#this replay is so funny the commentators do not know their mics are hot

[heylanini]

Matt and Erik are NOT beating the bromance allegations

[goldenxlovers-blog]

Show Review: Monday Night Raw 15/10/18

MNR Review

Hello! Welcome to my first ever wrestling show review. A few administrative points before we get onto the actual show;

Firstly, this is my first time doing anything like this, so any kind of feedback or constructive criticism is highly appreciated. Secondly, this review is probably going to be quite lengthy due to Raw being 3 hours and there being a lot to discuss/mostly complain about. Lastly, this review is aimed at those who watch the product most weeks, so it is written assuming the reader knows the basic details of the show (commentators, ongoing storylines etc.), and I don’t plan to go through matches spot for spot unless something catches my eye particularly. Alright, lets get into the show!

 We kick off with Michael Cole welcoming us to Philadelphia, PA. The crowd is fired up which seems to be the norm for Philly in my experience, having been at the 2014 Royal Rumble, famous for Roman Reigns being boo’d out of the building. Braun, Dolph and Drew make their entrance together. Seeing someone like Dolph mimic Braun’s mannerisms is always funny to me. Before they start their promo the phrases ‘best in the world’ and ‘world cup’ have been mentioned at least 3 times and I feel this is going to be an ongoing complaint of mine. They cut a pretty standard promo about being the greatest 3 man group in history after beating The Shield last week and we get a replay of McIntyre kicking Ambrose’s head off. I’m starting to not care for The Shield as much but the story with Dean potentially turning and the good in-ring work is just about keeping me interested. Braun talks about his match at Crown Jewel but much like Cole earlier doesn’t mention the location due to the obvious controversy. Drew and Dolph both mention ‘best in the world’ yet again and we get a bit of dissention as they talk about facing off in the finals of the world cup. Seth and Roman finally appear on the stage, Seth drops a cheesesteak reference and after saying nothing of relevance declares he’ll face Drew in a qualifying match for the world cup right now.

 After adverts Drew/Seth kicks off which I’m very excited for since I like both guys a lot. They start with a nice wrestling sequence where Drew displays his obvious power advantage over Seth. Cole drops the ‘best in the world’ line once again and I die a bit inside. Drew gets Seth up for a powerbomb with a deadlift but gets countered. This spot was crazy smooth and I’m loving the ‘new’ McIntyre. Seth goes for the standard suicide dive but gets caught in a belly to belly on the outside. Again I wasn’t planning to go spot for spot but this match has started really hot. Dolph runs down to cause the distraction and Seth gets tossed into the bars beneath the ring, another great spot. After some back and forth including a great falcon arrow counter, Seth takes out both Drew and Dolph with a suicide dive each and Dean runs out to counter Ziggler’s interference. All 4 men fight outside and Drew gets curb stomped leading to a count-out victory for Seth. Great TV match between 2 guys who can certainly go, finish was a bit flat for me but I encourage you to watch this.

 After a break we get a backstage promo from The Shield where Seth slips and calls Ambrose a lunatic. Ambrose talks about only being good for laughs despite always backing up Seth/Roman and it makes me long for the Ambrose turn.

 We see a replay of DX’s promo from last week followed by a spooky Brothers of Destruction promo. I’m sort of excited for this match but I can’t take Kane seriously with this gear and DX doesn’t really work as a concept when both members are old corporate suits. This promo was completely standard boring nostalgia bait, but I understand some people like that.

 Ember Moon is out next and yells down the camera like a mong ruining her entrance. Nia Jax appears and is apparently Ember’s tag partner. Back from ads and Tamina and Dana Brooke are in the ring. Cole mentions how this is Tamina’s return from injury and she doesn’t even get an entrance. Commentary shill a battle royale for the Evolution PPV featuring some of the best women in the company which I feel is slightly ridiculous. People like Asuka and Ember are far better than a battle royale, even Carmella has been improving leaps and bounds and should be featured more. This match is standard tag fare, when Nia and Tamina are in the ring together it really drags. Dana gets tagged in and eats the Eclipse for 3, thank god. After the match the women do that stupid spot where they throw people over the ropes before a battle royale just to show it’s possible. I’ve very quickly come down from the high of the first match.

 We get a little video package of The Bellas turning on Ronda last week. Ronda makes her entrance smiling ear to ear which I dislike in such a personal feud as this. Once she grabs a mic she stops smiling for a second until the crowd chants for her and she cracks again. Ronda stumbles through her promo and The Bellas appear on the stage. They cut a promo about disrespect which is the second one of the show. According to The Bellas they made the word ‘diva’ mean something. Ronda sort of interrupts but literally just asks if they have anything else to say. She then talks about ‘sister soldiers’ and then rags on the Bellas for leeching off the names of their men which is the best line of the promo. ‘The only door you ever knocked down was the one to John Cena’s bedroom’, brutal. That causes Nikki Bella to spring into action by ripping off her shirt and twirling her arse for some reason. A security team come out and all die by Ronda’s hands. That was arduous. I think Ronda is great in the ring for how little she’s wrestled but my god are her promos awful.

 They show a replay of big gold condom Kurt Angle winning the battle royale from last week which flows into a backstage promo with Kurt Angle in vacation gear. I refuse to believe that man doesn’t take his singlets on holiday. Acting GM Baron Corbin makes a match with Angle against The Authors of Pain later tonight.

 Finally we get another match after suffering through that Bella promo. Luckily for me it’s Ambrose/Ziggler and I suddenly become interested in the show again. Dolph makes his entrance and for some reason he’s wearing a hoodie instead of his cool silver jacket from earlier. Michael Cole once again drops that bloody ‘best in the world’ line and at this point I’m looking for something to hang myself from. Ambrose snapmares Dolph and smacks him with a few crossfaces. I love Ambrose’s new style since his return matching his increased bulk. We get some standard TV match back and forth until Dean goes to the top rope and gets countered into an X-Factor. Dean lands kinda awkwardly on his feet first but the move looks fine and he doesn’t seem to be injured. Weirdly it’s at this point that the crowd die, I’m surprised they held on this long. Ambrose hits Dolph with the Hook and Ladder, a move from his indy wrestling days which he seems to be bringing back, and it looks really good. Drew runs out for some interference similarly to earlier and Rollins follows. Seth ends up distracting Dean and Dolph gets the superkick for the 3 count. This was a good TV match but I’m slightly bias since I love both guys. Ziggler winning was likely the right decision since most of the world cup field thus far was face.

 Post-match Dean walks away but Seth gives chase almost leading to a brawl until Roman separates them. Corbin comes out and makes The Shield versus Braun, Dolph and Drew for the main event, for the 3rd show in a row. Roman stares daggers through Corbin. I’d like these two in a real feud at some point, maybe not for the belt though.

 Mixed Match Challenge competitors Finn Balor and Bayley enter together. Finn is far better than this and I wish they’d do something with him. Backstage we get a little promo with Braun and his squad, basically the same thing as last week with Braun warning them not to screw up. Jinder and his crew are here wrestling Finn yet again. Bayley attempts to get a slow clap going to no reaction at all. Finn mercifully wins a completely nothing match with the Coup De Grace, please never let these two wrestle again. Randomly Bobby Lashley and Lio Rush make their way down to the ring. Lashley does some poses in the corner and Lio Rush spouts some weird lines about nobody smelling like Lashley. Finn literally just leaves without any trouble. Silly me for thinking they’d actually give Finn a decent storyline.

 We come back from the break to Tyler Breeze getting ready to be sacrificed to the giant baby god Lashley. After even more poses from Bobby Breeze actually gets a shot in which surprised me. Lashley hits a Yokosuka cutter which looks really good, weird that he’s randomly switched from the Dominator he used to do to this but I like it.

 Trish and Lita are out next for even more nostalgia. It’s lost on me since I didn’t watch in the Attitude Era but it’s nice for the live crowd if nothing else. Lita says one sentence then Alexa Bliss and Mickie James make their way out. James is dressed like Bliss and it looks like granny is trying way too hard. Alexa is a great promo and it’s no different here but Mickie is just very cringey. Trish and Lita try and appeal to a younger market and say the word ‘practice’ about 50 times. Nothing happens as per usual.

 Some random is wearing Kurt’s big gold condom and wrestling the Authors of Pain. After this guy dies Kurt appears behind Corbin on the stage and barely gets him up for the Angle slam. Their match will probably be fine, but that’s more because I still enjoy Kurt Angle.

 Riott Squad randomly pour condiments over Natalya’s dressing room door and Liv Morgan makes a noise like a dog being kicked. What was the point of this.

 Riott Squad are out after another break. Natalya comes out next holding a microphone and I’m scared. Natalya is completely fine in the ring but should be nowhere near a mic. She cuts a bad promo and brings out Bayley and Sasha Banks as back up. Cole screams ‘IT’S BOSS TIME’ and suddenly I don’t hate the ‘best in the world’ stuff anymore. I’m a big fan of the Riott Squad especially Ruby but I couldn’t begin to care about Natalya or this match. Nattie gets Ruby in the Sharpshooter and all the women brawl with the faces standing tall. I’m conscious that this review may paint me as disliking women’s wrestling as a whole but it’s more than most of the women’s segments on this show have been questionable at best.

 Here’s Elias next, he cuts a promo about the future and John Cena and rags on Philly and what I assume is a sporting mascot of some kind. I love Elias but he’s starting to wear a bit thin for me. I feel like they either need to do something of note with him or not, stop letting him stagnate. Apollo Crews of all people interrupts. He cuts a promo about how he can’t sing and he isn’t that funny and he’s not wrong. Crews is sick of people passing him by, and while I don’t rate him that highly, I’m all for new people getting a chance. Apollo hits an impressive military press causing Elias to flee. Pretty standard stuff here but at least it’s someone new.

 Finally we’re at the main event. Braun, Drew and Dolph make their entrance together same as earlier and Dolph is back to the sick jacket rather than the hoodie. The Shield come out through the crowd and must fight through a sea of twats. Dean and Seth start off doing tag moves like nothing happened until Ziggler pushes Rollins into Dean and the tension starts again. Reigns manages to get a chant for himself while Ziggler is getting heat on him. Philly is not where I imagined Roman would actually get a positive chant. Braun and Drew tag themselves in a couple times and argue giving Reigns time to recover and hit a samoan drop on Braun. After a bit more standard action Roman finally makes a tag and Seth and Dean run wild taking out all 3 opponents. Ambrose hits Dirty Deeds on Drew but Dolph breaks up the pin with Seth’s body. Seth and Dean get into a bit of a brawl as Dolph hits the Zig Zag for a close 2 count. Roman dodges a claymore kick from Drew and sends him flying into Braun. Dolph eats the triple powerbomb for the 3 count and The Shield embrace and leave. After the match Braun yells at Ziggler for screwing up and not carrying his weight and murders him with a powerslam. Drew nails Braun with a claymore kick and stands tall. I think from an in ring standpoint this match was the weakest of the 3 these teams have had but story-wise it was great. I didn’t want to get this deep into all the spots of the match but there was so much story ground to cover I couldn’t really help it.

 Overall this show was a bit of a drag to get through but that’s not shocking from a 3 hour show. Whilst there were many highlights like the Shield storyline and matches, the women’s segments were poorly planned and executed and made the show feel far longer than it was. If I had the choice I’d give this show a miss, definitely not a must-watch Raw.