Posted in: Mr. Tito
MR. TITO STRIKES BACK - Post-Wrestlemania Monday Night RAW Review... WHAT A SHOW!
By Mr. Tito
Apr 7, 2014 - 11:35:37 PM

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There's just something to the RAW after Wrestlemania, especially lately as the WWE has gone head to head with the NCAA Tournament game. Fans in attendance are hyped and the WWE Creative Team is motivated to have a fresh start. Tonight was no different... Once again, a RAW following Wrestlemania with balls.

Make no mistake about Wrestlemania 30, I could argue it as the BEST BOOKED Wrestlemania of all time. Workrate wise, it was decent and would struggle against the best worked Wrestlemanias like Wrestlemania 8, 10, and 17. Storyline wise, it was awesome. We got our Daniel Bryan big moment with Triple H losing clean and Bryan overcoming odds to win the WWE Title along with the big shocker of Brock Lesnar ending the Undertaker's streak. On top of that, Cesaro has a HUGE Andre the Giant battle royal victory by body slamming the Big Show over the top rope!

RAW kicked off with Daniel Bryan celebrating his title victory in the ring and the crowd, once again for a RAW following Wrestlemania, was RED HOT for the celebration. Of course, Triple H was pissed and made his way to the ring. He talked down Daniel Bryan, once again, and then announced that Bryan's first defense would be against Triple H on RAW tonight. BUT... Batista/Randy Orton attacked Daniel Bryan before Triple H vs. Daniel Bryan could even happen. Then, Kane joined in on the fun. After the beatdown, Triple H, not looking like the deceased singer of GWAR (as he did at Wrestlemania 30 with his entrance), came out to capitalize. Stephanie/HHH threatened the referee to ring the bell and just as HHH was about to make the pin...

The Shield's music hit and suddenly, HHH looked scared and was unsure of their role. HHH told the Shield to "stand down" and told Kane/Orton/Batista that "this is not happening". But Roman Reigns hit Triple H with a spear and IT WAS ON! Match ended in a "No Contest", which was disappointing, but we now have HHH/Orton/Batista/Kane vs. Bryan/Shield. I could enjoy that for many months. Now, Triple H, just call yourselves "EVOLUTION" and be done with it already.

That promo by Paul Heyman on the Undertaker was just brutal. He bragged up the victory for Brock Lesnar but also mocked the injuries sustained by the Taker during the match. He even made mention of Vince McMahon reportedly leaving Wrestlemania to be with Undertaker at the hospital. OUCH, just brutal. Given how scripted the WWE has become, even though Paul Heyman has some creative liberties with his words, I'm sure that promo was cleared in advance by Vince and the Undertaker. It put tremendous heat on Heyman and Lesnar and we'll enjoy the dangerous ride to Wrestlemania 31 when Brock Lesnar is likely to be the WWE Champion and probably going to put someone over huge on his final day of his 2-year extended contract. I'm betting Roman Reigns will get the honor, especially after Reigns's cousin, the Rock, put over Lesnar huge at SummerSlam 2002.

Speaking of Paul Heyman... Freakin' Cesaro has become a "PAUL HEYMAN GUY". *MARKS OUT* Cesaro made the announcement during the Andre the Giant trophy awarding (even though Cesaro raised it at Wrestlemania 30!) to Zeb Colter's face. That, of course, prompted Zeb to have some words and then Jack Swagger to attack and destroy Cesaro's trophy. That led to a match with Paul Heyman cuddling with the Andre statue from the trophy for most of the match. That's demented! The match resulted in a Countout, with Swagger running away (crowd chanted "****") which is perfect because they can keep feuding through Extreme Rules and we can see Paul Heyman and Zeb Colter do battle as managers! Go back and watch the 1980's and early 1990's to see managers getting into it regularly on your WWE Network, especially in WCW.

Before Wrestlemania 30, I pretty much shit on the Divas Division and recommended, thanks to a thoughtful comment by Psychoho1ic, to have Divas Title vs. NXT Title in a match between AJ Lee vs. Paige. Instead, we had that Divas cluster**** match... BUT, we did get AJ Lee vs. Paige tonight! Not much of a match, as the ladies are probably saving their best stuff for future events (such as Pay Per View), but the match gave us SOMEBODY NEW to wrestle against AJ Lee for a change. Paige has been the NXT champion for a while and does have a reputation that has made her somewhat known. And she's beautiful, too... Paige and Emma are throwbacks to the mid-1990's when Divas were not only very beautiful, but very talented in-ring performers too.

Paige and Emma are the "shot in the arm" that the Divas Division has needed badly! This E! Total Divas stuff might draw as a television show, but it's hurting the wrestling product in the ring. None of those ladies can wrestle and AJ has been struggling out there for a while. Now, 2 new talents arrive and they are credible because of their awesome work in NXT that is actually comparable to the Divas Division, if not better. And the WWE gave Paige the Divas Title, too... Holy cow, that's bold. Normally, the conservative "get off my lawn" Mr. Tito would rip the WWE for this unhyped match, but the Divas Division needed something to jumpstart its heart. Emma looked strong in her mixed tag team match tonight... Happy happy, joy joy!

I could have seriously watched another 30 minutes of Wyatt Family vs. Sheamus/John Cena/Big E. That was a fine 6 man match and the Wyatts were extremely motivated by the crazy face pops that the post-Wrestlemania RAW crowd was giving the Wyatts. That was some excellent stuff... Bray Wyatt got the win in the match and Cena looked on from the aisle way. I guess this feud isn't over?

I didn't understand the purpose and the result of the Usos vs. Batista/Orton match. For one, why let the WWE Tag Team champions be pawns in this storyline? Keep them away from the Main Event scene and let them feud with, oh I don't know, Tag Teams? The way Orton ripped into the Tag Division during the backstage segment with HHH/Batista was quite lousy, by the way... FINGER OF SHAME to the WWE Creative Team for letting that happen.

I disagree with Rob Van Dam coming back and whooping on Damian Sandow as if he was enhancement talent. Sandow won the Money in the Bank briefcase last year, right? And Rob Van Dam is a part-time wrestler, well past his prime, right? Unless this is the beginning of a program where Sandow eventually overcomes RVD in a future match, then I'm OK with that. But use wimps like Zack Ryder as enhancement talent, which Alexander Rusev enjoyed tonight, instead of guys who show some potential as a future superstar. What the WWE needs to realize that while RVD might be over with guys in their 30's, teenage fans to early 20 something could care less about a guy with shaved sides and airbrushed tights. RVD is a relic of the 1990's.

LOL @ the Ultimate Warrior, and not for his strange words, but for the facepaint mask covering his left eye and he didn't even adjust it! Funny stuff!

LAST WORD: AMAZING RAW, once again, following Wrestlemania. In fact, almost flawless... A+ all the way. Excellent matches, great advancement of storylines in the aftermath of Wrestlemania, fixing the Divas Division, and the real possibility of STABLE WARS now with HHH/Batista/Orton/Kane vs. Daniel Bryan/Shield. War Games, anyone? The past 2 nights have made me VERY proud to be a pro wrestling fan. All I've ever asked was for some logic in storylines and pushing the right guys (or gals) on the card. I could imagine that the motivation to keep the creative ball rolling will continue with investors shitting all over the WWE's first reporting of the 667,000 WWE Network subscribers number (needs 1 million to "break even").

SO JUST CHILL... 'TIL THE NEXT EPISODE!

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