Rate RAW August 17th, 2015

[Rogue]

Vote above and give your thoughts below:

RAW Recap:

- Randy Orton and Cesaro defeated Sheamus and Kevin Owens

- Roman Reigns defeated Luke Harper

- Becky Lynch defeated Tamina Snuka

- Rusev defeated Mark Henry

- Ryback defeated The Miz

- Cena – Rollins contract signing

- The Prime Time Players and The Lucha Dragons defeated The New Day and Los Matadores

- Sasha Banks defeated Nikki Bella

- Undertaker attacked Brock similar to Battle Ground to end the go home show

Full Results: PWMania

 

[The GOAT]

I'm hoping that ending was a prelude to Brock beating the Undertaker on Sunday. It's usually the case far more often than not that whoever gets the last word before the PPV ends up losing the PPV match itself (and yes, I realize the irony of bringing this up is that one of the exceptions to this 'rule' was Brock and Taker's match at Wrestlemania XXX itself, but still), and tonight we saw Taker leave Brock laying in the middle of the ring.

 

[Solidus1]

I'm hoping that ending was a prelude to Brock beating the Undertaker on Sunday.

That's the impression I got.
Anyway, things I liked:

Randy Orton and Cesaro vs Sheamus and Kevin Owens was decent
Reigns/Harper was quiet at times, but good overall
Sasha Banks/Nikki Bella was good
Heyman was awesome, Taker/Brock was good enough too

 

[Prince Bálor]

The episode was OK, with the usual mix of good and bad stuff. 5/10

Positives:
- Orton & Cesaro vs Sheamus & KO was decent.
- Taker's backstage promo was fine.
- Reigns vs Harper was good.
- The contract signing was a good segment. I loved Rollins saying 'You are not Superman. I've got news for you, John. You are the villain holding the entire WWE Universe hostage for the last decade! John Cena is a disease, and Seth Rollins is the cure.' Cena then came out and cut a promo. I'm glad it wasn't the typical Cena shtick where he'd just joke around, no, he was serious here. Overall, they did a good job at hyping Title vs Title match. I'm also glad they avoided the contract signing clichés and kept the fight for the PPV.
- The New Day cut a hilarious promo on their way to the ring. Loved it.
- Heyman was brilliant!

Negatives:
- The opening segment was a yawn fest.
- Becky vs Tamina was meh, I couldn't get into it.
- Rusev vs Henry was garbage, just like in the last 2-3 weeks.
- Ryback vs Miz was meh, too short.
- PTP & Lucha Dragons vs The New Day & Los Matadores was meh, too short.
- Sasha vs Nikki wasn't horrible, but it was just thrown out there. It didn't feel special at all.
It just felt like lazy booking. They should've booked NXT Women's Champion vs WWE Divas Champion for a SmackDown main event, at least. It wouldn't be a 5 star match, but at least it'd show they're serious about this [HASHTAG]#DivasRevolution[/HASHTAG].
Also, Sasha should've been pushed more as the NXT women's champ, (even though her reign is coming to an end) but they didn't even bother to give her an entrance here. Plus, they need to figure out the roles these divas will play. The crowd turned on them here and started chanting for Lesnar at one point.
- That Taker/Bork ending, tho! It's been like 4 weeks since I saw the exact same thing at Battleground. They just copy-pasted it.

 

[edge4ever]

This raw kind of sucked.

The only good thing was Cesaro looking strong and ziggler coming back.

Brock and taker was horrible. It was a rewind of battleground.

Seth and cena was okay.

 

[Jacob Fox]

I gave it a 5. It was really a bad episode, especially for being right before a major event.

I liked:

Heyman. He was the saving grace of the show.

Orton and Cesaro vs Owens and Sheamus was all right.

Reigns vs Harper was okay.

Cena gave maybe the best promo of his career. He took a match with minimal interest and build up and made me want to see it.

I didn't like:

Everything else.

The ending segment really made me more confident Undertaker is winning. Just the level of trash talking by Heyman... I just can't see Undertaker going down after that. If he loses, Heyman can claim he was right and that would be the end of it. I just don't see that as a probability. Especially if Taker is remaining involved in the product for a while.

Anyhow, crappy show.

 

[edge4ever]

I'm hoping that ending was a prelude to Brock beating the Undertaker on Sunday. It's usually the case far more often than not that whoever gets the last word before the PPV ends up losing the PPV match itself (and yes, I realize the irony of bringing this up is that one of the exceptions to this 'rule' was Brock and Taker's match at Wrestlemania XXX itself, but still), and tonight we saw Taker leave Brock laying in the middle of the ring.

Also, just to note, Brock was planned to lose to taker at mania 30 and that decision to let him win was made last minute. I'm sure they already know who will and booking 101 says Brock will win now.