The show starts off with Ric Flair but he's quickly interrupted by Randy Orton, they have a nice little confrontation and it eventually seems they're going to come to blows but John Cena comes out to make the save. He basically tells Orton that if he want's to fight, he can fight him, Orton doesn't engage Cena though and he leaves the ring.
This was a nice segment to start off the show, I liked how they played off of Orton and Flair's history and I really liked Orton's promo. They could've gone the route of doing something between Flair and Triple H but what we got was still pretty good.
If this was a normal ppv Cena vs Orton again wouldn't be enough but since the main attraction is the royal rumble match itself, I guess it's alright. I would've preferred Daniel Bryan in it though to make it seem like a new match and not just Cena and Orton for the 50'th time. They could've pushed back him joining the Wyatt family until after the rumble or even put him in it as he is now.
Hopefully this match is given some sort of stimulation, maybe a last man standing because I don't think they've ever had that before. Overall I'm not outraged about having the match again but I wish they would've done a different variation.
The Usos vs The Wyatt Family (Harper, Rowen, and Daniel Bryan)
Daniel Bryan's first match as part of the Wyatt family! It was cool seeing Bryan come out with them and we saw his new costume (even though most of us already saw the pictures of it online) The match was good while it lasted but it seemed pretty quick, it ended when there was a miscommunication between Harper and Bryan on who got the tag, Harper ended up going in but was pinned by a roll up.
So it seems that even though Bray Wyatt is very happy with Bryan joining, the other members, at least Luke Harper might not be, I'm interested to see where this goes but I don't think it'll lead to anything too major like Harper being kicked out, maybe a match between the two though. I'm expecting at least something to come of it because otherwise why would you have them lose their first match with Bryan on the team?
In my review of last week's show I talked about all the different things they could do with Bryan joining and his character. It seems they're going with him being brainwashed just like Harper and Rowen are and so far I'm liking it. The cynical part of me wants to say they turned him heel because they didn't want to give him a real wwe title reign and because of that they were tired of the chants he was getting but if I'm being honest, as big of a fan of him as I am, his character was getting pretty bland. Now I can go on forever about how if wwe had handled his storyline with the authority properly he might not be in that position but the fact is, that's in the past and it can't be changed. While I don't believe his character was beyond hope,something had to change and this heel turn can help him a lot.
Bryan's always been great at playing in depth characters so this is the perfect fit for him. What some may not remember is that in 2012 as a heel he was just as good if not better than he was this summer. The only reason I would get upset over this turn is if he's treated as just henchmen for Bray Wyatt Bryan has already moved past that stage in his career, hopefully they can find a way to focus on everyone in the group. Bray not wrestling much helps with that because since Bryan, Harper, and Rowen are usually the ones in the ring it puts the spotlight on them. I just don't want to see him become a stooge for Bray Wyatt like Legacy was for Randy Orton, I think he's above that.
I'm very interested to see what his in ring work will be like because you may know I'm a huge fan of the fast paced action he had as a face. From what we saw on raw it looks like he'll be keeping that fast paced style but just in more of a heelish fashion. Instead of doing it in a way to awe the fans he'll be super intense on his opponents and to quote JR "beat them like a government mule". That definitely sounds good to me and I really liked what I saw from him on Raw.
There's so many different ways they can go from here, for instance Bryan could possibly get the Wwe championship in this character with Bray Wyatt as a manager of sorts. Or he could also turn on them at some point and give the face character another shot coming off of a potentially great break up storyline with Bray. I'm definitely very exited to see what they do next.
For fans that aren't as exited and see it as a burial, I say give it a chance. If it does turn into that I'll be right here to call it out but it has the possibility to take him farther than his face character ever could.
Big E Langston vs Curtis Axel
Somewhat quick match here with Ryback on commentary which wasn't as bad as it could've been but still wasn't that good either. I've been saying they need to give Big E a feud but I did not mean one with Ryback, ever since he came out the feud with John Cena I just haven't a fan of him. Pairing him with Curtis Axel was a good idea since both of their singles career's were going nowhere but if they are planning to have him feud with Langston I would rather just have him written off tv and brought back in a few months with a repackaged character.
Overall somewhat filler match that we've seen many times before, Big E wins with the big ending.
Alberto vs Sin Cara for 50000 time
Seriously how many matches can these two have together I mean whenever hear Sin Cara's music hits you know Del Rio is not far behind. They have a really quick match and Del Rio actually wins clean then he gets on the mic and starts talking trash about Batista and saying that he's going to win the Royal Rumble. I doubt this will go much farther than a confrontation in the rumble and maybe a few follow up matches on raw, I would be very surprised if it turned into a wrestlemania feud.
What I would do with Del Rio is put him in a tag team, maybe pair him with Wade Barrett who's not doing much at the moment. Same thing for Sin Cara, put him with a high flyer like Justin Gabriel, Tyson Kidd, or Even Bourne (if he ever returns).
The Great Kali vs Damien Sandow
Since their first match so good we get to have another, they tried to make the a little more interesting by Sgt. Slaughter as the ref. We got some chops from Kali and some offence from Sandow but that was about it. It looks like this is going to continue because Slaughter counted Sandow when his foot was on the rope. Just like before, I've been saying Sandow needs a feud but I did not mean one with The Great Kali. Is it really too much to ask for to give a someone who's supposed to be a world champion a feud with someone who's also on that level?
After the match Sandow gets into it with Slaughter and the Sarg. puts the cobra clutch on him.
The Rhodes Bros. vs The Real Americans
Decent match here with the Rhodes picking up the win, I would've preferred the Real Americans winning because I think they're next in line for the tag titles and lately they haven't been handled very well. They've been losing matches left and right so I'd like to see wwe start building them up with wins.
Brock Lesner segment with Mark Henry and The Big Show
I really liked Brock Lesner's return last week but this week things didn't go as well, Lesner and Heyman come out and Heyman cut a good promo about how Lesner is old school, meaning he is dominant like Bruno Samartino, Hulk Hogan and Stone Cold. Mark Henry comes out and Lesner destroys him even quicker than last week with an F5 and then breaks his arm with the kamera lock. Then the Big Show comes out and he stares down Lesner, after a distraction from Heyman Lesner trys to attack Show but he throws Lesner all the way across the ring. It ends with a stare down and a match between them was announced for the Royal Rumble.
I wish they would've done Lesner vs Mark Henry at the rumble, that's the match I want to see. For one we've seen Show vs Lesner before and two Henry and Brock's gimmicks are much more similar. When Henry was heel he had nearly the exact same gimmick as Brock. The top heel tough guy vs the top face tough guy, this would've been a dream match for me. They could've switched roles and had Henry be the one to come out for save or just built off of last week. Also the fact that Big Show was dressed as the New Years baby a few weeks ago doesn't help matters.
This is basically filler until mania but with Henry it would've felt like more than that, with Big Show I guess it's exiting because Brock Lesners back but that's about it.
Rikishi, Scotty 2 Hotty, and Grand Master Sexay vs 3MB
Pretty much what you would expect here, quick match with the legends getting the win and dancing afterwards.
Piper's Pit with the Shield
This was a very entertaining segment, Dean Ambrose cut a good promo on Roddy Piper and it was cool to see them go back and forth. Roman Reigns stayed quiet most of the time but when Piper started pinching him on the cheek and trying to stir up trouble between him the other members he spoke and with great intensity. He said that he would beat CM Punk tonight and if Piper ever touched him again he would break him in half. Great line by Reigns, I've been wondering how he would do on the mic and this was a pretty good indication. They're definitely been shielding him from it and for now the one liners are fine but if he does enter the main event down the road he will have to cut some full legnth promos and I just hope he's able to do it. It might not be a bad idea to give him practice now by transitioning him over longer ones.
After that it looked like the shield was moving in to take out Piper but out comes CM Punk with a calvery of the New Age outlaws, a brawl ensues and they eventually fight off the the shield. The segment ends with them standing tall next to Piper.
Overall very good segment here.
Roman Reigns vs CM Punk
This was a huge match for Roman Reigns and a huge main event because of how important he's becoming as well as we needed to find out he would do in a singles match. The beginning and middle parts of it were pretty slow but it picked up in the last quarter and they even got a "this is awesome" chant. Reigns was great in the fast paced action and power moves but after that where he would've usually tagged out you could tell he needed a little work. Once the match slowed down though near the middle Reigns stuck to mostly head locks and a very slow pace. There's definitely room for improvement but the fast paced ending mostly made up for it.
The match ended when Roman Reigns speared Punk off a distraction from Dean Ambrose, I would've rather had Reigns win completely clean but it still worked.
At this point it was going great but then we hear the music of Jake the Snake Roberts who brings along a friend. Meanwhile in the ring Punk and the New Age Owtlaws reengage the shield, they throw everyone out of the ring except for Ambrose and Jake puts put his Damien the snake on top of him.
Let me preface this with saying that I really enjoyed Jake returning and huge props to DDP for everything he's done for him. It was a good way to end off a legends show and I also love Jake's theme song.
Since we have that established, I can say, this wasn't the main event for Jake Roberts to return in. This was one of the biggest main events we've had on raw in while because of how big Reigns is becoming and for the first time in years we might actually get a successful push to the top. This was an extremely important part of his journey to there and even though he won, the image coming out of raw was Roberts' return. On most other episodes of raw the return would've worked but just not this one, it was simply bad booking by wwe. I would've moved everything forward a week, Punk and Reigns to next week and for this episode the Rollins vs Punk match maineventing. Then this ending would've worked fine because there was no big image you needed people to grasp onto coming out of the show. Instead they did it with a match that had something extremely important to hold onto: Roman Reigns actually just beat the number 2 guy the company, he might be the real deal. It was one of the biggest and most important matches of his carrer and it was built up so well but the moment was downsized by Robert's return, there was so much going on with him coming out, Punk and the new age outlaws beating up the shield and Reigns' win was the farthest thing your mind.
I had been loving the shield's breakup, but they've hit some speed bumps along the road. They've also lost almost all of their matches even on smackdown. I understand they're gonna lose more than usual because they're breaking up but it's starting to make them seem less important. I mean CM Punk beat all three of them at TLC, they've lost nearly everything on smackdown, everything on raw, got beat up by Punk and the New Age Outlaws twice and the one match Roman Reigns won they screwed up. It's becoming a bit much, I'd like to see them win one every now and then, you can even have them arguing afterward but give them a win once in a while.
I'm still enjoying the storyline and I'm looking forward to see where it goes but there are a few things they can change.
Big props to Jake the snake and even though it came at the wrong time, this will still be a historic moment in raw history.
This was a pretty solid show, not great but solid, with two hours it would've been worked fine but the three hours as usual stretched it out too much.
Be sure to give me your thoughts on Raw in the comments section or twitter: @ENC98 or @PWReview, Thanks for reading and happy new year.
