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WWE Raw 10/27/14 from the AT&T Center in San Antonio, Texas
– Raw kicks off with video stills from last night’s Hell in a Cell PPV.
– Then, down to ringside and HHH, Stephanie, and Kane are already standing in the ring. Looks like the new stooges are there too… They put over the PPV, they put over the Network, and they put over the “future” of WWE, Seth Rollins. Speaking of Seth, he’s announced next. Not sure why he needed his own intro, other than to kill 2 minutes.
Rollins says that Dean Ambrose is finally out of his hair because Rollins proved who the better man was last night. Now that Rollins is done with Ambrose, he has his sights on John Cena. Wasn’t Seth just avoiding a fight with Cena a few weeks back? Rollins announces that later tonight he has a match scheduled against Cena. Rollins proclaims Cena will be laying in failure, just like Ambrose… They cue the music to end the segment when…..
Randy Orton comes stomping out to the ring, and he’s PISSED. Orton is seething, and slobbering as he yells in rage. He talks about being in Anger Management in 2006 “for real”, lol… Orton blames Seth Curb Stomping him last week as a cause for losing to Cena last night. Orton is pissed Seth keeps bringing up Orton losing to Cena. Finally, Orton snaps in the middle of his rant and just attacks Rollins… Crowd pops big, but HHH breaks it up fast.
HHH says “we’re not doing this tonight, this is not gonna happen”. Orton says he wants Rollins DEAD… Wow, that’s PG…. HHH wants to give Randy the night off to relax, he tells Orton to go back to his bus and just take the night off. While listening to HHH, Orton just randomly RKO’S ROLLINS OUT OF NOWHERE!!! Orton lands the RKO and leaves the ring in rage….
The stooges help up a loopy Rollins and help him walk to the back as the segment plays out to the Authority theme.
–Commercial Break–
– We see a backstage promo from “earlier tonight” where Henry & Big Show had a small squabble about Henry at ringside last night during the Show vs. Rusev match, but they focus on winning the tag titles tonight.
1. WWE Tag Team Championship Match – Goldust & Stardust (c) vs. Big Show & Mark Henry.
Right away, I smell the build to a split and feud that NOBODY wants to see. I’ll say this though, they’re giving us a different match tonight, which is cool with me. Henry throws Goldy around to begin things, and then Starry gets more of the same from Big Show. Henry grabs Stardust by his foot and he tries jumping away, but can’t, funny sight. Show tags in by tagging Henry’s shoulder, which upsets Henry for some reason. Show and Henry begin arguing to take us into commercial.
Back from break, Goldust has Show grounded, but Big Show comes back with a flapjack, and then a nice scorpion stretch submission. Show gets a hot tag to Henry, and Stardust tags in as well. Henry tries a powerslam, but Star slides behind and nails a chop block. And now the Dust brothers take some turns on Henry. Stardust hits a springboard dropkick that knocks Mark into the corner, where Show tags himself in again… Show plows over both Dusts, and calls for the KO punch on Stardust, and launches Goldy from the ring… Show COULD go for the cover, but Henry comes in to argue. Henry nails the WORLDS STRONGEST SLAM on Show, and Stardust on top for the cover and win in 11:00.
Henry then proceeds to land THREE MORE World’s Strongest Slams on Show after the match while shouting “don’t nobody hit me”. Apparently Mark doesn’t like to be tagged on his shoulder. What a great reasoning for a turn on a “friend”. Can someone explain to me when Henry turned face in order to turn back heel? I mean, I know he fought for America, but he was still a dick up until that point. Why is anyone surprised? That’s what he do…
God bless wrestling today, they take what would have been a 2 month build and turned it into one match. Hope that means the feud is over just as fast.
– Roman Reigns in an exclusive interview, next. They can’t wait to get this guy back on TV, let him heal for shit’s sake. They’re determined to run with this guy as the man due to his size and “look”, when clearly Ambrose has far more personality and ability with his character.
–Commercial Break–
– Renee Young stops Mark Henry backstage to ask him Why… Henry cuts her off. Mark says he did it to Show before Show could do it to him. He says Show has always wanted to be Mark Henry, he’s always been jealous of Henry.
– Roman Reigns video, and according to Michael Cole, he’s now known as the ‘Juggernaut’.
– We get another Roman Reigns ‘via satellite’ promo. He’s upset about being sideline. He talks about the Rollins/Ambrose match. Reigns says when he’s medically cleared, he’s going to make “the future” Seth Rollins, into “the past”. Wow, a nice, short 90 second promo. I’ll take it!
– AJ Lee on her way to the ring for a singles match.
–Commercial Break–
2. Divas Champion AJ Lee vs. Alicia Fox.
Paige on commentary, claims Fox cost her the match last night. Fox knocks AJ to the floor early, and continues on the offense back inside the ring. Fox with a Northern Lights Suplex for 2… This match is all Fox in the ring, while Paige dominates the commentary and holds her own with Michael Cole trying to crap on her. Fox scoops AJ up in a slam, but AJ spins around into a DDT. Fox right back on top with a backbreaker, but Paige jumps out of her chair and shoves Fox away from the ropes, screaming for her to get the win. AJ rolls up FOx for the win in 3:40.
After the match, Paige wants to apologize to Fox, but instead beats her down and throws her into the barricade, and then catapults her into the barricade. Paige then slams Fox’s head into the barricade repeatedly and calls her “the worst best friend”.
Finally, Jerry Lawler steps over to help Alicie Fox.
What’s with all these turns and hostility.
And what happened to that AJ/Stephanie feud hint a few weeks back?
–Commercial Break–
– We have John Cena making his way out for a promo. Cena goes for some cheap pops early, putting over the championship Spurs. Crowd pops louder for the Spurs than Cena. Cena talks about winning at HIAC and meeting Rollins tonight. He plans to give Seth a wakeup call tonight. John says the future goes through him, but tonight he goes through the “future”.
Cena is interrupted by Stephanie McMahon, who apparently needs to walk all the way to ringside to say something. Stephanie pimps the Survivor Series and the Network. Stephanie then mocks Cena for getting the crowd behind him by mentioning the Spurs. Stephanie points out it’s the same people who chant “Cena Sucks”. Steph wants Cena to join the Authority. There’s going to be an Elimination Match at the PPV, and if Cena can beat Rollins tonight he can be the captain of “Team Authority”.
They ramble for another few minutes, but Cena’s ultimate answer is “Hell No”.
Cue up HHH’s music now… Ugh. AGAIN? Already?
HHH says he told Stephanie that Cena wouldn’t join. HHH says Cena is hanging on by a thread mentally and physically, because Cena knows he can’t fight the future. HHH says it gets harder each year, and Cena will end up being a beat up has been one day that comes out for a hurrah. He says the business is about longevity and Cena needs to join them. HHH says you can’t stop the future, and he will teach them that.
HHH announces a match for Series, the Elimination match will be Team Authority vs. Team Cena. Cena has to go find people to support his battle, because the Authority always wins.
–Commercial Break–
3. The Usos vs. The Miz & Damien Sandow.
Miz starts the match off, and “We Want Mizdow” chants begin immediately. Miz dodges a superkick, but ends up taking a Full Nelson Bomb, Dudley Boyz style. Usos all over Miz and toss him tot he floor. Damien jumps down and lays next to Miz, lol. I know it’s so simple, but I still find it amusing… The Usos five out onto both guys as we go to commercial.
Back from break, and it’s not long before Miz/Sandow take over on Jey. Your typical beat down leading to hot tag stuff follows with Miz and Jimmy Uso getting the hot tags. Jimmy with a flying body block for 2. Miz catches a superkick, goes for a Skull Crushing Finale, but it’s blocked. Jimmy with a roll up, but Sandow stops the count. The Usos do the illegal switch “twin magic” when the referee scolds Sandow, and Jey cradles Miz for the win in 10:45.
That was a crap finish.
Sandow mocks the Miz’s tantrum after the match… Good stuff…
– Backstage, John cena is trying to recruit Dolph Ziggler for the Survivor Series team. Dolph shakes his hand, leading us to believe that Ziggler has joined Team Cena.
–Commercial Break–
– We see Dolph Ziggler walking backstage, he’s stopped by Kane. Kane interprets it an act of aggression against the Authority. Kane would like to make Dolph squeal in pain and “end” him. Setting up Kane vs. Ziggler for later on.
– It’s HULK HOGAN out next, pink shirt and all. Walking ad billboard is all he’s been all year. Surely they can get more use out of him than this. Hulk starts putting over the future Cena vs. Lesnar match. Then he makes some weird ass noises and talks about Komen-Mania. Now that he got the fans attention, this promo turns into another Breast Cancer survivor segment. Some ladies who have survived the cancer are standing at ringside and get to enter the ring with the Hulkster and pose. Yes, they do Hogan’s poses. Yay.
See what happens when you have 3 hours to fill?
– Bo Dallas has an OPEN CHALLENGE… Next.
–Commercial Break–
– Bo Dallas has issued an open challenge. Who Bo-leieves they can beat Bo?
FEED ME MORE…. Ryback is back… And so is his babyface theme……
4. Bo Dallas vs. Ryback.
“FEED ME MORE” chants immediately. Bo gets launched like a lawn dart and almost comes down on his head… Spinebuster follows… Ryback brings back the “FEED ME MORE” Meat hook clothesline, and the SHELL SHOCK ends this in 1:12.
Total squash. I don’t know if an injury ever helped a guy more than Ryback’s time away. It’s like they’re getting a second chance on this gimmick. Fans are eating it up and Ryback leads them in “Feed Me More” chants.
Aaaand, it’s half time at the Cowboys game, so it’s time for something worthwhile… Dean Ambrose segment, next!
–Commercial Break–
– Backstage interview with Randy Orton from earlier tonight. Orton says the Authority didn’t take care of it, so he did. (In reference to Seth Rollins curb stomping Orton last week)
– Dean Ambrose on the mic at ringside. He said he went to hell and he loved every minute of it. But while he was in Hell, he found Bray Wyatt.
5. Dean Ambrose vs. Cesaro.
Dean sends a message to Bray, he doesn’t care why he did it (cost Dean the match last night), but you don’t screw with Dean Ambrose.
Ambrose then rushes Cesaro with the microphone and beats the crap out of him with the mic. Ambrose beats Cesaro like a bitch all the way up the ramp and chases him away… Then Dean calls out Bray Wyatt….
Wyatt appears on the Titan Tron. Bray sees himself in Ambrose. Things that would make others cringe, excites people like them. Wyatt says this world is not made for either of them. Wyatt makes it clear, he is not Dean’s brother or friend. Bray Wyatt says he knows Dean, because he IS Dean. He says he’s going to dismantle ambrose and feast on the spoils. He tells Ambrose to “Run”.
– Nikki Bella out next with Brie behind her. Nikki selling the slave gimmick. Nobody cares. If this means I don’t have to hear that scary ass Brie Mode song for a month, I’m cool with that.
–Commercial Break–
5. Nikki Bella (w/Brie) vs. Naomi.
Naomi has really fallen into the background after looking so good earlier this year. Slow motion Alabama Slam by Nikki. Terrible. Slow. Sloppy, work follows. The announcers spend much of the match talking about Smoothies. Nikki dominates the entire match until Naomi drops her across the ropes. Naomi hits the Uso Full Nelson Bomb from earlier. Just because you married him, doesn’t give you a right to steal his moves. Naomi is knocked to the apron, but she kicks Nikki in the head. Brie grabs Naomi by her ankle, per presumed instructions from Nikki. With Naomi distracted, Nikki knocks her to the floor, then back inside for the Rack Attack and the win in 4:15. That match went about 3:00 too long.
Oh, and the crowd didn’t care about any of it.
–Commercial Break–
6. IC Champion Dolph Ziggler vs. Kane.
Ziggler tries to stick and move early, but Kance catches up with him and beats him down. Great chinlock picks up the pace. That was sarcasm, BTW. After what seems like forever, Ziggler finally breaks free and knocks Kane to the floor, and we head to commercial.
Back from break, Ziggler in control, Ziggler goes for the Famouse, but Kane catches him, Dolph turns it into a spike DDT… Ziggler charges into a KO punch from Kane in the corner… Ziggler kicks out at 2… Kane hits a dropkick on a seated Dolph and goes back to the CHINLOCK. Ziggler comes back again, Kane misses a top rope clothesline and Ziggler hits the FAMOUSER for a near fall… Kane misses a Big Boot, Ziggler goes for Zigzag but he still hasn’t learned not to go for it by the ropes. Kane holds the ropes to block and nails Ziggles with a Big Boot for 2…
Kane goes for a chokeslam. but Dolph floats over into a Sunset Flip..1……….2………..3………….Ziggler wins in 13:30.
Seth Rollins immediately attacks Dolph with the MITB briefcase, and Kane pounds on Ziggler to send him a message. Kane goes for a chokeslam, but Cena comes out and beats down Kane, while Rollins runs off.
Cena and Ziggler celebrate.
–Commercial Break–
7. John Cena vs. Seth Rollins (w/Mercury & Noble).
Rollins has his ribs taped from last night. Finally, someone selling the Cell. Lots of Rollins in control, early and often, and Joey Mercury & Jamie Noble get in plenty of cheap shots as well. Seth suplexes Cena on the floor, then back in the ring he lands a Blockbuster Neckbreaker off the top rope for 2… Rollins sells his ribs from his wild offense. We head to commercial…
Back from break, both men are trading blows on the floor, and Cena whips Noble into the barricade as well. But Rollins comes back and whips Cena into the ring steps. Back in the ring, Seth channels Kane and applies a chinlock. Cena ends up bumping to the floor, and Seth lands a suicide dive out onto him. Both men are back inside by the count of 9. Rollins tries a top rope Superplex but is thrown off, and Cena hits a TOP ROPE CROSS BODY for 2…
Cena tries an AA< but Seth lands on his feet and hits a DDT for 2... Rollins beats down on Cena outside the ring again, and then nails a top rope flying knee for 2... Rollins locks in some type of sleeper. Cena somehow counters out and tries the STF, but Seth hits a back flip dropkick. Cena back to the floor for the 19th time tonight. Noble takes some cheap shots on John. Cenas just beats the 10 count back inside. Time for the Cena Superman comeback, the usual "5 moves of doom" follow. Cena backdrops Rollins outside onto Mercury and Noble to take them out. Cena rolls Seth back in, but Rollins nails Cena with the Pelé kick for a near fall. Cena comes back with a Tornado DDT for 2... Cena tries another AA, but Rollins lands on his feet, Rollins tries a Pele kick, but Cena moves... Cena tries the STF but Rollins fights off and lands the standing Sliced Bread #2 for a near fall.... Great sequence there. Rollins goes up top, but gets crotched. Seth floats over Cena and nails the RUNNING POWERBOMB INTO THE CORNER ON CENA!!!!! 1..2............Cena kicks out!!! Rollins goes for the Curb Stomp, but Cena trips him up in mid air and hooks the STF!!!! And of course, Kane attacks for the DQ in 22:10. Great match with a shitty, but expected, finish. Ziggler out to help Cena. It's Kane, Rollins, Noble and Mercury on Cena and Ziggler. Then, out of nowhere, the ENTIRE WWE LOCKER ROOM comes rushing out to the ring. There's a good two dozen guys in the ring battling it out. JBL sells it as "who's on team Cena, who's on team Authority?". HHH and Stephanie come out to the stage to watch the melee, with Rollins and the stooges joining them while the entire roster does battle in the ring. Eventually, the brawl in the ring spills outside, leaving John Cena in the ring to land AA's on Heath Slater and Bo Dallas to end the show with the Authority looking on. Can't really thumbs down this show. That main event was very good for Cena standards, and Ambrose was okay. Was expecting more out of Bray tonight, but I'll take what I got. Finally, Wyatt gets to move into a program that will involve some fresh promos. Can't believe I'm saying this, but Ryback was a pleasant surprise. That time away seems to have rejuvenated his character, and made the fans forget about that terrible last 18 months, or whatever it has been. We knew the Henry/Show thing was coming, I was blown away by how fast the angle went down, but probably for the best. AND, Randy Orton did very little, yet it said more than anything else he's done in a long time. Not the greatest night ever, but still enough good to check out bits and pieces, and the main event of course.
