Bell2Bell
WWE Raw and WWE Smackdown Live
Mike Miceli – Staff Writer
mike@thetwocentscorp.com
Welcome to another edition of Bell2Bell where we recap both WWE Raw and WWE Smackdown LIVE every Sunday right here on TwoCentsTV!
WWE Raw 1/9/17
Well this week’s Raw was… better. But that’s still not saying much considering how atrocious last week’s episode was. But at least this past Monday it looked like they put some effort into it, even if the show itself was still quite bad.
Raw begins with, what else, a talking segment between Mick Foley (another new haircut!) and Stephanie McMahon backstage. Foley is receiving his annual performance review. Steph, apparently back to being a full-fledged heel, is scolding Foley for making promises about an Undertaker appearance that he might not be able to keep.
It isn’t long before Seth Rollins comes in to announce his entry into the Royal Rumble match. Braun then enters and says he wants Roman Reigns or Goldberg tonight “or else.” Seth says he can help with that and attacks Braun and a brawl ensues before being broken up by security.
We cut to the arena where US Champ Roman Reigns makes his entrance for his handicap match against Chris Jericho and Kevin Owens. Owens and Y2J are out next and before the bell can even ring, Braun Strowman’s music hits and Strowman attacks Reigns. The three gang up on Roman until Seth Rollins comes down to make the save. Rollins hits a Van Daminator (nice!) on Strowman and he and Reigns chase the heels out of the ring.
Stephanie comes out and puts the handicap match off to the main event to give Roman some time to recover. She also makes a match with Seth Rollins against Braun Strowman which starts now.
This match was actually not bad. It was better than their last encounter where Seth just bounced off of Strowman a few times. Here, Seth came off as more of a tactician, attacking the big man’s legs and focusing on quick attacks. Strowman still managed to look strong while selling well (a skill he is getting increasingly good at). The match eventually spilled to the outside where Rollins crashed into the barricade after a top-turnbuckle attack attempt. The match then ended with a double count out.
After the match, Braun tried to attack Rollins, but Seth was able to fend him off with a chair. Braun gave Rollins the “evil eye” as he made his way back up the ramp.
Sasha (still sporting a knee brace) and Bayley are backstage talking about Bayley’s victory last week and how they’re excited to see Bayley VS Charlotte Flair at the Royal Rumble. Charlotte then appears and says no one has ever beaten her for the title at a PPV. Nia Jax appears behind them and kicks Sasha’s bad knee while Charlotte attacks Bayley. Charlotte gives an approving nod to Jax who then shoves Charlotte up against a wall before walking away.
SIDE NOTE: I understand that they’re trying to get Jax over as this monster. She has the size to be a dominating force in the Women’s Division… she just doesn’t have the charisma to do it. She constantly looks like she’s trying not to smile. The close ups of her soft eyes in her entrance are more comical than intimidating. And any time she talks on the mic I find myself embarrassed for her. I’m not really sure where they can go with her at this point, but what they’re doing now, just isn’t working.
Cruiserweight action was up next with Drew Gulak facing Jack Gallagher. This match was ok. I’ve seen better from both guys and it seemed like they never really picked up any steam here. Gallagher’s exaggerated leg trip move is sadly comical (or maybe that’s the point?) and failed miserably in execution. After some back and forth, Gallagher was able to hit a running corner dropkick to pick up the pinfall victory.
Post match, Gallagher spoke about his recent issues with Ariya Daivari and despite his recent poor behavior Gallagher would like to “parlay” on 205 Live. He says that perhaps, if Daivari refuses to negotiate, they will “engage in some fisticuffs”.
Mick Foley is backstage asking anyone if they’ve seen The Undertaker. He runs into Stephanie who tells Mick that his entire performance review hinges on his ability to produce The Undertaker (a self proclaimed Smackdown superstar) tonight… because… that’s logical and completely understandable. Mick says that she needs to trust him.
Anytime I get to see HBK Shawn Michaels come out to an arena full of people is a good damn day. Except… this time. Because man was this segment bad. And I mean BAAAAD. And it pains me to say that because if there’s any wrestler I mark out for, it’s Shawn Michaels. Truly one of the most amazing entertainers in WWE history.
Shawn talked about the Royal Rumble for a bit and the crowd chanted “one more match”, but Shawn shut that down saying he won’t give in to peer pressure. No, he was there to plug his new Jesus movie. And I don’t mean that in a condescending way, it’s a movie about a guy (Grant Ward from Agents of SHIELD) who dresses up like Jesus to save his soul. Something like that. Honestly, it looks pretty awful.
Rusev then comes out with Lana and Jinder Mahal and says HBK should put Lana in his movie. This leads to a few awkward moments and a terrible Golden Globes joke. I don’t know if someone forgot a line, or if this meandering segment just went off the rails, but this was pretty bad. I thought the segment would be saved when Enzo and Cass came out, but it only got worse.
Enzo, Cass, and Michaels came up with a few movie titles that Rusev could act in (40 Year Old Virgin, Dumb and Dumber, etc) Then they said The Pianist… because you know, it sounds like the word for the male appendage. Oh isn’t that funny? Totally neglecting the fact that The Pianist is a tragic movie about the holocaust. But hey, comedy, right?
SIDE NOTE: Enzo came out in his motorized wheelchair again, only this time, in a bit of art imitating life, he is legitimately hurt after suffering a knee injury at a house show.
This whole segment was just painful, boring, unfunny and pointless. The only highlight of this segment was Rusev (who at least looked like he was enjoying himself) calling himself the Bulgarian George Clooney.
So this all led to a match between Big Cass and Jinder Mahal. This was relatively quick and HBK stayed at ringside for it. Big Cass picked up the win with the “Empire Elbow” and it was great to see HBK hit “Sweet Chin Music” on Rusev at ringside.
Neville faced Lince Dorado in a fast and furious match with some good stiff moves and solid wrestling. I enjoyed this one for what it was, but it was over much to quickly. I’m really digging Neville’s heel persona and it’s breathing some new life into the Cruiserweight Division and 205 Live.
After the match, Neville continued to beat down Dorado until Rich Swann came out from the back to make the save. Neville retreated up the ramp, eyeing Swann the whole way.
Sasha and Bayley enter Stephanie’s office and ask for a match next week against Charlotte and Nia Jax. Steph says that, since they want their match so bad that they’d barge into her office and make demands, they can have their match. But it won’t be next week. Even though Sasha isn’t 100%, their match will take place tonight.
Sheamus took on Club member Luke Gallows with both Anderson and Cesaro on commentary. Sheamus and Gallows looked good here. For two big men, they moved quickly and kept a decent pace throughout the match. Cesaro and Anderson on commentary was funny to hear as they took constant verbal shots at each other. Eventually a brawl broke out between Cesaro and Anderson at the commentary table which distracted Gallows enough for Sheamus to hit the “Brogue Kick” for the win.
SIDE NOTE: I lost count of how many times Anderson said “Japan” during his commentary here… but it was a lot. Even a huge New Japan fan like myself found it more than a little obnoxious.
Mick Foley came down to the ring to plead for The Undertaker to make an appearance. The lights go out in the arena, but it was just a tease as Stephanie McMahon’s music hit. She made her way to the ring to run down Mick for failing to produce The Undertaker and just as it appeared she was going to fire Foley (for this one infraction after a year of service) The lights went down again and this time we heard the gong.
The Undertaker made his way down to the ring and said he was taking this opportunity to announce that he will be entering the Royal Rumble. We cut to backstage where we see Braun Strowman watching on a monitor (subtle, WWE, real subtle). Taker said no one controls him. He goes where he wants when he wants. He’s dug 29 holes for 29 souls, he’ll win the Rumble and return to the main event at Wrestlemania. Anyone who stands in his way will rest…. in…. peace.
SIDE NOTE: Taker looks to be in phenomenal shape and I’m really looking forward to seeing what he’s able to do at the Rumble and on the road to Wrestlemania. If this is his final run before his rumored retirement, I hope they make the best of it.
Bayley and Sasha Banks take on Charlotte Flair and Nia Jax next. (I wonder what the criteria is for being allowed a last name in WWE…) This match was ok. Sasha got some offense in at the start, but eventually Charlotte took advantage of her injury and she spent the rest of the match on the floor.
Bayely went down fighting but she did go down and hard. She was pinned clean by Nia Jax, which doesn’t exactly make your #1 contender look very strong in this definitive losing effort. But there’s still a few weeks to go before the Rumble so I’m sure Bayley will get a little pay back next week.
New Day came out for their mandatory Goof Troop segment of cracking pop culture jokes and pouring Booty-O’s down people’s faces. Titus O’Neil came out to apologize for attacking Xavier Woods last week and said he still wants to be a part of The New Day. New Day said if O’Neil can jog around the ring while carrying a beer keg (one of the NXT Season 2 challenges that O’Neil failed years ago) that he can be in the New Day. Titus fails this challenge on a technicality much to the chagrin of the New Day. O’Neil snaps again and attacks Kofi so now we have a match. (Rinse… repeat… with Big E next week, I’m sure.)
Titus had control at the start, but Kofi was able to gain the upper hand after a ringside distraction from Xavier and his trombone. Kofi hits the “Trouble in Paradise” for the win
Next up we have our main event handicap match. And as far as handicap matches go, this wasn’t too bad. I find it abundantly clear that WWE is protecting the hell out of Roman Reigns because in this losing effort, it took being attacked by Strowman, Jericho and Owens earlier in the night, plus facing Owens and Jericho in this handicap match, PLUS them hitting every finisher under the sun to pin him. But they did pin him. Jericho specifically, so I’m assuming this means the title is his.
Jericho winning the US Title is sadly bittersweet. I appreciate the fact that Jericho now holds the one belt that had always escaped him throughout his WWE career. And I like the idea that that maybe he’ll bring a little more prestige to the title considering Roman has just been using it as a prop to sling over his shoulder like a bag of garbage. But for anyone who knows how WWE operates, Roman dropping the US title before the Rumble doesn’t bode well for Owens’ Universal Title run. With Roman belt-less, this opens the door for him to pick up the Universal Title at the Rumble and set up his road to Wrestlemania.
I can only hope that this potential scenario doesn’t come to pass, but I’d probably be wrong. So my second hope is that Roman is only holding the title for whoever defeats him at Wrestlemania… Hey a guy can dream can’t he? To paraphrase from The Dark Knight, Roman Reigns isn’t the champ the WWE Universe deserves and he isn’t the champ the WWE needs right now.
Click below to head on over to page 2 for the WWE Smackdown recap!
The post Bell2Bell – WWE Recap and Review – Week of 1/9/17 appeared first on TwoCentsTV.