We're now only 3 weeks away from Wrestlemania and WWE still have quite a bit of work to do, both to sell the main event's between Undertaker and Shane McMahon, as well as Triple H vs Roman Reigns, but also to develop what right now is looking like a pretty mediocre under card. It was a strange night last night if im honest because the show itself wasn't bad, it wasn't great but it was in no way bad, but the crowd just didn't seem into it at all. No one particularly cared about anything. Dean Ambrose probably got the loudest pop of the night when he came to the ring, showing that his status with the people has not diminished after his loss at WWE Roadblock. Even Shane McMahon and The Undertaker didn't get the the huge reactions you thought they would. So what were the biggest takeaways of last night?
Roman reigns!....briefly
Dolph Ziggler faced Triple H on an episode of RAW in 2016. I never thought i'd be saying that. This match was very similar to the match between Ambrose and Triple H at Roadblock. It started a little slow but after ever near fall the match became more and more interesting. Eventually Triple H hit the Pedigree for the 1 2 3 and that was that. A bit of a strange result but it keeps The Game looking strong going into Wrestlemania.
And then out comes Roman Reigns to a pretty lukewarm reaction. Let's start off by saying that the beat down was executed by Reigns perfectly. It was believable and he came off as the angry badass he should've been portrayed as all this time. However, at this point it just seems too late for people to even care anymore. WWE yet again screwed up another golden opportunity to garner support for Reigns. Reigns is supposed to be the top Babyface right? So why not come out to distract Triple H, allowing Ziggler to get the win. The beat down could've simply happened after that. Instead Roman just looks like a bit of a selfish jerk. Another small side note, why was he in his gear, surely returning in his own clothes instead of his ring gear would've had a better effect?
Yes, I've never been a massive supporter of Reigns and I won't claim to be either. WWE missed their opportunity to put Reigns in the top spot two years ago when Daniel Bryan was forced to vacate the title. Instead they did their classic move of going with the safe option and put the belt on John Cena. People who defend Reigns right now by saying that he gets a good reaction from a sizable portion of the crowd just like Cena should realise this, Cena gets a massive reaction from both ends of the crowd, those being huge cheers from the kids who he is focused towards and huge boo's from pretty much everyone else. Reigns on the other hand is boo'ed and cheered pretty decently both ways. He also doesn't shift nearly as much merchandise as Cena does.
As long as the WWE have The Authority in power they will look for someone to be the heroic babyface to take them down. Daniel Bryan was that guy, Roman Reigns is not.
New Day, New face turn
I'll admit I wasn't keen on a New Day face turn to begin with. I always felt like their work was so entertaining because as a Heel they could go to town on whichever town or city they happened to be in, making fun of everything from their culture to their food to their sports teams. Watching New Day's face turn however has been very good. Not only has it garnered yet more support for New Day (If that was even possible) but last nights beating from the League of Nations gave Sheamus and Co. the best reaction they've had since they came together.
New Day have now faced all four members of the League of Nations and while the matches haven't been particularly spectacular they have been pretty good. I suddenly find myself a little intrigued by the idea of New Day vs League of Nations at Wrestlemania. Credit to you WWE Creative, well done.
McMahon gets lost on the road to Wrestlemania
No this is not me having a subtle dig at the fact that Shane McMahon messed up his lines. The guy has been away for so long he's bound to be a little rusty. This is more to do with the fact that WWE have continued to fail to answer fans questions about why this match is happening. Why is Undertaker working for Vince? What is his motivation behind this? There is little logic behind this match right now. Vince needs to give Undertaker a reason to beat Shane McMahon, something like a WWE title shot or a place backstage in the company when he retires, just any motivation will do at this point.
As much as this match will probably be entertaining, it just has that feel of a match that was desperately thrown together at the last minute to try and appease the fans who were rebelling against Roman Reigns. It's worked to an extent so far, but people are starting to realise that this isn't actually as it should be. WWE Creative are getting shafted by fans right now for their poor and uncreative storytelling and this feud is doing them no favours.
The Big Guy and his little friend Kalisto
Why is this happening? Seriously, why? Ryback faced Sin Cara tonight and had you not been looking at the screen you would've thought that everyone in the crowd had been sent to a different dimension. Nobody cared. So why in their right mind do WWE think that people are going to enjoy this match. There are many people who care about Ryback right now, he's not explosive or entertaining in the ring and he's pretty bland on the microphone. Kalisto on the other hand is extremely entertaining in the ring, so why pair him with The Big Guy? Kalisto would be able to put a much better match on if he was part of the multi man ladder match at Wrestlemania, do you remember that spot at TLC? of course you do.
Dean Ambrose and his buddy Mickles
Well Dean Ambrose didn't beat Triple H, but he's still got a match against Brock Lesnar at Wrestlemania which will probably be Match of the Night and a Match of the Year candidate. Ambrose came out to what was the loudest pop of the night. Out came Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman to do what they do and this was all in all a great segment. Ambrose still looked strong after losing at Roadblock and the focus was promptly shifted back to Lesnar vs Ambrose at Wrestlemania. Ambrose did well to remind us of how this was a Street Fight by revealing a crowbar in his jacket, imagine if that was something else...
Then we had a segment between Mick Foley and Dean Ambrose backstage. This was just brilliant. Everyone was wondering how Foley would fit in to RAW this week and this was the perfect way to do it. Most people have called it a passing of the torch moment between Foley and Ambrose and that's pretty fitting as Foley gave Dean his beloved "Barbie" for his use against Lesnar at Mania. Foley proving that legends can always come back and have a huge impact on current story lines.
No Daniel Bryan?
This one is a bit out there but was anyone else dissapointed to not see Daniel Bryan on RAW? Rumours were running rampant that DB would be on RAW as he was photographed with wife Brie in Pittsburgh. He was actually in Pittsburgh being the wonderful Daniel Bryan that he is and doing charity work but you can't help but feel a little dissapointed. Damn you Internet!
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