OO Column: Online Onslaught by Rick Scaia (Pro Wrestling News, Analysis, and Commentary... WWE, WWF, WCW, ECW, The Rock, Brock Lesnar, Triple H, Rob Van Dam, Hulk Hogan, Undertaker, Trish Stratus, Lita, Stacy Keibler, Divas, RAW, SmackDown, WrestleMania

OO RAW RECAP
Getting There is NOT Half the Fun
April 6, 2015

by Rick Scaia
Exclusive to OOWrestling.com

Today's one of those Alpha and Omega days... one thing begins, but another ends.

I speak, of course, of Opening Day of baseball. The Reds scored a thrilling victory to supply me with at least one day of glory, before reality sets in (neither the Reds nor Yankees seem positioned to play .500 ball this year) And also, of the Season Final of "Better Call Saul," which is why you might notice me being slightly more terse than usual. I'm gonna watch my recording of that before I go to sleep tonight, and if the recap must suffer, so be it!

I actually can't believe how excellent "Saul" turned out to be. I mean, at no point did it cross my mind that it would suck, but I also did not expect it to rock my world quite as effectively as it has... right off the bat, pretty much every episode would end, and I'd be all, like, "GODDAMMIT, NOT NOW," because of how tasty the cliffhanger was.

And now, after 10 weeks of not being ready for each episode to end, I will state that I'm not ready for the season to end. I mean, screw you, AMC.... you delayed the premiere of the show by 6 months, and now, you're still only parcelling out 10 episodes before hiatus. You bastards.

I guess I'll just console myself with the knowledge that Season 2 is already confirmed for 13 episodes, and they should come in the fall, instead of next spring.

Also, I'll quit my jibber-jabbering, since the sooner I recap, the sooner I can get to the DVR of "Saul." Here's what happened on the just completed edition of RAW:

Opening Theme/Pyro/Etc, and we're live in Austin, TX, where Michael Cole is absent from the commentary desk (because Brockzilla).... in his place is Byron Saxton, who is flanked by JBL and Booker T. Although we didn't have to sit through an opening video package, the trio do narrate us through a bunch of still frames from WM31, showcasing how the Authority had a big night, from HHH"s win over Sting, to Big Show's win in the Andre Battle Royale, to Seth Rollins winning the WWE Title. When they wrap it up, Seth Rollins (with Show, Kane, and J&J) has magically appeared in the ring...

KANE IS GETTING A LITTLE TESTY

Rollins kicks things off by announcing that Triple H and Stephanie are taking a much deserved vacation, so they won't be here tonight. The crowd keeps trying to derail him with boos and "You Sold Out" chants, but Rollins persists, talking about how awesome WrestleMania was, and that's all thanks to the Authority.

Rollins re-recaps the still frames that the announcers already recapped. HHH this, Big Show that, and Rollins the other... but when Rollins gets to Kane, he realizes that Kane didn't accomplish anything, so he sort of sputters out and compliments Kane on, ummmmmm, being there.

Then Show takes a turn, talking about how he's now out from under Andre's shadow, and is now the dominant giant in wrestling history. Also, he kisses Rollins' ass quite mightily.

Kane tries to go next, but once again is made to look the chump when Randy Orton's music interrupts him. Orton looks right past Kane and starts talking to Rollins... the way Orton sees it, he beat Rollins at WM, so now he deserves a chance to do it again, with the WWE Title on the line. Then, Orton keeps piling on Kane, asking him to book the match, because isn't he the Director of Operations? Or does he have to call mommy and daddy to get permission?

Kane's had enough disrespect, and says he's in charge tonight, and he doesn't have to double check with anybody. So with that in mind, Kane promises we will have a clear-cut #1 Contender by the end of the night, because our main event will be a Triple Threat Match, with Orton facing Roman Reigns and Ryback, with a title shot on the line.

Rollins gets a little bent out of shape that Kane didn't consult him, but then Kane drops the other shoe... before that Triple Threat, each man will have a singles match. And Orton's starts right now, and it's against Kane.

RANDY ORTON vs. KANE

The Authority disappear, leaving Kane alone. We get about 30 seconds of fisticuffs, but then Kane dumps Orton out over the top rope. Break in the action means we break for...

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Back, and we catch the very tail end of Orton firing up out of a chinlock. But Kane just takes him back down with right hands, a clothesline, and a sidewalk slam for a near fall. The heel beatdown continued until Kane went for a chokeslam, but Orton gut-kicked him, whipped him, and caught him with the pendulum powerslam for his first near fall.

Rally builds to the hanging DDT, but when Orton coils for the RKO, Kane rolls out of the ring. Orton follows, and Kane just grabbed a chair and started using it on Orton... that's that.

Your Winner: Randy Orton, via disqualification, in about 6 minutes. So 30 seconds of action, 3 minutes of commercials, and 2 minutes of action ending with a blatant DQ. Yeah, that's not exactly thrilling TV. After the bell, Kane tried to continue the assault inside the ring by chokeslamming Orton on the chair... but Orton escaped and tried to turn it into an RKO onto the chair. But once again, Kane just dove out of the ring and scurried away.

Later Tonight: Roman Reigns faces Big Show, and Ryback faces Luke Harper, in their respective singles matches.

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Newsflash: last week, WWE announced on their website that AJ Lee was retiring from in-ring competition. But here, they gave her a nice farewell on their TV show, as well.

Backstage: Brad Maddox is back, and he's talking to Kane about... well, we're not entirely sure, because we join in mid-sentence, and before he can complete his thought, Seth Rollins barges in and says Kane is really turning into quite the screw-up, and Rollins demands that he start pulling his weight.

Kane reminds Rollins that Rollins would never have won MitB without Kane's help, so he isn't gonna take any crap from him. Everything Rollins has, he owes to Kane, and he better remember that. Rollins responded with What Have You Done For Me Lately, and suggests that what would be Best for Business would be Kane stepping down as DOO, and he thinks HHH and Stephanie would agree with him.

Kane says that's all well and good, but what HE thinks is best for business is if the WWE Champion has a match tonight, live on RAW. So Seth, get on out to the ring, because you're up next...

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NEVILLE vs. SETH ROLLINS (w/ the New Stooges)

Don't call him Adrian! Neville gets a huge pop and an "EN EX TEE" chant... but Rollins isn't taking him seriously. He's chuckling, and grabs a mic to make fun of the rookie, suggesting, "Hey, just save us both the time, and sit this one out, pipsqueak." Neville responds by hitting a spin kick.

So the ref rings the bell, and we're off. After a couple quick flash near falls for Neville, Rollins gets things back under control, and gets to bust out some stuff that we don't usually see, as he's the far larger/stronger guy in the ring for once in his life. He gets to work the big man/bully vibe for a bit before Neville gets a rally, ending with a sweet twisting plancha.

J&J swarm to prevent Neville from following up, and the heels huddle up while Neville decides to slide back into the ring to celebrate for a bit, as we break for....

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Back, and we return just in time to see Neville get his head slammed into the middle turnbuckle. Rollins is once again in control. Crowd is definitely rallying behind Neville, with cheers and chants, but he doesn't get much more than a token hope spot, here and there, over the next several minutes. The highlight was definitely a stiff clothesline that turned Neville inside out.

But as Rollins got cocky, and started trashtalking more than fighting, Neville got his chance to rally, reversing Rollins' attempted TurnbuckleBomb into a rana, and building up to an attempted Red Arrow...

But that's where J&J earned their money for the night. Noble distracted the ref while Mercury shoved Neville off the top rope. Rollins hit the TurnbuckleBomb on the second try, and followed up with the Curb Stomp.

Your Winner: Seth Rollins, via pinfall, in 10 minutes. Four years ago, this would have been a half-hour indie circuit classic for all the wanker fans... four years from now, who knows? But in the here and now, this served the basic purpose of making the champ look strong at the expense of a rookie. A flashy and talented rookie, but a rookie none-the-less... ergo, we didn't really get much more than one or two fleeting moments of actual drama. No need to rush out to the youtubes on this one, kids...

But maybe next Monday will bring us something of note. RAW's over in the UK next week, and I think I can safely state that Paige isn't the only one who will be more over than the Baby Jesus on Christmas....

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JOHN CENA'S OPEN CHALLENGE II

Cena once again says that the United States is the Land of Opportunity, and so he's treating the US Title as the Belt of Opportunity. He will defend the title every week, against any and all comers.

But more importantly, he acknowledges the gaping logic hole, in which he's already slated to defend the US Title against Rusev at Extreme Rules... so exactly how does this Open Challenge figure in to that? Simple. Rusev can sit on his ass and relax until Extreme Rules, where he will get his title match. But maybe it will be against Cena. And maybe it won't. Because this title is on the line each and every week, and while Cena won't just be handing it over, he admits that somebody might take it from him.

So who's gonna try this week? It's Stardust....

JOHN CENA vs. STARDUST (US Title Match)

Cena comes out strong, just imposing his will on Stardust... he's looking very focused and intense. Crowd is still letting him have it, with about a 50/50 split on the "Let's Go Cena"/"Cena Sucks" chants, though.

After about 3 minutes of utter one-sidedness, Stardust decides to bail out of the ring to regroup. So we break for...

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Back, and Cena's still in control, and that vibe of intensity actually takes on an added layer here, as Stardust quickly fires up after the ad break, making me wonder who is wrestling as the heel, here. By all rights, Cena is, and now Stardust is rallying, getting a convincing near fall after an Alabama Slam. Huh.

Cena comes back with a near fall of his own off a sit-out powerslam. Tries for the F-U, but Stardust floats over and out, and lands a spike DDT for another 2 count. The bump was Val Venis-esque, so much so that they replayed it thrice. Stardust with a moonsault for yet another two.

But then Stardust wastes time taunting Cena, and when he approaches, Cena picks the ankle and goes for the SSTF... Stardust fights out, and after a quick grapple, hits the Dark Matter. Another two, and this time, Stardust loses his mind, arguing with the ref, allowing Cena to recover.

Cena hits his new springboard stunner (and JBL went ahead and called it that, so the name we gave it at WM is apparently gonna stick), followed up with the F-U (which OO still calls the F-U, because seriously, fuck the A-A). Fin.

Your Winner: John Cena, via pinfall, in 12 minutes. Not quite on par with last week's match against Ambrose, but still quite good, and kinda interesting to see Cena comfortable flipping the format so he was sort of the Narrative Heel. That made for a fresh feel, and one that felt "real." Not because Cena's a bad guy or anything (nor is any real heel turn imminent), but because he's sort of a "division killer," so embracing the fact that just about anybody is an underdog against him is a smart play. It's not so much that Cena was the heel here, as he was the overwhelming favorite, and wrestled like it. That made Cody's handful of big moves more compelling than they would have been if he'd wrestled as "the heel." I'd be all for throwing in this wrinkle here and there as long as Cena's doing the Open Challenge (admittedly, that may only be 2 more weeks)...

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PAIGE & NAOMI vs. THE BELLA TWINS

Paige and Brie start. Paige wins with a hattrick of clotheslines, but then Nikki provides an assist which turns the tide less than a minute into the match. Paige is now the time-compressed Face in Peril.

Paige gets separation at the 3 minute mark. Hot tag to Naomi, and Nikki is unable to tag out. Naomi goes to town on the champ, hitting the Buttbutt... Brie has to come in for the save, but then there's another miscue where Nikki collides with Brie. Brie and Paige powder out, and Naomi hits the Head Scissors DDT.

Your Winners: Naomi and Paige, via pinfall, in 4 minutes. Short and underwhelming compared with recent diva action, but the point got across: Naomi is in line for a title shot (and I definitely approve; she had a great week last week, including the prematch promo last Thursday, and demoting the Buttbutt to a set-up move in favor of the Head Scissors DDT), and the Bellas have miscued twice in a row.

Earlier Today: the Prime Time Players roast the Ascension. It wasn't quite as sharp as their ripping on the New Day last week, but it was still damned funny. I'd assumed last week meant WWE was positioning the Lucha Dragons as a one-off PPV challenge to Cesaro and Kidd (until Jey Uso's injury is healed)... but there are only so many tag teams in WWE, and by my count, the PTPs are gonna be mocking the champs no later than next week, at this rate. Maybe they can slow their roll, and build themselves up with some wins over the teams they are mocking, first? And then, move on to Cesaro and Kidd in a month or two?

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RYBACK vs. LUKE HARPER

During Harper's entrance, the announcers recap the newfound rivalry between Harper and Dean Ambrose (which started when Harper powerbombed Ambrose through a ladder at WM31, and continued with a powerbomb through a table on SD), and said that as a result of all the punishment, Ambrose is sidelined and was unable to make it to RAW this week. Hmmmmm, we'll see about that...

All over 90 seconds into the match, Ryback calls for the Meathook, but Harper greets him with a superkick that sends Ryback out of the ring. Harper follows, and after a brief brawl outside, it spills back inside the ring, where Harper hits a few moves, then whiffs on a corner charge,a nd Ryback hits a flash Shellshock for the win.

Your Winner: Ryback, via pinfall, in 3 minutes flat. Yeah, so more ultra-time-compression and an utterly forgettable Prelude Singles Match. If you were gonna waste our time by pretending this was a match to be taken seriously, then having Ambrose show up to cause the blatant DQ would have been a way less silly/counterproductive way to do it. Seriously, if Harper/Ambrose is A Thing, how does Harper jobbing like this (to the one guy who will NOT be involved in a WWE Title Match at Extreme Rules, and doesn't really belong in the mix at all) help?

Backstage: Renee Young is standing by with the New Day, and immediately asks if they've noticed the "NEW. DAYSUCKS." chants, and how they feel about them. Kofi says of course they've heard. But they're keeping their heads up, and they will keep clapping the New Day Clap, because "If we don't clap, we snap." Big E tells a story of a fan coming up to tell him, "Hey, the New Day gimmick sucks, but my brother is a fan, so could you sign an autograph." So Big E smiled and signed it. And you know why he had the strength and patience to do so? Because, he CLAPS. All three fire up the CLAP, and the fans immediately start chanting along.

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THE LUCHA DRAGONS vs. NEW DAY (w/ Kofi Kingston)

Big E and Eggsavier Woods are competing tonight. Kofi immediately starts pounding the mat, which inspires another "NEW. DAYSUCK." chant. Sin Cara becomes the insta-Morton, as we're once again working with utlra time compression. Backstage, Cesaro and Tyson Kidd are watching on a monitor, so I guess my instinct was right, and the Dragons are kinda getting that #1 Contender spot...

Less than 2 minutes in, and the hot tag comes to Kalisto, and he once again lights up the crowd with a killer flurry of spots, until Kofi interferes and helps Woods to get a near fall. Woods kind of gave Kofi a look, like, "Hmmmm, cheating? I think I could get used to that," which was neat. But the advantage was short-lived, as Kalisto took out both E and Kofi with a huge plancha, while Sin Cara blind tagged himself in, in the process. He hit the Swanton on Woods, and that's that.

Your Winners: the Lucha Dragons, via pinfall, in 3 minutes. I can state, with authority, that this is a thing that happened.

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ROMAN REIGNS vs. BIG SHOW

The Andre Battle Royale trophy is once again at ringside, so Show can go stand next to it and do the Andre Pose, which for some reason really makes me smile. Good times.

But judging by the preceding Prelude Singles Matches, that'll be the end of the Good Time for this match, as this'll just be a pointless throwaway. Prove me wrong, boys, prove me wrong.

But it doesn't look like they intend to, as Reigns gets bout 2 moves in, and then Show takes control for the "mid-match" heel beatdown. Where "mid-match" means "45 seconds." D'oh.

Show chucks Reigns out of the ring, and you know what that means....

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Back, and Show is in command, throwing headbutts and right hands, and stepping on Reign's midsection in between. Show even goes up to the second rope and hits the VaderBomb. Yes, HITS IT. That NEVER happens. Show's VaderBomb has a success rate LESS THAN Flair's top rope success rate. But tonight, it lands, and Show gets a near fall off it.

Show chucks Reigns out of the ring again, and hits a bseball slide dropkick as follow up. Show is content to take the count-out, but Reigns is back up onto the apron at 8.... Show meets him, and tries to drag him back in, but Reigns clotheslines Show's neck over the top rope, gts back up on the apron and hits a Superman Punch.

Show does not go down.

Reigns gets into the ring and hits another Superman Punch. Show does not go down.

A third Superman Punch. Show does not go down.

Reigns tries for a fourth, but Show catches him by the neck, and threatens to chokeslam him.... Reigns punches out, they criss-cross, and Reigns cuts Show in half with a spear.

Your Winner: Roman Reigns, via pinfall, in 8 minutes. They didn't exactly prove me wrong. But after a fairly bland first 7 minutes, that was a strong closing sequence. And throughout, the Reigns Backlash was non-existent. From the opening bell, the fans were behind him, which is not nothing.

Backstage: Kane is working the phones, like a good little bureaucrat, when in walk the entire Diva B-List (well, Nattie and the B-List). Summer and Cameron and whoever else all start clinging to Kane, telling him what a great job he's doing. He's onto them, and says "What do you want? Just save us both the time, and spill." So they do... Naomi's pinned Nikki twice, but the hashtag of themonth is Give Divas a Chance, so Kane should totally give them all a chance by making a Diva Battle Royale to determine the REAL #1 Contender. Kane isn't buying it at first, but they keep buttering him up, and he gives in. Not because he's flattered. Because he's annoyed and wants them to go away.

The Battle Royale will happen next Monday.

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Backstage: Renee Young catches up to Roman Reigns, who keeps it short and sweet... he says that he's pretty proud of what he just did to Big Show, but if you liked that you're gonna love what he does next in the Triple Threat.

MARK HENRY vs. SHEAMUS

Before the match, Sheamus cuts a quick promo, in which he makes the mistake of bragging about how studly he looks. Crowd: "YOU LOOK STOO PID." But he continues: Sheamus sees himself as a Warrior in a world of insects. Little hard working drones. But he's a real man, and while he enjoys decimating the little guys, he's also perfectly happy to pick on guys his own size....

Enter Mark Henry. He's even slightly more over than usual, because he's a Texas boy.

But tonight, he's also the World's Strongest Jobber.

Your Winner: Sheamus, via pinfall (after the Brogue Kick), in 2 minutes. That wasn't much of a match, but I definitely like the new Sheamus. Also, I'll confirm Pyro's report that the new Sheamus' new entrance theme is quite swell, too. Maybe I wouldn't pay to put it on my Google Music (it's not really a for-listening song like that; it's just great atmospherically), but it really suits him and his new vibe so perfectly.

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This Thursday on SyFy (or, Tuesday in Texas~!): Daniel Bryan and Dolph Ziggler team up to take on Wade Barrett and Sheamus. I had no interest in making the drive over to Dallas for the SD tapings tomorrow night, but all of a sudden, that's looking like one hell of a strong main event.... strong enough to Solitary Man it? I dunno, but it's close.... I'll have to reprise the issue tomorrow afternoon.

Freeze Frame: Bray Wyatt, fresh off a gutsy-but-losing effort at WrestleMania is here to redirect our focus away from his loss to the Undertaker. And he does so by once again calling out another unnamed foe. This time, he's addressing somebody who's made his name on "dedication," but who will soon find out that all that well-intentioned dedication will be useless when opposed by the new face of fear.

So, ummmm, Cena is the first name to leap to mind anytime you make a big deal out of a guy's dedication. But holy shit, you do NOT take Wyatt from one losing feud and put him in another, right? Maybe Ziggler, once he shakes free from the IC Title multi-way? Am I whiffing on somebody obvious?

Backstage: Renee Young has Ryback for an interview. And while Ryback lives in Vegas, now, he's a Texas boy at heart, so yadda yadda yadda everything's bigger in Texas so Ryback is the next WWE Champion. Or something like that.

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DAMIEN MIZDOW vs. MIZ

As I talked about last week, they aren't using this as a chance to reboot Sandow... instead, they are doubling down on "Mizdow," complete with Mizdow's own entrance video (using Miz's music) and everything. The hook will apparently be that Sandow does Miz better than Miz does Miz.

Which is OK, on the surface level. I just don't see it as Sandow's best "out," and I certainly don't want them to do some stupid "Miz Character On the Line" Match, in which Sandow actually fights for the right to STAY Miz. That would be dumb for him, even if it might be oddly liberating for Miz to start going by his real name.

Perhaps I'm just reading too much into it, but the fact that Sandow is staying Mizdow also seems to have resulted in the live crowd being a bit cooler on him than in the recent past. It's like they're as confused as I am about why he's still "doing Miz" when he can't actually DO MIZ (the mirroring act, which was why we loved him so much). Mirroring Miz's misfortunes was awesome. Just borrowing his moveset, not so much.

Match is pretty quick, with some back and forth settling into a brief Miz beatdown, then a brief Mizdow comeback, then Miz wins a grapple, gets a schoolboy roll-up, and a handful of tights for the win.

Your WInner: Miz, via pinfall, in about 5 minutes. Not much to see here. Like I said, the crowd wasn't nearly as hot as I'd have thought, and I think the lack of a break-away by Sandow is the reason why. Sticking to "Mizdow" isn't what we wanted. The loss, and the look on Sandow's face ("Well, that didn't work, I'll do better next time"), leave me hopeful that WWE will flip the switch and let Sandow be Sandow. Or at least, not Mizdow.

Backstage: Renee Young is standing by with Randy Orton, who adds nothing constructive to the discussion, because we all already took it as read that he intends to win the #1 Contender match.

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RANDY ORTON vs. ROMAN REIGNS vs. RYBACK (#1 Contenders Match)

It's already 10:56pm (eastern) / 9:56 (central), so Ryback and Orton are already in the ring, and we only have to sit through Reigns' entrance. Bell rings at 3 till the hour, so after the worthless and perfunctory singles matches, they're not gonna deliver anything to sink your teeth into here, either. Oh well.

In keeping with the theme of the night, it's just flat-out time compression, as they jump straight straight to the one-guy-powders-out into near-falls-where-that-guy-jumps-in-to-break-it-up... and at the 90 second mark, the Authority (minus Kane) come out to "observe."

Two and half minutes in, Reigns hits the Superman Punch on Orton, but Ryback flattens him with a spinebuster and the Meathook for the first CONVINCING near fall of the match. Orton breaks it up. Ryback sets up Shellshock on Orton, but Reigns breaks it up with a Spear to Ryback. Ryback spills out of the ring, so there is no near fall.

The Authority start sauntering towards the ring, and when they get there, Reigns comes flying over the top rope, taking out the Authority and Ryback with a huge plancha.

Orton has his pick of the litter, and decides to toss Rollins into the ring... he sets up for the RKO, but that's when Ryback gets back in the ring.

After a quick exchange, Orton hits the RKO on Ryback, and gets the pinfall.

Your WInner, and Official #1 Contender: Randy Orton, via pinfall, in 5 minutes. Yep, just like all three singles matches, that wasn't anything, and it got us to where we already knew we were going: Randy Orton as the #1 Contender. That's kind of a failure of storytelling and execution, if you ask me. I can deal with a foregone conclusion, if you make the matches worthwhile. I can deal with non-matches, if the story is compelling. This was neither. Getting there was not half the fun. Getting there was, in fact, no fun at all.

After the Match: Seth Rollins pearl harbored Orton and hit a Curb Stomp. So he was standing tall to close out the show. Well, they snuck in a teaser for the debut of Jericho's podcast on the WWE Network (it was very ineffective, in that it leaked that the interview with Cena was taped last week, so there is nothing "live' about it, despite WWE's claims to the contrary, and also, Jericho looked like a complete tool, thanks to a scarf-related fashion faux pas)... but then they cut back to the ring, and Rollins celebrating over Orton's carcass was the last visual before we fade to black.

And so ends the show... and it's a show without a whole lot to recommend it. They just took the main event storyline, broke it into four matches, none of which really amounted to much on its own (and three of which were really pointless, just on the face of it), and which served the purpose of getting us to an already-known destination of Orton as #1 Contender.

I don't know if WWE made the conscious decision to phone it in because of the competition (from the NCAA title game, not "Better Call Saul," even though I did not give a shit about the former, and am going to wrap this up very shortly because I must attend to the latter, and I can only trust that OO Nation shares my prioritization), or if somebody actually thought this was something that would keep wrestling fans entertained and enthralled.

Because even on paper, the problems should have been readily apparent. I know I wouldn't have signed off on that use of the 3 hours, anyway.

No Bryan, no Ziggler, no Ambrose. No Rusev, no Barrett, very little Wyatt. But going short-handed didn't mean that any of tonight's segments got time to build and to breathe, because of that lame-ass Prelude Singles Matches garbage. Only Reigns accomplished anything in those three matches; mostly, WWE just frittered the time away by still wasting time on recaps/filler so that most matches just felt pointless and time-compressed.

Some leeway can be granted, since they are making room for a couple of guys who weren't here two weeks ago (and Neville and Sheamus were both net winners thanks to their exposure tonight), but there's still no way WWE came without 12 parsecs of making valid use of their time tonight.

Cena/Starudst was your match of the night, thanks to the inverted narrative and solid action. Rollins/Neville a distant second. Nothing else really registered at all (OK, the last minute or so of Reigns/Show was pretty good).

So I'm gonna call that a D-plus effort. Not good, WWE, not good at all. Now, pardon me, while I go watch the finale of "Better Call Saul." Because I prefer if the last thing I watch before turning in for the night doesn't suck.

SMACKDOWN RECAP: Bonding Exercises

RAW RECAP: The New Guy Blows It

PPV RECAP: WWE Night of Champions 2012

SMACKDOWN RECAP: 18 Seconds? NO! NO! NO!

RAW RECAP: The Show Must Go On

SMACKDOWN RECAP: The Boot Gets the Boot

RAW RECAP: Heyman Lands an Expansion Franchise

SMACKDOWN RECAP: Losing is the new Winning

RAW RECAP: Say My Name

SMACKDOWN RECAP: Deja Vu All Over Again

RAW RECAP: Dignity Before Gold?

PPV RECAP: SummerSlam 2012

SMACKDOWN RECAP: Backfired!

RAW RECAP: Bigger IS Better

SMACKDOWN RECAP: Hitting with Two Strikes

RAW RECAP: Heel, or Tweener?

SMACKDOWN RECAP: Destiny Do-Over

RAW RECAP: CM Punk is Not a Fan of Dwayne

SMACKDOWN RECAP: The Returnening

RAW RECAP: Countdown to 1000

PPV RECAP: WWE Money in the Bank 2012

SMACKDOWN RECAP: Friday Night ZackDown

RAW RECAP: Closure's a Bitch

SMACKDOWN RECAP: In-BRO-pendence Day

RAW RECAP: Crazy Gets What Crazy Wants

SMACKDOWN RECAP: Five Surprising MitB Deposits

RAW RECAP: Weeeellll, It's a Big MitB

SMACKDOWN RECAP: #striketwo

RAW RECAP: Johnny B. Gone

PPV RECAP: WWE No Way Out 2012

RAW RECAP: Crazy Go Nuts

SMACKDOWN RECAP: You're Welcome

RAW RECAP: Be a Star, My Ass

SMACKDOWN RECAP: Needs More Kane?

RAW RECAP: You Can't See Him

SMACKDOWN RECAP: Lady Power

RAW RECAP: Big Johnny Still in Charge

PPV RECAP: WWE Over the Limit 2012

SMACKDOWN RECAP: One Gullible Fella

RAW RECAP: Anvil, or Red Herring?

SMACKDOWN RECAP: Everybody Hates Berto

RAW RECAP: Look Who's Back

SMACKDOWN RECAP: Care to go Best of Five?

RAW RECAP: An Ace Up His Sleeve

PPV RECAP: WWE Extreme Rules 2012

SMACKDOWN RECAP: Sh-Sh-Sheamus and the nOObs

RAW RECAP: Edge, the Motivational Speaker?

SMACKDOWN RECAP: AJ is Angry, Jilted

RAW RECAP: Maybe Cena DOES Suck?

SMACKDOWN RECAP: No! No! No!

RAW RECAP: Brock's a Jerk

SMACKDOWN RECAP: Back with a Bang

RAW RECAP: Yes! Yes! Yes!

PPV RECAP: WWE WrestleMania 28

E-MAIL RICK SCAIA
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Rick Scaia is a wrestling fan from Dayton, OH. He's been doing this since 1995, but enjoyed it best when the suckers from SportsLine were actually PAYING him to be a fan.