Monday Night Raw – March 9, 2015: Where’s That Autofocus Button?
Monday Night Raw
Date: March 9, 2015
Location: CONSOL Energy Arena, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Commentators: Michael Cole, John Bradshaw Layfield, Booker T.
Wrestlemania is closing in on us and the card is pretty clear. That leaves just a few weeks to strengthen up the stories and make the fans want to buy the show. Right now, Reigns is still getting warm but this is the same arena the 2014 Royal Rumble was held in, meaning he might not be in for an easy night. Let’s get to it.
We open with a recap of last week’s main event with Rollins pinning Reigns, only to have Roman clean house afterwards. I still see no reason for Seth to get that pinfall.
Here’s Randy Orton to open things up with the Authority, minus the leaders, in the ring. Kane says the Authority wants to do this in public so there are no more questions. Without further ado, Kane officially welcomes Orton back to the Authority. Big Show is nearly booed out of the arena before he can say that Orton would RKO his own father to get where he wanted to go, so welcome back. Noble can’t do this and calls Orton a no good snake.
Rollins asks for some slack for the Stooges before addressing rumors that Orton isn’t part of the Authority. He’s just biding his time before he can get his hands on Rollins. That must make these people feel like idiots because he and Orton are standing side by side. Even Rollins had his own doubt and he’s sure the rest of the team did as well. “The security did, Kane did….and no one really cares what Big Show thinks.” Dang he’s nailing this voice of the fans schtick lately.
Rollins shakes Orton’s hand but Orton wants to know what’s happened to this team. They used to be ruthless but now they’re all sucking up to him. Kane is now a stupid gopher and Big Show used all his power to whine and complain. Does Noble hate him because he can’t get on all the rides at Disneyland? Ok points for a funny line. That leaves just Rollins, who is so blind that he can’t see what’s going on.
Orton has just been biding his time until Rollins feels safe and sound until he strikes. There is no future for Seth Rollins….but never mind because he’s just kidding. Rollins laughs and thinks Orton should take over for Stewart. The team poses and that’s finally it. This was about as big of a waste of time as I’ve seen this side of a HHH and Stephanie promo.
Daniel Bryan vs. Bad News Barrett
Non-title and R-Truth is on commentary with a burlap bag next to him. Cole: “DY-NO-MITE!” Truth: “I haven’t heard that since reruns of Mash!” Barrett quickly takes him down for two before cranking on the arm. A butterfly suplex gets two as JBL asks R-Truth about Dikembe Mutumbo (a 7′ NBA player). Barrett gets Bryan into the ropes and kicks him in the face as we take a break. Back with Barrett getting two off a superplex as the announcers continue their completely unrelated jabbering. A crucifix gets two for Bryan but he ducks a clothesline and hits the running knee for the pin at 7:10.
Rating: C-. Twenty eight years ago at Wrestlemania III, Randy Savage and Ricky Steamboat had one of the best matches of all time for the Intercontinental Title. Now that title is held by a guy who loses to get his feud over and will likely walk out of the title match at Wrestlemania with the belt, making this whole thing a waste of time. My how times change. Even Truth’s commentary can’t save these things.
Barrett knocks out Bryan post match but Ambrose runs out to deck Barrett.
Dean Ambrose vs. Stardust
Stardust has the title itself and Truth is still on commentary. Ambrose takes him down to start with some running elbows. JBL and Truth argue over Truth stealing the Intercontinental Title a few times as Dean hits the running dropkick against the ropes. Stardust is sent to the floor for the suicide dive but he hooks a dragon screw leg whip as Dean gets back inside and we take a break. Back with Dean firing off right hands and some running forearms, followed by a bulldog. The rebound clothesline sets up Dirty Deeds to give Ambrose the pin at 7:27.
Rating: D+. Thanks for joining the feud Stardust. By losing this match, I’m sure it means you’ll be in line for a title push very soon. This story is building the title up, but it’s only after the belt is ripped apart in the first place. That’s my major issue here: they could do the same idea but without hurting the title.
Post match Dean grabs the belt but Ambrose, Bryan, Harper and Ziggler run in for a brawl. Truth slips the belt in his bag and sits back down on commentary. Everyone hits their finisher with Barrett coming out on top but he can’t find his title. Truth gives him a bag and Barrett runs into the crowd, only to find a toy Intercontinental Title. Well of course he did.
Cole starts to talk about the Hall of Fame but Booker has to explain the idea of what Truth just did. Tonight’s inductee is for Connor the Crusher, who will be receiving the first ever Warrior Award.
Here’s Paul Heyman to introduce a Roman Reigns video about his rise from NXT to the main event of Wrestlemania. He ends it by saying he can beat Lesnar, so Heyman responds by bringing out Lesnar himself. Heyman mocks Reigns’ fans for listing off all of his accomplishments, capping it off with a high pitched YAY. He’s known Reigns’ family since he was 14 years old and the truth about Reigns is his family would send Reigns to the bars and beaches to beat up football players and beach bums for target practice.
Now they’re doing the same thing with Lesnar but it doesn’t work that way. The Authority is hoping Reigns can win the title so Rollins can cash in on him, because Rollins isn’t cashing in on Lesnar. If anyone is thinking about pulling a Montreal Screwjob on Lesnar, they’re not leaving that stadium alive. Reigns is going to fight for everything he has but come up short. When Reigns is taking that kind of a beating….and there goes Heyman’s mic again.
It comes back on and says people keep cutting him off instead of coming to the ring and taking it out of his hands. Or better yet, have them come out here and take the title from Lesnar’s hands, because he might want to unify the title with the UFC World Title this summer. Maybe he’ll go to Las Vegas and knock out Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather.
The title belongs to Lesnar instead of WWE and he isn’t giving it back. Twelve years ago, WWE put Lesnar in the ring against the Rock and he beat the star of the company. Then he beat the Undertaker to break the Streak. Then he beat John Cena to a pulp. Now he’s going to beat Roman Reigns and keep that title.
Just like last week and the previous week and the previous week: I still have no reason to care about this match. Why do I want to see Lesnar lose the belt? Because he beat up Undertaker? So? It was a fair match. Why do I want to see Reigns win the title? Because he’s Rock’s cousin? So? So is Jimmy Uso. There’s no connection to the fans here and no reason to want to see this match.
Bray Wyatt says Wrestlemania is almost here and he wants the reaper to find him.
Kane/Big Show vs. Erick Rowan/Ryback
Because there was NO ONE else in the battle royal for either of these teams to fight. Ryback runs Kane over to start and drives shoulders in the corner. Kane kicks him in the face to block the Meat Hook and it’s off to Show for a spear. Ryback gets tossed around even more before it’s off to Kane, who gets supelxed to give Ryback a breather. The lukewarm tag brings in Rowan to clean house but he goes after Big Show, allowing Kane to uppercut him. Big Show punches Kane by mistake though, allowing Rowan to get the pin at 3:31.
Rating: D. It’s really hard to care about these guys when Rowan has barely done anything since turning face (or ever for that matter), Big Show and Kane are Big Show and Kane and we’ve seen some combination of these four guys in about a dozen matches this year alone. As usual, WWE comes up with a combination and keeps it going for months after people stop caring.
Big Show and Kane start arguing but SERIOUS STEPHANIE comes out to yell at them. She tells Big Show to shut up and start hurting people again. Kane needs to stop getting coffee and bring the monster back. Now get out of her ring and out of the arena because they’re not thinking about what’s best for business.
We look back at Miz’s commercial last week.
Miz pitches a partnership with Wiz Khalifa but Wiz has already signed up Mizdow. Damien comes in for a “rap” about beating Miz in the battle royal. Khalifa looks homeless and I have no idea why he’s on this show other than he’s from Pittsburgh.
Sheamus return video.
Wiz Khalifa performs and the fans don’t seem that interested. I have it muted for most of the performance as I again ask: what does this have to do with making me want to watch Wrestlemania? Mizdow came out to celebrate with him.
We recap AJ returning to save Paige from the Bellas.
The Bellas watch a clip of themselves in the Flintstones movie (they’re in it for about four minutes) and make Flintstones puns about beating up AJ and Paige at Wrestlemania.
Summer Rae vs. AJ Lee
Summer has Cameron and AJ in her corner after the three of them argued over being the Diva to get a chance. AJ gets a quick rollup for two and kicks Summer in the ribs. A sitout wheelbarrow slam gets two for Summer and she chokes in the corner, only to have AJ elbow her in the jaw. They trade kicks to the face with Summer getting two. Back up and the Black Widow makes Summer tap at 3:05.
Rating: D+. Standard Divas match here as Summer continues to be the only competent one out of the new trio she’s in. I really hope the Give Divas a Chance bit doesn’t just wind up being about the Total Divas getting a chance to show that they have no business being in a ring. Summer is fine for a stuck up heel and the tag match at Wrestlemania could be good, but they need some fresh blood that can work in the ring.
We get a video on Sting vs. HHH narrated by someone who is supposed to be Sting but doesn’t sound much like him. He talks about WCW going under and how HHH is going to be punished for only having loyalty to himself. Sting has been waiting fourteen years to beat down HHH, so it’s game over at Wrestlemania.
Rusev and Lana are coming to the ring for the match but run into Cena. Rusev says no again but Cena cuts him off and says performing at Wrestlemania is a privilege. If he hasn’t earned that privilege this year then so be it, but Rusev needs to understand that he hasn’t earned the right to come to this country and disrespect it.
Coming here to become a Russian hero doesn’t give him the right to act without repercussions. He has the right to free speech but Cena has the right to shut him up. If Rusev insults America one more time, Cena will be there to prove how much fight America has. A USA chant strikes up as the Russians leave.
Rusev vs. Curtis Axel
Rusev jumps him before the match. Superkick, Accolade, 26 seconds. Axel didn’t even get to talk here and this felt like WWE saying “STOP CHEERING HIM WHEN WE DIDN’T TELL YOU TO!”
Post match Rusev calls America spineless and soulless, so here’s Cena to no music. He takes the hat and shirt off and charges to the ring. Rusev is quickly caught in the STF and passes out as Cena cranks on it hard. Cena pours some water on Rusev to wake him up but puts it back on Rusev, who immediately taps out.
Lana gets the mic and begs Cena to let him go, eventually giving him the US Title shot at Wrestlemania. The fans chant for Cena. No threat of retirement, no talk of Cena being frail, no Stephanie rambling about whatever nonsense she has on her mind this week. Just simple, good old fashioned AMERICA vs. Russia. It’s worked forever and it still works today. Stop overthinking these things.
Bray says he can’t wait much longer so tonight he raises the dead. Find him.
Rusev yells at Lana in Russian and she walks away, presumably to a movie set for a film that 18 people will see but will still be critically acclaimed, at least according to Michael Cole.
New Day vs. Tyson Kidd/Cesaro
Non-title but New Days says they want the belts. Just pencil in the non-title loss now. Kofi is on the floor this week. Kidd and Woods get things going with Tyson being dragged over to the corner for some backbreakers from Big E. Back to Woods who kicks Kidd in the head for two but Cesaro sneaks in to take out Woods’ knee. The champs start focusing on the knee but Big E. tries to come in for a save. Woods grabs a quick rollup into a faceplant for the fast pin on Kidd at 3:50.
Rating: D. DANG IT STOP PINNING THE CHAMPIONS TO SET UP A TITLE MATCH! You’re doing this nonsense with the Intercontinental Title and….screw it. I’m too annoyed to rant about how stupid this idea is and I don’t want this to turn into a repeat of last week’s review. Short version: I hate this idea, I’ve always hated this idea, I’m always going to hate this idea and I’m always going to have to put up with it because WWE writers are idiots that have no idea how wrestling works.
Natalya vs. Naomi
Joined in progress after the break with a pinfall reversal sequence leading to some quick near falls. The Sharpshooter goes on but Naomi makes the ropes. The guys get in a fight on the floor and Naomi hits the Rear View for the pin at 2:41.
Natalya takes Kidd’s title post match.
Los Matadores vs. Usos
There’s no transition between any of these three matches as everyone keeps coming out during the exits for the previous match. Fernando headscissors Jimmy down and we take an early break. Cole calls Los Matadores underrated. If they’re underrated, I can’t imagine who is actually low rated.
Back with Jey dancing and bringing in Jimmy for a double elbow. The fans chant for Punk as Fernando cranks on Jimmy’s arm but thankfully it dies down just as fast. Everything breaks down and Diego dives into a superkick for two but Fernando sends Jey to the floor. Jey nails his big dive and Fernando charges into a Samoan drop. Torito offers a distraction but Fernando shoves Jimmy into the bull for the upset rollup at 8:05.
Rating: D. Well that happened. I have no reason to care about either team, the division has another pair of losers as champions, and the most interesting feud connected to this is Naomi vs. Natalya, who won’t get anywhere near the Divas Title anytime soon because neither is a big enough star on Total Divas. But hey, at least it ate up some time on this show and that’s what matters with 20 days to the biggest show of the year right?
We recap the opening segment.
Rollins tells the Stooges to calm down and says he’s the mastermind of everything.
Here’s Bray Wyatt with something to say. He says he never sleeps but he’s always dreaming. He sees cities burning and governments crumbling because there is such beauty in chaos. In his dreams, the buzzards guide him to the shell of a man. Below the buzzards lay the Undertaker’s broken body. Pride is Bray’s favorite sin and it was pride that has led him to Undertaker. He doesn’t want to bow down to Undertaker or even stand by his side.
All he wants to do is walk over Undertaker on his way to the throne because he is the new face of fear. Everyone knew the Streak was going to end at some point and now Wrestlemania will be Undertaker’s final resting place. So will Undertaker accept his challenge? The urn is behind Wyatt and he suggests that it’s the way to bring him back. Bray opens the urn and nothing comes out of it.
He sets it back on the table and smoke stars to come out of it. Lightning appears on the screen and Bray shouts GIVE IT TO ME. The gong strikes and the fans are just as into it as they were last year. The lights go out and it sounds again before a spotlight shows the table and urn gone and Bray’s old rocking chair in the ring. Undertaker’s voice comes on and says you will rest in peace as the Wrestlemania logo and “the man comes around” (at least I think that’s what it said as they only showed it on a wide shot) appears on screen. Lightning hits the chair and lights it on fire, sending Bray to his knees in laughter.
Wyatt vs. Undertaker is official for Wrestlemania.
We look at Cena choking out Rusev again. Cena will have an exclusive interview just after Raw. I believe they said a Jericho DVD preview would have that spot.
Roman Reigns vs. Randy Orton/Seth Rollins
JBL on Reigns’ entrance: let’s get to it. That got way too big of a smile from me. The bell rings at 11:03 and Reigns goes right at Rollins, only to be sent into the middle buckle. Reigns is sent to the floor to give Seth control as Orton just stands on the apron looking bored. The Stooges get in an argument with Orton over not double teaming so Randy punches Noble in the face.
Rollins sends the two of them out, leaving he and Randy alone for the Authority. Reigns ducks a charge and sends Seth into the buckle to put both guys down. Seth crawls over but Orton moves away from the tag. A double middle finger (which the camera makes sure to pan down from) sends Rollins the message and the spear is good enough to pin Seth at 4:10.
Rating: D. Well it took long enough. They made it pretty clear when Kane and Big Show were ejected earlier in the night but they finally got to the point with this story. Granted it makes the last few weeks an even bigger waste of time, but at least it happened. Orton snapping is the right idea but it took way too long to get there.
Post match Reigns leaves and Orton yells at Seth before throwing him to the floor. He sends Rollins into the steps and says he would never rejoin the Authority. An uppercut knocks Rollins over the barricade and the beating continues in the crowd. Orton hits him in the back with a chair as Seth hasn’t done a thing yet. They head back to ringside with Rollins being thrown over the announcers’ table.
Orton RKOs Rollins through the table to end the show. Wouldn’t it have been far better to have Orton just show up and set up the match as a psycho? Oh right we had to see Stephanie calm things down and yell at people instead. What was I thinking? On top of that, sweet goodness it’s convenient that Orton got rid of everyone so easily in one night. Also, I’m so glad Reigns was used as little more than a warm body here. Seriously that could have been anyone and it would have had the same result.
Overall Rating: D+. This show was far better than last week, but it’s more to do with an absence of bad than anything really good. Stephanie throwing out Big Show and Kane at least made sense instead of just inserting herself into a segment so we remember who she is. That’s been the problem with so much of the build: it feels like they’re just throwing it together at the last minute and hoping we care enough about it that they don’t need to properly work at it.
The wrestling tonight was especially lackluster and really didn’t do much to enhance things. The show is far too focused on the Authority and the main event scene, which still doesn’t seem to have a focus. That’s the word for Wrestlemania: unfocused. The best developed feud for the whole show is Miz vs. Mizdow and that’s happening in a battle royal. But hey, we got Wiz Khalifa making an appearance and that put the live crowd to sleep and my TV on mute. That’s something right?
Results
Daniel Bryan b. Bad News Barrett – Running knee
Dean Ambrose b. Stardust – Dirty Deeds
Erick Rowan/Ryback b. Big Show/Kane – Rowan pinned Kane after a KO Punch from Big Show
AJ Lee b. Summer Rae – Black Widow
Rusev b. Curtis Axel – Accolade
New Day b. Tyson Kidd/Cesaro – Rollup into a faceplant to Kidd
Naomi b. Natalya – Rear View
Los Matadores b. Usos – Rollup to Jimmy
Roman Reigns b. Seth Rollins/Randy Orton – Spear
Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book on the History of Saturday Night’s Main Event at Amazon for just $3.99 at:
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LOL did you just compare a Fandango vs Adam Rose feud to the main event of Wrestlemania? LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL
Nope.
What I want to ask you guys is this: When Wrestlemania comes Sting vs HHH and Bray Wyatt vs The Undertaker will happen. I know these matcehs carry a lot of power because of the names involved in them, but in the end, will these matches be any good? What do you guys think?
I think they’ll be decent but not great. At the end of the day, age is going to cripple both guys. Look at Sting’s last matches and Undertaker vs. Lesnar. They were more sad than horrible.
There was no reason for wiz to be there and it added nothing.
Roman Reigns vs Brock Lensar. And technically Rusev was booked strongly. Rusev’s greatest asset has been pride for quite some time now and for Cena to damage his pride to embarrass him is great booking.
In short: Rusev lost nothing, Cena gets his match and the U.S title gets it’s biggest match in years.
They’ve done these opening promos for quite a while now actually, maybe since the late 90s.
Did you not here the chants of RKO? I heard a few people chanting for it.
Wiz Khalifa’s famous. And plus, it’s Pittsburgh!
Obviously this wasn’t Sting’s voice, they probably couldn’t get him for the promo so they had to improvise.
If I can agree with you for one moment, I will say that the IC match will most likely be the best of the matches at WM.
Now the biggest problem…your #NoOneCanSaveUs?……
I did tell you that you could root for Seth Rollins right? Especially if he cashes in Money in the Bank AND Roman Reigns win the title. That sounds promising, right?
You’re not saying Reigns vs Lesnar has been a good build or has had good booking are you? I can’t remember a Mania challenger being so much of an afterthought as Reigns. Those 2 have had ZERO interaction with eachother since that snowed in RAW. Why couldn’t Reigns come out and cut a promo on Brock after Heyman cut his promo? Oh right cause Reigns sucks and WWE has no faith him with a live mic. And that….THAT is their next top face to replace Cena?
You proved my point, they’ve been doing these opening segments since the 90’s. Enough. It’s gotten stale and it’s time for a change.
He’s right about the underwhelming build for reings. Not to mention the long term damage this will have if they stay on the path they’re on.
Everything else is just gracie rambling which I find fun:).
Eh, while I don’t think it’s the best feud ever, it’s still better than the feud between Fandango and Adam Rose. If we can even count that as a feud, can we count it as a feud?
Didn’t read this until now but I literally said the same thing you said about Orton on my show tonight. People love when Orton is just nuts and beating people up. Why he had to “pretend” for a few weeks is beyond me. Plus, he’s not “cerebral” as a character, he’s nuts, so it was out of character for him to do that. What I said on the show was, KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid). Orton is mad, beats up Rollins, they fight at Mania. What is so hard about that?
The Great Country of Nigeria would like to know why sometimes your font sizes will change during a review, it just seems odd.
As for RAW, I think the intercontinental title thing they’re doing is an interesting idea that’s been executed horrendously and at the wrong time. If it were the main storyline during the crap period of the year, with actual attention to detail and concentration, it could at least be a good “story of the season” but that’s assuming the creative members are actually more talented than randoms on the Internet.
Axelmania could be amazing. I honestly don’t know why the WWE would just throw away any potential money that could be made with that.
It’s from where I do live coverage and sometimes paste something from there where the font is different. I mainly just forget to change it back.
Just some random thoughts…
I’m to the point where I DVR the show, read the review first the watch what seems stomachable
No wonder they didn’t go with Taker vs Sting neither of them shows up, not quite sure how they’d ever pull it off.
This is by far the worst Main Event build I can remember in a while. It was such an easy set up and there were sooooo many options to use ( Surprise RR return, double turn, Reigns just being an absolute monster), but as is par for the course they choose the worst/most boring possible option.
Paul Heyman deserves at least half of what Lesnar is getting paid. Without him single handedly building the Main Event, it would be very very ugly.
25, 27, and 29 were sub par cards IMO but each one had at least one saving grace, I don’t see one here… THE CURSE OF THE ODD NUMBERED MANIAS!!!!!
This year is obviously payback for Bryan’s run last year. Not sure if I’m kidding or not.
The Ascension has broken the record for time it takes to ruin a good thing.
Bryan, Rollins, Ambrose, and Ziggler are getting the short end of the stick this year.
Randy Orton is the definition of a solid B player.
I kinda dig Cena’s new killer attitude.
Bray Wyatt, Miz/Mizdow and Axelmania are by far the best parts of the show
A Kevin Owens Bray Wyatt feud would be AMAZING!
I dunno I thought they did a pretty good job of heating up Wrestlemania a little more tonight with all the stuff going on and making some more Matches.
Just my opinion though and im sure a certain someone will tell us how awful it was like he does every week despite continuing to watch.
Do you understand the concept of wanting something fundamentaly flawed to improve? If everyone in the world who took your “advice” and decided that because they aren’t liking the product they should just leave, wrestling would have died years ago. Change almost never happens from within, criticism is necessary.
Retweet:
“Do you understand the concept of wanting something fundamentaly flawed to improve? If everyone in the world who took your “advice” and decided that because they aren’t liking the product they should just leave, wrestling would have died years ago. Change almost never happens from within, criticism is necessary.”
Jay doesn’t understand this concept. He thinks you are a bad fan unless you praise everything the WWE does no matter how shitty it is. Jay is a student of mine though and I’m trying to teach him about pro wrestling and things like this. He’s clearly a slow learner.
The Great Country of Nigeria supports your cause, in fact one of our many princes may donate a large sum of money via email if you allow him to use your bank account to store it for a while.
Must be comforting for the two of yiu to kiss each others ass. James I know more about Wrestling than you ever will and I at least still appreciate what those guys do. I’m not a hypocrite like you who shits on everything. I still seem to recall you saying you were done after January 5th? So what happened to that? #hypocrite
Verbatim what I came in here to say.
so is wwe still in the slow part of the year, cuz these shows have been awful. the worst thing is that the ppv is prolly gonna be good
Oh man, how bad was that?
Seriously, tho, it wasn’t an overall bad show but there is absolutely no hype other than the final match card for the show itself. That sucks big time.
Oh, and what about Brock making an appearance to just stand by Heyman and do absolutely nothing on tonight’s show… oh, I know, there needs to be time for Wiz Scmizz and a rememberance segment for Survivor Series… pfft.
KB, Do you think that Reigns vs Lesnar will actually be the main event? The only way I can see it happening is the night ends with Seth cashing in MITB.
It’s still the main event even with a cash-in.
Also do you think people may leave the show during the match? Wrestlemania is a very smark heavy event.
Not likely with the cost of ticket prices.
That’s something I don’t get. Why would you leave Wrestlemania or any Show for that matter?
One half of the WM main event was used to help set up Randy Ortons 557th face turn and was basically nothing but an afterthought.
I just don’t get this company. For the first time EVER, I couldn’t care any less about WrestleMania.