Last week, I mentioned that Seth
Rollins was likely added to the title match at the Royal Rumble because WWE couldn’t pull off another big money Lesnar
vs. Cena match. To WWE’s credit, Rollins has helped make this a must-see match,
one that’s almost as hotly anticipated as the Rumble match (at least in my
mind). But it’s also exposed a big flaw on the creative side of things: Brock
Lesnar isn’t a true heel. At least not anymore.
Jim Ross has talked about this
sort of thing on The Ross Report
numerous times, but let’s go through some of it again. Seth Rollins cheats to
win, is cowardly at times, and has The Authority break the rules for him. Brock
Lesnar is simply a tough guy who brutalizes his opponents. In the world of
wrestling, that’s an endearing quality. He’s also been known to beat up John
Cena a lot, which tends to make him even more endearing.
The one thing that Brock
Lesnar had going for him that really made him a bad guy was that he ended The
Undertaker’s undefeated streak at Wrestlemania.
But even then, he won cleanly.
When Brock came out at the top
of the show this week, I was ready to boo him. But again, he was just a tough
guy looking for a fight. Again, not a bad thing. And at the end of this show,
he beat everybody up! Again, not a
bad thing!
While this match is very interesting, Seth Rollins has
monopolized the heat. Brock is essentially just the guy who happens to have the
belt. If the plan is still to have Brock go into Wrestlemania as WWE Champion, that’s not a good thing, and the
match at the Royal Rumble needs to
heat Brock up again big time.
John Cena def. Seth Rollins, The Big Show & Kane, with help from
Sting. Handicap match main events are lame, but Sting’s first Raw appearance obviously put a hell of
an exclamation point on this one. I’m liking that Sting hasn’t said anything
yet. His mere presence is enough to send the bad guys into a frenzy. And when
he shows up, justice is done. Great Raw debut
for “The Vigilante.”
And of course, because Cena
won, Dolph Ziggler, Ryback, and Erick Rowan can come back to TV now, which we
knew they would.
WWE allows fans to vote on whether Cena should be allowed to compete
for the jobs of Dolph Ziggler, Ryback and Erick Rowan. I never understand
why they do this. WWE creates the illusion of fan participation by giving fans
a “choice,” when there’s an obvious choice. So why even bother doing the poll?
To get traffic for the app, I guess. But wouldn’t it be more interesting if
they actually gave fans the opportunity to change the show? I’d certainly be
more inclined to participate if I didn’t already know the outcome…
The Ascension are brutalized by tag teams of the past. I can’t even
tell you how amazing it is to see Scott Hall on Raw, looking the way he does.
There were years when I didn’t know how long this guy was going to be
alive, much less as healthy as he is now.
I’m happy to see The Ascension
are facing the New Age Outlaws at the Royal
Rumble, and that this segment didn’t kill them off. They’ve got some great
heat going, and it’d be a shame to squash them.
Hulk Hogan, Shawn Michaels, and Ric Flair do another “Legends Panel.” This
one worked better than the last one, most likely because they had more elements
to talk about, and could draw on their own experience. Curiously though, when
they were asked about their picks for the Rumble match, no one picked Roman
Reigns…of course, then the segment ended with him. The upside? At least he
didn’t talk this week.
Bray Wyatt def. Daniel Bryan WWE certainly wasted no time putting
Daniel Bryan to work, which I can’t complain about. We spent most of 2014
missing him. So seeing him genuinely feels like a treat. I was really surprised
to see him lose so soon after his return. I suppose WWE really is trying to make Bray Wyatt look as
strong as possible. Maybe those Undertaker/Wrestlemania
rumors are true. Thankfully, Bryan looks awesome in the ring as always. He
sold his surgically repaired neck well. And hot damn, that frankensteiner!
Dean Ambrose def. Bad News Barrett. Hey! Ambrose won a match! Though it may not matter anyway, as
Ambrose is living proof of the adage that you can win and lose at the same time
in pro wrestling. Ambrose has spent much of the last several months jobbing to
Seth Rollins and Bray Wyatt, and yet the crowd was still really into him this
week. Will Ambrose win the Rumble? Probably not. But it’d make for some damn
interesting TV heading into Wrestlemania,
that’s for sure.
The New Day def. Cesaro & Tyson Kidd. This match was much
better than The New Day’s hokey entrance might have led you to believe. The
loss notwithstanding, you can definitely tell Cesasro and Kidd have been
brainstorming together. I love the little charismatic moments Kidd injected
into the match, i.e. checking his “watch” during Cesaro’s hanging vertical
suplex.
Written by: Rob Siebert
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