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hazyheel · 5 years ago

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WWE Raw Reunion Review

Ugh, of all Raws for me to have to watch late, I decided to miss this one. That is certainly unfortunate, but here I am now, reviewing the show late. Lets see how good it was.

It started out on a pretty good note. John Cena came out first. He gave Stu the camera guy his classic shout out, which I really did miss, and he ran down into the ring. He poked fun at how they never used to cheer him, but they did now. He announced that Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, DX, and Steve Austin would be there. Cena said that Raw is his home, and it always will be, no matter how long he is gone. He then threw it to the Usos, who came out to share some mic time with one of the best. They said that they could have a rap battle with Cena, which he seemed apprehensive about, but eventually decided to do it after the Usos insulted him for going Hollywood. He then said that they looked just like their mug shots when they got arrested. He then was about to leave, but Rikishi came out! That was certainly unexpected. Rikishi got in the ring, and tried to get Cena to dance. The four were about to dance, when the Revival interrupted with D Von Dudley. Then they cut away and said that there was a match between the Revival and Usos next.

Grade: B-. This segment got a little long by the time it ended, but it was great to see Cena back. His line about the mug shots was funny. Rikishi was good to see too, but it didn’t need to be as long as it was.

As the Usos vs. The Revival started out, Booker T came out to the announce team. He was actually doing pretty well early on, so that was interesting. The Revival had the advantage early on, beating on Jey, and even pushing him off the top rope to the barricade at one point. At another, Jimmy went for a crossbody to Dash Wilder, but Scott Dawson pushed him away and got hit himself. The Revival then hit an awesome european uppercut into a german suplex combination, with the pin broken up by Jey. Jey then clotheslined Wilder out of the ring, which prompted Rikishi and D-Von to argue.

Grade: C+. We have seen this match too many times for it to be really enjoyable, so it was fine. It should have been a title match, because we don’t need to see this for the titles at Summerslam. The Good Brothers and the Usos would be a much more fresh match.

Backstage, Alicia Fox talked to Dana Brooke and Kaitlyn about her hat, which was funny. Fox wanted a 12 foot tall hat. Tori Wilson and Santino then joined her, and they all were just laughing and joking around, until Drew McIntyre walked in, simply muttering “legends,” and then walking away.

Backstage, we had R-Truth and Carmella being interviewed about his time at comic con. The Hurricane showed up during one of his interviews there, trying to pin him, as did Drake Maverick. They then cut back to live Raw, where Drake Maverick’s wife showed up to yell at Carmella and Truth, but as they were arguing, Maverick pinned him and won the belt. As they all ran away, grandmaster sexay showed up and danced with Charly Caruso. How fun.

We went right into a rematch from last week. Cedric Alexander vs. Drew McIntyre. Before the match started, the two fought in the isle. Alexander actually had the advantage for much of it, but he sold his ass off when he had to. McIntyre beat the hell out of him, even giving Alexander an inverted Alabama slam into the apron. The match never actually started.

Grade: B-. This was fine, I wish that they would have an actual competitive match though. It could be great.

Backstage again, Drake Maverick was running through the locker room to get his stuff, and found that one of his bags was filled with worms, and the boogyman showed up, and Maverick fell and Pat Patterson came in to beat down Maverick, winning the belt! I’m glad they had that, it was funny.

Then they had Christian come out for some commentary for a Viking Raiders match, awesome to see him. I don’t watch his network show, so it’s been a while. Lillian Garcia came back to be the ring announcer for this match as well, nice to see her too. It was Viking Raiders vs. Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder. Hawkins and Ryder attacked right at the bell, and tried to beat down the much larger opponents. However, Viking Raiders quickly got the advantage and beatdown the faces. They quickly won with the Viking Experience.

Grade: B-. Inoffensive squash. Christian was funny on commentary.

Backstage again, Mike Kanellis was being yelled at by Maria. Eve Torres and Eric Bischoff were also there, as Maria yelled at him for not being the breadwinner and that he wouldn’t be able to care for their baby. Then Ron Simmons showed up and said Damn. I love Ron Simmons. But I hate this story.

Then we saw the Club backstage, with their new “OC” shirts on, saying that they are the original club and the only one that matters. They said that they run Monday nights, and no one else, especially not Seth Rollins. So now WWE is throwing shade at the Bullet Club OGs in Japan. God they are insecure lately.

Then we saw Gerald Brisco was shown winning the 24/7 championship, only for Kelly Kelly to win it from him. Love this. Too bad Carmella wasn’t the first woman 24/7 champion though, she deserved it.

Samoa Joe then came out. He talked about how Raw Reunion puts too much emphasis on the older talent. We need to move forward, not back, and let go of nostalgia. He basically just made a smark argument, and insulted Rikishi and the Usos, before Roman Reigns came out. The two stood toe to toe, and said that if he was gonna insult his family, then he knows what will happen next. Joe said that he knew, and they beat the crap out of each other in the ring and at ringside. Reigns came out on top, so Joe got back on the mic and said that he wouldn’t fight Reigns because he didn’t wanna give the fans what they wanted. He walked away, but Reigns called him a coward, so he accepted the challenge.

So, we went right into Samoa joe vs. Roman Reigns. Joe worked over the neck for most of the match. Reigns had a bit of a comeback, but Joe quickly put him back on the mat. Reigns threw Joe out to the floor in the finish, and then gave him a spear as he came back in the ring.

Grade: C+. Fine, but I just didn’t care. This was a classic heel dominant match into a big comeback. Not enough back and forth.

We then went right into Miz TV with Seth Rollins. He put over his show before welcoming Rollins out to the ring. Rollins made fun of Heyman and Lesnar a bit, which was funny at first but then became stupid the longer it went on. He called Lesnar a Seth Rollins wannabe. Heyman then cut a promo during the segment, and he tried to defend Lesnar, but Rollins was kinda owning him. Rollins then told him that if he was going to speak for Lesnar, he had to fight for him too. Heyman tried to talk him out of it, but ran away as Rollins started to approach him. Rollins then said that Lesnar wasn’t a beast or a conquerer, he was a man. And men can lose, just like he will lose at Summerslam. Then he mentioned his match with Styles tonight, and left.

Grade: B. Really good promo. It started out a bit shaky, but Rollins is great on the mic, and he did well to promote the summerslam match. Good stuff here.

Then we went back to the backstage party, where Charly was gonna interview the legends about Summerslam, but Sami Zayn walked up and absolutely wrecked all of them on the mic, saying that they were all just around at the right time and were pathetic for coming back for one last pop. Rey Mysterio then showed up and said that he needed to respect those who paved the way. Zayn said that he was fully willing to beat down Mysterio, when Kurt Angle showed up and basically just made the match.

Before that next match, Kelly Kelly ran around showing a bunch of people her new 24/7 championship, only to find out that Melina got her referee license, and Candice Michelle pinned her. Then Alundra Blayze showed up and tapped out Michelle, saying that if anyone had a problem with her being the champion, they should tell her to her face.

Then we went right into Mysterio vs. Zayn. Jonathan Coachman joined the commentary booth, and they were having a pretty good match. They beat the crap out of each other, with Zayn hitting an awesome blue thunder bombfor a near fall. Zayn almost got hit by the 619, and was about to walk out of the match when Rob Van Dam, The Hurricane, Sgt. Slaughter and Kurt Angle showed up. They approached him and forced him back in the ring, so Mysterio gave him the 619 and the five star frog splash for RVD and the win.

Grade: B. Pretty fun match, and I always like seeing Sgt. Slaughter. I’m shocked that RVD showed up, given his appearances on Impact lately. But the match was pretty good, and I liked seeing the legends.

The Street Profits were backstage, singing about the Reunion. Montez Ford found Angelo Dawkins putting eye drops in, asking if he was skating with the pilots (smoking weed). Dawkins responded that he was hanging out with RVD, so he was smoking weed. He said that he hung out with Mark Henry, Kelly Kelly, and Ric Flair, but they had to leave cuz the Boogyman was there. And Dawkins had to leave because the Godfather gave him a call. As he walked away, Ford looked hurt. That was funny.

Then Alundra Blayze came out and tried to drop the 24/7 championship in the trash can, but Ted Dibiase came out. He offered to buy the 24/7 championship from her. He gave her a wad of cash, and she gave him the 24/7 championship. He cackled and left. This is the best 24/7 stuff yet.

Jerry Lawler came out to commentary next. Styles had a new entrance thing, with the screen just saying “the only club that matters.” I was annoyed at first, but it really is great heat. The two started out with some striking and shoulder tackles, going back and forth in the beginning of the match. Rollins was in control for a bit, only for Karl Anderson to distract him and allowed AJ to get control. The OC’s were about to attack Rollins, but DX, Shawn Michaels and Triple H came down to back him up. As the match continued, Rollins was about to hit Styles with the stomp, but the OC’s tripped him up. They attacked Rollins, and caused a DQ. They then offered the too sweet to DX, but they gave them the suck it and brawled with the OC’s. The OC’s then grabbed chairs, only for the Road Dogg, X-Pac, Scott Hall and Kevin Nash. He said that Chyna’s spirit was with them, and that was about 7. Then he said “crap, I forgot Billy” and told the OC’s that they were the OG’s, and told them to get out of here. Road Dogg then gave Rollins the mic, and he gave the suck it.

Grade: B-. This was fun. Road Dogg is still great on the mic, and even yelling at Billy Gunn, who I think is in AEW now, was funny. The Club wasn’t buried too much, and we saw a lot of people. The match was pretty good too.

Backstage, we saw the Dibiase get in a limo, where there was a bunch of commotion, and Drake Maverick walked out of the limo as the champion.

Mick Foley then came out to talk about Raw, and put the program over. As he talked, Drake Maverick and the midcard ran through, and Foley vowed to win the 24/7 championship before the night was over. He then wanted to show his favorite moment, winning the championship on the big screen, but the Fiend showed up again, attacking him in the ring. Wyatt even used the mandible claw to take Foley down.

Grade: B. Wyatt is still badass, but Foley didn’t sell all that well. I am really excited to see where the Fiend story goes from here, because there was no Finn Balor. Good stuff though, I love this revamped Wyatt character.

Then we had a moment of bliss, with Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross. They welcomed Becky Lynch as their guest. They were about to start the interview, when Natalya came out and said that Lynch should say what she needed to to here face. Bliss just kinda sat around and stirred the pot in this segment. They talked about how they had similar journey, but Becky didn’t respect Natalya at all. Lynch said that Natalya betrayed her by offering to train Ronda Rousey, but she beat her anyway. Lynch said that the Raw Women’s Championship was Rousey’s scalp, and she wont let anyone take it from her. She then said that she’d embarrass Nattie in her home country and the two brawled.

Backstage, Natalya was interviewed about the brawl. Nattie said that Becky made this personal by saying that she built the women’s evolution rather than people like Nattie.

Grade: B+. Not as good as last week, but they were still really good on the mic together. That should be a great match, and I’m really excited for it.

Maverick was about to escape the arena in a limo with his wife, but Truth pinned him right outside of the limo. Renee was holding onto the belt and keeping him standing, but Carmella kicked her and he was rolled up for the win. Truth then jumped in the limo, and they drove off. Maverick was very upset that he lost both his wife and title.

24/7 grade: A. This was everything that a 24/7 story on Raw Reunion should have been. It was funny, lots of big names. and very entertaining. This is the best part of the show tonight.

Braun Strowman came out for a quick squash.

Grade: B-. This happened, and it was fine.

And in the main event, we had a toast to Raw. Out here was Steve Austin, Ric Flair, Shawn Michaels and Hulk Hogan. All the biggest names. The rest of the legends came out as well, paying respect to flair. Also, Alicia Fox was out there with them for some reason. I really do not know why, but for some reason it was wonderful. Hogan cut a nice little promo, but Ric Flair did not. Michael Cole put over the show, and finally Steve Austin came out at the very end. Thankfully, he got on the mic and said some words. He got the what chant, but he is the only person that it is okay when they do that. He put over everyone on the stage, saying that they did everything for this business, and called them his family. He called all the WWE fans family. He gave a nice little promo talking about some nice stories from his stay. He then invited everyone to the ring to share beer. It was a nice speech.

Grade: B+. Just nice to see everyone together and talking. IT was a good promo, and a nice nostalgia ride through Raw.

Overall Grade: B

Pros: Miz TV; Mysterio vs. Zayn; The Fiend; 24/7 stuff; toast to raw; fun nostalgia

Cons: not many good matches

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hazyheel · 5 years ago

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WWE Smackdown Live 9/17/19 Review

Despite the fact that this wasn’t the strongest episode in the world, I actually liked it a lot. The segments that bookended the show were both pretty strong, and we saw a huuuuuuge announcement for the upcoming debut on Fox. Big stuff happened here, and the matches were pretty good. Unfortunately, it was dragged down by some stinkers. Just a few, but boy were they bad. Here is my full review of this weeks edition of Smackdown Live!

New Day vs. The Revival & Randy Orton: Holy crap, we started with a match! Wild, it feels weird but good. Big E started out with Dash Wilder, and immediately started to beat down the heel with clubbing blows to the chest and a splash on the apron for a near fall. Kofi was tagged in, and after some swift bending the rules, the heels took control and beat him down a bit. However, the New Day hit some of their tag team offense on Orton, with Woods and Big E taking down the Revival. During the commercial, The Revival isolated Woods and started to work over his knee. At one point, Woods tried to hit his slingshot DDT, but Wilder caught him and tossed him out over the top rope, which Orton followed up by back body dropping him on the announce table. We went to commercial again, and Kingston received a hot tag as we came back. He Took down everyone, before giving Orton an SOS for a near fall. On the outside, Big E flattened Dawson with a lariat, while Wilder nailed Big E with a tornado DDT and then swept Woods’ leg, only to eat a dropkick from Kingston. He went for a suicide dive, but Orton intercepted him and gave him a hangman’s DDT. The heels then went for the RKO machine, but Big E pulled Orton out and pushed him into the post. Woods then took out Wilder with a Limit Breaker, and Kingston pinned Dawson after a Trouble in Paradise.

As the New Day celebrated, Brock Lesnar showed up! Things were very intense, but the crowd didn’t pop big. Lesnar and Kingston stared each other down, and Kingston told Woods and Big E to leave. Heyman then got on the mic, and said that Lesnar wanted to challenge for the WWE Championship, and they booked it for the Friday Night Smackdown premier rather than for a pay per view. Kingston accepted, and Lesnar gave him an F5, which was sold beautifully.

Grade: B+. The match was good, some fun action to open up the show. Love to see this show open up like that. Plus it was a pretty decisive victory, and feels like the feud is probably over. I was only going to give this a B, but I was really excited for the challenge from Brock Lesnar, although the crowd gave 0 craps. I think it was really fun, and is a huge main event for the first Fox show. Very good opening this week.

Sasha Banks & Bayley Interview: Banks responded to Becky Lynch’s challenge inside Hell in a Cell. Then Baylyey hopped in and said that although Banks was fighting Charlotte tonight, she didn’t want to talk about it. This promo was weird and kinda overdone. It was odd, just odd.

Erick Rowan Sit Down interview: They gave Rowan his first name again! Fun. Michael Cole conducted the interview. He asked about Luke Harper, which Rowan responded to by saying if he wanted to know his story, talk to him. Then Cole asked about the attacks on Reigns, to which Rowan said he wanted to scare him. Cole loudly exclaimed “You tried to kill him!” And Rowan told him to watch his tone. Rowan then said that he was sick of being disrespected, so he took the chance he needed. Cole asked about why Rowan betrayed Daniel Bryan, and Rowan said that Bryan disrespected him. This was short, and all I could think about was how Cole was asking super biased questions. I know journalism, and this was bad journalism.

Ali vs. Shinsuke Nakamura: Before the match, Sami Zayn demanded respect for him, since he is in a lot of pain. He hyped up Nakamura, and introduced him. He then told Ali that although he beat Nakamura a few weeks ago, he’d lose here. Ali was very nervous as Nakamura and Zayn surrounded him. Ali attacked Nakamura first, but Zayn held his leg and allowed Nakamura to attack him. Nakamura took Ali out with a Kinshasa. The match did not start.

Grade: B. Fun little fight to get Nakamura over a bit. He and Zayn are fun together. This was effective and short, very efficient. I liked it, But it sucks that Ali had to be sacrificed here.

Shane McMahon backstage: Owens walked into the building, took a seat in the audience. Shane was going to take care of it, but one of Owens’ lawyers served him. Huh, alright.

Shane McMahon promo: Shane came out wth a whole bunch of security guards, and the papers. Shane told Owens to get in the ring and tried to settle it there. So Owens walked to the ring, but security stood between him and Shane. I guess the lawsuit was wrongful termination, worth 25 million. Shane called the case weak, but Owens said that it was strong. Owens pointed out that when he was fined for attacking a referee (Elias), but Shane didn’t fine himself when he attacked Owens’ last week, while he was the ref. He then said that even with the ref in his corner, Shane couldn’t win, and tapped out. So now, Owens just wants to hurt him, and wants to hit him in the wallet. He also said that part of the suit was that if he wins, he will be able to fire Shane. Then Owens walked out as Shane looked at the suit.

Grade: C-. Why is Owens supposed to be badass, and yet he solves his problems with lawsuits? If he was a tough as nails son of a bitch, like Steve Austin who they are desperately trying to model him after, he would’ve walked right through security and beat Shane’s ass. A lawsuit isn’t awesome or exciting. But given that I enjoy soap opera stuff, I can’t bring myself to give it lower that C-. I think this is damaging to the badass Owens, but I’m kinda intrigued. This could be an interesting storyline, but I doubt anyone else will agree.

Charlotte Flair vs. Sasha Banks: Some guy come out, who I guess was a rapper. I think he is the Ric Flair drip guy? Maybe? I dunno. He just brought out Charlotte, and then fist bumped her. Bayley came out with Banks, and actually helped distract Charlotte and gave Banks control early on. When we came back from commercial break, Charlotte started to fight back with a series of kicks and chops to banks, finishing with a fall away slam. The two continued to fight, and Flair locked in a Boston Crab, but Banks pulled her into a rollup for a near fall. Charlotte then put Banks on the apron and kicked Banks to the outside. She then climbed to the rope and nailed both Banks and Bayley with a moonsault. She tried to capitalize, but Bayley held her foot, which got Banks a rollup for a near fall. Banks then tried for another, but Charlotte rolled through and went for the Figure Four, but Bayley ran in to attack for the DQ.

Bayley and Banks continued to beat up Flair, but Carmella showed up and superkicked Bayley, who looked shock. Flair got the last hit in on her, and the faces stood tall.

Grade: B. Another pretty good match, but I bumped it up just a bit into a B because of them establishing Bayley’s next challenger. Carmella makes sense considering how much the fans like her after the R-Truth stuff, but that doesn’t mean the match will be great. We will have to see about that. But I think that Charlotte should’ve lost here, just to give Banks some momentum. People need to get wins to get over, and Banks could use a real win.

Baron Corbin Coronation: He put on the whole getup as Corey Graves raved about him on commentary. Corbin then got on the mic and put himself order. Then he brought out Chad Gable, and made some short jokes. Corbin said that he was just like the fans, because he will always come up short. Gable then slammed him through the throne and beat him with the scepter. Gable then ripped up the cloak and smashed the crown.

Grade: D+. I really wanted to like this more, but I am worried about what destroying all the props means. They may just ditch the king gimmick this time around, and that would suck. I also hated the short jokes, those are stupid. I’m fine with these two feuding, and I’m fine with the one short joke where he “dreams big but comes up short,” but the rest of it was bad. I really hope that King Corbin is still a thing, because that’d be a waste of a tournament.

The B-team vs. Heavy Machinery: Tucker and Curtis Axel started things off. Tucker just tossed Axel around for a bit, and the B-Team (who I think are heel now?) double teamed him a bit and tried to keep him on the mat. Knight got the hot tag after rolling over Bo Dallas’ back and delivering a huge lariat. Otis then got hot tag, and he was in trunks, which looked very.... different. He beat up Dallas a bit and they hit the compactor for the win.

Grade: C+. Squash-o-roony.

Daniel Bryan Promo: He quickly crapped on the fans for accusing him of attacking Roman Reigns. He said that he still didn’t attack him, and declared himself exonerated. Then he said that he saw Rowan and realized that he had talent and took him under his wing as Tag Team Champions. He saw Rowan as his equal (yikes) and treated him as a friend. Rowan then came out, no Luke Harper in sight, with a mic. He said that he never felt like an equal, he felt like a puppet. Bryan never asked what he felt about things, and said he wouldn’t be disrespected. Bryan then told him to do something about it, because he already destroyed their friendship, and he couldn’t do anything worse. So, Harper ran in from behind and they kicked Bryan’s ass a bit, but then Roman walked down as Bryan was hit with an Iron claw. He dodged Harper and gave Rowan a superman punch and beat him down, but Harper quickly got ahold of him and they beat Reigns up together. They double powerbombed him into the post, and tore up the padding to expose the concrete. Security tried to stop them, but Harper kicked their asses. Then Rowan grabbed a section of the barricade and nailed Reigns with it, before clearing the announce table and giving Bryan a double high cross through it. The heels stood tall as they closed out the show.

Grade: B+. This was a fun segment that was pretty exciting, and seems to show where things will go from here. This is almost a Daniel Bryan face turn, but I don’t think he has fully turned face just yet. He is gonna probably be kinda heel until he and Reigns have a tag match against Rowan and Harper. This was a really fun segment, and I’m looking forward to seeing where it goes. Highlight of the night.

Overall Grade: C+

Pros: 6-man tag; Nakamura beat down; charlotte vs. Banks; ending beatdown

Cons: lawsuit angle; coronation

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