RAW REPORT: 16/02/15
- Burgess Matthews
- Feb 18, 2015
- 3 min read
Dean Ambrose def. Luke Harper via Pinfall
The New Day def. Gold & Stardust via Pinfall
Roman Reigns def. Kane via Count Out
Paige def. Summer Rae via Submission
Dolph Ziggler def. Seth Rollins via DQ
Bad News Barrett def. Damien Mizdow via Pinfall
Jimmy Uso & Nyomi def. Tyson Kidd & Natalya via Pinfall
Big Show def. Daniel Bryan via DQ
The final episode of Raw, before Fastlane, was heavily based around building the rivalry between Daniel Bryan and Roman Reigns. For the most part however, the match quality was poor.
John Cena kicked off the show with his standard promo discussing Rusev's attack and their upcoming match. To me the only logical outcome for their match at Fastlane is a Rusev victory, with his undefeated streak being on the line against Cena at Wrestlemania.
This episode finally saw the official heel turn of Stardust, as he hit his brother with Cross Rhodes after their match. Why this took so long to happen is beyond me. There had been signs pointing to this for weeks now, and as a result the moment didn't feel remotely shocking.
The Bella's continued their mean girls-esque character development by stealing Paige's ring gear, forcing her to have a match dressed in a ridiculous outfit. The match was poor, and the segment was silly, but it did shift the focus of the rivalry back to the Divas Championship, which is always a good thing.
Dolph Ziggler and Seth Rollins had a good match while it lasted, before J&J Security forced a disqualification, which brought out Ryback and Erick Rowan. It's incredible how much excitement these two can get out of such a short match, with a rematch set to take place on Smackdown, with J&J Security barred from ringside.
Triple H cut another promo on Sting. This time Ric Flair made an appearance as he went into a detailed history between himself and Sting, ultimately warning Triple H not to take The Icon lightly. WWE Creative has done a good job in building this rivalry and a match at Wrestlemania is fitting for the situation.
We also saw what could be the return of The Prime Time Players. Titus O'Neil came to the aid of former tag team partner Darren Young, with The Prime Time Players out muscling The Ascension.
Yet again we saw a match involving The Usos, Nyomi, Tyson Kidd and Cesaro. WWE Creative has done an awful job with this rivalry as we have seen them face off against each other for the past four weeks. It just takes the big match feel away from their title match at Fastlane.
Un-DEAN-iable
The first match of the night was a battle between a black tank-top and dirty white tank-top, as Dean Ambrose defeated Luke Harper. It was a good match to kick off the show, and was smart to have Ambrose defeat another former Intercontinental champion, as his quest for a title match at Fastlane continued. His plan, for Bad News Barrett to sign the match contract, eventually came to fruition as the Lunatic Fringe lived up to his name by zip-tying Barrett to the ring post after his match. Ambrose then proceeded to grab Barrett's hands and forced him to sign the contract. This segment was a lot of fun, a little preposterous, but was a good way for Ambrose to finally get his title shot.
"Let Them Fight"
The rivalry between Daniel Bryan and Roman Reigns finally exploded on this edition of Raw. The pair played mind games with each other as they sat on commentary for each other's matches. Bryan started multiple yes chants, and Reigns returned the favour by signing autographs, taking selfies and throwing out shirts to the audience. Reigns' match against Kane was sub-par, but the best match of the night was between Daniel Bryan and Big Show. This match eventually turned into chaos as Bryan dodged a Spear from Big Show, which left Reigns to take the brunt of it. This ultimately lead to Reigns costing Bryan the match as he Super Man Punched Big Show. The tension between the two men finally reached its limit as the two men took the fight to each other in the ring, out of the ring and even in the crowd. This chaos was exactly what the WWE Universe had been waiting for, with chants of "Let them fight" echoing throughout the arena, and was a fantastic way to close out the show. Let's just hope they can tear down the house at Fastlane.
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