Rate RAW December 14th, 2015

[Rogue]

Recap:​

Dolph Ziggler defeated Dean Ambrose via disqualification, this was due to Kevin Owens.

R-Truth vs. Bo Dallas ended in a no-contest due to Vince McMahon.

Rusev and Alberto Del Rio defeated Ryback and Jack Swagger via pinfall.

Neville defeated Tyler Breeze via pinfall, Miz was at ringside.

Extreme Rules Tag Team Match:
Bray Wyatt, Braun Strowman, Luke Harper and Erick Rowan defeated Bubba Ray Dudley, Devon Dudley, Rhyno and Tommy Dreamer via pinfall.

Charlotte and Becky Lynch defeated Brie Bella and Alicia Fox via submission.

Job vs. Title Match:
Roman Reigns defeated Sheamus via pinfall to become the new WWEWHC, after numerous interferences from The League of Nations and Vince McMahon.

In-depth Results: PWMania

 

[Neptune]

I am giving it 9 which I rarely do. Yes is could have been better but heck, they surprised me and the effort they put into this is enough to give them props for it. The ending made it a 9, before that I'd say 7.

 

[Mr. Roman Empire]

9/10 for sure. Vince McMahons presence always makes things better hopefully he will keep coming on TV now for this storyline. The 8 man hardcore match was really really good and the action was amazing. So much better than the tables match last night. I really dug how KO came out and destroyed Dean and DZ. Also I like Neville and Miz angle, they have good chemistry. And the main event was epic, it was so unexpected and really had me on the edge of my seat.

Not giving the show 10/10 because The New Day segment was whack. So was Rusev/Del Rio vs Swagger/Ryback. And the Divas match was boring too, they need to start a Becky vs Charlotte feud asap.

But overall this was the best Raw since the night Sting and the Dudleyz Boyz returned.

 

[Jacob Fox]

I gave it an 8. As a whole, it couldn't have scored an 8... but the parts that were good were good enough to even out the parts that were bad and it deserves an 8.

I liked:

Steph smacking the living shit out of Roman... it was awesome.

Vince McMahon! Although he interrupted the Bo Dallas and R Truth match, which may have been a classic, he was great. I love how he threatened to beat Reigns to a pulp and I LOVED how he told the crowd that the always fall for the teased title match.

The Extreme Rules match ***1/2. This was great and much better than the match the previous night. And Erick Rowan got the pin! Wow! Weird!

The main event was an exciting match. *** The match itself wasn't spectacular, but the theatrics around it sure were. The suspense was good and it was awesome to actually see the WHC change hands on Raw. It brought back some of what WWE has been missing.. it has been missing suspense... it has been missing the idea that anything could happen. That is why people turned into Raw during the AE... it wasn't just because of the crudeness (although that was fun too) but it was unpredictable. I'm not a huge Reigns fan but I was happy he won the belt because it brought fun back to Raw.

I didn't like:

The New Day segment. It was BORING. The New Day is being overused. They are entertaining but they are not entertaining enough to carry 10-15 minute segments on every show on their own. They're not.

Divas match. Why do these women put on amazing matches in NXT and become Divas when they get called up?

THE FACT THAT VINCE INTERRUPTED R TRUTH VS BO DALLAS!! WE'LL NEVER KNOW!!

I was indifferent to:

Neville vs Breeze

Ambrose vs Ziggler.

All in all, the things that were good with Raw were good enough to drown out the bad stuff. If this was a two hour show, this would have been a 10.

Now the question is will WWE keep it up or drown in mediocrity...

 

[Roadster]

Kalisto deserves a freaking push.

peace.

 

[Jacob Fox]

I wanted to add, it's funny how I criticize Vince to death for the direction he takes WWE in and for a lot of the stupid and seemingly delusional things he does... but it is usually fucking awesome to see him on the show. Vince McMahon (even the announcer version) has always been awesome to watch.

 

[Mr. Roman Empire]

I wanted to add, it's funny how I criticize Vince to death for the direction he takes WWE in and for a lot of the stupid and seemingly delusional things he does... but it is usually fucking awesome to see him on the show. Vince McMahon (even the announcer version) has always been awesome to watch.

I feel the same way. He's the ultimate showman. Probably the greatest heel of all time.

 

[Rogue]

I'd also like to point out that they were in the same arena where Roman won the Rumble. The only difference is that the crowd popped so hard when he won the title, instead of getting booed to oblivion. Starting and closing the year on the opposite side of the spectrum, it must've made the moment even sweeter for him.

 

[Mr. Roman Empire]

I'd also like to point out that they were in the same arena where Roman won the Rumble. The only difference is that the crowd popped so hard when he won the title, instead of getting booed to oblivion. Starting and closing the year on the opposite side of the spectrum, it must've made the moment even sweeter for him.

That is pretty cool. It was also his daughters birthday. Just a giant Roman Reigns love fest going on!

 

[Leo C]

I'm loving Raw these days. I absolutely do not give a damn when there's stuff like Breeze just losing clean and whatever the heel the girls are doing right now, also when I see the New Day act like complete babyfaces and the supposed babyfaces attack them because they're getting jiggy afterwards is just so stupid I laugh, just as I did at Dreamer/Strowman last week or Truth and Bo being the biggest geeks I've ever seen. That said, this show not only had this type of stuff, but the ECW match was actually pretty good, the Ambrose/Owens stuff is fine build and damn, that Roman thing was great. I'm not the biggest fan of the guy, I'm not even sure if he should be the next ace, but he's an acceptable choice if they do it right. And what these geeks were unable to do for an entire year they did just like that, in two days. Granted it's not exactly the same people, but they got him to win the belt and get cheered by the same crowd that HATED the man in January. I think he even spoke too much, but he didn't embarass himself this time, and when we get some heels who are actually over and the face overcomes them, it works! Great. I'll give them a thumbs up because it may have taken then forever, but they did it. Do I trust them to actually keep booking him decently until, say, WM or even RR? No. Is there a big chance the dude will cut an awful 20 minute promo next week? Yes. They may screw it up terribly as they are known to do, but this week I'll give it to them. Good job WWE!

 

[Prince Bálor]

This week's Raw was GOOD and the absolute best Raw in quite awhile. 7/10
Man, that felt good to say! Keep improving, WWE.

Positives:
- The opening segment featuring Steph and Roman was good. I also enjoyed Steph slapping the F out of Roman.

- KO destroying Ambrose and Ziggler.

- Vinnie Mac/Reigns segment. All in all, Reigns looked great throughout the night, besides the joke about balls.

- Neville vs Breeze was okay for what it was. I don't know about you guys, but I'm down for Neville aligning himself with The Miz.

- The Wyatt Family vs The ECW Originals was pretty good, and made up for that uneventful match at TLC. I also have to mention I liked that pre-match promo from The Wyatts!

- Reigns vs Sheamus was a good ME. And we have a NEW WWE World Heavyweight Champion! God, I love a title change on Raw!
I am glad they pulled the trigger on Reigns now! And wow, Philly! The same city that booed Reigns out of the building earlier this year actually cheered him! Or perhaps, the smarks only go to PPVs. lol Anyways, that's what you get when you book the guy right, WWE.

Negatives:
- ADR/Rusev vs Swagger & Ryback was boring.

- Bo Dallas vs R-Truth happening in the first place. Maybe it's just me, but Vinnie could've just came out instead of stopping this match. Nobody's gonna care if a match 'tween two jobbers gets stopped. I know I didn't.

- The divas tag match. I'm done with the divas division. I want Sasha, Becky and Charlotte back in NXT! Please and thank you!

- The Rosebush is awful, it needs to go away! Please and thank you.

Neutral:
- Ambrose vs DZ. Okay, I didn't really like the way things went down, but I could live with it. Ambrose should've won clean (because we all know DZ has become a directionless, kinda get-nowhere superstar, so why not?) and then KO could've killed them both just the way he did. They're obviously going for a rematch at the Rumble, but I hate rematch clauses sometimes, so adding Ziggler as the guy to eat the pin could work, I guess and while it protects KO, it doesn't really end things 'tween KO and DA. We'll see, though.

- For the first time in forever, I don't know how to feel about The New Day segment. I mean, I didn't enjoy it, but I didn't hate it, either.
It just felt long-winded.

 

[Aids Johnson]

This week's Raw was GOOD and the absolute best Raw in quite awhile. 7/10
Man, that felt good to say! Keep improving, WWE.

Positives:
- The opening segment featuring Steph and Roman was good. I also enjoyed Steph slapping the F out of Roman.

- KO destroying Ambrose and Ziggler.

- Vinnie Mac/Reigns segment. All in all, Reigns looked great throughout the night, besides the joke about balls.

- Neville vs Breeze was okay for what it was. I don't know about you guys, but I'm down for Neville aligning himself with The Miz.

- The Wyatt Family vs The ECW Originals was pretty good, and made up for that uneventful match at TLC. I also have to mention I liked that pre-match promo from The Wyatts!

- Reigns vs Sheamus was a good ME. And we have a NEW WWE World Heavyweight Champion! God, I love a title change on Raw!
I am glad they pulled the trigger on Reigns now! And wow, Philly! The same city that booed Reigns out of the building earlier this year actually cheered him! Or perhaps, the smarks only go to PPVs. lol Anyways, that's what you get when you book the guy right, WWE.

Negatives:
- ADR/Rusev vs Swagger & Ryback was boring.

- Bo Dallas vs R-Truth happening in the first place. Maybe it's just me, but Vinnie could've just came out instead of stopping this match. Nobody's gonna care if a match 'tween two jobbers gets stopped. I know I didn't.

- The divas tag match. I'm done with the divas division. I want Sasha, Becky and Charlotte back in NXT! Please and thank you!

- The Rosebush is awful, it needs to go away! Please and thank you.

Neutral:
- Ambrose vs DZ. Okay, I didn't really like the way things went down, but I could live with it. Ambrose should've won clean (because we all know DZ has become a directionless, kinda get-nowhere superstar, so why not?) and then KO could've killed them both just the way he did. They're obviously going for a rematch at the Rumble, but I hate rematch clauses sometimes, so adding Ziggler as the guy to eat the pin could work, I guess and while it protects KO, it doesn't really end things 'tween KO and DA. We'll see, though.

- For the first time in forever, I don't know how to feel about The New Day segment. I mean, I didn't enjoy it, but I didn't hate it, either.
It just felt long-winded.

I love you, but I despise your shitty avatar.

 

[Prince Bálor]

I love you, but I despise your shitty avatar.

 

[Neptune]

Monday's RAW ranked #4 among non-sporting events for the night in Nielsen's Twitter TV ratings, behind Love & Hip-Hop, The Voice and Adele Live In NYC. RAW had a unique audience of 1.411 million, which represents the number of Twitter accounts that commented on the show. This is up from last week's 1.366 million. RAW had total impressions of 11.751 million, which represents the number of times tweets about the show were seen. This was up from last week's 7.979 million impressions.

 

[alexb]

A well deserved 8/10 and as most have mentioned already, it's about time we enjoyed a good Monday Night Raw cause, damn it, we missed it.

It's so funny that only a few weeks ago and during the discussion regarding the low ratings and all that I brought up (amongst other things) the Vince effect and, well, look who just showed up after a year or so. It's been always fun to have Vince on the show and as soon as the announcement was made, you just knew things would spice up, as they did.

Sticking strictly to the show (don't want to open up a discussion as to what's next), it was finally fun to watch and it was a good effort overall cause they really did decide to shake things up. From the opening segment, to the Extreme Rules Match to the main event, it was a very enjoyable 3 hours to watch, aside of course of the aformentioned boring in between stuff. And how about that? I mean, when was the last time the big belt changed hands on RAW? Like I said, WWE really did decide to shake things up a notch and as far as the first step is concerned, they did a pretty good job and one can only hope that things will get even better moving on...

As far as "what's next?", I'll leave that for another topic since this particular thread is strictly on rating RAW.