WWE Raw 11/17/14 from the Berglund Center Coliseum in Roanoke, Virginia
– This week’s Raw kicks off with a video from last week’s episode, featuring the heel turn, and face turn, of Ryback.
– The arena portion of the show kicks off with the Authority, and their Survivor Series team members (INCLUDING LUKE HARPER) making their way to the ring… HHH speaks, he reminds us of the stipulation Vince put into effect, where if the Authority loses at Series then they no longer have power. HHH mocks the fans for cheering Vince now after booing him some years back. HHH asks the fans if they want the inmates to run the asylum, guys like Cena, then references WCW having that issue and look where WCW is now… HHH says the Authority has to win.
And now raspy Steph gets on the mic. Ugh… Stephanie says she has no choice of how to handle business tonight, so they will decimate team Cena tonight on Raw… HHH says there will be a Team Cena vs. Team Authority Contract Signing to end the show, and we will see who is left to even sign for Cena’s team. Stephanie puts over Team Authority one by one, Rollins, Kane, Rusev, Henry, and Harper.
Moving on to Ryback… Steph starts to talk trash on him, when his music hits… FEED ME MORE…. Ryback stops on the stage to talk as the fans loudly chant “Feed me more”. Ryback says the Authority wants what’s best for business, Cena wants what’s best for WWE Universe, but Ryback wants what’s best for Ryback.
Stephanie knows Ryback isn’t with the Authority, so she does her best to get Ryback not to join Team Cena. Stephanie plays a video from like 18 months ago, the last time Ryback was relevant, with Cena making fun of Ryback in the ring. Stephanie asks Ryback if he will join Team Cena now.
Ryback says he only plays for Team Ryback and walks off…
HHH says that was a wise decision to stay out of the fight. Our first match starts now… It’s Luke Harper vs. Dolph Ziggler….
–Commercial Break–
We find out that during the break, HHH made this an
INTERCONTINENTAL CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH
Before the match can even begin, Mercury, Harper, and Noble all beat down Dolph, then Seth Rollins busts Ziggles with the briefcase… Ziggler finally pulls himself up by using the ropes… Ziggler demands the match start…. The bell sounds… aaannnnd…..
1. IC Champion Dolph Ziggler vs. Luke Harper.
BIG BOOT BY HARPER AT THE SOUNDS OF THE BELL!!! 1………2………..ZIGGLER KICKS OUT… BATISTA BOMB by Harper…1……2……….Dolph kicks out…. Harper misses a big boot in the corner and tumbles to the floor… And we go to commercial a minute into the match… WTF… That was some pretty crummy booking of time. Yes, I said crummy, first time for everything.
Back from break, Harper back in control, picks Ziggler up into a suplex but sits him back down and slaps the crap out of him instead… BTW, we’ve got Rollins on commentary, with Noble and Mercury standing behind him. Ziggler counters a chinlock with a jawbreaker… Harper misses a charge into the corner, and Dolph follows up with a FAMOUSER…1………..2……….Harper kicks out. Luke catches Dolph’s foot and counters with a sit out Boss Man Slam for 2… Harper charges with a clothesline from hell, but Ziggler catches him with a SUPERKICK!!!! 1……….2……….. Harper kicks out again!!!
Harper comes back for a Powerbomb, but Dolph somewhat escapes and lands on his knees. Ziggler gets up and gets splattered with a discus CLOTHESLINE from Harper… 1……..2………….3….. Luke Harper ios the new IC Champion in 9:00.
Seth Rollins with a CURB STOMP on Dolph Ziggler post match.
Where’s Cena in all of this? Not much of a Team Leader to let this happen… F CENA…
I’m good with Harper winning some gold to get his singles push going… Not particularly right at this moment, and not from Ziggler, but can’t say as though it’s a shocker. WWE loved their big’unz.
Word to Ziggler, dump Cena now… I sure hope nobody comes saving his ass later…
Oh yeah, GRUMPY CAT is here… I like to think I keep up with most things, but I have no idea what this Grump Cat thing is about… Well, I take that back… I have an IDEA of what it’s about, given that it’s common sense… I’d just never heard of it before last Monday. I’m still trying to figure out the amusement in it all…
–Commercial Break–
– IT’S A NEW DAYYYYYYYYY Promo. It’s the Kofi Kingston promo from last week.
– Backstage promo with The Miz & Damien Sandow. Sandow is trying to mimick Miz’s words, failing miserably, which makes it all the more funny. Miz pitches a movie featuring the dup. We end up seeing they are talking to Grumpy Cat, who is not amused. Sandow presents a Grump Cat stunt double. Okie dokie…
– WWE 2k15 Promo. I hear they got rid of like 100 features to accommodate “better graphics”, which apparently aren’t all that much better. Way to go?
– It’s Adam Rose, complete with Rosebuds and the Bunny. Doesn’t this Bunny learn. The Bunny just steals Adam Rose’s falling off the ropes into the Rosebuds gimmick. If you ask me, the Bunny is the heel. Rose follows doing the same. He has a match next.
–Commercial Break–
2. Adam Rose vs. Tyson Kidd (w/Natalya).
This is a rematch from last week when the Bunny cost Rose the match. I had totally forgotten, thank God for video flashbacks, or actually I could have done without it… Rose makes the Bunny stand in the corner. Tyson has complete control until Rose counters with a spinebuster. The Bunny starts hopping towards Nattie, it distracts Rose, and Tyson with a SHARPSHOOTER WIN in 2:00…
After the match, Rose swings on the Bunny, the Bunny ducks and grabs Rose in a waist lock and proceeds to HUMP Adam Rose repeatedly… PG BABY… Rose is pissed. The Bunny then hops away up the ramp, does more HUMPING gyrations, which my 6 year old imitates and my wife tells him not to… AGAIN, PG…. The Bunny hops off… I get that the comedy is the baby face in this, but seriously the Bunny is the ass.
– Bray Wyatt IS HERE!!!! And next.
–Commercial Break–
– Bray Wyatt makes his way out to the ring. Bray comes in peace, he wants to save Dean Ambrose. He says their souls are intertwined. Bray wants Dean to embrace him… Dean shows up on the Titan Tron to respond… Ambrose says he’s learned some Bray Wyatt magic of his own… For instance, this message is recorded… And Dean is in the ring!!!
The video shuts off and Ambrose attacks Wyatt… Bray gets outplayed and runs off angry… Ambrose says he doesn’t need saving, but Bray needs to save himself at Survivor Series…
This feud is falling really flat, and with two great talkers like this I don’t know what it is. The creative behind this feud is crap, so there’s that. Hopefully these guys do their talking in the ring Sunday and save this potentially top notch feud.
– We go back to earlier when Ziggler lost the WWE IC Title. We learn that Ziggler was helped out of the Arena after taking the Curb Stomp. When did this Curb Stomp become a stretcher job???
– Ryback on his way to the ring, next…
–Commercial Break–
– Larry the Cable Guy is special guest next week. Puke…
3. Ryback vs. Cesaro.
Ryback dominates, Warrior Splash gets 2… Cesaro gets a small stretch of offense, but Ryback comes back with a delayed suplex… Cesaro comes back with his own Suplex throw. Ryback comes back with a Thesz Press of all things and mauls Cesaro some more. Cesaro counters a corner mount by driving Ryback down with a walk out Powerbomb… Double stomp by Cesaro… Crowd is mostly dead… Ryback dead weights Cesaro, and Cesaro dead lifts 300 pounds into a slam… Nice. It’s back and forth and Cesaro knocks Ryback to the floor for the commercial.
Back from break, Cesaro continues control, but Ryback powers back. Cesaro fights back and lands FOUR GERMAN SUPLEXES on Ryback for 2… Match is dragging on way too long, killing the crowd… Macho Man Top rope flying elbow by Cesaro on Ryback for 2… Ryback comes back PRESS SLAM INTO A POWERSLAM FOR 2… But the crowd is fairly dead. Ryback wakes them up with the “Feed Me More” Chant and the Meathook Clothesline, but CESARO COUNTERS WITH THE EUROPEAN UPPERCUT!!!! Cesaro then throws Ryback up into the air for another EUROPEAN UPPERCUT!!!! 1…………2………….RYBACK KICKS OUT!!!
Ryback comes back with a MEATHOOK CLOTHESLINE and goes for Shellshock, but Cesaro counters out!!! Cesaro school boys Ryback! 1………..2……….Ryback kicks out!!! Cesaro goes for the Neutralizer, but Ryback counters with SHELLSHOCK!!! 1…….2………….3.
Ryback wins in 14:10…
I’m first in line for a good back and forth match involving Cesaro, and while this wasn’t bad, Ryback’s not a guy to go 15:00 with. It wasn’t a “bad” match, but when Ryback goes 15:00 against a mid-card Cesaro, it sort of hurts his character. Crowd died off immensely once this match got past the first 4 or 5 minutes, and they barely came back for the finish.
– Backstage it’s Renee Young with John Cena. Who will still be with Team Cena at the end of the night? Will Ryback join? Cena thinks not. Rusev in action next…
–Commercial Break–
– Lana talks before the next match. “Shut Up”, RUssian Rules, all that crap. She offers to show a topless photo, but it’s of Putin. Lana tells the fans in their dreams…
Rusev’s opponent is Heath Slater, who comes out to a new theme and dressed as UNCLE SAM… Heath cuts a promo on the Russians. Slater tells them their reign ends tonight… “DING DING, YOU SON OF A BITCH”…. Greatest line of the night…
4. US Champion Rusev (w/Lana) vs. Heath Slater.
Rusev lands his jumping kick to the face of Slater straight away. Accolade and it’s over in 30 seconds.
– Miz and Sandow are still talking to Grump Cat for more “comedy”. Erick Rowan steps into the camera, removes his sheep mask, and says he wants the cat… Rowan then takes the stuffed cat instead…
– Big Show in action next.
–Commercial Break–
– After Show’s entrance, Stephanie McMahon comes to the ring. Where’s Grump Cat now? Stephanie brings up Big Show’s WCW debut as “Andre’s Son”. She says Show is always in other people’s shadow. He needs to stop listening to the fans, and join the Authority. To demonstrate how the Authority will honor Show if he leaves Team Cena, they will induct him into the 2015 WWE Hall of Fame… LOL…
Show actually has to think about it, and eventually declines Steph’s offer… Sheamus comes out to interrupt next. Sheamus is also remaining on Team Cena, or so he says. Stephanie says there’s an issue with Sheamus’ passport, he’s not an American citizen. Steph then says there may be an issue with his visa come Survivor Series and maybe Sheamus will be deported….
Steph announces that Show and Sheamus will now face each other, and the winner will get a WWE title shot… Gee, I wonder if this is going to end with both guys getting attacked…
5. Big Show vs. Sheamus.
Dead crowd… Nobody has interest in this match, including me. Both guys struggle for position, they start getting frustrated with each other and get a little more physical. They take the fight outside, Show tosses Sheamus over the barricade as we go to commercial.
Back from break, Show goes for the chokeslam, Sheamus counters with 10 beats of the forearm in the ring and a kneedrop gets 2. Show fights back, elbowdrop for 2. Crowd is DDDDEEEEAAAAADDDD. You can hear individual fans yelling because the other 10,000 are dead. This is crap booking. Show locks in that seated Scorpion Leg Lock, but Sheamus gets the ropes. Back and forth from here, Show lands a big boot, Sheamus goes up but Show catches him and drives him down. Sheamus comes back and hits WHITE NOISE on Show!!! 1…2…No! Show with a CHOKESLAM on Sheamus!!! 1………2……NO!!!!! Show goes for the Vader Bomb, but Sheamus climbs under him and takes him backwards in an Ocean Cyclone Suplex!!! Both men are down!!!
AND HERE COMES THE SCREW JOB…. RUSEV AND HENRY HEAD TO THE RING!!!!
They attack both men for a no contest in just about 11:00….
Rusev with the jumping kick to Sheamus knocking him to the floor. Big Show is taken out, and Rusev applies the Accolade!!! Mark Henry with the WORLD’S STRONGEST SLAM THROUGH THE ANNOUNCE TABLE on Sheamus… The announcers play up Big Show bwing unconscious as if he’s dead….
WHERE THE F IS CENA????? Seriously? What kind of crap garbage is this? Piss poor booking to have your super hero sitting in the back allowing this crap to happen. I don’t know why anyone would want to team with Super Cena after seeing this. I hope everyone face and heel beat him down.
–Commercial Break–
– Survivor Series Kickoff Show… “The New & Improved” Fandango will be in action… Bad News Barrett is back with some bad news… And Paul Heyman is on the Kickoff Panel…
– Brie Bella on her way to the ring DRESSED as AJ, skipping like AJ, and to AJ’s music… Clearly Nikki set this up. Nikki Bella is out next. Brie is Nikki’s assistant for another 8 days, and I’m still not sure what the point of this was.
We’re told the following match is an “Exhibition Match”. The Real AJ Lee skips her way out next to watch the match…
6. Nikki Bella vs. Brie Bella.
AJ on commentary. Nikki just beats the crap out of Brie while she taunts AJ from in the ring. Brie isn’t supposed to fight back, but lands an elbow. Nikki gets mad, slaps her around, goes for the Rack Attack, but AJ climbs onto the apron… AJ distracts Nikki, and Brie rolls Nikki up for the win in 2:00….
After the match, Nikki attacks Brie, but AJ nails a SHINING WIZARD on Nikki. Brie starts to celebrate with YES! chants, but AJ lays her out as well with a DDT…
– A new picture of Team Cena vs. Team Authority is shown… Cena is now standing alone, with his entire team removed from the image.
–Commercial Break–
– NEW DAYYY Promo with Big E… Preaching away. A new day is coming y’all…
– John Cena drops by Ryback in the locker room. Cena says the WWE needs him. Ryback says he doesn’t need Cena, and he doesn’t like the comments Cena made about him. Cena points out what the Authority could end up doing to Ryback if they remain in power. Ryback gets it, but he still wants no part of Cena… John tries to guilt Ryback into joining, pointing out he wants to be fed more, but he doesn’t want to eat at the “grownup table”. Cena says Ryback isn’t stupid, he’s selfish. Cena tells Ryback to do something BOLD, and take on the Authority. Cena walks off with Ryback pondering…
– Usos make their way out for an 8-man tag…
–Commercial Break–
– Dean Ambrose Survival Kit on Smackdown… That sounds like a promising segment… Love the comedy involved in a Ambrose vs. Wyatt angle… Garbage Dump Creative.
7. The Usos & Los Matadores vs. Stardust, Goldust, The Miz & Damien Sandow.
These 4 teams will meet in a Fatal 4 Way for the Tag Titles at Survivor Series. Sandow with yet more hilarious hijinks mocking the Miz as Miz takes bumps. Miz teases tagging Sandow, crowd pops, so Miz tags Goldust. Booo. “We Want Mizdow” chants. It’s been all Matadores for the faces up until this point. More hilarious spots from Sandow, Miz takes a double hiptoss so Sandow runs in and does a somersault bump for no reason. LOL. Matadores five out onto the Dust Brothers. Torito hits a top rope dive out onto Miz on the floor, and Sandow takes a phantom bump as well. Easy night for the Usos so far, and it’s commercial time.
Back from break, Stardust is beating down a Matador. Crowd continues to beg for Mizdow. I don’t think the Usos have even been tagged in yet. The heels continue with the heat but won’t tag in Sandow, which pisses the fans off. The crowd turns on the match and continues to chant for Sandow. The heels continue to tease tagging Sandow but don’t… Poor Sandow… FINALLY SANDOW TAGS IN… Crowd pops. Sandow IMMEDIATELY tags out to Miz… LMAO… Crowd Heat. Miz tries for a Figure Four but gets kicked out of the ring. Stardust takes over, but gets flapjacked, and we get a hot tag to an USO….
Jimmy Uso dives out onto Sandow, Jey Uso in the ring nails Stardust with a Samoan Drop and the butt bam in the corner. Goldust in but eats a Back Stabber by a Matador. Everyone trades moves, Jey Uso accidentally superkicks a Matador, and Stardust hits his Downward Spiral like finisher for the win in 11:30.
Crowd doesn’t make a noise, and neither does Grumpy Cat…
– Up next, it’s Team Cena vs. Team Authority contract signing… Who will be on Team Cena??? We’re reminded Ziggler was helped out of the building from a Curb Stomp, we learn Show passed out from the attack early from Rusev, and Sheamus DEFINITELY won’t be on Team Cena. LOL, way to write off Sheamus, not that I’m complaining fella… Just odd they make it CLEAR Sheamus won’t be out here, but didn’t say that for the other two. Apparently Sheamus was taken to the hospital…. Well then where was Ziggler taken when he was helped out? So yeah, Sheamus is OUT for sure… That’s a plus anyway…
–Commercial Break–
– The Authority is out first for the contract signing… We’ve got HHH, Stephanie, Rollins, Kane, Harper, Rusev, Mark Henry, Mercury, Noble, Lana. HHH says the fans THINK they love WWE, but every fiber of who he is, is the WWE. He breathes WWE, and he can’t lose. Stephanie reassures they won’t lose. HHH agrees. HHH says this is the last chance for Team Cena to back out… HHH says if they don’t back out, they will wish they had at Survivor Series. Stephanie introduces “What’s Left” of Team Cena…
Out comes John Cena… Alone??? Cena teases backing down, but heads to the ring… HHH mocks Cena saying he “Can’t See” the rest of Cena’s team. John sounds confident he will win. Stephanie asks what army Cena has with him. Steph says there’s only one choice here, nobody is going to join Cena. John disagrees…
Cena says they put people to sleep. Cena starts asking fans if they will be his partner at Survivor Series. Cena says the fans have passion, Steph’s team are suck ups and sell outs…
Cena starts to announce the order he will eliminate Team Authority at the Series. Sexual Chocolate reference thrown in. Stephanie finally slaps Cena. Cena tosses the table aside and calls out the entire Authority.
DOLPH ZIGGLER’S MUSIC HITS…. Ziggler is back!!!!
BIG SHOW IS NEXT… It’s the Big Bad Show back…
HHH counts 5 on his side, 3 on the other…
ERICK ROWAN HAS JOINED TEAM CENA…. LUKE HARPER IS SHOCKED… AS AM I…. Was expecting Ryback and Randy Orton. Rowan is an odd ass choice.
“Feed Me More” Chants. Stephanie tells them they have one last chance to reconsider…
CESARO JOINS TEAM CENA… And now the crowd is even more confused….
Cesaro laughs it off and backs into Team Authority… Cesaro comes out just to screw with Cena… LOL
AND NOW RYBACK IS OUT!!!!!!!! Ryback joins team Cena and we’ve got a wild brawl in the ring…
Everyone spills outside… Cena and Rollins go at it inside… Cena goes for an AA, but HHH breaks it up. HHH goes after Cena, but Ryback comes in. Ryback and HHH have a long stare down… Cena hooks HHH for an AA through a table!!!!
Team Cena celebrates as the announcers hard sell the fate of the WWE at Survivor Series… End show.
I flipped it over to the Network for the Macho Man special, but we get some Raw post show first. Mercury & Noble help HHH to the back, Stephanie is pissed. The announcers put over Macho Man as an intro to the Randy Savage documentary.
