Powered by LiquidWeb Search all of OO for news, columnists, and articles about your favorites!

 
News  -/-  Recaps  -/-  Columns  -/-  Features  -/-  Reference  -/-  Archives  -/-  Interact  -/-  Site Info

 

Donate to Online Onslaught!
CLICK HERE TO HELP KEEP OO ALIVE!
MAIN PAGE
NEWS
     Daily Onslaught
RECAPS
     RAW
     SmackDown!
     PPV
     NWA-TNA
     Heat
     Velocity
     Other 
COLUMNS
     Obtuse Angle
     RAW Satire
     The Broad
         Perspective

     Inside the Ropes
     OOld Tyme
         Rasslin' Revue
    
Circa/Dungeon 
     Title Wave
    
Crashing the
         Boards

     Deconstruction
     Smarky Awards
     Big in Japan
     Guest Columnists
     2 Out of 3 Falls
     Devil's Due
     The Ring
     The Little Things
     Timeline
    
SK Rants
    
The Mac Files
     Sq'd Circle Jerk
     TWiFW
FEATURES
     RAW vs. SD!:
         Brand Battle
 
     Cheap Heat 
     Year in Review
     Monday Wars
     Road to WM 

     Interviews
REFERENCE
     Title Histories
     Real Names
     PPV Results
     Smart Glossary
     Birthdays 
ARCHIVES 
INTERACT
     Message Boards
     Live Chat 
SITE INFO
     Contact
     OO History

If you attend a live show, or have any other news for us, just send an e-mail to this address!  We'd also love to hear from you if you've got suggestions or complaints about the site...  let us have it!


 
OO RAW RECAP
Sound and Fury Signifying Not Much
November 17, 2014

by Rick Scaia
Exclusive to OOWrestling.com

 

With season 6 of "Community" going into production this month, I decided it was time to begin the Mass Rewatchening, so that I can be fully caught up by the time the new episodes debut in early 2015.
 
And I am EXTREMELY pissed at myself for not realizing that Miz lifted his entire new schtick from Season 1, Episode 12, in which Jeff Winger discusses his lack of interest in fighting stemming from protecting "the Moneymaker." Complete with the same douchey gesture Miz uses.
 

That should have been right up my alley, and I completely missed it. Am I losing my touch? Or just being too hard on myself?
 
Either way, this realization led me to also theorize that Damien Sandow could basically be seen as Dean Pelton to Miz's Winger, which suddenly supplies an hilarious new subtext for us all to enjoy. Also, I now insist on WWE calling up Bayley to be the Annie of the group: you know, kind of an annoying load at first, but you suddenly realize she's pretty awesome towards the end of Season 2. For many varied reasons, but two of them are, admittedly, the boobs. I'm quite certain Bayley can do this.
 
And now, regardless of whether I'm losing my touch, or being too hard on myself, I am definitely digressing into the realm of foolishness. I shall reign myself in, and get down to business.
 
Here's what happened on tonight's just-completed RAW...

 
Opening Video Package for the Benefit of Those With ADD: OO does not recaps.

THE AUTHORITY PROMISES DOOM AND GLOOM

As Motorhead plays, the entirety of Team Authority (including all hangers-on, like Steph, Lana, and the New Stooges) hit the ring. Luke Harper is present, so just go ahead and make him officially the fifth man (last I saw, WWE was pretending this was still only 4-on-4, and the fifth men would be decided tonight).

Triple H talks about how Vince has added this new stipulation, and now the fans desperately want to see the Authority lose power and become lowly employees. And somehow, along the way, they started cheering Vince McMahon, who was the most vindictive evil boss ever. But now he's an adorable old man, and the next generation of power is in control.

And they're going to stay in control. They can't lose, because if they do, then the inmates will be running the asylum... and the last time the inmates ran the asylum was the Dying Days of WCW. He won't allow that to happen. He can't allow that to happen. No matter how much fun the fans think it might be to oust the Authority, that's not what's Best for Business.

So tonight, they'll make one last stab at talking sense into the members of Team Cena. The subtext is that they'll be putting Cena's team though hell, trying to scare them off. And then, at the end of the night, there will be a huge contract signing, and HHH can't wait to see who shows up to back Cena. Or more to the point, who doesn't.

Then Steph wastes a good 2 or 3 minutes of time just roll-calling Team Authority, even though we can already see them. Oy. But in the end, she tries to render this relevant by pointing out that they have 5 guys... but Team Cena only has 4.

Enter Ryback, who is the odds-on favorite to become Cena's fifth after coming to blows with Team Authority last week. He says that he's always on Team Ryback, and will always do what's Best for Ryback, and seems to be hinting that last week's Authority Beatdown means what Ryback wants is revenge.

Steph offers up tepid apologies to Ryback, and even gets Kane to do the same. When that doesn't seem to sway Ryback, Steph has the monkeys in the truck replay a Cena comedy promo from last year, in which he made Ryback look like a chump. Surely Ryback can't be interested in teaming with a man who disrespects him THAT much, can he?

Ryback seems a bit put off by that footage, but just repeats his "Team Ryback" line, and leaves.

HHH takes that as a confirmation of neutrality, and commends Ryback for staying out of it. As a result, he'll be spared the same fate as the rest of Team Cena... and that fate comes to pass RIGHT NOW. Dolph Ziggler, get on out here, cuz you're facing Luke Harper.

Oh, and by "right now," HHH means After These....

[ads]

DOLPH ZIGGLER vs. LUKE HARPER (IC Title Match)

Seth Rollins, flanked by the New Stooges, is sitting in on guest commentary... and Lilian Garcia has full boxing-style ring intros because during the ad break, this was turned into a match for Ziggler's IC Title.

Then, just as Lilian's wrapping up, the Stooges jump in the ring and attack Ziggler. Once they get the advantage, Rollins joins in and whaps Dolph in the head with his MitB Briefcase. The ref finally clears the ring, and wants to throw the match out. But Ziggler struggles to his feet and insists that he ring the bell to start the match.

Big running boot by Harper. Ziggler kicks out at 2. Powerbomb. Still only a 2. Harper charges Ziggler, but Ziggler low bridges him, and Harper tumbles out of the ring. With both men trying to regroup, and all of 30 seconds into the match, we already have to break for another goddamned set of...

[ads]

Back, and Harper's firmly in control. Gator Roll into a facelock gives Ziggler a resthold out of which he fires up. He dodges a corner charge and gets a flash Fameasser.... but he can't follow up, so Harper puts him back down with a Sidewalk Slam. Harper takes too much time setting up for a discus clothesline, and instead walks into a superkick.

Ziggler makes a cover, but only gets a 2, and then is slow to follow up, again. Harper sets up for another powerbomb, but Ziggler flips through.... but instead of it turning into a facebuster counter, Harper just steps out of the way and powers Ziggler's head into the mat. Then he hits his wicked Lariat, and gets the three count.

Your WInner, and NEW Intercontinental Champion: Luke Harper, via pinfall, in 8 minutes. And half of that was during an ad break, so this really gets about zero points in terms of action. But in terms of telling the story of the Authority trying to decimate Team Cena, it was a solid hit, with an unexpected title change.

After the Match: that storyline element continued as the Stooges stomped away on Ziggler's carcass, and Rollins himself finally joined in with a Curb Stomp. Will Ziggler be able to show up for tonight's Contract Signing, or has he finally had enough? Pretend like you don't know the answer, cuz WWE's just gonna keep asking it, regardless!!!!

[ads]

A New Day is Coming: a replay of Kofi's New Day vignette.

Backstage: Miz is pitching a movie idea, with the requisite "In a world....." narration, about a buddy flick that would be the Summer Blockbuster of 2015. And Sandow's mirroring the whole thing... then we pan back, and see that Miz is pitching the movie to Grumpy Cat. Alleged hilarity ensues, but the only bit that was remotely amusing was Sandow busting out Grumpy Cat's stunt double to pet.

Presumably, this would appeal to the sort of person who believes viral videos are a valid form of entertainment. OO is not part of this twisted minority, and uses youtube the CORRECT way: to find and watch copyrighted material for free. And not to watch morons posting stupid videos of their pets/children/jackass-inspired stunts that I'm pretty sure only get watched by other morons who believe someday it will be THEIR pets/children/jackass stunts that are "famous."

[ads]

ADAM ROSE (w/ Menagerie of Hipster Wangnozzles) vs. TYSON KIDD (w/ Natalya)

The Bunny's still sticking with Rose, despite being attacked by Rose twice last week. But he's still on thin ice, and having to beg for Rose's forgiveness. Rose is definitely exuding heelishness as he gets the better of Kidd for the opening minutes.

But then the Bunny starts flirting with Nattie, which annoys/distracts Rose. Kidd locks in the Sharpshooter, and Rose taps out.

Your Winner: Tyson Kidd, via submission, in 2 minutes flat. Nothing to see here, other than the continued meltdown of the Bunny/Rose relationship. This time, the Bunny got into the ring, but instead of passively waiting to get his ass kicked, like last week, he started humping Rose's leg and pranced off. Apparently, now Rose is the one being a lemon, and the Bunny's trying to get him to lighten up?

[ads]

DEAN AMBROSE HAS MASTERED THE ART OF SPOOKY TRICKS, TOO!

Bray Wyatt heads to the ring, and the fireflies are out in force. He's here to talk, not wrestle.

We were all taught that to love is the greatest gift of life. But they left out the part about how you can lose whatever you love, and there is nothing but pain. So a man who loves nothing, has nothing to lose, and is capable of everything. He wants to  help Dean Ambrose learn this lesson. He knows Dean Ambrose still feels, he still loves, and that's why he's still a tormented soul. But if he'll just let Bray help him, he will be saved.

Finally, Ambrose pops up on the Tron and says, "Stop. Just stop talking. I heard you the first time. And the second time. And the third time. Every long winded babbling rant. You want to save me, I got it. But I don't trust you. I know headgames when I see them, and I assure you they won't work. But maybe you'll humor me. I just learned a new spooky trick of my own, and maybe you'll like it. I call it the magic of video recording..." And then he reveals that he recorded this promo earlier today on a cell phone, and right now, he's somewhere out in the arena, getting ready to pounce.

The lights come up, and sure enough, Ambrose jumps Wyatt from behind and puts a mini-beatdown on him until Wyatt can escape and scurry up the ramp. Ambrose grabs a mic and tags it by saying he doesn't need any saving, he just needs to get his hands on Bray Wyatt, and that happens soon enough, at Survivor Series.
 
That pretty much scratched me right where I itched. I was getting nervous that Bray was taking us too far down the path of ham-fisted retcon backstory nonsense, but Ambrose was pitch perfect in his use of going meta, here... not just on calling out Wyatt's tendancy to use 1000 words to say 10 words worth of info, but also on referencing how decades worth of "gay spooky" tricks are actually well within the grasp of mere mortals.

[ads]

RYBACK vs. CESARO

Back and forth punchy-choppy, with a few feats of strength peppered in. Impressive delayed suplex by Ryback; amazing head and leg suplex by Cesaro. Cesaro with a powerbomb where he walked Ryback halfway across the ring. But no real flow or story in between.

Ryback stages a mini-rally, but then Cesaro just tosses him out of the ring. Break in the action means we break for...

[ads]

Back, and we return just in time to see a bungled spot where Ryback couldn't decide whether to whip Cesaro ito the ropes or into a corner. Cesaro just decides "to hell with it" and resets with a clothesline and a chinlock. Ryback re-fires up. Overhead suplex. Inverted Atomic. Sets up for the Meathook, but Cesaro dives out of the ring to miss it. So Ryback has to yank him back in.

Second rope splash and another powerbomb. Only a 2. Sets up for the Shellshock, but Cesaro counters with a German Suplex. Hangs on, hits another. And another. And finally bridges, but only gets a 2 count. Cesaro goes up top, and hits a Macho Man Elbow. Still only a 2 count.

Cesaro is slow to follow up, so he walks into a press power slam. Sets up for the Meathook again, and misses again when Cesaro hits a wicked uppercut. Two. Cesaro tries for the Neutralizer, but Ryback counters into a Shellshock, which Cesaro counters into a roll-up. Kick out at 2 by Ryback, who pops up and hits a flash Meathook. Shellshock hits, and it's over.

Your Winner: Ryback, via pinfall, in 12 minutes or so. Well, it had a hell of a final 3-4 minutes, but was awfully slow to heat up. Part of that is probably a function of Ryback's skillset (just spot to spot to spot, without any subtlety or flow), but some of it is on WWE's usage of Cesaro... fans have no reason to believe Cesaro is gonna put up a real fight against WWE's "Number One Free Agent," because Cesaro's 2014 has been a constant pattern of one step forward, two steps backward in terms of his credibility. So even after the pace picked up, there was still a secondary delay before we really had reason to buy into the outcome being not inevitable.

Backstage: Renee Young is standing by with John Cena, who just watched Ryback win.  Cena provides no actual info, just parroting who monumental and possibly career changing Sunday's 5-on-5 match will be, and how he has no idea if Ryback can be convnced to join his team. Thanks, John, you're so helpful.

[ads]

HEATH SLATER vs. RUSEV (w/ Lana) (Non-Title Match)

Lana prefaces the match with a spiel about how Americans are disgusting for salivating over Kardashian ass last week. Really? We did? I thought the general response to that stunt was a collective "Been there, seen that." But Lana runs with it, saying that she's got a much better body than a Kardashian. In fact, she's got a topless photo. Would we like to see it?

It sounds like a majority of the crowd is intriguied, but a large minority (myself included) can see what's coming a mile away. And sure enough, the photo is shirtless Putin. Because, like I said, a mile away.

Then Slater enters, dressed as Uncle Sam, and taps out in 30 seconds.

Your Winner: Rusev, via submission, in 30 seconds.

Backstage: Miz is once again trying to convince Grumpy Cat to do a buddy flick, and failing. So Erick Rowan walks in and says he wants that cat. After an awkward pause, he takes the stunt cat from Sandow. Hilarious?

[ads]

BIG SHOW vs. STEPHANIE MCMAHON

Show's in the ring, expecting a match... but instead he gets Steph, who is here to convince him to leave Team Cena. She says he's spent his career trying to please the fans, but the fans don't decide who's on top. The Authority does.

So she has an offer: step away from Team Cena, and Big Show will be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2015, while still an active competitor. A Giant honor for a Giant superstar. The crowd doesn't want that to happen, but Show is thinking about it.

So out comes Sheamus, who wants to remind us (and Big Show) of how the easiest way out isn't quitting, it's doubling down and getting rid of the Authority, once and for all.

Stephanie then makes veiled threats about Sheamus' visa being revoked if he doesn't quit Team Cena, before coming up with her masterstroke: Show and Sheamus are gonna fight each other tonight, with a WWE Title match going to the winner. Have fun with that, fellas...

BIG SHOW vs. SHEAMUS

Both guys are hesitant to start, but both would love a guaranteed shot at the WWE Title, so they come to terms with things. Sheamus is first to get a bit aggressive, and actually goads Big Show into getting angry when Show is clearly holding back.

Bad idea. Angry Show dominates Sheamus, tossing him out of the ring, and then introducing him to some ringside furniture as we break for...

[ads]

Back, and Big Show is calling for a chokeslam... but Sheamus counters for a brief rally. Show resumes control, as JBL uses his bully pulpit to talk about how getting a WWE Title shot is WAY more important than being "a cog" on Team Cena, so this match isn't a punishment, it's a gift.

Show settles in with his modified bow and arrow thingie. Sheamus gets a rope break, and starts his rally. Huge flurry of moves, but then he goes up top for the flying battering ram, and Show ends up catching him out of mid-air with a Spear. Only a 2.

Show calls for the chokeslam, again, and again, he doesn't get it. Sheamus counters into White Noise, which is damned impressive. Sheamus sets up for the Brogue, but Show catches him and hits the chokeslam on the third try. Sheamus kicks out at 2

And with both men slow to get up, here come Mark Henry and Rusev. Uh oh. They attack, simultaneously.

Your Winner: None, via double disqualification, in about 10 minutes. No winner also means no title shot awarded. Insult to inury.

After the Match: the beatings culminate in Sheamus getting World's Strongest Slammed through the announce table, while Rusev cinched Show in the Camel Clutch until enough officials swarmed to pull him off. And with that, Cena will supposedly be standing alone at tonight's contract signing.

Somehow, I doubt that.

[ads]

"AJ" BELLA vs. NIKKI BELLA ("Exhibition Match")

Brie is still Nikki's slave for the next week, so Brie's dressed up as AJ Lee, and has to make Nikki look good. The real AJ comes down to sit in on guest commentary. AJ's main thesis is "This is all about Nikki winning some sibling rivalry. She doesn't care about this title, she sees it as a prop, and accessory. Why am I even involved in this Belladrama?" Preach on, sister!

Then AJ decided to distract Nikki, and Brie got the cheap roll-up.

Your Winner: "AJ" Bella, via pinfall, in 2 minutes. I can state, with authority, that this is a thing that happened.

After the Match: the real AJ hopped in the ring and destroyed Nikki. Brie joined in the celebration. But only briefly. Because AJ laid her out, too, to strong cheers.

[ads]

A New Day: and Big E makes three.

Backstage: John Cena approaches Ryback. He makes his case: yeah, Cena said some jerkish things about Ryback, but then the two fought, and Cena had an all new respect for Ryback. He means that, unlike the Authority, who are just trying to manipulate him. Ryback says he knows that, but he doesn't care, because he's Team Ryback, and that's it.

Cena has a topper: "You just made it back to WWE, and I know I'm asking you to do something bold. But I think it's awfully odd that the guy who keeps saying 'feed me more' has a chance to eat at the big table. And all of a sudden, he isn't hungry." Burn. As useless as Cena' first bit was, this was spot on.

New Match: at Survivor Series, the Dust Brothers will defend the tag titles in a 4-way match against Miz/Sandow, Los Matadores, and the Usos. And we'll be getting a little preview of that next...

[ads]

THE USOS & LOS MATADORES (w/ El Torito) vs.THE DUST BROTHERS & MIZ/SANDOW

Miz starts against one of the Matadores, and Sandow gets huge cheers as he mirrors Miz getting his ass kicked. Then, when Miz finally gains control, he does the now standard spot of teasing the crowd with the potential of Sandow tagging in. And then he doesn't tag Sandow, because he's a jerk.

At random, a Pier Seven Brawl breaks out, with Sandow holding back, and the good guys dominating. Then, Sandow gets a huge laugh when he dives into the ring and basically kicks his own ass until he joins Miz in a heap outside the ring.

Bad guys down, good guys celebrating, so we fans gt...

[ads]

Back, and the heels have regained control. The Dust Brothers are cutting the ring in half (picking on a Matadore), but the crowd is chanting "WE WANT MIZ-DOW." But Miz steals the tag, and Sandow has to go back to mirroring. When Miz opts to tag in Goldust, there are more boos and chants.

Goldust duplicates Miz's dick move by pretending to tag Sandow, only to tag Stardust, instead. Boo. Stardust tags in Miz. Miz FINALLY tags in Sandow. Huge cheers. But they turn to huge boos when Miz suddenly blind tags himself back into the match. The chicanery backfires, and the Matadore is finally able to get a hot tag to an Uso. Corresponding  move to Stardust.

It breaks down into another Pier Sevener, with big moves all around (except with Sandow, who is in his own little world), until Stardust hits the Dark Matter on the legal Uso.

Your Winners: the Dust Brothers and Miz/Sandow, via pinfall, in 10 minutes. As has been the case for weeks, there's nothing special here, match-wise, but Sandow brings his own little side show that continues to put a smile on my face.

Update: the Contract Signing graphic is updated, and Cena is alone. Cole & the Gang assure us that Ziggler and Big Show are both under trainers care after being rendered unconscious, and won't be signing any contracts tonight. And Sheamus has been hospitalized and is already out of Survivor Series entirely. Why am I still so skeptical?

Oh, right: because given current standards, none of those guys was effectively written out for tonight, much less for an entire week. You just can't put that genie back in the bottle; the bar for credible write-outs can't just be reset to "mid-80s" in a given week, if it suits you. Much better would have been to do one MASSIVE and compelling write-out, because we can buy into one big swervey change, but not four of them. Oy.

[ads]

Next Monday: Larry the Cable Guy. So it gets worse than youtube cats, afterall.

JOHN CENA'S TEAM ASSEMBLES, AFTERALL

The entirety of Team Authority (including all hangers-on) is once again assembled.

Triple H opens with an "out of character" ramble about how the fans may feel like they are part of WWE... but that pales in comparison to what it feels like to have WWE imprinted as part of  your very DNA, which is how he and Stephanie feel. They aren't part of WWE, WWE is inside them. And that's why failure is not an option.

Steph gives a little pep talk, and then mockingly introduces "Team" Cena. It's Cena, by himself, who hits the ring.

He immediately claims victory is assured, and Steph laughs him off. Cena doubles down, absolutely promising that Team Authority WILL LOSE on Sunday. Maybe he doesn't have a team now, but he will on Sunday. He's gonna listen to the Universe, he's gonna scour the Universe, hell, he might even take four fans right out of the crowd to stand beside him.

And whoever turns up on Sunday will have one thing that Team Authority doesn't: a passion for the wrestling business. Cena says everybody should tune in, hell it's free, and watch Cena's vision play out. He specifically says Kane will fall first. Then Luke Harper. Then Rusev. Then Mark Henry. And finally, Seth Rollins.

Then, he says something rude to Stephanie, who responds by bitchslapping Cena. So Cena suggests she step out of the ring, because if it's time to fight, it's time to fight, even if it's one versus a billion. And he'd hate to have to punch a lady.

The assembled squad just start laughing and making the International Sign for "How Many Are We, Again?"... but the sober up a bit when Dolph Ziggler's music hits and he comes to the ring.

Then, miracle of miracles, the Big Show does the same. Surely, there's no way Sheamus will have made it back from the hospital, right? But Jerry Lawler exclaims that it's still alright, because "80 percent" of the team just might be enough, because he sucks at math. And nobody corrected him.

Then, a surprise, as Erick Rowan came to the ring, removed the sheep mask, and had a quick "Anything you can do, I can do better" exchange with Luke Harper. Well, NOW we're at 80%... is there one more guy in the back who wants in?
 
Why yes, and it's.... wait, Cesaro? OK, not what I was expecting, but... oh wait again, it isn't what I wasn't expecting, as Cesaro takes about 3 seconds to pretend he's on Team Cena, before revealing it was just a joke, and he's not that stupid.
 
So.... anyone? Anyone? Bueller?
 
And finally, here's what we all expected: Ryback makes five, after Cena's verbal check-mate earlier. The full-strength Team Cena immediately dominates Team Authority, with everyone powdering out except for Cena and Rollins.
 
F-U to Rollins, and HHH has no choice but to dirty his own hands. He attacks Cena, and sets up for a Pedigree... but Ryback hops in the ring, and HHH has to let go. Ryback and HHH stare a long stare, only to be broken up when Cena regains his feet and F-Us Hunter through the contract signing table.

Steph and the Stooges try to excise HHH from the table carnage while all five members of Team Cena link hands and hold them high as we fade to black...
 
And so ends the show. Nothing really hugely noteworthy; they kinda took 3 hours to get us ALMOST right back to where we started... we just traded one pale ginger for a different one (a lesser one, too; but perhaps if this is serving the bigger picture of Sheamus turning heel, it might be for the best).
 
And a lot of times, when a wrestling show (or any show) makes only that marginal forward progress, I label it "Sustainable Episodic Television," because you just can't have fireworks, non-stop, every week.
 
But what makes tonight's RAW odd is that they DID try for fireworks, they just kinda whiffed on them, and only got the marginal advancement at the end of the night. So I'm not sure you commend them on that.
 
I mean, we came into tonight pretty much knowing who was involved in Team Cena vs. Team Authority; all 10 guys. WWE actually made a for-real play at acting like Cena was down to zero guys, and that was just phony-as-hell overreach. As I said above, the bar is set at a certain level for "write outs," and WWE simply didn't get there. This is not to be blamed on the fans for being jaded, it's simply the nature of things and the direction WWE took in the 90s; you just can't un-bake a cake, kids.
 
And a huge secondary problem exists simply because there were no credible replacements for an ENTIRE team. Try to sell us that Cena's team is gone, and you're either telling us (1) "It'll be scrubs," or (2) "Man have we got some huge surprises in store, and it's gonna be Batista, Roman Reigns, and Daniel Bryan!" Or, more likely, the fans over the age of 12 will instinctively know (3) "None of those guys is written out; it'll be OK."
 
Thus, my suggestion above where you put all your eggs in one basket, and do one massive and convincing write-out, so that there's some real tension about who'll step in as a singular replacement (on top of whatever "tension" existed over Ryback joining)... replacing one guy is something you can latch on to and wrap your head around; replacing 4 guys was simply never going to happen, so why pretend it was?
 
As it stands, you had all these fancy bells and whistles, trying to achieve a certain goal, and it just didn't work for me. I suppose others' mileage may vary, but I would be genuinely shocked if any significant percentage of WWE's adult viewership honestly believed John Cena was starting from scratch with his team.
 
And among all these big fancy moves that didn't really click, you probably end up wasting the IC Title change, which was probably necessary if you were at least gonna try to create the illusion Dolph was out... but then, he wasn't out, afterall. I'm not sure if that makes Ziggler look tougher, or just lessens the impact of the title change. And I say this as a pretty huge fan of Harper, so it's not like this is Internet Wanker Indignation over our boy Dolph getting screwed...
 
It's just a bit of logic and flow-charted where I come to the belief that the decision to switch the IC Title was a by-product of trying (and failing) to accomplish some other booking goal, and not a booking decision that came about on its own merits. It's something that I just can't help but think could have been tightened up considerably with proper levels of quality control.
 
So at the end of the day, tonight's RAW accomplished the same basic thing as Sustainable Episodic TV (nudging the product in the right direction), but did it in a flamboyantly anti-SETV kind of way. Let's just slap a C-minus on it, and reconvene this weekend, kids; Survivor Series coverage in the OO Forums (sorry, access remains limited to registered members) with my big main page PPV Recap going live sometime shortly after 11pm (eastern).
 
See you then...


  
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.


 

 


All contents are Copyright 1995-2014 by OOWrestling.com.  All rights reserved.
This website is not affiliated with WWE or any other professional wrestling organization.  Privacy Statement.