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
Appearances and Disappearances
October 19, 2015

by Rick Scaia
Exclusive to OOWrestling.com

This Wednesday is gonna be October 21, 2015.

Why is that important? Because, it's the day in the FAR distant future that Marty McFly travelled to in "Back to the Future 2." Jesus, I'm getting old....

If you didn't realize, the filmmakers had Marty go exactly 30 years into the future, after he'd gone exactly 30 years into the past in the original movie. Which means we are now exactly as far away from 1985 as 1985 was from 1955... the problem is, I think of 1985, and it doesn't seem THAT different of a time. But when I was in elementary school, and I watched "Back to the Future," I thought 1955 was an entirely ancient world. Time's going all elastic-y on me, goddammit.

It's funny to think back to all the "future" technologies in the movie, and to realize just how completely world changing the internet has been... the very crux of the entire film is "Gray's Sports Almanac," something that basically doesn't need to exist here in the real 2015. Why kill a tree to preserve a finite number of sports outcomes when every sports outcome ever is recorded somewhere on the web?

On the flip side, though: I was told there would be flying cars. I want my flying car!

And you want me to quit rambling and tell you what happened on tonight's edition of Monday Night RAW:

BAH GAWD~! IT'S STONE COLD, STONE COLD, STONE COLD~!

No preliminaries.... just a cold open inside the American Airlines Arena in Dallas, TX, where we hear the distinctive *KEE-RASH* of Stone Cold Steve Austin's entrance music. As he makes his way to the ring, Michael Cole tells us its the first time in 4 years that Austin's been in a RAW ring.

Austin asks the fans to give him a "Hell Yeah" if they're ready for a kick-ass show. They comply. And then he briefly talks about how he got his start in the business in Dallas, and then when they opened this new arena, Austin and the Rock were the main event of the very first event held there, so it's a special place for him, and so he's got something special for us.

Later tonight, after RAW, Austin's gonna talk to Brock Lesnar on the WWE Network.... but right now, he wants to bring out another legend... a man Austin's been to war with hundreds of times, both as an opponent and as a partner.... the Undertaker.

Taker hasn't been seen since SummerSlam, but six days before a rubber match against Lesnar, he's here, live and in person. Austin bails out as Taker grabs a mic... Taker addresses Lesnar, saying that the gates of Hell will seem like the entrance to Heaven compared to what Taker has in store for Lesnar inside the Cell.

On cue, Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman come out on the stage to retort. For whatever its worth, Lesnar is not wearing a Dallas-ized "Suplex City" t-shirt, but has a "Go to Hell Tour" shirt, instead. Not sure if it's just a move to pimp new merch, or a subtle heel move to distance himself from the face-ish "Suplex City" concept.

Heyman starts talking, and immediately reminds us that Taker's win at SummerSlam was tainted and bogus. What Taker did at SummerSlam, he did out of a thirst for revenge because of what Lesnar did to the Streak... so now, just imagine what Lesnar is willing to do to the Undertaker now that Lesnar is the one motivated by revenge.

Heyman says Sunday is their final battle, inside the Cell, and once Lesnar is done, he won't just have ended Taker's streak.... he'll end his career. And that will be the last memory fans have of the Undertaker: a broken, beaten man. Brock Lesnar TOOK the streak, and on Sunday, Lesnar will TAKE the Undertaker's very legacy away from him, and Taker will be left with nothing.

Taker responds, saying that there's just one problem with that: a man who's got nothing is that much more willing to fight, cuz he's got nothing left to lose. He removes his hat and his duster jacket, basically inviting Lesnar to step up and get a sample of what's to come on Sunday.... and the crowd begins roaring as Lesnar begins stalking towards the ring, getting up onto the apron.

But Heyman is imploring Lesnar to back off and wait till Sunday... and finally, Lesnar heeds that advice, and walks away to a chorus of boos. That was.... a bit anticlimactic. I mean, OMG AUSTIN~! OMG UNDERTAKER~! OMG BROCK~! BUt in the end, nothing actually happened, and no new story elements or soundbites were generated by the verbal sparring

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JOHN CENA & THE DUDLEY BOYZ vs. THE NEW DAY (Six Man Tag)

As the faces hit the ring, it is announced that John Cena will be having a US Open Challenge on Sunday's PPV... so rather than sell us on an actual opponent/storyline for Cena, WWE's gonna sell us on the mystery. Given that most fans are aware of Cena's upcoming time off, maybe that's actually a genius move. We know (or THINK we know) that Cena's gotta drop the title, but this way, we don't know to who. And even then, Cena will also be at RAW, so he could conceivably swerve us by retaining on Sunday, and dropping it Monday.

New Day do some talking on their way to the ring, riling up the crowd by saying "Everything's BOOTY in Texas," and then specifically mocking various injured Dallas Cowboys.

Bell rings, and the Dudleys go to town on Kofi, motivated by the beatdown the New Day delivered last Thursday on SmackDown.... they return the favor for the opening 90 seconds or so, and then Kofi bails out and regroups with Big E and Woods. Break in the action means we break for....

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Back, and the New Day have assumed control, and have Cena in the corner for the Mudhole Merry-go-Round. Big E tags in for an extended sequence, where he hits a few of his Clap-Augmented moves... but when he goes for the Criss Cross Warrior Splash, Cena rolls out of the way.

Cena dives to his corner and gets a hot tag to Devon, and Eggsaiver Woods comes in on the corresponding move. About 30 seconds of offense for Devon, and then it breaks down into a Pier Sixer. Cena gets all Crazy Go Nuts, and hits a huge top rope to the floor crossbody on Big E, so both of them are powdered out. But then Kofi manages to ship Bubba into the steel ring post, and then get on the apron to create a distraction.

Woods is able to sneak up on Devon, and hit a cheap roll-up for the pin.

Your Winners: the New Day, via pinfall, in about 8 minutes. Very perfunctory affair: 90 seconds of hot start, 3 minutes of commercials, 2 minutes of heel beatdown, 2 minutes of chaotic end game. Nothing notable, but certainly well executed by 6 guys who are seasoned hands.

After the Match: the New Day started celebrating like they just won 10 Super Bowls, but Bubba and Cena regroup and get a little revenge... the New Day figure to just get out of dodge, and E and Kofi are successful. But the good guys manage to snag Woods at the last second. Big E and Kofi look pained, but they decide to just stand by while Woods gets powerbombed through a table.

Announcement: Randy Orton missed the WWE tour of Mexico over the weekend, and he's missing tonight on RAW, too... Cole & The Gang speculate that the Wyatt Family must have "gotten to him." Huh. I know Randall was supposed to take a few weeks off in November (he's getting married again), but I'm not sure I get the reasoning behind plugging him in for a PPV match, and then suddenly writing him out 2-3 weeks sooner than originally planned. There are grumblings that it could be injury-related, but I haven't had a chance to check in on that...

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Backstage: Renee Young is standing by with Dean Ambrose, to get his reaction to Orton's absence.... Ambrose says the Wyatt Family have taken Orton out before, and now they've done it again. But no matter: Ambrose still has a bone to pick with the Wyatts, and if he has to pick it by himself, he'll do it. Sunday night, tonight, who knows? But one way or another, Ambrose promises he'll take his best shot.

SASHA BANKS & NAOMI (w/ Tamina) vs. NIKKI BELLA & ALICIA FOX (w/ Brie)

Fast start for Naomi, and just like the previous match, it's all of 90 seconds of action before the heels decide to regroup, and we break for...

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Back, and the heels are in control. A pic-in-pic reveals that Nikki landed a stiff Alabama Slam during the break to turn the tide. But here in real time, it's more basic stuff: punchy-kicky, with Nikki working a chinlock at one point.

When Alicia tags back in, Naomi is able to dodge a corner charge and turn it into a modified enzuigiri. After a bit of misdirection (and sloppiness), Naomi makes the tag to Sasha, and Nikki also tags in. Big flurry for Sasha, but Nikki stops her in her tracks with a stiff forearm. Sasha staggers backward, and Naomi opts to tag herself back in.

Interference from Alicia backfires, but a distraction from Brie swings things in Nikki's favor. Naomi manages to fight out of the first attempted Rack Attack, but then Nikki counters a bulldog by tossing Naomi into the turnbuckle. Nikki also made sure to chuck Sasha off the ring apron, and then hit the Rack Attack on Attmpet #2.

Your Winners: Nikki and Alicia, via pinfall, in about 7 minutes. Another case of a basic formula, but this time, not executed quite as crisply. But it does accomplish the dual goals of making Nikki look strong headed into her title match on Sunday, while protecting Sasha.

Another Announcement: due to his actions last week, the Authority have suspended Korporate Kane for tonight's RAW. Apparently, they are also considering a new Director of Operations (David Otunga threw his hat into the ring on the Soshul Mediaz).

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THE MAN OF A THOUSAND NICKNAMES~!

Kicking off our second hour, another special guest is here.... the Showstopper, Headliner, Main Event, Mr. WrestlerMania, the Heartbreak Kid Shawn Michaels hits the ring to a huge ovation!

He's here to talk about Hell in a Cell. And he figures he's uniquely qualified to do so, because 18 years ago, he was in the first ever Cell Match.... oh, and in that match, he faced the Undertaker. Today, Shawn Michaels is happily retired, but the Undertaker is stepping back into that Cell to face a Beast, and Shawn can't wait to sit back on his increasing fat posterior and watch the hell out of it.

But that's not the only Cell Match on Sunday. There will also be Roman Reigns vs. Bray Wyatt, and that ought to be pretty awesome, too. He can't wait, because those two matches should tear the house down...

Enter Seth Rollins, who looks pissed. He storms to the ring, and goes nose to nose with HBK. The crowd goes into business for themselves, and start chanting "ONE MORE MATCH," which is a tantalizing idea, but I'm about 99.9% certain it's pure fantasy.

Seth grabs a mic, and chastises Michaels for going off-script... Michaels' job tonight was to kick off the second hour by introducing The Man, the WWE Champion, Seth Rollins, and instead, he's out here talking about the Undertaker and Brock Lesnar and Roman Reigns. Michaels smirks and says that for 25 years, he's been given instructions "back there," and then he gets "out here," and POOF, so much for plans and instructions and orders.... HBK does what he feels will be most fun.

Rollins says that was then, this is now. HBK used to have the kind of stroke to get away with that, but no more. Today, Seth Rollins is The Man.... and he's not just the Champ, he's the kind of once in a generation performer who always tears the house down. Come to think of it, that makes him the present-day incarnation of Shawn Michaels.... but then Rollins steps back and says Nah, because Rollins is so much better than Michaels ever was.

Michaels briefly makes the case for himself being the greatest wrestler ever, but then gets serious by telling Seth that he needs to stop worrying about what a retired guest star is doing on RAW.... and he needs to start focusing on the 7-foot demon who's been stalking him, and who wants Seth's title.

Rollins gets angry at the insinuation that Kane might become WWE Champ, and says that he'll wipe themat with Kane on Sunday, and you know what? To hell with Kane, to hell with HBK, to hell with you stupid fans.... Rollins is done. He's out of here. Play his music!

PLAY HIS MUSIC, DAMMIT! But the music doesn't play, no matter how pissy Rollins gets.

Finally, Michaels reveals that there was one last instruction he was given backstage, and he just remembered it. And this time, he's gonna follow orders. Seth Rollins' music isn't playing because he's not going anywhere. He's got a match. And it's next. And it's against Ryback.

Rollins is not pleased. He gets even less pleased when Michaels' requests his music be played.... and the sound guy complies. Michaels departs,, and Rollins starts getting ready for his match, which happens after some....

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SETH ROLLINS vs. RYBACK (Non-Title Match)

Power vs. Speed to start. Power wins. But when Rollins ducks out of the ring, Ryback follows... and Rollins counters a slam and shoves Ryback into the steel ring steps. Rollins follows up with a suicide dive that sends Ryback into the announce table, ribs-first.

There's a little bit of back-and-forth once its back into the ring, but Ryback can't follow up on any of his moves, because of the damage to the ribs. It's just a matter of time before Rollins hits the Pedigree.

Your Winner: Seth Rollins, via pinfall, in 3 minutes flat. Yeah, pretty much a glorified squash.

Yet Another Announcement: Dean Ambrose has petitioned the powers that be, and he's gotten his wish.... tonight, he gets to face Luke Harper and Braun Strowman. If he can dig up a partner, great, if not, it'll be a handicap match. Ummmmm, so it's gonna be Reigns, right? Duh....

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DOLPH ZIGGLER/CESARO/NEVILLE vs. SHEAMUS/KING BARRETT/RUSEV

We get the biggest possible mismatch to start: Neville vs. Rusev. Neville fares suprisingly well, and brings Cesaro in for a bit of power-on-power. But then Neville tags back in, and Rusev gets separation.... Sheamus comes in and insta-dominates.

Just like that, Neville is our Face in Peril, and the heels start making frequent tags. The fans try to rally behind Neville by chanting "USA USA USA." Oy. Way to be Texas Education System!

When Neville shows the slightest signs of a comeback (after one well placed kick to Rusev's head), the heels double and then triple-team him... Ziggler and Cesaro come running, and the ref just barely maintains order. But the two squads are having a showdown/shouting match outside the ring as we break for...

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Back, and it's more solid teamwork as the heels completely control Neville for a bit more. But when Sheamus goes forr a vertical suplex, Neville escapes out the back door, then crawls between Sheamus' legs to get the hot tag to Cesaro.

Cesaro goes to town on Sheamus. Various throws, plenty of forearms, and his first near fall after a Steamboast Style High Crossbody. Cesaro sets up for the swing, but Sheamus gets a rope break, instead. Then, Cesaro lets himself get distracted by Barrett, and Sheamus flattens him from behind.

But Sheamus ain't in great shape, so instead of following up, he tags Barrett in... that gives Cesaro enough of an opening to get to his corner. Ziggler tags in. Ziggler goes on a tear, leading up to a near fall after a Fameasser. Then a superkick, and Sheamus has to dive in to make the save.

It breaks down into chaos, with all six guys brawling. An insane springboard senton leaves Neville, Cesaro, and Rusev on the floor... in the ring, Barrett keeps the ref distracted as Sheamus hits a Brogue Kick on Ziggler. Fin.

Your Winners: Barrett, Sheamus, and Rusev, via pinfall, in about 10 minutes. Essentially, six talented guys with nothing on their tables thrown together at random for some harmless fun. Sheamus gets credit for being the difference-maker, even if Barrett got the pin, which is probably the right play for Mr. MitB. Ziggler taking the fall is a bit more perplexing, unless it's WWE's SOP of jobbing a guy out before a turn....

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FORGET RANDY ORTON, WHERE'S LUKE HARPER?

It's the top of the third hour, and so here's our third Stunt Casting Guest Star... the Nature Boy Ric Flair is in the ring. And he kicks things off by having a Senior Moment, not realizing that we're on. He asks a couple times if we're ready to go, and then finally realizes they've been ready for a while. Whoops.

Then he gets some cheap heat by talking about how much he loves Dallas, and how he's gonna love it even more come next April, when WrestleMania comes to town.

And then we cut to the chase, as Flair reveals that Dean Ambrose will have a partner tonight against Harper and Strowman, and his name is.... Roman Reigns. Reigns' music hits, and he enters through the crowd.

When Reigns gets to the ring, he and Flair have a little mutual admiration society, but that gets cut short by the Pregnant Belly Freeze Frame. The lights go out, and when they come back up, the entire Wyatt Family (Bray, Strowman, and -- wait, what the hell? -- that's Erick Rowan instead of Harper) are standing at ringside.

Flair evaporates, and Reigns says "Once again, there's one of me, and three of you." But Reigns has a proposition... he's gonna go grab two chairs, and he wants to sit down with Bray Wyatt for a little talk. Reigns grabs said chairs, and invites Wyatt in.

Wyatt accepts, and just sits there as Reigns goes on a spiel about how Wyatt's just a scared little man who can't go anywhere without his goons. He says that ends on Sunday, when Wyatt's gonna be all alone inside a Cell. Bray can't get out, and the goons can't get in, and Reigns is gonna love every second of it.

But as far as tonight goes, Reigns realizes Bray just has to snap his fingers, and he'll be on the receiving end of a 3-on-1 beatdown, so he's got a plan for that, too....

He suckerpunches Bray, and goes on the offensive... Strowman and Rowan leap into action, but Dean Ambrose sprints out, and its a stand-off. Reigns, Ambrose, and two chairs vs. the three Wyatts... and the Wyatts decide to back down.

Backstage: Triple H, Stephanie, and Seth Rollins are watching this on a monitor when Shawn Michaels shows up to note that even with Reigns as Ambrose's partner, it's still gonna break down into a 3-on-2.... HHH agrees, but wonders out loud what they might do about it.

HBK says, obviously, you give Ambrose and Reigns a partner.... and then he looks at Rollins. HBK has a brainstorm: given all the history, wouldn't it be best for business if Seth Rollins once again teamed up with Ambrose and Reigns?

Rollins instantly flies off the handle, because he's already faced Ryback and he's had just about enough of Michaels' meddling. So Shawn changes gears, and goes into reverse psychology mode, admitting it wasn't a bright idea. Seth is the champ, and so he totally understands that the Authority have to protect him.

Rollins resents the notion that he needs anyone protecting him, and suddenly starts talking himself into taking the match.... he spent months leading Ambrose and Reigns against the Wyatts, so what's one more time?

And just like that, it's a Shield Reunion for our main event! The logic was extremely tortured, but I'll let it slide, cuz this could be fun...

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CHARLOTTE (w/ Becky Lynch) vs. BRIE BELLA (w/ Nikki and Alicia) (Non-Title Match)

Charlotte's the champ and has a defense against Nikki on Sunday. So you do the math. The only surprise here is that there was a grand total of zero outside interference.

Your Winner: Charlotte, via submission, in 2 minutes. I can state, with authority, that this is a thing that happened.

Backstage: Paige is watching her former partner on a monitor when Renee Young approaches, and wants to know if Paige is responsible for the vicious attack on Natalya, back on SmackDown... at first, Paige just deflects the question. But Renee keeps pressing, and Paige keeps on avoiding a direct answer. She doesn't deny it, but she sure doesn't cop to it, either.

Instead, Paige starts rattling off a list of other women who might hold a grudge against Nattie, each one more ridiculous than the last... when all is said and done, Paige suggests that Alundra Blayze is the most likely culprit. Renee calls BS on that, and says that Paige is the one woman with something resembling a motive to attack Nattie... Paige is on the brink of snapping, but at the last second, she represses the urge to get physical, and settles for an insult, telling Renee that she may think she's the next Erin Andrews, but she's so totally not that good nor that cute.

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KEVIN OWENS vs. MARK HENRY (Non-Title)

Henry hasn't been on TV much, lately, but he's in his home state, so WWE's carting him out for a token appearance in front of a presumably partial crowd.

But there's not much interest, and the two go through the motions until Owens actually hits the Pop-Up Powerbomb on the 400 pounder. Holy shit. That doesn't just take strength on Owens' end, but Henry had to bring some serious vertical leap to the table to make it look that good.

Your Winner: Kevin Owens, via pinfall, in 3 minutes. Worth it, just for the finisher.

After the Match: Ryback's music hits, and Owens is perfectly happy to avoid a confrontation. Ryback gets in the ring, and Owens is walking away.... but Henry catches him and throws him to the wolf. Ryback hits Shellshock on the IC Champ, just 6 days before he gets a title match at Hell in a Cell.

Backstage: Renee Young catches up with WWE Champ Seth Rollins, and asks him about tonight's one-night-only Shield Reunion. Rollins laughs that off, saying this isn't about the Shield, and this isn't a reunion. This is Seth Rollins going out, doing something that nobody else on the roster could even dream of doing, and once again proving that he is The Man.

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THE SHIELD vs. THE WYATT FAMILY (Six Man Tag)

Actually, Rollins is onto something. It won't really be a "Shield Reunion" until Reigns gets music/gear of his own... as it stands, he's still doing The Shield gimmick, and until said gimmick is retired for some substantial amount of time, you won't get that same Big Time Atmosphere for these three getting together. I know I'm not explaining that as well as I could, but just think about how special it feels when we get DX reunions, and they bust out the old music and gear and it's fun.... that just wouldn't be the case if HHH had kept using "Are You Ready?" after they split up.

Although Luke Harper is just as conspicuously absent as Orton, the announcers don't ascribe the same degree of nefariousness to that fact. Actually, one a couple of occassions, they talk about how the Wyatts are now "four strong," even if only three are present tonight.

Bell rings, and Ambrose and Reigns instantly step into a staredown. Rollins holds back at first, but then steps to it. But he only holds it for a couple seconds before turning and shoving his partners back into the corner so he can start the match and show them how it's done.

Then, as soon as he goes face to face with Rowan, Rollins has a change of heart. He scurries over and tags Reigns into the match. Reigns has a good run against Rowan, and tags Ambrose in. Ambrose does well, including a sequence against Bray.

With Ambrose in command, Rollins blind tags himself into the match.... but that backfires when Wyatt immediately sidesteps a charge and hits a big splash. And then a shoulder tackle sends Rollins flying out of the ring. Ambrose actually goes over to check on him, but Rollins angrily waves him off as we break for....

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Back, and Reigns has stepped in as the Face in Peril, but that lasts all of 30 seconds before he's able to get a Samoan Drop on Rowan, and makes a tag to Ambrose. Strowman comes in on the corresponding move... Ambrose takes the fight to the big man, including a near fall off a missile dropkick.

But Strowman is able to get a tag to Bray, and just like that, Ambrose is in trouble. Looks like Reigns was just a decoy, and Ambrose is the real Face in Peril. The Wyatts spend several minutes making frequent tags, and then Bray settles in for a run that culminates in a chinlock.

Meantime, Rollins has slowly become more and more animated, and is almost back to his old cheerleader-y antics.

Ambrose fires up out of that chinlock. Wyatt tries to snuff out the comeback with Sister Abigail, but Ambrose escapes. Ambrose makes a dive towards Reigns, but Strowman yanks Reigns off the apron at the last second. Before Dean can turn to tag Rollins, instead, Wyatt tackles him from behind.

Ambrose has to re-rally, and after a Rebound Clothesline, he's able to crawl towards his corner, where Rollins is hopping mad. Literally: he's hopping up and down, goosing the crowd. But as Ambrose inches closer, Rollins "lands awkwardly" on one of his hops, and sells a serious knee injury.

So instead of tagging in, Rollins drops off the apron and limps away. It's a 2-on-3 match, now. Bray takes the chance to tag in Rowan, which means Ambrose has to RE-re-rally... which he does by flipping out the back door when Rowan goes for a pumphandle slam.

Ambrose has separation.

Reigns has gotten back on the apron.

Ambrose lunges.

Hot tag to Reigns.

Reigns is en feugo for a few moments, but then the other Wyatts start getting involved. Ambrose rejoins the fight, and at first, he tries to play it straight, but he can't get any traction on the larger guys. So Ambrose figures "what the hell?" and grabs a kendo stick from under the ring. He hops into the ring and starts swinging at anything that moves. The ref has no choice but to throw this one out.

Your Winners: the Wyatt Family, via disqualification, in about 12 minutes. Not bad... but I could have stomached that schmozzy non-finish a bit more easily if they'd just given us a little taste of the old SuperSeth superball routine before he (predictably) chickenshitted his way out of the match. But nope; no Seth, no finish, just sort of an excuse to continue brawling....

After the Match: and continue brawling, they did. Ambrose and Reigns have early success, until Strowman yanks the kendo stick away from Ambrose and breaks it into pieces. In fact, at that point, Ambrose is chucked out of the ring, and the Wyatts start to triangulate on Reigns.

But Reigns fights the good fight. He's able to get Strowman out over the top rope... and then he suddenly breaks away from a Wyatt/Rowan scrum, gets a running start, and takes out Strowman with an over-the-top suicide dive (Undertaker's Crazy Old Man Plancha, basically). Then a spear for Bray. An extra spear for Rowan (I think the idea was that Reigns would get them both with one Spear, but they weren't quite aligned correctly). Then Ambrose is back, with the shards of kendo stick...

Strowman decides to just reach in and pull his mates to safety, so they can live to fight another day. Reigns and Ambrose celebrate the moral victory as we fade to.... welp, not fade to black. Instead, we fade to a shot of Brock Lesnar and Steve Austin getting ready to do their interview on the WWE Network. NINE NINETY NINE~!~!~!

And so ends the show... and it ended on a surprisingly strong note. The main event might have seemed like a bit of a letdown, but the post-match brawl was pretty red hot, and the live crowd gave it up for Roman. He looked like a rock star, and that goes a long way to creating a little more anticiipation for his Cell Match on Sunday.

Up till tonight, WWE's been calling it their final showdown, but there was really no sense of urgency. But that showing by Reigns is a taste of just how destructive a force he can be when he puts his mind to it... hopefully that will translate into a bit more sizzle for Sunday's match.

On the flip side, the opening segment added nothing to Lesnar/Taker, and was a waste of everyone's time... then again, this is one of those few times when WWE is clearly thinking "Oh, that one sells itself," and they're actually right. Lesnar and Taker didn't have to do anything. So they didn't. It would have been nice if they had, but oh well...

In between, it was just a pretty straight-forward "icing on the cake" sort of show, with the main talking points being (1) the announcement of a US Open Challenge at the PPV (instead of a set US Title Match) and (2) the head-scratching absences of both Orton and Harper. Though you could easily make a storyline out of it (the Wyatts kidnapped Orton, and Harper had to keep an eye on him), I'm thinking there are probably other reasons... it's just too strange in terms of pointlessly changing a PPV match.

Some decent in-ring action, too, but nothing that was really given the necessary tool to really shine. It also didn't help that we got four tag match of roughly equal length, which meant each one had to do essentially the same formula and pacing... granted the formulas are in place because they are time tested and proven, but you can create an altogether more satisfying three hours by ensuring some degree of variety. It's damning faint praise that Kevin Owens hitting the pop-up on Mark Henry is the most memorable in-ring thing that happened all night; in fact, the show just ended barely 15 minutes ago, and it might be the ONLY thing that happened, bell-to-bell that I can vividly recall.

All in all, WWE's streak of aggressively mediocre TV since the RAW after SummerSlam continues... I think a C-plus is a fair grade for this particular effort.

I will see you all again on Sunday night, at some point shortly after 11pm, for the Hell in a Cell recap!

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

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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

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SMACKDOWN RECAP: #striketwo

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SMACKDOWN RECAP: You're Welcome

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RAW RECAP: You Can't See Him

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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
BROWSE THE OO ARCHIVES

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.