Raw in Kansas City has me a bit conflicted to some extent. On one hand, I think WWE is making some effort to a certain level. While other things, remain stuck in the same formula that has been failing. We have the same pointless 6-man tag matches every single week it seems as the opening match. Wrestling in order to be entertaining needs to have some purpose and meaning to get us invested as fans. These matches set a terrible tone for the 3-hour show. It comes after a long talking segment to open the show that will always be involving The Authority. I am a big fan of Triple H and Stephanie when she is there, but this whole Authority angle has become very stale and boring.
What WWE is attempting to do is bring back the surprise element in wrestling despite lacking it in many of their angles. The Rock returning unexpectedly a few weeks ago and last night Mick Foley winds up in Kansas City to surprise fans. Foley’s appearance was the exact way you want a past start to interact with your rising talent. It was even better than The Rock’s interaction Rusev that was a one off and did nothing to build Rusev moving forward.
Foley did a much better job putting over how the Hell in the Cell match can change careers and lives using his own life experiences as the living proof. The difference with Foley is he clearly watches the product on a regular basis and is well aware of Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose and their extended feud. He put over both competitors and made their match feel important.
Contrast that with the other Hell in the Cell match between Randy Orton and John Cena. After 12 years of these two guys this literally has no one is interested in this match. Triple H tried to up the ante, making this match in effect a number one contender match for Brock Lesnar’s title. Remember him? The WWE Heavyweight Champion who has not been mentioned in weeks on the flagship program Monday Night Raw or anywhere else. We also saw his manger (advocate) Paul Heyman back on the show tonight.
First before we get into get into Heyman appearance let’s talk about the lack of logic in making this Orton and Cena match for the number one contender spot. John Cena last week lost a match to Dean Ambrose, but a week later is in a match to have a chance to get yet another attempt to be WWE Heavyweight Champion. The logic is lacking in adding this stipulation to the match. People are tired of this match-up with Cena and Orton and they attempted to make us care about it. There is even talk this match will close the show and it is looking more and more like it will after tonight.
The segment had Randy Orton cutting an insane ranting promo that I loved. Maybe best promo Orton has done in a long time. He trolled the Kansas City crowd going after the Royals. Classic heel move and Randy is truly the last true heel in wrestling to some degree. John Cena came out, his response was bad comedy, and it was awful. Heyman returning was another surprise on this show that was a positive. It was not the greatest Paul Heyman promo ever, but it was great to see him back. Segment ended with RKO‘s out of no where on both Cena and Heyman. It was overall a long segment but ultimately did about as good as it could to sell a dead on the vine feud that no one cares about at the end of the day.
The segment with Rusev after he squashed Big E. Big Show had replaced the Russian flag with an American flag. Rusev went to tear down U.S flag when a man in a military uniform climbed over the guardrail, attempting to attack Rusev, was cut off by security, and than Rusev kicked him in the head. I found this segment to be very low class and I am not even an American in saying it. I did have a member of my family in the military and was insulted.
It is a lowbrow form of cheap heat that I just was turned off by on many levels. In the ultra politically correct WWE and based on their ties to the military I found this even more disappointing. To say that I am surprised by it would be a lie as there is almost nothing they would do that would shock me at this point.
We saw Big Show once again turn into the crying than angry giant. Andre The Giant never cried once in his entire run in WWE and he is considered a legend. While Show is crying all the time and trying to be a comedian and is considered a joke himself. How the WWE has failed to make a man, that is 500lbs and close to 7ft tall, a monster is beyond me. I assume we see Big Show being disqualified at Hell in the Cell and Rusev remains undefeated. That or Mark Henry will turn on him. Have hated this Rusev feud with Show it has been very stupid from the start of it with Show being taken to task for taking down the Russian Flag. This was a work just like the man playing a U.S military official. Which by the way shouldn’t a legit solider be able to get past a couple security guys at a sporting event? Again, where is the logic WWE?
Speaking of things lacking logic Dolph Ziggler is on a 3-week losing streak as your I-C Champion. It was Cesaro getting the win this time around over Ziggler. U.S Champion Sheamus lost to Damien Mizdow. So why exactly would anyone want to be a champion in this company? Well unless you’re WWE World Heavyweight Champion when you show up when you feel like it unless your name is Daniel Bryan.
In the end I understand that Raw is undermanned to some extent but that still doesn’t change the fact the formula and repetition of a lot of things is taking away from the overall show. This was not one of the worst Raw efforts in the last 3 months. In fact, it was far better on many levels. Still for the same reasons other Raw’s struggle to entertain us this one suffered in a similar way. The formula needs to be shaken up to some degree and we need to see some fresh stuff on a show that being 3 hours in length can’t afford to be stale and uninteresting.
In the end the effort is coming along but the overall results still have a long way to go with Monday Night Raw.
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