For MAIN ROSTER MANIA (MRM) WEEK ONE I broke my commentary down by matches and angels/promos for both shows. I’m going to try a different format this week going forward and just write my straight forward thought on the shows, especially since I am in catch up mode.
As we go deeper into the year, I will see what format works and feels the best. It will probably always be an evolving beast.
Ok, here we go: MAIN ROSTER MANIA WEEK TWO
MONDAY NIGHT RAW – JANUARY 8TH
What’s up with Jason Jordan and his push? I don’t get it. The idiot seems to think he’s a member of the Shield and constantly acts like he’s the guy (Hey, Roman!), and keeps screwing things up. He’s that friend in real life you don’t want around. You know, the one that keeps speaking for you? That’s Jason Jordon. It’s not entertaining. It’s annoying and anytime he is out there is become borderline Fast Forward Worthy.
This time, to open RAW with another overlong boring promo, Jordan’s mouth gets him, Roman and Seth into a main event match with Balor Club. A Main Event that would see the Balor Club victorious.
The Balor Club was given a good build up. Cedric received a nice rub from Goldust and a count out win over Enzo in a title match that was supposed to lead into a Cruiserweight Title Match at the Rumble (before Enzo’s issues).
The Bray Wyatt and Woken Matt Hardy feud was furthered with the weirdest in-ring confrontation I can remember and . . .
THE MIZ RETURNED . . . This alone makes it the best broadcast since The Miz left.
There were three big moments on the show that overshadowed even the Miz’s return:
Titus World Wide defeating The Bar!
This was a damn good match with an upset no one saw coming! I think most people felt like I did, The Bar would destroy Titus and Apollo. Nope, didn’t happen. Maybe they will start using these two right.
Brock Lesnar arrived to RAW to respond to the events of last week only to have Strowman drop a scaffolding on him and Kane in the back. Yes, Braun pulled a scaffolding down on top of Brock and Kane. Brock was carted off on an ambulance. Kane walked off gingerly into the abyss.
The Final moment was The Miz and Mizterouge laying out Roman Reigns to end the show! Yes, in the end, only The Miz can top The Miz.
However, my favorite part of the night was Alexa Bliss spending the evening trying to convince Nia to do her dirty work against Asuka.
FINAL THOUGHTS:
Overall I liked this RAW – there were some good matches, nice promos and everything seemed to have a point with the show laid out nicely. If RAW put out more broadcasts like this, there wouldn’t be so many legit complaints.
Better than the first RAW of the year. Best RAW of January over all leading into the Rumble.
RATING: 7
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SMACKDOWN LIVE – JANUARY 9TH
The show opened with a Phenomenal Segment, Rene Young Interviewing AJ Styles, where he admits that he is also Phenomenal at putting foot in mouth with sarcastic comments and questioned where Daniel Bryan stands.
Cue the Kevin and Sami Show, cue Shane-o-Mac and we have our main event set for the night: A preview of the Royal Rumble Handicap match, only this time it is AJ Styles, Nakamura and Randy Orton versus The Kevin and Sami Show.
Becky Lynch, with Charlotte and Naomi as back up, would gain a measure of vengeance by making Ruby Riott tap out! This was a really good match, it put Ruby over as a threat, but still shows Lynch as one to beat.
Can the Ascension go away please? They’ve sucked and been buried ever since their poorly thought out discretion of Road Warrior Hawk. This week they were destroyed by Harper and Rowan (thank you), with no Breezango in sight for the save. Good.
The US title Tournament Continued. Mojo Rawley finally showed up for a match and did something as he walked through Zack Ryder on his way to face Bobby Roode in the next round.
Xavier Woods, with The New Day in tow, barreled his way into his semi-final match against Jinder Mahal. Sadly, nothing Xavier did could get him on track and he fell to the Maharaja. This was basically set up to show Jinder as being dominate going into his finals match.
In ring Chad Gable and Shelton Benjamin did a very awkward and hard to watch segment with Daniel Bryan. The problem is that this segment was way over produced, went on too long, and was to rehearsed and scripted.
Bryan seemed comfortable, but Shelton (never a great talker) and Chad seemed like actors trying desperately to remember and deliver their lines. And I like these guys.
They get what they want though: another title match against The Usos at the Rumble, 2 out of 3 falls.
The What Just Happened moment of the night occurred when Breezango beat Rusev Day! Very good match, nice surprise of an ending. Rusev went nuts after being pinned, while Aiden tried to calm him down. Classic.
In Our Main Event we finally see Shane get over on Kevin and Sami, twice coming out to make rulings. Once he prevented Kevin and Sami from leaving ringside and made it a No DQ match. Later, his appearance lead to AJ Styles chasing Kevin Owens into the back, leaving Sami alone to get destroyed by Nakamura and Orton.
Who won? Styles, Nakamura and Orton? Or Shane McMahon?
Good Broadcast furthering all the feuds heading into the Rumble.
RATING: 7
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At this point, in MRM WEEK ONE I broke down the shows and did comparison of Match of the Night, Wrestlers and so on. For now, until caught up, I will be skipping that for time sake.
- Ace Masters
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