They made the most of the opportunity, doing some expert
damage control on the standing of Rumble victor Roman Reigns. The show was
constructed around five sit-down interview segments and a couple of
announcements for Fast Lane. They were interspersed with links from Michael
Cole, JBL and Booker T. It was a smart approach that made the most of what the
company had at its disposal. If only that were true of their booking approach
in general.
Slightly more questionably the decision was also made to
air the two biggest matches from the previous night’s Rumble. That means that
people tuning into RAW were treated to the triple threat WWE championship match
and the Rumble itself for free. Monday saw WWE finally hit their goal of one
million subscribers for the WWE Network so I’m sure they’re pleased with the
decision to air those matches. The likelihood is that they convinced a number
of people that the Network was worth a look. But it wasn’t the greatest idea
with regard to customer satisfaction: everyone else had had to pay $9.99 for
the event. Or £9.99 if in Britain. Or a staggering $54.99 to watch on regular
pay-per-view. I’m sure refund requests have been sailing WWE’s way since Monday
night.
 |
| The state of your briefcase, mate. |
The first of the interviews was with Seth Rollins. He
told Michael Cole that he thought his Rumble performance spoke for itself. He
felt he deserved to be in match and that he did everything he could to win and
become champion. I agree with him. Rollins did deserve to be in the match and
he made the most of the opportunity. He took the pinfall but that didn’t
matter. ‘The Future’ left the show looking like he belonged at the top.
The interview was brought to a close with Rollins being asked
about what would happen in a Lesnar v Rollins singles match. Avoiding a direct
answer Rollins admitted that he’d underestimated Lesnar but that Lesnar had
also underestimated him and added that he had and has what Lesnar doesn’t: the
Money in the Bank briefcase.
When Cole plugged the Lesnar interview that was to follow
Rollins declared that he wouldn’t leave, Lesnar would have to kick him off his
chair. This bravado turned out to be true when the show returned from a break.
Rollins was still sitting on his chair, although he was looking less smug and
more wary.
Lesnar wandered up and, fairly politely, said to Rollins "I
believe you're in my seat." Rollins got up, brushed the chair and then
knocked it over. Lesnar laughed as Seth walked off and a stagehand appeared to
sort out the seating situation. It was a good bit of character development for
both wrestlers. Rollins was shown to be the coward who was all mouth until he
had to back up his words in a fair fight. Lesnar was the intimidating monster
who picks his fights with care.
Paul Heyman was on board for this interview but Lesnar
did speak for himself at the start. As usual it was short and sweet. He
acknowledged his broken rib but said it didn’t matter: when it comes to match
time he makes sure to win.
Heyman was more talkative (obviously). He explained that
Lesnar and The Authority have a symbiotic relationship. Lesnar's in WWE because
The Authority needs a box office attraction. He’s also useful for taking care
of problematic guys like Sting, The Undertaker and John Cena (although he
failed to explain why The Authority
finds these men so problematic in the first place). While they're paying what Lesnar's
worth he's for hire. Mention of negotiations was made, which was pretty clearly
included to weave in the thread of Lesnar potentially leaving after
WrestleMania.
After a video package reminding us that Brock Lesnar
ended The Streak at ‘Mania XXX Cole asked how Lesnar overcame ‘The Dead Man’s’ “psychological
warfare”. ‘The Beast’ said he did it the same way he’s done everything else in
his life: he didn’t respect Undertaker. Heyman interjected to ask why people
were so surprised by the WM30 result or the previous night’s result. Nobody has
Lesnar’s credentials and he’s a true once in a lifetime talent.
Cole said he meant no disrespect and brought up Reigns.
Lesnar looked bored during the apology but smirked at the mention of Reigns. Being
rather blasé, Lesnar said he was happy for Reigns and hoped that he was up to
the challenge. Then he threw out a “baby” and called himself a steamroller.
When Cole asked if Reigns could stop his client Heyman
said “No.” The interview ended with Cole telling them he’d be interviewing
Reigns later in the show and Lesnar saying he’d stick around to meet him. It
was a great exchange that would have acted as a great introduction to the
Lesnar character. It gave you everything you needed to know: he mentioned his
amateur wrestling credentials and his UFC title win and Heyman made him out to
be the biggest draw in wrestling. It left you with no doubt that he’s a bad,
intimidating dude, albeit one who has inexplicably started calling people “baby”.
Byron Saxton was given the Roman Reigns interview. Reigns
talked about his Rumble win being incredible, mentioned his family (who I won’t
list here: if you’re interested check out that oracle of the modern age,
Wikipedia) and admitted he’s not the most experienced wrestler on the roster
but that he’s willing to get thrown in at the deep end and seize opportunities
when they come his way. He also stole Cena’s line about how good, honest,
hard-working punters are entitled to react however they like at WWE shows.
Reigns is happy simply being allowed to perform.
 |
| Dishy, no? |
When asked if he’d been hand-picked for success by WWE
higher ups Reigns didn’t actually refute the suggestion. He simply said if he
had been he’d have to thank them and explained that if it were true he’d still
need to perform at a high level in order to continue getting opportunities. It
seemed like an exchange designed to tease the idea that Reigns may be cool with
the idea of getting a bit of preferential treatment.
A few minutes later a replay of the Rumble Fallout show
was introduced. I’d highly recommend watching it in its entirety. It’s heavy on
Reigns giddily marking out during Rock promos designed to get him over as a
badass. But that wasn’t the focus here. What we were shown was Rusev
interrupting John Cena’s dejected mutterings about not winning his sixteenth
world title. We were told The Authority had “planned” Cena v Rusev for WrestleMania
but had brought it forward to Fast Lane, presumably because Cena and Rusev had
already put themselves on a collision course. Amusingly JBL ventured the
thought that Cena might be the guy to best Rusev as though it would in some way
come across as a controversial opinion.
In more Fast Lane news we were informed that Triple H had
issued a challenged to Sting to meet him face-to-face at the show. Something
tells me that challenge will be accepted.
A shot of Dean Ambrose arriving at HQ was shown. After a
break Byron Saxton caught up with him and asked how he got there. Ambrose said
he walked from Hartford to Stamford.Then he told a story about hitchhiking his
way there. Both stories can’t be true, so what this told us is that Ambrose is
a liar. But hey, ‘Lunatic Fringe’! Am I right?!
Ambrose said he’d turned up to prove a point: he's going
to make it to WrestleMania. That was literally all the reasoning that was given
for a man walking through a blizzard wearing nothing but jeans, a leather
jacket and a T-shirt with his own name on it. It was an embarrassing, hard to
watch segment. Ambrose is over based on his ability to connect with a crowd.
He's a good promo guy but nobody could have turned what he was given here, which
was essentially nothing, into something worthwhile. This is what Vince thinks a
loose cannon is and it's awful. It could not be more obvious that nobody in WWE
understands the Ambrose character or has any idea what to do with him.
 |
| Bryan's a Reigns fan. Who knew? Probably not even Bryan until he got the script. |
Interview number five saw Renee Young maxing and relaxing
with Daniel Bryan, who she described one of the most "newsworthy
superstars to come out of last night's Royal Rumble". Just stop and think
about that description for a few seconds and you, like me, will realise that it
is meaningless. They started out talking about Bryan’s 2014, how elated he was
to make it to ‘Mania based on the support of the fans and how difficult it was
to find out he’d suffered a potentially career-ending injury. They ended
nattering about Bryan’s casket match collision with Kane, which D-Bry vowed to
win because he wants to move on from ‘The Big Red Machine’. But it was the
stuff that sat in the middle of the interview that was most interesting.
Bryan said he’s disappointed Roman Reigns won the Royal
Rumble. Not because it was Reigns but because it wasn't him. He outlined the
David v Goliath scenario that could have been his match with Brock Lesnar but
said that the loss was ultimately his failure. It's on him. Reigns took the
opportunity of being in the Rumble and used it to win. He did, however, mention
that he didn't have The Rock helping him or WWE feeding him when he was a kid. Bryan’s
final Reigns related comments were that he has no doubt that Reigns can make
the same sacrifices as himself and Ziggler and Ambrose and put on a great show
against Lesnar.
On the one hand Bryan’s words were very clearly designed
to endorse Reigns. Bryan said he had the chance to win the Rumble, unlike last
year, and he didn’t. He wasn’t being held down, he just didn’t deliver the win
when it counted. But on the other hand that dig about Reigns getting help from
The Rock wasn’t exactly subtle. Although the framing of him as currently being
inferior to Bryan, Ziggler and Ambrose was. I expect in a few months times we’ll
be able to look back and point to this interview as the first sign of a Reigns
v Bryan rivalry.
The main event (I use that term loosely) saw Lesnar and Reigns
sit down with Cole. Although that didn’t last. Heyman immediately interrupted
to shake Reigns’ hand and congratulate him on his win. When Reigns said he
wouldn’t mind Heyman asking the questions (actually, his exact response was “I’ve
got nothing to hide”, which is neither a yes or a no) Heyman put on his
journalist hat and replaced Michael Cole.
Heyman said that he’s known Reigns’s family longer than Reigns
himself. He told stories about meeting various family members (again, consult
Wikipedia) during his time working as a photographer, promoter and manager
earlier in his career. He acknowledged that he’d first met Reigns when Reigns
was a kid and said he’s proud of him and respects him. It was interesting stuff
because it was so obviously real.
 |
| Wall-to-wall promos. It's what WWE's always wanted. |
The Rock was the last name he mentioned. The Rock knows Brock
Lesnar. In 2002 Rock was the champ, the top guy. He lost the title to Lesnar
and never asked for rematch. One match with Lesnar was all ‘The Brahma Bull’
could handle. What was interesting in that was that Heyman drew parallels
between Reigns and the young Lesnar: he said that Rock came up against a new
guy, like Reigns is the new guy, and stated his belief that Reigns is ‘The Next
Big Thing’. It was almost like Heyman was courting Reigns as a client or
hinting that he’d be willing to double cross Lesnar if Reigns were willing to
take him on as an agent.
Heyman said he gets it: Reigns is the one to beat the one
in 21-1. He told Reigns he wouldn’t be able to beat Lesnar and asked him how he’d
cope with disappointing his family like that.
Reigns squeaked his chair around to face the champion. He
told Lesnar he knows who and what he is and what he’s signed up for, but he
doesn’t think Lesnar knows what he’s in for. He said he’d beat him and take the
championship and that they both knew it. Lesnar’s response was to shoot to his
feet and offer a good, old fashioned test of strength handshake. At that point
Lesnar told Reigns that he’s not like Heyman, he doesn’t respect him.
"But you will" was Reigns’ action movie
response. A smirk from Reigns would have been better there. It would have
seemed more confident, like he doesn’t need to try convincing Lesnar or anyone
else.
Michael Cole described the Reigns-Lesnar confrontation as
“powerful and emotional”, before he, Booker T and JBL started shilling the
WrestleMania 31 main event. Naturally they all agreed it was going to be
amazing.
And that was RAW. Considering the limitations they were
under I think it was a great show. They got Reigns’ push on track, acknowledged
the disappointment people feel at Daniel Bryan not losing, set some stuff up
for Fast Lane, covered the Lesnar, Ambrose and Rollins characters, and started
working on the main event for their biggest show of the year. In fact it as so
smooth that I can’t help but think WWE would rather present shows like this
than bother with arenas and all that bothersome non-pay-per-view wrestling.
