Supercard Review: WWE Hell in a Cell 2016 - Charlotte Flair v Sasha Banks *Hell in a Cell*

On 30th October, WWE's RAW brand held the 8th incarnation of the Hell in a Cell PPV (the 1st to be entirely RAW branded). The main event was the first ever female Hell in a Cell bout with Sasha Banks putting her RAW Women's Championship on the line against Charlotte Flair, whilst a pair of semi-mains came from Roman Reigns and "The Bulgarian Brute" Rusev battling over the United States Championship and Kevin Owens placing the Universal Championship on the line, both inside the structure. With Cesaro, Bayley, RAW Tag Team Champions The New Day, Karl Anderson and Brian Kendrick on the undercard, how would Hell in a Cell turn out? Let's take a look. 

Despite what WWE's "triple main event" billing said, Charlotte Flair winning the RAW Women's Championship from Sasha Banks in a Hell in a Cell match was the main event in pretty much every sense of the term. It went on last, took up the most screen time and got the most hype. So how about that main event? It was always going to be difficult for Flair and Banks to step up not only into the main event, but to join the grand pantheon of Hell in a Cell matches, that includes classics like Shawn Michaels v The Undertaker and Cactus Jack v Triple H. There was a lot of history behind this bout, but at the same time there was none. Never before had two women main evented a PPV, never before had two women stepped inside the demonic structure. Was the match looking to emulate the past or create the future? It's difficult to judge something's effectiveness, if you're unsure of its aims. 

A large portion of the action happened outside of the bell, with Flair attacking Banks before the bell, leading to the two brawling outside of the cage. This would include the main angle for the bout that would drive the contest's narrative. Flair pulling Banks from the outside of the cage and hitting a powerbomb through the announce table looked superb. Banks took the bump like an absolute boss (pun intended), with the table collapsing underneath her and Flair's powerbomb looked tasty also. The build up could have been a lot slicker than it was, with Flair awkwardly bumping off the cage and then waiting for Banks to position herself into the powerbomb, instead of simply grabbing her. If the prior work had looked less cooperative then the big spot would have looked even better. The angle with Banks being put onto the stretcher and not wanting any help, only to pull herself into the cage when the announcement was being made, felt a little corny and didn't make a whole lot of sense. The two ladies played it well, but if the doctors had decried that Banks couldn't wrestle to the point that it had been communicated to the ring announcer (Jo Jo) then surely the match still doesn't go ahead? The spot has been played out in various formats over the years, including in a number of Hell in a Cell matches and I would've preferred the ladies had started with something that couldn't be easily compared to things we've seen over, at least, the last five years. 

Once the wrestlers were inside the Cell, I thought Banks and Flair did a damn good job, with a number of strong spots, some substantial storytelling and never for a moment looking out of place in the slot they were given. The majority of the bout was wrapped around Banks' back injury, with Flair targeting the damaged area and Banks offence kept to desperation flurries. The Boss' selling was mostly good, but the length of the bout (over 20 mins bell to bell) at times threatened it's believability, especially during a spot that saw her hit the three amigos suplexes (Because Eddie Guerrero). Spots-wise the match had some good use of the cell, from the very beginning where Charlotte hit a wicked monkey flip into the steel and a flurry of double knee shots from Banks that pinned Flair against the structure. A couple of the spots involving tables could have come off slicker, especially Flair's bump off the apron. Had these spots come together as planned then this probably would have been the undisputed match of the night. Flair winning the match with Natural Selection, having thrown Banks into a table twice, was a flat end to the evening, especially with the match in Banks' hometown. 

Match in a Sentence - A very good match, with some flashes storytelling brilliance, but it occasionally got lost and some of the bigger spots could have looked better

The show opened with Roman Reigns retaining the United States Championship over Rusev in a solid heavyweight scrap inside the structure. The match was hurt by having to take two other HIAC matches into consideration, meaning that the bout lacked any particularly impressive spots, meaning that Rusev bumping off the apron and into the cell was replayed about twenty times during the match. However, within the confines that they were given, I felt like Reigns and Rusev managed to produce an extremely watchable affray. They'd introduce a number of props to compliment that big lads style, whacking each other with Kendo sticks, the steel steps and a big metal chain. One of my favourite parts of the match was when Rusev had Reigns caught in the ropes and was wailing away with the kendo stick, but with the crowd chanting along, he stopped the beating and broke the kendo stick over his knee. It made me chuckle at home, but also got him a decent big of heat, because Boston loves to count. There was a couple of near falls with Reigns' being sent into the steps and then taking a superkick, which were worked well and had the crowd gripped, especially on the first one! 

My main problem with the bout was that it felt like a missed opportunity to make Rusev into a legitimate top guy in WWE. This was all down to how the story of the match unfolded and also, in part, the finish. The conclusion saw Rusev wrap the steel chain around Reigns' chin and apply a modified Accolade with the chain, with the two on top of the steel steps, now for me, unless you can do a run-in, that's the end of the match, right there. Instead, Rusev was made to look a bit dim, by dropping the chain to lock in a normal Accolade, allowing Reigns to power out and hit a Samoan Drop on the steps, followed by a spear to get the win. Why on earth would Rusev drop that chain? It just made him look a fool. Have Reigns pass out or if The Big Dog HAS to win for whatever reason, work an injury angle where Rusev can't keep the hold on because X, Y or Z, anything that gives a reason for The Bulgarian Brute to drop the chain. With the knowledge that Reigns was going over, I would've liked to have seen Rusev get more offence in during the first act of the match, where it seemed like Reigns always had the upperhand, even when the former champ resorted to raking the eyes, Reigns somehow rebounded and sent Rusev into the steps. There was a more interesting story to be told, with a few simple changes, that would've lead to both being elevated at the same time.

Match in a Sentence – Big heavyweight scrap, that utilised a number of props well, but could have done with cutting time and also feels like a missed star-making opportunity for Rusev.

The third Hell in a Cell contest on the card was Kevin Owens retaining his Universal Championship against Seth Rollins, after Chris Jericho had got himself locked inside the structure. There were a number of different elements that went into this, with the near 25 minute bout moving through a number of distinct segments. Each of these sections had their own merits, Owens focusing on Rollins injured tapped back had some good spots and suited the pairs styles, a lightning quick sequence of reversals sent the crowd into a frenzy and Jericho's involvement in the finish bought more storyline into the action without feeling over-booked. Everything on it's own was entertaining and the variation of styles meant that the 25 minutes went past fairly quickly, but (there's always a but) it wasn't melded together as good as it could have been. The back and forth sequence felt so out of place for what had come before, the run-in was awkwardly ambled towards with fire extinguishers and shit. It felt like when it was booked everyone had a load of good ideas, but not the time to make them fit together. 

Everything from when Jericho got inside the cage to when Owens pinned Rollins was very good. Rollins looked great fighting from underneath, managing to keep Jericho out of the action, only for Y2J to comeback just in time to keep Owens in the match. The spot where Rollins powerbombed Owens through a ridiculous structure of tables on the outside was superb stuff with the highspot itself looking insane. Similar to the Banks v Flair announce table spot, the build up could have been slicker, but the duo managed to recover the moment well, as when Rollins seemed to be unable to get Owens in position it could have been a lot worse, both visually and physically.  The finish built up nicely with Owens unable to put Rollins away with a Pop-Up Powerbomb, before Jeri-KO were finally able to combine for a sustained period, hammering away with chairs, before Owens hit a DDT on a chair for a near fall and finally won with a Powerbomb through a pair of seated chairs. It protected Rollins by having him scrap til the very end and also included some pretty cool looking moments along the way. I feel like everyone will benefit from this story ended, with Rollins able to stretch his babyface wings in a separate feud, whilst Jeri-KO can step up their best friends storyline that is obviously only heading in one direction.

Match in a Sentence - Good bout that goes through a number of different section, but doesn't quite manage to thread them together.

The biggest bout on the undercard saw Sheamus & Cesaro defeat The New Day (Big E & Xavier Woods, accompanied by Kofi Kingston) by disqualification, meaning that New Day retained the RAW Tag Team Championships. At times this match had some great wrestling, at times it was super awkward. Sheamus being the only heel in the contest, just meant that the structure of the whole thing was a bit off and that the first half of the match played out in front of a crowd that didn't really know how to react to it. The hot tag sequence was exciting stuff, with Big E having overhead belly to belly suplexes for days, Woods hitting a lovely tope conhilo and then Big E blocking a Brogue Kick and hitting a sit-out powerbomb for 2, but it didn't have enough substance or heat heading in to make it as satisfying as it could have done. The finish had way too much going on to set up the DQ finish, with Kingston retaliating Sheamus hitting Big E with Francesca 2 (the trombone, if you're not keeping up) with a Trouble in Paradise, whilst Cesaro got Woods to tap out to a Sharpshooter. After the match, I don't feel like anyone involved came out of the show looking any different from before the match took place.

Match in a Sentence - Some really well worked spots, but also incredibly awkward at points and did very little for anyone involved.

Brian Kendrick won his first singles title in WWE, taking the Cruiserweight Championship from TJ Perkins. The contest was technically sound but struggled to grab to crowd's attention and at points risked the audience turning on it. One of the matches biggest challenges was that it came directly after the Owens v Rollins HIAC bout, which had included the stupidly quick back and forth section. There was nothing in this match which even came close to the excitement of that piece of work. The spot that seemed to turn the crowd off was Kendrick trying to tape Perkins to the bottom rope by his wrist tape, which made absolutely no sense (the commentary team said Kendrick was going for the countout) and looked awful. WWE have weaved a story into the cruiserweight division that nobody wanted to see and have shown a clear misunderstanding of what made the Cruiserweight Classic so popular. The majority of the wrestling content was fine, because Kendrick and Perkins know what they're doing, but by the time Kendrick had won the belt I didn't feel anything or at least felt nothing near to how emotional I was for any of Kendrick's matches during CWC. 

Match in a Sentence - A match that struggled to get the crowds imagination, but included some decent wrestling 

Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson got a big victory over Big Cass & Enzo Amore, in a simple but enjoyable tag team match. Gallows, Anderson, Cass and Amore didn't reinvent the wheel here, but each part of the wheel was constructed well. Enzo & Cass' face shine was fun, Gallows and Anderson controlled the bout well, the build to the hot tag was good, Cass looked like a hero during his come back and the heels got the win thanks to some over exuberance from Cass and a swift double team on Amore. I would've liked to have seen Gallows & Anderson get a bit more time to work over Jersey's Finest and to have really ground on him to the point where the crowd were absolutely desperate for Cass to come lay waste to them, but in a show that went three and half hours, asking for more is an odd request. Gallows & Anderson needed this victory, after no supercard win since May and especially after the New Day feud had killed their momentum as two bald bad asses. Don't worry about Enzo & Cass they could lose week in week out and still turn things around with one promo, plus Cass looked like a beast, so all is well.

Match in a Sentence - Solid tag team match, that finally gives Gallows & Anderson a bit of momentum!

Rounding out the show we had Bayley picking up a victory over Dana Brooke in what was both women's first singles match on a main roster supercard. It was clear to see where both women were at in their careers in this match as Bayley shone, whilst Brooke looked average (that's being me being uncharacteristically nice).  From the awkward spot where Brooke tried to drop Bayley shoulder first onto the top buckle, it was clear that the contest was a little too sophisticated for a Brooke who should probably still be in NXT. Brooke working the arm was mostly sloppily executed, including a move that I believe was supposed to be a Bow and Arrow, but Bayley's selling was strong enough that it pretty much carried the match. Little touches, like only using one arm to do the wacky waving inflatable arm flailing tube man dance, made the contest for me and gave me a big smile on my face. The logical next step would seem to be moving Bayley into either a one on one feud with Charlotte or Nia Jax, the top two female heels on the RAW brand currently. 

Match in a Sentence - Very good performance from Bayley in a match that wasn't always as tight as it should have been

Best of the Rest 

• Big Cass & Enzo Amore knocked their pre-match promo out of the park, with a number of funky references to their opponents, such as renaming them Big Gal and Andy.

• The New Day's pre-match promo was mainly pandering and talk of potential merchandise for Cesaro & Sheamus, it wasn't great.

• Backstage, Stephanie McMahon and Mick Foley shilled the upcoming Survivor Series PPV before Chris Jericho canvassed for position on the RAW Survivor Series team, with all the signature catch phrases. 

• Backstage, Tom Phillips interviewed Kevin Owens – Cesaro & Sheamus argued about something 

Finally...

ATPW Scale Rating - 6.27/10

Show in a Sentence - A good show, with three good to very good Hell in a Cell bouts, even if each would have been improved by not having to take the others into consideration, accompanied by an average, yet mostly entertaining undercard.

Match of the Night - Sasha Banks v Charlotte Flair

All content - James Marston

All images are the property of their respective owners. 

TV Review: WWE Monday Night RAW #1218 - Jeri-KO v Enzo & Cass 2

The 1219th episode of Monday Night RAW came just one night after RAW's first post-draft PPV, Clash of Champions, where Kevin Owens had retained the Universal Championship over Seth Rollins, thanks to a little bit of help from Chris Jericho. After Owens appeared on an episode of Jericho's Highlight Reel, the pair would find themselves in the main event against Enzo & Cass, whilst Roman Reigns put his newly won United States Championship against "The Bulgarian Brute" Rusev, whilst Sasha Banks, Tag Team Champions The New Day, Tony Nese, Women's Champion Charlotte and Cruiserweight Champion TJ Perkins all found themselves in major spots on the show. Heading out of a good PPV, this was going to be brilliant TV, right?

Chris Jericho is on fire, right now. He's been one of the best things about watching WWE television for the last couple of month's and he didn't let me down here either, as he knocked out the park on The Highlight Reel. Even before Jericho welcomed guest Universal Champion Kevin Owens to the ring, Y2J was commanding the screen and the ring, toeing the line between entertaining and annoying perfectly, even when having to build for a feud with Ashton Kutcher and some other lad for next week. The relationship that he and Owens have cultivated plays wonderfully into Owens title reign, as Jericho's heat will transfer nicely to Owens, who has arguably struggled to get heat recently, thanks to the haphazard booking of his title win and feud with Seth Rollins. The Prizefighter's promo about Rollins' injury at Clash of Champions being karma for the injuries that The Architect has caused was great connocotion of fiction and reality, with Owens mocking tone and pacing as he called himself "The Most Dangerous Man in Wrestling" was much closer to where he needs to be promo wise at the moment, whist Jericho parroting his sentences will help even more. Rollins brief appearance, before being pushed to the back by security and General Manager Mick Foley was a nice way to keep the feud going, whilst Rollins was unable to get physically involved. Things would slide nicely into an unnannounced main event, after some hilarious banter between Jeri-KO and old rivals Enzo & Cass. 

The main event was a more than passable TV effort, with the two teams benefitting from having previously feuded but not had a whole load of matches with each other on TV. This meant that things felt recognisable and meaningful, whilst also having a fresh and exciting feel to them. The structure of the match was a fairly simple tag bout, but it was fleshed out with a lot of nice touches that made the ten or fifteen minutes went by quickly. Enzo & Cass' routine is pretty much nailed on now, but with a couple of variations, their face shine is fun, Amore as a face in peril always offers something different, Cass' hot tag is polished and hits the spot and they have a number of signatures to dip into when required. Their act is made even more satisfying when you have two solid heels to work them over and that's what Jeri-KO provided here, pulling out a number of your classic heel tag tactics, cutting off the ring and dominating Amore for a long section. Thinking about it this match had a lot of similarities to the kinds of matches Enzo & Cass were having with The Revival in NXT, especially in the first two thirds. I'd have liked to have seen the pace upped a little in the closing stages and it was frustrating to hear the Cinnicinati crowd not react as well as they could have, but as a main event being used to span some space until Rollins is cleared and to essentially build up Jericho & Owens as a unit, this was a good watch. 

After Roman Reigns and Rusev hadn't particularly wowed audiences with their United States Championship bout on Clash of Champions, it was a brave choice to have the duo open the show with a match that went over 25 minutes. In my opinion, at least in terms of what was presented on screen, that decision paid off as Reigns and Rusev put on a stronger contest than the previous evening and righted a few wrongs as well. Arguably, this bout had the most involved crowd as Cincy reacted to pretty much every movement and were also one of the more pro-Reigns crowds I've heard in a while. Part of the match's success was the storytelling, which was head and shoulders above Sunday's match, as Rusev used his wrestling ability to keep control of Reigns, whilst latter focusing in on The Big Dog's back after sending his opponent into the post. This was handled well by both, as Reigns sold his injury well and it would play heavily into the story as Reigns would unable to hit a number of his offensive moves throughout the contest. At points, I felt like Reigns was over-selling just a bit, perhaps to stretch the match out a little, but it didn't have a major impact on my enjoyment. 

Before I talk about the Dusty Finish, I'd like to mention the terrific sequence the pair had moments before that, when they'd both miss a series of signature strikes, before The Bulgarian Brute would nail Reigns with a superkick as the US Champion came charging in for a spear in a seamless transtion. I was fairly happy with the crowd brawl leading to the double countout finish because it worked well with the storyline of Rusev trying to hold in his rage agaisnt Reigns in order to win the belt, however the stuff that went on after the match took a little bit of the sting out of it. Reigns didn't really need to hit the spear, he really didn't need to that moment after winning the belt the previous night, however a prolonged beatdown from Rusev with a chair would have felt like the natural progression of the match's story and would have also upped the ante for a second rematch for the Bulgarian Brute. However, this was still a great opening match, that started the show off hot and had plenty of action, creating a much more satisfying start to a wrestling show than most of the fifteen minutes promos are. 

Another rematch from Clash of Champions would see Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson get another chance at The New Day's Tag Team Championships as they came up against Big E and Kofi Kingston, in another case of the TV bout being a better effort than it's PPV counterpart. The match started hot with Anderson and Gallows nailing Kingston and Big E with some hard shots on the floor, including a brutal looking clothesline from Gallows to Kingston. After The Dreadlocked Dynamo had slotted into the face in peril role and Big E had come flying out with his belly to belly hot tag sequence, both teams had convincing false finishes hitting The Midnight Hour and The Magic Killer respectively, with some nice build around this to add to the believabilitiy. I think the eventual finish struggled to keep up with the strength of the previous near falls, as Kingston would win the match with a Trouble in Paradise, this was also partly to do with their being a bit of awkwardness as Kingston appeared to be pissing blood from his head for some reason and not quite all there. Still this was a good TV tag and a big improvement on their other matches. 

The Women's Division on RAW continued to offer entertaining talking segments, as the feud between Women's Champion Charlotte and Sasha Banks depended with an in-ring confrontation that set up a title match between the pair for #1220, next week. The drive of Charlotte's initial promo as she reminded fans of her success and claimed she'd put away all challengers meant that Banks' entrance coming right on the peak of the promo was very satisfying. Charlotte calling her rival "Sasha Wanks" was a bizarre moment, that went completely over the Cinnicinatti crowd's collective head, maybe she thought she was in London. Charlotte was however mostly on great form on the mic and in her performance in general as she teased the crowd that she'd give Banks a rematch on the show, pulling her jacket off as Banks did the same on the other side, only to tell Banks she'd have to wait til next week. Dana Brooke was fairly surplus to requirements here though, only really doing anything when she had to take a Banks Statement from Banks, which considering Charlotte got chucked out the ring herself, could easily have been covered by the Women's Champion. Overall, however, this was added a little extra spice to their match next week, whilst also watering the seed that Mick Foley had planted a few week's earlier, making satisfying viewing for regular watchers.

The Cruiserweight Champion TJ Perkins got his in-ring debut on #1219, besting NYWC's Tony Nese in a brief, pacy encounter. For me, this was the match that should have happened on the Supercard, as Nese has much more of a recognisable "Cruiserweight style" than the way that Brian Kendrick wrestles and he showed that here in a blistering opening section that included a mental dive to the outside. The crowd however were having none of it, which honestly really pissed me off as a home viewer. They chanted "CM Punk" and "Randy Savage" over it and it seemed to effect both guys work as they clearly weren't expecting to be shit on, because they were working their fucking arses off. It seemed to be a case of the audience being horrendously smarky, but hilariously ignorant at the same time. If you don't know who these guys are, give them a chance, stay quiet and let those who want to watch enjoy it, you'll be presently surprised if you do. 

Best of the Rest 

• In more Cruiserweight action, Rich Swann & Cedric Alexander teamed to defeat Drew Gulak & Lince Dorado, which saw all four guys produce impressive spots and work well together for a short, but exciting tag. 
• Mick Foley would declare Cesaro and Sheamus's Best of Seven Series a draw, whilst offering them a Tag Team Championship match together in the future, with all three bring a lot of passion to the segment. 
• Cesaro and Sheamus would later go over Nick Cutler and Willis Williams in a match that clearly got them over as an odd couple tag team. 
• Mick Foley continued his strong show-wide performance opposite Commissioner Stephanie McMahon, with the duo adding more depth to their relationship, as well as the main event of Clash of Champions. 

Finally...

ATPW Scale Rating - 5.84/10

This was a fine episode of RAW, that in many ways improved on the PPV from the night before, with both the Roman Reigns and Rusev bout and New Day v Enzo & Cass being a least a step up from what they did on Sunday evening. The tag team main event may have been essentially a way to fill some space, whilst Rollins fully recovers, but it made good use of everyone involved and will only stand to benefit the main event feud, especially with Rollins being forced to the back. The main negative would be that the Cruiserweight division is still struggling to connect with the larger audience, despite producing plenty of exciting action this week, it appears like WWE expected their wider audience to be more familar with these talents and hasn't put the time and effort into getting them over as they should have.

There was plenty of storyline development, producing things that I'm looking forward to seeing where they lead in the future. Therefore, it will be interesting to see the direction that the show takes on next week and which feuds are taken forward for the Hell in a Cell supercard on 30th October.

Words - James Marston

Banner - Kai Stellar

Event Preview: WWE Live from Madison Square Garden

Just two week's removed from Night of Champions, WWE bring us Live from Madison Square Garden, a special WWE Network only event. Essentially, this is a broadcast house show, with the addition of the appearance of Brock Lesnar...but what does the actually look like? Is it worth checking out tomorrow night? Here's ATPW's look at it.

Intercontinental Championship - Kevin Owens (C) vs. Chris Jericho

Owens retained over Ryback by count-out on Thursday Night Smackdown

WWE TV and PPV Records

Owens - Win - 52.4% Loss - 38.1% Draw - 9.5%

Jericho - Win - 45.8% Loss - 48.9% Draw - 5.3%

Man, I couldn't care less about Big Show vs. Brock Lesnar (hence why you'll find it somewhere further down this preview) but I am excited for this one. Let's skim past that Jericho has a title match, despite taking the pinfall in his last televised WWE bout, and think about just how good this match could be? Whilst Jericho's last feud with Bray Wyatt failed to deliver on the promise, Jericho did have a superb bout with Randy Orton, before his bout with Neville was one of the standout's of the Beast in the East PPV. There's little possibility of ring-rust, as he's been all over the house show circuit for the last year, so I'd expect that Jericho will be able to go move for move with the Intercontinental Champion. 


     Obviously, putting the title on the line could be where the match struggles the reach the upper echelon of this years bouts. That might be a strange thing to say as usually a title will elevate certain bouts, but in this case, I feel it makes it clear who would be walking out as the winner (Just as most house show title matches do) and therefore make it harder to buy into any of Jericho's near falls. Maybe WWE will throw a curve ball and have Jericho win, that would certainly get a huge reaction from MSG and could potentially lead to the rumoured feud between Jericho and Dean Ambrose. Perhaps we could even see Owens' current rival, Ryback, get involved? But I still think we'll see Owens walk out victorious after a hard-fought, physical bout.

Prediction - Kevin Owens retains

United States Championship Steel Cage - John Cena (C) vs. Seth Rollins

Rollins escaped attack from Kane on Thursday Night Smackdown...just.

WWE TV and PPV Record 

Cena -   Win - 67.6% Loss - 27.0% Draw - 5.4%

Rollins - Win - 52.3% Loss - 43.1% Draw - 4.6%

Rollins and Cena always deliver, I can't remember these two ever having a bad match when lined up opposite together. Their bouts at SummerSlam and Night of Champions both delivered in terms of wrestling action, so without the need to particularly continue any on-going stories we should get their best match yet at Madison Square Garden. Add that we'll have a Steel Cage around the ring and non of the Authority shit that clouded Rollins last cage bout with Randy Orton in April and this bout should close out the show in style. 


Similar to the Jericho vs. Owens bout, I'm pretty sure that we'll be seeing Cena walk out with the title, but we may get an added twist as having your World Heavyweight Champion job clean for the second match in a row would be a very strange move, even for WWE. I wouldn't be surprised if we get some involvement from Kane here. It'd be pretty cool to see the Big Red Monster emerge from under the ring with the Steel Cage still up or perhaps even just his music playing to give Cena the advantage...before Kane turns up to get him some of the Architect.


Prediction - John Cena retains

Singles - Sheamus vs. Randy Orton

Orton destroyed Bo Dallas on Monday Night RAW this week.

WWE TV and PPV Record

Sheamus - Win 63.5% Loss - 32.6% Draw - 4%

Orton - Win - 52.4% Loss - 40.5% Draw - 7%

This is pretty uninspired choice of match, isn't it? I seem to be saying the same thing in each prediction over the last few months, Sheamus and Orton are more than capable inside the ring, but it's clear that neither is creatively inspired when facing each other. Therefore we've had a series of very similar matches across TV and PPV over the years. I don't know why WWE haven't slapped a gimmick on this and just had them have a New York Street Fight or something like that. Whack out a few weapons and freshen up the match, if this is the one that they want to have. It really doesn't matter who wins here, but seeing as it's technically a house show, Orton will be getting the win.

Prediction - Randy Orton wins

Singles - Brock Lesnar vs. The Big Show

Big Show's hoping this match will be better than his tattoo

WWE TV and PPV Record

Lesnar - Win - 64.6% Loss - 30.3% Draw - 5.1%

Show   - Win - 53.4% Loss - 39.2% Draw - 7.4% 

If you saw my RAW review then you'll know that I'm not interested in seeing this match. I think it's a real waste of one of Lesnar's singles matches (just like his contest with Kofi Kingston turned out to be on Beast in the East) when you've got a young and hungry roster, that would all benefit from a competitive loss to Lesnar, at the moment. I kind of get the idea that this might draw in a casual fan, but it's been a match that's been offered so many times (Only last year's Royal Rumble being the latest one) that I don't feel that there is any actual drawing power in it...other than the fact that it's Brock Lesnar in a match. I expect a watered down version of their Royal Rumble clash, going a little shorter and with a Big Show flurry but Lesnar mostly dominating before picking up the win. I'm not holding out for an Undertaker appearance or a Paul Heyman heel turn.

Winner - Brock Lesnar wins

Tag Team Championship - The New Day vs. The Dudley Boyz

To build this match...Kane destroyed everyone on Thursday Night Smackdown...

WWE TV and PPV Record

Kingston -    Win - 52.0% Loss - 46.5% Draw - 1.5%

Big E -          Win - 60.3% Loss - 38.2% Draw - 1.5%

Woods -        Win - 40.2% Loss - 57.3% Draw - 2.4%

Bubba Ray -  Win - 49.9% Loss - 46.4% Draw - 3.7%

D-von - Win - Win - 50.4% Loss - 45.8% Draw - 3.8%

Any chance to see The New Day at the moment is a chance that must be taken. The lads on fire, with a string of impressively entertaining performances both in and out of the ring, whilst The Dudley Boyz offer an interesting foil. This is the most likely title change of the night for me, with the match being the most heavily promoted title fight on the card, as well as New York being the rumoured location of Dudleyville. I'm expect the crowd to be loud for this one, especially if it opens the show (which I would go for) with plenty of antics from the New Day and The Dudleys going nuts on their comeback. Also expect some angle to build for to a Tables Match in two weeks at Hell in a Cell. It's just a shame that both teams had to put Kane over on Smackdown this week, before such a big match.

Prediction - The Dudley Boyz win the WWE Tag Team Championship

Singles - Dolph Ziggler vs. Rusev

Is there anyone Ziggler hasn't been trying to put his dick into?

Ziggler - Win - 44.1% Loss - 52.6% Draw - 3.3% 

Rusev -  Win - 70.1% Loss - 26.5% Draw - 0%

My main complaint about Rusev and Ziggler's Night of Champions bout was the it lacked the drama level that the feud had provided, with the pair treading water until Summer Rae's interference. This is an opportunity to help provide that, without the need to drive the storyline. Whether they decide to do that or simply rehash the Night of Champions bout I'm really not sure, as it's clear that without Lana this pairing doesn't have any legs in terms of on-going feud. Rusev has proven in the past that's he's capable of top quality action and we know that Ziggler can tell a great story, so I'm hoping the pair go down that route, and work some psychology into the bout. Ziggler wins, because he's a babyface.

Prediction - Ziggler wins.

So, that's it for you. What do you reckon? Stacked card of action or a waste of time? Hit us up on Twitter and let us know if you're watching and what you make of the card.


Personally, I think there is a lot to look forward to in terms of in-ring action, even if there'll most likely be a lack of consequences in terms of what we see on RAW, with the exception of the two matches that have been promoted fully on television. Remember to have some fun with it while you're watching anyway, that's what wrestling is all about. See you here on Sunday for the review.

TV Review: WWE Monday Night RAW #1166

Technically, this was the go-home show for the upcoming network special Live from Madison Square Garden, but WWE also had Hell in a Cell looming three weeks in the distance. Could the promotion continue to keep interest in those shows, whilst keeping Monday Night RAW entertaining at the same time? With Bray Wyatt facing Roman Reigns in the shows main event and Kevin Owens, The Wyatt Family, PCB, The Dudley Boyz and Neville all in action...would this be a home-run for WWE? 

A good ol' fashioned recap video to start the show, keeping us clued in on all the goings on of WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins and Kane's current storyline.

Making no logical sense (because of the previous recap package) the show began with the return of John Cena's United States open challenge. Cena was fine on the mic, but having The New Day come out to answer the call was a great call, with all three members shining on their way to the ring. Whether it was Xavier Woods on the trombone or the Duck Tales references I was completely into everything these guys did. Woods was interesting choice, as I was convinced we'd see Big E get a shot (I seem to remember Cena being quite high on him during his Intercontinental Championship run), but I've been a fan of Woods in-ring work for some time so was happy to see him get his first singles match on RAW since June 2014.

Match 1 - WWE United States Championship - John Cena (C) vs. Xavier Woods with Big E & Kofi Kingston

Having Big E and Kofi Kingston kicked out of the bout before the first ad-break seemed like a strange decision for me, as it took away Woods' chances and therefore didn't give the audience much need to come back after the break.

      The in-ring content here was enjoyable, with Woods more than holding his own with Cena inside the ring, and getting in a surprising amount of offence against Big Match John. Woods' top rope diving DDT looked really nice, whilst the two showed promise as opponent in a lovely sequence that ended with a well-done sitout powerbomb by Cena. The finish was a bit of a shame, as Kingston and Big E came back out to stop Woods tapping to an STF from Cena, I'd have much preferred a clean finish to start the show and it's not like tapping to Cena would have harmed Woods in any way at all.

Winner - John Cena via disqualification in 9 minutes, 22 seconds (Televised: 6 minutes, 20 seconds) 

The Dudley Boyz made the save and Teddy Long* came out to make a six man tag.

Match 2 - Six Man Tag Team - John Cena & The Dudley Boyz vs. The New Day

      Perfectly acceptable six man tag, but too short to really stand out as anything special. Cena worked nicely as the face in peril, which psychologically made sense as he'd already worked the match with Xavier Woods. I'm also a massive mark for the quick tags and stomps thing that the New Day do. The Dudleyz offence works nicely for a hot tag, they've had a long time to perfect things like that, I suppose, but it's still feels exciting in 2015. The New Day picking up the sneaky victory would suggest that we'll be seeing The Dudley Boyz capture the tag team titles on Saturday night.

Winner - The New Day via pinfall (Kingston on Devon Dudley) in 6 minutes, 40 seconds.

The first trip backstage introduced someone who would be a fixture of this episode, Ashley from HR, who would be conducting a performance evaluation on Kane...erm

     Staying backstage Dean Ambrose, Roman Reigns and Randy Orton had a chat about Reigns upcoming match with Bray Wyatt, there was some generic tension between Ambrose and Orton which felt a little forced.

Match 3 - Singles - Mark Henry vs. "The World's Largest Athlete" The Big Show

Seriously?

Winner - The Big Show via pinfall in 2 minutes, 38 seconds.

Show went on to shill Saturday's match with Brock Lesnar and I still couldn't care less.

Not quite sure why this needed to be a Miz TV segment as The Miz quickly left the ring, but at least the focus was kept on the women here, as opposed to the last time they featured on the show. However, I'm not sure the Diva's made the best of the opportunity, with a lot of promos coming across as shouty, which I'm sure was supposed to be passion. Charlotte especially disappointed me, as I felt if she'd brought some levels into her delivery then the promo would have been much more effective. Also how stupid are Becky Lynch and Charlotte? Last week Paige cut a seething promo on the pair and now they're happy to team up with her...she definitely wasn't going to turn on them...

Match 4 - Six Woman Tag Team - PCB vs. Team Bella

     The match was an improvement on the promo, with plenty of storyline advancement going on. Whilst Paige's turn was always going to happen, I wasn't expecting Natalya to come out and attempt to get involved and even if she has been shoe-horned into the story, it's good to see her back on TV. Nikki getting a pin on Charlotte so early in her title reign was a bit weird, especially with Nikki not needing a reason to get a title match. 

Winner - Team Bella via pinfall (Nikki on Charlotte) in 6 minutes, 55 seconds.

     Replays and stare-down after the bout, nothing out of the ordinary though, considering all that went down in the match.

     A cheeky promo for WWE 2K16 aired, I think it's the first time that one of these has actually aired in full on the Sky Sports version of the feed (Feel free to correct me!)


     Even more promos! Live at Madison Square Garden is on on Saturday, so WWE ran a look at previous matches between Big Show and Brock Lesnar, I still couldn't care less.

    Backstage - Kane gave Seth Rollins the head of his statue in a box...what a time to be alive!

     Match 5 - Tag Team - The Prime Time Players vs. The Wyatt Family's Luke Harper & Braun Strowman

      Strowman got the win, but that's all I know because Sky Sports' stream cut up.

Winner - Harper & Strowman via submission (Strowman on Young) in 4 minutes, 18 seconds.

     JBL said something about European sport or something he'd read online that day...

     Match 6 - Singles - Stardust vs. "The Man That Gravity Forgot" Neville

     An absolute nothing match, as King Barrett turned up and twatted Neville with the Bullhamer. 

Winner - Neville via disqualification (Outside interference) in 2 minutes, 34 seconds

    Barrett hitting Stardust after the match made sense, due to Stardust attacking him the night after SummerSlam, but is Barrett heel or face now?

     What a bizarre segment, this was? One of the longest non-interupted segments in recent memory, Kane's in-ring performance evaluation went for a staggering 17 minutes...17 minutes without an ad-break? On American TV? But was it actually good? Truth be told...I honestly don't know. The first section went a little bit too long for me, and was a little bit too predictable. It was always going to be the case that Ashley found Kane to be a good employee, as for some reason this WWE employee had no idea of the Big Red Monster's back story. Kane taking Rollins' attack, as he snapped after Ashley called him a bad employee (She just sauntered off from the ring), was a weird one. It was in a way uncomfortable to watch Kane not fight Rollins back, as The Man delivered a Pedigree followed by chair shots to the back and leg (the one injured by Brock Lesnar before Battleground, top marks for continuing to call back to that)

    I have no idea, why but I was hooked for the last five or so minutes. If you think about it too much it falls apart (Kane transformed into the Demon version in the back of an Ambulance as steam came from it), but it was entertaining and even reminded me a little bit of the Sci-Fi elements from Lucha Underground. I popped big time when the Demon shook the injury out of his leg, as he could easily have not sold it at all when coming out of the ambulance, and that little touch made him look like a total bad-ass. His destruction of Rollins set their feud into the next gear, as it's been slow-burning for, at least, a year. As long as their rivalry is settled a Hell in a Cell and goes no further I'll be more than happy to see Kane step up into the WWE World Heavyweight Championship picture one more time.

    Bray Wyatt did one of his dry ice promos, something about Alpha and Omega, something about one on one against Reigns...I'll be honest, I didn't think it would be.

    The Buffalo Bills (who play American Football/Ice Hockey/Basketball/Baseball - please delete where appropriate) were at ringside and go told off by Bo Dallas for not winning enough, in his opinion.

Match 7 - Singles - Bo Dallas vs. "The Apex Predator" Randy Orton

 Squashy McSquash for reasons.

Winner - Randy Orton via pinfall in 1 minute, 55 seconds.

Ryback was out on commentary, this is the show that dreams are made of.

Match 8 - Singles - Kevin Owens vs. "The Bulgarian Brute" Rusev with Summer Rae

Winner - Absolutely no one in 45 seconds

    Owens and Rusev decided they'd rather beat up Ryback instead, The Big Guys' old pal Dolph Ziggler made the save, praise the lord for the Zig Zag man!

     A promo video for Ellen DeGeneres #JustKeepDancing viral situation aired, with a number of WWE superstars, all good stuff to raise funds for paediatric cancer care. 

I was pretty buzzed when I saw Paul Heyman head out aaaannnd then I realised he was coming to talk about The Big Show. Literally nothing happened here, Heyman said some stuff, Big Show said some stuff, Heyman said a bit more, Show cut him off and Heyman walked out. I still couldn't have cared less about watching Big Show wrestle Brock Lesnar on Saturday. I'm certain that there are people who are excited to see the match and I'd love them to get in touch and tell me why @ATPWrestling. Hit me up on the Twittah. 

With Michael Cole seemingly about to hyperventilate, Bray Wyatt walked out with Braun Strowman and Luke Harper, only to send them to the back.

Match 9 - Singles - Roman Reigns vs. Bray Wyatt 

     Roman Reigns drive-by kick works nicely, it's impactful and cuts out the aftermath (which can be a bit of a let down), as an in to the ad break and after a short sequence that's exactly what happened.

     There were parts of this that I really enjoyed, bringing the best elements of their cracking Battleground bout together, going back and forth with apparent ease and at the decent pace for their size. The build-up to Reigns Superman Punch was done especially well. However, for a match of this length, their was a lot of lying around that I found hard to buy into and I know would have struggled to maintain the attention of a number of other viewers (something WWE can't afford at this point). There was time and scope to do a match more similiar to their previous encounter and put on a classic RAW bout, but this was only half of what the two can do. I understand that to a point, as the pair are being positioned for a marquee match at Hell in a Cell, but I'm sure many would have been even more willing to see/pay/sign-up to see another rematch if this had been fully allowed to spread it's wings.

Winner - No one via Double Countout in 13 minutes, 5 seconds (Televised: 9 minutes, 47 seconds)

The close of the show was electric, however, as the pair brawled on the outside with both getting big hits in before the end, in a nice change of pace from the regular RAW closing sequences.

Finally...

ATPW Scale Rating - 4.75

What a very odd RAW that was? The pacing was completely different to what has been the norm over the last few years, with what felt like an ending in the middle of the show, lots of shorts one segment matches and then a very different main event and close. Roman Reigns and Bray Wyatt's bout and the aftermath would have to be the highlight of the entire show, but I also thought that John Cena's United States Championship match with Xavier Woods

 was a sound encounter, whilst the end of the Kane and Seth Rollins segment also entertained.


You might have noticed that I couldn't care less about Big Show vs. Brock Lesnar? And the second hour was pretty throwaway, with an exception to the six woman tag, which had it's moments.


This clearly wasn't the greatest RAW there's ever been, but there was signs of promise in the pacing shuffle, and a few interesting threads going forward. Let's see where we are after Live at Madison Square Garden and re-evaluate.

*Teddy Long may or may not have came out