Portland, Oregon
With TLC just two days away this week’s episode should be filled with lots of decent build up to all of the feuds. The question I keep asking myself is will we get a unified champion this Sunday or will we see some sort of shenanigans take place. After this week’s episode of Raw people have speculated over possible heel turns and returning superstars. One thing most people agree on is that it feels like something great is on the horizon.
Daniel Bryan vs Erick Rowan
This week’s opening match starts off with two great superstars. Daniel Bryan makes his way to the ring holding his Slammy award that he received on Monday night. The match starts off fairly even at first but Rowan eventually gets the upper hand. It isn’t too long before Bryan fights back and delivers his five deadly kicks to Erick Rowan. Luke Harper tries to get involved but Bryan Drop Kicks him back to the outside and follows it up with a Flying Goat. Bryan turns his attention back to Rowan but Bray Wyatt grabs the feet of Bryan and the ref calls the bell for disqualification. Bryans not finished yet though. He attacks Bray Wyatt with his Flying Knee sending Bray flying out of his rocking chair.
Good opening match it was quick and fun and of course the crowd are really into Bryan. Bryan continues to be consistent in what he does and so do the Wyatt’s, a nice start to the show.
The Real Americans vs The Rhodes
Zeb Colter gets the crowd agitated in his usual way by babbling some racist slurs. Although I am not a fan of the angle Zeb Colter is a great heel manager and the type of manager we don’t get to see much of these days. I enjoy the work that he is doing but I don’t think the angle is getting the reaction that it would have got in the past.
Pretty decent match as you would expect from the talent involved. Despite the angle Jack Swagger and Antonio Cesaro are both really good in the ring any time they perform. The match is booked towards Cody eventually getting the hot tag and unleashing his new five moves of death. Cody gets as far as the Moon Sault before Cesaro counters with an Uppercut and manages to pick up the win. The Real Americans win.
Mark Henry vs Damien Sandow w Big E Langston on Commentary.
Sandow decides after a couple of minutes that he is no match for Mark Henry and settles for a count out. He knows he has a big match against Langston on Sunday so it makes sense for Sandow to be smart and not injure himself before that match. Mark Henry wins by count out.
The Bellas vs AJ Lee and Tamina Snuka w Natalya on commentary
Natalya tells us that this Sunday she will become the Divas champion. Nothing much to say about the match apart from AJ wins with the Black Widow.
Cena cuts another in ring promo to hype up his match against Randy Orton this Sunday.It was a good promo and Cena looked ready for the match. There are rumours that we are witnessing a slow Cena heel turn. As much as I would like to see that happen I have trouble believing that the WWE would take this direction considering how much benefits they receive from having Cena as the champ and the face of the WWE. I think if Cena was to turn it would have to look like he wasn’t involved. It would have to be something that The Authority have made happen without Cena’s consent leaving the door fully open for Cena to return back to a face when the time is right.
The Uso’s vs The Shields Seth Rolllins and Roman Reigns w Ambrose on commentary.
Ambrose does an excellent job on commentary that’s well worth listening to. Inside the ring the Shield do what they do best. Great tag team match with a nice finish Rollins mimics CM Punks finisher by putting Jay up into the position then throws him off for Reigns to Gore him. After the match CM Punk cuts a promo supposedly from The Shields dusty smelly basement hideout.
Ryback accompanied by Curtis Axel vs The Big Show accompanied by Rey Mysterio
This match could have been a great match but it ends up just being a typical squash match. Apart from a nice Spine Buster Slam from Ryback there is very little offence from the big guy. The Big Show Choke Slams Ryback and pins him for the win. After the match Axel enters the ring and receives the 619 from Mysterio.
Next we get a Wyatt family video promo. Bray sings a creepy song and tells Bryan that he is going to put him down on Sunday.
Alberto Del Rio vs Kofi Kingston
After Del Rio gets a jobbers entrance Kofi Kingston makes his way down to the ring only to get attacked from behind by The Miz. The Miz delivers the Skull Crushing Finale outside the ring and leaves Kofi laying on the round motionless. No contest.
Randy Orton makes his way to the ring to apologise to Triple H for accidently hurting Stephanie on Monday night. Triple H makes his way to the ring. Randy apologises and hunter tells Randy that he never apologises for anything and if he wanted to he could fire Orton for this incident. Triple H says that he won’t do that because it is not best for business. Triple H says that he will accept Randy’s apology just once, providing there are no more incidents. Randy ask Triple H one more question before he leaves he asks who the Authority has put their faith into this Sunday. Triple H provides no clarity by responding ‘Randy you know where our faith lies’. Leaving everybody still guessing.
Final Thought
I really enjoyed this week’s episode because it felt like they were really trying hard to build up the matches for TLC this Sunday. We had a lot of people on commentary expressing their views on the up and coming matches. It feels like TLC has totally replaced Survivor Series as one of the big four PPV’s. The emphasis and the calibre of matches that they have on the card for this PPV is way better than last months. To be staging one of the biggest events at this PPV whether or not we get a unified champion or not shows that they are at least interested in drawing huge audiences for this PPV. People I know who don’t even watch wrestling have mentioned it to me which is unusual unless it is Wrestlemania itself.
Personally I am looking forward to TLC and I’m expecting a shocker in the main event either way. Like I said earlier I would be surprised if we see a willing heel turn from Cena but I think they have something planned that is bound to raise eyebrows and get chins wagging at the very least
