It was back to normal for the gang in the WWE as they hit Denver, Colorado for last night’s Monday Night Raw. It was a very interesting show followed by a Stone Cold Podcast with Triple H. This show had a couple of great matches and a lot of interesting moments giving us lots of talking points coming out of last night’s Raw. Some horrible stuff was mixed in but as Triple H admitted to Stone Cold, writing 3 hours of television is not an easy thing to do. So let us dive in with what most people would be talking about around the water cooler. If they ever get past, why Seattle didn’t just run the damn ball on Sunday?
1. Rehabilitation of Roman Reigns Continues: It was a mixed bagged night for the man the WWE want to crown the next king of the company in Roman Reigns. He finished strong I suppose that is the main thing. In the opening segment, he is forced into conceding his Wrestlemania title shot to have a match with the winner between Seth Rollins and Daniel Bryan for that right. This ended up being the big announcement that Triple H had promised on the Live Smackdown on Thursday. This to me made Reigns look foolish and dumb not how I want to feel about my babyface making a run at the championship. WWE was going for more of this guy is not afraid to fight but it didn’t work for me.
The night seemed to continue to go down hill for Reigns as he yet again had to face the Big Show and worse yet he got screwed by Rollins and lost the match. Why you have your top guy or the guy you want to be the top guy losing to Big Show in 2015 is a mystery to me regardless of the circumstances. Later in the night, Daniel Bryan came to talk with Reigns and hoped he would not let his anger for Seth Rollins get in the way of Bryan's match with him later that night. He also informed Reigns that is was not going to be Rollins he would face at fast lane as Bryan stated he was going to win and move on to face him. A less than amused Reigns was rather dismissive of Bryan and told him to get out of his locker room. All making him look very much like a heel. Having his own locker room even gave the impression of being a heel.
At the end of the night everything would come full circle as Reigns come out and Spear the Big Show take out one half of J&J security and when Noble was caught trying to nail Bryan with Rollins briefcase Reigns would Superman Punch Rollins and Bryan would hit the running knee for the 1-2-3. Reigns in effect helped Daniel Bryan win and thus the two will square off at Fast Lane. A good night for Reigns but the real question will be what happens when he beats Bryan and retains his shot? That is what is going to happen, for any of you holding out hope for Daniel Bryan. I can say with full certainty he is not going to win this match. His job is to get a great match out of Roman Reigns and get him ready to battle the Beast Brock Lesnar. If fans accept, Reigns after that WWE will have pulled one over on them. I don’t sense fans not being smart enough to see through this whole charade.
2. Bray Wyatt Calling Out Taker?: It has been widely speculated that Bray Wyatt has been being build strong with the hopes for a match with the Undertaker at Wrestlemania 31. Bray after another big win in which he pretty much no sold on Dolph Ziggler to hit his own finisher. He later would cut a promo that seemed to be geared at the Undertaker. It could be in reference to others if Taker isn’t the guy but the tease is clearly implied at Taker. Bray is asking a man who was once feared and now is a shadow of himself to come find him. If this ends up being true, it will be two huge names for Bray Wyatt in back to back Wrestlemanias. He lost to John Cena last year it would seem likely he would lose to Taker if he does in fact show himself this year. Still it is yet another big match potentially for Bray on the largest stage of them all.
3. Mizdow vs. Miz starting to come to a head? Miz last night fired Mizdow as his stunt double and re-hired him as his personal assistant. Miz has been growing more and more frustrated with Mizdow stealing the attention that he feels he deserves. Give WWE credit on this one they took a character that most of their audience felt had X-Pac type of heat and have used that to make a star out of Damien Sandow. They also have been patient building this mid-card angle slowly with more care than almost any other mid-card angle you can name in the last 6 months. It has been a good job and should land the two a singles match at Wrestlemania. Sadly in might be on the pre-show but will see it has been a great feud and Mizdow is insanely over with the people. I hate to admit this but it is not just of his own doing but the great work of the Miz in his role. I will never like the Miz and if he left WWE T.V, tomorrow I would never miss him. He has done a remarkable job in this angle and really, in the end the person who will get the most out of this isn’t himself. So good for him for acting like heel and getting someone over that is rare today in wrestling. Someone has to do it, as it is clear the people on commentary on Raw can’t get anyone or anything over. I would complain about the horrible job they do but we can do that every week. Booker traded out for Lawler has fixed nothing and things are status quo.
4. Randy Orton Return Teased: Seth Rollins and Triple H made mention of Randy Orton who since making his movie has been in MIA from the WWE. Triple H referenced him in stating that Seth needed to step up and make the most of his opportunities unlike how Randy Orton never did. Referring to his failed title run at this time last year at this time Rollins also reminded us all how he was the one that took Orton out of action by curb stomping him on the announce table. This is likely going to be Seth’s Mania program with Randy Orton and I have it as my earlier favorite for match of the night at Wrestlemania. I do this with full realization we could have a Daniel Bryan against Dolph Ziggler match. I still give the nod to Seth and Randy. They have a better story and more reason to be invested in their match. Bryan vs. Ziggler would be a great match but I am not sure what exactly I am suppose to be rooting for in that match other than that. Faces against face matches are tough under any circumstances but without a belt or reason for them to fight it become even tougher.
5. Triple H talks with Stone Cold: It was an interesting chat between the two. I would not consider it even half as compelling as the McMahon and Austin interview. Triple H gave what I expected, which were very politically correct answers and even on topics that were designed to get a reaction and Austin got none. Triple H stated the choices Chyna has made since leaving the WWE are why she would never get into the WWE Hall of Fame when asked if she was worthy. Triple H did put her over and say based on her resume of work she deserved to be inducted. In terms of C.M Punk, it was pretty much nothing topic. Triple H referred to Punk being distant and odd at times. When he heard rumors of Punk’s discontent, he would go to him only to be told by Punk that everything was fine. When asked If Punk were to ever-return, Triple H said, he would not be opposed to it and claims to have no beef with him at all. In talking about the current product and the fallout of the Royal Rumble and his work at NXT Triple H made it fairly clear where to direct your blame. It wasn’t at it him, it was at Vince McMahon. He didn’t say it in such a direct fashion but when you contrast his talk about current main roster issues and NXT it was fairly obvious that as he stated the buck still stops with Vince McMahon. It was a friendly chat that never seemed to get the least bit hostile which if you had listened to first time Triple H was on with Austin should not have shocked you. Both freely admit to being friends and the interview always stayed in that tone. This was an interesting interview but not the compelling must see T.V that Vince’s sit-down with Stone Cold was. Speculation on who is next to sit in Austin’s chair? My guess would be Stephanie McMahon. Not sure, how that one would go as Stephanie tends to be the most guarded of the three family members active in the company.
Therefore, the road to Wrestlemania marches on as we hit a little off-ramp heading towards Fast Lane. While it promises to add some stakes to Wrestlemania, it will merely confirm the directions we were already heading. Keeping in mind the network is free for new subscribers and here in Canada free all month as well they needed to make this special event before Mania mean something beyond just being a throw-a-way show and they have attempted to do that. I am much more excited to see Triple H’s latest vision in NXT with their special coming up on February 11 being headlined by Kevin Owens challenging Sami Zayn for the NXT Championship. In any case, the WWE seems to have steered the ship out of troubled waters for now as they hope for clear sailing the rest of the way to Wrestlemania. Something tells me the water will get really choppy when Daniel Bryan losses to Roman Reigns. This might have been a very bad idea or a brilliant idea time will tell. My guess is this like the Rumble will end badly if the goal is to get Roman Reigns over as a babyface heading to Mania.
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