WWE Monday Night Raw on August 25, 2014 was a bit of a maintenance show, and you can get the full details in our full Raw report and thoughts report
Now the Pulse Wrestling staff checks in with their thoughts on the show:
CB
Raw was what I thought it would be this week, which isn’t a good thing. We had the Legends Panel of HBK, Hogan and Flair begin to question John Cena’s mettle, and of course Cena was all FIRED UP tonight. Unfortunately, WWE made the decision to have Bray Wyatt take the brunt of Cena’s vicarious retaliation on Brock Lesnar, which made Wyatt look way too weak this week.
Throw in the fact that Henry and Big Show helped Cena beat on the Wyatts and you have a situation where established old dudes are taking way too many liberties with the young guns who are supposed to be dominant.
As for the rest of Raw, I thought the Bella Twins segment was Diva “#ACTING” at its worst. The fact that this saga went from Daniel Bryan vs. HHH and now has morphed into Brie Bella vs. Nikki Bella makes me feel even worse about Bryan’s untimely injury.
The one thing I tentatively did like about Raw this week was the Goldust and Stardust heel turn, but only if they let Goldust go old school and become the truly bizarre/creepy persona he used to be. I also didn’t mind AJ turning the tables on Paige with her antics, but other than those two things this Raw was a throwaway show at best.
I guess that’s what happens when your best wrestler is injured, your other best wrestler is retired, and your most legitimate up and coming star is off filming a movie. (Sorry Roman Reigns, but Dean Ambrose is where it’s really at for yours truly.)
You can make a case that the most interesting thing to happen tonight was Jerry Lawler almost getting hit with a stray cinder block fragment, meaning that Raw was way too long — and shallow — as always.
Widro
Raw tonight was a somewhat boring show, that didn’t do much to forward much along. There doesn’t seem to be many storylines heading into Night of Champions besides Cena/Lesnar, and the direction is making me worried for that match. The Hall of Fame Forum was a big thumbs down, and seemed like none of the three guys had something to say. I really don’t care for the Bella Twins feud, I think they are poor actors and the whole thing is just grating and not believable. I liked Roman Reigns finally standing up on behalf of Dean Ambrose, and I liked the Goldust/Stardust heel turn, but after three hours not much else has stuck with me.
Matthew Harrak
I really don’t have much to say about the opening segment. Yes, there were a few Legends in the ring but the end result was another “rah-rah” John Cena promo. You would think that there’d be a huge return and promo after the absolute destruction Cena suffered at SummerSlam. Guess not.
I loved seeing a different type of dominant John Cena but did have to be against Bray Wyatt? It could have easily have been against Luke Harper, Kane, Randy Orton or Seth Rollins where they wouldn’t have been hurt by looking weak. By sticking Wyatt in there, the mystique and unpredictably of his character were basically thrown out the window when all you have to do is hit him with some big moves & suddenly he can’t compete anymore.
Justin Czerwonka
Look, I totally get that they are going to “build Cena back up” over the next few weeks. I understand it. It’s part of the story. But that main event was just all kinds of bad. Making it a tag did nothing. And in the end Cena really took out the whole Wyatt Family by himself, and that group was already starting to lose steam as it was.
This whole show seemed like a lot of filler. It almost felt like a glorified house show, so you kind of felt bad for the fans in attendance. Nothing of importance really happened on the show and it might have been the worst RAW of the year. I’m giving it a 2, and even that might be generous.
