WWE RAW (January 25, 2016)

Original Airdate: January 25, 2016

So, I attended WWE Monday Night RAW last night in Miami (the night after the Royal Rumble), and thought I would do a quickie BUExperience on the show. This won’t be a full review, but just based on some notes I took from the arena, and any additional thoughts from memory. All ratings are fast-and-loose, since I’m not going to rewatch this show

From Miami, Florida; Your Host is me, ‘cause I ain’t talkin' about TV

This is my first WWE event since a house show in January 2014. I brought my brother along with me, who has no interest in wrestling whatsoever. Like, even calling him a ‘casual fan’ would be going too far. Despite growing up with me, and his best friend also being a big fan, the only two wrestlers he could pick out of a lineup are Hulk Hogan and The Rock. He's heard of guys like Steve Austin, John Cena, and Bret Hart, but wouldn't know them if they were standing in front of him. So, he joined me for what would be the first wrestling show he's ever seen (in person or otherwise), and I found his reactions to be really interesting (especially to things that have long become par for the course for me), and I'll make note of them throughout this

The arena wasn’t near full. The upper decks were mostly closed off, and the side where the hard camera is had a lot of holes in it, while the side visible on television was pretty full (though, with the upper decks closed). Our seats were just opposite the hard camera, towards the top of the lower level, which were excellent seats. We arrived just as the Superstars taping was ending, with Titus O’Neil beating Tyler Breeze

Vince McMahon and Stephanie McMahon started off the show gloating over Triple H's title/Rumble win the night before, before introducing Triple H himself to give a long winded promo in which he said the word 'respect' about three hundred times. The meat of this segment wasn't bad, but it just felt endless without the benefit of a FF TiVo button. The section I was sitting in was right where Roman Reigns usually comes down towards the ring, and during the promo, two guards took their positions there, leading everyone to think Reigns would be coming down during the McMahon yap-fest, but he never did. This segment ran nearly twenty minutes, and by brother could not understand why they were spending so long talking

They advertised the return of a major star tonight, and pretty much everyone was expecting The Rock - which my brother and I were both hoping for, since he's a Miami native, and we dig the guy

Dolph Ziggler v Kevin Owens: This was a decent match. I liked that Owens was still selling the brutality of the Last Man Standing match from the Rumble throughout. There was some nice back-and-forth stuff here, before Owens put him away with the Pop-Up Powerbomb at about 9:00 (I wasn't using a stopwatch or anything). My brothers take on this was that, while it was obvious that this wasn't a real fight, he appreciated it for the story they were telling and was impressed with it in the same way one might be by seeing a world class stunt show. * ¾

Backstage, Roman Reigns says stuff. I know crowds have been hit or miss with him, but he got the third strongest reaction of the night whenever he was involved - behind only The Rock and AJ Styles

The Social Outcasts come out to run an angle with Flo Rida (sitting in the front row). My brother immediately hated the Social Outcasts, and thought Adam Rose could use an ass kicking just for his stupid cheap Elvis sunglasses, and 'slicked back Euro trash hair.' He did like seeing Flo Rida getting involved, but the hate for the Social Outcasts in general left a bad taste in our mouths. It was like the taste you’d get in your mouth after X-Pac has been there

The Dudley Boyz v Curtis Axel and Bo Dallas: I promised by brother that someone would be going through a table here, if nothing else. And that Flo Rida would likely get involved in the finish. The match was fairly dull, but my brother was very happy to see Adam Rose get punched. He was also impressed with the Wassup Drop, both for the timing and the comedy of seeing someone get hit in the nuts. It's kinda weird to think that someone has never seen that, considering how many times I've seen it done. Death Drop finished Axel off at about 5:00. Sadly, no one went through a table, but Flo Rida's involvement was popular with the crowd. ½*

Backstage, AJ Styles says stuff, but Chris Jericho interrupts to say more stuff. The crowd was really hot for AJ

Chris Jericho v AJ Styles: Strong reception and welcome for Styles. This was, by far, the best match of the night, as both guys worked really hard, and delivered a strong back-and-forth bout before Styles won a reversal sequence for the pin at about 14:00. As a non-fan, this was my brothers favorite match of the night as well, as he appreciated the complexity of pulling off the spots. Now a couple of matches into the show, he said that his enjoyment comes from just imagining that there are two Jackie Chan's in the ring, and appreciating it for the art of doing their moves without killing each other. I also liked his non-fan take on the spot where Jericho had Styles in the Walls, but AJ kept trying to power out. 'Just sit back down!' ** ½

There's a limo backstage, that might contain the 'major star'

Sasha Banks v Becky Lynch: By brother is excited at the prospect of women wrestlers, but quickly loses interest when he realizes they aren't close to as good as the men. He notes that, to him, everything they do looks completely phony, compared to the men’s matches where, while he knows they are working together, it at least looks somewhat real, and high impact. The women didn't. I told him these were two of the better female wrestlers, and he commented that they should probably not bother then. The match ended in a no-contest when Charlotte attacked both ladies at about 4:00, which is another wrestling thing my brother found weird. He did think Ric Flair was cool, though. ¼*

Backstage, Goldust wants R-Truth to be his partner, which Truth misinterprets as an invite for gay sex. Well, it is Miami. Funny segment due to Truth's hilarious reactions to Goldust ('I'm a married man!'), and the crowd was laughing along

Kane v Bray Wyatt: It was about 9:30 at this point, and we were getting hungry. I told my brother that this match wouldn't be very good anyway, so it was a good time for us to take a break, but I did want to stay for Bray's entrance first - which was really cool in person. We're both Harry Potter fans, and we thought it reminded us of the scene in Half Blood Prince where everyone lights up their wands in honor of Dumbledore, so that was neat. We left right after the entrances though, so I have no idea how the match went, abut I'll just assume it sucked

At this point, we went out in search of snacks. We stopped at one of the cool outdoor terraces that the American Airlines Arena has, which offers beautiful views of the bay and skyline of downtown Miami. Tonight, the impressive Kismet super yacht was docked in Miami, and it is an incredible sight. Definitely better to look at than Bray Wyatt versus Kane. We walked around checking out the food vendors, but the majority of them had already shut down for the night, so the choices were down to Papa Johns, ice cream, donuts, or a burger place. I wanted some mixed nuts, but that guy was closed (and kind of an asshole), so I didn't get anything, and my brother just got some overpriced fries from the burger place

While we were out there, we could hear a lot of loud cheering, which I knew couldn't possibly have been for the Wyatt/Kane match, unless maybe Brock Lesnar had showed up to suplex all the Wyatt's. I figured something big was going down, so I abandoned my brother in the French fry line, and went back to my seat - where I was greeted with THE ROCK on the screen, interacting with Big Show. I quickly texted 'Rock Rock Rock' to my brother, and sat down to watch. The crowd was hanging on Rock's every word, and his lines were funny. My brother made it back right as Rock was finishing his funny interaction with Rusev/Lana, and making his way out into the arena - the roof nearly blowing off the place! Even my brother was chanting 'Rocky.' Rock's interaction with the guys dressed as Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage (who were sitting on the opposite side of the arena prior to the segment, and moved), and The Undertaker were all really well received by the crowd. When the New Day's music hit, everyone knew we were in for a treat, and everyone enjoyed their interaction - especially when Rock got physically involved. Best segment of the night, by far

Paige and Natalya v Brie Bella and Alicia Fox: The crowd was pretty spent from The Rock, and the show never really hit that apex again afterwards. No one cared about this, and my brother was shocked at how terrible the women are again. Ram-Paige finished Brie at around 3:00. DUD

WWE United States Title Match: Kalisto v The Miz: By this point, the crowd had already gotten what they wanted with The Rock, and just wanted to get to the main event. This match didn't help the general lethargic feeling, as it was really flat, and seemed to go on forever before Kalisto finally put him away with the Salida Del Sol at about 10:00. Would have been better at around five minutes, because there was a lot of chinlocking here. ¾*

Main Event: Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose v Rusev and Sheamus: Roman finally makes his entrance through the crowd, right through our section - which was cool. Good match too, with the heels doing a nice job of cutting the ring in half, and helping the babyface’s build support. My brother liked Dean Ambrose's suicidal style, though he thought his punches looked terrible. He got into the finish too, and even popped when Reigns Speared Sheamus at around 15:00. * ½

Even though there was another match scheduled for after the show went off the air (and possibly more with The Rock), we left as soon as the bell sounded to end the main event, since it was already past eleven o'clock, we both had to be up in the morning, and traffic would have been a nightmare had we waited for the very end

BUExperience: I had a great time! Three hours is long on TV, but it flew by in person, and even a non-fan like my brother enjoyed himself. It was nothing like what he expected it to be, and he was pleasantly surprised by the performances and the general atmosphere. The segment with The Rock made everyone’s night, and had the show not had another full hour to go after that, it probably would have been even better, as literally everything after Rock’s segment fell flat with the crowd – though the main event was good. I understand why they wanted Rock on around the ten o’clock hour, but had they saved him for later, the crowd would have been more energetic for the final third of the show. While this event didn’t make a hardcore fan out of my brother, he felt like he would definitely go again if they came back to town, and so would I