This is how you shake things up?! Without further ado, let's get this done and over with.
Raw Thoughts (Typed Live As it Happened)
- Vince McMahon comes out to a thunderous ovation. And he gets booed as soon as the music stops. Vince puts over the fact that Raw has been on the years for 25 years. Vince says "he can't do it all by himself." Here comes Stephanie McMahon. (By the way, Vince looks terrible tonight.)
Loud boos from the crowd. And here comes Triple H to a thunderous pop to "King of Kings." And here comes Shane McMahon. Oh boy. What's going on here? Hugs going around for everyone. Loud Shane O'Mac chants.
Stephanie apologizes for not doing a good job. They haven't been listening to the fans. They're going to change things up. Absentee management is over. The four of them are taking back Monday Night Raw and Smackdown. They are going to give the fans what they want. Something new, something fresh. New faces, new superstars, new matches. The fans are The Authority. They plan on giving the fans more of what they want.
Here comes Baron Corbin. He's excited for a fresh start. (Loud boos from the crowd.) Baron Corbin said that what happened to him last night was not fair. So, they need to talk. Commercial break. Apparently, Playstation VR decided that Baron Corbin didn't need the extra few minutes.
Back from break, Baron Corbin says that Sacramento is a very small group and doesn't represent the WWE Universe. Corbin is getting booed constantly, and The McMahons are playing it up. He's getting go away heat for just being on TV. Loud "You Suck" chants. He is saying he's trying to motivate superstars to live up to the challenge. He wasn't prepared for the unfair advantage Strowman and his friends had on him last night. Triple H sums up what Baron Corbin is trying to say. The McMahons huddle up. Shane votes no. Triple H votes no. Stephanie says "No Chance in Hell." Vince says there might be a way for Baron Corbin to get the job. Triple H says maybe Corbin deserves a chance. Triple H says "Let's give Corbin that chance." Corbin has to win his match next to become permanent GM. All he has to do is beat...
KURT ANGLE!
Stephanie forgets to mention that there is a special guest referee: Heath Slater.
(One thing I have to mention here: WWE's solution to not listening to their fans is to feature another opening 30 minutes rotating around... Baron Corbin. The guy who many fans are turning off because they are sick of seeing him on TV. In other words, WWE heard nothing based on this piece of evidence. I hope they prove us all wrong later.)
After break, Triple H comes out and says that this is a "handicap match." Here comes Bobby Roode and Chad Gable along with Apollo Crews. It's a 4-1 Handicap Match. It's a massacre. Corbin tries to run off after a few moment beatdown, but he's thrown back in the ring. Shane comes out and says he forgot to mention that the match is No DQ. Steel chairs and referee beating of talent come next. Neckbreaker/Moonsault, a Frog Splash, and an Olympic Slam happen next. 1-2-3. Corbin is done. After the match, Angle hits the Olympic Slam on Corbin through a table, fulfilling the wishes of the fans earlier.
I guess this is their way of writing off Corbin as their authority figure. Still, it's reverse psychology to solve the problems that fans supposedly had with the way WWE was operating by getting Baron Corbin to star in the first half hour of the show.
- Next, we get Finn Balor vs. Dolph Ziggler. Fun enough match for a TV show. These two could do a lot more with time given to them, but I'm getting a little winded from seeing 20 minute Dolph Ziggler matches lately to be honest. Drew McIntyre shows up and gets beaten down by Balor and Ziggler on the floor. Back in the ring, Balor and Ziggler go back at it. But McIntyre interferes to cause the DQ. Glascow Kiss to Ziggler just knocks him down. McIntyre beats down on Ziggler and hits the Claymore Kick. Balor gets one for his troubles too on the floor. Finn Balor is left laying once again on Raw. The more things change, the more they stay the same.
- New Intercontinental Champion Dean Ambrose comes out next. He's got four guys surrounding the ring and cuts a heel Daniel Bryan-lite promo. Rollins dropped the ball, according to Ambrose. Ambrose doesn't need respect. He has the Intercontinental Championship. And Ambrose isn't done taking from Seth Rollins. His career and reputation are next. He wants Seth Rollins to come out and tell everyone he was right. He calls Seth out.
Dean has an idea: Seth, how about an open challenge? Not for the title but to face Dean Ambrose. No one comes out. Just goes to show that Seth Rollins is no hero, according to Ambrose. Ambrose has a new idea: he has an open challenge for the Intercontinental Championship for anyone not named Seth Rollins. It's Tyler Breeze. I guess someone saw him wrestle on NXT last week. Dean Ambrose wins a match that at least gave a little bit of momentum to make him look good in defeat.
Ambrose cuts a promo about being an Intercontinental Champion with integrity. Dean tells the SWAT Team to look up the aisle. Rollins jumps Ambrose in one of the SWAT Team uniforms and fights off the other three. Ambrose escapes while Rollins beats these guys down.
- Shane McMahon talks about opportunity. Drake Maverick and AOP want their rematch against Roode and Gable. He only offers an opportunity. AOP will face The B-Team, The Revival, and Lucha House Party in a Fatal Four Way. Winner will get a future opportunity at the Raw Tag Team Titles.
- WWE promotes the new faces coming soon from NXT. EC3, Heavy Machinery, Nikki Cross, Lars Sullivan, and Lacey Evans are highlighted.
- Bobby Lashley and Lio Rush are in the ring in an Elias rip off. Lashley shows off the guitar he cracked over the back of Elias last night on the TLC Kickoff show. Lio Rush promises a performance of a lifetime, but the audience needs to shut their mouths. Double biceps, the side chest, and the glutes are shown off by Bobby Lashley. And now, here's Elias!!!! GUITAR TO THE BACK OF LASHLEY! Elias gets away before Lashley can get a hand on him.
- We get a Sami Zayn promo! He's returning soon!
- Next is the Fatal Four Way for the Raw Tag Team Title shot: AOP vs. The B-Team vs. Lucha House Party vs. The Revival. The McMahons announce, through Graves, that there are no more Lucha House Party rules. (Thank God. Those matches sucked.) The Revival get the title shot in a nice development. Now, will it mean a dang thing in a few weeks? Who knows. But a guy can foolishly hope, right? I had a hard time watching this match to be honest. Boring.
- Seth Rollins cuts a promo about last night. Rollins takes responsibility for how bad that match was last night and the crowd going nuts. He is going to right this ship. That starts with ending Dean Ambrose. Baron Corbin is behind Seth Rollins. He blames Seth Rollins for all the problems he's had in the last week. Seth gives him a big punch in the face, putting Corbin on his back once again.
- Michael Cole called what happened with the McMahon Family earlier tonight "iconic." That basically means it was far from it. We don't need you to tell us what was "iconic." WE'LL BE THE JUDGE OF THAT, NOT YOU BY TELLING US!
- Ronda Rousey is out next to talk about what happened last night on TLC, especially her interference in the SmackDown Women's Championship TLC match. She warned Nia, Charlotte, and Becky about what she would do. Ronda came to define what a real champion is. She says that she lives for the challenge. She wants to start a new tradition: The night after a PPV, the champ puts up an Open Challenge. And it's another open challenge.
Women are shown in the control room wanting a title shot. Stephanie walks out with the entire Raw Women's Locker Room. All the women want a shot. There will be an 8-Woman Gauntlet Match to determine who gets the shot. Alicia Fox starts off the match and faces Bayley. They go for a long, long, long time seemingly. Alicia Fox gets caught in a crucifix pin for a 3 count. Dana Brooke is next. And she attacks Bayley viciously. Chop block to the back of Bayley's bad knee by Dana. A moment or two later, Bayley to Belly gets a 3 for Bayley. We go to commercial break.
(Kevin Owens promo plays during the commercial break.)
Mickie James is in with Bayley now. Bayley continues to sell the knee throughout these bouts in the Gauntlet Match. Elbow drop by Bayley only gets a 2 as Mickie gets to the ropes. Bayley to Belly avoided. Bayley gets hit with the jumping DDT by Mickie for the 3. Mickie James advances to face Ember Moon. Ember gets jumped on as soon as she steps through the ropes. (The announcers say that Rousey will face the winner next week on Christmas Eve's edition of Raw.) After another commercial break, we see Ember and Mickie are still going at it. Mickie jumps into a knee to the face by Ember. Eclipse puts an end to Mickie.
Next up is Natalya. Superkick by Ember gets a 2. Corey and the announcers do more inside references with social media references to Natalya, her cat, and Lince Dorado. Natalya catches Ember in a rollup for a 3 count. And imagine this: Ruby Riott is out next. Seriously, this is such great change. Just so shocking. :/
We come back from yet another commercial break with Natalya and Ruby Riott going at it. After another few minutes, Natalya catches Riott in a rollup for a 3. Now, it's Sasha Banks coming out to end the gauntlet. It's Sasha and Natalya to determine who will face Rousey. Banks and Natalya go back and forth in the match, and Natalya gets Sasha in the Sharpshooter. Banks flips Natalya back of the head first into the bottom turnbuckle. Ouch. Bank Statement by Sasha Banks is rolled through. German Suplex by Natalya. Natalya faceplants Sasha and locks in the Sharpshooter again to get the tap out. Natalya will face Ronda Rousey next week for the Raw Women's Championship. Ronda Rousey comes out and is standing in the ring while Natalya celebrates. Rousey holds up Natalya's arm and hugs her. She offers her hand and Natalya shakes it. Another hug.
Overall, I have to give this show a thumbs down. For all the promise that WWE made in shaking things up, they made only a few surface-deep changes to their show. Baron Corbin was still all over this show from the half-hour beginning to a segment in the show on top of that. The NXT call-ups, while nice, were nothing to report that will be earth-shattering. Dean Ambrose still managed to bore the hell out of all of us for a few minutes as did the Fatal Four Way and Women's Gauntlet matches. And Ronda Rousey still found a way to sound batcrap crazy.
This was not change in any substantive way. WWE says it wants to pay attention to its fans. Then, just do it by focusing on what things are working and eliminating things that aren't working. Baron Corbin being on 35 minutes worth of content on this show DOES NOT work, regardless of whether he is GM or a wrestler. Dean Ambrose being a Daniel Bryan-lite villain does not work. But these things are obviously continuing. And as a result, I am very skeptical about any substantive changes happening on WWE programming.
That being said, this was a slightly better show than it has been the past few weeks. But I mean slightly.
Until next time, take care everyone. Spread some awesomeness.
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