What is up guys and gals? So last night was the Royal Rumble. For anyone who watched it, you saw everything go down. For those that didn’t, I can only guess you’ve heard of all the craziness last night. I’m not going to go too much in depth about last night as this is a Raw editorial, but I got to say, I live roughly 2 hrs from Pittsburgh, and I am kicking myself for not being there. It just seemed absolutely crazy! With that in mind, I was wondering if we would see as wild of a crowd as we did last tonight. I’m going to kick straight into the good, the bad, and the indifferent!
The Good
*Opening Promo
I did an editorial today about WWE and the fans, and how I thought it would be great to see sometimes where instead of ignoring the fans chants, for the wrestlers to react to the fans. We got it at the start of the show! I’m really excited to see how the crowd is throughout the night, but if the opening segment is any indication, we could be in for a night where the show is hijacked by the fans. Anyways, the opening promo was really good, and set a great tone for tonight I thought.
*SinMysterio vs Real Americans
When I saw they were having Rey and Sin team back up, and then that they were facing Swagger and Cesaro, I wasn’t sure what to think of this match. I figured it would be ok. I was wrong! I really enjoyed this match. I liked the dynamic of Colter slapping Swagger. Then towards the end of the match when Rey and Sin were on a roll, I was definitely expecting them to win, but BOOM! Cesaro picks up the win. I thought this was a great opening match, and if this is any indication for the matches we are going to have tonight, then there might be nothing in the Indifferent or Bad sections.
*Ziggler vs Miz
Was this match the best match of the night? No. Is it going to be a match that 6 months from now the fans will talk about? No. It was a nice match. Ziggler got a good reaction last night at the Rumble, and he gets a win on Raw. I’m not going to be one of those hopefuls who go “OH MAN! THIS MEANS ZIGGLER IS GOING STRAIGHT TO THE TOP!”. I do think it is a good turn around considering how 2013 ended for Ziggler. Hopefully we see more of him as I’ve always liked him in the ring.
*The Usos vs RybAxel
I dug this match. It showcased the Usos which is good. I’m definitely glad Ryback and Axel did not win. I’m not a fan of either, and think Ryback is sloppy in the ring. Anyways, this was a good match, gave the Usos a win, and kept their momentum going. Enough said.
*Kofi Kingston vs Alberto Del Rio
I will admit, I don’t like Del Rio. I don’t think he is good on the mic, and I don’t think he is good in the ring. Once in a while we will see a good match from him, but not near enough as we should consider how hyped he was when he first came to the WWE. Anyways, never been a fan of Del Rio. So we get this match and honestly at first, I was wondering if this was akin to Fandango vs Truth, a throw away match that would stink up the place and have no meaning. While I think this one might not have meaning right this second, it definitely did not stink up the place. It was a really good match between these two.
*4 on 4 Diva’s Match
When I saw this match was going to happen, I was fully expecting it to be awful. I’m glad I was wrong. This was actually a decent match. Is it just me, or is the WWE really trying to advance somewhat with their Diva’s division? Anyways, this was a good match, gave the faces a win, and I think sets the seeds for a title match at Elimination Chamber.
*Cena/Bryan/Sheamus vs The Shield
What a great way to end Raw. I really enjoyed this match. It was exactly what I expected in terms of in ring action. It’s what happened at the end, that got me excited. The Wyatt Family attacking Cena, giving Cena’s team the win. So this is what I am hoping we see. Cena, Bryan, and Sheamus are put into the Chamber match. The Shield pissed at being screwed out of the Chamber by the Wyatt family, face them at Elimination Chamber in a 3 on 3 match(maybe elimination), which will lead to Reigns turning face either at the PPV, or after. There is so much potential here that the WWE would have to be idiotic to drop the ball here. Great way to end Raw.
The Bad
*R Truth vs Fandango
Damn it…I spoke too soon…anyways the crowd wasn’t really into this match, with good reason. The match wasn’t really that entertaining, there was no real reason for the match, and there was no development during this match. I’m not a Fandango fan, and I think the time could go to someone else more deserving. With that in mind though, had this match actually been worth something like say Fandango vs El Torito or one of the two in Los Matadores, I might not be as hard on this given what occurred in the Rumble. This was a throw away match, boo WWE, boo.
The Indifferent
*Orton/Batista/Lesnar promo
I was so close..SO CLOSE..to putting this into the bad section. One of the other fellow editorialists, Matt Boone, made a point in one of his editorials about Batista sucking on the mic. When I read it, I disregarded it as most of what I remembered of Batista on the mic came across to me as decent at least. Boone was right…Batista sucks on the mic. Orton’s part was ok. Batista’s was awful. The only saving grace was Heyman with Lesnar. I was expecting when Lesnar’s music hit, and he came out, that the fans would go nuts! They didn’t really, but I think he got a better reaction than Orton or Batista. This promo/segment was ok, borderline bad.
*New Age Outlaws vs The Rhodes Brothers
Last night, these two teams put on a really good match. Tonight…not so much. I get the reasoning behind it, I truly do, but it’s not what I wanted to see. I would have rather seen the NAO just go at it in the ring with the Rhodes Bros, instead of the route they took. I didn’t expect the ending we got though of Brock attacking. I figured Goldust would have turned on Cody or vice versa. My guess is we will see NAO vs Rhodes Bros again soon, and it will in turn lead to a Cody vs Goldust feud.
Final Thoughts
I really enjoyed this Raw. If each Raw is around this caliber heading into Wrestlemania, I will be a happy man. There was so many good things about this show, and many different things that were set up tonight that it is awesome. I just want to thank you all for taking the time to read, and I look forward to your comments and thoughts.
