Tuesday, December 16, 2014

Raw Report 12-15-14

The TLC fallout episode of Raw opened with special Guest General Manager Chris Jericho. He comes out and speaks about Fandango for stealing his Slammy last week, but instead gets Paul Heyman. Heyman talks about the fact that he should be running Raw. I mean, with the way he booked Smackdown in 2002-2003, thing would be better if he ran things. Seth Rollins shows up, as at least this is starting a bit differently. He says that he had John Cena where he wanted him until Roman Reigns came out. John Cena shows up, because our opening promo has to reach 30 or so minutes. Jericho books Cena vs. Rollins in a Steel Cage match tonight, as well as himself vs. Paul Heyman. Gee, I wonder who is going to help Heyman. I prefer this to the weekly Authority promo, but still way too much talking to begin.
Our opening contest features the men who opened TLC the previous night. Dolph Ziggler teams with Erick Rowan to take on Big Show and Luke Harper. How Luke Harper is wrestling after nearly breaking his arm in the Ladder match is beyond me. I don't remember much from the match except that Big Show knocked out Rowan, so that's two straight pins over Rowan because logic. Harper threw Ziggler into the announce table, leading commentary to be silent because their headsets were down. The show was amazing while they were silent.
We move to the Highlight Reel, because Chris Jericho is working hard and going to be part of a bunch of segments. His guests on the Highlight Reel, which has suffered from budget cuts, will be Rusev and Lana. There were rumors of him bringing back the European Title, but those were false for tonight at least. Jericho is like a kid with them, saying there might be something between them. He calls them the "US Champ and the Communist Tramp." Lana gets mad and yells "SHUT UP!" so Jericho mocks her and they go back and forth. Rusev threatens him until "FEED...ME...MORE" is heard and Ryback comes out. They just kind of stare each other down and I guess Ryback is next to be fed to Rusev. Good.
Because Raw wouldn't be complete without a rematch of something we've just seen, so the Dust Brothers take on New Day. On the TLC Kickoff show, New Day won but at least they use the Freebird rule so it was Xavier Woods and Big E instead of Big E and Kofi Kingston. This got more time than I thought and was pretty good, but the fans seemed bored and started chanting for the announcers and for NXT. I'd have saved that for a Big Show match or something like that. Big E played the face in peril which was strange, but they ended up winning.  Not bad, but it will get old quick.
Adam Rose promises that tonight they will throw the biggest party in history. He runs into Kane who doesn't like any of his "freaky friends" and says they will fight tonight. Corporate Kane still has power? Time for Chris Jericho vs. Paul Heyman, and Heyman makes the comment of "I put the Jew in Jiu-Jitsu". The match never happens because BRROOOCCK....LESSSNAARR appears to save Heyman. Brock hit Jericho with an F5, but I felt like he should have destroyed him. Of course, there is no John Cena to be found because he is a terrible face who never helps anyone.
Fandango comes down for a promo and I cringe because he sucks. Roman Reigns saves me by appearing and Spearing him. Big Show came out, still pissed that Reigns kicked his ass last night. He tries to get in the ring but eats the Superman punch. He gets mad and throws the steel steps around. I guess we're heading towards Show/Reigns. Jimmy Uso defeats the Miz in what is like their third match in two weeks. Naomi then bumps into Miz and Damien Mizdow backstage. He tells her that she will be his guest on MizTV tomorrow on Main Event. He wants to give her a chance but maybe she shouldn't tell Jimmy Uso. Yes, I'm sure he doesn't watch Main Event. He probably didn't subscribe to the WWE Network.
Roman Reigns returns to the ring on Super Smackdown Live tonight! Also, Hulk Hogan is back next week. I guess he has to promote the WWE Network dude! For only $9.99, brother! The Steel Cage comes down for the main event which was damn good. Seth Rollins looked much better here than he did at TLC. He becomes one of the few select men to kick out of the Attitude Adjustment. Cena decides that a top rope AA should be enough but both guys are down. Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman walk down to the ring because "ITS ABOUT TO GO DOWN." He gets in the cage and EAT.SLEEP.SUPLEX.REPEAT. SUPLEX.REPEAT.SUPLEX.REPAT. After an F5, Seth Rollins gets to his feet, shakes hands with Heyman and escapes the cage around the 23 minute mark to win.
Another forgettable episode of Raw. Having Brock Lesnar back around is pretty cool, but once again it seems like creative has no clue what they're doing. They book and plan show to show and have no idea what is coming next. After a lackluster TLC, we get a lackluster Raw that seemingly had no effort put in. The two tag matches were decent and the main event was fantastic though. 5.5/10.