Reviewing the Review – Monday Night Raw: October 27, 2014
By this point we’ve had another episode of Raw since this one (the review is coming soon I promise) and I actually don’t remember most of what happened since then. I know we’re past the Cell now and the main story is looking like Wyatt vs. Ambrose plus whatever Cena has to do for the next few months before Lesnar finally comes back for the showdown that most people aren’t all that interested in seeing. Let’s get to it.
After the required video packages from the PPV, the Authority comes out to brag about winning last night. HHH praised Rollins for winning and said Orton gave a great effort in a loss. He said this a few times, drawing out an angry Orton. Randy mentioned being back in anger management after all the recent events and now he has to listen to HHH praise a guy that Curb Stomped him last week. HHH brought up the loss one more time, causing Orton to RKO Rollins and bail.
Big Show and Mark Henry had the Tag Team Titles won but Henry didn’t like Show making a blind tag and turned heel with a World’s Strongest Slam to give Stardust the pin. This is going to set up another battle of the strong fat guys, which we haven’t seen in awhile. Granted that might be for a reason but it’s what we’re getting again. The match was nothing to see but at least the feud makes sense.
Roman Reigns did another satellite interview where he said he wants to come back and get his hands on Rollins. This is basically just a way to keep Reigns fresh in our minds.
Paige turned on Alicia Fox and cost her a match against AJ. This would be the second straight match with the same story being told. That’s the kind of thing you should be mixing up instead of doing them back to back. Make the fans feel like they’re getting something different instead of the same idea over and over.
Cena came out for the big talking segment of the show. Short version: Cena wants Lesnar, Stephanie came out and wants him to join the team, HHH came out and wants him to join the team, HUSTLE, LOYALTY AND RESPECT, Team Cena vs. Authority at Survivor Series, Cena won’t be able to find partners. This took fifteen minutes.
The Usos used Twin Magic to beat Miz/Mizdow. That’s a fresh idea because they haven’t used it in years, thereby keeping it from getting boring. As usual Mizdow was the huge crowd favorite.
Cena shook hands with Ziggler. I have no problem with this.
Hulk Hogan still hates cancer.
Bo Dallas issued an open challenged which was answered by Ryback for the squash. Ryback as a face is a good thing given how lame the midcard is right now.
Cesaro vs. Ambrose never happened as Dean attacked him before the bell. Wyatt popped up and said he and Ambrose are a lot alike. Threats were issued and the match is imminent.
Brie Bella reluctantly helped her sister beat Naomi. This was more of the servant story which isn’t making me care about Brie and doesn’t seem to be enough to make her quit, especially when it’s only for a month and not like, forever.
Ziggler beat Kane in a non-title match. This is what Kane should be used for rather than beating Ziggler clean with the chokeslam because that would be stupid. Cena saved Ziggler from a post match beatdown.
The main event saw Cena beat Rollins via DQ in a long match. Kane of course ran in for the DQ because that’s almost his entire job these days. For some reason the entire locker room ran out for a brawl to end the show with Cena standing tall.
This show was all about setting up Survivor Series and giving it a big feel for a change. Over the last few years the elimination match has felt tacked on more often than not which makes the show feel like any other in a year. Ryback returning is a good thing for the midcard and he might even make it onto Team Cena (sidebar: can we bring back the unique names? Just putting “Team” in front of a name is so lame) for a big push. I like where they’re going with the story but the story rosters are going to make the big difference. It’s a nice show but nothing that blew me away.
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Cena must have ADD. He gets distracted so ridiculously easy.