All weekend long The Authority teased a huge announcement for last night’s episode of Monday Night Raw. What they should have teased is that it would become the biggest back pedal of all time. If there was truly a reason to call last night’s episode of Monday Night Raw historic it would only be because they actually listened to their fan base for once. The beauty of Triple H and Stephanie McMahon is how they are able to weave the Patriots Super Bowl win into the storyline declaring that too was “best for business”. Give credit to the dynamic duo for succumbing to the wants of the public because as you will see from last night’s episode there is a lot to look forward to leading up to Fastlane.
“The great back pedal” will be remembered for some time. The hatred by the WWE Universe in Roman Reigns heading to WrestleMania to face Brock Lesnar extended past the hardcore fan base. The only way to rectify this would be to have some feud begin with Daniel Bryan and Roman Reigns. There are some things to like in that dynamic but only if we are really going to see a heel turn by Reigns. Hopefully that is not the case because the Reality era is not too far removed from The Attitude era. So the stars don’t have to turn full heel, which is something that usually goes over well with fans. Insert the ultimate x factor in Seth Rollins and once again we have ourselves a three-way dance.
So while John Cena goes after Rusev, in steps Daniel Bryan to provide one of the most dynamic three way dances we have seen in some time After the smoke was cleared we find out that Seth Rollins and Daniel Bryan will face in a match later that night and the winner will go on to face Roman Reigns at the new Fastlane pay per view. There was one last bit of old thought business to kick off the show and that is a match between Reigns and Big Show. With the Authority and all at hand no way would Roman escape with the win.
Dean Ambrose made his claim for Fastlane calling out Bad News Barrett after one of the other mistakes from the Royal Rumble was justified. Losing in the first round tournament and now this makes one have to question what is left for Curtis Axel. Maybe he may find success outside of the WWE but at least he has had a nice amount of face time lately.
The Ascension once again proved they were too much for the Dust Brothers to handle taking them out with out little concern. Cody and Dustin had a war of words in the ring that shows they are completely over this union. We aren’t sure how much time is left for the two face painted brothers but it seems as if it’s coming sooner than later. For The Ascension we are sure they will either take out The Miz and Mizdow or The New Day next on the road to title contention. The spark of Tyson and Cesaro is the main thing holding them off battling the Usos.
After John Cena welcomed back Ryback, Ziggler and Rowan Stephanie McMahon also welcomed them back with a list of matches for the night. The Big Guy was up first with a brutal encounter with Luke Harper. These two monsters went at it as only you could expect. Luke Harper showed his outrageous athleticism even calling out his signature yells a few times. Ryback would prove to be too much this night as he eventually hit the shell shock to call it a night.
Cesaro and Tyson Kidd continue to be a thorn in the side of the Usos and last night the king of swing would prevail. He faced Jimmy Uso as both of their expected entourages watched on. Cesaro controlled most of the match, which was no surprise as he is the better single competitor. With just a minor distraction by Kidd Cesaro caught Jimmy with a devastating European uppercut as he was coming off the top rope. After the win Tyson Kidd snuck in a drop kick to the face of Jay just to pour more salt into the wound. If there is a tag team title on the line at Fastlane we could see Tyson and Cesaro getting a run faster than expected.
It was real fitting to see Bray Wyatt and Rusev eliminate most of the competition at this years Royal Rumble as the two of them represented the most rooted heels. If you have any favorites in the WWE roster the last person you want them to face is Bray Wyatt. While he does not hold the undefeated streak as the Bulgarian at anytime he can pull off a victory on your favorite superstar. Tonight’s victim was Dolph Ziggler as this was his welcome back to RAW match. Wyatt owned him for most of the match punishing Dolph on his way to victory. The Universe wants to see Daniel Bryan and Dolph Ziggler at WrestleMania , but that match will only be possible with Bryan out of title contention. So you have to ask the universe what would you prefer?
The Divas were up next and the match aside it was kind of refreshing to hear the ladies give good commentary the match. We aren’t sure why Nikki and Brie displayed the respect for Paige during the match but we would find out it was all-apart of a malicious plan. After Paige scored the victory pin on Alicia Fox. Fox attacked her behind. Nikki and Brie entered the ring and started spraying Paige with spray tan. It is nice to see them give Paige one more run at the title but it still seems as if Nikki is primed to retain it after the pay per view.
Sin Cara took care of the Miz with a huge distraction from Damien Mizdow. The Miz fired him earlier that night so it the expected feud between them two looks to be well intact. Rusev made quick work of Erick Rowan giving a message, as Booker T would say to John Cena. The match never started but Rusev went to work on Erick and never looked back. Lana grabbed the microphone after that and we got a nice little path of destruction promo by Rusev. Who says this guy isn’t ready for WrestleMania. Before they left the ring it seemed as if they had an issue with the Russian flag dropping. Was it the work of Cena? We aren’t sure but we will have to see if Rusev has some plans for Cena in the near future.
It looks as if Seth Rollins will have to wait his turn for a shot at WrestleMania as he was unable to handle business with Daniel Bryan. This would go down as one of the better matches of the year as both guys gave their all and reminded the fan base how stale the product has been as of late. Speaking of stale Big Show interfered until a spear by Reigns took him out of the picture. That was followed by a superman punch to the face of Rollins, as the referee was distracted. Daniel lined up the flying knee and now he is off to the Fastlane pay per view. He and Reigns should have an epic confrontation but we will have to keep man eye on Reigns direction as we head on to WrestleMania.
Rating: 4.5 /5