We start off a new era of Raw with a new visual of the two main event combatants arriving, then a new set. It’s a new day, indeed.
Cody Rhodes opens things up in the arena. he wants to talk about Little Rock, finishing his story and other such stuff. He doesn’t talk about his newly-dyed gray hair though before Drew McIntyre makes his way out.
McIntyre places nicey nicey to start and recalls when they were tag team champions and their parallel lives outside WWE during their exiles. Drew says he’s going to finish his story before Cody will.
Dialogue continues and goes into Jey Uso and CM Punk, as well as Damian Priest and his briefcase. The niceities, by this point are over. Seeds planted for a rivalry.
R-Truth is confronted by Damian Priest and the result is good. I admit it. I thought this was crap when it started but Priest and Truth are making it work, even if they’re dragging it kicking and screaming.
J-Day vs. DIY
DumbDumb and JD are repping their crew.
Mat wrestling to start, not something we normally see in a tag match. Gargano hits the ropes to fly to the outside but Dom pulls it down. Soon all four are in the outside but the faces get the better of it going into the break.
Coming back to action, Ciampa and JD collide in a scary spot. Fortunately it isn’t serious. DIY takes over on JD quickly. but Gargano is quickly victimized. Dom looks more ridiculous than ever, I’m just saying.
Heels take over and this is getting bad. Blind referee means a tag to Ciampa is missed. Always hated that spot.
Oh and to the mark who had the “I shovelled so much snow to be here” sign in the crowd, mazel tov. Guess what we do in Canada just about every damn day of the winter.
Match is going very long, which is not a good thing for a DumbDumb match. Ciampa is hitting clothesline after clothesline on everyone moving coming out of our second break. Scorpion Deathdrop gets two. JD escapes FTE and tags DumbDumb who hits the Eddy Hilo and that’s where I stop watching. Yes, I’m going back to this. Shame too, it was a pretty good match.
Meet in the Middle finishes it.
Winners: DIY
Backstage time! Indi! Candice! Chelsea! Piper! ADAMMMMM!
Chelsea Green/Piper Niven vs. The Way
Piper fires off on Indi to start including a nice shoulder breaker. Heels continue to do the most damage until Indi takes over on Chelsea on the apron briefly. Piper misses the Vader Bomb and Candice comes in for a heat segment that draws little reaction. Match devolves quickly into a clusterfrick. Assisted Lionsault gets the win for Indi and Candice but this match was a mess.
Winners: The Way
More backstage time! J-Day hawking tee shirts!
Gunther is back next. Decent promo where he declares for the Royal Rumble. Gunther then starts in on Ludwig Kaiser for last week’s absolute decimation of Kofi Kingston and applauds the effort until New Day music plays and Xavier Woods returns. Segment quickly goes downhill. Once Woods and Kaiser agree to a match, the face tees off. Boring.
Xavier Woods vs. Ludwig Kaiser
Boring stuff which is saying a lot, because Kaiser is quickly becoming my favourite in WWE. Woods needs a character change in the worst way.
Kaiser cuts off Woods at every pass Woods goes to his standard stuff but Kaiser is way too dominant. Nice spot as Woods is hanging in the Tree of Woe on the outside and eats floor after a Dropkick from Kaiser. We go to an unnecessary break. This pair does not deserve two segments!
Back from break Woods gets his outside-in Tornado DDT. Woods paintbrushes Kaiser with punches and chops, but busted his lip up at some point. On the outside, Kaiser chucks a chair at Woods, who ducks it. He then picks up the chair and slams it down on Kaiser for the BSDQ.
Winner by DQ: Ludwig Kaiser
Post match, Woods goes for the steel chair but eats an enziguri’d steel chair to the face. Kaiser is looking better and better each week. Seriously. Start appreciating this man. Woods meanwhile starts to show intensity as he counters Kaiser but he’s just too goofy. The blood dripping in his mouth is a nice touch though.
For Part Two click the link below:
