Csonka’s WWE Raw Review 10.17.16

Csonka’s WWE Raw Review 10.17.16

OFFICIAL RESULTS
– Seth Rollins defeated Chris Jericho @ 14:40 via pin [***½]
– Mark Henry & The Golden Truth defeated The Shining Stars & Titus O’Neil @ 3:10 via pin [*½]
– Big E defeated Sheamus @ 10:25 via pin [**½]
– Bo Dallas defeated Neville @ 2:53 via pin [NR]
– Dana Brooke defeated Bayley @ 4:10 via pin [*]
– Braun Strowman defeated The Mile High Trio @ 2:12 via pin [NR]
– Big Cass defeated Karl Anderson @ 1:12 via pin [NR]
– Brian Kendrick, Tony Nese and Drew Gulak defeated TJ Perkins, Cedric Alexander and Rich Swann @ 7:20 via pin [**½]

Kevin Owens, His Best Friend Chris Jericho & The List Arrive: The crowd loved Jericho here as Owens explained that Foley has a vendetta against him. Jericho then put over the dangers of Hell in a Cell, calling it an injustice and proving that Foley is a stupid idiot. Owens promised to put Rollins through hell and won’t allow the cell to end his career like it did to Foley. Jericho then ran down his accolades and the legends he defeated, and says he can beat Rollins and only failed due to horrible refereeing. The referee made THE LIST. Owens promised to retire Rollins, which of course led to Rollins making his way out. Rollins got a great reaction, ran down Jericho and then ruined it by calling him sparkle crotch. Jericho threatened to put him on THE LIST, leading to Rollins trying to play mind games and ruin the truest of friendships in the entire world. This led to Jericho and Rollins setting up a rematch, with Rollins tricking Jericho into needing to beat him on his own and sending Owens to the back. Jericho told Owens that he knows all the tricks, but that they are friends and that he needs to prove to everyone that he is Chris Jericho damn it. They hugged. They did some good things there, with Rollins trying to mind fuck Jericho and Owens, and the fact that Jericho and Owens continue to be so damn entertaining. But I absolutely hate that they already gave Rollins the generic, name calling baby face promo style. Sparkle crotch is right up there with that tater tot bullshit; Jericho’s reaction made it sort of work, but that was some truly awful writing. I am sure that Vince McMahon scripted that one himself; it fits his sense of humor. Thankfully the Jericho/Owens story and chemistry is very strong.

Seth Rollins vs. Chris Jericho: They worked a nice pacing to begin, skipping over the usual busy work and getting right into the meat of the match. Usually that feels like they are skipping a step, but with them just facing last week and Jericho vowing to beat him it works here as he was working with a sense of urgency. Rollins caught Jericho with a boot and teased the pedigree, Jericho escaped but Rollins kept control, hitting the blockbuster for a near fall. They played even better off of each other this week, good counters and a good flow to the match. They worked through the commercial, and Rollins slowly made his comeback hitting the flatliner to the corner. They worked back and forth, with Jericho hitting the lionsault for a near fall. Jericho teased the pedigree; Rollins escaped and hit the falcon arrow (HE DID THE DEAL) for a near fall. Rollins went up top, and Owens made his way out to distract him. Rollins said fuck it and hit the high cross on Jericho on the floor. He followed with the springboard knee. Jericho then countered the pedigree as Rollins focused too much on Owens and locked in the walls. Rollins fought for the ropes, Owens tried to pull the ropes back and the ref saw it and made Jericho break. Rollins and Jericho went back and forth, but Rollins countered the code breaker and hit the pedigree for the win. Seth Rollins defeated Chris Jericho @ 14:40 via [***½] Jericho and Rollins again had a very good match on Raw; they just seem to work well together and have chemistry. I’d love to see them get this time on a PPV where they can go full tilt. The big thing here was that Jericho wanted to do this on his own, and Owens was the cause of the walls being broken up and leading to his loss. They are doing well establishing the Jericho and Owens dynamic, and the booking makes sense for a split, but they aren’t beating you over the head with it. Rollins also gets a win to keep his momentum going.

UP NEXT: @WWE Hall of Famer @AmyDumas sits down with @MsCharlotteWWE to talk making history at #HIAC! #RAW pic.twitter.com/JcWwZC7Oj3

— WWE (@WWE) October 18, 2016

Lita Interviews Charlotte: This was done in the style of the Michael Cole interviews. Lita discussed the legends of Hell in a Cell, like Taker, HBK and HHH. Charlotte says no woman has been in the Cell because she hadn’t come along yet. She says that she’s the greatest, male or female, and she is a two-time champion and won 12 PPV matches in a row because she is durable. Lita asked her about the fans supporting Sasha and that HIAC is in her hometown. Charlotte says she never needed anyone to cheer for her, and that she is genetically superior and was bred for this. She says Sasha may not be 100% that say, but she will be and she be better at HIAC and win the title back. Charlotte came off as a cocky, overconfident and completely unlikable bitch here, which is what she needed to be. But there wee two issued here; first of all Lita is horrible in the role. She had the charisma of a cardboard cutout and it hurt the interview. Secondly, they never got into the dangers of the cell match and that it could change their careers and such. That was a huge point missed. This was a solid segment overall, and I am glad to see then using pre-taped sit-down interviews to build big matches on the show.

Mark Henry & The Golden Truth vs. The Shining Stars & Titus O’Neil: This was set up on the pre-show and was built around the Shining Stars trying to sell fake Rolex watches. Goldust ran wild to begin, moving better than anyone in the match at the age of 47. Primo cut him off, got the tag to Epico and they took control of things. O’Neil and the Stars worked quick tags, isolating Goldust in their corner. Goldust fought back with the snap slam and got the tag to Truth. Truth ran wild, hitting clotheslines and the leg lariat. The axe kick followed and the Stars broke up the pin it broke down, Truth hit the flatliner and Henry blind tagged in. He hit the world’s strongest slam and that was that. Mark Henry & The Golden Truth defeated The Shining Stars & Titus O’Neil @ 3:10 via pin [*½] Mark Henry stood around for 3-minutes, tagged in, hit one move and won. That’s a hell of a job if you can get it. This existed, simple filler and nothing more.

– Jericho and Owens argued backstage, with Jericho being pissed that Owens came down to the ring. Stephanie arrived and told them to get on the same page, noting that she needed them for the Raw vs. Smackdown challenge at Survivor Series.

– New Day ran down Sheamus and Cesaro for being a poor team and celebrated being tag team champions for 420 days.

Big E vs. Sheamus: Cesaro is out with Sheamus and is now doing the Facebook gimmick like Sheamus did last week. They went back and forth, working big man power moves; every time one would get an advantage, the other would cut them off. Cesaro out on Big E’s vest and continue to Facebook as Big E worked over Sheamus on the apron, hitting the splash. Sheamus managed to score with a Finlay roll and we took a commercial break. Post break, Sheamus worked the heat until Big E caught him with a pair of belly-to-belly suplexes. Big E danced and the running splash ate knees. Sheamus followed with the Irish curse, and that got a near fall. Big E then countered the brogue kick into a powerbomb, which got the near fall. Sheamus escaped the big ending and then hit white noise, the cover got 2. Cesaro went into the crowd with his phone as Sheamus beat on Big E and sent him to the floor. Sheamus followed and yelled at Cesaro, rolled Big E back in and then took Cesaro’s phone. They argued, Sheamus demanded that Cesaro film him so of course Big E got a roll up for the win. Big E defeated Sheamus @ 10:25 via pin [**½] This was a rock solid match, but it just felt as if it was missing something. They continued to play up the issues with Cesaro and Sheamus, who can’t get on the same page as they head towards their title shot. Doing basically the same finish as last week didn’t help the match any.

Bo Dallas vs. Neville: Curtis Axel is out with Dallas. Axel claims to be the biggest believer in Bo, and got Foley to make this match because he felt bad for losing last week. Dallas continued his newer aggressive streak, beating on Neville as Axel yelled that Neville should believe in Bo. Neville finally avoided a clothesline and hit a series of kicks. Neville then headed up top, but Dallas rolled to the floor. Neville then hit the asai moonsault to the floor. Back in and Dallas fought back for a bit, but ate a boot. Dallas cut him off and hit cross Rhodes and won. Bo Dallas defeated Neville @ 2:53 via pin [NR] The match had no real flow, constantly feeling disjointed and then Dallas palling off the anticlimactic victory. I think Neville has more upside for them, but they seem dead set on this Dallas reboot. I wish I could say that I was excited for a Dallas vs. Axel feud, but I’d be lying. Neville should have been an easy call to add to the cruiserweight division, but hey, we got Sin Cara!

– Axel tried to celebrate with Dallas, so Dallas attacked him and beat him down on the floor, repeatedly slamming him to the barricades.

Bayley vs. Dana Brooke: Dana attacked Bayley after her victory last week, which is why we’re here. Dana did a lot of stalling early, trying to stay away from Bayley. Bayley finally caught her and stunned her in the ropes and took control. She followed with a series of corner clotheslines, and then repeatedly slammed Dana to the corner, Dana cut her off with a forearm and laid the boots to her in the corner. Dana worked a short heat, and they hit clotheslines at the same time for a double down. Bayley fired up, hit the corner elbows and Dana rolled to the floor. Bayley followed and hit a dropkick through the corner, back in and Bayley went up top but got cut off and posted. Dana pulled her in and covered for the win. Dana Brooke defeated Bayley @ 4:10 via pin [*] For as much as I like Bayley , this wasn’t good. It was clunky, Dana’s offense continues to look poor and she was supposed to use the ropes to pick up the cheap win at the end, but due to poor positioning, failed. For some reason, WWE sees so much in her, but she continues to have poor performances and I still feel she was brought up too early.

@DanaBrookeWWE WINS!! #RAW pic.twitter.com/xkzK6Dfk4p

— Italo Santana (@BulletClubItal) October 18, 2016

Paul Heyman Talks: Paul Heyman joins us from WWE Studios, and before he can speak, he is met with Goldberg chants. He says the situation has spiraled out of control and Goldberg should listen to him. The challenge was rhetorical, and he won’t appear on Raw to say no, he will accept and he should think about this. He says Brock did not challenge him face to face because Brock doesn’t think about him anymore. It’s all a fantasy, and he needs to show up and say no tonight. If he says yes, then maybe, Goldberg will piss off Lesnar. Lesnar is already pissed about losing 12-years ago, and the fans chant his stupid name and think that he can as well. He promised that Lesnar would beat him. That was a good segment, he got the crowd to play into the promo and it ended up working well as a tease for Goldberg’s arrival later

Braun Strowman vs. The Mile High Trio: Braun Strowman toss around and kill puny men. They tried to fight and then tried to run, Strowman just ran then down and hit the powerslam, the front chokeslam and then pinned two of them. Braun Strowman defeated The Mile High Trio @ 2:12 via pin [NR] He killed them boys, I enjoyed it.

– Strowman demanded more competition, and then Sami Zayn arrived. Sami stared him down and Strowman shoved him out of the ring and walked away. Ami’s in some deep shit once Strowman gets a snack and recharges. But for real, Sami is a great guy to work with Strowman and to sell for his monster offense. It should also allow us to see what Strowman really has. I will admit that it’s not the position that I want to see Zayn in, but we need to see what Strowman has and Sami selling for him and hopefully giving him longer matches can only help Strowman. Basically I am cool with Strowman getting a real chance, and Sami is possibly the best guy to pair him with, we’ll find out really quick if there is really something there with Strowman.

– Sami was asked why he picked a fight with Strowman, and he said because no one else would. That also plays well, as Sami is being the only man on the roster with the balls to step up to the monster.

Rusev and Lana Rant: Rusev rambled on for a while after Lana introduced him, and then Lana said Rusev was a real man unlike the men in the crowd. Big talk from a women dressed like a picnic blanket. Rusev then made fun of Reigns’ 700 Samoan relatives, and called them savages who break coconuts on their heads. Rusev showed us a photo album of his family, mama Rusev (2-time world rowing champion), papa Rusev (a handsome and legendary military man and wrestling champion), brother Rusev (a great chef), grandma Rusev and his championship dog, his football playing Rusev cousins who play football…. Reigns then arrived and put over his other family, the Roman Empire. Reigns then said that Rusev looked like the family dog. Reigns then told him that the only one he’d be calling is 911. Lana slapped Reigns and Rusev laid him out with a superkick. Rusev then took him to the floor, beat him down and used the steel steps to do so. Back in the ring, Reigns tried to fight back but Rusev slammed him into the steps again. Rusev then locked in the accolade on the steps. Rusev stood tall to close the segment. I think that Reigns’ tone was off (the writing of his material), too much joking between two guys that are about to step into HIAC. The beat down was solid as Rusev needed to get the upper hand and look dominant as the challenger, but it also feels repetitive. I have seen this before and they aren’t doing anything new make me care about the feud. It was fine.

– We get another promo for Emmalina. Smoke show.

– Enzo and Cass arrived and did their usual shtick.

Karl Anderson w/Luke Gallows vs. Big Cass w/Enzo: Cass took control right away, and the fight went to the floor where Cass tossed Enzo into Gallows. Back in the ring, Cass cut off Anderson and hit the bossman slam and won. Fucks sake. Big Cass defeated Karl Anderson @ 1:12 via pin [NR] And they wonder why people are not into Anderson and Gallows. When you do bad comedy and then beat them like a drum, how could anyone care?

– Gulak and Nese met with Kendrick, and bad things are afoot with the cruiserweight heels. Perkins arrived, and Kendrick explained that there were no friends, just allies. Perkins knows Kendrick’s game. This led to video game talk again, and then Cedric Alexander and Rich Swann arrived and will be Perkins’ partners.

– In other news, the search for Noam Dar (possibly catering) and Gran Metalik (still in Mexico) continues.

Lita Interviews Sasha Banks: Lita was back and spoke with Banks about the HIAC match. Banks spoke about their journey from NXT to HIAC. She may have issues with Charlotte, but can’t deny that they got here together. Banks promises to show that she is the best at HIAC. Lita informs Banks that Charlotte said that she would win, and Banks said that this match is in her hometown and she is making history that night. It almost doesn’t feel real to her, and says the revolution has come so far she can’t believe it. Lita asks her about her back issues, and Banks says she is 100%. Lita finally asks about the dangers of HIAC and if Banks is afraid. Banks says she knows what she got herself into, but she knows when she steps into the cell that she can’t have fear on that night. She has to prove why she is the boss. Much like Charlotte, Banks came off well here discussing the match and their history. Lita was a little bit better here as well. The one thing missing was the hatred leading to HIAC, because they are too concerned with the “making history” aspect. Let them make history, stop telling us that they are.

Brian Kendrick, Tony Nese and Drew Gulak vs. TJ Perkins, Cedric Alexander and Rich Swann: They worked a fun back and forth early, with both teams getting some time to shine. Perkins almost got the heel hook, but Kendrick escaped to the floor for the commercial break. Post break, the heels worked a short heat on Alexander, and then Swann got the hot tag. He ran wild on Nese, and Gulak made the save as it broke down. Bodies got sent to the floor, Perkins hit the wrecking ball dropkick and in the ring Nese cut off Swann and then hit the 450. Kendrick tagged in and locked in the choke and Swann tapped. Brian Kendrick, Tony Nese and Drew Gulak defeated TJ Perkins, Cedric Alexander and Rich Swann @ 7:20 via pin [**½] This was another solid, but unspectacular outing from the cruiserweights. They simply aren’t allowing them the match structure to impress, this should have been a wild sprint showing off all of their awesome stuff, instead it was just a match. With most of the roster working a faster style, the cruiserweights are just smaller guys working the same matches so far. Kendrick won to continue his momentum to the PPV title match.

– Foley and Stephanie talked backstage about the raw vs. Smackdown Survivor Series matches. Foley books Rollins vs. Owens vs. Jericho for next week’s main event (that seems like a waste of a PPV main event). They then shared awkward high fives. Also, they have seemingly dropped all of the tension as they got there too soon and then decided to dial it back.

– Next week, Sheamus and Cesaro face New Day in a non-title match one week before their title match at the PPV.

Goldberg Returns: Michael Cole is in the ring and we get replays of Goldberg on ESPN and Heyman’s promo from last week. Goldberg was then introduced as the greatest champion in WCW history. Goldberg soaked in the chants before talking with Cole. We also got holy shit and this is awesome chants. Goldberg says it has been a long time and is glad they didn’t forget. Cole asked him about Heyman’s remarks, and then handed him the mic. He said it’s been 12-years and you never say never. This is even more special because his wife and kid are here to see him. he explains how he hooked up with WWE 2K17, and he misses a lot of things in this business. Kicking ass and being a superhero for kids are two of those things. Promoting the game gave him that chance again, and he was Goldberg again. He got to be the superhero again, and that created drama here in WWE. It made him think, and he thinks that maybe, it’s better left alone, maybe he should keep it in the video game. But then, Lesnar challenged him to a fight, but he couldn’t do it himself. His fat stooge did it for him. he then thought he had one last ass kicking left in him, one last spear, and maybe one more jack hammer in him. Brock Lesnar is not only next, but it means that Brock Lesnar is last. I know a lot of people aren’t excited about Goldberg being back, and I am not a huge fan of the match. But with that being said, that was a hell of a promo in front of an insane atmosphere. In all sincerity, that was the best promo Goldberg ever cut and between the promo and crowd response, he felt like a mega star. More importantly, it felt real and had great intensity. It was a hell of a segment to close the show, and if he can bring half of that intensity to the match, it may actually deliver something of quality.

– End scene.

– Thanks for reading.

“Mama says these my magic shoes. Mama said they would take me anywhere…”