10 Thoughts On… WWE Monday Night Raw 10.19.2015 (Ryback vs. Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose, Charlotte vs. Brie Bella)

10 Thoughts, Top Story

kevinowens

1. so has Stone Cold been taking crap for the last couple of weeks or did Vince open his wallet to change Austin’s mind? Either way the Texas crowd are happy to see the Rattlesnake, and he got to pimp his podcast, so everybody wins. Right?

While Austin is always gold on the mic, Taker seldom reaches these heights, and it’s a good thing that Lesnar and Heyman came out when they did.

2. what is the obsession with six man tag matches lately? While this wasn’t a terrible match and New Day are continuing to get over as a heel stable, getting beat down by the Dudleys and Super Cena before a fluke win doesn’t do much for them in my eyes.
Bubba can be super-protective when power bombing an opponent through a table (see Mae Young) but this certainly didn’t look like the case for Xavier Woods, who basically just got dropped through a table on the back of his head. That’s what you get for having a PH.D in the WWE, son.

3. Sasha Banks and Naomi put on a semi decent match against the ever-sucky Bellas, but it still amazes me how much more the Divas get to do on NXT than they do on the main show.

4. While I respect what HBK has achieved in his career, bringing him back just to pimp Hell In A Cell feels pretty cheap, and I really don’t care for his gun fondler t-shirt. But hey, it gives Vince a chance to put an old timer over his champ on the mic, followed closely by…

5. Ryback tossing Rollins around like a cruiserweight before winning with a cheap shot, once again making the champ look weak. We get it, Vinnie. You don’t like the indie guys, and you want to prove they don’t draw. Just put the belt back on Cena already.

6. More 6 man tag nonsense, and WWE is starting to look like CHIKARA. King of Trios, anyone? Everyone works hard to put on a good match within the limits of the format, with Neville playing the face in peril for the longest time.

7. Ric Flair may have made some poor life choices, but he still knows how to work a crowd. I’m wondering what the average age of people who have been in the ring tonight…

Roman Reigns talking to Bray Wyatt didn’t go as badly as it could have.

8. Charlotte vs Brie was sorta pointless, with all of the crap happening on the outside preventing a story from being told I’m the ring.

9. Lets see if Kevin Owens can carry Mark Henry to a good match. Aaaaand… no. Nice pop-up powerbomb though.

10. And yet another freaking 6 man tag, with Erick Rowan replacing Luke Harper in the Wyatt family for some reason. Push or injury? Dissent within The Shield to start, followed eventually by the inevitable Rollins walkout. Strowman is starting to lose his indestructible aura, which makes me wonder how long it will be before he joins Snitsky on the indie circuit?

For all the nostalgic star power, this wasn’t really a great Raw in terms of actual wrestling, although I’m vaguely interested to see what happens at Hell in a Cell.

JT is a hot air balloonist, writer and tattoo aficionado. He writes about movies, science, music, video games, action figures and professional wrestling.