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Raw Pre-Show 6/16/14 from Cleveland
– Our panel this week is Josh Matthews, Booker T, Alex Riley, and Paul Heyman… I hope this doesn’t mean we don’t get Paul on Raw tonight. š
– We learn that The Authority will be addressing the entire WWE locker room at the start of Raw…
– We see a video from last week of the Authority vacating the WWE Title and announcing the MITB title match. The panel discusses the stripping of the title, and the future of Bryan… Ladder match discussion follows, along with the 5 names already qualified…
– Superstars action in the ring sees Nikki Bella go over Alicia Fox.
– Renee Young interviews Vickie Guerrero about last week’s issue with the Authority and what’s to come tonight…
– No shame in the super hard attempt to sell their WWE merchandise… WWEshop.com is 20% off the entire order for the pre-show only. If they sold their PPV like this, or the Network for that matter, they might do well…
– With Jack Swagger on his way to the ring for Superstars vs. RVD, the panel talks about Seth Rollins evolving. Heyman compares Booker T evolving from Harlem Heat to Rollins evolving from the Shield… Alex Riley does more of the same… Booker has done this in the past himself, but in this instance he acts uncomfortable dissing Stevie Ray…
– We’ve got Seth Rollins vs. Dolph Ziggler on Raw tonight… We go back to SD, where Seth Rollins cost Dean Ambrose a qualifying spot in the MITB match.
– Bray Wyatt vs. Sheamus on Raw tonight as well… At least they’re changing up the matches for once, I’ll giv’em that…
– RVD goes over Swagger, big surprise… Lots of random thoughts from the panel on a variety of things… The announcers are on their way out as Raw gets ready to roll….
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WWE Raw 6/16/14 from the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, OH
– As promised, Raw kicks off with the Authority heading to the ring while the locker room stands on the ramp stage. HHH has a brief stare down with John Cena as he passes him by… We get a video reminder of the Daniel Bryan stripping from last week… The Authority has decided that the WWE superstars deserve more than not having a WWE Champion right now… They announce a giant Battle Royal for tonight to decide the 6th member of the MITB match… HHH announces everyone will be in the Battle Royal except Roman Reigns, Dean Ambrose, and John Cena… Cena steps up looking pissed…
HHH talks about Cena wanting to help others out these past several weeks… Well now he can help out by doing what’s bet for business… Cena will wrestle Kane tonight in a Stretcher Match to determine the other spot in MITB….
Didn’t we just do the Battle Royal thing a few weeks back? Running short on ideas I suppose… Well no complaints here, it beats “comedy”…
Kane’s music and pyro hits, he comes and stands on the stage by himself… He’s all menacing and shit…
-Commercial Break-
1. Dolph Ziggler vs. Seth Rollins. A lot of the basics in the ring early on, looking good as it’s back and forth… Ziggler looks to take over, but Rollins drives Dolph chest first into the corner with an Irish whip and we head to commercial a couple of minutes into the action…
Back from break, Rollins has Ziggler down on the mat… Dolph breaks a chinlock with a jawbreaker… Ziggler charges Rollins but gets sent to the floor… Seth tries a suicide dive but he’s nails by Ziggler before he can dive out… Dolph now “Ziggler’s Up” and hits some of his usual signature moves, the punches in the corner, etc… Rollins cuts him off and hits an enzuigiri… Rollins misses the Curb Stomp and Ziggler counters with the jumping DDT for a damn near fall… Crowd really behind the local boy Ziggler…
Ziggler tries the Famouser, Seth turns it into a powerbomb into the corner, but Dolph counters it into a sunset flip bomb for a near fall…. Ziggler then with a sleeper, Seth breaks free, Dolph hits the FAMOUSER…. Great stuff from both guys, especially Zigs, crowds super hot for Dolph… Ziggler tries the ZigZag but Rollins holds onto the ropes… Rollins tries another Curb Stomp, Dolph moves and rolls him up for a near fall again!!! Dolph tries another Famouser, it’s turned into the POWERBOMB IN THE CORNER but Rollins… Both men are down… Seth back up hits a Second Powerbomb in the corner, and the CURB STOMP!!! 1………..2………..DEAN AMBROSE ATTACKS ROLLINS!!!!!
Seth gets the DQ win in 11:00. Ambrose pounds on Rollins, until Seth takes off…
HHH appears on the Titan Tron and announces he has some BAD NEWS for Dean Ambrose… Bad News Barrett on his way out for action with Dean Ambrose…
-Commercial Break-
2. Dean Ambrose vs. IC Champion Bad News Barrett. Can it be true? Two good matches in a row? With a nice segue between then? We’re 35 minutes into this show and it’s already better than most others in recent weeks/months. Of course, we have a long way to go and that could easily be ruined… Match started during the break. Ambrose in charge, sporting a pair of jeans and a black wife beater… Barrett briefly takes over before he ends up on the floor and Dean dives out on top… Barrett ends up taking control on the floor and we go to break…
Back from break, Barrett has Ambrose outside the ring but they’re quickly back inside… Dean fights back with a unique neckbreaker for 2… Lawler is crapping on the Authority on commentary, since we’re in Cleveland I’m wondering if this will lead to something… Dean doesn’t stay on top long, Wade goes for Wasteland, but Dean counters with a crucifix for 2… Ambrose takes a shot but bounces off the middle rope and hits a clothesline… Ambrose looks to finish off Wade, but Seth Rollins appears on the announce table!!!
Seth gets on the apron to taunt Dean, but Ambrose takes him down, then Barrett gets sent outside as well… Ambrose DIVES ONTO BOTH MEN!!! Dean fights Rollins into the fans and gets counted out… Bad News Barrett gets the win in 12:00…
Rollins goes running off, but Dean goes after Barrett in the ring and hits “Dirty Deeds” to leave Barrett laying… Dean exits the ring to new music…
Fun finish and post match stuff, but the match really felt like a placeholder… Nothing all that great to talk about, though the Wasteland/Crucifix angle was nice… Match was just “there”, expected more… Still better than the same old matches every week…
– Backstage, Roman Reigns tells Vickie Guerrero to put in a good word for him to get him in bthe Battle Royal. Vickie doesn’t want fired… Roman tells Vickie to speak up for herself… Vickie is carrying coffee for the Authority… That’s coffee? With straws??? ANyway, Reigns thinks the Authority will want sweetener for their coffees. Vickie sits the drinks down and runs off to get sweetener. Roman turns his back to the camera and does something naughty to the drinks… Vickie returns, unsuspecting, picks up the coffees and heads to the Authority’s office… Vicke sneezes to end the segment… Not really sure what’s up with these sneezes, if they’re leading to anything, or if it’s just something like when Natalya had the farting gimmick…
– Cleveland… The Wyatts are here… And they’re Next!!!
-Commercial Break-
– It’s Wyatt Family Promo time. We’ve got a ladder set up in the middle of the ring… Crowd pops for the Family… I hate to sound redundant, but good stuff from Bray… He says when he wins the title at MITB he truly will have the whole world in his hands… Bray sings the song, then Sheamus’ music hits immediately after…
They let Sheamus talk… God no… Sheamus tells Bray it’s bad luck to walk under a ladder (which Wyatt had just done)… Sheamus wants to shove his “Whole Boot down his throat”…. Sheamus wants to fight… Fella…. What a ….. promo?
-Commercial Break-
3. Sheamus vs. Bray Wyatt (w/Harper & Rowan). Bray has control early on, but Sheamus is able to take control and try for the 10 forearms in the ropes, but Bray breaks free and tumbles to the floor… Sheamus comes out to go after Wyatt, but he’s cut off by Harper and Rowan… As Sheamus looks at a 3 on 1 situation, The Usos make their way out to even the odds… Looks like the Usos will be in the corner from Sheamus, when Raw continues…
After the break, Bray in control, but Sheamus gets his knees up on a senton… Sheamus makes a short comeback, but Bray ducks a knee and hits a flying body attack for a near fall.. Sheamues battles back with his usual signature stuff, the 10 beats and whatnot… Sheamus backs into the corner for the Brogue Kick but gets pulled to the floor by Rowan and Harper… Some good the Usos were… Bray Wyatt gets DQ’d for the family interference… Sheamus wins via DQ in 11:30….
After the match we’ve got a 6-way brawl… Sheamus hits a rolling Samoan drop outside the ring on Bray… The Usos take Harper and Rowan out with the ladder… Sheamus props the ladder onto the top rope, the Usos run up the ladder and hit a double dive outside onto Harper and Rowan!!! Sheamus then picks the ladder up and throws it out onto Harper and Rowan, and it hits them similar to the way Cena threw the steps at Wyatt on the PPV… Some good stuff here… Again, watch was so-so, but the finish and the stuff after really stuck out… Good stuff for TV…
– Backstage, Vickie FINALLY delivers the coffee from 45 minutes ago… She sneezes and spills HHH’s, but Stephanie drinks hers and says it’s great… What did Roman do to the coffee damn it???!!!
-Commercial Break-
– Back on Raw, Renee Young is with Stephanie McMahon… Stephanie is still holding the ice coffee, and something happens to her during the interview and she has to run off… That’s how you get a hard ass like Roman Reigns over, have him spike a coffee to make a funny… Everybody has to be funny… Sure Vince…
– Paul Heyman steps in to take over the interview…. Paul talks up Cesaro as the winner at MITB…
4. Rusev (w/Lana) vs. Heath Slater. We’re 45 seconds into this segment before JBL mentions the demise of 3MB… No talking from Lana tonight, it’s straight to the ring to fit in their allotted time slot… Even the announcers seem confused by no Lana, or Putin on a pony…
Never mind, now we get Lana, talking from the ring… We get a look at the new Mount Rushmore with Rusev and Putin on it…
Now Heath Slater has something to say… He’s an American Rock Star… USA baby!!!!!
Slater unloads with a solid punch, but runs into a nasty jumping side kick from Rusev right in the jaw… I’m telling you that kick is going to really f*ck someone up one of these days… Accolade gets the win in 30 seconds…
Rusev puts the medal on post match, and the Russian Flag drops from the ceiling…
– Backstage, Stephanie is getting sick in the bathroom… Which means whatever Roman did was ILLEGAL and caught on camera… Sort of… Vickie opens the bathroom door to check on her and Vickie gets puke thrown all over her….. twice…… Vickie is literally covered in the “puke”…
HHH leaves the arena with a sick Stephanie, leaving Vickie, covered in puke, in charge for the rest of the night… The last thing he tells her is to make sure the Battle Royal doesn’t get screwed up… Hmmm….
Vickie screams as the segment ends… That puking nonsense was absolutely ridiculous and added NOTHING to the product, the show, or the stock market…. Seriously, sometimes they do stupid shit, and I can explain my take on it, why I like it/dislike it… But then there are just things that don’t need words…. THIS is one of those things…
-Commercial Break-
– Roman Reigns comes up to Vickie Guerrero… She’s still covered in “puke”… Roman says Vickie already knows she’s going to be fired next week, so do something good for a change and put him in the Battle Royal… Vickie agrees… At this point, I’m wondering why Roman Reigns isn’t being arrested for attempted murder… Anything that makes you that violently sick… I mean… Cummon…. And THIS is the best way they could figure out how to get Roman into the MITB match???
– Renee Young with Kevin Hart… Adam Rose and his “rosebuds” interrupt… Rose is now sporting those new oversized sunglasses he’s been wrestling in on the house shows… Rose wants Kevin to be a rosebud… Hart declines, but walks off singing the catchy tune… Apparently Hart’s big guest spot tonight is working commentary during an Adam Rose match…
-Commercial Break-
– Kevin Hart comes to ringside for commentary on the next match. Wow, Hart’s a small man…
5. Adam Rose & Summer Rae vs. Fandango & Layla. Fandango is on the floor at the entrance… Not sure if it was part of the dance, or if he fell… Apparently, Layla dumped Kitty Litter on Summer Rae at last week’s Main Event… Glad I missed that… A lot of these girls are into getting boob jobs, Summer needs a nose job… Fans are chanting the Adam Rose theme… The men start off, but Layla tags in and gets speared by Summer… Summer chases Layla backstage while the men take back over… The fans just keep chanting Adam Rose’s theme as he hits the Party Foul and pins Fandango in less than a minute…
Kevin Hart joins Adam Rose in the ring for a little dancing… Hart and Rose then take the plunge into the Rosebuds as they get carried away. Short and simple spot for Hart….
-Commercial Break-
– The Usos & Sheamus vs. The Wyatt Family tomorrow on Main Event
6. MITB Qualifying Battle Royal w/Roman Reigns, Sin Cara, Damien Sandow (dressed as Lebron, lol), Ruback, Bo Dallas, Rusev, Jack Swagger, Los Matadores, Dolph Ziggler, Fandango, Curtis Axel, Santino Marella, Kofi Kingston, Big E, Rob Van Dam, Bad News Barrett, Xavier Woods… 18 men… A few of these guys already got one chance, RVD, Dolph, Barrett, now they get to fail again… I guess they feel that John Cena’s obvious win over Kane is more interesting than this match… Lebron Sandow gets dumped by everyone immediately to a big cheap pop… Santino is gone second, I think by Titus…
Rusev eliminates both Matadores back to back, and then Rusev tosses Xavier Woods… Roman Reigns tosses Titus O’Neil… Swagger tosses Sin Cara with a crappy catapult spot… Kofi tries to head scissors Swagger out, but I think they lose their leverage and have to recreate a similar spot… Swagger is eliminated, and that’s eight men out of the match, 10 remain, as we head to commercial….
Back from break, nobody was eliminated during the break, but Ryback dumps Ziggler and the crowd isn’t happy… Nine guys left, Reigns goes wild, Superman punch on Rusev and takes out everyone else… Finally, Ryback takes Reigns down, but Reigns hits a DOUBLE SPEAR on Rybaxel… Reigns tosses Fandango… Reigns tosses Ryback… Reigns dumps Axel….
Down to 6… Reigns, Rusev, Barrett, RVD, Big E and Dallas…
Rusev cracks Reigns with the jumping side kick to take him down…. Barrett and RVD go at it… RVD tries a monkey flip, but Bo Dallas comes up from behind and dumps RVD… Dallas wants to be friends with Barrett but gets nailed and tosses Bo, but Dallas hangs on…
Roman tosses Barrett… Rusev dumps Big E… Bo Dallas dumps both Roman and Rusev from behind, but they both land on the apron… Rusev nails Bo, and Reigns hits a spear before dumping Dallas from the match…
It’s down to Rusev and Reigns as the crowd gets pumped for the showdown… Some back and forth pounding… Reigns gets Rusev out onto the apron… The two men fight back and forth, but Reigns hits the SUPERMAN PUNCH and Rusev takes a slow fall off the apron… Roman Reigns advances to MITB!!!
Match goes exactly 17:00… Fun stuff for a Battle Royal…
– Backstage it’s John Cena with Renee Young… He tries to be funny, didn’t work… He’s going to win tonight, don’t ya know…
-Commercial Break-
– As I look at the clock and realize it’s 10:23 PM eastern time, I can honestly say this is the FIRST time in 6 months of reviews I can say that the show hasn’t started to drag as of yet… That could change, and likely will, once the Divas or Kane come out, but they must be doing something right tonight… That is, if you ignore the vomit silliness, and even that has it’s plus as it takes Stephanie off TV for the night…
Aaaaaand it’s Divas time… Funk is on a roll…
7. Divas Champion Paige vs. Cameron (w/Naomi). Looks like the Funkadactyls are getting ready for a dance routine when their music is abruptly cut… Paige gets no response, and has no gimmick in WWE, crowd is dead for her… she needs to be heel. Paige is all over Cameron, extremely aggressive… Cameron starts to run away and begs off… Cameron wants a hand shake but goes heel and takes down Paige… Naomi doesn’t look happy with Cameron’s recent heel behavior… Paige takes back over, but Cameron begs off again… Paige isn’t fooled this time and locks Cameron in the Scorpion crosslock thingy in 3:00…
Crowd has been hot all night, haven’t died down yet, but this segment put an end to that…
– Well, last week Cody Rhodes promised Goldust a new partner, a partner he had never seen before… Byron Saxton is with Goldust, Goldy says he has met this partner, and he is super galactic….
We’ll find out who or what that is, next… I have my ideas… Should be pretty interesting if I’m right…
-Commercial Break-
Let’s see if I’m right and we get Cody Rhodes in a silly gimmick…
Oh my… It’s Stardust!!!!!!
STARRRRDUST…. and just WOW…. Words can’t describe this entrance…
8. Goldust & Stardust vs. Ryback & Curtis Axel. We’ve got “Stardust” chants as Cody is wearing a Goldust type suit and paint… Goldust takes out Ryback on the floor, and Stardust hits DIAMOND DUST out of the corner on Axel for the win in less than a minute… Wow really? They had all those issues with Rybaxel, and then beat them in like 30 seconds? The announcers blame shock and awe for the quick loss…
-Commercial Break-
– Roman Reigns vs. Del Rio is announced for Smackdown…
– Stardust is trending #1 world wide…
9. John Cena vs. Kane in a “Stretcher Match”… A short brawl in the ring quickly leads to the floor… It’s back and forth with ring posts and steel steps being used… Kane gets Cena on the stretcher twice, but he can’t keep him on there… We go to break as Cena escapes the stretcher for a second time…
Back from break, they fight back into the ring, Cena tries a flying clothesline off the top, but gets caught with a CHOKESLAM… Kane brings the steps into the ring, but Cena makes Kane fall head first into the steps… Cena tries an AA on the steps, but Kane counters with a really crappy DDT on the steps, that he almost misses… Kane drags Cena onto the stretcher and begins to push him towards the finish line… Oh come on, Super Cena has gotten up from crap ten times worse than this… Cena gets off the stretcher and throws Kane into the steel post… Kane powers Cena into the barricade and clears off the announce table…
But Kane turns into an AA through the announce table!!!! Crowd is chanting “YES!”… Cena then picks Kane up in the AA position to carry him to the stretcher in the aisle… Cena tries to dump Kane on the stretcher, but it tips over and everyone falls… lol. Way to go John boy…
Cena places Kane on a second stretcher, but Seth Rollins and Randy Orton attack Cena!!! There’s NO DQ…. Rollins drops Cena in the ring, and Orton lands an RKO… Rollins grabs a chair, but Dean Ambrose attacks Rollins!! Dean tosses Orton out, and then Rollins, but Dean is met by a Kane Chokeslam!!!
Cena is back up and dumps Kane… Cena grabs the steel steps, and gives them a running toss out of the ring at Kane… RIGHT IN THE HEAD!!! Da-yum… Kane tossed on the stretcher and rolled all the way up the ramp, right to the line… When KANE SITS UP!!! Kane grabs Cena by the throat and comes off the stretcher… But Cena with the AA to Kane right back onto the stretcher, and he rolls Kane across the line for the win in 17:00…
Cena becomes the last to advance into MITB…
I’ve gotta say… That was a damn good night of actual wrestling… You’re talking over an hour and ten minutes of actual IN RING WRESTLING… That might not sound like much on a three hour program, but if you’re keeping score… It’s HUGE… I love that they kept all the comedy crap segments out of the ring, if only that remained a trend going forward…
Very good show, even the Kane match didn’t completely suck… I got the feeling the fans were expecting a Daniel Bryan run in, but it wasn’t a disappointment…
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WWE Raw āBackstage Passā Post Show
– The panel talks MITB, we go back and see the Roman Reigns win… Renee Young interviews Reigns in the back, he feels beaten up but he plans to be the next WWE Champion… Were you expecting him to say something else?
– Paul Heyman talks about Cesaro’s strategy in the match. Alex Riley brings up a great point that Seth Rollins turned on the Shield, but didn’t even get a shot at being in MITB… Just as soon as Riley makes that comment, he gets cut off… for……
– Renee Young interviews John Cena… Cena knows his odds are slim at MITB, but he’s grateful that he even gets the opportunity to try and win the title…
– Paul Heyman with some more fun banter… At least he doesn’t make this show feel monotonous…
– The panel talks the Rollins/Ambrose feud, and we take a look at the issues between the two from tonight…
– Heyman asks Josh Matthews what kind of a host asks him a question with 20 seconds left in the show… Fun stuff from Paul… And we’re out…
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