wrestling / TV Reports
Tremendous Tirades 9.30.13: WWE Monday Night Raw
Introduction
As a reminder, this will not be another traditional recap, but instead it will be a mash up of the Rs, Instant Analysis and my usual Twitter ramblings I would do during the shows; completely uncensored and as the ideas flow unfiltered to the old keyboard. Remember, this is a review; and I am here to review the show. As always, I encourage discussion and even disagreement, just do so in a respectful manner. I will be doing the review for Raw and most PPVs and iPPVs going forward.
WWE MONDAY NIGHT RAW – THE PRELUDE FOR BATTLEGROUND
CM PUNK TALKS – THEN WRESTLES BIG E LANGSTON: The bad news is that once again, the show starts off with the big talking segment. The good news is that it was not Triple H, but CM Punk that got to kick off the show. Punk spoke about the main thing he has been discussing, and that is finally getting his hands on Heyman and getting his revenge. He then decided he was in a fighting mood, and didn’t care who it was. This led to the appearance of Brad Maddox; no fucks were given. Maddox rattled on, I wish I cared about him but despite people thinking he is very talented, Maddox is not good at all, and needs to be off my TV. Big E. Langston appeared and attacked Punk. Good to see that they have been doing stuff with Langston after he got to beat Dolph.
Punk’s promo was fine, but lacked any real emotion, especially as compared to last week. The match was pretty good, and Langston continues to show he has something, they just do not know what to do with him right now. I will say that WWE did ONE thing right here, something in the past I have complained about, and that was the opponent choice for Punk. In past PPV builds, WWE would have selected someone in a PPV match and jobbed them to Punk. Langston has NOTHING going on, hasn’t been on TV, and was perfectly fine to sacrifice in the match. Although I will add that considering the level that Punk is at, I think Langston got a little too much in the match; but judging from what I’ve heard, that was likely Punk’s idea. The other thing was that this was a match designed to make you think that Punk can contend and overcome the power of a guy like Ryback, by having him face and defeat a man of similar size. Overall this was good start to the show, even if I could have done without Maddox.
Rating (1-10): 7.0
Fandango vs. Kofi Kingston: In a match of guys that once had direction and are now floundering in the low card. No, not mid-card, the low card. They had a match; the fans chanted of Summer Rae a bit, no one really cared and Kofi won with Trouble in Paradise in an uninspired match. The Wyatt Family appeared, with Bray cutting a promo on Kofi who stood ready for battle with a chair in the ring. It was basically done to remind fans that the Wyatt Family is a thing.
Rating (1-10): 5.0
Los Matadores (Fernando and Diego) vs. 3MB (Slater and Mahal): Yes, they have a little bull mascot (Mascarita Dorada now named El Torrito) that does a wacky acrobatic entrance. I feel like I am watching CMLL, but I prefer KeMonito. Well the good news is that it went better than Sin Cara’s WWE run thus far. The crowd was pretty receptive of the debut, and it plays perfectly into the family demographics they are aiming for. At the end of the day it was just a match, it didn’t suck, but the first hour has been rather uninspired.
Rating (1-10): 6.0
RHODES FAMILY SUMMIT: Triple H and Stephanie appeared, and invited the Rhodes family to the ring, ensuring their safety. DUSTY’S MUSIC! Triple H was in supreme dick mode, making it seem like they gave the family so many chances, and then ran down each of the Rhodes for their “failures.” Stephanie said they would give Goldust and Cody a chance to win their jobs, in a match with Rollins and Reigns at Battleground. But, if they lose, they will never work for WWE again and Dusty will also lose his job. Dusty agreed to the match I he could be in their corner after getting into Triple H’s face, and after a threat by Stephanie, The Shield hit the ring and attacked the Rhodes family. Cody ate the Shield bomb, and the Shield stood tall. The segment was fine and set the stage for the PPV match, but felt rushed and lacked emotion as I would have liked the Rhodes Family to get some more mic time. Up and to this point I have loved the angle because they have given you a reason to get attached emotionally, and while this was far from bad, this segment just didn’t capture that for me.
Rating (1-10): 6.0
Non-Title Match: Curtis Axel © w/Paul Heyman vs. R-Truth: Curtis Axel has been the IC Champion for over 100 days, and isn’t any more over for it because he has constantly been portrayed as a third tier character and nowhere near a threat to anyone. They had a perfectly average back and forth match, Punk’s music hit and that distracted Axe, and Truth hit the lie detector and won. This was great in the context of the Heyman vs. Punk feud, but again proves my point that Axel is a third tier character with zero credibility. {SARCASM FONT}Cannot wait for Truth vs. Axel II.{/SARCASM FONT}
Rating (1-10): 5.0
Brie Bella w/Nikki vs. Alicia Fox: AJ Lee and her new enforcer Tamina watched in from backstage during the match. They had an acceptable back and forth match, which Brie won. This was the right result since she is challenging for the title, but the audience still has issues connecting/caring about the diva matches.
Rating (1-10): 6.0
Non-Title Match: Alberto Del Rio © vs. Zack Ryder: Here is another tune up match for the PPV. Once again this was a fine back and forth match, but considering that Ryder is nothing but a job guy these days, I feel he got way too much offense. Del Rio, despite being the World Champion, is never really booked like one, and no one seems to care about him. Del Rio won clean with the cross arm breaker in another completely average segment.
Rating (1-10): 6.0
Paul Heyman Proposes to Ryback: Words I thought I would never type. They discussed their feelings and Ryback tenderly touched Heyman’s face, as Heyman discussed 2013 being a progressive year. Heyman they said he felt like a man, with a spring in his step due to Ryback. Heyman wanted to make this an official commitment, and he even ran this by his children, and says he wants to commit to Ryback. He wants to make an honest man out of Ryback, and then got down on a knee and requested that Ryback become a Paul Heyman guy. Punk then made an appearance, but as he came through the crowd crumbled to the mats and clutched his knee. He tried to get into the ring but fell and the trainer checked on him. Once Heyman showed concern, Punk attacked he and Ryback with a kendo stick. He ran off Heyman and Ryback and then beat the shit our of Axel, once again making him his bitch. Heyman made this awkward segment work, due to the fact that he is great, and Punk got some revenge prior to the PPV. I know that this is all about the bigger picture (Punk vs. Heyman) but seriously, could we make the IC Champion anymore of a bitch? Zack Ryder thinks that Axel looks bad out there. Again, I get the bigger picture, but there is also a point when you’re robbing Peter to pay Paul; but I shouldn’t be surprised, because lets be honest, when was the last time that the IC Title or IC Champion meant anything at all? It is just becoming completely frustrating. It’s hard to get excited for one thing that is being done well when another thing is being constantly damaged.
Rating (1-10): 5.0
The Usos and Dolph Ziggler vs. The Shield: I really liked the match being made, because it plays well off of recent booking and the fact that Ziggler and the Usos stood tall with Bryan last week as they defeated the Shield in the 11 on 3 match. This was a good match with good work from all involved, they had the crowd interested, a great hot tag to Ziggler and a fun finishing stretch with Reigns killing Ziggler with the spear. This was the best in ring thing on the show, with the only complaint being that I think an Uso should have taken the fall, due to Ziggler having a pre-PPV match. I know it’s only the pre-show, but there needs to be some level of protection for guys on the PPV in some form. Still, I really enjoyed this and it reinforced the Shield’s dominance heading into the PPV match with Goldust and Cody.
Rating (1-10): 7.5
Santino w/Hornswoggle and Khali vs. Antonio Cesaro w/Colter and Swagger: Colter did his usual promo, running down the state. We the people. I don’t know if you guys know this, but there is a PPV on Sunday. What this has to do with building to that show I cannot tell you, because it was a waste of valuable TV time. But hey, Khali and Hornswoggle need some TV time. This was only here for Cesaro to do the big swing, Santino won when Cesaro slipped on a banana peel in a match that was basically the same as the one they had a few weeks back. This was useless and a complete waste of time on a show when you’re supposed to be hyping a PPV.
Rating (1-10): 1.0
ORTON AND BRYAN: FACE TO FACE: Orton and Bryan came out and said the safe stuff they have been saying for weeks now. Orton is for real now, Bryan is a B+ player, goat face, blah, blah, blah. Orton brought up Brie Bella, and the fact that she was “settling” for Brie, and that she will realize she is with an animal, and not a viral champion like Orton. They brawled around ringside, with Orton posting Bryan several times. As Orton was looking to hit the hangman’s DDT, Brie came out to beg Orton to stop. Didn’t work, Orton hit the move and Brie tried to attend to Bryan. Orton then cleared the announcer’s table, and hit the RKO as Brie had to watch. Not to be that guy, but why does she care NOW and not the other 25 times Bryan has been left laying? Brie attended to Bryan as Orton did an odd leg stretching routine on the apron. It was the predicted beat down angle before the PPV, with solid crowd reaction, but felt as if it was lacking. Likely because the WWE Title doesn’t feel as if it is the main focus to me.
Rating (1-10): 7.0
This show was a chore to watch. Combine the long three-hour format with lack luster PPV build and nothing really all that good or special happening and that is what happened. There seemed to be no sense of urgency to really sell Sunday’s PPV, and considering that there are TWO PPV events in October, you think that they would be busting their asses to make this PPV feel as if it was a must see show. Again, they did PPV build, but none of it felt like that go home show final big build for matches. This show was simply uninspired, below average and a poor way to sell the PPV. Show Rating: 5.75 As a reminder, I will be going by the 411 scale… 0 – 0.9: Torture The final rating is not simply an average of the rated segments above. The rating takes them into account as well as the segments that are small but not scored, the flow of the show, the overall booking, build to PPV, crowd reactions, and so on and so forth. |
Larry Csonka is a Pisces and enjoys rolling at jiu jitsu class with Hotty McBrownbelt, cooking, long walks on the beach, Slingo and the occasional trip to Jack in the Box. He is married to a soulless ginger and has two beautiful daughters who are thankfully not soulless gingers; and is legally allowed to marry people in 35 states. He has been a wrestling fan since 1982 and has been writing for 411 since May 24th, 2004; contributing over 3,000 columns, TV reports and video reviews to the site.
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