WWE Raw 12-15-2014 Review and Results

After a pretty good Sunday that saw Cena put Seth Rollins through a table 3 times, the Chain Gang Soldier had a very rough Monday. It all started well for Cena, Jericho was the GM and he was getting a match with Seth Rollins. Jericho made a cage match as the main event in the opening segment. Jericho also made a match between himself and Paul Heyman for later on in the night. Obviously a set up for a returning star. Let’s count the 3.

1. The Beast is loose in the Village again

With it officially being the kick off to Royal Rumble, we all knew Brock was coming back at some point. They advertised the match with Cena the night before on the PPV. Once Jericho made the match with himself and Heyman, it was a guarantee we were going to see Brock on Raw. With the obvious happening it was still nice to see the champion make an appearance. I’m even going to over look the fact that Brock forgot to bring the belt with him, the first time he appeared. I missed not having the champion and deep down so did you. I get what Vince was saying about Brock being a special attraction, he comes beats someone up and leaves, he can’t do that every week but the champion can’t be a special attraction the champion has to be your workhorse. In this segment, Paul tried anything he can think of to get out of the match, even writing Jericho a check. None of it worked, Jericho was going to go on with the match until out came the Beast. Brock destroyed Jericho and eventually landed the F5 to end the segment. To tell you how this Raw was, this was the first must see thing that happened and it happened at the end of the 2nd hour.

2. Rise of the Roman Empire

Roman is clearly the guy WWE wants to take over Cena’s spot. If that wasn’t obvious go back to TLC when he interfered in Cenas match and then for whatever reason took out Fandango right after Brock took out Jericho. Was that WWE way of foreshadowing? Are they trying to tell us that Roman is definitely the guy to beat Brock at Wrestlemania? I believe the answer to those questions is yes, and it shouldn’t be. That painstakingly awkward promo from TLC proved that. Roman just can’t cut promos, and he’s still green in the ring. Roman clearly has the look and the IT factor but nothing else is good enough.

3. The Architect is a workhorse

A dependable person who does a lot of work over a long period of time, is the definition of workhorse. WWE have had a few workhorses, John Cena, Steve Austin, Bret Hart, Triple H, the list goes on but you can add one more to that list, Seth Rollins. It seems every week we mention the good parts of Raw and Rollins is involved in those segments. This rocket ship push that Roman is seemingly getting deserves to go to Rollins. Rollins is better in the ring, on the mic and has been here since his debut. Seth is deserved Superstar of the Year, Seth deserves a title run and Seth earned his spot at Wrestlemania, that all seems to be pushed to the side do to Romans return which will be very unfortunate. On Raw Rollins held his own in the opening segment with 3 of the best talkers in professional wrestling, Cena, Jericho and Heyman. This lead to the cage match which Rollins won after an interference from Brock. After a F5, a Curb Stomp and Heyman/Rollins handshake. Rollins escaped the cage leaving Cena laid out in the ring. Even though it wasn’t a pinfall and it wasn’t clean, it was nice seeing Seth go over here to end the show.

The final hour really saved this show. Nothing of interest happened beforehand. This seems like the typical, end of the year blow off Raw. Lesnar and Rollins were the MVPs of the show. I give the episode a hard C

Results

Big Show and Luke Harper Defeated Dolph Ziggler and Erick Rowan. Show pinned Rowan

Natalya and Alicia Fox defeated the Bella Twins when Nattie made Brie tap. Seed was planted for a Nattie, Tyson, Nikki angle

Highlight Reel with Rusev. Jericho makes fun of Lana. Seed planted for Rusev vs Ryback

Ascension vignette

New Day defeated Gold and Star Dust with Midnight Hour

Kane defeated Adam Rose after choke slamming Rose and the Bunny. Then tombstoned the Bunny

Lesnar takes out Jericho before Y2J vs Heyman started

Roman Reigns lays out Fandango and punches Big Show

Jimmy Uso defeated Miz after Jey Uso hit Miz with a Slammy

Seth Rollins escaped the cage to defeat John Cena after a F5 from Lesnar and Curb Stomp from Rollins

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Let Them Fly!

Close your eyes (but don’t really because how will you be able to read the  next part?), sit back and take a trip down imagination lane with me. Imagine a tournament, a 8 person WWE tournament for a championship. This tournament will last a month, being aired on all WWE main roster shows, culminating with the final of the tournament at a WWE Network Show, WWE PPV or special event. Now to the participants of said tournament:

1. Adrian Neville
2. Sami Zayn
3. Tyson Kidd
4. Justin Gabriel
5. Finn Balor aka Fergal Devitt
6. Kalisto
7. Sin Cara
8. Enzo Amore

Imagine the match possibilities when the tournament progresses from the above list, impossible right? Wrong! The WWE is loaded with world-class talent in the Junior Heavyweight/Cruiserweight division, it is now time to bring back that division and title. The WWE is struggling to make mid to lower card titles relevant. Let’s be real here they are struggling to keep the WWE World Title relevant. A breath of fresh air is needed. Insert the Junior Heavyweights.

NJPW arguably the best company in the world right now when it comes to in ring matches features 2 notorious Junior Heavyweight divisions that put on Match of the Night and Year candidates almost every show. 2 of the most talked about indy wrestlers out right now the Young Bucks, are a part of those divisions. They have the buzz right now that WWE needs in a mid card division. When you think of the top talent in Indy wrestling now, most of the talked about ones are at Junior Heavyweight. WWE can bring in people like Chris Sabin, Ricochet, Kota Ibushi. The list goes on.

Another argument I’m tired of hearing is once labeled “Junior Heavyweight” always labeled “Junior Heavyweight”. There are several examples of men that have successfully made the jump from Junior Heavyweight champion to Heavyweight champion. Rey Mysterio, considered one of the greatest of all time, he started as the best Junior Heavyweight in the world. Eddie Guerrero, Jeff Hardy, Daniel Bryan, Chris Jericho all made the jump. Look at one of WWE current top stars, Seth Rollins is a Junior Heavyweight. Outside of the WWE there are current examples as well, Austin Aries and Kazuchika Okada come to mind.

A couple of weeks ago on Monday Night Raw, Smackdown and Main Event WWE had depleted rosters do to injuries and the roster making their way to Europe for the UK tour, WWE let 4 people from the above list get air time, and they didn’t disappoint. Sami Zayn and Tyson Kidd continued their rivalry they have had all summer and fall. Kidd and Zayn had a fantastic match on Main Event. Tyson Kidd had a match of the year nominee on Smackdown.

These guys like Tyson deserve active main roster spots, showing what they can do. A Cruiserweight division will do that. WWE catches a lot of flak for not emphasizing the 2nd W in its acronym. Wrestling. Simple fix to that is letting these Cruiserweight’s loose. You will see qulaity in ring wrestling and you can keep the story line angles. Triple H is looking for new ways to keep the wrestling alive and I think Triple H will eventually bring it back. When Triple H does, sit back and watch quality wrestling.

As always,

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