Spoilers follow for the December 29th episode of Raw.
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On paper, the last Raw of 2014 looks to be a stellar one. Randy Orton and Bad News Barrett (supposedly) returning. Daniel Bryan making an announcement. Brock Lesnar showing up. The Ascension being called up. And Edge and Christian as our guest hosts. All of those make it a show worth seeing even regardless of the night's match quality. Edge and Christian alone more or less makes it worthwhile.
Raw opens with a flashback to 2011, during which time Edge made his retirement speech. That honestly doesn't sound like a good thing for Daniel Bryan's announcement later on. It's foreboding, at the very least. Edge and Christian are then welcomed to the ring. They do a bit of "fighting," which is funny. They're both going to host one of their talk show things. The guest? It'll be Seth Rollins. Rollins will also have a match tonight, and it'll be against Roman Reigns. Rusev, meanwhile, will be put in a match against Dolph Ziggler. Daniel Bryan is also here, and he'll address his future later tonight. They go for a five-second pose, but then Paul Heyman and Brock Lesnar come out. Both Jerry Lawler and Paul Heyman mention that Christian is retired, so I guess that's official now.
Heyman also says Lesnar doesn't want to break the necks of either member of E&C. Instead, he wants to break John Cena's neck. So, Cena comes out. Cena almost hits an AA on Lesnar, but Lesnar escapes. They stare each other down for a bit, but nothing comes of it.
Dolph Ziggler vs. Rusev (with Lana)
A perfectly serviceable match between Rusev and Ziggler, although a disappointment given what Ziggler and Luke Harper have done recently. It's slower and not anywhere near as fun, but it does have some good back-and-forth action, and compared to most TV matches, it's an enjoyable one. Ziggler can make anyone look great, and Rusev isn't exactly a poor worker himself, so it's fun. Unfortunately, it doesn?t get the cleanest of finishes. Rusev gets disqualified after refusing to stop kicking Ziggler in the corner. A Rusev DQ was the only way this match could have ended, but it's too bad anyway.
Match Rating: ***
Rusev locking an Accolade with Ziggler's neck on the bottom rope, but Ryback comes out to make the save and knock Rusev out of the ring. Ryback then stays in the ring for the entirety of the commercial break to cut a promo. He tells us his entire history with the WWE. It's seriously a few minutes of Ryback talking, and also some clips from years earlier. I think Ryback was more over before the promo than after. This took a whole segment. It did start shifting Rusev's feuds away from a patriotic angle, though, which is at least something.
Natalya (with Tyson Kidd) vs. Nikki Bella (with Brie Bella)
Early on, Tyson Kidd caught Nikki, which is apparently a heel move, so Natalya got mad at that. A few moments later, Brie talks to Tyson, Natalya notices, and Nikki hits the Rack Attack for the win. We could have had a real match here, but this was not that.
Match Rating: *
Backstage, we see Naomi running up to The Miz and hugging and thanking him. Naomi has a meeting with a producer thanks to The Miz, the awful heel that he is. Naomi wishes him good luck tonight.
WWE Tag Team Championship Match: The Usos (Jimmy and Jey Uso) vs. The Miz and Damien Sandow
How many times do we have to see this match or some variation of it? It's stale, especially because most of the match feels like a singles match, given that Miz spends most of the match in the ring -- and even when he's not, Sandow is using his moveset -- and each Uso is basically identical in the ring. Sandow's antics are the only truly entertaining part.
It's not even like the matches are bad, but we've seen it all at this point, and we've seen it far too frequently in the last couple of months. Like, this match is perfectly fine, but it's stale.
This match does have a very exciting finale, which had more than a couple of false finishes. That's new. Eventually, a flurry of superkicks and a splash leads to The Usos picking up the win.
Match Rating: ***
So, The Usos get to win just so they can feud with The Ascension, right? That has to be the only reason. Jerry Lawler interviews The Usos -- who are joined by Naomi -- after the ring. Nothing of importance is said. Well, one of the Usos namedrops Jim Ross. That's something.
Cesaro is sitting in the ring after we return from commercial. Is he going to cut a Ryback-esque promo? He does get cheers, not boos, for some reason. He mentions he doesn't care about anything but his ring work, which is fine. It's less effective given that he's almost winless in the second half of 2014, but whatever. He issues an open challenge. Bad News Barrett comes out. Is he a face now?
Cesaro vs. Bad News Barrett
He's not a face. Or, he's not using face tactics. Cesaro dominates the middle portion of the match, but the referee gets distracted, Barrett uses an eye rake to blind his opponent and then hits a Bull Hammer Elbow to pick up the win. It's a short, mediocre match, but it's good to see Barrett back.
Match Rating: **
Luke Harper cuts a promo from backstage after the match. It's suitably creepy.
Jack Swagger vs. Luke Harper
Luke Harper gets to dominate Jack Swagger, because that's how this has to work. The match actually gets two segments, somehow, even though Swagger really shouldn't be making this competitive at all. He's not high on the card right now, and Harper is in the middle of a big push. In truth, the match isn't competitive, but Swagger gets beaten up for a long while. It's a long squash match. Swagger does get in some moves, but we know it's false.
Harper wins after countering a Swagger Bomb, getting up, and hitting the Discus Clothesline.
Match Rating: **
Cena and Edge get to have a humorous -- and eventually touching -- reminiscence about their feud. Man, their rivalry really was great.
Roman Reigns vs. Seth Rollins (with J&J Security)
Big Show is on commentary. I wonder if that's going to have any impact on the match -- a match which really can't have a clean finish.
Roman Reigns showing his improvement in the ring by working over Seth Rollins' arm for the early portion of the match. Rollins then gets control, which allows Reigns to sell for a while. When it's Reigns' turn to have the momentum, he gets to do a couple pretty sweet moves. He has definitely improved.
The finale is pretty fun, with both men countering each other's finishers. Reigns sets up for another spear, but Big Show stops commentating and interferes. I'm so surprised. Reigns wins by DQ.
Match Rating: **1/2
Big Show throws Reigns over the announcer's table, and then flips the table on top of him. Michael Cole tries to sell that Reigns might be seriously hurt. Sure.
Seth Rollins has a pep talk with his buddies backstage. He's going to do a New Year's toast later on, and he's going to invite John Cena to it.
A Bray Wyatt backstage promo is aired. Wyatt and Dean Ambrose will be in an Ambulance Match next week.
Daniel Bryan is out next to make a "major announcement. He takes us through his 2014, which was both a great story and a sad story. He's not retiring, if that's what you were worried about. He will be competing in the 2015 Royal Rumble match. Hooray.
Edge and Christian are interrupted backstage by The Miz. Miz wants another match. He wants the rematch for the Tag Team Championships. He's given a match, but it's not against The Usos and it's not for the titles. He's not given an opponent, but since The Ascension is supposed to debut, I'm pretty sure we can figure it out.
The Miz and Damien Sandow vs. The Ascension (Konnor and Viktor)
Miz tags in Sandow right away, and Sandow gets squashed by Konnor and Viktor. The Ascension should have been disqualified, since they were both in the ring for more than a five count before hitting their tag team finisher, but such is life. They win with The Fall of Man.
Match Rating: *1/2
Seth Rollins informs us that Brock Lesnar is also getting an invitation to the ring.
Edge and Christian are in the ring after the commercial break. It's time for an episode of The Cutting Edge Peep Show. They invite Seth Rollins out, who comes down with his security team. He goes back and forth with E&C for a bit, showing us his deficiencies on the mic. Rollins eventually brings out Big Show, because he's only ruined a single segment so far.
Rollins then asks John Cena to come out. No music plays. Rollins pleads with him, telling Cena that he wants something from him. Rollins will force Cena's hand. He attacks Christian with his briefcase. Edge then gets surrounded by all four heels. They get him ready for a briefcase curb stomp. Cena does indeed run out, but is stopped before he gets in the ring. Rollins tells Cena that Cena knows what he wants. I presume it's putting The Authority back in power. Cena tries to rush the ring, but Rollins has his foot on Edge's face. This lasts several minutes.
Cena eventually caves. He brings back The Authority. Rollins decides to attack Edge anyway, but Cena stops him. Big Show knocks out Cena. Rollins then curb stomps Cena. Edge manages to escape. The heels -- including Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman -- celebrate on the stage. The Authority even comes out, because apparently they were backstage anyway. That's how Raw ends. No Randy Orton.
The Good: Ziggler/Rusev. Usos/Miz & Sandow. Barrett's return.
The Bad: Bella/Natalya. Miz & Sandow/Ascension.
Match of the Night: Dolph Ziggler vs. Rusev.
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On paper, the last Raw of 2014 looks to be a stellar one. Randy Orton and Bad News Barrett (supposedly) returning. Daniel Bryan making an announcement. Brock Lesnar showing up. The Ascension being called up. And Edge and Christian as our guest hosts. All of those make it a show worth seeing even regardless of the night's match quality. Edge and Christian alone more or less makes it worthwhile.
Raw opens with a flashback to 2011, during which time Edge made his retirement speech. That honestly doesn't sound like a good thing for Daniel Bryan's announcement later on. It's foreboding, at the very least. Edge and Christian are then welcomed to the ring. They do a bit of "fighting," which is funny. They're both going to host one of their talk show things. The guest? It'll be Seth Rollins. Rollins will also have a match tonight, and it'll be against Roman Reigns. Rusev, meanwhile, will be put in a match against Dolph Ziggler. Daniel Bryan is also here, and he'll address his future later tonight. They go for a five-second pose, but then Paul Heyman and Brock Lesnar come out. Both Jerry Lawler and Paul Heyman mention that Christian is retired, so I guess that's official now.
Heyman also says Lesnar doesn't want to break the necks of either member of E&C. Instead, he wants to break John Cena's neck. So, Cena comes out. Cena almost hits an AA on Lesnar, but Lesnar escapes. They stare each other down for a bit, but nothing comes of it.
Dolph Ziggler vs. Rusev (with Lana)
A perfectly serviceable match between Rusev and Ziggler, although a disappointment given what Ziggler and Luke Harper have done recently. It's slower and not anywhere near as fun, but it does have some good back-and-forth action, and compared to most TV matches, it's an enjoyable one. Ziggler can make anyone look great, and Rusev isn't exactly a poor worker himself, so it's fun. Unfortunately, it doesn?t get the cleanest of finishes. Rusev gets disqualified after refusing to stop kicking Ziggler in the corner. A Rusev DQ was the only way this match could have ended, but it's too bad anyway.
Match Rating: ***
Rusev locking an Accolade with Ziggler's neck on the bottom rope, but Ryback comes out to make the save and knock Rusev out of the ring. Ryback then stays in the ring for the entirety of the commercial break to cut a promo. He tells us his entire history with the WWE. It's seriously a few minutes of Ryback talking, and also some clips from years earlier. I think Ryback was more over before the promo than after. This took a whole segment. It did start shifting Rusev's feuds away from a patriotic angle, though, which is at least something.
Natalya (with Tyson Kidd) vs. Nikki Bella (with Brie Bella)
Early on, Tyson Kidd caught Nikki, which is apparently a heel move, so Natalya got mad at that. A few moments later, Brie talks to Tyson, Natalya notices, and Nikki hits the Rack Attack for the win. We could have had a real match here, but this was not that.
Match Rating: *
Backstage, we see Naomi running up to The Miz and hugging and thanking him. Naomi has a meeting with a producer thanks to The Miz, the awful heel that he is. Naomi wishes him good luck tonight.
WWE Tag Team Championship Match: The Usos (Jimmy and Jey Uso) vs. The Miz and Damien Sandow
How many times do we have to see this match or some variation of it? It's stale, especially because most of the match feels like a singles match, given that Miz spends most of the match in the ring -- and even when he's not, Sandow is using his moveset -- and each Uso is basically identical in the ring. Sandow's antics are the only truly entertaining part.
It's not even like the matches are bad, but we've seen it all at this point, and we've seen it far too frequently in the last couple of months. Like, this match is perfectly fine, but it's stale.
This match does have a very exciting finale, which had more than a couple of false finishes. That's new. Eventually, a flurry of superkicks and a splash leads to The Usos picking up the win.
Match Rating: ***
So, The Usos get to win just so they can feud with The Ascension, right? That has to be the only reason. Jerry Lawler interviews The Usos -- who are joined by Naomi -- after the ring. Nothing of importance is said. Well, one of the Usos namedrops Jim Ross. That's something.
Cesaro is sitting in the ring after we return from commercial. Is he going to cut a Ryback-esque promo? He does get cheers, not boos, for some reason. He mentions he doesn't care about anything but his ring work, which is fine. It's less effective given that he's almost winless in the second half of 2014, but whatever. He issues an open challenge. Bad News Barrett comes out. Is he a face now?
Cesaro vs. Bad News Barrett
He's not a face. Or, he's not using face tactics. Cesaro dominates the middle portion of the match, but the referee gets distracted, Barrett uses an eye rake to blind his opponent and then hits a Bull Hammer Elbow to pick up the win. It's a short, mediocre match, but it's good to see Barrett back.
Match Rating: **
Luke Harper cuts a promo from backstage after the match. It's suitably creepy.
Jack Swagger vs. Luke Harper
Luke Harper gets to dominate Jack Swagger, because that's how this has to work. The match actually gets two segments, somehow, even though Swagger really shouldn't be making this competitive at all. He's not high on the card right now, and Harper is in the middle of a big push. In truth, the match isn't competitive, but Swagger gets beaten up for a long while. It's a long squash match. Swagger does get in some moves, but we know it's false.
Harper wins after countering a Swagger Bomb, getting up, and hitting the Discus Clothesline.
Match Rating: **
Cena and Edge get to have a humorous -- and eventually touching -- reminiscence about their feud. Man, their rivalry really was great.
Roman Reigns vs. Seth Rollins (with J&J Security)
Big Show is on commentary. I wonder if that's going to have any impact on the match -- a match which really can't have a clean finish.
Roman Reigns showing his improvement in the ring by working over Seth Rollins' arm for the early portion of the match. Rollins then gets control, which allows Reigns to sell for a while. When it's Reigns' turn to have the momentum, he gets to do a couple pretty sweet moves. He has definitely improved.
The finale is pretty fun, with both men countering each other's finishers. Reigns sets up for another spear, but Big Show stops commentating and interferes. I'm so surprised. Reigns wins by DQ.
Match Rating: **1/2
Big Show throws Reigns over the announcer's table, and then flips the table on top of him. Michael Cole tries to sell that Reigns might be seriously hurt. Sure.
Seth Rollins has a pep talk with his buddies backstage. He's going to do a New Year's toast later on, and he's going to invite John Cena to it.
A Bray Wyatt backstage promo is aired. Wyatt and Dean Ambrose will be in an Ambulance Match next week.
Daniel Bryan is out next to make a "major announcement. He takes us through his 2014, which was both a great story and a sad story. He's not retiring, if that's what you were worried about. He will be competing in the 2015 Royal Rumble match. Hooray.
Edge and Christian are interrupted backstage by The Miz. Miz wants another match. He wants the rematch for the Tag Team Championships. He's given a match, but it's not against The Usos and it's not for the titles. He's not given an opponent, but since The Ascension is supposed to debut, I'm pretty sure we can figure it out.
The Miz and Damien Sandow vs. The Ascension (Konnor and Viktor)
Miz tags in Sandow right away, and Sandow gets squashed by Konnor and Viktor. The Ascension should have been disqualified, since they were both in the ring for more than a five count before hitting their tag team finisher, but such is life. They win with The Fall of Man.
Match Rating: *1/2
Seth Rollins informs us that Brock Lesnar is also getting an invitation to the ring.
Edge and Christian are in the ring after the commercial break. It's time for an episode of The Cutting Edge Peep Show. They invite Seth Rollins out, who comes down with his security team. He goes back and forth with E&C for a bit, showing us his deficiencies on the mic. Rollins eventually brings out Big Show, because he's only ruined a single segment so far.
Rollins then asks John Cena to come out. No music plays. Rollins pleads with him, telling Cena that he wants something from him. Rollins will force Cena's hand. He attacks Christian with his briefcase. Edge then gets surrounded by all four heels. They get him ready for a briefcase curb stomp. Cena does indeed run out, but is stopped before he gets in the ring. Rollins tells Cena that Cena knows what he wants. I presume it's putting The Authority back in power. Cena tries to rush the ring, but Rollins has his foot on Edge's face. This lasts several minutes.
Cena eventually caves. He brings back The Authority. Rollins decides to attack Edge anyway, but Cena stops him. Big Show knocks out Cena. Rollins then curb stomps Cena. Edge manages to escape. The heels -- including Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman -- celebrate on the stage. The Authority even comes out, because apparently they were backstage anyway. That's how Raw ends. No Randy Orton.
The Good: Ziggler/Rusev. Usos/Miz & Sandow. Barrett's return.
The Bad: Bella/Natalya. Miz & Sandow/Ascension.
Match of the Night: Dolph Ziggler vs. Rusev.
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If you wish to be notified whenever I post something new, please join this <url=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/groups/view/2-50-Reviews>user group.
For an archive of all my previous WWE reviews, please go <url=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.846764-Marters-WWE-Reviews-Archive>here.
Talk to me on the Twitter, <url=https://twitter.com/martertweet>@martertweet.
