Monday Night RAW Review - 21/03/2016

Lets all just say it, RAW in Philadelphia sucked last night. In my opinion it was pretty average at best and if there were people out there who actually enjoyed the entire show, well, good for you and I'm glad you were able to while the majority of us couldn't. We are just 12 days away from what some people have called potentially the biggest Wrestlemania of all time and right now it doesn't even feel like the biggest Wrestlemania of the past two years. Obviously WWE will probably have some sort of surprise in store for Wrestlemania but right now the card makes for pretty difficult reading. Last night should have been an all out attempt to get people to buy in to the show of shows at Dallas, Texas but in all honestly it was a pretty weak attempt at trying to fill 3 hours.

The night started off with Stephanie McMahon and Roman Reigns in the ring. Philadelphia didn't shower boo's upon Roman Reigns but they were noticeably louder than any positive reactions he got when he entered the ring. WWE were wise in their showcase of Reigns in the fact that he went to the ring, said his piece and then left, as he should. He didn't pander to the crowd, he didn't try to make any wisecracks, he went out there and was completely serious and then left. He also entered down the ramp again which could hopefully signal a change in his portrayal, I.E new gear and new music as well.

Roman Reigns and Stephanie McMahon get Physical on RAW

This segment was good. It wasn't the type of long drawn out segment we've come to expect at the start of every RAW which is great to see. WWE look like they are starting to understand how Roman Reigns should be booked, unfortunately it's about 3 months later than the rest of us. The majority of people have stated this is how Roman should be portrayed for months and WWE are only just starting to listen so for some people, and to a degree myself, it's too little too late and they just aren't that bothered any more.

After that we got a mouther watering match between AJ Styles and Kevin Owens, what many people believe should have been the match at Wrestlemania. This match just screamed PPV quality. They were given 20 minutes of time to showcase their skills and even with 2 ad breaks this match still blew our socks off. Kevin Owens hit a beautiful frog splash and AJ Styles pulled out a nice Torture Rack. Eventually Chris Jericho interfered yet again to cost AJ the victory.

Kevin Owens faces off with AJ Styles

Who'd have thought Kevin Owens would be facing AJ Styles on RAW? This was such an entertaining match and it's another meaningful contribution from Styles early on in his WWE career. Personally I think the distraction from Y2J was unnecessary. Styles was made to look like a fool like he was on SmackDown but nevertheless this match made for great viewing.

Next WWE aired a segment of Dean Ambrose at a bar in Philadelphia where he runs into none other than Terry Funk! WWE's buildup of Ambrose has been excellent going into Wrestlemania in terms of having him receive endorsements from legends such as Funk and Foley. The match between Ambrose and Lesnar is arguably \WWE's best booked match right now and I dread anyone who has to follow it, because you just know that both Ambrose and Lesnar will go all out and will probably even draw blood to make this entertaining.

Following on from their match last week, Big E went up against League of Nations member Rusev. As you would expect, both teams got involved in this match. Big E took a partcularly nasty bump when he speared Sheamus through the ropes near the end of the match. Eventually Kofi Kingston snuck in a kick to the head of Rusev and Big E landed the Big Ending for the win.

Rusev hits Big E with a kick during their match

To be honest this is a little confusing for me. New Day have turned Face, OK. Any reason as to why apart from simply being over? That's not really enough for a casual fan to understand why New Day have suddenly had a change of heart. Personally I think their face turn is already a little weird. I said before that New Day were so excellent as Heels because they were able to insult whichever city they were in, they can't do that as Faces. Overall this rivalry just doesn't feel like it has enough momentum going into Wrestlemania. League of Nations are yet to pick up a victory against New Day and WWE waited too long to make them look strong.

Now the Andre the Giant Battle Royal should be a way for WWE to elevate a new star. To an extent it kind of worked for Cesaro but eventually his momentum fizzled out and having Big Show win was just a pointless move, this year WWE need to use it to create some momentum for somebody. Right now nobody gives a crap about the match. Who's in it right now? The Social Outcasts, Big Show and most likely Kane. Not really much reason to get excited. The segment on RAW between Show, Kane and The Social Outcasts just felt like it didn't do anything. Is Kane a Heel now? Why did he help Big Show? The Battle Royal at Wrestlemania needs to add some good names to the mix, The Wyatts would be a start as well as some names from NXT hopefully who can shine given a bigger stage, Tye Dillinger, Samoa Joe and Apollo Crews to name a few.

Remember when Fandango beat Chris Jericho at Wrestlemania 3 years ago? Chris Jericho would probably like you to forget that. We had a rematch of that match on RAW which was OK I guess. Eventually AJ came out to interrupt the match, however Jericho still managed to execute the Codebreaker on Fandango for the win and afterwards AJ challenged Jericho to a match at Wrestlemania.

Chris Jericho delivers a nasty chop to Fandango

This match wasn't exactly a technical masterclass but It was good in helping showcase Jericho as the mean and nasty Heel he was. This whole feud with AJ and Y2J feels largely unnecessary to me. I understand that they are doing it to help get casual fans to side with AJ by having him face a Heel Jericho but they could've done this at Fastlane, freeing up AJ for a match against someone like Kevin Owens at Wrestlemania.

Earlier in the night Kevin Owens managed to persuade Stephanie McMahon to allow him to make a Triple Threat match to decide a No. 1 conteder for the Intercontinental Title at Wrestlemania. Instead of it being between Sami Zayn, Dolph Ziggler and The Miz, Kevin Owens decided to have Stardust, Sin Cara and Zack Ryder compete. Eventually the match ended in a DQ and Stephanie McMahon announced a 7 man Ladder match at Wrestlemania.

A brawl ensues during the Triple Threat match on RAW

For me, this match was definitive proof that WWE has no idea what their own fans actually want. For starters. This match ended in a Disqualification. Yes, a Triple Threat match ended in a Disqualification, WWE are clearly making up their own rules now. Secondly Kevin Owens has been one of WWE's most standout acts over the past six months, while others have floundered he has consistently been the best Heel and arugably the best performer on the roster ever since Seth Rollins tore his Knee apart. In short, Kevin Owens deserves his own match at Wrestlemania one on one with a good narrative instead of just being thrown in as part of the annual Ladder match. Kalisto and the US title are much more suited to that because A) Kalisto is suited to Ladder matches B) nobody really cares about Ryback vs Kalisto and C) The prestige of the US title has already been damaged in recent months so why do the same to the IC title. I'm glad that |Zack Ryder is on the Wrestlemania card as he deserves to be there but if a man who hasn't won a match on RAW since 2014 can get a title shot, don't be surprised to see Kevin Owens vs Michael Cole at Payback next month.

Roman Reigns followed up his promo by assaulting Triple H in the parking lot. Again it was how Roman should be portrayed but this should've closed the show. It would've had more effect and the show closes on a high note for Reigns.

Next Charlotte faced off against Natalya with Sasha Banks and Becky Lynch on commentary. It was a good match as you'd expect between these two women and it ended with Charlotte eventually getting the win over Natalya via Pinfall.

Charlotte nails Natalya with a Big Boot

It was hard not to be focused on commentary rather than what was going on in the ring. This just all felt like WWE tried to cram everything into one segment. Natalya deserves better than the cards she's being dealt at the moment. Hopefully in the near future we may see Natalya vs Sasha/Becky for the title at a PPV as that would be an excellent match all round.

WWE followed that match with R-Truth vs Bubba Ray Dudley. Seriously. The match was pretty tame and Bubba Ray eventually beat R-Truth with a kick to face. Goldust then came out to make the save and was attacked by D-Von. Then out came The Usos to try and put D-Von through a table but The Dudleyz managed to escape.

Jey Uso nails Bubba Ray with a Superkick

This whole rivalry just feels completely rushed. Neither The Usos nor The Dudleyz have been given any microphone time to add anything to their feud, instead relying on in ring beatdowns to try and get this feud over, which hasn't worked. This whole thing is more suited to a PPV like Fastlane rather than Wrestlemania. Bubba is doing pretty well in his Heel role it must be said, as you would expect after his stint as Bully Ray in TNA.

The second to last segment of the night featured Vince McMahon annoucing a surprise stipulation to the Shane McMahon vs Undertaker match at Wrestlemania. The promo was accompanied by video packages designed to put over the match by legends such as Steve Austin, Mick Foley, Shawn Michaels and they even squeezed Road Dogg in there! Eventually Vince announced that should Undertaker lose to Shane in Dallas, it would be his last Wrestlemania.

Vince McMahon prepares to address the WWE Universe

The video packages were a good addition as it made this match feel bigger than it already does. Having said that, this was pretty much a waste of time. There are just so many ways to get around this that it felt like WWE trying to make this seem more important but it didn't work. The fact that neither Shane nor Undertaker were there didn't help matters.

Finally, RAW ended with Dean Ambrose facing Braun Strowman in the main event and I can't believe I actually just typed that sentence. The match itself was poorly recieved both online and by the crowd who even resorted to "This Is Boring" chants that were hard to argue with. Eventually the match ended in DQ and Ambrose nailed Strowman with Dirty Deeds on a chair.

Dean Ambrose attacks Braun Strowman with a Steel Chair

What a disappointing end to a disappointing show. Even listening to Paul Heyman on commentary couldn't save this. I understand why WWE did this. They wanted Ambrose to look strong against a beast going into Wrestlemania but this wasn't the way to do it. If Lesnar isn't going to be at RAW then they have to let Heyman and Ambrose go at it verbally.

Overall this episode of RAW was pretty bad. The main event was given "This Is Boring" treatment and you can't really blame Philadelphia after having to sit through three hours of that. Brock Lesnar, Undertaker and Shane McMahon were not in attendance which was dreadful. During an Injury crisis like this it is the time that WWE should be shelling out more money and asking Lesnar and Taker to do more dates. Right now we are 12 days away from Wrestlemania and fans should be frothing at the mouth impatiently and instead quite a few are rather disinterested. Next week in Brooklyn, WWE need to step up their game.