WWE SmackDown Live Review // 13th March 2018

2 days after Fastlane, WWE's SmackDown brand set its sight on WrestleMania. AJ Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura came face to face before Styles took on Rusev, Shane McMahon had an announcement to make about WrestleMania, Randy Orton celebrated his first WWE United States Championship before Jinder Mahal faced former champion Bobby Roode, The Bludgeon Brothers challenged any fit members of The New Day and The Usos to a match, SmackDown Women's Champion Charlotte Flair shared a ring with WrestleMania opponent Asuka and "Ms. Money in the Bank" Carmella went one on one with Naomi. But was the Indianapolis show any good? Lets take a look!

On-Air Personnel 

Commentary - Corey Graves, Byron Saxton & Tom Phillips 

Interviewers - Dasha Fuentes & Renee Young

Ring Announcer - Greg Hamilton

Order 

1. Face-to-Face: AJ Styles vs. Shinsuke Nakamura and AJ Styles vs. Rusev

2. Shane McMahon's WrestleMania Announcement 

3. Randy Orton's US title Celebration and Bobby Roode vs. Jinder Mahal 

4. The Bludgeon Brothers vs. Big E & Jimmy Uso 

5. Face-to-Face: Charlotte Flair and Asuka

6. Carmella vs. Naomi

Face-to-Face: AJ Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura

A solid opening segment between the competitors in SmackDown's main event at WrestleMania, as Shinsuke Nakamura interrupted WWE Champion AJ Styles. We didn't really learn a lot from either man's promo, but it was cool to see the two finally share the ring, after their WrestleMania match had been rumoured for so long. In fact, I think it was the fact that we've waited so long to see it that actually managed to carry the segment, because the crowd was super hyped for it, with duelling chants and all that jazz. Styles' promo went over some old ground about his road to get to WWE and what it means to go into WrestleMania as champion, whilst Nakamura's was limited to explaining his dream was to knee Styles in the face and become champion, whilst the crowd "What"'ed him because English isn't his first language. The interruption by Rusev just as things looked to be escalating between Nakamura and Styles was well-placed and should help to rise the interest in the WWE title match at WrestleMania a little more as we begin to anticipate what the clash might look like when it finally happens. 

AJ Styles vs. Rusev (with Aiden English)

AJ Styles and Rusev battled in a good match, until Aiden English interfered to give Styles the disqualification win as Styles looked to locking in the Calf Crusher on Rusev. This a physical clash with slight elements of power vs. speed in places, but was mostly centered around the pairs various strike based offence, with plenty of forearms and kicks in this one. The best stuff of the match was a minute or so that was used to build for the Ushigoroshi from Styles, with the Phenomenal One attempting the move three or four times, before a Pele Kick would eventually allow him to it, only for Rusev's weight across Styles' knee meaning he couldn't get a pinfall. This was a nice example of making a signature move mean something and there was even a good near fall thrown into the mix when RuRu dropped off Styles' shoulders for a Roundhouse Kick that looked super snug. The little sequence before the interference was also quite lovely with Styles going for what would have been an impressive Styles Clash, Rusev escaping and going for the Accolade and Styles reversing and eventually being able to roll-through into a Styles Clash. A bit more time and bit more importance and these two could have a great match together. The finish seems to be to extend the feud a little and pad sometime for WrestleMania, because of what would follow.

After the match - Rusev & Aiden English attempted to beatdown AJ Styles, before Shinsuke Nakamura would make the save with a pair of Kinshasas, I guess we'll see Styles & Nakamura vs. Rusev & English next week - Backstage, Shinsuke Nakamura told AJ Styles he would protect him til WrestleMania so he could beat him with "Knee to face" 

Shane McMahon's WrestleMania announcement

Before the segment - Sami Zayn blamed Shane McMahon's obsession with Kevin Owens for him not being WWE Champion right now, before promising to never be guilty by association to Owens ever again. - Kevin Owens replied to Sami Zayn, blaming Shane McMahon and calling Zayn a liar and delusional. 

A surprisingly violent angle to close the show as Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens' hatred for Shane McMahon united them once more as they laid waste to the SmackDown Commissioner, moments after McMahon had announced he was taking time away from the position and placed Owens against Zayn at WrestleMania. McMahon's promo was a little rambling, seemingly thinking out loud as he wondered whether he crossed the line at Fastlane and honestly lacked the emotion that it needed to be genuinely interesting. However, once we got past McMahon's detached rhetoric and we got two performers out there in Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn the segment was energised and became a fascinating and uncomfortable piece of television. Owens & Zayn taking out referees (including a ridiculous bump to the floor by Ryan Tran) got a great shocked pop from the Bankers Life Fieldhouse and the vicious assault including a Pop-up Powerbomb and McMahon getting sent into the post with a steel chair around his neck, grabbed you and made you pay attention, because it felt different to the usual WWE beatdown. But the most bracing moment came when Owens & Zayn began dragging McMahon up the ramp and into the back, with an increasing sense of foreboding that some real shit was about to go down. That real shit was a nasty looking powerbomb onto some big hunk of metal, that looked super painful to take for McMahon. If you look past the fact that no one came to McMahon's aid apart from a few referees, this was a great angle, that opened up a number of questions to be answered over the next three weeks. How will McMahon look to gain his revenge? What does this mean for Owens & Zayn's friendship, that appeared to be in tatters? Will we get Owens vs. Zayn on the biggest stage? 

Randy Orton celebrates United States Championship win 

A thoroughly unnecessary segment here, as no one said anything and Jinder Mahal continued to be a drag on the blue brand's product. Out of the three promos, Randy Orton's had the most behind it as he gave Bobby Roode props after their US title match, whilst also putting over what it meant to be a grand slam champion. Roode's promo revealed that he wanted his title rematch at WrestleMania, so at least there was that development, I suppose, even if it easily could've been handled in a thirty second backstage interview. Then we get to Jinder Mahal, who manages to make me want to turn off the TV every time he pops up, especially during this storyline. Why is his character that of a school boy? The quality of the writing for Mahal here has been especially poor, but he's not exactly blessed with great promo skills either. This segment saw Mahal try to stir the pot again between Orton and Roode, by mentioning that Roode had held the US title before Orton and that was something Orton was never going to change. Why the fuck would 13 time World Champion Randy Orton give a fuck that Bobby Roode had held the United States title before he did? Get in a bin, Jinder. Get in a bin, whoever "wrote" that promo. 

"The Glorious" Bobby Roode vs. "The Modern Day Maharajah" Jinder Mahal (with Sunil Singh) 

Not much to talk about in this match, as Jinder Mahal managed to beat the former WWE United States Champion, to supposedly set-up a triple threat at WrestleMania, after Sunil Singh had provided the distraction. There was one nice sequence here with the pair reversing each other's signatures, with Roode managing to counter a counter with a sunset flip for a decent near fall. 


After the match - Randy Orton gave Jinder Mahal an RKO.

Jimmy Uso & Big E vs. Harper & Rowan

Before the match - Big E & Jimmy Uso cut a pair of very good promos about the Bludgeon Brothers attack at Fastlane, as they spoke about Harper & Rowan had taken away from them  and promising to bring the attack to the pair tonight - Absolute chaos before the match began as Big E & Jimmy Uso attacked Harper & Rowan as they tried to take their jackets off, but the Bludgeon Brothers were able to take control later on despite Big E & Uso holding steel chairs.

The match itself was absolute domination from The Bludgeon Brothers, as they controlled the whole match, before sending Big E into the steel steps and pinning Uso with a Harper powerbomb. 

After the match - The Bludgeon Brothers went back after Big E, with Harper throwing E into a Rowan crossbody on the floor.

Face-to-Face: Charlotte Flair and Asuka

Similar to the Shinsuke Nakamura and AJ Styles segment earlier in the night, this segment held the attention because it had been so anticipated. The two women arguably did a better job than the men did with their promos, but this was more about introducing the match scheduled for WrestleMania, rather than anything too complex or creative. Flair's promo in particular was laden with cliches, like "iron sharpens iron" and "I've never anyone like you, but you have never faced anyone like me", which she performed well, but it was hardly to get anything excited about. Asuka's performance was a step above, as she overcame the language barrier and had the crowd reacting nicely as she explained she "bows to no one". Having the two interrupt by Randy Orton as he came to the ring for his match was a strange decision and gives out the wrong signals regarding how WWE views its women's division. Had Randy had enough of the women talking about their match and decided to hit the ring so he could talk? I get that WWE needed a way to finish the segment without the women coming to blows and it would've been weird to have just cut away without any action, but was this the only way to reach that point? I'm not convinced.

Naomi vs. "Ms. Money in the Bank" Carmella

Before the match - Carmella announced that she'd be taking part in the Fabulous Moolah battle royal at WrestleMania, declaring herself the modern day equivalent to Moolah...perhaps not the person you want to be comparing yourself to, Mella. 

Carmella picked up a big win over Naomi in a disappointingly short match, that the pair managed to fill with physicality and a couple of really nice sequences. Carmella repeatedly ducking roundhouse kicks, only for Naomi to counter a forth duck with a massive knee to the face was particularly well done, before a creative finish was Mella trip Naomi as she went for a springboard, before hitting a hair-aided rope-hung neckbreaker for the win. 

Also on the show

- Kid Rock is going into the WWE Hall of Fame and we get the same look at his relationship with WWE that was aired on RAW. 

- WWE played the promo package for the Fabulous Moolah Battle Royal again...will they actually keep the name?

- Rusev & Lana and Bobby Roode & Charlotte Flair cut promos ahead of their Quarter Final match in the Mixed Match Challenge.

ATPW Scale Rating // 4.79 out of 10

Written by James Marston // @IAmNotAlanDale

WWE Mixed Match Challenge Review // 23rd January 2018 // The Miz & Asuka vs. Big E & Carmella

The first round rolled on this week on Mixed Match Challenge as the Facebook Watch show hit Washington, D.C. This week offered up The Miz & Asuka vs. Big E & Carmella...but how was it? Let's take a look.

Mixed Match Challenge Round One Match // The Miz & Asuka def. Big E & Carmella // Submission

The weird stuff with the soft-play L aside, this was a fun bout that did a good job of combining the various characters in the match and their offence to create an enjoyable ten minutes of online television. The main theme I'm getting from Mixed Match Challenge so far is fun, with both matches focusing on creating a handful of moments that raise a smile, without ever feeling like their going to get all that deep, technical or indeed must-watch. It's the wrestling equivalent of Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway, but about three hours shorter. Highlights in this one included Asuka and Miz doing the Yes Kicks to their opponents, followed up by the finish in which the Empress of Tomorrow decimated the Princess of Staten Island with strikes, after Mella foolishly slapped her opponent, before the submission win came with a cross armbreaker. Also shoutouts to Corey Graves for getting so many pancakes thrown at him by the New Day, Beth Phoenix for a much improved performance on commentary, Asuka & Miz for some lovely character work after the match and referee Mike Chioda for the loudest and most obvious call in professional wrestling history. #AsukasGoingOver.

Also

Next week's match is Sami Zayn & Becky Lynch vs. Braun Strowman & RAW Women's Champion Alexa Bliss, so we got promos from both of those teams discussing their strategies etc.

Finally...

No much else to put in this conclusion section. It was a short fun show, that served its purpose well, but isn't worth going out of your way to see.

TV Review: WWE Monday Night RAW #1191 (Styles vs. Owens)

On 21st March 2016, WWE aired the 1191st episode of Monday Night RAW live from the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. With 13 days until WrestleMania 32, WWE Intercontinental Champion Kevin Owens went toe to toe with AJ Styles in the main event with Chris Jericho getting involved, WWE Tag Team Champion and New Day member Big E faced League of Nations member Rusev with both factions at ringside and Dean Ambrose battled The Wyatt Family's Braun Strowman...but was it any good? Let's take a look. 

monday night raw #1191 card

Match 1 - Singles - "The Phenomenal One" AJ Styles vs. WWE Intercontinental Champion Kevin Owens 

Match 2 - Singles - WWE Tag Team Champion Big E w/The New Day vs. Rusev w/The League of Nations

Match 3 - Singles - Chris Jericho vs. Fandango

Match 4 - WWE Intercontinental Championship #1 Contender's - Sin Cara vs. Stardust vs. Zack Ryder

Match 5 - Singles - WWE Diva's Champion Charlotte w/Ric Flair vs. Natalya

Match 6 - Singles - Bubba Ray Dudley w/D-Von Dudley vs. R-Truth

Match 7 - Singles - Braun Strowman w/The Wyatt Family vs. Dean Ambrose

fast-forward...A recap of the on-going storyline between WWE World Heavyweight Champion Triple H and #1 Contender Roman Reigns, including Reigns' return to WWE last week...

stephanie mcmahon and roman reigns open the show

This opening segment didn't really do a lot for me, for a number of reasons. Firstly, it didn't actually set up anything for the rest of the show. Stephanie McMahon came out, explained that her husband, Triple H, was at an important meeting and couldn't be at the show tonight, cut a short promo on the crowd about responsibility and power, was interrupted by Roman Reigns, tried to slap Reigns, Reigns said he "was the Authority" and then everyone went their separate ways. There was no match made for later on, no real reason to stick around to see what was going to happen. Secondly, it didn't really make a whole lot of sense. Reigns is The Authority? What does that even mean? Finally, I wasn't totally convinced by The Juggernauts performance here either. It felt very forced and inwards. Perhaps because he was in front of fairly hostile, Philadelphia crowd, but this was completely flat promo. Not a great place to be just 13 days before the biggest match of his career.

wwe intercontinental champion kevin owens defeats aj styles

The show's main event happened to be it's opener as Kevin Owens and AJ Styles went at it in a nearly twenty minute bout. This was a match that was clearly chosen to appease the hardcore fan-base that the city is known for and the Philadelphia crowd lapped it up, popping for pretty much everything that Owens and Styles did in the ring. Both men got a handful of near falls, with the bout being kept pretty even for the most part, as the two stars went back and forth. A brilliant strikes based section stands out as the strongest action of the match, culminating in Styles landing a Pele Kick on the former ROH World Champion. Of course, with this being a television match the finish had to be one to further storylines, so it was Chris Jericho coming out saying "AJ Sty-els" repeatedly that was enough to cause the distraction and allow Owens to school-boy Styles to pick up the victory. Not the strongest finish and one that didn't particularly further the Jericho and Styles feud, but at least the Intercontinental Champion came out with the victory. 

A fairly lazy piece of booking followed as Kevin Owens began to cut a promo announcing his opponent at WrestleMania, only for Dolph Ziggler, The Miz and Sami Zayn to interrupt him and stake their claim for an Intercontinental Championship shot. WWE seems to have decided to throwaway a seemingly red-hot feud between Owens and Zayn for something a lot less satisfying to watch, but a hell of a lot easier to book. Chuck a load of guys into a title match, because you don't have to bother about writing any real storyline and obviously no one will notice that you've just gone for the same thing that you did last year, minus the weird chucking the belt around thing. More on this later of course, because the "best" was yet to come...

fast-forward...At a bar somewhere, 2 time ECW World Heavyweight Champion Terry Funk returned to WWE Television in order to give Dean Ambrose a chain saw, in a bizarre skit that ended with Ambrose destroying a table...The first of two build up packages for Shane McMahon and The Undertaker's Hell in a Cell match aired with a variety of WWE Hall of Famers and Legends waying in on the subject, including Mick Foley, Edge, Steve Austin, John Cena, Jerry "The King" Lawler and more...

big e defeats rusev

This was a top-heavy episode as WWE Tag Team Champion Big E and Rusev competed in one of the show's sub-main event's as the feud between The New Day and League of Nations continued to rage on. Before the bout started we got promos from both factions with the League of Nations surprisingly out-doing the New Day this time round. The quartet kept things simple, showing footage of last-week's assault on the trio, whilst Sheamus put over the attack even further. For me, The New Day's promo missed the mark somewhat, as they didn't seem all that bothered about the attack on them last week and decided to talk about Rusev having toe-jam and imagining what it would be like if all three of them had won the King of the Ring instead of King Barrett.

Big E and Rusev however really brought it in this match, putting on strong heavyweight tussle that brilliantly paced and used the surrounding five men at ringside well. Lots of big hard-hitting action, the bout built into a really good television contest, as Rusev and Big E proved that they could still potentially deliver on the singles promise that both men once seemed to have. Big E in particularly looked great here, having developed an exciting babyface moveset, including his Big Splash on the apron, a handful of sweet overhead belly to belly suplexes, as well as his signature spear through the ropes which he used to knock Sheamus off the apron in the closing stages. Of course, The New Day managed to gain a modicum of revenge for last week's attack here with Kofi Kingston nailed Rusev with an enziguiri from the apron, which allowed Big E to nail Rusev with the Big Ending to pick the victory. The victory means that Big E is now undefeated in singles competition since the end of October 2015! 

fast-forward...All four members of The Wyatt Family cut promos on Braun Strowman's upcoming sub-main event bout with Dean Ambrose later in the show...Alicia Fox, Naomi, Natalya and SOME GUY were in an advert for Snickers, what a time to be alive...

kane destroys the social outcasts and the big show

What an utter treat this was, eh? Big Show cut a promo saying he had to say he was the greatest giant of all time for some reason or another, but then claimed that it was in fact Andre the Giant who should hold that title. Obviously entering himself into the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal, proving that winning the battle royal does absolutely nothing for a career. Despite this, The Social Outcasts were buzzing about being apart of it and battered Show to prove it. A magical return for Kane was next as he saved Show by tossing Adam Rose, Bo Dallas, Curtis Axel and Heath Slater over the top rope, because we've got a battle royal to promote. The highlight of the segment was Show hugging Kane and jumping to the top rope, due to the utter joy on his face. The segment ended with Kane turning on Show and chokeslamming him off the middle rope to the floor. Yeah! 

fast-forward...4 time Triple Crown Champion Stan Hansen, best known for his time in All-Japan Pro Wrestling, was announced as the next inductee into the WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2016...

chris jericho defeats fandango

Fandango made a triumphant return to Monday Night RAW, making his first appearance since jobbing to Neville in last July, to put Chris Jericho over in a WrestleMania Rewind bout. A few minutes of action from Jericho and Fandango was interrupted by AJ Styles chanting "Y2Jackass" in a weird voice, before Y2J hit a Codebreaker to pick up the win, leaving Fandango without a win on television since 18th December. Styles and Jericho's chat that followed completely bombed with the live audience, who neither joined in with the "AJ Styles" or "Y2Jackass" chants leading to a pretty awkward moment for both men. We did however get another match booked for WrestleMania as Styles and Jericho will face off for the fourth time.

fast-forward...A second look at Shane McMahon and The Undertaker's bout at WrestleMania 32, this time focusing on McMahon's preparation...

stardust, sin cara and zack ryder battled to a non-contest in an attempt to become number one contender to the wwe intercontinental championship

I mentioned earlier how the "best" was yet to come in terms of the Intercontinental Championship picture and here it is!! Kevin Owens was on ring announcing duties, but instead of calling out Dolph Ziggler, Sami Zayn and The Miz as expected, out came Stardust, Sin Cara and Zack Ryder. This moment was, in fact, pretty entertaining with Owens teasing each of the original names, before bringing out the three stooges, but it quickly descended into silliness. Ziggler, Zayn and Miz came out to argue with Owens on commentary and then everyone started attacking Owens, with the referee throwing out the bout. The main problem here is that Owens was clearly taking the piss out of Stardust, Cara and Ryder by bringing them out for the #1 Contender's bout, pointing them out as weaker than the likes of Ziggler, Zayn and Miz, which was part of the entertainment factor, but now all of a sudden I'm supposed to see them as equals? Horribly booked, with no thought put into it. WWE has managed to make chicken shit out of chicken salad. Obviously Neville would've taken one of these spots (The Miz?) had he not got injured last week, but with names like Kane, Bray Wyatt, Luke Harper, Jack Swagger, Tyler Breeze, The Big Show, Damien Sandow, Goldust and R-Truth all without matches on the main card of WrestleMania, it's difficult to see how WWE settled upon this final line-up for an Intercontinental Championship bout. 

fast-forward...A recap of Stephanie McMahon and Roman Reigns opening the show, what a treat...Kevin Owens approached Stephanie McMahon backstage only to find himself booked in an Intercontinental Championship Ladder Match at WrestleMania, against Dolph Ziggler, Sami Zayn, Sin Cara, Stardust, The Miz and Zack Ryder...As Triple H arrived to take Stephanie away from the arena, Roman Reigns was waiting, leading to pretty cool visual when garage door lifted and Reigns was there, but the resulting brawl was a bit of damp squib after last week's clash...

charlotte defeats natalya

This was an abridged version of the pairs bout from Roadblock, without the storytelling and mainly sticking to the big memorable spots, like Natalya's sit-out powerbomb. Most of the focus was on Becky Lynch and Sasha Banks who were doing guest commentary as they pushed their characters and the upcoming WrestleMania Triple Threat they're in with Charlotte. Perfectly watchable wrestling, with some fun stuff from Sasha and Becky, but it felt like neither side got a lot of attention. Either full throttle with the wrestling or go full throttle with the character work, by attempting to do both I think the segment actually ended up not doing either particularly well.

fast-forward...A recap of the Dean Ambrose and Terry Funk segment from earlier...The commentary team put over the #FreeWrestleMania gimmick as well as what's being shown on the WWE Network across WrestleMania week...

bubba ray dudley defeats r-truth

Bubba Ray continued his undefeated streak in Singles matches as he destroyed R-Truth in just over two minutes. Basically a way of furthering The Dudley Boyz feud with The Usos, as after Goldust failed at making the save for Truth, The Usos were out to cause problems. The duo got roundly booed by Philadelpha, seemingly due to their association with Roman Reigns. It would appear that WWE is heading in the obvious route of a Tables Match at WrestleMania, as The Usos whipped out the hardware, only for Dudley Boyz to quickly scarper up the entrance way. A decent piece of promotion for a undercard bout, but I don't feel like many people have been fully sold on this rivalry as of yet.

vince mcmahon adds a stipulation to the undertaker's match with shane mcmahon at wrestlemania

With The Undertaker and Shane McMahon both absent from this episode, it was up to Vince McMahon to carry their storyline this week. Vinny Mac cut a promo alone in the ring, once again explaining the match, before adding a stipulation. As if the bout needed any more bells and whistles, this was pushed throughout the show, with my prediction being some kind of special guest referee announcement. However, Vinny Mac added the stipulation that it would be The Undertaker's last match at WrestleMania if he failed to defeat Shane McMahon. In kayfabe, I get it, Vince wants to ensure that The Undertaker will be at his best and have as much to play for as Shane does, but in the real world it's bit of a strange decision. Does the crowd want to see Shane triumph to finally joust the Authority out of power? Because that will lead to us never seeing The Undertaker as his event ever again. Who is the crowd supposed to side with? Who will they side with? Will they side with any body? 

braun strowman defeats dean ambrose via disqualification

This was the final marquee bout of the evening and it struggled to connect with the Philadelphia crowd who chanted "This is Boring" about half way through. Braun Strowman isn't the flashiest wrestler in the world and even though Ambrose is a fairly sympathetic babyface, watching Strowman plod through the bout and controlling the pace was hardly going to be the most enthralling piece of television you'll ever see, and the crowd didn't have the benefit of Paul Heyman's commentary to help them through it, either. It wasn't awful, but it just wasn't very exciting. Tasking Strowman with closing the show in only his 8th televised singles match was pretty ridiculous piece of booking. The bout finished with Ambrose teeing off on Strowman with a steel chair to cause the DQ, and after fighting off the rest of the Wyatt Family, hitting Strowman with a Dirty Deeds onto the chair to end the show. Obviously, this was an attempt to show what Ambrose could be capable of against Brock Lesnar in their No Holds Barred Street Fight in 13 days time, but it wasn't a particularly awe-inspiring finish to the show. After seeing Ambrose use a crowbar last week and get given a Barbed-Wire Baseball bat from Mick Foley and a Chainsaw from Terry Funk, this close felt like a bit of an anti-climax, which with just one more Monday Night RAW before the biggest show of the year, WWE can't really afford right now.

finally...

atpw scale rating - 4.27/10

One of the weaker episodes on the build towards WrestleMania, this was below average event, edging toward poor. The show was saved from being completely awful, thanks to two quality singles matches in the first hour. If you take the show on the first hour alone, then you've got a bloody good wrestling show as AJ Styles vs. Kevin Owens and Big E vs. Rusev were both strong outings. It was a shame that the other marquee bout on the show, between Dean Ambrose and Braun Strowman couldn't live up to what had happened earlier on, but due to a mix of ill-thought out booking and an anti-climactic finish ended the show on a bit of a downer.

After the first hour, the show went quickly down hill with a mixture of weird segments (Show, Social Outcasts & Kane segment), lazy booking (Intercontinental Championship picture) and the lack of big name stars (No Brock Lesnar, no Undertaker, no Shane McMahon and only a quick glimpse of WWE World Heavyweight Champion Triple H). Nothing in the second two hours was really worth catching out with average at best in-ring action and storyline progression that was either mind-numbling or non-existent. 

After a hit and miss build to WrestleMania over the last five weeks, WWE needs to hit next week's Monday Night RAW out of the park.

TV Review: WWE Monday Night RAW #1190 (Triple H vs. Ziggler plus Reigns returns)

On the 14th March 2016, WWE aired the 1190th episode of Monday Night RAW live from the CONSOL Energy Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvannia, USA on the USA Network with . Dolph Ziggler clashed with The Authority, leading to the WWE World Heavyweight Champion Triple H going one on one with The Show-Off later on in the show, before Roman Reigns made his WWE return and elsewhere, The New Day put their WWE Tag Team Championships on the line against The League of Nations' Alberto Del Rio & Rusev...but was it any good? Let's find out!

monday night raw #1190 match card

Match 1 - WWE Tag Team Championships - The New Day (Big E & Xavier Woods) with Kofi Kingston vs. The League of Nations (Alberto Del Rio & Rusev) with King Barrett & Sheamus

Match 2 - Singles - Ryback vs. Sin Cara with WWE United States Champion Kalisto

Match 3 - Singles - Sami Zayn vs. The Miz

Match 4 - Tag Team - Team B.A.D. vs. Team Bella

Match 5 - Tag Team - The Social Outcasts (Adam Rose & Bo Dallas) with Curtis Axel & Heath Slater vs. The Usos

Match 6 - Singles - Dolph Ziggler vs. WWE World Heavyweight Champion "The Game" Triple H with Stephanie McMahon

Match 7 - Singles - "Y2J" Chris Jericho vs. Neville  

the new day defeat the league of nations to retain the wwe tag team championships 

A rematch from two days previous at Roadblock, I enjoyed this contest much more than it's Special Event counterpart. It was an interesting twist to see Xavier Woods partner with Big E for the first time since August 2015 (a losing effort to The Prime Time Players on Thursday Night Smackdown #834) and one that I feel paid off. Without Woods chatting away at ringside, The New Day instantly become more likeable and partnered with a stronger match structure than Saturday night, the main weakness of the Roadblock encounter was removed as the heel/face divide was much clearer throughout. The CONSOL Energy Center was into the action, with their suport of The New Day growing throughout, leading to a spirited comeback from Big E following Woods' work as the face in peril. The final few minutes produced the strongest action of the bout with a brilliant near fall off a Rusev superkick to Woods (with Michael Cole doing a stellar job on commentary) before the scrappy closing stages saw Kofi Kingston, Sheamus and King Barrett involved in shenanigans at ringside and Woods rolled up Rusev to retain his team WWE Tag Team Championships! A good television opener, for sure and it was great to see the show open with some action rather than the usual talking segment.

Fuck me up the arse and call me Barry White, The League of Nations actually looked like a credible group of bastards. Following the match, they utterly destroyed all three members of The New Day with everyone getting a chance to hit their finisher on one of them, before standing in the ring doing a bizarre bow thingy. Why the fuck didn't this happen months ago? You know, when the group was involved in the main storyline across the show and Sheamus was the WWE World Heavyweight Champion? Ah well, let's forget that for now, this was a fantastic piece of booking and exactly what needed to be done to help this feud. The New Day now look like credible babyfaces, The League of Nations look like credible heels and the whole feud takes on a much more serious edge. 

fast-forward...A recap of the previous match and it's aftermath aired, yay...

dean ambrose and brock lesnar *almost* come to blows

It felt much easier coming into a talking segment after having an opening match already, I'm not sure why exactly but I'd certainly like to see this style used more often. It definitely helped that it was Dean Ambrose coming out to the ring, as he's been one of the highlights across WWE programming over the last couple of months, whether that be in a match or on the microphone. This was no different as he did a good job of moving past his WWE World Heavyweight Championship match two nights earlier and discussing the "controversial" three count he got in the bout well, this kept Ambrose title ambitions open for the future, but re-focused things on WrestleMania at the same time. Paul Heyman once again knocked it out the park and beyond with his reply, but the moment that completely sold the upcoming match between Ambrose and Brock Lesnar was The Beast Incarnate disobeying his manager and stalking the Lunatic Fringe around the ring, before retreating after Ambrose pulled out a crowbar. I wanted to see the two fight so bad, I wanted to see Ambrose swing a crowbar at Lesnar, I wanted Lesnar to suplex this shit out of Ambrose. Two more weeks of this stuff before WrestleMania could be very special stuff indeed.

ryback defeats sin cara

Well, the good times couldn't last forever could they? Literally no one in the arena gave a flying fuck about Ryback and Sin Cara, because it was Ryback and Sin Cara. The bout was met with utter indifference and whilst it was a bad match, there was nothing here to get too excited about at all. Of course, the Big Guy picked up the win, following two Shellshocks. Following the match, Ryback cut a heatless promo about a good big guy beating a good little guy every time, despite only being a few inches taller than Cara, before challenging Kalisto to a WWE United States Championship match at WrestleMania. Ryback is basically doing the gimmick that Sheamus was given just after last year's WrestleMania, except with about a 1/3 of the charisma, 1/4 of the heat and with an opponent nowhere near as over as Sheamus' rival, Daniel Bryan, was then.

dolph ziggler interrupts the authority

HEY GUYS, DO YOU LOVE TEN MINUTE TRIPLE H PROMOS?! YEAH, WE DO! Said no one ever. You know, Triple H is obviously an accomplished public speaker and can easily handle a crowd, but brevity is not one of his strong points. Neither is subtlety either it would appear, because this promo hit you over the head with what it wanted you to feel and then told you how you feel. Trips even told the Pennsylvannia crowd that they loved Roman Reigns, whoever wrote that deserved to be fired. How is that a helpful line for a crowd that still hasn't warmed to Reigns in the position he's in? The whole babbling about Authority and how everyone hates their boss and how the crowd lives vicariously through their heroes on television was like someone reading bullet points on why the Stone Cold and Mr. McMahon feud from the late 90's and early 00's was so popular. The highlight of the first portion of this for me was Stephanie McMahon's exaggerated introduction for her husband and her little dance to her theme music on the way down to the ring.

Dolph Ziggler's interruption did bring something different to proceedings, attempting to draw on "real-life" situations (or at least what has been relayed through various wrestling newz websites over the last few years) by placing The Show-Off opposite the Authority figure. It's a real shame that this whole sub-storyline has clearly been thought up very recently (two week's ago Ziggler was trading sub-minute victories with The Miz) and Ziggler hasn't really been built up enough for what this role required, making things feel just a tad forced at times. That being said, announcing that Triple H would wrestle on Monday Night RAW for the first time since an April 2014 bout with Daniel Bryan (even though the commentary team pushed it as his first match on RAW for three years) was again a twist that I didn't see coming. Stephanie choosing The Game as Ziggler's opponent (with The Show-Off getting to choose his match at WrestleMania had he won the bout) and having the match later in the show gave things a sense of urgency that announcing a match for the following week wouldn't have done. 

sami zayn defeats the miz

Before looking at the finish, I think it's only right to talk about how Sami Zayn looked in his first Monday Night RAW match since early May 2015. Just like he did with AJ Styles a few months ago, The Miz allowed Zayn to look great, as the former NXT Champion ran through a series of his flashiest signature moves, whilst also getting an opportunity to show of what makes him one of the best babyfaces in the business right now, his selling. It wasn't a match that set the world a light, or even one that many will remember even happened next week, but it introduced Zayn to an audience that a large proportion of weren't familiar with him against a familiar face. WWE Intercontinental Champion Kevin Owens on commentary provided plenty of insight into the rivalry between he and Zayn, putting in a strong character performance also. I'm not too convinced on the finish of the match however, as Owens attempted to get involved, before getting cheap shotted by Miz and the causing the distraction that allowed Zayn to pick up the win with the Helluva Kick. Complete over-booking in a match that needed a simple clear finish. With the commentary team mentioning that Zayn and Miz, as well as Neville, wanted shots at Owens' Intercontinental Championship, it feels like WWE is shifting towards having a multi-man bout for the title, rather than going for a straight-forward Owens vs. Zayn bout at WrestleMania.

fast-forward...A 2nd recap of the opening match and it's aftermath...A video package about WWE's paediatric cancer charity Connor's Cure partnering with The V Foundation aired, including the announcement by Stephanie McMahon earlier in the day from the Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh...Team B.A.D. went over Team Bella, with Lana causing Brie Bella troubles at ringside...The Social Outcasts were in an advert for Burger King...Lana and Team B.A.D interrupted Jo-Jo's interview with Paige with a multi-woman tag bout now seeming likely for WrestleMania...WWE Diva's Champion Charlotte and former 2 time WWE World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair both put in great performances during an interview with Renee Young, discussing Becky Lynch and Sasha Banks and teasing something for this week's Smackdown...Despite The Dudley Boyz trying to get involved at the commentary desk, The Usos made short work of The Social Outcast's Adam Rose and Bo Dallas...In another superb backstage segment former 3 time WWE World Heavyweight Champion Mick Foley made his return to company talking to Dean Ambrose about his No Holds Barred Street Fight with Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania, concluding with Foley presenting Ambrose with the prior's weapon of choice, a barbed wire wrapped baseball bat...

triple h defeats dolph ziggler + roman reigns returns

 After not really buying into their talking segment earlier on in the show, I thought that Triple H and Dolph Ziggler put in a real quality television main event here. Despite a slow start, the bout was very well structured and had the pair had the Pennsylvania crowd eating out of their hands by the time things were done. Triple H focusing on Ziggler's arm and giving him a vicious beating on the outside made The Cerebral Assassin look a like an ass-kicker, with The Show-Off selling his beating nicely. Outside the initial few minutes of action, Ziggler's offence was kept to bursts of big moves, followed by perfectly timed near falls, and a big pops from the crowd each time. The finish mimicked The Game's victory over Dean Ambrose on Saturday as Ziggler rolled into the ring and almost straight into a Pedigree, only to quickly escape, fail to hit a Zig Zag and finally succumb to the WWE World Heavyweight Champion's Pedigree and forfeit his chance at a WrestleMania match. A nice piece of booking that offered that last sliver of hope right at the end before snatching it away.

Roman Reigns is back, but whilst he wasn't booed out of the building, it was hardly the heroes welcome that WWE was clearly hoping for. However, I did enjoy watching Reigns give Triple H an absolute beating as he attempted to gain a modicum of revenge for the champion's attack a few weeks ago. I liked Reigns intensity (even if the commentary team pushed this WAY TOO MUCH) and the brawl going backstage was a nice touch that provided a different back drop for the action. Having even more blood involved in the rivalry added an extra depth to things, now that both men have spilled each others blood, how far exactly will they go when the WWE World Heavyweight Championship is on the line at the biggest event of the year? Or at least, that's what WWE is hoping you're thinking at this point. Just in case you were wondering, Triple H had over 40 minutes of TV time dedicated to him and his feuds on this show.

fast-forward...A recap of the previous segment aired...The commentary team pushed #FreeWrestleMania, as well as looking ahead at what the WWE Network had planned for WrestleMania week...R-Truth dressed as a penguin in an attempt to convince Goldust to be his tag team partner...

neville defeats chris jericho via disqualification

Chris Jericho and referee Charles Robinson did a stellar job of covering and calling on the fly after Neville had suffered a serious ankle injury, ending the promising match after only a few minutes. Lesser experienced performers would have drowned with so much TV time to fill and no way to finish the match, but firstly Robinson called for a clever DQ finish that kept the heat on Jericho, before Y2J called for a microphone and continued to pour scorn on the WWE Universe, Neville and rival AJ Styles. As much as I was disappointed that this match didn't get to reach it's potential, this was something that everyone coming through the WWE Performance Center should be shown as there was more than a couple lessons to be learned. Jericho ended up playing for time, until AJ Styles made his way out and one-upped the former WWE World Heavyweight Champion, laying him out with the Phenomenal Forearm to continue their feud.

the undertaker chokeslams shane mcmahon

I'm digging Vince McMahon's character right now. He's basically taken the backstage image that's painted off him by various dirt sheets and turned it up to eleven. Starting the segment by talking about the things that Shane McMahon could do if he took control of Monday Night RAW, all of which were great ideas, and then being like "Nah, I'm not gonna let that shit happen". Brilliant. His clash with The Undertaker was pretty much perfect, with Vince first admonishing The Deadman, before quickly realising that Undertaker was about to batter him, shitting his pants and apologising. The extra bit of spotlight put on their relationship allowed Vince to look even more of a pathetic weasel, which is exactly how he should be portrayed right now. 

The crowd lapped up the rest of the segment, as Shane McMahon came out and he and The Undertaker had their first meeting since their match at WrestleMania was announced. If Pennsylvania wasn't popping for what the performers had to say, they were sitting and listening, just waiting for something to happen. Shane O'Mac bought his A-Game as well, and armed with some killer material about Taker being a puppet, completely smashed it. The little bit of a scrap between the two WrestleMania opponents showed viewers that Shane could potentially hold his own against Undertaker, before Vinny Mac helped Undertaker show just how destructive Taker could be, pushing Shane into a chokeslam that would end the show. Another storyline that has managed to maintain it's momentum over the last few weeks, there's two weeks left to add the finishing touches to one of the most unexpected WrestleMania matches in history.

finally...

atpw scale rating - 5.83/10

Another solid episode of Monday Night RAW, this edition was a slight improvement on the week before. Whilst Triple H lengthy promo was my least favourite part of the three major segments of the show, his match with Dolph Ziggler and involvement in the return of Roman Reigns, both provided plenty of entertainment, even if the 40 minutes of Game based television was way more than I would have liked. The New Day and The League of Nations opener and follow-up angle gave the Tag Team division a much deserve spotlight, whilst established new roles for both teams excellently. Upcoming WrestleMania bouts (Undertaker vs. Shane McMahon and Brock Lesnar vs. Dean Ambrose) both had their ante upped as the segments promoting these matches were arguably the best parts of the show, despite being overshadowed by The Cerebral Assassin. 

The show wasn't without it's misgivings however, as Ryback's match with Sin Cara garnered utter indifference from the crowd, Sami Zayn and The Miz's match was let down by an overbooked finish and Neville suffered an unfortunate injury that lead to Chris Jericho having to cover for time. There was portion of the show in the 2nd hour that saw a lot of matches and segments being very short, leading to them feeling more than a little bit rushed. This almost certainly had something to do with the length of Triple H's earlier promo and meant that the show suffered from major pacing issues during this period.

All in all another strong step on the road to WrestleMania for WWE, with just 20 days to go. This episode left plenty to build upon over the next two episodes! See you next week.