Monday Night Raw Review - October 5, 2015

Could Big E beat John Cena for the U.S. title?

By Graham "GSM" Matthews
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Brock Lesnar Attacked Big Show

Lesnar always adds a little extra something special every time he's makes a live appearance on Raw. I was hoping to hear one of his classic one-liners, but no such luck. Instead, we were treated to a great Paul Heyman promo talking about demolishing Big Show at MSG on Saturday and now shifting his sights to The Undertaker at Hell in a Cell. I initially groaned when Big Show interrupted, but it was a wise way of writing him out of the tag team match later in the show and giving us fans in attendance a bonus with him getting physical and laying out Show with an F5. It was a hot opener and one of the better segments of the entire evening. Unsurprisingly, he probably scored the loudest reaction, too.


Roman Reigns, Dean Ambrose and Randy Orton def. The Wyatt Family

I thought at one point we would see this at Hell in a Cell, but with Reigns vs. Bray Wyatt one-on-one already confirmed for the event, it was logical to hold this six-man leading up to it. I just fear we'll see several rematches over the next three weeks. Nevertheless, it was an entertaining matchup that received plenty of time. It made the first hour of the show fly by and I'd argue all the chaos that ensued toward the end made it better than the Night of Champions match. Reigns vs. Wyatt should be good if they're allowed to go all out as they have been in recent weeks.

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Brock Lesnar lays waste to Big Show.

Sheamus def. Neville

Obviously, Sheamus calling Neville a loser and subsequently having Neville lose to someone who loses equally as often didn't do him any favors. I'm well-aware it was only after King Barrett distracted him at ringside, but still. I'm amazed at how quickly Neville has cooled off since his debut six months ago. The guy has so much to offer from an in-ring standpoint, and while I think the fans like him because of his talent, they know he will likely never get beyond a certain level, especially with how they've been booking him on the main roster so far. It's also hard to care about another Neville vs. Barrett feud when we just saw it a few months ago and neither of them are the least bit credible at the moment.


WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins Interrupted Kane

As previously noted, I liked the way they wrote Big Show out of the tag team match and allowed Kane to sneak his way in there instead. This was one of the better promo exchanges these two have had, but merely because it wasn't given as much time as past segments have. I wish they'd simply do away with Corporate Kane and simply focus on Demon Kane, but it looks like we're in for another few weeks of Corporate Kane with the stipulation of Rollins vs. Kane being that if Rollins wins, Corporate Kane is done. It makes the ending outcome of that match fairly obvious, but did anyone honestly think Kane was winning the belt anyway?


Natalya def. Paige

They've done a nice job of building toward this bout in recent weeks, but it would have benefited greatly from a backstage segment or something along those lines. Without it, it was a pretty straightforward singles match without any storyline support. They worked a decent match that wasn't rushed, and while I'm happy Natalya scored a win for once, Paige didn't look too credible in defeat by tapping out. Any momentum she scored from turning heel a few weeks ago has been squandered with this clean loss in addition to all the awful stuff with the other Team PCB stablemates.


Intercontinental Champion Kevin Owens def. Sin Cara (Non-title)

If you thought Sin Cara had a chance in hell of beating Owens, shame on you. I guess they set this match up on the Raw Kickoff show, but because I don't watch the Kickoff show, I didn't know about it and I'm sure I wasn't the only one. I was surprised it was Sin Cara in the ring and Kalisto, who I think is the far better Lucha Dragon. The match was kept short and sweet, Owens got a nice win out of it and they furthered his feud with Ryback afterward, so this was well done all around.


John Cena and Roman Reigns Honored Breast Cancer Survivors

Regardless of what you think of the Susan G. Komen fund, it's always awesome to see WWE join forces with the charity every year to raise awareness for breast cancer. The best part of all is seeing the survivors with smiles on their faces in the ring, and I'm happy to say this segment received one out the loudest reactions of the night as it should have been. On a side note, it says a lot about what WWE thinks of Reigns right now in that he was in the ring alongside Cena while everyone else stood on the stage.


The Dudley Boyz def. WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins and Kane by Disqualification

I liked the follow-up to Kane's attacks on The Dudley Boyz from SmackDown and how they sought revenge. You would think something as simple as that would be logical, but WWE has neglected SmackDown for so long that you would think they'd just have viewers forget about it. The match itself, however, was pretty boring, mostly because everyone and their mother knew Kane was coming back out as the "Demon." I assumed he'd return before the match ended, so the non-finish was lame. Obviously, Kane standing tall is WWE's way of trying to build him back up last minute, and Rollins will be retaining come Hell in a Cell.


Team B.A.D. def. Team Bella

The faction wars continue to irk me, but it was cool to see Sasha get some hometown love. Again, one would think it'd be obvious she'd be on the show in Boston, but you can never know for sure with WWE. Team B.A.D. were full babyfaces on this show and Sasha was one of the most beloved people of the night (needless to say). It was a better six-woman tag team match I initially expected it to be and Sasha scoring the win for her team was a nice boost for her going into the upcoming NXT TakeOver: Respect show.


Summer Rae Proposed to Rusev

I've been very vocal throughout this entire Rusev-Summer-Ziggler-Lana saga in regards to how horrible it's been, but admittedly, this exceeded my expectations big time. Perhaps it was because the crowd loved it and was into it, and I'm not sure how it came across on TV, but it was funny stuff and Rusev knows his character so well. And hey, the acting wasn't atrocious! I'm mildly intrigued to see where they go from here and if it means Rusev is going back after the United States Championship.


United States Champion John Cena def. Big E

I was hoping for a bigger surprise to answer Cena's U.S. Open Challenge, but you can never go wrong with The New Day. Cena and Big E produced a solid match, but the title never felt like it was in any real jeopardy. They had great chemistry together and everything up until the finish was entertaining. What was even cooler was seeing The Dudley Boyz, Cena and Dolph Ziggler get laid out by New Day afterward. It was major rub for the tag team champs and something new, so I appreciated it.


​Overall Show

While I thought it was a good show, a part of that is due to how I was there in attendance, so I'm biased in that respect. It was better than most of the recent editions of Raw, but not by much. The first half hour or so was fantastic, but the rest of the episode dragged a bit after that. You can always count on Boston for being a lively bunch, though. Nevertheless, I had a fun time and I look forward to the next time WWE travels to Boston for the TLC pay-per-view in December.

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