WARNING: We have detected your browser is out of date. For both performance, security and a better web experience you should keep up to date to avoid viruses, malware, hijacking and stay on top of compatibility features.
 
RSS Feed

 

   

 

The John Report: The WWE Raw Deal 09/29/14

Posted By: John Canton on Sep 30, 2014

The John Report: The WWE Raw Deal 09/29/14

 

WWE.com

Live from Chicago, Illinois this is the Raw Deal for episode #1114. Follow me on Twitter @johnreport.

There was a video from last week's events with Dean Ambrose wreaking havoc. He left Smackdown with the Money in the Bank briefcase that really belongs to Seth Rollins. What a "Lunatic Fringe" he is.

Raw started with the introduction of The Authority consisting of WWE COO Triple H and his wife Stephanie McMahon. The announce team of Michael Cole, Jerry Lawler & JBL welcomed us to the show while mentioning that WWE was doing their usual October work supporting breast cancer awareness.

The fans were chanting "CM Punk" as Stephanie began her promo. "Why do these people cheer for quitters?" She said the fans can relate because they're quitters too. She tied it into Ambrose stealing the Money in the Bank briefcase. Hunter went into deep wrestler voice to say that they're not going to let anybody disrespect this business.

Paul Heyman interrupted Triple with his line about how he's the advocate for the defending WWE Heavyweight Champion of the World Brock Lesnar. He talked about how his client Brock Lesnar feels disrespected by the notion that John Cena was within a moment of becoming the WWE WHC at the expense of Lesnar. Heyman said that Lesnar was also disrespected by Rollins for attacking him and trying to cash in the Money in the Bank briefcase at Night of Champions. He teased like he was threatening them. Stephanie told him to choose his words carefully.

Seth Rollins joined the promo fest in a black suit without the Money in the Bank briefcase because Dean Ambrose stole it. Rollins said that nobody told him to run down and try to cash in on Lesnar at Night of Champions. He claimed that he did it on his own. He thought that Heyman would understand what he was trying to do by capitalizing on an opportunity. Rollins said he spoke for everybody by saying nobody wanted John Cena to become WWE Champion. The crowd booed Cena's name. When Rollins said he wanted to beat the best in Brock Lesnar, the crowd chanted "CM Punk" and Rollins stopped for about 10 seconds to let it die down. Rollins said he's truly sorry if Lesnar is offended. He shook Heyman's hand. Heyman said if it happens again he'll be dealing with Brock Lesnar.

Hunter got in Heyman's face. He said he enjoyed their conversation, then he shook his hand and Heyman got out of there.

Rollins talked to Hunter and Stephanie about how Ambrose thinks that this is funny. Rollins was yelling about how it was not funny. He added that there were personal items of his that are in the briefcase that need to be returned immediately. If Ambrose doesn't come down to the ring right now…and he was cut off.

Ambrose appeared on the screen with the Money in the Bank briefcase in his hand. He said he had a message saying if Rollins wants the briefcase back he has to come and get it. Hunter, Rollins and Stephanie left the ring to go look for Ambrose.

As Rollins reached the top of the ramp, John Cena showed up and attacked him. Rollins ran down to the ring. Cena chased after him. Rollins escaped the ring, jumped over the barrier and ran back to the top of the ramp. He was taunting Cena while Hunter and Stephanie were beside him. Cena posed for the crowd.

Analysis: That was a 17 minute opening segment, which is pretty long for the opener. Of course that's something WWE does regularly, so we've become used to it. They did a good job of actually involving Heyman this week after not even using him last week. No sign of Brock Lesnar this week as expected. They continued the story with Rollins as a marked man while there is also going to be an ongoing theme of Rollins looking for Ambrose. It was a good way to set up things for the rest of the night.

(Commercial)

There was a replay of previous events.

In The Authority's office, Stephanie told Rollins he's not going anywhere. The new stooges duo of Jamie Noble & Joey Mercury walked up to Triple H. I saw Scott Armstrong calling them J&J Security, so that's what I'm going with. Hunter told them to bring back the Money in the Bank briefcase in one piece. Noble asked for some sledgehammers, but Hunter told them to go get the briefcase back. They left.

Analysis: The Authority hates Cena & Ambrose so much that they have a Cena video game & Ambrose PPV poster in their "office" on Raw. Does it really matter if Rollins has the briefcase or not? Hunter and Stephanie run the company. If his briefcase is stolen they can just make another one like they did with Sandow last year. By the way, that's a reminder that they did the stolen briefcase thing last year. Get some original ideas, please.

It's time for an IC Title match because Cesaro lost to Ziggler on Smackdown and the ref didn't see Cesaro's hand on the ropes. Meanwhile, The Miz gets his rematch. It's triple threat time.

Intercontinental Title: Dolph Ziggler vs. Cesaro vs. The Miz (w/Damien Mizdow)

First pinfall wins. Cesaro looked like he was going to hit the Swing, but that was prevented leading to a slingshot into the corner. Cesaro had Miz in the air for a press slam, but Ziggler hit a dropkick for two. They went to break there.

(Commercial)

Back from break, everybody was getting rollup nearfalls. Ziggler hit a leaping DDT on both guys at the same time. The momentum continued for Ziggler as he hit a neckbreaker on Cesaro at the same time as a DDT on Miz. Sandow was freaking out at ringside. After Mizdow grabbed the leg of Ziggler, Miz got a rollup for two. Tremendous rollup counter by Ziggler for two. Cesaro got a boot to the face of Ziggler. Cesaro went for a sunset flip on Miz, but Miz held the ropes. Ziggler gave Cesaro a slingshot into the groin of Miz. That's an innovative spot. Ziggler did a Figure Four Leglock on Miz as Cole said it's Miz's hold even though Ziggler did it better. Cesaro broke it up with a double foot stomp to Ziggler's stomach. Miz hit a corner clothesline on Cesaro. Miz went up top, jumped off and Cesaro destroyed him with an uppercut. That was a big shot. Mizdow on the apron, so Cesaro knocked him off with a punch and that allowed Ziggler to hit a Superkick on Cesaro. Ziggler pinned Miz for the win after 10 minutes.

Winner by pinfall: Dolph Ziggler

Analysis: ***1/4 That was an exciting opening match. It's great to see a title defended on Raw because it doesn't happen often enough. Each guy had some believable nearfalls, so that's good to see. The crowd really got into it. At 10 minutes in length it was the perfect time too. The win put over Ziggler as a fighting champion that found a way to retain the gold. Hopefully Cesaro remains a top contender since he wasn't pinned.

Post match, Miz was holding his leg on the floor and Mizdow was holding his leg too. I legitimately laughed hard when I saw that. Sandow is awesome.

Backstage, Noble & Mercury were looking for Ambrose. They asked some of Adam Rose's crew and they had no idea. Big E and Xavier Woods didn't know either. They asked Great Khali. He acted like he couldn't hear due to Noble being short and told Mercury he didn't know who Ambrose was.

Analysis: I still don't know why Great Khali is employed.

(Commercial)

The announcers mentioned that they are once again teaming up with the Susan G. Komen organization to help find a cure for breast cancer. As a result the ropes are pink and there are t-shirts that have pink on them.

There was a Wyatt Family promo with Wyatt talking about Luke Harper and how he has set him free. Harper said he was hunting.

Analysis: Perhaps this is leading to Harper getting a singles push. This group hasn't been featured enough of late, so it was good to see a video at least.

The Noble/Mercury duo showed up in The Authority's office again saying they couldn't find Ambrose. Noble had mustard on his face, so Stephanie told them to go find Ambrose or they're fired.

The Miz showed up in the office with Damien Mizdow. It was funny as Mizdow did a promo about how he's a star although he was talking as if he was The Miz. They were both yelling "I demand action" at Triple H. Hunter laughed at them and said this is great. He talked about how this is the kind of things they need. He said that Mizdow was there to make him laugh and he put him in a match with Sheamus. Hunter got in the face of Miz, then said his "straight to DVD career is gonna go straight to the unemployment line" if he gets in his face again.

Analysis: Hunter burying a guy that is starring in WWE movies is not best for business. He's basically saying he's a terrible actor and that's a shot at his own company's film division.

(Commercial)

Prior to the divas match, there were clips shown from Total Divas with Tyson Kidd buying Natalya a bad gift for her birthday, so she was mad about it. It was some ridiculous exercise machine. Oh Total Divas writers, you so funny. I guess. They accompanied Rosa Mendes for this match with Tyson paying more attention to what's on his phone. If you don't watch NXT, you should. Tyson's an awesome heel on that show.

Rosa Mendes (w/Natalya & Tyson Kidd) vs. Layla (w/Summer Rae)

Layla hit a kick on Rosa while Tyson and Natalya were arguing outside the ring. While Layla had Rosa in a headlock, Tyson was watching whatever was on his phone. Natalya was trying to tell him to pay attention. Rosa threw some terrible forearms as some hair was on the mat. It looked like it was Rosa's extensions. Fans were chanting "Nattie's husband" at Tyson as Natalya tripped up Summer outside the ring and hit her with some punches. Back in the ring, Layla slammed Rosa into the ropes and hit the Layout neckbreaker for the win after three minutes.

Winner by pinfall: Layla

Post match, Natalya took Tyson's phone from him since he wasn't paying attention. Layla celebrated with Summer by taking pictures. Do adult women in their 30s do that or do teenage girls do that? I'm not sure.

Analysis: DUD It's always a shame when the more talented performers are outside the ring instead of inside it. At least Tyson's great heel act as the awful husband has made it onto Raw. Hopefully he gets more TV time because he deserves it. As for Rosa, she's been in WWE for eight years and still has trouble with the most basic stuff. Stop putting her in matches. Make her a manager.

Dean Ambrose was shown walking backstage.

(Commercial)

Dean Ambrose entered the ring with the Money in the Bank briefcase as well as a big. He brought a table into the ring. Cole said we should use #AmbroseLive to talk about this segment. I thought The Authority hates this guy, yet they give him a hashtag to promote him and quality time to do a promo.

Dean Ambrose Promo Time

Ambrose said to the guys looking for him earlier, he was in the concession stand and he waved at them, but they were eating a hot dog. He said he didn't like how The Authority sold their merchandise. He's going to have a clearance sale. He opened the bag to show he had WWE merch in there. Ambrose added that he won't sell the briefcase. As he was trying to sell shirts, Noble & Mercury came out.

Ambrose had a funny line: "Uh oh, they sent the cruiserweight division out to get me." That was awesome. The crowd chanted for Ambrose as they told him to give them the briefcase. He suggested they come into the ring to get the briefcase from him. They both jumped off the apron and left. At least Brisco & Patterson would take a beating. Ambrose rolled out of the ring and he threw the shirts into the crowd after he said he stole them.

Rollins showed up with Mercury, Noble and security guards to confront Ambrose. There was another funny line by Ambrose to the security guys: "Are you guys really security because I could have sworn you were Rosebuds last week?" That's a great line too. Ambrose left the ring and said he wanted no problems. He even went over the barricade into the crowd. He walked away.

With Ambrose out of the picture, Rollins was in the ring with the briefcase. He opened it up and green slime shot in his face. JBL: "What's in there, Kabuki?" He's a Japanese wrestling legend famous for spitting mist in somebody's face. The Great Muta was known for it too, but The Great Kabuki did it first. The crowd laughed at the shots of Rollins with the green slime all over him. Ambrose was standing with the fans and he laughed. The crowd chanted "Ambrose" for him as he said he had nothing to do with it. Rollins was furious in the ring. He was yelling "I look like a jerk" while the crowd laughed at him. The segment ended with Ambrose laughing in the crowd with the fans.

Analysis: That was a cool segment with Ambrose showing once again that he's one of the best talkers in the company. Instead of just doing a regular wrestling promo, he mixed in some funny lines too. The bit with the green slime was definitely silly, but it worked. It's not something we see all the time so they did a good job of actually coming up with a creative way to have them in a segment without brawling.

Later in the show it's a Rusev/Big Show segment.

(Commercial)

A replay of Rollins receiving the green slime was shown.

The Authority were all together in the office as Kane & Orton were laughing at Rollins while Hunter & Stephanie looked on. Rollins left angrily. Hunter told Kane that he'll be teaming up with Orton to take on Cena & Ambrose. Orton wasn't sure about it. Hunter convinced them to do it. All of a sudden something in the room was vibrating. They thought it was a cell phone. The camera panned over to the briefcase. Rollins walked back in to say it was an electric razor and walked away. The crowd laughed while the others in the room were shocked by it.

Analysis: Good joke at the end there with the *wink wink* being that it was actually a vibrator that Rollins had. It also sets up a main event for the show although a tag match really isn't that exciting.

There were clips of Mark Henry losing to Rusev twice.

Henry was in the ring for a match. He was trying to apologize to the fans, but Bo Dallas showed up. Dallas said he shouldn't apologize to the WWE Universe; he should apologize to himself. The fans did the "what" for his promo as he told Henry to close the Hall of Pain and join the Hall of Bolievers.

Mark Henry vs. Bo Dallas

Henry was very aggressive at the start of the match. He was pounding on Bo and whipped him hard in the turnbuckle. Henry went for a splash off the middle turnbuckle, but Dallas moved. Running Bodog hits for Dallas and he gets the win in a match that went under two minutes.

Winner by pinfall: Bo Dallas

Analysis: 1/2* It was a short match as a way to continue the tough times for Mark Henry. They treated the Dallas win as a big upset. When a guy is losing clean in two minutes it means he sucks. That's how I look at it anyway.

After a replay, Renee Young interviewed Dallas backstage. He said all you have to do is Bolieve. Henry showed up and threw Dallas into a wall as well as some crate. He threw a crate with some wheels into Dallas. Bo sold it like he was knocked out as Henry said "that's what I do."

Analysis: With rumors of Henry turning heel, it looks like it's going to happen very soon. It feels like he's done this kind of heel turn in the past where he gets on a losing streak as a face and then becomes an angry heel. He's better as a heel anyway.

The announcers shilled WWE Network. I think my six month renewal for the US version is up soon. I wille be renewing. The Canadian version is on TV, but the on demand sucks, so I'll stick with the US version. I'm pretty smart about hooking it up to the TV anyway.

The Goldust & Stardust duo did a promo backstage. Stardust had a crystal ball with him as well as a chalk board that had science equations written on it. Goldust said they have obtained the cosmic key (the tag titles) and only it determines their fate. The rest of that stuff is science fiction. Stardust said this (the tag titles) is science fact.

Analysis: They're creepy, but at least that promo made some sense.

Brie Bella, with her awful music, made her entrance for a match.

(Commercial)

Nikki Bella showed up in a short red dress to cut a promo on her sister. She did a promo ripping on Brie for quitting earlier in the year on Chicago and when she mentioned Daniel Bryan the crowd chanted "yes" for him. She called the fans uglier trolls than Brie's husband Daniel. Nikki complained that she had to wrestle in handicap matches because of Brie, so now Brie has a handicap match against...Eva Marie and Cameron. Oh dear. Maybe the two worst divas.

Brie Bella vs. Eva Marie & Cameron

This is where I wanted to fast forward. The crowd must have felt the same way because they started chants for JBL, Jerry Lawler and even Michael Cole. They tried isolating Brie with Cameron applying a weak looking chinlock. Cameron charged in, Brie moved so Cameron took out Eva Marie and Brie rolled up Cameron to win.

Winner by pinfall: Brie Bella

Analysis: DUD The crowd didn't care. That's why they chanted for the announcers. I didn't care either. Good job by the crowd.

Post match, Brie did the "yes" chant because people really like her husband. I sure miss him after enduring "matches" like that.

Hulk Hogan is there later in the show. Too bad Brock Lesnar isn't there to insult him.

(Commercial)

Adam Rose, The Bunny and their posse were at the announce table. The Slater Gator team of Heath Slater & Titus O'Neil had Hornswoggle with them as mini Gator. O'Neil hugged reverend Jesse Jackson at ringside.

Titus O'Neil & Heath Slater (w/Gator) vs. Los Matadores (w/El Torito)

Cole mentioned the @WWEBunnymania Twitter account had a tweet of a carrot. The announcers were barely calling the action as Slater threw the Gator into the ring when Slater was in trouble. Torito the bul confronted him. One of Los Matadores was standing on the middle rope for about 10 seconds watching this, so Slater tripped him up and got the win. That's the finish? Awful. It went two minutes.

Winners by pinfall: Titus O'Neil & Heath Slater aka Slater Gator

Post match, O'Neil slammed El Torito down. Gator went up to Torito and did the Gator Roll that Luke Harper usually does. The Bunny jumped on the apron with Rose. O'Neil missed a charge on Slater, so Los Matadores hit a slam on Slater. The Bunny went to the top rope and hit a splash on Slater. Jesse Jackson raised the hand of The Bunny after the match.

Analysis: DUD The matches clearly don't matter. I'd like to try to explain this, but even I have difficulty explaining what's going on. Brutal segment and an example why Raw is too long. This was on during halftime of the NFL game. The Bunny is getting more character development then about 30 midcarders that are never on TV.

(Commercial)

This week on Main Event it's Bo Dallas taking on Mark Henry again.

Rusev entered with the Russian flag as well as the ravishing Russian Lana at the top of hour three. As usual, Lana looked amazing. I felt like she looked even hotter than usual although maybe that's because the two "matches" before this segment were among the worst of the year. Big Show knocked out Rusev on Smackdown after their match, so Rusev is angry about it. The Russian flag appeared in the background for their promo.

Lana told the crowd to shut up as they chanted "USA" at them. She showed pictures from Smackdown with Rusev getting punched by Big Show. Lana was ripping on Big Show for intimidating Rusev, but Show's music started up.

Big Show did a promo from the top of the ramp. He complained about how she twisted the facts around. He said what she says is a bunch of crap and the crowd chanted "USA" right on cue. Show yelled "you can't handle the truth" at her, which is from the great movie "A Few Good Men." Show set up a video package with clips from the past week with Show promising Mark Henry he was going to knock out Rusev. After their match, which was a DQ win for Show following a Rusev attack with a flag, Show gave Rusev the KO Punch to knock him out.

After the video aired, Show said that was the truth. Rusev actually spoke English: "I want to jam my first down your throat and pull out your guts. I will fight you here. I will kick you in your groin. Big Show, I will break every bone in your body." Show cut him off when he spoke Russian by saying "we don't speak Russian." Some people probably do. He said he was going to do a Big Lebowski and knock down a "White Russian." Good reference from an awesome film that had better writing than this show.

When Show went into the ring, Rusev left the ring on the other side. Show was left alone in the ring with the Russian flag while Rusev and Lana yelled at him from the aisle. Show yanked the Russian flag down. Rusev yelled out "no" while Lana was really angry. When Rusev charged into the ring twice, Big Show threw him back out of it. JBL was happy that they finally found somebody to stand up for America. He said that for Mark Henry before too. Rusev left angrily.

Analysis: It was good storyline progression for the feud. The crowd was into it because the USA angle is a good way to get crowd support for whoever is against Rusev. Show was entertaining in his promo. The discrimination of the Russian flag might upset some people, but in the context of this storyline it fit well.

(Commercial)

More replays of Ambrose wreaking havoc Stone Cold style. I'm not complaining. Just saying that's what it reminded me of.

John Cena was interviewed by the lovely Renee Young. He laughed at the mixed reaction he got from the crowd and then he sucked up to them by saying he loved that building. He mentioned Ambrose getting cheered by the crowd and that it's a good thing they're teaming up. Ambrose showed up taping his fists to say that after they're done with Kane and Orton, he wants to get his hands on Rollins. Cena said Rollins has a beatdown coming to him. Ambrose said "nobody takes the food off my plate" and left.

Analysis: It was just a standard promo to set up the main event later. They didn't tease dissension. If they really wanted to get their hands on Rollins they could do it together, so it's a silly disagreement. Babyfaces are dumb, though.

(Commercial)

The Divas Champ AJ Lee entered as the announcers plugged the show's main event again. Paige did a promo from the ramp as the crowd chanted "CM Punk" at her and she paused for a bit. She introduced her new best friend Alicia Fox.

Prior to the match, the announcers mentioned the launch of WWE Network in the UK will be announced on November 1st. They spent two months saying it was going to launch on October 1. It got pushed back with no specific date. All they said was an announcement on November 1. At least they didn't have Bad News Barrett show up to deliver the news.

AJ Lee vs. Alicia Fox (w/Paige)

This is a non-title match. AJ was aggressive early on as she hit a spin kick on Fox. When Fox went to the floor, AJ went to the top and hit a cross body block to take out both women on the floor. When AJ went back in, Paige grabbed her foot right in front of the ref. Fox capitalized with a Scissors Kick to AJ's back for the win after 90 seconds.

Winner by pinfall: Alicia Fox

Analysis: 1/2* Way too short. Felt rushed. Paige cheated right in front of the ref and nothing happened. If somebody cheats leading to the finish and the ref sees it that should be a DQ. Instead, it's a win for Fox. Typical WWE booking with a champ losing non-title.

Post match, the heels did a double team attack on AJ with Fox hitting a boot to the face while Paige hit the Rampaige DDT. Fox had cans of Mountain Dew to celebrate with, but she didn't do anything with them.

Analysis: It's the feud that never ends. Feels like we've seen that kind of beatdown before. I don't mind either woman. It's just that the only thing different now is AJ has to deal with two of them.

There was another creepy promo video for Luke Harper with Wyatt saying that when he found him he was lost. Wyatt said he gave Harper a reason to exist and he fixed him.

Analysis: I liked that segment too. I'm in favor of a singles push for Harper. He's a very talented performer.

Sheamus entered for a match as the announcers plugged Steve Austin's podcast with DDP as his guest. Austin's podcast is my favorite. I listen every week. There are rumors of him getting involved with WWE again since they are ordering Austin merchandise. Hope so. Nobody really knows right now.

(Commercial)

The Miz is on commentary for the next match.

Sheamus vs. Damien Mizdow

This is not for the US Title. Miz called Triple H "Mr. Chaperone" when he did a rant about him. I feel like everybody should call him Mr. Chaperone. Sheamus was dominant from the start as Cole wondered why Mizdow didn't shave his beard. Miz said it was about method acting. Mizdow did a Miz-like DDT while Sheamus was on his knees. When Mizdow went for the corner clothesline like The Miz, Sheamus nailed him with a forearm smash followed by knee attacks and the ten forearm shots to the chest. Miz checked on Mizdow. Sheamus shoved Mizdow into Miz. Back in the ring, Sheamus hit the Brogue Kick for the win after six minutes.

Winner by pinfall: Sheamus

Analysis: *1/2 A clean win by Sheamus that was never in doubt. He's the US Champion that could really use a feud right now. If Miz becomes the top contender that would work although it just means Miz is going from one midcard title to the other. Cesaro might be doing the same thing.

Another reminder for the main event. Hulk Hogan up next.

(Commercial)

The legendary Hulk Hogan entered in pink Hulkamania shirt as well as a black and pink bandana. Good reaction for him. He sucked up to the fans saying he had a lot of great moments in Chicago. He mentioned that it was the third year in a row for WWE fighting cancer with the Susan G. Komen organization for national breast cancer awareness month. Hogan welcomed the breast cancer survivors that are at the show with most of them wearing "Courage Conquer Cure" shirts. He plugged WWEShop.com with the proceeds going to support cancer.

Analysis: One of my older sisters is a breast cancer survivor, so I think it's cool that WWE is promoting this. Get used to the pink because it will be all over WWE shows through October.

Backstage, Kane and Orton were complaining about how they had to put out the first that Seth was starting. Stephanie showed up to tell them they are going to do their jobs. She said The Authority is a family that stands by each other through thick and thin. She told them to squash what the people are saying about them. Randy asked what are they saying, she said they are saying that people are doubting them and Kane wondered if she was just saying that. She wondered if it really mattered. Then she left.

Analysis: It was a standard promo to set up the main event.

A promo aired about the next Monday Night War episode on WWE Network focusing on Steve Austin's rise in the Attitude Era. I haven't seen that one yet, but I've watched all the other ones. I usually watch them on Wednesdays. It's really well done.

(Commercial)

Next week on Raw there will be an interview with Roman Reigns. Also next week is Big Show taking on Rusev in Brooklyn.

The order of entrants for the match is Dean Ambrose followed by John Cena. The heels were out next. They managed to show even more replays of past events too.

Dean Ambrose & John Cena vs. Kane & Randy Orton

There dueling chants for Cena like we've heard so many times for so many years. The heels controlled Cena as the show went to break without anybody going to the floor.

(Commercial)

Back from break, Orton hit a powerslam from Cena as they continued to work over the man in the camo shorts. Orton hit his modified backbreaker for a two count. Kane hit a big boot to the face as the heels continued to control the action. The fans were chanting "We Want Ambrose" as they replayed Rollins getting the slime in the face again. Cena hit a rare dropkick to stun Kane, but then Kane hit a sidewalk slam. Ambrose was doing a good job of making crazy faces on the apron. Cena hit a backdrop on Orton that sent him over the top to the floor.

Ambrose received the hot tag from Cena. He was in there with Orton. Ambrose hit a cross body block, then a clothesline over the top to the floor. He took out Kane with a slingshot crossbody and then a dive between the top/middle ropes to take out Orton. Ambrose did his bounce off the ropes clothesline on Orton. He hit Dirty Deeds on Orton. When he went for the cover, Rollins showed up to attack Ambrose for the DQ finish.

Winners by disqualification: Dean Ambrose & John Cena

Analysis: **1/2 When the match was announced it was obvious that there was either going to be a babyface win or the heels would get disqualified. It's very predictable booking for a company that has been too predictable of late. The work in the match was fine and Ambrose was on fire after the hot tag, but it was another case where it was more about the angle than the match.

Post match, Rollins went after Ambrose. When Ambrose fought back, it looked like Rollins was going to run away. Ambrose went for a dive on Kane, but his foot caught the ropes a bit and he didn't connect well. Kane still sold it. For a moment, it looked like the faces had Rollins cornered.

Cena was punching Rollins in the corner. Ambrose jumped over Cena to try to get at Rollins. Cena pulled off Ambrose, so Ambrose threw Cena outside the ring. Ambrose had the Money in the Bank briefcase. Orton snuck up behind Ambrose and hit a RKO on him. Cena was still on the floor because Kane decked him with a punch. Kane gave Ambrose a Chokeslam in the ring.

Rollins gave Ambrose the Curb Stomp onto the Money in the Bank briefcase. Cena tried to fight back against the heels, but Orton nailed him with a RKO. Kane hit a Chokeslam on Cena. Rollins hit a Curb Stomp on Cena on the briefcase. Some fans cheered that. Rollins held up the briefcase.

The show ended with the heel trio of Rollins, Orton and Kane standing over the fallen bodies of Ambrose and Cena. Replays aired of the attacks. The final shot was of the heels standing triumphant to end the show as Cole mentioned that Rollins had his briefcase back.

Analysis: Last week the babyfaces stood tall. This week the heels do. That's pretty standard. Once again, the booking of this show is very predictable. The rumors are they might do Cena vs. Ambrose as the opening match at Hell in a Cell. The winner of that match would face Seth Rollins in the main event of HIAC in a Cell match while the loser would face Randy Orton in a Cell match. It's not that big of a main event. Of course, we don't know if that's really the plan because nothing was announced.

They make such a big deal about the briefcase, yet it really doesn't matter since he's unable to cash it in since the WWE Champ is absent from Raw for the next month or two. Plus, as I mentioned earlier, if it's stolen they can just give him a different one like they did with Sandow last year.

 

Three Stars of the Show

1. Dean Ambrose - That's a no brainer.

2. Dolph Ziggler

3. Damien Mizdow - He's so great at everything he does.

 

The Scoreboard

5 out of 10

Last week: 4

2014 Average: 5.97

2014 High: 9 (April 7 & June 30)

2014 Low: 3 (September 1)

Last 5 Weeks: 4, 5, 7, 3, 4.5

 

Final Thoughts

Since there were a few more entertaining segments this week compared to last week it gets a 5 out of 10 from me. I actually feel generous giving it that. Maybe I'm just happy that my buddy Tyson Kidd was actually doing his NXT act on the show. He needs to be in matches.

Dean Ambrose was clearly the star of the show. His promo was a lot o fun. Unlike when John Cena does that sort of thing, he was actually funny with a few of the lines.

There were no matches announced for Hell in a Cell in four weeks. They can take their time on it because they have a lot of time, but it's disappointing to know that they haven't announced anything for the PPV at this point.

The triple threat match for the IC Title was the best match. None of the other matches were that memorable. Ziggler's success is good to see although now it looks like he and Sheamus are just trading feuds since Ziggler is dealing with Cesaro while Sheamus deals with Miz.

Big Show's segment with Rusev was a good way to get the crowd behind a babyface. It's cheap heat, but it works.

It's encouraging that we got three divas matches, but none of them were good and the one that should have went the longest (AJ vs. Alicia) was the shortest.

Raw has become too predictable and it never feels like anything major is going to happen. It has really hurt the quality of the show.

-----

That's all for this week. I aimed to make this a 5,000 or less words review. It ended up being around 6,000 words. Oops.

Check out my feature column archive that's exclusive to WhatCulture. Some recent posts include 10 urban legends about Brock Lesnar, a look at some of the great heels that were turned face because of crowd reactions and even the great Trish Stratus tweeted me about reading a piece I wrote about the reasons why fans love her. She has good taste, I must say. I do ten posts per week over there, so there's plenty of content to check out.

Have a great week.

John Canton - mrjohncanton@gmail.com

Twitter @johnreport

Personal Facebook and TJRWrestling.com on Facebook


Tags: #thejohnreport #wwe #raw

âš¡ Explore WNS


Jump To Comments

Popular Tags

Popular Articles

Share Article

Follow WNS

 

 Follow us on X @WNSource 

 Follow us on Instagram & THREADS

 LIKE us on Facebook 

 

âš¡ News tip? Email ben@wrestlingnewssource.com 

 

https://wrestlr.me/36268/  
Adding comments is disabled due to age of article.
 

© 2006-2024 wrestlingnewssource.com

All rights reserved. All other trademarks, logos, video, likeness and copyrights are the property of their respective owners.
Terms of Service · Privacy Policy · Π