The Scottish View: Raw 27/1/14

Monday Night Raw 27/1/14 or 1/27/14



It's been a while since I've done a Raw review, but after the controversy that Sunday's Royal Rumble caused, it seemed like a good time to bring it back. So let's see what's going to happen in the aftermath of the Rumble. Please god let this be a smarky crowd.




Triple H and Stephanie McMahon are here, and the crowd is cheering a bit, so I guess we're not getting our smarky crowd. They should have stayed in Pittsburgh. Now the whole crowd chants Yes! Thank goodness for that. And HHH precedes to mock the crowd for complaining about not getting what they want. Yeah that's a good idea, make fun of people that payed for your show to see what they wanted you massive twat. Stephanie announces that the WWE World Heavyweight Title will be defended at Elimination Chamber. No shit Sherlock. And here's our lord and saviour Daniel Bryan! Such a huge reaction for the guy. Bryan sarcastically tells the fans to stop chanting his name. HHH tells Bryan he gave a good little effort in his match. Bryan mentions the YesMovement. There's no way that Bryan isn't going to the top now. Stephanie asks Bryan if he thinks the only reason the fans came is to see him, and that gets a resounding Yes from the audience. Bryan wants in the Elimination Chamber match. He doesn't get an answer, but he gets the Shield.


Bryan grabs a chair, but Roman Reigns manages to take him out. Here's Sheamus for the save, followed by Cena. This was a great segment that hopefully puts Bryan back in the Title picture, and it ended with a fun brawl that'll probably end up as a tag match later in the night.



Sin Cara & Rey Mysterio vs The Real Americans
The signs that the Real Americans bring with them are tremendous. Nice to see Mysterio and Cara tagging again, especially now that Mistico has been replaced by Hunico. The Americans may have showed some signs of a break up which makes me a sad panda. The build up to Mysterio's hot tag was done well. This was a solid tag match and the Real Americans got the surprise win. As usual Cesaro impressed, and the Luchadors didn't look bad in defeat. **3/4



The six man tag featuring Cena, Sheamus and Bryan vs The Shield will happen tonight, and the winning team will qualify for the Chamber match. I wonder who's winning this.

We will also have a Tag Title rematch from the Rumble.



Bad News Barrett is here to tell us that we're getting to see The Miz vs Dolph Ziggler. Seeing the Miz is bad news. Barrett says that both guys are losers and so is the audience. Well that was pointless.



We get a sneak preview of the Monday Night War show that will be on the WWE Network. One of the interviewees is Undertaker, so that has me interested already.


It looked as if we were getting Summer Rae for a match, but unfortunately it's Fandango.



Fandango vs R-Truth
The commentators keep mentioning Fandango's elimination from the Rumble at the small hands of El Torito. I'm sure that'll get him over. Xavier Woods is also on commentary and has shaved all of his facial hair, and now looks like a cast member of High School Musical. Pretty much a nothing match here. It wasn't terrible, but it wasn't good either. *



Next up, Randy Orton has arrived.



Brad Maddox introduces Orton. Is there even a point to having a General Manager anymore? He seems more like a glorified announcer. Orton says that it doesn't matter how he won at Royal Rumble, all that matters is that he's the champ. Batista comes out and surprisingly doesn't get booed out of the building. He gets more of a John Cena reaction with the women cheering and the men booing. The Daniel Bryan chants start up and Batista is visibly pissed. He says he's walking out of Wrestlemania with the Title and that brings out the beast Brock Lesnar. Things are getting interesting now! Quite the OVW reunion here. Brock wants a Title match against Orton, and so does the crowd. Brock wants an answer tonight, or else. This started off badly with no one really caring about Orton or Batista, but Lesnar's appearance made things interesting.




Dolph Ziggler vs The Miz
This is billed as the Battle of Cleveland as both guys are from Cleveland. I suppose it wouldn't be a proper WWE show without something losing in their hometown. For some reason the crowd prefers Miz to Ziggler. I think we found the new bizarroworld. Decent match while it lasted with both guys showing some chemistry. Just way too short. Ziggler hits the zig zag to win. *1/2



Apparently the WWE app has been downloaded 10 million times. Stop showing us how to download it then!



The Usos vs Ryback & Curtis Axel
I enjoy seeing the Usos in action, but at the same time I don't really enjoy seeing Ryback and Axel in action. This was pretty bland up until the hot tag to (I think) Jimmy Uso. The Usos get the win with a big frog splash to Ryback. Just a standard tag match that was boring to start with but became better towards the end. *1/4


We're gonna find out who's gonna be the next inductee into the Hall of Fame. My guess is Jake Roberts.



Kofi Kingston vs Alberto Del Rio
They make sure to show us Kofi's huge leap in the Rumble match. It was a damn impressive move. Poor Del Rio hasn't had any direction since his World Title feud with Cena ended. He just randomly hates Batista. The crowd becomes bored of the match and starts chanting for Randy Savage and JBL. JBL takes it all in. I would feel bad for the guys in the ring, but it is pretty boring. This one did get better as it went on with some nice nearfalls, and the crowd gained some interest. It did end quite abruptly with Del Rio kicking Kofi in the face for the pin. **1/4



The Rhodes Brothers vs The New Age Outlaws
The Tag Titles are on the line. I'm still trying to figure out why the Outlaws won the Titles, but if it leads to Goldust and Cody splitting up and setting up a Mania match I'm all for it. Goldust looked fitter than most of the guys on the roster. This one was going well until Brock Lesnar decided to interfere and cause the DQ, and gives an F5 to the former tag champs. **1/2



Lesnar and Heyman are waiting for an answer from the Authority, so Brock desides to attack the Rhodes Brothers with a steel chair.



AJ Lee / Tamina Snuka / Alicia Fox / Aksana vs The Funkadactyls & The Bella Twins
Here's the obligatory divas match for the evening. Well it wasn't as bad as I thought it might have been, as they were given more time than usual, and it didn't seem as sloppy as other divas matches. Naomi pins AJ to possibly set up a Divas Title match in the future. **



I was right about Jake Roberts joining the Hall of Fame. I think he deserves it more than Warrior but I don't other people will see it that way. Congratulations to Jake.



We get another sneak preview of programming on the WWE Network. This time it's Wrestlemania rewind and it looks like an interesting show.


It's now time for the main event!



John Cena / Sheamus / Daniel Bryan vs The Shield
I can't really see the Shield being in the Chamber match, but Roman Reigns could look like a star in there. It's nice to have Sheamus back after taking that ugly bump at Money in the Bank. Reigns gets his own chant from the live crowd, and no wonder why. Have the Shield ever had a bad six man tag match? I don't think so, and this one was absolutely no different. An awesome tag match that showed off the talents of everyone involved. The Wyatt's interfere and the faces are announced as the winners. ****




Well the first segment and the final match were both awesome, but there wasn't much in the middle except for a couple of solid tag matches and an interesting Lesnar angle.