Raw Review 5/11/2015

Raw Flashback: 5/11/2015 

The Payback go home Raw came to us tonight Live from Cincinnati Ohio. For the second week in a row we were treated to a pretty good Raw! Tonight's show had a little bit of everything. There were a lot of story lines bolstered and strengthened tonight and the show in general has me pretty excited for this weekends Payback pay-per-view.  This show also featured a lot of big news which I will talk about in a little bit.  So lets dive right into it!

Opening: 

• -The show opened up with Triple H coming down to the ring where he told everyone  "Daddy's Home". He then expressed his displeasure with how things were being handled in his absence and he called both Rollin and Kane out for a quick chat. 

•  Rollins was the first to answer the bosses call and he came down to the ring to a sea of boos and Ambrose chants from Dean's home town crowd.  Once Seth got the crowd slightly calmed down he started to cut a promo listing off all the things Kane has done to him over the last few weeks. He then demanded that Kane let go from his role as Director of Operations. 

•  Just as Seth was making demands Kane's music hit and he stormed down to the ring and he began to really light into Rollins. Triple H quickly gained control of the situation and told Kane he had a match against Roman Reigns tonight and Seth had a match against Randy Orton in the main event. 

• J&J Security didn't like Triple H's decision to put the champ in a match so the both stood up to the boss and he in turn put them in a match against Dean Ambrose starting 'Right Now". 

Match 1: Dean Ambrose vs J&J Security:  

• This was a quick match but a decent one. Dean Ambrose was very over with his home town crowd and they really loved the squash match that the men put on. This match was a bit of a surprised considering how over Dean was tonight. I cant believe they used him up so early in the show.  

• There seems to be a lot of hype surrounding the Daniel Bryan announcement for later on tonight. Not sure what he will be saying with this kinda hype Im sure it will be big news. 

• Winner: Dean Ambrose in 5:20 

Match 2: King Barrett vs Dolph Ziggler: 

• This was a solid match with solid ending that really helped build some momentum for the feuds at Payback. Sheamus walked away looking very strong as he beat down Ziggler once again. He also had a new hair cut look that was honestly a little silly it kind of made him look like a reject from a modern day western movie. But I am still enjoying his new heel gimmick and I hope they put him over and protect his character this weekend. 

• Winner: King Barrett in 5:55 thanks to outside interference from Sheamus. 

Match 3: Erick Rowan vs Fandango:

• This match was a huge squash match. In fact they not only crushed Fandango they went for a full, all out burial. I understand that they want to build up Harper and Rowan as a legit tag team again and I have no problem with that. But I don't understand why the Announcers had to pour on to it. All three announcers made picks to see who could guess how fast Fandango would lose. That was just unnecessary and it really made Fandango look like crap. Which is a shame because he is a really talented wrestler. 

• Winner: Erick Rowan in 37 seconds. 

• Following the short match they hyped up John Cena's US Championship challenge and he made his entrance to the normal cheers and boos and Cena sucks chants. It did sound like this crowd was a little more John Cena friendly than most crowds. John cut a promo and invited the next challenger down to the ring and to everyones surprise Neville answered the call. 

Match 4: John Cena vs Neville for the US Championship: 

•  Like the match last week with Sami Zayn this match was a great match! It was easily the best match of the night and both men had really good chemistry in the ring. They played off each others strengths and weaknesses and it was VERY fun to watch.  I thin the only real complaint that could be had is that Neville kicked out of the AA from John. This is not a big deal yet but if guys keep kicking out of John's finisher when he uses it on guys in the future it will eventually lose its sting. This match carried on the tradition of US open challenge matches bein fantastic and I hope this is a trend that will carry on even after John drops the belt.

• Winner Neville By DQ (Rusev attacking John Cena) in 14:55

Match 5: Kane vs Roman Reigns: 

•  This was a short match that served only one purpose and that purpose was to make Roman Reigns look like a total Bad A$$. Kane did a great job of looking like he wanted to serve the Authority but you could tell he was also trying to get Roman over. Reign walks away from this looking like a legit contender in the Payback match for the world heavy weight championship. 

• Winner Roman Reigns

Match 6: Tamina ( with Naomi) vs Bree Bella ( with Nikki): 

• This was not a bad match but I really have a problem with how the divas division is being billed right now. Its really frustrating that the characters keep changing Face for no reason and they do it with out any story line basis. It is really odd that one day the Bella's are heels and then the next the are playing to the crowd and cutting face promos. But thats the way things go in the divas world right now unless your watching NXT. 

•  Winner: Tamina in 3:35 

Match 7: Macho Mandow vs Axelmania: 

• This was just a rehash of the main event match. This moment really didn't seem all that special to me. I look at Axel and Sandow and I see two guys who just have no path. Its clear that creative has no idea what to do with these guys. These are two characters that are just lost in the abyss of the WWE Mid-card. Hopefully this is not an every week event and this new tag team of Axel and Sandow will go somewhere special. 

• Up next Daniel Bryan came down to the ring to a loud response from the crowd. He thanked the fans multiple times for all that they do and all the support they have given him over the years. He told them it wasn't fair for him to hold the title when he can not compete. He then told the crowd that he would be giving up the IC Title so it could be properly defended on tv. He went on to say that he may be out for a long time or maybe even forever. Heres to hoping that he can heal up and get back in the ring soon I would really miss Bryan if he had to retire this early in his career. 

Match 8: Cesaro (w/ Tyson Kidd) vs Big E (w/New Day): 

• Can I just say that I really like the New Day heel act! After seeing them live last night and once again for the second Raw in a row they have been highly entertaining. They are quickly becoming one of my favorite things about Raw each week. I hope they can keep this act together and that WWE Creative can come up with some more fun stuff for them to do. The match was a decent match but the real money match will be the 2 out of 3 falls match this weekend at Payback. This match has the potential to be a show stealer on Sunday. 

•  Winner: Cesaro 8:55

•  Prime time players continue to do their back stage video segments this week they made fun of DX mainly Road dog and Billy gun. This was an ok segment but I am ready for these guys to do something other than cut promos on a camera in the back. Get these guys in the ring!! 

•  Bray Wyatt came down to the ring and cut a promo which drew out Ryback and the two slugged it out until Ryback tossed Bray out of the ring. Bray walked on as Ryback led the crowd in a feed me more chant. This whole match just seems like such a waste. I cant take either man seriously due to there constant losing. I really like Bray's mic work but its ultimately use less when he cant win matches to back up his big talk. Neither one of these men can really afford to take a loss so I have no idea what will happen when they meet at Payback. 

Match 9: Seth Rollins vs Randy Orton: 

• The main event match was just like all the other matches these two have put on recently. I have to admit that sadly the shine on this matchup has worn off and Im starting to lose interest in watching these two guy battle it out. The match ended when J &J attempted to get the best of Randy leading to yet another DQ in the main event. After the attack by J&J the other men in the main event came to the ring and began to do there finishers on Rollins as Kane stood outside and did nothing. After Rollins was down the remaining guys began to pick each off leading to Dean Ambrose hitting Reigns with Dirty Deeds and he closed the show doing his crazy guy act in the ring. 

Review: All and all this was a pretty good Raw which means we have had two good shows in a row. I cant remember the last time that happened. The build for this pay-per-view has been pretty fun for different reasons and I think it will be a decent show. The big news coming away from this show was the shocking news that Daniel Bryan may be done in wrestling but for now we know he has given up his IC Title. We also know that WWE will be putting on a 2nd pay-per-view this month. They will be showing Elimination Chamber live on Sunday May 31 from Texas. This was a huge announcement and it will be one that we will have to keep an eye on. Two pay-per-views for the main roster and one for NXT in one month is a lot of work for WWE. I hope they have a good plan for the Elimination Chamber show. Maybe they will have it for the IC title or something cool like that. 

Thanks for watching along and reading this blog let me know what you think about it and feel free to pass on any ideas or things you would like to see me start doing to make this better.