OO Column: Online Onslaught by Rick Scaia (Pro Wrestling News, Analysis, and Commentary... WWE, WWF, WCW, ECW, The Rock, Brock Lesnar, Triple H, Rob Van Dam, Hulk Hogan, Undertaker, Trish Stratus, Lita, Stacy Keibler, Divas, RAW, SmackDown, WrestleMania

OO RAW RECAP
WWE Promises the Moon, Delivers a Helicopter Ride
September 8, 2014

by Rick Scaia
Exclusive to OOWrestling.com

I assure you, it was my original intent to file a recap for SmackDown. But then I watched it, and realized that I'd be able to summarize events in about 150 words, so I'd just wait and throw it in as the PreRamble for the RAW Recap.

It goes a little something like this:

"The show starts off with a John Cena promo, but after a series of interruptions and rebuttals, Triple H has no choice but to declare a 10-man main event: Cena/Reigns/Jericho/Big Show/Henry vs. Rollins/Kane/Bray/Harper/Rowan. The whole thing takes almost 20 minutes.

Then the main event happens, and it's a full 30 minutes long. It's OK, and a nice display of solid in-ring work. First Big Show got off to a hot start. Then Henry was a face in peril. Decoy hot tag to Reigns. Then he's a face in peril. Decoy hot tag to Jericho. Face in peril. Real hot tag to Cena, and he gets the win about 45 seconds later.

In between, the remaining 70 minutes featured a nice Ziggler/Cesaro match (in which Sheamus caused Cesaro to lose), and absolutely nothing else worth mentioning."

There. By my count, that's 135 words, so I had room to spare.

And now, with you thus informed of the weekend's events, we can get on with what happened on tonight's just-completed edition of RAW:

Cold Open: Spotlights are swirling, "Theme from Lowering of the Cage" is playing, and (duh) the cage is being lowered from the ceiling. Because Chris Jericho vs. Bray Wyatt will open the show.

Video Hype Package: also tonight, there will be Reigns/Orton, Cena proving he's ready for Lesnar, and some other thing. Jerry Somebodyorother.... if I ignore him, maybe he'll go away?

CHRIS JERICHO vs. BRAY WYATT (w/ Harper & Rowan) (Steel Cage Match)

The fireflies are out in force for the Wyatts' entrance, but as soon as the lights flick back on, it's a unanimous-sounding "WHY TWO JAY" chant. Also, Cole & the Gang clairfy that this will be conducted under hybrid cage match rules: you can win by pinfall or submission, or also by escape.

I stand corrected: after an initial flurry by Jericho, Wyatt takes over. And all of a sudden those "WHY TWO JAY" chants are countered by "LET'S GO WHY AT." Anything but unanimous tonight in Baltimore.

Wyatt's in control for a bit, but when he whips Jericho into the turnbuckle at the 5 minute mark, Jericho leap frogs onto the top rope and goes for the first real escape of the match. Wyatt puts an end to that by yanking Jericho off the cage, and then implementing the first cage-related offense of the match. He tosses Jericho head-first into the cage, and follows up by splashing Jericho against the cage wall.

With Jericho crumbled on the apron and Wyatt taunting the fans, we break for...

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Back, and Wyatt hits his low crossbody and goes for the first pinfall (that we know of). Jericho kicks out at 2, but is still out of it. So Bray goes for his first escape climb. Jericho's able to pull him off, and after a bit of the "YAY"/"BOO" punches, he stages his comeback.

It all builds up to the bulldog/Lionsault combo, but when he goes for the Walls, Wyatt kicks him off. Both men down and slow to get up, so we get more of the dueling chants. Eventually Jericho tries for another escape, but Wyatt joins him on the top rope. After another exchange of punches, Wyatt hits a superplex.

Jericho is down and out. but Wyatt gets cocky and decides to do his creepy Exorcists spider walk towards the open cage door. That gives Jericho the time he needs to recover and foil the escape. In fact, he picks Wyatt's ankle, and briefly cinches in the Walls... but Wyatt's still fresh enough to power out, sending Jericho face-first into the cage again. On the rebound, he hits Jericho with a DDT for a convincing near fall.

Wyatt tries for a climb escape, but Jericho catches him on the top rope. Jericho turns it into a turnbuckle mount-and-punch, and then hurricaranas Wyatt to the mat. Jericho's thinking of escaping, but Harper and Rowan swarm on that side of the cage, chasing Jericho back up to the top of the cage.

Standing on top of the cage, Jericho sees Wyatt just getting to his feet in the middle of the ring, and gives the international sign for "What the Hell?"... and dives off the cage, hitting Wyatt with a crossbody. Holy Shit. That doesn't happen often with the new higher cage, and the last time it did, wasn't Cody Rhodes on the shelf for about a month?

Still, a damned impressive sight. Jericho grabs at his knee, and can't follow up. It actually looks like Wyatt may be the first to get back to his feet... and sure enough, he does, and he charges Jericho. But Jericho lowbridges him, and Wyatt crashes into the cage.

Jericho begins crawling for the door... Wyatt manages to catch him at the very last second. Jericho's hanging half out the door, grabbing onto the apron and ring steps, while Wyatt's trying to yank him back into the ring. It's a good 30 seconds of 50/50 tug o' war...

Then Wyatt has an epiphany: he just starts clubbing away at Jericho's "injured" knee. All of a sudden, Jericho can't keep up his end of the battle. Wyatt pulls Jericho away from the brink of victory, and then rolls out over top of him, hitting the floor.

Your Winner: Bray Wyatt, via escape, in about 18 minutes. Pretty solid action throughout, but it definitely hit a huge crescendo with Jericho's insane dive off the top, and then the tug o' war finish.

After the Match: Wyatt continued the assault, slamming the cage door into Jericho's knee, and then capping things with a Sister Abigail in the center of the ring. Huh, that sure seemed like a write-out... I thought Jericho was hanging around for 2 more weeks, but maybe not?

Backstage: Kane and Seth Rollins are talking about what a great way to kick off the "Season Premiere" that was... but HHH walks in and says that was a great start, but it's gonna get even better. As if on cue, Randy Orton pops in and is all "Did someone say even better? Because I've got some ideas about that. It'll make what you guys did to Dean Ambrose look like child's play. All I need is the OK, boss." Triple H seems intrigued, and grants permission for whatever Randall's got in mind.

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INVASION OF PRIVACY CAN BE FUN!!!

Dolph Ziggler hits the ring, in street clothes... he says that last week, a bunch of celebrities got their clouds hacked, and their personal property stolen. Nobody was immune: not A-listers, not B-listers, not even D-listers. And nobody deserves that.

Well, maybe one D-lister does... that's right, Dolph claims to have hacked Miz's cell phone, and here's the photographic proof: first, a shot of Miz shaving his chest. Then another with Miz "enjoying one of his trademark facials." EDGY~!

But Dolph says there's one more, and it really takes the cake. We won't believe it. Brace ourselves, because here....

Miz's music hits, and he comes out on the stage (with Damien Mizdow in tow) shouting about how this is a disgusting violation of privacy, and a crime. Ziggler should cease and desist because he's already got lawyers at the ready, and Dolph is only digging his hole deeper and deeper.

Ziggler shrugs and says "Well, if I'm already in trouble, I might as well get my money's worth. Show the picture!" So they do: it's a naked Miz (back to the camera) getting spray tan applied by Sandow. OK, so that's pretty damned funny.

Miz is outraged, but Sandow's more just mildly embarrassed to be tangetially involved. I guess months and months of ritual humiliation have thickened his skin. But when Miz calls for charging Ziggler, Sandow goes along with it.

So Sandow eats a dropkick, while Miz just drops off the apron and hangs him out to dry, muttering in indignation. Ziggler's daring him to get in the ring, but Miz seems content to wait until Night of Champions.

I'm not of a mind that the "Fappening" is something to be downplayed or used as comedy fodder. It's a crime, committed by awful excuses for human beings, and perpetuated by an over-stimulated populace who can't muster a whit of willpower or self control. Or even basic empathy, as witnessed by the fact that people keep calling it a "leak" and not a "hack" because it allows them to enjoy the delusion that it's OK to look. I mean, that part HAS to be on purpose? People DO know what words mean, and they know "leak" is not even close to the right word to use, and are just repressing that knowledge in order to take it easier on their consciences, right?

I digress. At the end of the day, I'll sell my high fallutin' morals down the river and just admit that was pretty funny. More to the point, it was a solid way to play off of current events in a way that's pitch perfect for Miz's character...

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PAIGE & AJ vs. NATALYA & ROSA

Paige and AJ are partners because they are "frenemies" both in love with the Women's Title. Nattie and Rosa are here because of That Which OO Does Not Acknowledge As Valid Entertainment.

Paige and Nattie start, and it's OK. But then Rosa tags in, and refuses to tag out. Neither does Paige, it seems. Paige, because she's showing off in front of her #1 Contender; and Rosa because -- again -- something to do with proving herself to Nattie, as seen exclusively on TWOODNAAVE.

Or, rather: as not seen by anyone with standards. Paige just womanhandles Rosa, who is not impressing Nattie or anyone else. Then AJ blind tags herself into the match, applies the Black Widow, and that's it.

Your Winners: AJ and Paige, via submission, in 3 minutes. Not very good, mostly because Rosa isn't very good, nor is TWOODNAAVE drama ever gonna resonate with me. But the AJ/Paige aspect of the story was well enough executed. After the match, AJ's music was playing and she was celebrating the fact that she won... but Paige threw it back in her face by grabbing her title belt and making out with it in front of AJ's face (building on last week's AJ promo where she talked about the title as an ex-boyfriend: intellectually, she knows it's not hers anymore, but she still doesn't like seeing it making out with somebody else).

Backstage: Jericho is getting checked out by a trainer, who's theorizing a meniscus tear. But we won't know until the swelling goes down and we can do an MRI. Till then, ice it. The trainer disappears, and suddenly Randy Orton swoops in and destroys Jericho, focusing on the knee.

So Orton's Plan beginulates. What else does he have in store? And welp, if that wasn't a write-out before, it sure as hell seems like one now.

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DARTH HEYMAN STRIKES BACK

Paul Heyman's standing in the middle of the ring, ready to speak on behalf of the World Heavyweight Champion, Brock Lesnar. In fact, he's ready to reveal some confidential information... he just wishes he could spill it right in John Cena's face.

Ask, and ye shall receive! Here's Cena, with what sounds like 40/60 cheers-to-boos. "You wanna says omething to my face? Well, I'm here. So talk."

So Heyman will. First, he commends Cena on having the guts to step up and face the music head-on. But it turns out, his client Brock Lesnar knew Cena would come out to the ring. So predictable. So Cena. So now, Heyman's "confidential insider information" is Lesnar's own hints on how Cena might be able to survive Night of Champions.

Cena cuts him off and says that's real cute. But he doesn't care. He doesn't need to hear Lesnar's hints, he doesn't need to hear Heyman cut the same promo he's been cutting ever since Lesnar beat the Undertaker. He just needs to do what the t-shirt says: Never Give Up.

Once again, Heyman says that's So Cena. Cena just can't help but be Cena. And that's part of the reason why Cena can't beat Lesnar. And it's related to the advice Heyman and Lesnar have for him: stop being Cena. Stop being the pandering good guy. Give in to the hate.

Emperor Heyman says he knows that, deep down, the "Cena Sucks" chants have to be eating Cena alive. Sure, Cena can claim not to care when it's solitary dirtbags like Heyman who say Cena Sucks... but it has to affect Cena when it's "them," and not just some of them, but a lot of them. He points out a guy with a Cena Sucks sign in the sixth row, and says "What you ever do to that guy? But he thinks you suck."

So c'mon, John, give in to the hate... Heyman implores Cena to join him in telling the fans to Shut Up. On the count of three.... but Cena won't do it.

Heyman goes a step further and says Cena used to have it in him, and he illustrates by cutting a rap on the guy with the Cena Sucks sign: "You sit there, thinking the sixth row is your haven / But you just got punked, like the Baltimore Ravens." Cute.

Heyman goes on an intense rant, imploring Cena to roll back the clock, get rid of the arm bands and the stupid t-shirts and catchphrases. Get angry, get mad. And then, and only then, might he survive Night of Champions. Furthermore, Brock Lesnar is personally begging Cena to give into the hate, because it'll make the fight that much more fun for him. SummerSlam was kind of boring, he wants a challenge. So please, PLEASE John Cena, drop the act, get angry, and give Lesnar the motivation he needs to take HIS game to a whole other level of brutality.

For the first time, Cena raises the mic to his mouth. And he directs his "Shut the hell up" to Heyman. He says even if he could change, he wouldn't want to, because he loves being John Cena. "Eat, Sleep, Be John Cena. Be John Cena. Be John Cena." He knows not everybody loves him. But he'll never sell out those who do, he'll never be anything less than a role model. Kids, military, yadda yadda yadda, and Cena somehow manages to take 3-4 minutes to make that 30 second point, as his default setting is always "Overreact to Everything with Shouting." Oh well.

He finally gets to some fresh material, saying he's sick of talking (about time) and ready to fight. And Heyman will do... but just so that nobody calls him a bully, he'll give Heyman a week to prepare. In 7 days, though, Cena's gonna demolish someobdy. So Cena has some advice of his own: bring your client, bring The Beast, cuz Cena would love it.

Heyman's half of the promo was tremendous. Just awesome. Cena's hit the right notes, too, just too many times in too shouty a voice for it to click with me as being as "real" as Heyman's half (but as a pro wrestling promo about a fake storyline, I'm sure it worked on its intended audience). Plus, both halves will make for some nice sound bites once edited down into video package form.

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SHEAMUS vs. SETH ROLLINS (Non-Title)

About 2 minutes of hot start for Sheamus, ending when he chucks Rollins out of the ring. Then, Cesaro's music hits, and he materializes on the stage where he gestures (Broadly) that's he's just here to watch, not interfere.

With the staredown on, we break for...

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Back, and Rollins is in control, while Cesaro has made his way to ringside. Still not interfering, but he's definitely loitering closer.

Sheamus manages a comeback, building to a near fall after the Irish Curse, but as soon as he looks to follow up, Cesaro goes over to the Timekeeper's Cubicle and grabs Sheamus' US Title. He gets up on the apron, and taunts Sheamus with the belt.

Sheamus falls for the distraction. He goes over and chucks Cesaro off the apron, but then Rollins catches him with a dropkick from behind, and finishes it with a Curb Stomp.

Your Winner: Seth Rollins, via pinfall, in 8 minutes. Pretty basic, simple stuff that never quite got revved up to cruising speed (such is life when you go 8 minutes, and 3 of them are a commercial break), but which effectively serviced the upcoming PPV US Title match.

After the Match: Cesaro piled on by hitting a Neutralizer on Sheamus, and returns his belt to him in as disdainful a fashion imaginable.

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Oh Say Can You See / Lana's Sweet Sweet Ass: Rusev and Lana come out onto the stage, where Lana mocks the stupid Americans who probably don't even know that the Star Spangled Banner was written in this craphole of Baltimore. But it was, so she graces us with her Weird Al version of it, with pro-Rusev lyrics.

Then she calls for the Soviet National Anthem, which plays while Rusev waves the Russian flag. JBL is outraged. OUTRAGED, he tells ya!

This Thursday: NXT Takeover happens on the WWE Network, and OO highly recommends you check it out if you're a subscriber. The nature of NXT as WWE's farm system keeps them from hitting the kind of soaring Video Kepper-worthy highs as the big leagues, but the weekly NXT show is consistently very good, and their two previous "PPVs" on the Network have been outstanding.

And apparently, you won't have to take my word for it. Coming out of the video package, Cole tells us we're gonna get a preview of Takeover when the men in the Fatal Fourway main event come to RAW for a tag tam match. Neato.

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ADRIAN NEVILLE & SAMI ZAYN vs. TYLER BREEZE & TYSON KIDD

All four men are already in the ring, so it's not exactly the full RAW treatment... Zayn starts against Breeze, and controls the action until Tyson Kidd blind tags himself into the match. While Zayn is still focused on Breeze, Kidd strikes.

Zayn is now our Time Compressed Face in Peril, as Kidd and Breeze trade a few tags. The fans -- some of them, at least -- are familiar enough with these guys that they fire up the "Ole" Soccer Wanker chant in support of Zayn.

He finally gets separation by flipping through a suplex attempts, and tags in the NXT Champion, Neville... he immediately wows the crowd, showing off why he's "The Man Gravity Forgot." Kidd tries to snuff that out by interfering, But Zayn rejoins the fight, and we get a brief Pier Four Brawl.

Zayn and Kidd powder out, and it's back to Neville vs. Breeze. Neville floors Breeze with a stiff kick, and then lands the always-impressive Corkscrew SSP.

Your Winners: Adrian Neville and Sami Zayn, via pinfall, in 4 minutes. So yeah, super time crompressed, but Neville legit wowed the crowd and came off like a star, and might have convinced a few extra eyeballs to watch him defend the NXT Title on Thursday. And that's why they sent them out there.

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BELLA INTERVENTION WITH JERRY SPRINGER

If you actually give a shit about this, you'll have to go find another recap. OO has its pride, and will not lower itself to report on this indefensible garbage.

So go ahead and knock yourself out. I'll still be here when you get back and want to hear about the parts of the show that aren't utterly moronic drivel. Seriously, there are only two ways someone would want to watch this: (1) they are legitimately suffering from major head trauma or other brain dysfunction, or (2) they know it's terrible but watch it ironically.

And admitting something is terrible doesn't make it OK for you to watch, anyway. I think this whole segment was WWE doing just that: "Hey, you're right. This is awful horseshit that is more appropriate for Jerry Springer. But hey, here's JERRY SPRINGER HIMSELF, so now it's OK to like it. Suck it, Rick Scaia. Yes, YOU, Rick Scaia, the only who started calling this crap 'Springer-esque' two months ago and wouldn't fucking shut up about it. We're owning our awfulness, so now you can't use it against us!"

Wrong. I'm still right, and this is still terrible, terrible TV that makes it very hard to admit to being a wrestling fan in public.

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LOS MATADORES vs. GOLDUST & STARDUST

No Torito, who is apparently still "hurt" after an incident that happened between these two teams on Tuesday Night's Main Event.

Big flashy start for Los Matadores, but once they hit a big stereo plancha, reality sets in. One of these teams is contending for the tag titles, the other is comic relief.

Your Winners: Stardust and Goldust, via pinfall, in about 2 minutes. I can state, with authority, that this was a thing that happened.

After the Match: the Dust Brothers pause to celebrate on the stage, and as soon as they turn back to the audience, the Usos attack from behind, Jey wielding a crutch. Winner: the Usos and Crutch.

In Memory: of Joan Rivers. She was at WrestleMania 2, and had WWF/E stars on her various talk shows over the years, as illustrated in clip form.

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ADAM ROSE (w/ The Menagerie of Hipster Wangnozzles) vs. TITUS O'NEIL (w/ Heath Slater)

After last week's shennaningans, the Bunny is front and center with the Menagerie. And as soon as Titus settles in on offense, the Bunny goes into full-on cheerleader mode, pounding the apron and such.

This annoys Slater, who charges the Bunny. The Bunny dodges, and hits a superkick on Slater. For the second week in a row, the distraction causes Titus to get pinned after a flash Party Foul.

Your Winner: Adam Rose, via pinfall, in 2 minutes flat. After the match, the Bunny gets in the ring to celebrate with Rose, and with Rose's encouragement, hits a top rope splash on Titus for good measure..

Backstage: Renee Young is set to interview Roman Reigns, and wants to know if he's got a plan to deal with Randy Orton, who's promised all manner of doom and gloom. Reigns is brief and to the point: the Viper may have the venom, but he's got the antidote. He brandishes the Superman Fist, and asks us to Believe That.

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Update: per John Cena's threat of violence against Paul Heyman, Brock Lesnar is now confirmed to appear at next week's RAW. And Cena wants to fight him. DON'T MISS IT~! Or do, either way, I'm still here to tell you what happened.

ROMAN REIGNS vs. RANDY ORTON

Full boxing-style ring introductions, for some reason. Then the bell rings, and it's back and forth punchy-kicky. Reigns gets the better of it, and pummels Orton out of the ring. But when Orton tries to milk it, Reigns goes to fetch him and Orton turns the tables, tossing Reigns into the ring post.

Orton takes things back into the ring, and can't maintain the advantage. Reigns has a counter to everything, and counters to Orton's counters until Randall finally decides to take a little break to regroup. As he ducks outside the ring, we break for....

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Back, and Orton has taken over, using his increasingly common tactic of luring his opponent outside the ring, and then using the furniture to his advantage. In this case, Reigns met the ringsteps during the break.

Then Orton went to his long-standing most common tactic: a chinlock. This allowed Reigns a chance to fire up out of it for a brief hope spot, but things spilled outside, Reigns ate the ring post, and we're back to where we started.

Another flurry by Reigns -- after he dodged a corner charge and hit a big clothesline -- but AGAIN things turn out badly for him when they go outside. In this instance, Orton ducks into the ring first, and catches Reigns stepping through the ropes, clotheslining his neck across the top rope.

Orton follows up with a superplex, and with Reigns down and Orton admiring his handiwork, we apparently have to watch another set of...

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Back again, and I guess the reason we had to shoehorn another commercial break into the match is so that The Master could showcase his Chinlock Coming Out of an Ad Break skills. Eventually, Reigns fires up again, and escapes the hold, but Orton just goes and cinches it in again. Oy.

Reigns fires up again, and this time, it looks like he's gonna make it stick. He wins the "YAY!"/"BOO!" punches, and hits a Rock Bottom. Both men down, ref applies a count, and Reigns gets up at 7 to continue his onslaught. Near fall off a Samoan Drop.

But then he steps back and is thinking Spear, but Orton catches him with a snap powerslam, replicating a very cool spot from their SummerSlam match. Orton wastes about a minute taunting Reigns carcass before finally trying to follow-up... Reigns easily blocks the Hanging DDT, and reverses it into his running apron dropkick thingie.

Orton ducks a corner charge, and Reigns eats the ring post (again). Orton hits the wraparound backbreaker for a two count. Then he again just sort of stands around wasting time. When he finally gets around to charging Reigns, he eats a big boot. Reigns hops up on the second rope and tries to come off with a double axehandle (or so it seems), but Orton again catches him with the snap powerslam.

Only a two count. Orton finally realizes all his lethargic loitering isn't such a great idea, so he follows up in timely fashion with the Hanging DDT. Viper coils, but as soon as he comes in for the RKO, Reigns springs to his feet and launches a Superman Punch at Orton.

Then, before Reigns can even go for a cover, Seth Rollins and Kane sprint out and attack. As they decimate Reigns, 3-on-1, a whole crew of stagehands come out, too, and start futzing around under the ring.

Your Winner: Roman Reigns, via disqualification, in about 16 minutes. And 6 of those were commercials. Another 3 or 4 were chinlocks. Plus a couple more for Orton's greater-than-usual display of lethargy. Then the non-finish. So yeah, not aggressively terrible or anything, but certainly a far cry from their SummerSlam match. Just a forgettable affair that served as the pretext for what happens next....

After the Match: "Theme from the Lowering of the Cage" fires up as Orton calls for the cage to be lowered. So (duh) the cage is lowered. They're gonna try to trap Reigns in the ring, with it 3-on-1. But just as the cage is about to lock into place, Reigns manages a quick rally, and gets Kane and Rollins out of the ring.

Then the cage is in place, and it's Reigns and a chair vs. Orton. The biggest miscalculation ever? It seems like it, for about 30 seconds, as Reigns uses the chair against Orton... but Rollins has recovered and climbed to the top of the cage. He comes off with a glorious high cross body that much more graceful than Jericho's was.

Then Kane orders the refs to unlock the cage door, and he gets in to join the fun. Reigns gets a few chair shots from Orton. A chokeslam from Kane. This is supposedly all Orton's Master Plan (with HHH's approval, as seen by the helpful stage crew), but when all is said and done, it's Rollins who gets to hit the punchline. He hits a Curb Stomp and trash talks Reigns as they play his music and we fade to black...

And so ends the show. Temporarily taking the Springer Crap out of the equation, it wasn't a terrible show... but I also don't think they did themselves many favors by over-hyping the show as a special "Season Premiere" when (a) there's no such thing in pro wrestling, and (b) they wound up delivering Sustainable Episodic TV, and not anything all that special.

Jericho/Wyatt was pretty good. But as the HHH skit said, it was supposed to be "just the start"... but it didn't really build from there.

Instead, it was serviceable TV that keeps the ball rolling towards Night of Champions, but without anything that'll ever cause Wrestling Fans of the Future to look back on September 8, 2014, as a night where anything happened worth watching again.

They Heyman/Cena promo was pretty solid, with the Darth Heyman half really hitting strong and Cena's half serving its purpose. Rollins/Sheamus (with Cesaro) certainly accomplished the goal of making Cesaro a halfway plausible threat. And the NXT guys were definitely a neat little breath of fresh air, but were presented mostly as a novelty.

Beyond that, nothing else rose much above filler until the main event. And some of it wasn't even good filler. On top of that, the main event very much worked in terms of the story, after the match. But the match itself certainly seemed to under-deliver compared to what we've seen from Orton and Reigns before, which gets you docked a couple points

That said, the post-match angle clearly paints a picture of the Authority running amok. None of Rollins/Orton/Kane have a match set up for Night of Champions, so this creates the option of pulling a six-man out of their ass next Monday. It's just a question of who comes to side with Reigns.

Maybe Jericho wasn't actually written out? Maybe that was just done to close the book on Bray and shift him over to the Authority for his final match of this run. Ambrose is always an option, and if he can make a quick cameo on RAW, he finishes filming his movie later in the week, and could start back full time starting with NoC. With Friday's 10-man, you could even have Big Show lurking on the fringes as another option. [If you expand to an 8-man, that could also get Bray Wyatt in on the heel side.]

So the match was bleh, but the possibilities are endless due to Orton's Plan coming to fruition. That's not nothing. That's sustainable episodic TV. Sure, we were promised the moon and the stars and some kind of special episode, but let's not allow that to color our opinion too much.

Sustainable Episodic TV is usually worth a solid B grade. But here's where we add the Springer Crap back in. We don't have to talk anymore about it, but we do have to account for its existence. Its horrible, mind-bending, indefensible existence.

And that makes the final grade for tonight's show a C-minus.

SMACKDOWN RECAP: Bonding Exercises

RAW RECAP: The New Guy Blows It

PPV RECAP: WWE Night of Champions 2012

SMACKDOWN RECAP: 18 Seconds? NO! NO! NO!

RAW RECAP: The Show Must Go On

SMACKDOWN RECAP: The Boot Gets the Boot

RAW RECAP: Heyman Lands an Expansion Franchise

SMACKDOWN RECAP: Losing is the new Winning

RAW RECAP: Say My Name

SMACKDOWN RECAP: Deja Vu All Over Again

RAW RECAP: Dignity Before Gold?

PPV RECAP: SummerSlam 2012

SMACKDOWN RECAP: Backfired!

RAW RECAP: Bigger IS Better

SMACKDOWN RECAP: Hitting with Two Strikes

RAW RECAP: Heel, or Tweener?

SMACKDOWN RECAP: Destiny Do-Over

RAW RECAP: CM Punk is Not a Fan of Dwayne

SMACKDOWN RECAP: The Returnening

RAW RECAP: Countdown to 1000

PPV RECAP: WWE Money in the Bank 2012

SMACKDOWN RECAP: Friday Night ZackDown

RAW RECAP: Closure's a Bitch

SMACKDOWN RECAP: In-BRO-pendence Day

RAW RECAP: Crazy Gets What Crazy Wants

SMACKDOWN RECAP: Five Surprising MitB Deposits

RAW RECAP: Weeeellll, It's a Big MitB

SMACKDOWN RECAP: #striketwo

RAW RECAP: Johnny B. Gone

PPV RECAP: WWE No Way Out 2012

RAW RECAP: Crazy Go Nuts

SMACKDOWN RECAP: You're Welcome

RAW RECAP: Be a Star, My Ass

SMACKDOWN RECAP: Needs More Kane?

RAW RECAP: You Can't See Him

SMACKDOWN RECAP: Lady Power

RAW RECAP: Big Johnny Still in Charge

PPV RECAP: WWE Over the Limit 2012

SMACKDOWN RECAP: One Gullible Fella

RAW RECAP: Anvil, or Red Herring?

SMACKDOWN RECAP: Everybody Hates Berto

RAW RECAP: Look Who's Back

SMACKDOWN RECAP: Care to go Best of Five?

RAW RECAP: An Ace Up His Sleeve

PPV RECAP: WWE Extreme Rules 2012

SMACKDOWN RECAP: Sh-Sh-Sheamus and the nOObs

RAW RECAP: Edge, the Motivational Speaker?

SMACKDOWN RECAP: AJ is Angry, Jilted

RAW RECAP: Maybe Cena DOES Suck?

SMACKDOWN RECAP: No! No! No!

RAW RECAP: Brock's a Jerk

SMACKDOWN RECAP: Back with a Bang

RAW RECAP: Yes! Yes! Yes!

PPV RECAP: WWE WrestleMania 28

E-MAIL RICK SCAIA
BROWSE THE OO ARCHIVES

Rick Scaia is a wrestling fan from Dayton, OH. He's been doing this since 1995, but enjoyed it best when the suckers from SportsLine were actually PAYING him to be a fan.