Raw took place in the magnificent Suplex City last night and if it wasn’t Brock Lesnar knocking people flat on their backs, it was the referees!
Hello everyone and welcome to this week’s Raw Redux. Nine women got screen time last night, yet one of them wasn’t Paige, who you thought would have been around to promote Tough Enough. Or not. It’s WWE logic guys. Let’s get into the action!
We had to wait quite a while to witness our first Diva of the night, yet Stephanie McMahon eventually popped up in a small role during a backstage segment with Seth Rollins and Triple H. Steph and Hunter call Seth out on being a total weasel and fire him up ready for his Battleground match against Brock Lesnar, and his face-off with the beast later in the night. They tell him to get a Plan B and be the bigger man.
I am loving Stephanie and HHH in this smaller role. Whilst I absolutely adore Stephanie making mincemeat of people just with her words on the microphone, this storyline with The Authority testing their investment is cool. Whilst I am a big fan of the Billion Dollar Princess, I’m glad she is taking more of a back seat at the moment.
Five Divas were in the spotlight following that moment as Brie and Nikki Bella (accompanied by Alicia Fox) take on Naomi and Tamina Snuka in tag team action. Despite Alicia being a total wackjob heel character, I guess The Bellas are the faces here? The reality is that down to lacklustre booking, the lines are so blurred here yet thankfully there is no Robin Thicke in sight. The ambiguity on display is actually kind of refreshing and I’m intrigued to see where everyone’s loyalties lie. Mostly because that there is serious potential for greatness, not that it will happen. It is obvious that even if Naomi or Tamina aren’t in the title picture, they are happy to not take sides and walk their own path.
Brie gets roughed up practically as soon as the bell starts ringing and Tamina thrusts her to the mat by her hair. Following some harsh elbows in the corner, Tameezus hits a snapmare and then writhes Brie’s neck in a simple yet painful looking submission. Unlike a lot of her offense, Tamina follows that submission up with a really fluid Samoan Drop that gets her a two count.
Naomi is tagged in and she relentlessly uses her five count to pummel Brie with forearm shots. She then sends the former Divas Champion into the corner with her neat turnbuckle bulldog. Brie tries to make a comeback by moving down the ropes so Naomi falls through them, yet that just gets the quick-thinking Naomi closer to Nikki, who she pulls from the apron. Naomi yells at Brie to kiss her feet yet it is Naomi who ends up doing some kissing as her lips are sent right into Brie’s skull when the latter hits a jawbreaker.
Nikki makes the hot tag and she begins to steamroll through Naomi. She hits two clotheslines and a dropkick before booting Tamina from the apron. She then hits a corner clothesline and an Alabama Slam next, yet Tamina breaks up the pin. Tamina then tries to knock Brie from the apron yet she trips over the referee. You read that right. TRIPS. OVER. THE. REFEREE.
PAHAHAHAHAHA. I mean… poor Tamina. Moments like that and her wonky contact lenses are what make Tamina so bloody fantastic.
Brie takes advantage of the referee’s bad placement and sends Tamina flying again, this time with a missile dropkick. The commentators try and act like the referee tripped Tamina on purpose as Naomi hits Brie with the Rear View. Naomi then tries to Rear View Nikki yet she knocks Tamina on her ass (again) instead. At least it wasn’t the referee. Nikki then hammers Naomi with her forearm of doom and hits the Rack Attack for the win.
Finally, we are treated to Lana and Rosa Mendes sightings as they accompany their men Dolph Ziggler and Adam Rose to the ring. Adam Rose even cuts a promo to explain that what he and Rosa have is true love. Or dead careers you mean.
You can guess who won – Ziggler. Then he and Lana made out. I’m sure Vince was loving that segment. The most action he’s seen in years.
Watching the passion backstage was Rusev, who was then approached by Summer Rae. Wait, what? Summer and Rusev? He likes to crush and her finisher is the Summer Crush so they have that in common at least?
Thoughts: Well this week had hot mess written all over it yet I didn’t actually dislike what we got. The potential of what could be is what is perhaps clouding my judgement and I am just hoping that WWE are keeping things a little uncertain and ambiguous at the moment as they are building to some interesting scenarios as opposed to just not having a clue what to book so they are stalling. It is probably the latter.
An example of what I am talking about is Alicia Fox. Her joining the Bellas’ side of the war was interesting on SmackDown, and then she did absolutely nothing here. She cheered and clapped yet where was the feistiness? Where was her unpredictable nature? Why didn’t she interfere? Her distracting Naomi instead of miscommunication between Naomina would have been better. Even if they are losing, Naomi and Tamina should look strong in defeat. Why should there be dissention in the ranks already?
Speaking of Tamina, she was protected yet again and has not been pinned or made to submit since returning. Last night’s match was also her first loss since coming back. Shame she tripped over the ref to burst that bubble!
The pairings of Lana and Dolph and Rosa and Adam also have potential, yet the booking and direction are just not there. Rosa looked amazing yet why should we care about her when she isn’t booked to get physical and Adam is booked to lose all the time? In the case of Lana and Ziggler, they just don’t seem what to do with them. They have been doing the same old garbage the last few weeks and I am bored.
The pairing that evoked the most curiosity from me was Summer Rae and Rusev, which I have no idea how to fathom. I’m all for a girl to get an opportunity, so I’m willing to wait and see what happens before I judge it. Will it end in disappointment like most other storylines? Let’s hope not!
One thing I have 100% faith in not to be a flop is Tough Enough! The premiere date is finally here and I am looking forward to watching the action unfold tonight. I am so excited that Paige is being given such a monumental opportunity as a panellist and I think she is going to smash it. Getting to see Lita regularly is also a major bonus which I am massively a fan of. I don’t have a favourite girl yet on the cast as all look promising, yet I will say that Gabi caught my eye on visuals alone. WWE don’t have another girl in the company that looks like her and I’m interested to see if that will help her in the competition.
Will Alicia Fox gain a personality for the feud? Which Tough Enough girl is your favourite? Will that incompetent referee get added to this storyline? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below. Until I see you guys again for Lucha Underground on Thursday, have a great week!
