Monday Night Raw
Date: December 29, 2014
Location: Verizon Center, Washington D.C.
Commentators: Michael Cole, Jerry Lawler, John Bradshaw Layfield

It’s the final show of the year and WWE has managed to double book the show. There’s a house show in Virginia tonight, meaning a lot of the roster is going to be there instead of here for Raw. We do however have Cena and Lesnar guaranteed and the potential debut of the Ascension to keep us until the full roster is back to start the new year. Also in some breaking news, Daniel Bryan has a major announcement which could mean his retirement. Let’s get to it.

We open with a clip of Edge’s retirement a little less than four years ago. That was such a shocking moment and actually got to me a little bit. He and Christian are hosting tonight, which should be a lot of fun if they just let those two have fun.

Here are Edge and Christian to open things up. Chimmel (before doing the voice cracking deal) lists off their resumes and it’s hilarious to hear how much more Edge accomplished as a singles guy. Christian thinks we should have this show E&C style, which Edge, who appears to be wearing a Sami Zayn shirt, likes. That means we should have a special edition of the Peep Show, which Edge doesn’t like. Why not have it be the Cutting Edge instead of something that sounds like a perverted idea from the 1920s? Instead it’s going to be a Cutting Edge Peep Show with special guest Seth Rollins.

The fans aren’t thrilled, so Edge makes Rollins vs. Reigns to make them feel better. It’s Christian’s turn now as he makes Rusev vs. Ziggler in a Champion vs. Champion match……and they’ll both be completely sans clothing? Christian: “Maybe just Lana then?” He tries to get the fans back by asking if the fans would like to see Daniel Bryan and I’ll let you guess the reaction. We’ll wrap it up with a five second pose, but here’s Brock Lesnar instead. Of note here, Lawler says that both Edge AND Christian are retired, which I believe is the first official confirmation for Christian.

Heyman says both guys are too damaged to be in the same ring with someone like Lesnar, so Brock won’t hurt either of them. Instead, Heyman thinks Lesnar wants to “penetrate the virgin neck” of John Cena. Cue Cena as the Canadians kind of hide in the corner. Cena isn’t going to knock Lesnar into 2015 so he doesn’t have an excuse at the Rumble. He does have a new year’s resolution to take that title off him at the Rumble. Cena grabs Heyman by the throat but throws a charging Lesnar up for the AA, only for the champ to bail to the floor.

Dolph Ziggler vs. Rusev

Non-title. Ziggler gets in a few cheap shots to start but Rusev nails him in the face to take over. This time the announcers talk about how no one has beaten Rusev, but don’t suggest Ziggler could be the one to beat him. Instead they’re too busy getting in Ziggler buzzwords like “stealing the show”, because getting in buzzwords and catchphrases has replaced the idea of actually calling a match. Ziggler comes back with a dropkick and the swinging DDT as we head to a break.

Back with Rusev in control and putting on a side choke instead of having one on already. We get a full screen replay of Ziggler getting catapulted into the corner from the App, which isn’t the worst idea during a chinlock. Dolph fights up and tries a high cross body, only to get caught in the fall away slam. Ziggler escapes that as well and nails a middle rope dropkick to put both guys down. He tries something like the Stinger Splash (which may or may not be a tribute) but has to settle for ducking the superkick and nailing the Fameasser.

It might have injured his knee though, allowing Rusev to throw him by the leg into the corner for a smart move. What isn’t a smart move though is trying a splash when Ziggler is down in the corner. Moves like that just get on my nerves because there is no logical reason to try something like that. A kick (clearly missing) to the knee has Ziggler in trouble and Rusev stomps away in the corner for the DQ at 10:10.

Rating: C. The match was decent enough and the ending was the most logical, as at least Ziggler didn’t get destroyed and then win at the end. I’m still not feeling Ziggler on this massive push that some see, but at least he isn’t jobbing clean on free TV anymore. I’m also glad that they didn’t make this title for title as that would have made the ending even more obvious than what we had here. Ziggler could use a feud too.

Rusev puts Ziggler in the Accolade in the ropes (doesn’t really add anything) until Ryback makes the save.

Time to insult fans who are still buying the pay per views, because telling someone they’re an idiot for giving you $55 is certainly going to make them want to pay you $10 a month right?

Ryback is still in the ring after a break and he has something to say. Ever since he debuted in the WWE as Ryback (his words), there are a lot of things about him that you don’t know about him. He was a guest bell ringer at his first WWE show when he was twelve years old. Then ten years ago he got his start on Tough Enough as the Silverback. We get a clip of Ryback, then known as Ryan Reeves, being eliminated.

After that, he lost his dream job and fell into a deep depression. He didn’t talk to his family for over a year and got a job at some barbecue joint in Louisville, Kentucky with only a stack of Wrestlemania DVDs to get him through his time. Then he read a book called the Secret on being positive. It changed his life and shortly thereafter he got rehired by WWE, leading to him making his redebut as part of the Nexus. We see a clip of the awesome Nexus beatdown that introduced us to the Meat Hook.

Then he broke his ankle and leg in three places in a match in Hawaii and missed a long, long time. This led to the debut of the Ryback character, which leads us to a package on Ryback’s domination. Now he’s here, which brings Ryback to Rusev. This isn’t about the USA vs. Russia. It’s about one big guy beating up another big guy, because Ryback likes to eat big negative people. Then he looks at someone like Rusev and says FEED ME MORE.

Did I mention that half the roster isn’t here tonight and they need to fill in time? I’ll give them this though: I’d much rather have a reason to care about someone like Ryback than some lame comedy match or a bunch of chinlocks. This was a far better use of time than I was expecting so at least it could have been worse.

Nikki Bella vs. Natalya

The idea here was that Tyson was wearing a Nikki Bella hat last week and Natalya isn’t happy. To continue the annoying run of commentary buzzwords and terms, Cole says a win here could put Natalya in the title hunt. WELL WHAT ELSE HAS SHE BEEN IN FOR WEEKS NOW??? Not that it matters as Natayla kicks Nikki off the apron and into Tyson’s arms, only to have the distraction let Nikki hit the Rack Attack for the pin at 1:05. So much for Natalya’s push. Cole: “Let’s see how things play out on Total Divas this Sunday!”

Naomi comes up to hug Miz in the back, because the producers want to meet with her. She even wishes him luck in the title defense against the Usos.

John Cena came in seventh in some celebrity charity deal that no one has heard of nor cares about.

Tag Team Titles: Usos vs. Miz/Damien Mizdow

This is the TLC rematch due to Miz using the Slammy Award for the DQ. The best thing of this match: JBL dubs Mizdow’s small titles the Subtitles. The Usos aren’t in shirts for a change. Miz hides from Jimmy in the corner to start and of course the fans want Mizdow. They feel each other out a bit until Jimmy sends Miz into the corner for a nice running splash. Off to Jey who eats a chinlock as the announcers, I kid you not, actually talk about the match. Jey goes into slow motion for an uppercut to Miz’s jaw before slapping on an armbar.

An even slower double atomic drop have Miz in trouble but Mizdow comes in to do the same motions. He’s dedicated if nothing else. Both champions go to the floor and the Usos aren’t sure what to think. Jimmy loads up the dive but gets snapped across the top, setting up Miz’s big boot for two. Back from a break with Miz in control on Jey but not willing to tag Mizdow. Jey misses an enziguri but makes the hot tag just seconds later. Now the big dive connects but Jimmy comes up favoring his arm or wrist. I always worry about things like that on those dives.

It doesn’t seem bad, but Miz nails the low DDT for two. Jey and Mizdow are nowhere to be seen and both guys are down. We see Mizdow down on the floor, but for once he isn’t mimicking Miz. There’s the Figure Four on Jimmy but he finally makes the rope. Still no sign of Jey. Another Figure Four attempt is countered into Konnan’s Tequila Sunrise but Mizdow comes in for the save.

It’s Mizdow eating a superkick but Miz grabs a rollup for two. The superkick drops Miz but the Superfly Splash hits Miz’s knees. The Skull Crushing Finale plants Jey for…..two? That’s not a move you see kicked out of that often. Think about it for a second. Almost no one kicks out of that. The hot tag brings in Jimmy for another superkick and a mostly missed double superkick sets up Jimmy’s Superfly Splash to give us new champions at 13:06.

Rating: B-. Well that happened and I’m actually surprised for once. That sequence with the Finale had me checking the match time and my head actually snapping to the side when the three didn’t go down. The sloppiness on the moves at the end brought things down a bit, but this was a genuine surprise and that’s a very nice thing to have on this incredibly predictable show for a change.

Naomi comes out to celebrate and the Usos say they’re going to have a big party with JR’s barbecue and champagne. Jimmy says they played Miz to get where they are here and nothing major happens. Cool surprise here and I’d assume it sets up Usos vs. Ascension.

The announcers hype up Bryan’s announcement and imply he’s retiring.

Video on Shield splitting and the beginnings of Reigns vs. Rollins to set up their match tonight.

Cesaro is in the corner ala Raven for his match but has a mic because he has a few things to get off his chest. 2014 should have been his year. He won the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal at Wrestlemania, but now WWE is telling him that he doesn’t connect. That’s true, because he delivers instead of connect. And who does he not connect with? The WWE Universe? He doesn’t care about connecting with them, because he doesn’t care about anything except what happens in this ring. No one in WWE can hold a candle to him inside this ring, and if anyone back there doubts him, come out here and make his day.

Cesaro vs. Bad News Barrett

Barrett: “It’s me it’s me it’s BNB!” He has some bad news for Cesaro: Cesaro may not care about caring with the fans, but this Bull Hammer is connecting with his head. Cesaro nails him in the face to start and stomps Barrett down in the corner. Barrett looks leaner here and seems to be playing to the crowd like a face for the first time. He knocks Cesaro to the floor but gets dropped face first onto the barricade.

Back in and a very nice top rope ax handle drops Barrett, but the announcers are of course ripping on Cesaro for slipping up and saying no one can touch him inside “these four ropes”. You know, because…..well you get the idea by now. Cesaro hits a great looking German suplex but Barrett kicks him in the side of the head for two. The pumphandle slam is countered into the Cesaro Swing but he pops up with the Bull Hammer for the pin at 3:40.

Rating: C. Well so much for Cesaro’s awesome heel promo. I’m sure there was NO ONE else to have out there for a chat before jobbing to Barrett right? As usual it’s like WWE has no idea how to set up something other than by having someone lose. Not that it matters of course as the commentators CAN’T FREAKING SHUT UP with their stupid jokes and jabs because Heaven forbid someone say one thing wrong. Keep in mind that this is MICHAEL COLE mocking people for slipping up on lines and you’ll see why this is so stupid.

Harper is in the dark again and says people like him are thrown aside like trash. He is a product of our environment and a nightmare come to life. Sweet dreams.

Jack Swagger vs. Luke Harper

Harper knocks him into the corner to start and cranks on Jack’s head a bit. A nice dropkick gets two and we hit the Gator Roll. Jack is able to take it outside though and nails a clothesline as we take a break. Back with Harper holding a chinlock and kicking Jack hard enough that JBL stops mocking Cole and calls the match. We hit another chinlock as the filler for this show continues.

Swagger fights up and hits the usual to set up the Patriot Lock. You know Luke isn’t tapping to that though so it’s a superkick for two. Harper touches the sides of his own head like he’s hearing voices for a bizarre bit that totally fits him. The Patriot Lock gets the same result but the Vader Bomb hits knees. Harper’s discus lariat (JBL: “Clothesline From Smell!”) is enough for the pin at 9:46.

Rating: C-. This is exactly the kind of thing I’d like to see more often: two guys have a match, one guy wins with his finisher, no interference etc. Harper got a win over a guy that means something (work with me here) and does it without Wyatt or any help. This raises his stock and reenforces Swagger’s status as a jobber to the stars. It wasn’t a great match or anything, but it just needed to be Harper getting a win and that’s what we got.

We recap the opening segment.

Cena is talking about the old times in the back with Edge and Christian until Christian brings up the time Edge beat up Cena’s dad. He leaves before death ensues and Cena and Edge have a nice feel good moment to I guess officially bury the hatchet. Wasn’t that buried liked five years ago?

Seth Rollins vs. Roman Reigns

Big Show is on commentary. Rollins is tentative to start and gets shoved out to the floor for his efforts. They seem to be treating this like a big deal, which is exactly what they should be doing. These guys are going to be the future of the company and a showdown should matter. Back in and Roman goes after the arm for some psychology, including a ram into the buckle.

Big Show says Rollins is the future and should be the Superstar of the Year. For once I actually agree with him. Reigns runs into a boot in the corner and they head outside for a change. It’s Rollins sending him into the corner and we hit the chinlock back inside. Show isn’t exactly being impartial on commentary but he’s actually entertaining by just cheering for Rollins.

Roman fights up and hits a nice powerbomb to send Rollins outside yet again. That goes nowhere so Reigns puts him in the ropes for the Apron Kick. That’s still a cool looking spot, but a distraction by the Stooges lets Rollins knock him into the barricade as we take a break. Back with, of course, Reigns in a chinlock. Seth starts changing strategy by kicking the knee out dropkicking Reigns for two. That ends our interesting idea phase as it’s back to the chinlock. Reigns fights up again but we hit chinlock #3 in about two minutes. No following up on the leg kick or anything. Just another chinlock.

The hold is escaped again but Rollins downward spirals him down into the buckle, only to eat a tilt-a-whirl powerslam for two. A belly to back slam gets the same as Big Show is still playing cheerleader. Rollins pops back up with an enziguri and low superkick for two as both guys are down again. This match really doesn’t have the energy that it should, but the fans haven’t been all that interested in most of the stuff they’ve seen all night. The Curb Stomp misses and Roman sidesteps the springboard knee, setting up the Superman Punch. Not that it matters as Big Show comes in for the DQ at 16:20.

Rating: C. If this is supposed to be their next big guy, they’ve got a major problem. Reigns isn’t the worst guy in the world by any stretch, but he’s just not the guy you want as the top guy right now. There’s nothing wrong with not being ready, but there is something very bad about pushing him as the next top guy when he isn’t ready. It’s crippled people before and it could ruin a lot of things for Reigns. On a side note, at least Rollins didn’t get pinned. They’ve been doing a somewhat better job of not giving bigger names meaningless losses lately.

Big Show throws Reigns over the announcers’ table and shoves all the equipment on top of him. Cole makes a big point of Reigns’ leg being crushed so this might be an injury angle.

Post break, Rollins promises to offer a New Year’s toast to John Cena on the Cutting Edge Peep Show.

We recap Wyatt vs. Ambrose, who will be having an ambulance match next week.

Bray Wyatt, sitting in the back of an ambulance, says everything must come full circle, like an ambulance taking you to a place where life begins an ends. It all ends next week but Dean died long ago. Bray and Bray alone has his soul. He closes the doors and the ambulance drives away.

Here’s Bryan, who JBL declares as being back despite not being gone more than a few weeks at most. Daniel says it’s an honor to be in this ring every single time. Who would have thought that a small kid from Aberdeen, Washington who was labeled a B+ player could have main evented Wrestlemania? No one, except for the fans. Thanks to the people, he beat HHH, Randy Orton and Batista in one night in front of 75,000 people. Five days later, he married the woman of his dreams to complete the greatest week of his life.

Then everything changed. Two days after their honeymoon ended, his dad died. Bryan was here wrestling that night and wasn’t there for his dad. Then a few weeks later, he had a career changing neck injury, and all he could do was sit at home on his couch and watch. All he wanted to do was be here in front of these people competing because it’s all that can take the pain away. He’s starting to cry as he says this.

No one cheered louder than he did when Ziggler got rid of the Authority. It was a great moment but it hurt because he couldn’t be there in the ring. He talked to everyone including Edge, who knows a thing or two about career ending injuries. You reach a point where you have to think about making a decision. He isn’t sure if all of this is worth it or not.

The fans all say NO, but Bryan wanted to make this announcement in front of all of the people. Is his career over? NO. That is not his announcement, because he is ready to fight and compete. His announcement: he will be in the 2015 Royal Rumble! Now THAT woke the crowd up.

Edge and Christian are playing the kazoos when Miz and Mizdow come up. Christian says Miz needs a Tic Tac and Edge has a puppet for a stunt double. They’ll be getting a rematch tonight…..but not for the title and not against the Usos. Mizdow is watching the puppet.

Miz/Damien Mizdow vs. Ascension

We already open with a gaffe, as the Ascension’s combined weight is listed as 480lbs but Cole says Konnor weighs 290 and Viktor 240. Miz immediately hides on the floor, leaving Mizdow to take a big power beating. The Fall of Man (high/low with a running back elbow from Viktor) is enough for the pin at 1:10. This worked.

Rollins would like Lesnar to join he and Cena in the ring next.

It’s time for the first ever Cutting Edge Peep Show with special guest the Walking Pile of Suck (Christian came up with that one) Seth Rollins. The Stooges come out carrying champagne and are dubbed the Geek Squad by the Canadians. Rollins says Edge and Christian pioneered a generation and he might not be here without then. Edge and Christian see this as condescending, but Rollins goes on to talk about what a great year he had.

He ended the Shield, won Money in the Bank, should have been named Superstar of the Year, and has become the future of WWE. Who else has had a better year? “Cena?” “Daniel Bryan?” “Sting?” Edge: “The Doctor of Style Slick?” Christian: “He was a jive soul bro who always lied to his friends.” Rollins, somewhat bewildered by the reference, says he wants to start a new year. The old Seth Rollins is dead and it’s going to be a new version next year.

First of all, Rollins would like Big Show to come out here. Show comes out applauding Rollins, but Rollins gets nothing when he requests Cena. Edge thinks it’s due to Rollins’ lack of charisma. Apparently Rollins wouldn’t have charisma if he had a live sex celebration right here with Big Show. Seth still wants Cena out here and nails Christian with the briefcase. Edge gets in his face but is surrounded and injured.

The villains put Edge’s head onto the briefcase until Cena runs down to ringside. Rollins stops him at ringside and says Cena knows what Seth wants. The announcers point out that Rollins wants the Authority back as Seth says Edge is a husband and father. If Cena wants Edge to be with his wife and play with his kid, Cena better give Rollins what he wants. Let’s find out if Cena is Mr. Hustle, Loyalty and Respect. Bring the Authority back or Edge gets paralyzed.

Cena finally says ok but Rollins makes Noble go to him with a mic to make sure it’s clear. John confirms that the Authority is back but Rollins loads up the Curb Stomp anyway. Cena comes in for the save but the numbers are too high. The Curb Stomp lays out Cena as Big Show tries to start an Authority chant. Lesnar and Heyman come out as Rollins and Big Show celebrate. Heyman shakes Rollins’ hand and the Authority just happens to be here to celebrate. They were there the night after Survivor Series, so they weren’t even gone five weeks. JBL is thrilled to end the show.

Overall Rating: C+. They should keep the roster split more often because this show was FAR more entertaining than most of the previous months. The show had a chance to breathe and a lot more stuff happened as a result. In other words, stuff had a chance to make an impact instead of jumping to something else over and over again. The worst part of the packed shows is they have to get in all the comedy/filler stuff instead of letting the important things take their time.

The wrestling wasn’t great tonight, but it felt like the show was in gear again. Between Ryback getting to talk (and not doing badly), Ascension’s debut and Bryan’s announcement, it felt like new stuff happened tonight instead of just rehashing the same stuff over and over again. The end of 2014 wasn’t kind to WWE, so maybe things are going to be looking up going into the new year. It’s better than Big Show dancing in a diaper at least…and then the Authority came back to make the last month plus Survivor Series totally meaningless. Well done WWE. You wasted the best story you’ve had all year to bring them back.

Results

Dolph Ziggler b. Rusev via DQ when Rusev wouldn’t stop stomping in the corner

Nikki Bella b. Natalya – Rack Attack

Usos b. Miz/Damien Mizdow – Superfly Splash to Miz

Bad News Barrett b. Cesaro – Bullhammer

Luke Harper b. Jack Swagger – Discus lariat

Roman Reigns b. Seth Rollins via DQ when Big Show interfered

Ascension b. Miz/Damien Mizdow – Fall of Man to Mizdow

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book on the History of the Royal Rumble at Amazon for just $3.99 at:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00PZ1GR7E

And check out my Amazon author page with wrestling books for under $4 at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

Finally, I’m holding a Holiday Special for my e-books: any two of them for just $5.  Check out the details here.

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2014/11/28/holiday-sale/

Last week’s show was the Christmas episode, which has been little more than a dull show with a big main event for years, but the common expectations seemed to be the greatest show of all time, because wrestling fans have short attention spans. Other than that though, Hogan is here as the guest host, Ho Ho Hogan. Let’s get to it.

Hogan opened things up as Santa Claus. I’m really hoping this is better than Santa With Muscles, which really was a disaster, even by Hulk movie standards. That being said, Hulk Hogan as Santa……might be the most amazing thing in the history of ever. Anyway, Hogan made some matches which we’ll get to later, but John Cena interrupted him for the big hero buddy shot.

Cena sang Let It Go. I’m going to pause to let you think about that for a few seconds now. Cena actually praised Rollins for beating him fair and square last week, which is a very cool line to hear. It’s a good rub for Seth because he did in fact win the match without breaking any rules. He wanted Rollins again tonight, so Seth came out for basically the exact same promo Cena has heard for a year or so: go away because it’s my time. Think about it: for the last year, what have you heard said to Cena besides that or “come to the dark side”? Rollins did his usual whining about the Authority and the obvious match was made for the opener.

The match was good as usual, with Cena winning via overcoming the odds. I’m fine with this, as Rollins got his big win the previous week. There isn’t much to say about this one, which is usually the case about good matches. Rollins losing isn’t a problem because a top star like John Cena shouldn’t be losing clean (or semi-clean) to almost anyone. Seth beat Cena last week with all the cheating and that’s all he ever needed to do.

Fandango beat Jack Swagger clean in about two minutes. This one was more annoying than anything else, but the more I think about it, the less there is to get mad about. At the end of the day, Fandango isn’t going to go anywhere. He’s a one idea character who has only gotten the attention he’s gotten because of how he speaks and the good looking women that dance with him. He isn’t going to become a big star or anything more than a midcarder because, barring changing a lot of things about him, he’s about reached his peak.

That brings us to Swagger, who does have room to grow, which is what got on my nerves about him losing. The more I think about it though, the less annoyed I am. Swagger may have room to grow, but he’s been so damaged over the last few years that there’s just no saving him, at least not without a major repackaging. The guy just isn’t going to get any better with this character because he’s been branded as a loser by the fans. That’s almost impossible to come back from and I don’t see it happening with him either.

R-Truth beat Adam Rose in less than a minute. Rose laid out the Bunny post match for what felt like his official heel turn.

Here’s the thing with Rose: he never should have been anything more than the modern day Godfather. He comes out to open a house show, talks about what a fun party this is, gets challenged by some low level heel (Titus, Slater, you get the idea), beats him in like two minutes and dances off while the crowd is fired up and ready to have a good time. That alone should have kept Rose employed for……oh I’d say three years at minimum.

But instead, they decided to give him a character, which hasn’t gone anywhere since it started. It seemed for a bit like they were focusing on the Bunny for awhile, but then that stopped being a thing for about a month and was seemingly dropped. Now no one cares about Rose and the guy that should have been one of the easiest opening acts ever has taken one of the dumbest heel turns I can remember in a long time. In other words, as usual, WWE doesn’t get the idea that some people have a spot and shouldn’t leave that spot no matter what.

Roman Reigns beat Big Show by countout in a quick match. This was just to set up their big showdown later in the future, even though I don’t know of many people who want to see it. People complain about Reigns not being ready, and this is a good example as to why. He’s being dragged down by this feud with Big Show that no one cares about, meaning he isn’t getting to grow.

Big Show continues to be this guy that is just thrown into main event level feuds without ever winning one, but in theory this is why they’ve had him look so dominant for so long recently. For some reason WWE thinks people care about Big Show, because so many people have responded to his recent efforts. The problem with him is simple: when you put EVERYONE over, putting someone else over doesn’t mean as much. Just ask Mick Foley or Chris Jericho.

Ambrose still wants to beat up Wyatt. They’ve reached the point where they’re fighting because they’ve been fighting for months and that’s rarely a good thing.

Natalya made Brie Bella tap out in the usual Bella match. I guess they’re trying to make Nikki the next big deal, but my goodness it’s not working. But hey, some unknown critic likes Total Divas so that’s something right?

In another match where the writers aren’t thinking, Goldust and Stardust lost to Los Matadores and El Torito. Let me repeat that: the heels lost a handicap match to the good guys. In wrestling, the idea behind a face, most of the time at least, is that he’s fighting an uphill battle. Austin was fighting McMahon’s money and power, Hogan was fighting the entire Heenan Family, Los Matadores and Torito were fighting with a three man to two advantage. It goes against the basic logic of wrestling and should have made Goldust and Stardust faces. I’m supposed to boo someone who lost in a disadvantage? That makes no sense.

Ziggler retained the Intercontinental Title over Luke Harper in the same match they’ve had half a dozen times now. I like the matches, but at the same time it’s really hard to care about something we’ve done that many times. Other than that, I didn’t like the spot where Harper no sold a superkick. That’s similar to the stuff from Japan that drives me crazy, though to be fair this was one time instead of five in a single match. At least it was only once, but I really hope that doesn’t become a thing in WWE.

Lana and Rusev were in Piper’s Pit until Ryback came out wearing a big bow. Piper was about as pointless of a cameo as I’ve ever seen here as he served no purpose other than to say he had a surprise for Rusev and bring out Ryback. He wasn’t even funny or serious to make it even less interesting.

Divas, bad match, moving on. The good girls won if you care for some reason.

Jimmy Uso and the Miz had the same match they’ve had a few times now. I still care about the story and want to see where it goes though, which is more than I can say about most of the things going on in WWE today. Nothing is going to matter until Naomi gets directly involved, and that needs to happen sooner rather than later.

The main event was another long match between Ambrose and Wyatt with Dean hammering on Bray for over twenty minutes before losing at the very end. They went with the Christmas presents idea here and opened up a bunch of weapons to make this a fun match. That being said, just like Ziggler vs. Harper, how many times can I sit here and watch these guys fight? The good thing is that Ambrose is still over, but that’s only going to last so long.

Overall Raw wasn’t nearly as bad as people say it was, but it’s still nothing all that great. The good stuff was good, but when they start dogging it with the filler that no one cares about, this show can fall down through a hole that it never recovers from. The three good matches more than carry it to a passing grade, but my goodness some of this stuff, mainly involving the Divas, was incredibly lame. They need to get to Rumble season, which has potential to be awesome, especially if Reigns isn’t a lock to win the whole thing. Acceptable, but still not great or even solid show this week.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book on the History of the Royal Rumble at Amazon for just $3.99 at:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00PZ1GR7E

And check out my Amazon author page with wrestling books for under $4 at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

Finally, I’m holding a Holiday Special for my e-books: any two of them for just $5.  Check out the details here.

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2014/11/28/holiday-sale/

Monday Night Raw
Date: December 22, 2014
Location: Target Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Commentators: Michael Cole, John Bradshaw Layfield, Jerry Lawler

It’s the Christmas special tonight with special guest host Hulk Hogan. That’s about as good of a name as you’re going to get and maybe we can finally see that Santa With Muscles sequel. I can’t imagine much of note happens tonight and odds are we wrap things up with a big fun tag match. Let’s get to it.

There’s a big Christmas set with trees and gifts.

Piper’s Pit returns tonight with Lana and Rusev, plus Big Show vs. Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose vs. Bray Wyatt in a Miracle on 34^th Street Fight.

Here’s Hulk Hogan as Santa Claus to get things going. The fans chant Hogan but he says it’s Ho Ho Hogan. Tonight he’s giving presents to all of the Superstars and the WWE Universe, including the two matches already mentioned. Before he can hit the catchphrase though, here’s John Cena in red and yellow. Cena says that if there’s one man as iconic as Santa Claus, it’s Hulk Hogan.

For some reason, Cena starts singing Let It Go before throwing it to a clip of the end of last week’s show. The fans want Lesnar, and that’s exactly what Cena wants too. Cena says most people would say the decision should be reversed, but those are the people that get coal in their stockings. Last week he lost to Rollins fair and square, but now he wants a match with Rollins tonight. This brings out Seth Rollins to say the Curb Stomp from last week is why Cena can’t see what’s going on. No one wants to hear Cena’s voice anymore.

Rollins isn’t here to run down their careers because they’re both legends, but it’s Seth’s time. Hogan shouldn’t be in charge tonight because this should still be the Authority’s show. He goes on and on about how this is his time and how Cena was lucky to escape. If Hogan doesn’t grant Rollins his wish of bringing back the Authority, things will go bad for Santa. Cena tells him to shut up and turns down the Authority offer. Hogan instead just makes Cena vs. Rollins for next, thereby rendering the last few minutes basically worthless.

John Cena vs. Seth Rollins

Cena knocks him to the floor to start, drawing the Stooges up onto the apron to give Rollins his first opening. A Blockbuster gets two for Seth and Cena is in early trouble. Rollins knocks him into the corner and hits a running forearm before it’s off to a front facelock. John shoves him off so Rollins grabs the briefcase as a ruse so Mercury can get in a right hand as we go to a break.

We take a break and come back with Cena fighting out of a chinlock and firing off the shoulders, only to have Rollins duck to send Cena outside. There’s the suicide dive to drive Cena into the barricade but he avoids the springboard knee. A low superkick gets two instead but Cena tries a quick AA. Rollins lands on his feet but takes the ProtoBomb. Rollins blocks the STF and nails an enziguri to put both guys down.

Cena comes back by catching Rollins in a Batista Bomb of all things for two and it’s another stalemate. They slug it out with Cena hitting another ProtoBomb and the Shuffle, only to have the Stooges offer a distraction. He backdrops Rollins onto both of them before throwing him back inside for the top rope Fameasser. Cena loads up the top rope AA but gets countered into the running Buckle Bomb for a VERY close two.

The Curb Stomp is countered into the STF but Rollins is quickly in the ropes, only to have Cena drag him back into the middle. Cue the Stooges for the save but Cena beats them up and hits a double AA. The briefcase shot misses and Cena plants Rollins with the AA for the pin at 15:48.

Rating: B. I was hoping for a few more minutes here to make this great but it has to settle for just really good. These two definitely have chemistry and Rollins’ day is going to come soon. He already has the win over Cena last week in the big gimmick match and that’s the one people are going to remember. Very good match here.

Kane stands in front of a wreath and says bah humbug. Literally that’s it.

Jack Swagger vs. Fandango

Neither guy gets an entrance. Jack easily takes Fandango down to start but can’t get the Patriot Lock. A big boot puts Fandango down and a clothesline does the same with the fans not all that interested in what Swagger is doing. The Vader Bomb is almost blocked so the second attempt connects for two. Fandango goes to the apron for some kicks to the head to knock Swagger down and the guillotine legdrop gets the pin at 2:02.

Dolph Ziggler says the ladder match at TLC was one of the hardest matches he’s ever had. Tonight he’s defending against Harper again and knows that Luke is a nightmare come to life. He’s going to give the fans what they want tonight.

Adam Rose vs. R-Truth

The Bunny is still in a neck brace. Feeling out process to start until Rose wants to dance, allowing Truth to roll him up for the pin at 58 seconds.

The Bunny checks on Rose post match and Adam beats him up for I think the third time. He shouts at the Rosebuds and knees the Bunny’s head into the steps. Rose rips off the neck brace and storms past the Rosebuds as he leavs.

Edge and Christian host next week.

Hulk Hogan will be running Smackdown this Friday.

Big Show vs. Roman Reigns

Reigns easily takes him into the corner to start but Big Show easily picks him up and drops Reigns on the top rope. A shoulder gets two and Show sends him into the corner to keep dominating. We hit the chinlock as the fans are already chanting boring. Roman fights back up with a Samoan drop but the Superman Punch is blocked. Instead a dropkick to the leg takes Show down and the Apron Kick staggers him to the floor. Now the Superman Punch knocks Show onto the announcers’ table as Reigns is all fired up. He’s so fired up that he rolls in for the countout win at 4:22.

Rating: D. The match was dull for the most part but at least Big Show didn’t win. I’m assuming this keeps going because a win over Big Show is supposed to mean something, even though EVERYONE has beaten him over the years. I’d assume we get the blowoff at the first Raw of the year or the Rumble and it needs to end with total Reigns domination.

Dean Ambrose says he’s been a good boy all year. He went to the Mall of America to see Santa Claus today but had to settle for a security guard with a white beard. All he wants is Bray Wyatt, because every time a bell rings, Bray Wyatt gets a beating.

Brie Bella vs. Natalya

Fallout from last week where Natalya made Brie tap in a tag match. Natalya quickly takes her down to start but stops to say something to Kidd, allowing Brie to take her down off the ropes. Two Brie Mode running knees to a seated Natalya are good for two and we hit a chinlock as this just keeps going. Back up and Natalya tries a Sharpshooter but gets small packaged only to roll through into one of her own for the pin at 3:19.

Rating: D. I don’t freaking care. Seriously, I just do not care. I like Total Divas but dear goodness they’ve killed whatever interest I have in the Divas division with this Bellas vs. the World stuff. Again, basic wrestling logic says when you have someone vs. the World, THE SOMEONE SHOULD BE THE FREAKING GOOD GUY!

Natalya knocks Nikki off the apron and holds up the title.

Ascension is coming.

Goldust/Stardust vs. Los Matadores/El Torito

Before the match, we hear the Dusts talking about giving their opponents red noses. Los Matadores come out to Christmas music and Torito is now a reindeer. Stardust wants Torito to start and I guess that’s going to be legal. The bull sends him outside to start and dives into an armdrag. Back in and it’s off to Goldust vs. Diego, with the masked man grabbing a sunset flip for two.

Goldust hammers him down and slaps on a chinlock before Stardust snaps the neck across the top rope. Stardust comes in off the top but dives into a dropkick, allowing for the hot tag to Diego. Everything breaks down and the bull tags himself in. Goldust spins Torito around and accidentally hits his brother, allowing Fernando to hit a Backstabber, followed by a Lionsault from Torito for the pin at 3:40.

Rating: D. So let me get this straight. We make the heels underdogs by putting them in a handicap match, only to have them lose to the kids’ comedy character, likely signaling the split of the team who has had a career resurgence over the last year. I’m fine with the eventual split, but could you please THINK on your way there?

Luke Harper says he likes to take this time of year, so he’s going to give Ziggler a beating and take the Intercontinental Title.

Intercontinental Title: Luke Harper vs. Dolph Ziggler

Harper kicks him in the face before the bell to knock the champion out to the floor. A BIG suicide dive takes Ziggler down and Harper loads up a powerbomb, only to settle for the spinning Boss Man Slam. Back in and Ziggler says ring the bell so Harper superkicks him down and hits the Batista Bomb for two. Ziggler tries to fight up but gets catapulted throat first into the bottom rope as we take a break.

Back with Harper knocking Dolph to the floor again. Harper blocks a superkick and slams the champ face first onto the announcers’ table for two. Ziggler misses a Stinger Splash to give Luke two more and a pumphandle throw gets the same. A Michinoku Driver gets the third straight near fall but Ziggler grabs a sunset flip for two of his own.

Back up and the discus lariat is blocked by a superkick but Harper keeps going and lariats Ziggler for two. Harper’s powerbomb is countered into a facebuster and Dolph gets two more off the Fameasser. Another Fameasser is countered and Dolph hits two more superkicks, followed by the Zig Zag to retain at 11:26.

Rating: B. And they’re DONE. Seriously, there is no need for these two to have that same match again for at least six months. I feel like I’ve seen them fight about 50 times in the last month and a half and that’s not a good thing. Yeah the matches have been fun, but it’s the same exact formula every single time. I mean, it’s not exactly Sting vs. Vader out there so move Ziggler on to someone else.

Ziggler dedicates his win to the fans and says no one is taking the title from him.

It’s time for Piper’s Pit with special guests, Lana and Rusev. Lana starts fast, talking about how stupid America is for thinking Santa Claus brings them presents. Piper freaks out (of course) and says you can believe anything you want in America. Lana says then believe in this, and shows us a clip of Rusev taking out Ryback on Smackdown. Rusev says that’s proof he can crush Ryback so the fans chant FEED ME MORE. Maybe Piper would like to be crushed too? Piper say she’s Hot Rod and brings out Ryback with a bow around his chest. The fight is on in the aisle with Ryback dominating but Rusev bails before the Meat Hook.

The announcers list off some very specific areas in which USA is topping the ratings.

We recap the opening segment and Cena vs. Rollins.

Alicia Fox/Emma/Naomi vs. Paige/Cameron/Summer Rae

This is a Santa’s Little Helpers match but Paige doesn’t seem interested in the Christmas theme. To give you an idea of what I’m sitting through here, Emma starts by hitting Summer with her hair. Paige gets a LOUD chant to start before it’s off to Cameron for a Codebreaker for two. Off to Page for a headbutt and a big reaction from the crowd. Lawler brings up Xanta Claus which JBL declares the worst thing ever. Oh come on now it wasn’t THAT bad.

Paige stays on Emma with a chinlock until Emma fights up for a double clothesline. The hot tag brings in Naomi to FINALLY do something interesting as she flips over the top and Stuns Cameron onto the ropes. Everything breaks down with Paige cleaning house until Alicia hits a kind of reverse Fameasser to pin Cameron at 4:22.

Rating: D-. Please…..make it stop.

Ascension comes next week.

Miz vs. Jey Uso

We get a pre tape before the match with Miz offering Mizdow a chance to sing, only to have time run out. Thankfully Cole is there to explain to us that the fans are booing Miz and cheering Mizdow. Miz does the pointing back and forth thing to start the BOO/YAY chant, basically making Cole’s explanation even more worthless.

Miz grabs a headlock to start but gets thrown to the floor, setting up a dive from Jey to take Miz down. Back in and Miz drives a knee into Jey’s ribs before slapping on a chinlock. Jey fights back up with a Samoan drop but has to roll out of the Finale. The Figure Four is countered but Miz rolls him up with a handful of tights for the pin at 3:31.

Rating: D+. Like most of the bad matches tonight, this didn’t have time to go anywhere. The story is still there and it’s still interesting, but they need more than three minutes to set something up. I do like that Miz actually got a win though as it at least keeps the story moving forward.

Preview clip of the Mick Foley episode of Monday Night War. Original air date: September 9.

Here’s Bray to sing It’s The Most Wonderful Time of the Year. He notices how people surround themselves with everyone they love during the holidays. Maybe they do that because it makes them feel safe. Do the people here tonight feel safe? Safety is an illusion that guards you from the other world outside your window. In that world, there is no Santa Claus or sugar plums dancing in your head. There is only evil, pain and sorry. That is Bray Wyatt’s world and he is the king. You can help him create this world by looking to the sky and following the buzzards.

Dean Ambrose vs. Bray Wyatt

Street fight. Dean hammers away in the corner to start and we have a pile of presents at ringside. JBL incorrectly says we haven’t seen a Boot Camp match in thirty years, ignoring the one we saw at Tribute to the Troops between Shawn and HHH in 2005. Yeah that’s a few years back, but JBL was on the show and apparently helped organize it. Anyway Dean takes him to the floor and throws him into a Christmas tree.

Ambrose slams the tree into him but stops to open a present, finding a TV monitor. Thankfully it isn’t plugged in but Dean puts it back in the box anyway. Instead he finds a table with a bow on it but opts to hit a suicide dive (third one of the night) to drive Wyatt through some boxes. He loads up the table and wraps a wreath around his neck but Bray runs up the aisle. That’s fine with Dean who puts the wreath around Bray and nails him, before just chucking a box at Bray’s head.

Another package is opened to reveal a chair but Bray sends him off the stage and through a table as we take the last break of the night. We come back with a long tracking shot from the stage to the ring for a unique visual. Dean fights out of a chinlock but gets slammed down for two and put back in the hold. They head outside again wth the fans asking for ONE MORE TREE. Bray listens to them and sends Ambrose into a tree for a good reaction.

It’s candy cane kendo stick time with Bray nailing Ambrose in the chest over and over. Bray puts the stick in the corner like he did at TLC but Ambrose saves himself. Not that it matters as Wyatt NAILS him with a clothesline for two. Wyatt wedges a chair in the corner and of course goes head first into it. Dean erupts with chops and punches, followed by a bulldog to put Bray down.

The Rebounding Clothesline drops Wyatt again and a White Russian legsweep sets up the middle rope chair elbow for two. Now it’s ladder time but Bray Spiders up and Rock Bottoms Ambrose onto the ladder for a close two. Dean counters Sister Abigail and sends Bray into the ladder to take over again. The standing elbow from the ladder gets two more but Bray fights out of the pile of chairs. He sends Dean face first into the kendo stick in the corner for the pin at 21:24.

Rating: B-. Another good match between these two but just like Ziggler vs. Harper, I’m sick of seeing it. Mix the feuds up for a bit or even just swap the people out with Wyatt vs. Ziggler and Ambrose vs. Harper. I like Bray leaving with the win, but I’m over seeing these two fight anymore.

Naturally Dean sprays him with a fire extinguisher and elbows Bray through the table to end the show, meaning the feud will continue.

Overall Rating: C-. When this show phones it in, they can produce some of the least interesting stuff I’ve seen in a long time. The matches aren’t all terrible for the most part, but there’s just nothing to make me want to keep watching. Cena vs. Rollins, the Intercontinental Title match and the main event were entertaining enough, but the stuff between them dragged this through the floor. As I’ve said many times, the good was good but the bad was awful. Also, as almost always, cut 45 minutes of filler out of this and it’s WAY better. Short version: they’re closing out the year with the same issues they’ve had all year.

Results

John Cena b. Seth Rollins – Attitude Adjustment

Fandango b. Jack Swagger – Guillotine legdrop

R-Truth b. Adam Rose – Rollup

Roman Reigns b. Big Show via countout

Dolph Ziggler b. Luke Harper – Zig Zag

Alicia Fox/Naomi/Emma b. Cameron/Paige/Summer Rae – Reverse Fameasser to Cameron

Miz b. Jey Uso – Rollup with a handful of tights

Bray Wyatt b. Dean Ambrose – Wyatt threw Ambrose into a kendo stick

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book on the History of the Royal Rumble at Amazon for just $3.99 at:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00PZ1GR7E

And check out my Amazon author page with wrestling books for under $4 at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

Finally, I’m holding a Holiday Special for my e-books: any two of them for just $5.  Check out the details here.

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2014/11/28/holiday-sale/

It’s finally time to start the build to the Royal Rumble and Lesnar vs. Cena III, which no one really wants to see but WWE has decided that it’s what we’re getting and we’re going to like it. In theory Lesnar is going to be here tonight so maybe things can get going. TLC was just a step above a disaster but there were a few bright spots so hopefully this picks things up a bit. Let’s get to it.

Jericho opened the show and talked about how awesome the crowd was. He wanted his Slammy back from Fandango, who stole it last week when Jericho wasn’t there. Instead he got Paul Heyman, who thinks he should be in charge tonight. Jericho said Heyman owes him $200 from a Best of Jericho tape in ECW. This brought them to Seth Rollins, who came out and said he beat Cena last night but had another win stolen from him, just like Sting did at Survivor Series.

Cena came out, said Rollins hasn’t learned to be a man yet, and made a cage match for later. Jericho wasn’t done yet though and made a match between himself and Heyman with the fans picking the stipulation (no holds barred, extreme rules or street fight). I think you all know where this is going, likely because this took nearly twenty five minutes to get through.

Big Show and Harper beat Rowan and Ziggler when Big Show knocked out Rowan. Again. At least it wasn’t a champion for a change.

Big E. apparently sweats on everyone. That’s the big idea about the character. Let that one sink in for a bit. Later in the night the New Day would beat the Dusts in a long match where they were clearly just filling in time.

Alicia Fox and Natalya beat the Bellas when Natalya made Brie tap out. The only thing of note here was Kidd checking on Nikki after the match.

Rusev and Lana were the guests on the Highlight Reel where Jericho implied that they wanted each other in a funny bit. Rusev actually showed some emotion here and it was actually working. The important part here was Ryback came out as Rusev’s next challenger. I could totally get behind that feud.

Kane destroyed Adam Rose in about a minute. The Bunny took a tombstone for good measure. This was a way to kill a few minutes.

Heyman and Jericho’s match never happened as we got the obvious ending of Brock returning to destroy Jericho. The best part though was Heyman saying he had no tricks up his sleeve, meaning he isn’t the Jew in jiujitsu.

Fandango came out to gloat but Reigns returned and knocked him out. Show tried to come out as well for revenge but Reigns Superman Punched him off the apron. This was how to make Reigns look like a monster and it worked really well.

Jimmy Uso beat Miz in an upset which made sense. After a break, Miz offered Naomi a spot on MizTV on Smackdown to continue the story.

Rollins still wants the Authority back.

The main event was a good cage match between Cena and Rollins which ran nearly twenty five minutes. There were several near escapes and near falls, but after Cena hit an AA from the top, Lesnar came out and destroyed him with German suplexes. Heyman shook Rollins’ hand, making it unclear of how long they had been working together, if at all. Rollins hit a Curb Stomp for the win.

Overall this show really needed the hour cut out. You could clip out five to ten minutes from the opening, the Kane vs. Rose stuff, a lot of New Day vs. the Dusts and some other stuff here and there to get this down to two hours and make it a very solid show. Unfortunately this wound up being the usual overdone episode of Raw which weighs down all the good things they had going on.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book on the History of the Royal Rumble at Amazon for just $3.99 at:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00PZ1GR7E

And check out my Amazon author page with wrestling books for under $4 at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

Finally, I’m holding a Holiday Special for my e-books: any two of them for just $5.  Check out the details here.

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2014/11/28/holiday-sale/

Monday Night Raw
Date: December 15, 2014
Location: Joe Louis Arena, Detroit, Michigan
Commentators: Jerry Lawler, Michael Cole, John Bradshaw Layfield

TLC was last night and it didn’t quite live up to the standard set by R-Evolution. By “didn’t quite” I of course mean not in the slightest as it was mainly a bunch of matches with different weapons swapped in without much changing. Hopefully Lesnar is back tonight to finally get the main stories moving forward. Jericho is the guest host as well so let’s get to it.

We immediately open with Jericho’s countdown and the guest GM is here. He’s happy to be in Detroit rock city because he’s in charge tonight. Tonight is all about the fans because last week they gave him a Slammy for diving off the top of a cage. Jericho stops for another Y2J chant but says he’ll get in trouble if he doesn’t move this along. Last week Fandango accepted his award for him and that’s not cool with the boss. Therefore, he demands that Fandumbo get out here right now and bring the trophy with him.

Instead he gets Paul Heyman with a mic in hand. He’s used to being the power in the arena, but tonight is Raw Is Jericho. If you’re going to have a guest GM, why not have someone known for running the most exciting promotion of all time? However, that’s not why Heyman is here tonight. He isn’t cool with the idea of Jericho winning the Extreme Moment of the Year because he’s kind of the extreme guy around here.

Jericho calls him a walrus and says that Heyman owes him $200 from selling a Best of Jericho tape in ECW. He gets in Heyman’s face but Paul says he’s an advocate. Therefore, he’s here to talk about Seth Rollins, who had a chance to knock Cena out of the Royal Rumble spot last night. Cue Rollins as Jericho looks interested in where this is going.

Seth gets right in Heyman’s face but Paul literally backs down as Rollins talks about putting Cena through a table and having his hand raised. That victory was taken away though, just like at Survivor Series. The Authority would still be in power if not for the vigilante Sting. Last night it was Roman Reigns costing him the match, which everyone knows he won. Everyone knows Cena can’t beat him on his own (Stooges applaud) because Cena is a coward. Rollins issues a challenge for a rematch when he’s healthy enough, but here’s John to cut him off.

Cena tells Rollins to shut up and let the adults talk. Just because Seth has a mic in his hands it doesn’t mean he has anything in his pants. Last night they had a match and Rollins lost, but now he’s out here running his mouth. That means Rollins hasn’t learned to be a man, because he hasn’t learned to dust himself off and continue to fight. Cena turns to Heyman and starts talking about fighting the Beast at the Royal Rumble in a great fight.

Back to Rollins, Cena says he’s wanting a fight tonight. Rollins mentioned a rematch and Cena had the same thing in mind. Tonight Cena needs help because he can’t make matches. Therefore, he needs someone with the power to make that match happen. The look on Jericho’s face is hilarious here as you can see the lightbulb go off over his head. Jericho of course makes the match and puts it in a steel cage, which just happens to be hanging above the ring.

Cena leaves and Rollins calls Jericho the worst GM of all time. “You’re worse than that stupid computer!” He says Jericho is jealous because he’s not as important as Rollins. Jericho is out of shape and couldn’t even beat the popcorn guy. “Well of course I couldn’t because the popcorn guy is a ninja.” Jericho thinks he can beat Heyman though and Paul readily agrees. Chris isn’t convinced though and makes himself vs. Heyman for tonight. We’re STILL not done yet though because Jericho tells us to vote on the App for the stipulations in his match with Heyman.

Your choices for Jericho vs. Heyman: Extreme Rules, No Holds Barred or Street Fight.

Erick Rowan/Dolph Ziggler vs. Big Show/Luke Harper

Ziggler has to run away from Big Show to start but eventually gets thrown into the corner. Some right hands and a dropkick stagger Show but he just tosses Ziggler down with ease. A hard shoulder sends Ziggler out to the floor and he barely beats the ten count back in as we take our second break in seven minutes.

Back with Harper nailing Dolph in the jaw for two. Off to Big Show for his slow motion offense as we get a split screen still package of the ladder match last night. Harper catapults him throat first into the bottom rope for two but misses a charge into the post. The hot tag brings in Rowan to clean house as everything breaks down. Harper and Ziggler go over the announcers’ table and Big Show KO’s Rowan for the pin at 10:02.

Rating: C-. They’re trolling us right? I mean, they can’t seriously think this is the best possible option. I’m assuming this is to set up Big Show vs. someone later on and I’m sure that BIG SHOW of all people needs some wins like this to set up his push. You know, because all those titles over the years are just forgotten right? I can’t get over this and it’s making me lose my sanity more every week.

I mean, why bother even setting Rowan up as a monster with a new character in the first place? They made a target and destroyed it in the span of like a month and for what? To make Big Show stronger? You would thinking knocking JOHN CENA and Mark Henry cold would have proven it, but no that’s not enough. Instead they need to tease the fans with Rowan and then have him get beaten down twice in two days. You know, for Big Show!

Jericho tells Fandango to shut up in the back and go to the ring.

Video on TLC last night.

New Day isn’t afraid of the Dusts’ darkness. Soon, you’ll feel their power. Big E. freaks out so much that he sweats on everyone.

Bella Twins vs. Alicia Fox/Natalya

Total Divas match. Fox hammers on Nikki to start but eats a spinebuster. We’re already in the chinlock for a bit before Brie comes in for one of her own. A jawbreaker sets up the cold tag to Natalya and Brie slaps her in the face, earning her a Sharpshooter for the submission at 2:13.

Tyson checks on Nikki for some reason until Natalya sees him.

Roman Reigns will be in action tomorrow night on Super Smackdown Live.

It’s the Highlight Reel with guests Lana and Rusev. Lana immediately brags about Rusev still being undefeated by crushing Swagger again before allowing Chris to ask any intelligent questions he has. Jericho mocks Lana for wearing the same outfit on TV twice in a row before asking if it’s the tight bun hairstyle that makes her so angry all the time. Maybe Rusev needs to release some of his stress by showing Lana his Sputnik.

Jericho thinks there’s something going on between the two of them and starts singing about them in a tree together. “It’s the US Champ and the communist tramp!” Lana freaks out until Rusev takes the mic. Maybe he should just crush Jericho right now. Jericho tries to figure out why someone always wants to beat him up. Speaking of which, there’s someone that wants to fight Rusev right now. Cue Ryback for an actually fresh feud but Rusev backs down, as is his custom.

We look at Big Show interfering in the tables match last night but getting taken out by the returning Roman Reigns.

Ascension is coming.

Goldust/Stardust vs. New Day

Big E./Woods here as Kofi jumps in on commentary. Xavier drops Goldust with a dropkick and legsweep before it’s off to Big E. for a Vader Clothesline. Goldie bails to the floor for a breather and it’s Stardust in. The commentators talk about E.’s sweating as he hits a pair of backbreakers on Stardust. Back to Woods for a quick arm wringer before Big E. comes in with a slam. Big E. drops Woods onto Stardust for two before Woods sends both Dusts to the floor as we take a break.

Back with Goldust tagging himself in to snap Big E.’s throat across the top rope. Stardust does the same and we hit a chinlock from Goldust. E. charges into a spinebuster for two and the CM Punk chant begins. The match keeps dragging on so the fans chant for NXT. The Dusts take turns with various kinds of locks before Stardust kicks Big E. in the face. E., presumably out of boredom, takes Stardust’s head off with a clothesline.

The hot tag brings in Woods for his rolling clothesline but he walks into a Goldust powerslam for two. An enziguri knocks Stardust to the floor and E. offers himself as a launch pad for a flip dive onto both Dusts. The Midnight Hour FINALLY ends Goldust at 13:33. Kofi’s wild celebration for the pin helped.

Rating: D+. It’s not even that the match was bad but it felt like it went on for about four hours. This is what I mean when I talk about them stretching something out to fill in time, because they don’t have enough material to fill in three hours. You would think a twenty three minute opening segment would eat up enough time that this isn’t necessary, but somehow it’s still happening almost every week.

Miz (with Mizdow) isn’t worried about facing Jimmy Uso on his own tonight. The only way Jimmy will ever be on a red carpet is if he’s with his wife. Jimmy’s story ends tonight.

Adam Rose is in the back and promises the Rosebuds the biggest after party ever tonight. Kane pops up, says he doesn’t like Rose, and says he’s Adam’s opponent tonight.

Adam Rose vs. Kane

Kane quickly throws Rose to the floor where the Bunny plays cheerleader. Back in and Rose runs away from Kane until he nails a clothesline in the corner. Rose stops to dance though and eats a big boot, but the Bunny comes in off the top, only to dive into a double chokeslam for the pin at 1:32. Side note: Jimmy Jacobs was part of the Rosebuds.

The Bunny gets tombstoned.

We look back at the opening segment.

Chris Jericho vs. Paul Heyman

Heyman comes out wearing workout gear and carrying a mic. He knows Jericho is expecting a bunch of tricks up his sleeve but Heyman doesn’t have anything. Heyman doesn’t even have a witty comeback like “I’m the Jew in ju-jitsu.” Instead he wants to keep this PG because he gave Jericho his first break. Now Jericho is a world famous star who wants to fight Heyman over $200 from nearly twenty years ago. Paul offers him the $200 in lieu of a horrible beating and busts out the checkbook. Jericho slaps it out of his hand and shows us the results:

Extreme Rules – 39%

No Holds Barred – 18%

Street Fight – 43%

Heyman doesn’t understand why Jericho thinks it’s fair to get into a fight with…..BROCK LESNAR. Cue the champ (no belt) as reality sets in on Jericho. He gets in the ring and stares Jericho down but Jericho tries a Codebreaker. Brock just stands there and lets Jericho fall before planting him with the F5. The fans chant for Cena but Lesnar just leaves without a match ever taking place.

Here are Fandango and Rosa with Jericho’s Slammy. Before he can say much though, here’s Roman Reigns to interrupt. A big right hand and the spear drop the dancer and Reigns smirks a bit. Now it’s Big Show’s turn to cut Reigns off but Roman says if Big Show gets in the ring, he’ll get hit in the mouth. Reigns is a step ahead of him as the Superman Punch knocks Show off the apron but not out. He throws some stairs around and that’s that.

Miz vs. Jimmy Uso

The fans want Mizdow but get Miz running out to the floor. Back in and a slam drops Miz as Naomi is watching backstage. Some chops have Miz in even more trouble and Jimmy just pounds away with right hands. Miz finally snaps Jimmy’s throat across the top rope and goes up, only to dive into an uppercut. They head outside with Mizdow ramming Jimmy’s back into the apron before putting on what looks to be the Last Chancery of all things back inside.

The Reality Check gets two but Jimmy fights up and knocks Miz to the floor for a big dive. Mizdow of course falls down as well because he’s dedicated to his craft. Back in again and a high cross body gets two for Jimmy. He easily breaks up the Figure Four and hits a Samoan drop, only to have Mizdow come in and dive into the corner as well. Jimmy throws him to the floor, gets a quick assist from Jey, and hits the superkick and Superfly Splash for the pin at 6:15.

Rating: C-. You know, Miz can actually have a decent match when he gets away from the Figure Four stuff. Jimmy winning here makes the most sense given the story, even though Naomi has wound up meaning nothing in this entire story other than setting it up, making her one of the first Maguffins in WWE history.

Post break Naomi is walking in the back when Miz comes up to offer her a spot on MizTV tomorrow night. As usual, Naomi looks unsure.

Rollins says his issues with Cena are getting ridiculous. He has to step inside a cage with Cena again tonight because the Authority is gone and everything is crazy. Jericho wouldn’t be here tonight running his mouth and then winding up in a hospital if the Authority was around and Rollins is going to teach Cena a lesson tonight.

The cage is lowered.

Seth Rollins vs. John Cena

In a cage of course with pins, submissions or escape. Rollins charges up the cage wall to start but John pulls him back down. The LOUD dueling Cena chants begin as Rollins drives him face first into the cage for two. Cena comes right back by catapulting him into the cage but Seth catches himself and climbs, only to be pulled back down onto the top rope.

A big bulldog drives Seth down for two and John climbs, only to have Mercury run interference. Rollins stops him from getting out the door and almost gets out himself but Cena powers him back in. Back up and they go up the corner, only to have Rollins sunset flip into a running buckle bomb for two as we take a break.

Back with Cena fighting back and knocking Mercury off the cage. The AA gets a very close two and Cena is stunned. He knocks Noble off the door and goes up top, only to have to fight out of a superplex attempt. Rollins gets knocked off the top and the Fameasser gets two. Another AA attempt is countered and the top rope knee to the face gets two for Rollins. Seth shouts that this is what Cena wanted and rams him face first into the cage. John does the same to him and both guys are down.

It’s Cena up first but Mercury slams the door on his head for two more. The Curb Stomp misses and the STF goes on but he crawls over to the door. Cena has to pull him back in but the Stooges pulls the other way. John wins but Noble throws in the briefcase. Rollins doesn’t need it though as he enziguris Cena down but Seth comes up limping. A briefcase shot is countered with a hard clothesline and both guys are down again.

Another AA is countered and the briefcase shot gets two. Seth climbs up and gets over the top but Cena catches him by the hair. A top rope AA is enough for….not a cover actually. Instead here’s Lesnar with both guys down as Cole actually points out that Lesnar has business with Rollins after what happened at Night of Champions. Brock rolls Germans on Cena and plants him with an F5 as Rollins gets up. Heyman gets in and hands Brock the belt before offering Rollins his hand. Seth shakes it and we might have a new Paul Heyman guy. Rollins nails the Curb Stomp, collects his briefcase, and walks out for the win at 23:33.

Rating: B. This was far more about storytelling than anything else but that’s exactly the right ending. See, this was a way to make Cena look good but protect Rollins at the same time. I was worried they would have Cena win and then do the Lesnar stuff, but out of all this, Cena doesn’t lose face because of the interference and Rollins beats Cena in an entertaining match. What more can you ask for?

The announcers aren’t sure if Heyman and Rollins were working together all along or if they just have common enemies.

Overall Rating: D+. The show showed some signs of getting better, but there’s still so much stuff dragging this show down. I can dig Reigns having his first major win over Big Show, but there is zero reason to build Rowan up just to have him get knocked out twice in a row to prove whatever point they’re going for. Send Swagger out there if you have to, as Rusev has already destroyed him to the point where it’s going to take time to salvage him. Or, just a thought here, IT’S FREAKING BIG SHOW AND HE DOESN’T NEED TO BE BUILT UP BY KNOCKING PEOPLE OUT!

The good thing here though is the future looks better. Cena looks like he has a good chance of beating Lesnar to set up the FAR more interesting Cena vs. Reigns title match at Wrestlemania. Ryback vs. Rusev has a lot more potential than Rusev squashing people that have no chance of beating him. I’m digging a lot of what’s going on in WWE right now, but there are just so many stupid decisions dragging them down.

Results

Big Show/Luke Harper b. Dolph Ziggler/Erick Rowan – KO Punch to Rowan

Natalya/Alicia Fox b. Bella Twins – Sharpshooter to Brie

New Day b. Goldust/Stardust – Midnight Hour to Goldust

Kane b. Adam Rose – Chokeslam

Jimmy Uso b. Miz – Superfly Splash

Seth Rollins b. John Cena – Rollins escaped the cage

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book on the History of the Royal Rumble at Amazon for just $3.99 at:

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And check out my Amazon author page with wrestling books for under $4 at:

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Finally, I’m holding a Holiday Special for my e-books: any two of them for just $5.  Check out the details here.

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2014/11/28/holiday-sale/

Monday was another special edition of Raw that really didn’t feel all that special. We had the annual Slammy Awards and they really didn’t feel like they meant anything this time around. Other than that it was the go home show for TLC, meaning it’s time for Big Show vs. Cena. Again. Let’s get to it.

I already wrote a full column on the awards themselves so I’ll skip over talking about them here.

Seth Green was the guest host and was fine in the role. Well as fine as a totally unnecessary guest host can be on this show.

The Stooges helped Rollins beat Ziggler. This was one of those little things that help me get through a match, as Ziggler didn’t do a clean job. You know, meaning he’s not Rollins or Harper against Ryback but that’s another story for later in the week. The match was nothing special due to time constraints.

Kofi beat Stardust in another nothing match. New Day is growing on me and a win over the Dusts on Sunday’s pre-show should help things out a good bit.

We got an interesting exchange between Heyman and Rollins with Paul trying to fire Seth up before his tables match on Sunday. I like that little hint that Heyman and Lesnar are scared of Cena as it plays up the continuity of Cena having Lesnar beaten in their last match. Actually this is the kind of thing that makes the rest of the show so frustrating: they’re clearly capable of having a well thought out story like this but it gets weighed down by so many other things that it’s almost impossible to get through the rest of the show.

Charlotte debuted and got pinned by Natalya in two and a half minutes. My guess is WWE thinks the fans aren’t going to remember this in a few months when Charlotte shows up again. This would be the opposite of what I saw in the previous segment: instead of thinking their way through a well done story with good continuity, they’re basically saying “eh screw it. No one is going to care.” It’s a problem that could be solved so easily: either don’t have Charlotte appear here, have her appear with some other NXT girl, or have her win. Seriously you couldn’t put her out there against Rosa?

Bray came out and explained that the rocking chair used to belong to Abigail and that he first saw her sitting in it. I love the little bits we get of Bray’s backstory but most of it is left to our own imaginations, which is how something like that should be. Dean returned (did he ever actually leave?) and had another great moment by returning in an ambulance, complete with smoke coming out of the back. They had a big brawl and Bray ran off with Dean laying on the table, begging him to come back. It’s an awesome visual, but it makes me wonder what the point was in having Dean do a stretcher job when they’re just going to ignore it like three days later. Again with the continuity issues.

Cena promised to put Rollins through a table in serious mode.

Harper and Rowan had a very quick brawl ending in a DQ. Again, save that big match for a PPV showdown like you should. Doing something like this was fine though because it didn’t matter and didn’t end in a fall. Then again this was Harper vs. Rowan so WWE actually cares about them, unlike Charlotte.

Naomi is going to Hollywood for an audition but Jimmy is worried about Miz. This makes Naomi think he doesn’t trust her as this story continues to be one of the best done things they have going on right now.

The Russians admitted they hurt Zeb, drawing out Swagger to try and break Rusev’s ankle. This ends how you would expect it to.

Ryback/the Usos beat Miz/Mizdow/Kane with Ryback pinning Miz, BECAUSE WE CAN’T FREAKING PIN KANE AND A CHAMPION HAS TO DO A FREAKING JOB! More on this on Smackdown.

AJ made Summer tap to the Black Widow in yet another nothing match.

The Stooges still won’t let Big Show do a job as they ran in to give Cena the DQ win. Again, we can job a champion on Raw (and another on Smackdown) but Big Show has to be protected. This is the most perplexing thing going on in WWE at the moment and I really do not understand it.

The show ended with the Survivor Series teams brawling and Cena going through a table. I couldn’t remember this ending earlier today when I was watching Smackdown because it’s so similar to the endings we’ve seen in the last few weeks. That’s a really bad sign.

Overall Raw was the exact same thing we’ve seen for weeks but with an awards ceremony going on in the background. WWE is really needing something to freshen things up at the moment and it’s getting harder and harder to sit through these shows. You’ll occasionally get a flash of good but it gets dragged right back down into the same drek that we’ve been sitting through for months with one idea being repeated for months and long promos that set up another Cena vs. Lesnar match that people don’t care to see.

Between that and Kane/Big Show not being allowed to job but champions or young stars losing almost every week, it’s really hard to get behind something in WWE. That’s what NXT is for I guess, which continues to be by far and away more entertaining because they don’t try to do so many other things besides just have a wrestling show.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book on the History of the Royal Rumble at Amazon for just $3.99 at:

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Finally, I’m holding a Holiday Special for my e-books: any two of them for just $5.  Check out the details here.

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Monday Night Raw
Date: December 8, 2014
Location: Bon Secours Wellness Arena, Greenville, South Carolina
Commentators: Michael Cole, John Bradshaw Layfield, Jerry Lawler

It’s the Slammys! These shows used to be a highlight of the year but now they’re just there as a background for a usually boring show. However, there’s usually a good ending to these shows but with tonight being the go home show for Sunday’s TLC show, it’s hard to say how big of a surprise we’re going to get. Let’s get to it.

We start with a Tonight On Raw preview, focusing on Cena vs. Big Show in the main event.

Jerry Lawler brings out Seth Green to host the show. Seth says this is our awards show and you can vote for the winners of the awards on the WWE App. Miz and Mizdow cut him off though (minus the belts). The amusing thing here is that Green is 5’4 so they TOWER over him. Miz gives a pitch about being the A-lister Seth needs, but Green says Mizdow is the real A-lister. Mizdow smiles but Miz cuts him off, only to have Damien do a “call me” sign behind Miz’s back. Anyway they’re here for the THIS IS AWESOME Award. The nominees:

Occupy Raw

Stephanie McMahon getting arrested for slapping Brie

The Authority being eliminated/Sting debuting

Steve Austin, The Rock and Hulk Hogan opening Wrestlemania

We’ll get the winner after the first match.

Dolph Ziggler vs. Seth Rollins

Ziggler backdrops him to the floor and we take a break thirty seconds in. Back with Rollins in control and driving a knee into Dolph’s ribs. We hit the chinlock for a bit before Dolph sends him face first into the buckle to get a breather. The Stinger Splash and elbow drop get two but Seth blocks the running DDT. Ziggler counters the buckle bomb into a sunset flip and now the running DDT is good for two. Back up and they head to the corner with Ziggler shrugging Dolph down, only to have the Stooges shove him off, setting up the Curb Stomp for the pin at 7:20.

Rating: C. They didn’t have time to do anything but at least Ziggler didn’t lose clean. I can live with a heel cheating to win and beating a hot star, evne though he’s going into an Intercontinental Title shot this coming Sunday. Why would we need to keep Ziggler strong for something like that?

Sting debuting wins the THIS IS AWESOME Award. Of course Sting isn’t here so Seth is going to accept on his behalf, but Seth comes up and takes the trophy because Sting is responsible for the Authority being gone and Seth deserves it.

Here are some Slammys awarded on the pre-show:

Insult of the Year – Rock insulting Lana and Rusev

Tag Team of the Year – Usos

Breakout Star of the Year – Dean Ambrose

Hashtag of the Year – RKOOUTTANOWHERE

Fan Participation – YOU SOLD OUT to Seth Rollins

Kofi Kingston vs. Stardust

Stardust takes Kofi down to start and steps on his chest before the referee breaks it up in the ropes. A chinlock goes as far as you would expect it to and Kofi fights up with a hurricanrana. Some dropkicks put Starudust down and the NEW DAY Drop (no more Boom) sets up a running knee in the corner. A high cross body is enough to pin Stardust at 2:58.

Johnny Ace is presenting Surprise Return of the Year. After suggesting the People Power replace the Authority, here are the nominees:

Hulk Hogan

Batista

The Rock

Ultimate Warrior

Winner announced after How To Download The App and a break. After we’re back, Ultimate Warrior wins.

Rollins is in the back with the Stooges when the run into Paul Heyman. Seth sends the Stooges away so he can talk to Heyman about the tables match. He thinks he might be next in line to face the Beast after he beats Cena, but promises that his cash-in will come when Lesnar and Heyman least expect it. Heyman is fine with that, but his client might as well be champion for life. However, that doesn’t stop Rollins from being the future. John Cena is standing in his way, so if Rollins wants to be the future, he needs to make sure that Cena is stuck in the past. Rollins seems to like the idea.

Video on NXT Women’s Champion Charlotte.

Charlotte vs. Natalya

Non-title of course. We get a WOO to start and Charlotte drives knees into the ribs to start. She stomps Natalya down against the ropes but gets caught in a quick choke to slow her down. That’s fine with Charlotte who just pounds away at her face. A slap makes Charlotte even madder but Natalya takes out the legs as they hit the mat. Charlotte drops her again with a wicked chop and drops a hard knee for two. Natalya tries the Sharpshooter but gets countered into the Figure Four, which is countered into a small package to give Natalya the pin at 2:30.

Tyson Kidd takes the spotlight like he did at Survivor Series.

Santino presents the OMG Shocking Moment of the Year. He says he was shocked just now by seeing Luke Harper take a shower. Usually he’s watching the Divas take showers….but he’s not a creep. The nominees are:

Seth Sells Out

Nikki Turns On Brie

Bray Wyatt’s Children’s Choir

The Streak Is Conquered

The winner is of course the Streak being conquered. Lesnar’s music plays but we get Heyman instead for a very brief acceptance speech without saying anything of note.

Here’s Bray Wyatt to talk about seeing her for the first time in that rocking chair beneath the Cypress tree. We see Dean destroying the chair last week and Bray says Dean destroyed something that can’t be replaced. That leads us to Dean having his throat crushed on Smackdown in retaliation. Bray asks if that shocks or frightens us. No one here knows what they’re dealing with and he despises all of us.

If you get too close to him, you will get burned by his fire as he stands on top of that ladder. Bray won’t allow us to cry for him though as Dean deserves what’s coming. He repeats Tables Ladders and Chairs over and over again until an ambulance drives into the arena. Dean pops out in a neck brace and pulls a table out of the ambulance. He throws it on the ramp before pulling out a ladder and chair to go with it.

There goes the neck brace and Dean drags the ladder and chair to the ring. He throws the chair in and nails Bray in the ribs with the ladder. Dean throws in a chair and hits Bray square in the head with it. A table comes in as well but Wyatt rolls to the floor. Dean lays on the table with the chair over him. Bray comes back down and gets another chair thrown at him. This Sunday, Dean is going to become the monster and eat Bray alive.

Seth Green brings out Jerry Lawler to present Diva of the Year. The nominees are:

Brie Bella

Nikki Bella

AJ Lee

Paige

The girls are shown in the back when Titus O’Neil shows up in a tuxedo for some reason. AJ wins and nothing seems to come of the cameo. She says that she promised to redefine the term Diva three years ago. Next year she hopes that next year, it’s Bayley, Sasha Banks, Charlotte, Emma or Paige is up here on the throne. She’s not done being queen though and will get her title back this week.

Cena talks about Vince telling Austin that the locker room needs to step up. That might fire up Seth Rollins, so maybe Rollins wants Big Show to wear him out tonight. This Sunday, Rollins has to put him through a table, which is good for Seth because he can’t pin Cena or make him tap out. If Cena can’t win this Sunday, maybe it’s time for him to step down so Seth can step up. Tonight he’s going to slam a giant and shake South Carolina because his time isn’t up yet. This Sunday, Rollins goes through a table.

Erick Rowan vs. Luke Harper

Non-title and Harper brings a ladder with him. It’s a slugout to start with Rowan getting the better of it and nailing a running splash in the corner. That’s fine with Harper who nails a dropkick for one before kicking Erick in the head. The Gator Roll doesn’t get Luke anywhere as Rowan pops back up and nails some clotheslines. A full nelson slam gets two on Harper and they head outside with Luke hitting Rowan with the ladder for the DQ at 2:05.

Post match Rowan fights back and starts throwing the stairs into the ring. Harper takes a big shot to the head and bails.

The Usos come up to Naomi to celebrate their Slammys. Jimmy says it’s the second best thing to happen to him all year after marrying her. Naomi has been talking to Miz’s agent and apparently it went well. Uso isn’t sure but Naomi has a screen test later this week. That’s fine with Jimmy but he’s going to Hollywood with her because Miz is involved in this somehow. Naomi interprets this as Jimmy not trusting her.

Adam Rose comes out to present LOL Moment of the Year. The Bunny won Animal of the Year earlier. Rose thinks he should be hosting and says the fans know nothing when they disagree. The nominees are:

Mr. T.’s Mother’s Day message at the Hall of Fame ceremony

WeeLC

Mizdow the Stunt Double

Vickie Guerrero knocking Stephanie into pudding

The Bunny tries to open the envelope but Rose gives us Mizdow for the win. Here he is along with Miz (and the belts this time), who actually lets Mizdow have some spotlight for a bit. It’s only for a bit though as Miz takes the trophy and says he can make us go through all these emotions because he’s an actor. Miz: “I hear you. You want MIZ NOW and you’re getting MIZ NOW!” Miz thanks the only one that has been there for him since day one: the moneymaker. Mizdow doesn’t seem that offended.

Here are some other winners.

Faction of the Year – Shield

Rivalry of the Year – Bryan vs. Authority

Raw Guest Star of the Year – Jackman

Twitter Handle of the Year – @HeelZiggler

Couple of the Year – Bryan/Brie Bella

Here are Lana and Rusev for a chat. Lana runs down the American economy and President Obama before moving on to the Real Americans. Lana: “That is an LOL moment!” Cue Swagger, who will be challenging Rusev for the title on Sunday, to say that Rusev broke Colter’s leg, so he’s going to snap Rusev’s ankle. Jack charges and ducks the running superkick before dropping the ankle on the barricade. There’s the Patriot Lock on the floor and Rusev kind of taps until referees make the save.

New Day vs. Goldust/Stardust on Sunday’s pre-show.

Usos/Ryback vs. Kane/Miz/Damien Mizdow

Seth Green is on commentary. Kane slams Ryback to start as Seth talks about Battlestar Galactica. The Usos come in to start in on the arm but the announcers are too busy taking pictures. Off to Miz to stomp away on Jey before a headlock takes the actor down. Lawler has to get the announcers back on the match as Cole does his traditional driving off a cliff of a tangent. Jey hammers away on Miz and grabs a suplex, so Mizdow comes in and mimes getting hit in the face before raising his arm like he’s about to be suplexed. He flips over then dives over the top after Miz is sent flying.

Back from a break with Kane holding Jey in a chinlock before it’s off to Miz for a Reality Check. Jey finally breaks free and tags in Ryback to clean house. Everything breaks down and the Usos escape a double chokeslam and nail Kane with a double superkick. Jey dives onto Kane but Jimmy gets low bridged to the floor when charging at Miz. The Meathook and Shell Shock end Miz at 9:52.

Rating: C. This was a quick match that combined the two feuds into one and there’s nothing wrong with that. Jimmy vs. Miz is at least a fresh story and something that fits the characters instead of being shoehorned in. Ryback continues to get a push, even though he’s lost some momentum after that performance at Survivor Series.

Green celebrates with the winners.

We look back at the first Slammys in 1986.

Here’s Ricky Steamboat to present Match of the Year. He gives a very nice speech about what it means to have a classic match to introduce the nominees.

Daniel Bryan vs. Randy Orton vs. Batista – Wrestlemania XXX

John Cena vs. Bray Wyatt – Payback

Shield vs. Evolution – Extreme Rules

Team Cena vs. Team Authority – Survivor Series

Team Cena vs. Team Authority wins with Ziggler coming out to accept. Ziggler sounds very touched by this and says they’re going to build off of it because this belongs to all of the fans.

AJ Lee vs. Summer Rae

Summer mocks AJ for winning the award earlier and AJ goes right at her, only to eat a wheelbarrow slam for two. A spinwheel kick that misses by six inches gets two on AJ before we hit a quickly broken chinlock. AJ pops up and Black Widows Summer for the submission at 2:18.

Rob Van Dam is here to present the Extreme Moment of the Year. The nominees are:

Brock Lesnar’s 16 suplexes to John Cena

Kane tombstoning Bryan on the steps and the announcers’ table

Chris Jericho diving off the cage and onto Bray Wyatt

Seth Rollins Curb Stomps Dean Ambrose onto cinder blocks

Jericho wins and Fandango comes out to accept on his behalf. You’ll never forget his name you see.

Saint Mick does his merchandise shilling.

Big Show says no one is going to forgive him for what he does so he’s going to destroy Cena tonight.

Booker T. is presenting Superstar of the Year.

Dean Ambrose

Bray Wyatt

Roman Reigns

Brock Lesnar

Bray Wyatt

John Cena

Seth Rollins

After a break, the winner is Roman Reigns. He’s actually in the building tonight to accept the award and says this may not be the brass ring but it’s a step in the right direction. It doesn’t matter if you’re at the top of the stairs, he’s stepping up and you can believe that.

Chris Jericho is Guest GM next week.

John Cena vs. Big Show

Big Show’s music comes on at 11:00pm EST so this is going to be quick. Cena charges right at him and gets headbutted down. A shoulder bounces off Show and he chokes Cena on the ropes. Cena avoids a charge in the corner and grabs a DDT, only to walk into a side slam to put him right back down. Off to a bearhug for a bit before Cena jumps onto the giant’s back for a sleeper. Show flips him forward but misses the KO Punch, allowing Cena to hit a belly to back. The Shuffle is countered by a chokeslam but Cena slips out and AA’s Show for two as Rollins and the Stooges come in for the DQ at 5:43.

Rating: D. This was every Cena vs. Big Show match you’ve ever seen and with the ending that everyone and their mother (even Mr. T.’s) knew was coming. It’s not the worst match in the world, but what could they possibly do in less than six minutes with a completely telegraphed ending?

Rollins loads up a ladder for a super Curb Stomp but Ziggler makes the save. Cena and Ziggler beat up the Stooges but Big Show knocks them both out. Cue Rowan but Harper jumps him from behind. Show chokeslams him onto the steps so here’s Ryback for the late save. He posts Show and Meathooks Harper before setting up a table. The Shell Shock is broken up by Kane with a chair but Ziggler takes out Kane. Some superkicks drop Big Show, only to have Harper put Dolph through a table. Cena AA’s Harper, only to eat a Curb Stomp. Rollins loads up the announcers’ table and TripleBombs Cena through to end the show.

Overall Rating: D+. Well that happened. This was one of those shows where there just wasn’t anything to talk about. The Ambrose vs. Wyatt segment was good but it’s not enough to carry a three hour show. This was much more a go home show with a few other things going on in the background. Sunday should be fun but we really need to get to Wrestlemania season to breathe some life into this company again. The show wasn’t even horrible but there’s just nothing here worth seeing.

Results

Seth Rollins b. Dolph Ziggler – Curb Stomp

Kofi Kingston b. Stardust – High cross body

Natalya b. Charlotte – Small package

Erick Rowan b. Luke Harper via DQ when Harper hit Rowan with a ladder

Usos/Ryback b. Miz/Damien Mizdow/Kane – Shell Shock to Miz

AJ Lee b. Summer Rae – Black Widow

John Cena b. Big Show via DQ when Seth Rollins interfered

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book on the History of the Royal Rumble at Amazon for just $3.99 at:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00PZ1GR7E

And check out my Amazon author page with wrestling books for under $4 at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

Finally, I’m holding a Holiday Special for my e-books: any two of them for just $5.  Check out the details here.

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2014/11/28/holiday-sale/

This is an interesting time for WWE as we just got done with a dull week after dropping off a high peak. However, with a show like TLC coming up, there’s only so much work that needs to be done. You can just split up Team Cena vs. the Authority and make a bunch of gimmick matches out of them, which works well enough due to the show being naturally fun. Let’s get to it.

We opened with the Anonymous Raw GM computer talking, only to be cut off by Cena, who didn’t want to rehash this stupid gimmick. Thankfully that more or less was the end of the computer for most of the night because it really doesn’t need to be around. However, the computer did create a major match at TLC: Cena vs. Rollins in a tables match, where Cena can lose his #1 contendership. Rollins has nothing to gain but pride, but that might change as we go along.

The rest of the segment was filled out, because Heaven forbid the opening segment isn’t twenty minutes long, with a huge brawl involving pretty much everyone from the elimination tag, eventually setting up a six man tag for the main event. Again, this could have been cut down by ten minutes but that’s the rule of thumb anymore. The good guys got the worst of it with Cena going through a table.

The Usos won a long Tag Team Turmoil match to earn a shot at the Tag Team Titles. As usual I’m not a fan of these matches as a lot of the falls end way too soon, which makes you wonder why the regular matches don’t end that fast. The important thing here though was the post match scene, as Miz offered Jimmy Uso’s wife Naomi a producer’s card, likely trying to get into her husband’s head. This led to Jimmy coming out and knocking the heck out of Miz later on. I love these little angles that enhance what would be an otherwise run of the mill match. Do more things like this.

In another important moment, Erick Rowan is revealed as a genius guitar playing wine enthusiast. I did a full column on this last night so I’ll keep it short here: adding little characteristics and details to people make them far more interesting than they are in the ring. Give me something that makes me want to see more, because the same matches aren’t going to keep my interest up.

Rowan beat Big Show via DQ when Show hit him with the steps. Those have been a recurring theme between the two of them so odds are we’re seeing something stupid like a steps match at the PPV.

Rusev attacked Zeb Colter off screen and cost us Fandango vs. Swagger. Jack came out a segment later to chase Rusev off and reignite their feud.

Mizdow beat Fernando in a dull match that took place so Jimmy could come out and slap Miz.

Bray Wyatt beat R-Truth for the millionth time before calling out Ambrose again. The key thing here was Dean breaking Bray’s chair, which gave us some of the first real emotions from Wyatt. He looked human for the first time and it opens up some interesting doors for the feud.

Naomi was AJ’s fan chosen partner to beat the Bellas in another lame match. Naturally AJ made Nikki tap because what else would happen?

Paul Heyman put Lesnar’s appearances over as the most important thing you’ll see all year, even though it doesn’t look like Brock is going to be there until after TLC. He also asked who becomes #1 contender after Cena loses at TLC, because Lesnar is going to smash whomever he faces.

The main event was Ryback/Cena/Ziggler vs. Kane/Harper/Rollins with Ziggler sunset flipping Harper for the pin. Big Show came in post match and got beaten up to end the show. This was a very long match at over 25 minutes, but unfortunately it felt more long than good with a ton of chinlocks. Ryback and Ziggler got to look good though as Cena continues to be just kind of in the background like he has been since Survivor Series. It’s kind of interesting for a change, but I could go for more of him talking at least.

Overall the show was more interesting than last week, but they’re going to have to give us something interesting at the Slammys next week. TLC is going to be fun because of how insane things can be with all the gimmicks, but they better be thankful that they only have three weeks to fill because these shows are really getting dull. Granted it probably has something to do with us seeing these exact same things on the way to Survivor Series, but when has that ever stopped the writing staff before?

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book on the History of the Royal Rumble at Amazon for just $3.99 at:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00PZ1GR7E

And check out my Amazon author page with wrestling books for under $4 at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

Finally, I’m holding a Holiday Special for my e-books: any two of them for just $5.  Check out the details here.

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2014/11/28/holiday-sale/

Monday Night Raw
Date: December 1, 2014
Location: BOK Center, Tulsa, Oklahoma
Commentators: Michael Cole, Jerry Lawler, John Bradshaw Layfield

The theme for tonight’s show is Cyber Monday with guest host the Anonymous Raw GM as represented by the computer. The question now is whether this is permanent or if there’s going to be a guest GM every week. Hopefully it’s the latter, though I could see the Authority eventually being revealed as the new computer GM. Let’s get to it.

We open with….the Authority! Well it’s a recap about last week but it’s still the first thing we see.

Cole opens us up with the computer but here’s Cena to interrupt things. He starts running down the computer, saying he’s just like Brock Lesnar who shows up once a year. Lesnar isn’t here tonight but neither is the Authority because Team Cena won. He’s about to tell us why his team fought harder when we have another e-mail. Cena stares Cole down and goes to the podium himself. He isn’t going to let this happen and closes the computer, but here are Rollins and the Stooges to interrupt.

The two of them share some banter until Rollins says Cena is taking undue credit for the win at Survivor Series. Rollins remembers eliminating Cena at Survivor Series and only losing due to Sting. On the other hand, Cena remembers one man left on Team Cena eliminating three members of Team Authority, including Rollins himself. Seth: “You say Dolph, I say Sting. Whatever.”

Seth wants to know who’s next to take over Raw. Is it going to be JBL? Cena hands JBL his hat but Rollins thinks it might be Batista, drawing more heat than Rollins has drawn all night. Maybe they could give Eric Bischoff a call? The point is there’s going to be a different GM every week and the show is going to fall into chaos until Cena brings back the Authority.

Cena gets in the ring and rips on Rollins for being a normal guy in a lot of latex with two wannabe mall cops in his corner. He tells Seth to ask him to bring the Authority back nicely, including making Rollins get down on a knee. The e-mail goes off and we have a tables match set up between these two for TLC with Cena’s #1 contendership at stake. Not that Rollins can win it mind you.

The brawl is on, including with Kane coming in for a chokeslam to Cena. Seth loads up a table but Ryback comes in for the save. Kane beats him down with a chair so Rowan comes in and kicks Kane down, only to have Big Show come in with a splash. Show loads up the steps so Ziggler comes out to post him and get a ladder, but Harper runs out and drives the ladder into Dolph. Cena loads Rollins up for an AA through the table but eats the KO Punch, setting up a TripleBomb through the table with Rollins playing Reigns.

Back with Cena and company slowly being helped out. A six man tag is announced for later.

Tag Team Turmoil

Winners get a Tag Team Title match at TLC. We start with Kofi/Big E. vs. Goldust/Stardust as Kofi throws Stardust around with ease. Big E. runs Stardust down and the Big Ending/Top rope DDT (the Midnight Hour) ends Stardust at 1:36. Tyson Kidd and Cesaro are the next team as we take a break. Back with Cesaro throwing Kofi around before bringing in Kidd for some choking on the ropes.

Off to a chinlock on Kofi for a bit before he elbows up, only to be slammed back down. Kingston rolls away and tags Big E. back in to clean house, only to have Cesaro break up the Big Ending. Kidd joins him and Big E. clotheslines both guys to the floor. Kofi gets launched over the topr for a big dive, setting up a springboard shot to the face. The Dusts come out for a distraction though, allowing Kidd to roll Kofi up for the pin at 8:11 total.

The Usos are in third (of five teams) but Jimmy walks into a suplex from Cesaro. There’s almost no effect though as Jimmy comes back with the Umaga Attack in the corner before it’s off to Jey to work on the arm. Kidd comes back in for a kick to the face but Cesaro makes a blind tag, setting up a release German suplex to drop Jey as we take another break.

Back with Jimmy fighting out of another chinlock. Jimmy fights up but has to suplex Kidd down. Tyson jumps into a superkick, setting up the tag to Jey for the Superfly Splash to get us down to one on one at 16:00. Finally we have Adam Rose/the Bunny vs. the Usos for the title shot. Rose starts fast with a pair of rollups on Jimmy but the Bunny tags himself in. Adam starts arguing as the Bunny goes up. Jimmy tries a superplex but gets caught in a sunset bomb for two. More arguing allows Jey to superkick Rose, setting up the Superfly Splash for the title shot at 19:10.

Rating: C. These matches always have the same complaint; why do they never win matches as fast as they do here? At least the middle part was long to prevent this from falling into the same pattern, but it says a lot that we only have five teams and two of them were thrown together.

Naomi is watching her husband (one of the Usos) in the back when Miz/Mizdow come in to say they’ll keep the titles. Miz actually offers her a spot in a movie and gives her a card. Mizdow gives her an invisible card as Naomi rolls her eyes.

A long black limo brings Vince to the arena.

Seth Green is hosting next week.

Rowan fixes his Rubik’s Cube and reiterates that Show is a bully.

Erick Rowan vs. Big Show

Show says he doesn’t like being called a bully. Cole says Rowan has a genius IQ. Erick quickly knocks him to the floor but Show comes back in and drops Rowan with ease. He rips at Rowan’s face and puts on a chinlock to kill some time. Rowan fights up and heads outside, only to have Show nail him with the steps for the DQ at 4:22.

Rating: D+. Nothing to see here though the idea of Rowan being a genius is kind of interesting. There’s some potential for some interesting bits there, though I’m not sure I have any confidence in WWE to pull it off. This is likely setting up a big match between the two at TLC, which should be interesting.

Vince is excited to be on Austin’s podcast. He won’t bring back the Authority though.

We recap the Bellas cheating to beat AJ last week. You can pick AJ’s partner for a tag match later.

Fandango vs. Jack Swagger

And there’s no Swagger. We cut to the back where Colter is down with a leg injury. Fandango wins via forfeit.

Here are Rusev and Lana to complain about the Pledge of Allegiance last week and brag about Rusev winning the battle royal on Friday. Rusev implies that he hurt Colter as the Russian flag comes down for Lana’s pledge. Swagger charges out for the brawl but referees hold him back.

Damien Mizdow vs. Fernando

This is due to Torito stealing one of Mizdow’s fake Tag Team Title belts. Feeling out process to start with Fernando easily taking him down and grabbing an armbar. Back up and Mizdow grabs a quick backdrop and hooks the Figure Four for the submission at 2:25.

Jimmy Uso, Naomi’s real life husband, comes out and slaps Miz in the face, saying stay away from her.

Bray Wyatt vs. R-Truth

Bray throws him around with ease to start and shouts for Ambrose. Truth fights out of a cravate and avoids the running backsplash. That just makes Bray mad but he takes a running kick to the face. The Lie Detector puts Bray down but he avoids the ax kick and plants Truth with the release Rock Bottom. A modified DDT onto the apron knocks Truth silly and it’s the Spider Walk into Sister Abigail for the pin at 4:22.

Rating: D+. Total squash here with Bray looking great most of the time. He’s getting better at making his offense look more devastating, which is the kind of thing you need from a monster like him. I’m not sure where he goes at TLC, but that match could be one heck of a war.

Post match Bray starts throwing in chairs, still shouting for Dean. He wants the truth but pulls out a ladder as we take a break. We come back with Bray sitting in his rocking chair under a ladder with a table in the corner. Bray tells us the story of Jacob and his great ladder that the angels climbed up to Heaven and back. Wyatt dreams of a ladder where he ascends the ladder to praise no one. He looks down at his world and laughs at all the creatures that God has created and thinks they look like insects. In his dreams, he sees tables, ladders and chairs.

Cue Dean for a brawl and to put Bray on the table, only to have Wyatt escape as Dean climbs the ladder. Bray runs away as referees stop dean. Ambrose goes back inside where there are about ten chairs, two tables and a ladder. He shoves the ladder over and looks at Bray’s rocking chair, eventually tossing it down and destroying it, infuriating Wyatt.

We recap the end of the opening segment with Cena going through the table after everyone came out.

Bella Twins vs. AJ Lee/???

Here are the poll results for AJ’s partner:

Natalya – 32%

Naomi – 48%

Alicia Fox – 20%

Bella Twins vs. AJ Lee/Naomi

Brie jumps Naomi before the bell, allowing Nikki to get two off a suplex. The Bellas take turns nailing Naomi in the face before Nikki hooks a chinlock. Naomi fights up and tags in AJ to clean house, including a tornado DDT to Nikki. Everything breaks down and it’s AJ vs. Nikki with a Shining Wizard staggering the champ. The Black Widow makes Nikki tap at 3:25.

Rating: D+. Well that happened. As is the usual case with most Divas matches, there’s almost nothing to see here and it sets up AJ vs. Nikki again. I’m sure Brie will get involved and AJ will need to find a friend to help her. Perhaps say, Paige? Either that or Charlotte comes in and takes the title. Neither does much for me but that’s likely due to the Bellas trying to be all serious and important.

Mick Foley, in one of the best Santa Claus outfits I’ve ever seen, hypes up the big sale on WWEshop.com. I really wouldn’t have recognized him if not for his voice and the cheap pop.

Paul Heyman is here via satellite to address the stipulation for Cena vs. Rollins. First up though, he wants to address what Cena said about Lesnar being here once a year. Would you have Christmas once a year? Of course not, because it would ruin the moment. Why not just have Wrestlemania every Monday night? Now if Cena comes out of TLC still #1 contender, he has to face a fresh Brock Lesnar.

However, what if he doesn’t? Who becomes #1 contender? Would it be Rollins, who Curb Stomped Brock Lesnar but now can’t hide behind the Authority? Maybe the Undertaker? That could be interesting, if you could find him. What about Sting? You wouldn’t even have to advertise it as a retirement match, because Sting would retire after Lesnar got his hands on him. Let’s just throw the entire WWE roster against Lesnar like throwing humans to the lions in the Roman Coliseum. Heyman says Brock Lesnar is the new authority in WWE because he’s the can’t miss, must see, undisputed WWE World Heavyweight Champion.

Ryback/John Cena/Dolph Ziggler vs. Luke Harper/Seth Rollins/Kane

They have a lot of time for this. Cena wants Rollins to start with him but gets Harper instead. That’s fine with John who knocks Harper down and pulls in Rollins for the STF. Luke makes an early save, only to walk into a belly to belly for two. Off to Ziggler for a double dropkick for two before it’s off to Ryback vs. Kane for the big power showdown. Ryback takes over with the Thesz press and Warrior Splash.

Back to Harper to hammer away in the corner until Ryback scores with the Meat Hook. Rolins comes in and gets in some shots of his own before handing it back to Luke. Ryback fights him over a suplex before picking Luke up for a very delayed suplex as we go to a break. Back with Ryback dropping Harper with the suplex. If that was continuous (it wasn’t), give Ryback the title like, now.

Off to Ziggler vs. Kane with Dolph grabbing a sleeper until Kane drives him into the corner. Kane knocks him out of the air for two and the heels take over again. Luke Gator Rolls him and we’re in the chinlock. Kane comes in for a chinlock of his own before Rollins whips Ziggler hard into the corner. Back up and Seth misses a charge in the corner, setting up the hot tag to Cena. House is quickly cleaned with Lawler suddenly being a huge Cena cheerleader. Cena cleans house and double suplexes Kane with some help from Ryback. Mercury and Noble knock knock Cena silly as we take a break.

Back again with Cena fighting out of a Harper chinlock but eating a superkick from Harper for two. Rollins comes back in for a chinlock of his own but Cena suplexes him down to escape. The hot tag brings in Ziggler to face Harper with a neckbreaker and Fameasser getting two. Everything breaks down with Cena diving onto all five guys at once. Kane escapes the AA and kicks Cena down, only to take a powerslam from Ryback. Everyone hits their secondary finishers until Ziggler counters a Harper powerbomb into a sunset flip for the pin at 25:17.

Rating: C+. This was much more of a long match than a good one with FAR too many chinlocks than were necessary. Ziggler continuing to get a push is a good thing but there needed to be more stuff here than what we were given. Ryback continues to just kind of be there, which isn’t what you want him to be doing at this point.

Post match Big Show comes in to clean house but Rowan comes out with the steps to destroy everyone. Cole seems to have officially dubbed Rowan Big Red. Show grabs Ryback and Rowan for a double chokeslam but is nice enough to stick his chin out for a superkick from Ziggler. Cena AA’s Show for Survivor Series, allowing Rowan to crush him with the steps to end the show.

Overall Rating: C-. This was a bit more entertaining than last week but it still didn’t do much for me. They’ve got most of the card set for TLC and hopefully it’s Ambrose vs. Wyatt again in the main event. If nothing else it fits the name of the show and gives you a potential huge crash for the ending. This wasn’t a great show or even very good, but it advanced some stories and got me more interested in the PPV, which is somehow less than two weeks away.

Results

Usos won tag team turmoil last eliminating Adam Rose/the Bunny – Superfly Splash to Rose

Erick Rowan b. Big Show via DQ when Show used the steps

Fandango b. Jack Swagger via forfeit

Damien Mizdow b. Fernando – Figure Four

Bray Wyatt b. R-Truth – Sister Abigail

AJ Lee/Naomi b. Bella Twins – Black Widow to Nikki

Dolph Ziggler/John Cena/Ryback b. Kane/Luke Harper/Seth Rollins – Sunset flip to Harper

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book on the History of the Royal Rumble at Amazon for just $3.99 at:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00PZ1GR7E

And check out my Amazon author page with wrestling books for under $4 at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

Finally, I’m holding a Holiday Special for my e-books: any two of them for just $5.  Check out the details here.

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2014/11/28/holiday-sale/

Sting! The Stinger! The Man Called Sting! These are just a few of the nicknames of someone you won’t be seeing on Raw this week. He debuted at Survivor Series to help end the Authority as he pulled Ziggler’s body onto Rollins, who hadn’t moved in about eight minutes and clearly needed to be resuscitated. Other than that….yeah there isn’t much as Survivor Series was a one note show. Let’s get to it.

We opened with the Authority because WWE likes to troll us. They were all sad about being thrown out of course but said we’d miss them later on. HHH babbled about business and how WWE will need them back in the future. For some reason he went into a nearly word for word speech from the end of A Few Good Men about how WWE needed them. If nothing else that’s an awesome movie so I can’t complain much there.

Daniel Bryan of all people cut them off to do the YES post in front of them. After a break, Bryan announced that he was in charge for the night. First up he brought out all five members of Team Authority from the night before to give them their assignments for the night. These segments took nearly half an hour in total, but Bryan’s energy made them easier to sit through. I’ll cover each member as their antics come up, starting with Henry getting beaten by Ryback in about a minute.

The Authority left with Vince while Stephanie begged Vince’s forgiveness. The boss didn’t seem to care and said the only thing he’s sorry for is having to sit through Thanksgiving with these losers.

Next up was Luke Harper beating Ambrose via DQ when Harper shoved Dean into the referee. This wasn’t a great match as you knew the ending was going to be screwy, but at least they didn’t go with the obvious Bray interference. That would come after, as Bray jumped Dean on the floor and buried him under a bunch of chairs next to the announcers’ table.

Santino Marella and Larry the Cable Guy showed up and weren’t funny.

Miz/Mizdow beat Goldust/Stardust to retain the titles. The idea here was Miz stayed on the floor with an alleged injury for most of the match before coming in to hit a quick Skull Crushing Finale and steal the glory.

Kane is in charge of concessions tonight. This led to some unfunny bits of pouring mustard on Santino and getting in a fight with Ryback, likely setting up a match at TLC.

Lane and Rusev had to either say the Pledge of Allegiance to the American flag or have Rusev defend the title in a battle royal. Lana started to but Rusev stopped her, drawing out Sgt. Slaughter for a showdown. Naturally this went nowhere and Jack Swagger came out for the save. I really hope they’re not going back to this feud because it’s been done to death already.

Fandango beat Justin Gabriel in a copy of the Survivor Series pre-show match. Nothing to see here.

Big Show came out for his big speech and admits that it might have been a mistake, but thinks he’s earned the benefit of the doubt after all his years in the company. We got the usual “I have bills to pay” speech, which I’d have more sympathy for if he hadn’t used his one wish on a title shot last year. Eventually Rowan came down and called Show a bully before knocking him out of the ring with ease.

Brie Bella beat AJ via rollup when Nikki interfered. No sign of the Bellas splitting when the servant period was over.

Adam Rose and the Bunny lost to Kidd and Natalya in the same match they’ve been having for weeks.

Ziggler and Cena beat Rollins and the Stooges in the exact match you would expect them to have. The big deals here were that the Stooges could be selected by the fans via the App and the Anonymous Raw GM returned to end the show. In theory this is going to be a weekly deal.

Overall this show was about setting up the new world of Monday Night Raw after the Authority is gone. The show really wasn’t all that good, but at least they set up something for the future. They only have a few weeks until TLC, but they already have the fallout from Survivor Series as a foundation for the matches there. It’s not a good show but they had to take a breather after all the stuff they did last night.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book on the History of the Royal Rumble at Amazon for just $3.99 at:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00PZ1GR7E

And check out my Amazon author page with wrestling books for under $4 at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

Finally, I’m holding a Holiday Special for my e-books: any two of them for just $5.  Check out the details here.

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2014/11/28/holiday-sale/