2.74/10
Opening segment. Was god awful especially in wrestling. As a fan of wrestling I do not want to see that on my screen ever regardless of character. Bray and Cena both did meh in my mind. Muted the TV for most of it too though.
Tag team match was bland and boring. Back and forth action, tags in and out blah blah blah Usos win.
Sheamus vs Titus. What could've been a good setup for a feud ruined by Sheamus having to win. Why he has to win every single match he's in, I don't know. Could've been a good step forward for Titus, hopefully it will change on Smackdown, but I doubt it. Poor Titus.
Hugh Jackman being on RAW wasn't bad. Sandow's bit was nice comedic relief done the right way. Took a good break from the shoe and helped hype up the new X-men movie. Also resolved the whole Jackman Ziggler "rivalry", so I'm fine with this segment.
Cesaro vs Swagger. As a technical match, this match was decent. Good showing of technical abilities on their parts, but nothing really special for a match. Just a usual showing other than that, and the usual managerial interference. I don't see why the managers need to interfere in literally every match nowadays. I'd have no problem with it if it wasn't so common and overdone, it takes away from both Cesaro and Swagger. Also, why in the world did Cesaro win with a German suplex? That is never and should never be a finisher. It's fine if it is a signature, but only if it's something like Benoit's where it's three of them back to back. Also, why did we need this match tonight? It's obvious that these toe will face off at ER along with RVD, so why put this match tonight?
Cody vs ADR served no purpose at all. None. It didn't help the Goldust separation, it was just there to try and do that. Clearly it didn't accomplish it. From a face standpoint, Goldust wouldn't go in and interfere so Cody would get feel besides Cody would still lose by DQ. It makes no sense with that scenario, and I would've preferred to see something better than that. Plus, throwing this match in for Payback or ER of all times makes no sense. There has been no real tension between the two, and these are minor events. Why not at Wrestlemania? As IWC as that sounds, it does make a point. They were doing nothing during WM season, so why not build that match up and have it be at WM 30? I don't know, just irritating.
Rusev vs Woods was another pointless match, only a way to try and give Truth and Woods some chance going into ER. In reality, they're going to lose in the attempt to build up Rusev as a dominant heel. As much as I like Rusev, having him squash a fellow NXT graduate and a "veteran" is not the right way to go for his PPV debut. I'm not saying he should overshoot it, but he needs something better than those two. A shame to see another talent possibly wasted.
3MB vs Matadores. A cluttered mess of a match, and cheap buildup, but a way to fill time. Nothing bad really, just could've used a better way of building up the feud between Torito and Swoggle. Would've much rather preferred a backstage segment or something over a quick match that didn't make sense and wasn't really a match. I easily see Torito winning, and hopefully this ends the feud, even though I enjoyed this feud, I think it should end and at a PPV like ER with the (WeeLC) stipulation involved. Makes sense for me.
Stephanie and Bryan segment was amazingly generic. Steph played the apologetic heel, Bryan played the generic face responding to said heel. Basic stuff to try and build the feud, which hasn't been built too great. Brie gets a title match vs Paige. This makes it too obvious that Kane is interfering and the mask case thing didn't help. Kane interferes, tries to take Brie, back and forth with Bryan, but a sick chokeslam on Bryan that might've concussed Bryan. Brie and Bryan get away though. Not a bad way to build this feud, and for what it is it's fine, as Bryan's father just passed away, and the marriage is easy to tie into a storyline.
BNB vs RVD was solid. Not bad but not great either. Was pretty decent. RVD did noticeably screw up several times during this match, and with that he's been too sloppy lately. It's not helping others too, as Barrett had to make up for the mistakes with the springboard moonsault and the barely connected Rolling Thunder. Barrett did a good job with what he did, brought nice moves out there with good execution. RVD was meh as stated before. I don't see the point in having Cesaro and Swagger interfere. Only puts RVD into the match. But hey Barrett was left unharmed, so I'm satisfied, makes him leave strong. I want Barrett to win the belt, as he has a chance of using his gimmick to make some fun storylines for his title reign. Should be a good match with Big E though.
Shield and Evolution was awful. Not as bad as opener, but awful. Flair comes out, delivers a shoddy promo and sides with the Shield and leaves. That served little to no purpose in my mind, only done to somewhat please the fans, which it didn't for me. Anyways, basic match. Nothing exciting or new, and then of course because everyone is at ringside it ends in DQ, and the brawl ensues. At first, Evolution beats down the Shield but then it all goes downhill. The Shield comeback was awful in terms of move execution, not necessarily storyline. Rollins was to hit the springboard knee on HHH, but he completely missed, yet HHH sold it. Rest of Evolution is just taken out, and then Reigns hits an awful spear on HHH. This is just plain repetitive as far as moves go, and I want to see something more than just this. I'm not exciting with this feud at all as far as ER goes.
Overall RAW was awful. Too much filler, predictability and generic matches. Nothing special and the crowd sucked as well. Nothing good about tonight really. 2.74/10
-Nero
