So WWE have been largely criticized for the way they have managed to ruin the majority of 2015. But you have to give them credit when they do well. Yes it was pretty much a desperate move to try and garner some interest back but they did it well and the majority of the show overall was good viewing, at least I thought so.
The show opened with Stephanie McMahon doing what she does and just being generally annoying. Out comes Roman Reigns to a pretty OK reaction. They did well to limit Reigns time on the mic to less than what they have done in previous weeks. Playing to your strengths is obviously a difficult thing to understand for some. Steph announces that Vince McMahon is on his way to try and save the ratings not unlike New Day attempting to save the tables. Overall not a bad way to open the show but it didn't set the world alight.
Next was Dean Ambrose vs Dolph Ziggler and personally I was jumping around like a child inside when I saw Dean enter with the IC title. It's great to see the title around Deans waist and he put on a good match with Ziggler. KO interfered and hit Ambrose with two Popup Powerbombs as well as another to Ziggler. Good way to end the match because it makes Owens still look a little strong after his loss last night and sets up the feud to potentially go for a Triple Threat match.
This is where it started to get weird. R-Truth vs Bo Dallas on RAW? I had to check I wasn't watching an episode of superstars and yes they actually put this on RAW. At first it didn't make sense but then we see them cutting backstage to Vince arriving and interrupting this match and it all made sense from there. It wasn't great to be honest because they interrupted a match for the purpose of a more important story line. It doesn't matter how insignificant the match is, I hate it when this happens.
After a quick ad break Reigns comes down to the ring to meet McMahon (actually using the ramp this time which I thought made him look quite badass) they cut a promo and Sheamus comes out and the main event is announced. Reigns wins the title or gets fired. Not the worst main event ever because it keeps people entertained but the whole firing shtick is old. People know that they're just going to return in a couple of weeks if they do get fired.
The next two matches are in the same paragraph for a good reason. They were both meh. So far the show had been pretty good but then came Swagger and Ryback vs Del Rio and Rusev as well as Tyler Breeze vs Neville. These matches just felt like they were there to kill time, yet another indication of the fact that the show needs to be two hours. There was part of a story developing between Miz and Neville but it was average at best.
I hate when you get rematches of matches that just happened the night before on PPV. I hate it. I really hate it. It just makes the match the night before seem completely pointless. On this occasion however the match wasn't half bad. This is probably because it was Philly, there were weapons and former ECW guys but it was still an entertaining match. Tommy Dreamer sold everything like he always does, as a pro, and they managed to avoid 50/50 booking and the Wyatts still look strong.
This next segment was just strange. The New Day came out as they normally do and they were very serious and offered an Olive branch to their TLC opponents, The Usos and The Lucha Dragons. It was all very nice and cuddly until they left and New Day went back to being New Day and danced around in the ring. The FACES then proceeded to attack the HEELS and lay them out in the ring. Since when did it become a good thing to beat up people 4 on 3? Not much sense and beating up poor defenseless unicorns is just wrong.
Becky and Charlotte vs Brie and Alicia Fox was next and this was a let down for me. The match itself wasn't bad but you've got Sasha Banks standing in the crowd watching. People want Sasha involved but the WWE are holding her off for some reason. Ric Flair got involved in the match, AGAIN. It's understandable that he's Charlotte's father and he has to be involved somehow but having interfere with the matches time and time again just keeps the focus on him and not the women, which is where the focus should solely be. The women won't be able to start progressing properly until all outside interference's from anyone are banished and they just have wrestling matches. For example Becky vs Sasha on the TLC pre-show was a good show of ability, but Team B.A.D just ruined the whole thing by continuously getting involved and making Sasha look weak.
The main event. Roman vs Sheamus. It was a pretty good main event. Not amazing but by no means was it terrible. The League of Nations came out to try and assist Sheamus and Del Rio proceeded to get Superman Punched into oblivion followed shortly by Rusev. This just made the League look weak. A nice false finish after Sheamus' Brogue kick to Roman and after Superman Punching a 70 year old man, Roman Spears Sheamus and wins the title. We all knew it would happen eventually and having a WWE title change hands on RAW is a good change for the show. People will be interested to see where it goes from here. Reigns got a very good reception from the Philadelphia crowd. The same crowd that completely boo'ed him and The Rock out of the building at the start of the year. The WWE are finally starting to book Reigns correctly as a guy who does less talking and just destroys people. However they have to be careful not to book him like a superhuman freak like Cena is now. They need to keep it believable.
Overall, while some of the segments tonight were obviously just attempts at trying to garner higher ratings. They were thorougly entertaining and I enjoyed the majority of RAW for the first time in a little while. Living in England and watching RAW from 1 am 'till 4 am in the morning makes it difficult to stay awake when the content is dreadful but that wasn't the case last night. My eyes were wide awake and I even managed to get through the newest episode of Breaking Ground afterwards. Good Job WWE.
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