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
Styles and Reigns: 50 Shades of Gray
May 2, 2016

by Rick Scaia
Exclusive to OOWrestling.com

I'm sure this is filed under "Stuff Only Rick Cares About," but Lilian Garcia was once again absent from tonight's RAW, replaced by Eden Stiles. She's certainly entitled to some vacation time, and hopefully it's nothing more sinister than that.... but as I mentioned in the PPV recap, she did stand up for herself in an argument with WWE's Vestigial Assbone and Vince's #1 Suck-Up, Kevin Dunn, at TV last week. And Dunn is an emotionally immature and insecure little weasel, who surely doesn't like being shown up in public, so.... well, hopefully I'm reading too much into all this.

It's much more clear where Ryback stands with WWE. He lost to Kalisto last night at Payback, and was not at today's RAW tapings. His contract is set to expire in a few months, and he and WWE are at an impasse, partly over compensation, but also just with regards to having any kind of good-faith agreement on a creative plan for Ryback. [The two tie together, because after you're paid a downside guarantee, WWE gives out bonus pay based on ticket sales, and to this day, they give more money to whoever gets booked to win the match than the loser. Ryback sounds like his preference is that he gets to have a fulfilling creative direction for his character, but if not, he just wants to get paid fairly for being such a good sport about doing jobs.]

It's turned into "You show me you've got a good direction for me, and I'll sign a new contract" vs. "You sign a new contract, and that's when we'll start pushing you again" dealy... as a result, Ryback asked to be held off TV (he'd rather be invisible than keep being a visible jobber), so that both sides can clear their heads and make one last push at negotiations. WWE obliged with his "no TV" request, and only time will tell if they can patch up their differences.

With those two little Missing Persons tidbits out of the way, here's what happened on tonight's just-completed edition of Monday Night RAW:

Opening Video Package for the Benefit of Those with ADD: OO, proudly not recapping recaps since 2001.

FEEL THE LOVE?

And we're live in St. Louis, MO, where Cole & The Gang desperate try to convince us that this is an "all new era" in WWE, which is a bald faced lie. Vince's only decision last night was to NOT make a decision, and kick the can down the road. Stephanie and Shane are still jockeying for position in terms of who controls RAW.

To that end, Stephanie is already on her way to the ring, and has a gift bag with her. She panders to the crowd, and in the middle of trying to welcome us to MONDAY NIGHHHHHHHHH....

Shane McMahon's music hits, and he comes out to another monster ovation and "SHANE O MAC" chants. He only gets a few words in before Steph takes over, and talks about how he "abandoned" the fans and WWE for 7 years, and in that time, he missed out on watching his sister (Steph) turn into an accomplished businesswoman. Now that Vince has made them partners in controling RAW, she's still going to do what's best for business, and she wants Shane to know that she really does hope they can work together.

And that's where her gift comes into play. It's something she did for Shane, and she encourages him to open it. Turns out, she salvaged and re-framed the picture of Vince and Shane, which Vince destroyed about a month ago. Steph says she knows it's a favorite of Shane's, and well, maybe this will help to convince Shane that Steph really does mean well.

Shane actually does seem to soften, and when it comes time to start making plans for tonight's show, he even demures to Steph, and says she can go first. The fans boo that, and Steph plays off it by saying it's pretty obvious what the fans want... they even play another round of point-to-Shane-for-big-cheers, point-to-Steph-for-big-boos.

But before anybody can step up and start declaring tonight's plans, Kevin Owens' music hits, and says if these two can't get their act together, he'll just TELL them what tonight's plans should be. In short, he wants his obligatory IC Title Rematch (he still hasn't gotten it after losing it in a flukey manner at the WM32 Ladder Match), and he wants it tonight. Owens talks smack to Shane (Shane already took away an IC Title shot once, by making Owens fight Cesaro for the #1 Contendership), but kisses up to Steph. As a result, Steph does agree that, contractually-speaking, he is due a title shot.

Then Cesaro's music hits, and quickly points out that just last night, he had the IC Champ Miz in a Sharpshooter, and Miz was tapping out. It was only Owens' interference that prevented the ref from seeing it... so Cesaro has just as much claim to an IC rematch as anyone.

Owens tries to pass the buck by blaming Sami Zayn for the interference, but Shane chimes in that he can see it both ways. But instead of him or his sister deciding, he's gonna let these two decide it themselves, in a match to determine the next #1 Contender to Miz's title. That match happens NEXT. By which he means, after these....

[ads]

CESARO vs. KEVIN OWENS (#1 Contender Match)

Miz (w/ Maryse) is sitting in on guest commentary, as this is apparently an official #1 Contender match, and he wants to scout his next opponent. Fast start for Cesaro, and when it spills outside the ring, he runs the top of the ringside barricade to hit a senton. Crazy. Back in the ring, a Steamboat Style High Crossbody hits, and nets him the first near fall of the match.

Just 2 minutes in, and Cesaro tries for the Giant Swing, but Owens fights out of it. One superkick later, and Owens in firmly in command. Owens immediately targets Cesaro's SURGICALLY REPAIRED~! shoulder as part of his methodical beatdown. After a few minutes, Owens goes up top, but Cesaro catches him with a killer standing dropkick, crotching Owens on the top, and then following up with an even more kickass overhead superplex.

But at the end of the day, it was just a glorified hope spot, and Cesaro lined up for some forearms, Owens sidestepped, and Cesaro tumbled out of the ring. Owens followed up with a Frog Splash from the apron to the floor, and is once again in command. As Cesaro writhes in pain, we break for...

[ads]

Back, and Owens is still working over Cesaro. And Miz is, ummmm, working over Maryse, in an entirely different kind of way. Get a room! Owens nails a big German and a cannonball for a convincing near fall, but it's his last hurrah.

Owens calls for the Pop Up, but Cesaro goes behind him, shoves him into the ropes, and catches him with the Elevation Uppercut on the rebound.. More uppercuts, and Owens bails out of the ring. Cesaro follows, and catches him with more uppercut. After tossing Owens back into the ring, Cesaro has some words for Miz, who reacts by standing up and getting in Cesaro's face. Cesaro drops Miz, and dives back into the ring to address Owens.

But just as Cesaro sets up for the Swing, Miz gets in the ring and attacks from behind. The ref has no choice. Ring the bell.

Your Winner: Cesaro, via disqualification, in about 10 minutes. Not bad, but clearly just a teaser of what these two could do in a full-fledged PPV-length match. But it told the necessary story by keeping the waters muddied with regards to the IC #1 Contender.

After the Match: things got even muddier, as Owens got pissed off at Miz for causing the DQ, and starts cleaning house. With Owens looking strong, Sami Zayn decided to come on down and put an end to that. A big ass four-way brawl breaks out, and this time, Zayn wins it. Last night, Owens ended the brawl by posing with Miz's IC belt. Tonight, Zayn poses with it. Bring on the Fatal Fourway!!!

Backstage: Stephanie McMahon saunters up to Dean Ambrose, and Ambrose gives her a once-over. He's not buying the new happy, friendly Stephanie. He thinks she's still just the same old..... pregnant pause, so we can all imagine he said "bitch," but he didn't... same old Steph. Steph assures him that she's just trying to make the best of a difficult situation, and the smart play is to partner up with Shane, rather than fight him on everything.

ANd if Dean doesn't believe her, well, Steph offers to be the guest on tonight's editiion of the Ambrose Asylum. He can ask her anything, and she'll be 100% honest. Dean knows good TV when he hears it, so he agrees to have Steph on. Steph is excited, and even says she can't wait to meet Mitch. [Mitch is now the name of Dean's potted plant, in case you missed the memo.]

[ads]

Backstage: R-Truth and Tyler Breeze are brainstorming ideas for "The Gorgeous Truth." Well, Truth is brainstorming, and Breeze is just sitting there all self-absorbed. Truth gets frustrated, and mutters something about how this would be more fun with Goldust.

As if on cue, Goldy shows up and says, Too bad, that ship has sailed, and now Goldust has a new partner: Fandango. Fandango arrives, and stanky leg hilarity ensues. The bottom line is that neither Breeze nor Fandango seems particularly interested in their "partners," and they're just props in the on-going Truth/Goldust courtship.

Elsewhere Backstage: Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson are giving AJ Styles a big ol' pep talk, telling him that he took Roman Reigns to the limit last night. Styles says none of that matters, since he still lost in the end. G&A assure him that at Extreme Rules, Roman Reigns will NOT leave the ring with the WWE Title.

Before Styles can inquire what they're planning, Reigns himself materializes to conduct the interrogation. G&A are just saying that they're confident AJ is more than good enough to beat Roman in a one-on-one match. Reigns clearly doubts this, but he says they'll find out in 3 weeks at Extreme Rules.

Meantime, tonight, he wants to know who'll win a 3-on-3 match: Styles and G&A, or Reigns and the Usos. The Usos appear, and the trios go nose to nose as they agree to fight in tonight's main event. Should be a good one!

[ads]

GOLDUST (w/ Fandango) vs. TYLER BREEZE (w/ Fandango)

I gotta admit, Truth's Selfie Twig is pretty hilarious. And comedy is all you get here. Match is a big fat nothing, as Goldust and Breeze go through the motions, then Truth and Fandango start having a dance contest outside the ring. Goldust gets distracted by this. Breeze gets the cheap roll-up.

Your WInner: Tyler Breeze, via pinfall, in 90 seconds. Harmless fun. It does maybe feel like the Goldust/Truth story has been going on too long, and some closure would be nice.... but hell, adding in Fandango and Breeze helps a bit, and I can't help but remain amused by all this silliness.

[ads]

HE'S MORE THAN JUST "THE CASS MAN"

The New Day hit the ring to talk about last night's finals of the Booty-O's Tag Team Tournament. It's official that the Vaudevillains are now the #1 Contenders by default (the sweetest two words in the English language!), and they'll get their shot at the New Day at Extreme Rules.

But more importantly, the New Day give us an update on Enzo Amore, he was completely knocked out and stretchered out of the arena last night. It was scary for a bit, but ultimately, Enzo was diagnosed with a concussion but no structural damage to his neck or head (which is excellent news, considering how he whiplashed himself), and he was released from the hospital last night. The New Day say what happened last night wasn't fair, so they promise that whenever Enzo comes back, it'd be an honor to give them an opportunity for the tag titles.

On that note of friendly positivity, the Vaudevillains interrupt, and they are loaded up with zingers. Aiden English says that a real man would have gotten back up and kept fighting. Simon Gotch says it was fun making Enzo the "realest guy in the Emergency Room" and asks Enzo "How ARE you doinG?" (over emphasizing the proper grammar and pronunciation, to be a dick).

Just as they turn their attention to the New Day, and their upcoming title shot (English once again does the operatic version of "WWE Tag Team CHAMPionships," which is delightful), we get another interruption. The time, the Dudleys. The way they see it, the Vaudevillains didn't win anything -- other than maybe a moustahce twirling contest -- and that means the whole damned tag tourney should restart until there's a winner. Devon makes sure we recognize the Dudleys as the baddest tag team on the planet, and says that if given a chance, they would be the clear cut favorites to win.

And that's when Colin Cassaday arrives, and we get to find out if he can speak more than one catchphrase, or if he's just Billy Gunn to Enzo's Road Dogg.... good god, Billy sucked on the mic.

Luckily, Cass is quite eloquent as he compares the Vaudevillains to Simon & Garfunkel (an oddly appropriate zing, if you think about it: the short swarthy one and the tall gangly fair-haired one with the lovely singing voice), reminds the Dudleys the he and Enzo already eliminated them from the tourney without any controversy so they can forget about somehow reviving their chances, and made it clear that Enzo is like his brother, and there's hell to pay if you mess with Big Cass' family.

Cass seems to want to extract said payment, as he drops themic and bum rushes the Vaudevillains. The Dudleys and the New Day join in, and while officials try to sort things out, we break for...

[ads]

THE NEW DAY & BIG CASS vs. THE DUDLEYS & THE VAUDEVILLAINS

During the break, this was officially turned into the obvious/logical 4-on-4 match. We join it in progress, with Eggsavier Woods getting the better of Aiden English. Then, after an exchange, Kofi and Big E both get a turn kicking Simon Gotch's ass. Big Cass demands a chance to get a piece of Gotch, too. Cass get his fill of revenge, and tags out, so the New Day can do the Unicorn Stampede.

WHen the dust settles Woods is in the ring for the fan favorites, and within 30 seconds, Bubba Dudley is able to blind tag himself into the match. Bubba narrates as the heel beatdown gets underway. He truly is a magnificent asshole.

After a series of frequent tags, Bubba is back in, and settles in with a chinlock. Woods counters with a modified stunner/cutter, which creates separation. After a bit of misdirection, he gets the tag to Kofi, and Devon is in on the corresponding move. Kofi gets a mini-flurry, but he's quickly distracted by the Vaudevillains on the outside of the ring.

That was NOT a hot tag, that was a decoy. The heels are back in control as we break for....

[ads]

Back, and English is dominating Kofi. Frequent tags, and the ring is effectively cut in half for a few minutes. Bubba continues to narrate, too, adding insult to injury.

But when the Vaudevillains decide to get cute by doing some illegal double teaming, including attacking both Woods and Big E, while they stood on the apron, Kofi is able to make a comeback, and dive to make the hot tag to Big Cass.

Cass is en feugo, and seems to have English (the legal man) beat after an Empire Elbow... the the Dudleys come in to break it up, and a Pier 8 Brawl breaks out. Cass thinks he's isolating on the legal man, but once again, Bubba has made a blind tag. Bubba with a pearl harbor job on Cass, and Devon joins him, setting up for the 3-D.... but Kofi comes to the rescue, and a springboard crossbody hits. Now Enzo is isolated with the REAL legal man. The East River Crossing (really just a rebranded Bossman Side Slam) hits, and Cass gets the pin.

Your Winners: Big Cass and the New Day, via pinfall. in about 12 minutes. Nothing earth-shattering, but a good, multi-layer formula tag match (with the decoy hot tag prior to the real one). The Dudleys taking the pinfall is the right play, too, as the Vaudevillains are still the confirmed #1 Contenders for Extreme Rules. Just a nicely crafted 3-part segment, starting with the promo, and all the way through the end of the match.

[ads]

BECKY LYNCH vs. EMMA

When Emma returned to the main roster, she did a few promos on SD about how she and Becky essentially had the same background, but for some reason, Becky's a beloved fan favorite, but nobody respects Emma. Then, they seemingly forgot about this, and nothing happened. Now, they're re-telling that story, with Emma demanding this match to show that she's just as good as Becky, and Becky all too happy to oblige.

Pretty standard layout, as Becky gets the fast start, but then Emma uses some underhanded tactics -- including a hell of a lot of hairpulling -- to take command. It builds up to a convincing near fall after Emma's dive bomb low crossbody... but Becky kicks out and almost immediately finds another gear.

Becky fires up, rattles off a sequence of moves, and gets a near fall of her own off an exploder suplex. She goes for the Disarmer, but Emma rolls to the ropes for a break. As the ref pushed Becky back, Emma reached up and put a thumb in Becky's eye (remember, Becky got a black eye at Mania, too). With Becky blinded and stumbling, Emma was easily able to hook her and hit a Michinoku Driver.

Your Winner: Emma, via pinfall, in about 6 minutes. Pretty solid, although the crowd didn't get into it till the end. Becky's just plain good, and Emma was always better than the intentionally-bumbling character she played when she was on the main roster last time, and now, her year in NXT has added a nice bit of polish and a more credible character to her arsenal, too.

[ads]

AMBROSE ASYLUM

Ambrose hits the ring, and decides not to waste any time tonight. Let's skip themonologue and go straight to our guest: Stephanie McMahon.

Steph is once again suspiciously smilely and friendly, and Ambrose just is NOT buying it. So he decides to start pushing her buttons, to get her to reveal her true self.

First, we get some clips of WM32, where Reigns speared her. Steph is able to gulp back the anger, and says, hey, she was in the wrong. She got into with the ref, she was somewhere she shouldn't have been, and the whole thing was her mistake. She learned a lesson, and is now a better person for it. Uh huh.

Ambrose keeps poking and prodding, switching over to talk of Steph's brother Shane, and how he's all super popular. At first, Steph holds it together, saying Shane's always been a helluva likeable guy, and so it's no surprise that today's fans still remember that and respond to him the same as they did 7 years ago. Then a little passive aggressive slip-up, as she also notes that "even though my brother abandoned them for 7 years," they've stayed loyal to him, and she LOVES the loyal WWE Universe. Her blatant suck-up attempt is booed.

Ambrose finally has some traction, and keeps harping on that idea that Shane took a 7 year vacation and still gets cheered, and Steph just tried to compliment the WWE Universe and got booed. On top of that, she spent those 7 years working long hours and sacrificing time with her kids, all to make sure these fans -- these fans who boo her -- got their money's worth. Isn't that just the WORST, Stephanie?

And with that, Ambrose is finally under her skin, and Stephanie turns back into the shrieking harpy we all know her to be. If everybody's so in love with the changes Shane has made around here, maybe Steph should follow suit.

Yeah, yeah, that's the ticket, Stephanie will make a change, and she'll do it RIGHT NOW. She tells Ambrose that his little talk show is cancelled. Ambrose barely musters up any major emotion, instead shrugging and saying he thought he was doing a pretty good job, but at the same time, it wasn't exactly his cup of tea, so whatever, you can have your job back...

Ambrose does make a point of grabbing Mitch the Potted Plant, but otherwise seems to be in good spirits as he walks away.

That's when Steph drops another bomb, and reveals that she's bringing back the Highlight Reel, with Chris Jericho! Now THAT genuinely annoys Ambrose, who figured he took care of Jericho once and for all last night (Jericho even tweeted that he was going back on hiatus; then again, when it comes to stuff like this, Jericho is an invenerate liar). Ambrose has a death stare focused on Jericho, as Jericho makes his way to the ring. Jericho doesn't appreciate that, and gives Ambrose a big shove out of the way, as both are at the foot of the ramp.

With that, a big brawl breaks out. Ambrose seems to get the better of it, and sets up for Dirty Deeds... but Jericho fights out and turns it into a flash Codebreaker. Then, to add insult to injury, Jericho waits until Ambrose stumbles to his feet, and then grabs Mitch the Potted Plant and smashes it across the back of Ambrose's head.

Mitch is dead, Ambrose is KO'd, and Jericho is apparently NOT leaving just yet. Works for me!

[ads]

BATTLE ROYALE TO DETERMINE THE #1 CONTENDER TO THE US TITLE

Kalisto is sitting in on commentary to check out his next challenger. Looks to be about 15 or so guys, with the now-disbanded League of Nations as one focal point. The returning Titus O'Neil and Andre Battle Royale Winner Baron Corbin also get entrances of their own.

As the action gets underway, Kalisto notes that he's cheering for Sin Cara, his tag partner, which could also be something to keep an eye on.

We do about 3-4 minutes, and a handful of eliminations (most notably, both Corbin and Ziggler are out), before having to break for...

[ads]

Back, and it's 8 guys left. THey are paired up as Sheamus vs. Titus, ADR vs. Axel, Sin Cara vs. Bo Dallas, and Rusev vs. Zack Ryder. Then, before you can blink, TItus, Axel, and Dallas are gone. The former LoN decide to reforge an alliance against Ryder and Sin Cara.

As a result, Sin Cara is ousted next, leaving the LoN alone with Ryder. But the tenuous partnership goes out the window when Ryder is absolutely decimated and left for dead. Sheamus suggests Rusev and ADR chuck him out of the ring, and as they do, he sneak attacks both guys, trying to toss them.

Both Rusev and ADR manage to just barely hang on, and stay on the apron.... Ryder takes advantage and hits Sheamus with a Rough Ryder, as he's celebrating.. But Rusev and ADR get back in the ring and drop Ryder, before teaming up to eliminate Sheamus.

Rusev gets in on the sneak attacks, by jumping ADR and eliminating him.

It's Ryder vs. Rusev, and the crowd fires up as Ryder goes on a tear, ending with a Broski Boot. But it's all a mirage. Ryder ain't winning this. Rusev shakes off Ryder's offense and just ejects him from the ring at Warp 7.

Your Winner, and NEW #1 Contender to the US Title: Rusev, via over-the-top eliminations, in about 12 minutes. It was a Battle Royale, so no, it wasn't really all that action packed. The LoN gave a nice little story hook to the End Game, but otherwise, your standard random assemblage of spots, building up to Rusev as a pretty convincing challenger.

[ads]

CHICAGO SCREW JOB REVISITED

It's time to hear from our Women's Champion, Charlotte, and her dad, Ric Flair, regarding what happened last night at Payback. Cole & The Gang have actually done a nice job taking us down memory lane to show WCW footage of Charles Robinson at the height of the "Little Naicth" gimmick, so it's clear that he's not above conspiring with the Flairs.

But Charlotte swears up and down that no such thing happened last night in Chicago. She swears she didn't put Robinson up to it. She doublechecks, and her dad says he didn't approach Robinson with a plan.

Fans still aren't buying it, so Charlotte decides there's just one last voice that needs to be heard, and if the fans aren't convinced after that, it's THEIR problem, not hers. She calls out Charles Robinson, himself, to answer for actions.

Robinson's story is that Nattie did not tap out, but that she did verbally submit, and that's why he made the call. Charlotte takes it one step further, by asking "You've been a friend of the family for decades, but you didn't let that affect your decision, right?" Whether intentional or not, that's one of those oddly worded questions where the "correct" way to declare innocence is to answer "YES" ("Yes, I did NOT let that affect my decision")... so Robinson does answer "Yes," and the crowd hears it differently ("Yes, I did it. Guilty."), so after an awkward pause, he switches to say, "No. No, I didn't let it affect me." Heh.

Charlotte made sure he was 100% confident that he made the right call, and very clearly YES, Robinson is satisfied he made the right call, and his decision is final. Robinson is dismissed, and Charlotte acts like this solves everything, and nobody can cast doubts about her title reign.

Well, nobody exccept Natalya, whose music hits. She storms to the ring, where she says what all the fans are thinking: it's pretty obvious that Ric Flair paid off Little Naitch, and that's why things went down the way they did last night. Maybe there's a slim chance Charlotte really is in the dark about the whole plan, but Nattie says that doesn't excuse her from not being able to piece together all the evidence that's right there in front of her. Ric is the admitted Dirtiest Player in the Game, and now, he's up to his old tricks, and that's why fans will never quite have the same respect for Flairs as they do for the Harts.

Nattie throws a "Best there is, best there was, best there ever will be" at them, and Charlotte tries to cold cock her. Instead, Nattie blocks, and chucks Charlotte out of the ring. Meantime, Ric is feeling besmirched, and wants a piece of Nattie. Nattie is all too willing to comply. She waits for Flair to remove his sport coat and jewelry, and then blocks his first punch, and hits Ric with an open hand slap. That drops Flair to the mat, so Nattie starts setting up for a Sharpshooter...

But Charlotte is able to reach into the ring and pull her dad to safety. The two scurry away, but Ric left his prized Retirement Rolex and Hall of Fame rings behind, which Nattie picks up and starts playing with. Heh.

Nicely done segment in terms of squeezing another one-on-one match out of the Charlotte/Nattie feud...

[ads]

Backstage: Charlotte and Ric Flair are WALKING~! and commiserating about what just happened.... and Stephanie appears with a little bit of news. She thinks it's time for Charlotte to prove, once and for all, that the Figure Eight is way better than the Sharpshooter. So, at Extreme Rules, Charlotte will face Nattie in a rematch, and it will be Submissions Only.

Charlotte is actually cool with this. But then, the other shoe drops. Flair has proved himself quite a distraction lately, and Steph thinks he might be turning into a liability. So at Extreme Rules, he is barred from ringside.

Charlotte is NOT cool with this. Neither is Ric. But Steph has spoken. And I love the submission stip, too; should be an outstanding match.

ROMAN REIGNS & THE USOS vs. AJ STYLES, LUKE GALLOWS, & KARL ANDERSON

Bell rings at 10:52pm (eastern), and Styles indicates he wants to start for his team. So Reigns opts to start for his. Much more evenly split crowd tonight, as opposed for the near-unanimous anti-Reigns crowd last night. Maybe 60/40 in favor of Styles.

Reigns uses his size and power to dominate the early minute or two, resulting in Styles finally backing off and tagging in Gallows, who tries to fight Reigns on his own terms. But even Gallows can't stand up to Reigns. However, it's not too long before Reigns tags in Jey Uso, and all of a sudden Gallows imposes his will.

WHen Gallows chucks Uso out of the ring, both teams swarm and have a staredown on the floor. That gives us the opening we need for our final...

[ads]

Back, and it's only Anderson's second WWE match, but he's read the rulebook, so he is working the traditional post-ad-break CHINLOCK~! Jey dares to fight out of it, but Anderson drops him, and makes the tag to Styles. They continue the frequent tags, to keep the fresh man in, and keep Uso in the enemy corner.

Jey finally gets separation after a flash enzuigiri, and dives to his corner to make the tag to Reigns. Anderson back in on the corresponding move. Reigns with a massive flurry, even fighting off all three members of the opposite team. Even when Styles blind tags into the match, Reigns has it scouted out and keeps the pedal down.

A Pier Sixer breaks out, and somehow, in the chaos, Jimmy Uso is tagged in. Styles remains legal for his team. Gallows and Anderson take out Reigns, with a Boot o' Doom out on the floor, and we're back to Styles vs. Jimmy inside the ring. Jimmy sets up for a Samoan Drop, but Styles floats through and out to the apron. When Jimmy turns back around, he walks right into the Phenomenal Forearm.

Your WInners: AJ Styles and Gallows/Anderson, via pinfall, in 10 minutes. Kind of abbreviated, but a nice action packed end game, leading up to a decisive and clean pinfall win for Styles, which is all good.

After the Match: Gallows and Anderson hoist Reigns' carcass into the ring, and also grab a steel chair. They want to hold Reigns up, while Styles whaps him in the head with the chair. Styles is conflicted, and finally drops the chair, declining to do the deed.

However, the Usos have recovered, and they dive into the ring, grabbing that same chair on the way in. They use said chair to attack Styles. Jerks. WIth a little help from Gallows and Anderson, Styles fights back, and gets his hands back on the chair. Styles uses the chair to wail away at both Usos.

Reigns comes back to his sense just in time to see this brutal assault, and interprets things all wrong. He assume Styles is the instigator, and has no clue that Styles actually showed Reigns a kindness mere moments before. Reigns lines up and catches Styles from behind with a Superman Punch.

And then, it's off to the races... Reigns just beats the shit out of Styles, pausing to fend off Gallows and Anderson, leading up to a powerbomb through the announce table. Our final visual is Reigns seething over AJ's limp carcass, as we fade to black...

And so ends the show... a pretty good one, at that. For as much crazy, over-booked goodness we got in the Reigns/Styles Payback match, they ultimately didn't do anything to tip their hands with regard to faction formation and any potential heel/face realignment.

Instead, everything remains ambiguous as all hell, and we've got that as a major hook heading into their Anything Goes Extreme Rules match. Tonight, that meant AJ saved Reigns' ass from a chairshot assault (but Reigns didn't see it), the Usos then attacked AJ with the same chair (Reigns didn't see it), before AJ got the chair and started attacking the Usos (Reigns DID see it). Ergo, to us onlookers, Roman is a total jerkface... but from Roman's point of view, his actions made sense at the time.

I like the shades of gray. Hell, there even seemed to be a bit of tension betweeen Styles and G&A, when Styles refused to swing the chair. That introduces the possibility of G&A deciding the Styles has gone soft, and they could seek a different faction leader. Who knows?

Throw in the fact that we're almost certainly set up for an IC Title 4-way at Extreme Rules, and it looks like Jericho will hang around to do another chapter (with some cool stip, I'm sure) against Ambrose, and I'm already pretty fired up for the show.

Charlotte vs. Nattie, submission only, should be excellent, too. Kalisto vs. Rusev could be one of those perfect meshing of styles, where the high flying underdog keeps finding ways to hang with the gigantic bulldozer of a challenger. And I definitely vote that the Vaudevillains keep taking credit for and joy in Enzo's injury, so they'll have nuclear heat against the New Day.

That's more of the sustainable episodic TV: enjoyable in and of itself, but still whetting your appetite for what comes next. I will ding this week's show just slightly, because I definitely wound up with a little Promo Fatigue by the end, and that left the in-ring as just a bit too short/rushed to have any of the matches reach their potential.

So yeah, after applying the smallest possible penalty for that, tonight's RAW still grades out to a final B-plus. Not too shabby. This has really been quite a run of good TV since Mania; fingers crossed that they keep it up. Pyro will be here over the weekend to tell you about SD, and I'll see you in 7 with next week's RAW. Later on, kids...

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
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.