RAW RECAP 5/23/16- REIGNS VS. ROLLINS/ THE BREAK-UP OF THE CLUB/A FLAIR SCORNED by Tarron Coalson
Episode 1200 of Monday Night Raw was presented to us last night from Baltimore, Maryland in front of a packed house & fresh off the EXTREME RULES Pay Per View event from Sunday night & it became somewhat clear how WWE is going to resolve some issues & some surprising twists for the night were on hand as well & WWE starts promoting it’s next Pay Per View, MONEY IN THE BANK.
Right out of the gate, we had THE surprise from EXTREME RULES, former WWE World Champ Seth Rollins coming out to the “Welcome Back” chants of the crowd. Even though Rollins was cheered wildly Sunday night & entering last night, Rollins set the tone immediately with a full blown heel interview, telling the crowd that his success was all because of him & his hard work & now he was back to get what he never lost, the WWE World Championship. He called Roman Reigns out & Reigns obliged him, to boo’s, of course.
In true Rollins fashion of the “scared heel”, as soon as Reigns entered the ring, Rollins exited the ring, which brought Shane McMahon out from the back. Shane called both men to the ring & immediately announced that it would be Roman Reigns vs. Seth Rollins for the WWE World Championship at MONEY IN THE BANK. It’s then announced that there would be a series of MONEY IN THE BANK qualifying matches starting tonight.
Cut to a promo of Sheamus who will be facing Sami Zayn in the 1st MITB qualifying match. Sheamus pretty much mocks Zayn for the entire promo & their match follows.
The match itself is OK, with nothing really standing out until the end with saw Zayn hitting the Helluva Kick for the win & then Sheamus going ballistic (kind of like his upcoming Ninja Turtle character!!:):))
After a commercial, there’s a promo with Apollo Crews talking about his MITB qualifying match coming up with Chris Jericho. Crews is attacked by Sheamus, who announces the he’s tired of hearing about the “New Era” & will destroy anyone involved with it.
Following this is The New Day, which comes out to a huge ovation. There’s a big birthday cake ring & they’re celebrating the 1200th episode of RAW. Then Big E Langston takes the cake & teases throwing it at everyone outside the ring, with the fans urging him to hit Byron Sexton with the cake. While this is happening, Kingston & Woods are attacked in ring by The Social Outcasts (Heath Slater, Curtis Axel, Bo Dallas) with a missing Adam Rose, who has been released by WWE.
Of course, New Day pounds them & you guessed it without any of my “expert”:) commentary, Heath Slater catches a cake in the face.
Next up is the 2nd MONEY IN THE BANK qualifying match, which featured The Miz with Maryse vs. Cesaro
The match has a couple of nice spots with Miz constanting targeting Cesaro “bad shoulder”, which has a comparable speak to The Big Cat Ernie Ladd’s injured thumb as the longest running injury in Sports Entertainment:):).
Cesaro does catch Miz with a dropkick while Miz is on the top rope, which is pretty norm these days, but to see a guy of Cesaro’s size do it, is still pretty impressive. Cesaro catches The Miz with a flying forearm (one of a gazillion) as Miz is coming off the top rope & hits Miz with the Neutralizer for the win.
After that is a recap of the Reigns/Rollins situation, which is followed by a Rollins promo backstage, who gleefully greets Stephanie McMahon when she steps in, but his glee is cut short as Stephanie tells him that things are different at WWE now & offers him a handshake instead of a hug. Following this is a quick commercial about John Cena’s return to RAW next Monday on Memorial Day.
The next match is another MITB qualifying match with the before mentioned Apollo Crews taking on a bandage covered Chris Jericho from taking thumbtacks at EXTREME RULES the night before.
It’s apparently part of Jericho’s job description now to put over all the “up & coming” stars & we had been wondering what would happen when Crews stepped up against better talent on the main roster. To this observers eye, he’s nowhere near ready & should go back to NXT for more development. Not that Crews doesn’t have potential, but his punches look absolutely terrible (& miss by a country mile) but he also blew a spot where Jericho was going for the Lionsault which Crews was supposed to pop up & counter & just blew it. Even JBL chuckled under his breath if you listen carefully. Hey, it happens to everyone who’s been in the ring & Jericho covered nicely. Jericho hits the Code Breaker after that for the win & camera’s cut to a laughing Sheamus. Maybe they’re going to set up Crews vs Sheamus & let him learn on the fly.
Following this was another “Life Lessons with Life Coach Bob Backlund” in the “Make Darren Young Great Again” story line. I enjoyed these at first but they’re getting a little stale. It’s time to move on to phase two (in ring, I assume) of this plan.
And then there’s a promo with Baron Corbin, who despite an abundance of in ring talent, is a terrible mike guy, & needs a mouthiece (manager..I’m available:):)) who’s interupted by Dolph Ziglar, who shoots on him, saying he sounds babbling when he tries to put together more than three words (that was pretty funny!). They recap the Low Blow from EXTREME RULES & Ziglar challenges Corbin to a Technical Match next Monday, which Corbin accepts.
Then, Big Cass comes out with the microphone & starts to speak but motions to the back & out comes Enzo Amore, returning from his concussion, they run through the spots…”Ya Can’t Teach That” & “How you doin” & of course, the S.A.W.F.T…ssssaawwfftt, to the crowd’s delight & they immediately start cracking on The Dudley’s, who come out for a one on one match up between Big Cass & Bubba Ray which Big Cass wins with the Empire Elbow. Devon & Enzo did get involved, so Enzo did see a little action.
Next up is the WWE Ladies Champion, Charlotte, who is accompanied to the ring by her father, The Nature Boy Ric Flair & Dana Brooks, who helped Charlotte out at EXTREME RULES.
After Ric fawns all over Charlotte saying how proud he is of her, Charlotte starts her segment & then mercilessly, verbally attacks her father! She proceeds to tell Ric that:
“Everyone from your generation won’t leave the spotlight”
“Everyone said you’re (Charlotte) Ric Flair’s daughter but now you’re just Charlotte’s dad”
“My spotlight is shining brighter then yours ever did”
“I don’t need you anymore”
“You’re the 2nd dirtiest player in the game & I’ve got no room for 2nd place”
“You abandonned me for 30 years. For 30 years, I had to watch you on TV to see you, now you can watch me”
“You’re immortal to them (fans), but dead to me”
And of course, Ric started his trademark crying. Between him & Roy Williams (UNC Basketball Coach), crying could be turned into an artform!
The thing is, that it touched all the veins that you would expect from a scorned daughter & touched things which indeed, the older stars of wrestling have been criticized of for years. It’ll be interesting to see where they go with this, or if this truly is Ric’s swansong, a passing of the torch to Charlotte, who is in full blown heel, Nature Boy style.
Fast forward a little & camera’s catch Ric Flair leaving the arena & catching a hug from Arn Anderson, who asks Ric if he’s OK. Renee Young catches Ric to ask him if he’d like to respond as he didn’t get to in the ring & Flair uncharacteristically says “Not this time” & leaves.
Ok, back to the wrestling action, the next MITB qualifying match is the winner of the worst match of the year & possibly decade (The Asylum Match) from EXTREME RULES, Dean Ambrose vs. Dolph Ziglar & I guess Ambrose was taking a ton of heat in the back, so him & Ziglar (who was pushing a Technical Match with Corbin) had a distinctively Old School technical match…for the first part anyway…then it opened up & ended with Ziglar missed a Zig Zag & Ambrose hit the Dirty Deeds for the victory.
The last match of the night start out with a promo! A.J. Styles comes out & puts Roman Reigns over saying he’s one of the best he’s been in the ring with. Then he says if the Uso’s & GALLOWS & ANDERSON hadn’t interfered in the match, that he’d be WWE World Champ.
Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson come out to the ring & confronts AJ, telling AJ that “things have changed & you’ve (AJ) changed” since he arrived in WWE. AJ attempts to tell them that they’re still friends but professionally, he want his career alone & tells Gallows & Anderson to do their thing in WWE & they’re done, with Gallows & Anderson telling Styles they’re not brothers anymore & that AJ will regret his decision.
This is followed by Styles vs Kevin Owens for the last MITB qualifying match of the evening which is a darn good match featuring AJ doing a springboard summersault splash & Kevin Owens power bombing AJ on the ring steps. AJ attempted a Phenominal Forearm but Owens knocked him off the top rope, catching AJ in the groin & KO shot him in for the Pop Up Power Bomb & your winner & qualifier, Kevin Owens as the camera cuts to a visibly frustrated AJ Styles & JBL saying “it’s been a rough 24 hours for AJ, having, but losing, two great matches”
While that true, this RAW felt a little flat to me, & sometimes you have those nights. But, you can see where WWE is heading. Rollins vs. Reigns full steam..Sheamus hates the New Era…Charlotte is “the man”:)..the end of Ric Flair?…Sami Zayn & Kevin Owens are both qualified for MONEY IN THE BANK as is Ambrose & Jericho, with 2 more spots to fill…what does tonight mean for AJ & “The Club”…the angles are there. Hopefully WWE will deliver!!
