LWOS brings to you its Wild, Wild, Wrestling Recap, examining the good, the bad, and the ugly of professional wrestling.
Wild, Wild, Wrestling Recap: Monday Night Raw (Feb. 10, 2014)
The Good
Monday Night Warfare
I think I’m just going to stop calling this section “The Good” and start calling it “The Shield and The Wyatt Family.” This is my third event recap, and for the third time the runaway highlight of the show was the feud between these two surging stables.
In a nice change of pace, Wyatt and his cohorts were the first to get some in-ring action. The match was a solid affair as usual, highlighted by Bray’s spectacular rebounding Sister Abigail on Rey Mysterio. Ever since his clean victory over Daniel Bryan at the Royal Rumble, Bray and company have been booked to look extremely formidable, something that was lacking beforehand. The post-match promo was more of the typically great stuff we’ve come to expect from Wyatt in this feud.
The dynamic between the members of The Shield and the psychology at play here is the best thing of this sort I can ever remember seeing from the WWE, a company not exactly known for its subtlety. Reigns giving Renee Young and every interested member of the WWE Universe an early Valentine’s Day present aside, the continuing sibiling-esque rivalry between him and Ambrose was used well to set up a rare Dean Ambrose title defense against Mark Henry.
Everything from Mark Henry’s World’s Stronger Slam attempt on was pure brilliance. Rollins saving Ambrose like the Shield has always done while Reigns was content to lay back? So smart. Reigns deciding enough was enough, spearing Henry in half, then checking to make sure his teammates were okay? Great way to show that at the end of the day the members of The Shield still have each others’ backs (so far).
That stare-down? Reigns taking the lead to battle the Family? Wyatt pretending to oblige but backing away laughing? You’ve just sold yourself a pay-per-view.
Also, man it must’ve sucked to be Mark Henry and lay there that whole time.
Daniel Bryan’s Not Making It to Elimination Chamber, Is He?
The opening segment was nothing worth noting. Bryan was serviceable on the mic, just as all involved were. However, he did return later in the show to give Kane his comeuppance for last week’s main event. The crowd was ecstatic, as they always are for the bearded one. The main reason I’m filing this under good is because I believe it is leading to a Daniel Bryan screwjob at next month’s PPV, which in turn will lead to a triumphant Daniel Bryan Wrestlemania main event. I don’t care if it’s for the title of if it’s over Triple H, as long as the event ends with Bryan leading a Superdome-sized “Yes! Yes! Yes!”, I’ll be a happy man.
So F*** Your Rules Man
Congrats to Lita on her much-deserved WWE Hall of Fame induction. After Trish Stratus’s induction last year, it was only fitting that the Macho Man to her Hulk Hogan was selected for the next class. Some might say that was hyperbole, but these two were, and probably still are, by far the biggest North American women’s wrestlers in decades.
The Last Two Minutes of Cena/Orton…
The Bad
Everything Except the Last Two Minutes of Cena/Orton
As I mentioned on last week’s Smackdown recap, some of these Orton matches have me excited, and some do not. Considering this match was stale when it was booked to headline TLC two months ago, you can’t blame me for not being able to muster any interest in it.
The match got admittedly hot near the end, but ultimately neither result could make me care. Michael Cole claimed Cena said this was “the close to their rivalry.” Except for, you know, the match they have against each other in two weeks this is supposed to be building up.
Dolph Ziggler 🙁
The most excited moment I’ve had watching live since I got back into wrestling (in early 2011) after a multi-year hiatus was Dolph Ziggler’s Money In The Bank cash-in (I caught Punk’s pipe bomb on DVR). Watching him get a truncated entrance en route to his 937th loss to Alberto Del Rio was downright depressing. What made it worse was he was simply fodder for the Del Rio-Batista feudm which leads me to my next point…
The Best Possible Use of Batista
If this was all Batista was brought back to do, I’d be all aboard the hype train. A guy who wears ridiculous outfits, has a Gracie Jiu-Jitsu logo on the back of his trunks and powerbombs Alberto Del Rio every week is a guy I could get behind. The guy who huffs and puffs his way to an undeserved Royal Rumble victory and Wrestlemania title bout? Not so much.
The Ugly
Elderly Age Outlaws
Not sure what the writers were going for in the Betty White/New Age Outlaws segment, but it was absolutely atrocious and made me embarrassed to have Raw playing on my television. It boggles my mind that the same company that can produce The Shield/Wyatt Family feud thought this belonged on television. Boggles it.
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Photo courtesy WWE.com
