October 13, 2015
We’re two weeks away from Hell in a Cell and Raw was live from the Allstate Arena in the outskirts of Chicago on Monday night. Raw featured a pretty bad Lumberjack match main event, some good promos, and a weird real-life angle taking shape before our eyes. I’ll have more on that later.
Don't miss @ShawnMichaels @RicFlairNatrBoy @BrockLesnar & The @Undertaker LIVE on #Raw NEXT MONDAY in Dallas, TX! pic.twitter.com/IsTQlYxflN
— WWE (@WWE) October 13, 2015
At least next week’s Raw from Dallas looks to be loaded. We’ll see if creative comes through for that show.
Here are some of the main stories coming out of Raw:
Throughout the night, Corporate Kane was trying to get ahold of Triple H and Stephanie McMahon on the phone, but it was bad luck for The Authority as they could never connect until late in the night. When asked for the main event of Raw, Kane told Triple H he would be facing Seth Rollins in a Lumberjack Match, and that was something that H did not want to hear.
"How could you put yourself in a match against @WWERollins?!" - @StephMcMahon via speaker phone... #Raw pic.twitter.com/HgCihGwD0R
— WWE Universe (@WWEUniverse) October 13, 2015
He said Kane had to find a suitable replacement, which brought out…
THE DEMON @KaneWWE is @WWERollins' #LumberjackMatch opponent in #Raw's main event! pic.twitter.com/cEb09OoF7y
— WWE Universe (@WWEUniverse) October 13, 2015
Demon Kane! There’s no way 100 percent of the audience didn’t see this coming. First of all, this was highly predictable, and not in a good way. Secondly, giving away their co-main event of Hell in a Cell was ridiculously stupid, even by WWE standards. And lastly, having Kane pin Rollins in the middle of the ring was absolutely mind-boggling.
Yeah, the lumberjack match broke down like they always do: Guys fighting each other, and then bringing Kane into the ring ready to beat him up when he sits up and clears them out. We’ve seen this before, and it’s just simply not good storytelling. Rollins ate a Tombstone piledriver and Kane pinned the champion.
What’s infuriating is how bad the creative team is, whether or not they’re being directed by Vince McMahon or Stephanie or whomever. Whoever decided this Raw was good enough on paper needs to undergo a massive evaluation of the mind, because this was an incredibly terrible episode of Raw, highlighted by the incredibly terrible main event. I’m not sure how much bad I can take anymore.
The only highlight? You guessed it. The New Day.
Dolph Ziggler answered John Cena’s U.S.Open Challenge, one week after The New Day crashed his plans from doing so last Monday. Cena took time out of the match to congratulate a newly engaged couple in the audience, which was actually pretty cool.
I’m glad she didn’t say no for that guy’s sake.
This was one of the other bright spots of Raw, as there weren’t many. The match between these two was really good and if this turns into another title match at Hell in a Cell, I won’t be mad.
Roman Reigns and Braun Strowman fought in an OK match, but it wasn’t anything special. In fact, Reigns’ entire feud with Bray Wyatt and the Wyatt Family has been very underwhelming, and I’m looking forward to it ending at Hell in a Cell. The feud had promise at first, but it just lacks anything the audience or I care about.
Actually, in the beginning of the feud, Reigns was getting cheered pretty heavily and looked to have rebounded after the collective crowd turned on him leading up to the Royal Rumble all the way through WrestleMania. His promo on Raw Monday night was not what he needed, and he basically threw away all that hard work of getting back in the good graces of the crowd with a corny promo that the crowd turned on.
After the segment and before Reigns left, he decided to leave Wyatt with a parting gift.
The #EaterOfWorlds @WWEBrayWyatt just became the eater of a RIGHT HAND by @WWERomanReigns! #Raw pic.twitter.com/k7e4KRkoDm
— WWE Universe (@WWEUniverse) October 13, 2015
Reigns’ good friend, Dean Ambrose, teamed with Randy Orton to take on the WWE Tag Team Champions, and we saw the seeds planted for an eventual heel turn or feud between the two. When Orton went for an RKO, Kofi pushed him into Ambrose, driving him outside of the ring and rolled up Orton for the pin. While Ambrose looked at Orton a couple times with that look of “what the hell did you do,” nothing more happened. Slowly but surely, I’d expect more seeds to be planted.
One moment where that could happen is at Hell in a Cell where the duo will take on Braun Strowman and Luke Harper. Though the match is currently advertised for the pre-show, I still think we’ll see more of those seeds planted leading to a feud between Ambrose and Orton. And that’s a feud I won’t mind seeing.
Michael Cole confirmed on WWE television that Rusev and Lana were engaged in real life – and they were a couple since coming to the main roster together in real life. They began the Summer Rae angle of proposing to Rusev last Monday, but now with Instagram photos public with Rusev and Lana’s real-life engagement, one would think Summer Rae would not be seen with Rusev on television again, right?
Nope. Summer Rae was out there with Rusev during his match against Ryback, which was the bigger story, actually. It was as if Ryback was an afterthought heading into his Intercontinental Championship match against Kevin Owens at Hell in a Cell, despite winning the match. The commentary team kind of teased Rae for being out there while knowing Rusev was now engaged to Lana, something they didn’t even try to explain coming from Lana’s perspective. It just sort of happened out of nowhere and ripped two storylines to shreds. But Rae had the last word.
THAT is what @RealSummerWWE thinks of @RusevBUL's engagement to @LanaWWE! #Raw pic.twitter.com/kVjt25JO0L
— WWE Universe (@WWEUniverse) October 13, 2015
She cut a promo on Rusev after his match and emasculated him down, right to his very boots. She said she had to find out on TMZ that Rusev was engaged to Lana for a month and that he’s a narcissistic, self-centered, egotistical, jealous, lying, cheating bastard and slapped him in the face. I’ve seen worse. That was an okay way to end the storyline.
Cesaro is back in the low midcard for the time being, and that really sucks. I don’t know how else to put it. The guy deserves a high midcard to main event level push right now while Tyson Kidd is out – mainly because he doesn’t need to be in a tag team and can actually do really well for himself. But, nope, he was in a throwaway tag team match that means nothing for any of the four participants involved. It’s maddening.
The Divas revolution is in shambles. We’re getting Charlotte-Nikki, again, at Hell in a Cell. No Paige to be found.
#BrieBella (@BellaTwins) just pinned @MsCharlotteWWE, and this is how @RealPaigeWWE feels about it... #Raw @WWEDivas pic.twitter.com/FgfmOElaoG
— WWE (@WWE) October 13, 2015
Paige was on commentary for the Divas tag match last night and shoved Natalya. That’s it. Nikki had defeated Naomi earlier in the night, which means nothing. I’m so infuriated by the possibilities this Divas revolution had and how WWE’s creative team has flushed almost all of it down the toilet. I can’t even enjoy Charlotte as champion because of the crappy matches we’re still having on television every week. Where’s Sasha Banks? I’m not sure I can take much more of this. I know I can’t take much more of this.
• Non-Title: The New Day (c-Tag) d. Dean Ambrose and Randy Orton by pinfall via a Kingston rollup on Orton.
• Nikki Bella d. Naomi by pinfall via the Rack Attack.
• U.S. Open Challenge for the U.S. Title: John Cena (c) d. Dolph Ziggler by pinfall via the Attitude Adjustment.
• Dudley Boyz d. The Ascension by pinfall via a 3D.
• Sheamus and King Barrett d. Cesaro and Neville by pinfall after Barrett hit Neville with a Bull Hammer from the outside and Sheamus pinned him.
• Roman Reigns d. Braun Strowman by countout after hitting Strowman with the Superman Punch outside of the ring.
• Ryback d. Rusev by pinfall via Shell Shocked.
• Non-Title: Kevin Owens (c-IC) d. Kalisto by pinfall via a powerbomb.
• Brie Bella and Alicia Fox d. Charlotte (c-Divas) and Becky Lynch by pinfall via a missile dropkick off the middle rope.
• Lumberjack Match: Kane d. Seth Rollins (c) by pinfall via the Tombstone piledriver.
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