Everyone Hit a Finisher match at the end.

 

[Mighty NorCal]

I've pretty much sworn off watching a live RAW ever again after last monday night.


Six diva segments. Mostly focusing on the Bellas. Yea, no. That's five too many.

Add that into more Cena-rehash promos, a vapid main event....yea. Im good.

A six man of that nature is fine, but not when you have to work three fucking hours to get there.

Ill go back to being able to watch RAW in an hour, because of being able to fast forward through all the horse shit.

 

[LionheartY2J]

Did that feel like the Authority's swan song last night? Yeah, they were standing tall, but nobody seemed to care. There was no heat on these guys.

Without HHH, the Authority is essentially the NWO when it was down to Jeff Jarrett and the Harris Twins.

 

[GeneralKarim]

I liked this RAW. I completely skipped the Jerry Springer segment. Watched like 10 seconds and immediately started to feel a form of cancer creeping up on me.

Bray Wyatt vs Jericho was like their whole feud, very mediocre, Jericho jumping from the top of the cage was sweet but like Cody Rhodes' moonsault when he did it, it didn't add much. Glad this feud is over.

Heyman vs Cena was gold mic skills wise but subject wise I'm so tired of every heel trying to turn Cena heel it's just freaking boring. I loved the way Heyman presented it but the subject is just boring at this point. They are insulting our intelligence with this teasing shit. Good segment, awful subject to talk about.

Imo the best part of RAW, the part where I actually rewinded a bit was the NXT guys who stole the show imo. Also good to see Tyson Kidd.

Randy and Roman had a good match and the ending was good as well. Nothing special; just another beatdown after Roman beat Randy clean on PPV.

I'm also loving Paige showing a lot of personality in general ever since she turned heel. Her delayed "Auuuuuuu-s" were golden tonight, at least for me, they made me laugh.

It was a decent RAW. Better than the Labor Day one certainly.

 

[Navi]

Did that feel like the Authority's swan song last night? Yeah, they were standing tall, but nobody seemed to care. There was no heat on these guys.

Without HHH, the Authority is essentially the NWO when it was down to Jeff Jarrett and the Harris Twins.

I kind of felt that as well. The crowd was dead. I think it's too much of the same thing week after week. Orton was doing fine so have no idea why he called Kane and Rollins out.

Kane is just bugging the crap out of me lately, interfering in matches is all he does now. Rollins seems scared to come to the ring without Kane with him, and well Orton, he just bugs me period. Acts like a small child most of the time ready to have a tantrum.

NXT match was the highlight of the next. Fast paced, great moves, no interference. Kane and the rest should take lessons here. If this trend continues I'll be turning RAW off and just skimming through the results.

 

[Radical]

This was an okay Raw. No interest in the Jerry Springer segment despite how much they were promoting it on Raw as if we were so going to look forward to it. LOL.

Bray Wyatt vs Jericho Steel Cage Match.

It was alright. Spot from the top of the cage was an OMG Moment but the match before that point wasn't all that aggressive. Always seems to be little things that frustrate me with the Wyatt character. Why didn't he gladly use the cage more against Jericho? Like toss him hard into the cage, rub his face in it and slam his head repeatedly into it with a smile on his face? Why was Wyatt the first one to try and escape the cage quickly? Just little things like that bother me and I hope they start making Wyatt look more confident and scarier now that this feud is over. The good thing is Jericho did what he could and Wyatt looks strong after the match was all said and done. The question is: Where does Wyatt go from here? Does he get another bump from another feud and keep his momentum or does he try and go to high and get knocked down again?


Dolph Ziggler and Miz segment.

Not too bad. It's a reasonable storyline considering Miz's persona as this hotshot Hollywood guy who is way too serious. Made Ziggler look strong without having to have a match, which I feel is probably a good thing because frankly this is better than having Ziggler probably have to face Mizdow and win anyways, but at least this was faster and to the point.


Didn't watch the Divas match. Not interesting to me, sorry.

Heyman vs Cena was gold mic skills wise but subject wise I'm so tired of every heel trying to turn Cena heel it's just freaking boring. I loved the way Heyman presented it but the subject is just boring at this point. They are insulting our intelligence with this teasing shit. Good segment, awful subject to talk about.

I respectfully disagree with your analysis of this segment. I would agree, except I think this WAS the John Cena segment to end all segments where the heel tries to turn John Cena. John Cena finally said loud and clear why he will never change and even addressed the Internet guys who say they would love a Cena heel turn but then turn around and still say Cena sucks. I feel this is the last time Cena will have to deal with a heel character trying to have Cena give into the hate and turn on the fans. And if so, then having this convo with Heyman was the perfect scenario.


Sheamus vs Seth Rollins.

Good match. Both Superstars looked strong. Sheamus lost because of interference/distraction from Cesaro and Rollins wins with a Curb Stomp. My issue with this is from a consistency stand point. How often are we told that a Superstar gets a title shot because they beat the Champion? Answer: pretty often. But in the case of Sheamus as US Champion it seems they keep forgetting that. A few weeks ago Sheamus was beat by Randy Orton, but absolutely no mention about Orton now in line for a US title match or even interested in a US title match. Now, Rollins wins over Sheamus on Raw and I doubt WWE will address the issue and have Rollins stake his claim for the US title. Frankly, the MITB Briefcase holder is kind of handcuffed in a way until the cash in the briefcase because why would the holder of the WWE World Title briefcase bother fighting for the lower titles? That's where WWE has consistency problems. They conveniently forget things that they seem to have established as rules.


Kidd & Breeze vs Zayn & Neville.

Good match. Surprised to see this! But, finally, a good example of how a 3-hour Raw can be used wisely. The crowd was clearly fairly quiet for this one but you can understand because most of them probably only knew Tyson Kidd. The good thing about this is that WWE knows that and so they also probably know that this means the match as to be fast paced and action packed or else fans will lose interest super fast and that's what happened! Very few rest holds or dull moments, just fast action, quick tags and each Superstar getting in some decent signature moves.


Dust Bros vs Matadores.

Okay match. Did it's job, I guess. Gave Dust Bros a good win to make them seem a more credible threat for the Tag Titles. Usos showed up and tried to pay them back for their previous attacks and made the Usos also look strong.


Titus w Slater vs Adam Rose w The Bunny.

Did what it was supposed to do. This is where I feel a lot of the IWC has issues. Matches where there is clearly a comedic overtone. They need to understand that WWE just can't have every single match be a hotly contested grudge match against fierce rivals. Not because if every match was a 5-star match we would actually get burned out a bit watching but also because WWE DOES have to appeal to a wider audience, that includes kids and people looking for a laugh. So that said, this was a good match for what it was supposed to be. Look, Santino isn't around anymore and now, Adam Rose and company has basically taken that spot with Slater Gator playing the heel roll. The Bunny makes it more interesting. Clearly The Bunny is played by an actual Superstar so we know the guy in there has talent and at anytime could be involved in an actual match and it would be funny.


Finally, Randy Orton vs Roman Reigns.

Good match, but predictable ending. Just not sure how this is going to be all resolved without getting way too tiresome. I mean, The Authority basically spent all of last year keeping Daniel Bryan down and now is spending most of this year keeping Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns down. Overall, it is a compelling angle but it can't keep going on too long or I think the fans will start to get tired. What happens if Reigns wins the match at NoC? Does The Authority just come out the next night and beat down Reigns AGAIN? I don't know if WWE hopes this Reigns (and Ambrose) vs The Authority thing to last much longer but if they do they have to spice it up a bit because we saw this whole thing with Daniel Bryan last year and if it isn't any different then we won't be half as interested. I could see WWE wanting to get to Survivor Series with this angle so they could do The Authority vs Team Reigns (and Ambrose). If that's the case, I hope we start seeing a few more Superstars join the fight with Reigns & Ambrose so The Authority can't just keep giving beat downs every week. So, overall, this storyline is okay but it needs to get more interesting soon!

 

[L@RISANO]

I kind of felt that as well. The crowd was dead. I think it's too much of the same thing week after week. Orton was doing fine so have no idea why he called Kane and Rollins out.

Kane is just bugging the crap out of me lately, interfering in matches is all he does now. Rollins seems scared to come to the ring without Kane with him, and well Orton, he just bugs me period. Acts like a small child most of the time ready to have a tantrum.

NXT match was the highlight of the next. Fast paced, great moves, no interference. Kane and the rest should take lessons here. If this trend continues I'll be turning RAW off and just skimming through the results.

I think, many(myself included), felt that Randy would actually do something drastic(like Seth did with the Cinder Blocks) to Roman Reigns. Something, that maybe, would result in no Roman Reigns for a week.

The beatdown tactic by the Authority has been done too many times, and being it is the same guys virtually, each time. Obviously, the audience won't be as into it as before.


That said; yesterday's beatdown on Reigns, at least showed him as vulnerable and I sincerely hope his main focus becomes breaking Seth Rollins, and eventually moving on to "end" Triple H(with whom I feel he will have a golden programme because HHH is true top level as a Heel,lMO, especially in terms of making fans detest him) at some point.


Also;
The time has come for WWE to start having Reigns and/or Ambrose 'eliminate' the likes of Orton and Kane from the Storyline. That will cut down the Authority numbers, and it would be a great change to the usual overcome the odds setup that happens currently.

 

[MartialHorror]

WWE Raw Review- 9/9/2014

It was significantly better than what we got last week, although it was pretty uneven. I found it odd that the Summerslam encore matches here were better than the actual Summerslam matches. Jericho Vs Wyatt in a cage was more exciting than the entirety of their feud and was a strong way to end things. Roman Reigns Vs Randy Orton was intense and made them both look strong, but the show was stolen when the authority decided to come out and play with the cage. The high spots were fantastic. I also really enjoyed the NXT segment. The John Cena/Paul Heyman promo was some of the best work I have seen them do. The Lesnar feud has had many problems, but every time I plan on giving up on it, a promo would make me interested once more.

On the flipside, there was a lot of wasted time. Adam Rose Vs Titus O'Neil was pretty much the same shit we saw last week and I still feel that he's acting too much like a heel now. The Rhodes' brothers Vs Matadores was dull. Rusev's promo was unnecessary as he didn't interact with anyone and 'Rollins vs Sheamus' was predictable and mediocre. Rollins gets a lot of screen-time, but it seems like he's getting progressively (kayfabe) weaker.

Nevertheless, I enjoyed the parts where it excelled, which was at least half of the show. The bad fought hard, but was conquered by the good.

 

[blueskyy]

What people don't understand is WWE is protecting Reigns. Let's just supposed that Reigns was booked very strongly, given a win to EVERY one of his matches, but his INPUT to the matches was his usual formulaic routines for those matches, how would that help anyone? People will get tired of Reigns in no time, because there's already a John Cena, and on the subject of John Cena, he is actually better than Reigns in the ring, and he has EVOLVED in the last four years, though his detractors would never acknowledged that. And going by the very nature of Reigns matches, if you push Reigns up, it would mean pushing someone down, and that someone might be an already established star. Reigns has beaten all the top names in the WWE. WWE is afraid that if Reigns started to lose matches, he would lose his momentum... Hence, they're booking the match the way it is now.

Let's be honest, who's carrying the Reigns vs. Randy Orton match before Kane and Rollins got involved. How would you have reacted if Reigns won the match again (given the formulaic nature of his matches). How would you have reacted if Randy won the match? It's a no-win situation.

 

[LionheartY2J]

Another part of the problem is that they chose a very bad time to send Ambrose away to film another awful WWE Productions fail.

Reigns simply isn't as over as they want to think. When your top face gets annihilated by your heel faction du-jour, and the crowds more interested in beating traffic, that's a problem.

The crowd goes nuts every time Ambrose does anything. As I've said ever since the Shield went face and then split up, they could do well to package Ambrose and Reigns as an HBK/Diesal combo, an opportunity they missed with Ziggler and and Big E.

 

[GeminiGarlord]

I really had a problem with Ziggler's segment aping off the recent celebrities leak debacle, or at least I had a problem with him trying to pass him leaking private photos as a face thing. Yeah naturally it was played for laugh and the photos weren't as intimate and sexual as the real life event it was building off, but it still felt definitely slightly uncomfortable and heelish. Meh.

Rest of raw was decent, apart from seeing Orton v Lorenzo Lamas for the hundrethd time. At least Bray stopped jobbing.

 

[MartialHorror]

I didn't mind his actions, since Ziggler has always blurred the lines between face and heel...In fact, that seems to be his thing. But I didn't think it was very funny. In a lot of ways, it reminded me of that bit where Cena was showing pictures of Bray's Mom or whatever. It's trying way too hard.

Unlike the Cena bit, they tried selling those pictures as real and...it's just too impossible. The angles on some of them made me wonder if Ziggler had planted a camera to spy on Miz (creepy), but Miz made it out like he had taken those pictures, so that was confusing. I'm also not sure why Miz would have that last one taken...Does he want a memento of Sandow spray-tanning his naked ass? That presents a whole new dynamic to their relationship.

 

[GeminiGarlord]

Lol Cena is so cute trying to be all angry and shit "hey guys, I can be angrrry like ambros, pls love me "

 

[MartialHorror]

I wasnt able to see this latest Smackdown. How was "Big Show Vs Rusev"? I'm sure it wasn't that great, but at least it's a new confrontation and Im curious how it holds up against snorefests 'Rusev Vs Reigns' and 'Rusev Vs Henry'.

 

[blueskyy]

I wasnt able to see this latest Smackdown. How was "Big Show Vs Rusev"? I'm sure it wasn't that great, but at least it's a new confrontation and Im curious how it holds up against snorefests 'Rusev Vs Reigns' and 'Rusev Vs Henry'.

I honestly don't understand why anyone would say that. If you're going in with a prejudice against Rusev, it doesn't matter who he faces, it would always be a "snorefest" to you. It'd be better for you to just skip the match and be done with him.

Reigns vs. Rusev match was actually quite good considering how green Reigns is, and how all of Reigns opponents always took the extra effort to set things up nicely for Reigns.

Rusev vs. Henry match was too slow because Mark Henry was always half a step behind. I'm always sadden when these things happened. It's the same with the Undertaker, age will eventually catches up to you.

As far was the Big Show vs. Rusev match goes, I'll just say this. All the Big Show detractors, and all the Rusev detractors are once again proved wrong.

 

[MartialHorror]

I honestly don't understand why anyone would say that. If you're going in with a prejudice against Rusev, it doesn't matter who he faces, it would always be a "snorefest" to you. It'd be better for you to just skip the match and be done with him.

Reigns vs. Rusev match was actually quite good considering how green Reigns is, and how all of Reigns opponents always took the extra effort to set things up nicely for Reigns.

Rusev vs. Henry match was too slow because Mark Henry was always half a step behind. I'm always sadden when these things happened. It's the same with the Undertaker, age will eventually catches up to you.

As far was the Big Show vs. Rusev match goes, I'll just say this. All the Big Show detractors, and all the Rusev detractors are once again proved wrong.

I actually like Rusev. Just based on what I've seen, he works best when his against someone with a different style (ie, technical wrestler, cruiser weight, anything not 'big man'). If you thought the Reigns matches were interesting, good for you. I thought 98% of them involved involved one pounding the other without any real moves. Granted, there's been no story, but even Mark Henry's clashes with Rusev had moments which stood out.

 

[GeminiGarlord]

Ok, last RAW Ambrose was quite awesome. Sadly shifting push focus every couple of month kinda ruins everything, but I could really see him as a huge face in the company if they handle him well (which I highly doubt though :\)

 

[Jack-Hammer]

All things considered, I'm surprised the viewership for Raw has been as strong as it has. Aside from having Monday Night Football to contend with, Raw also has deal with going up ratings juggernauts like The Big Bang Theory, The Blacklist, Dancing With The Stars, The Voice, Two Broke Girls kicks off its season late in October, and the new series Scorpion's 1st couple of episodes have averaged about 13.5 million viewers.

Overall, Raw's content hasn't been particularly strong overall, yet it went up compared to last week in terms of quality and viewers. Hour 1 drew 4.015 million, hour 2 drew 4.222 million and hour 3 drew 3.882 million for an overall average of roughly 4.040 million viewers, up about 151,000 from last week.

 

[LionheartY2J]

I'm not sure where they're trying to go with Dean Ambrose, or if there just trying to tread water until Reigns or Bryan's returns, but they're refusal to let him get any momentum, despite getting the biggest pops of anyone in the WWE today is really holding him back from whatever it is they're trying to do with him.