WWE RAW Report (August 18, 2014): Brock Lesnar gets a new belt, Dean Ambrose gets a movie
By Ryan Ritter
Stephanie is one of the top performers in the WWE. The Bella Twins…not so much.
Stephanie McMahon’s troll game ascended to new heights. Coming out to Daniel Bryan’s music plus aping both the “YES!” chant and shirt and turning it into “STEPH!”, immediately put the Vegas crowd into hot, nuclear heat mode.
There is no doubt that Stephanie has transformed into one of the top heels and, for that matter, performers in all of the WWE. The Bella Twins, in comparison, are boat anchors.
As Steph executes everything to perfection, Nikki practically face-planted walking down the ramp. She then delivered a whiny promo that really didn’t seem to hit any mark and brought in more ridiculous Total Divas drama. Poor Steph is trying to cue her and help her along, but it just doesn’t work.
On top of all that, it appeared that Brie missed a cue to walk out (or someone failed to hit her music) as Stephanie practically repeats one of Nikki’s lines while Nikki tries her best not to laugh. Eventually, Brie emerges, confronts her sister, forgets that she’s supposed to speak so that the mic her sister is holding captures it, and eventually gets slapped in the face to bring the segment to a merciful end.
I’m really worried about where this program goes as we transition from Steph vs. Brie to Nikki vs. Brie. Now that Nikki gave her motivations, I think Stephanie becoming her Paul Heyman mouth piece would be great. As for Brie, just keep the mic work to a minimum. The heat’s established, just have the two of them tell their story in the ring.
Anyone up for a super-hoss tag team match?
It’s not often that you will witness someone facing off against people like Mark Henry and the Big Show and have the physical ability to go toe-to-toe with them, but Luke Harper and Erik Rowan fit that bill.
This match was just good, simple fun to witness. Rowan scoop-slammed the Big Show. Everyone could deliver vicious strikes that could knock each competitor off their feet.
And the end? Simply awesome. Harper kicked his own partner into Henry as he attempted to deliver the World’s Strongest Slam. Soon after, the Big Show threw two knockout punches, one of which served as a chain for a successful World’s Strongest Slam to win the match.
Sure the tag team of Show/Henry was effectively broken up later in the evening, but we got a good, fun match before it happened.
https://vine.co/v/M3TnHOIbJE5
“What? It’s for charity.”
Dean Ambrose, you’re my hero.
RAW could’ve replayed this bit for the remainder of the show and I would’ve been happy. I don’t think I’ve laughed so hard at anything the WWE has done.
Dean is just perfect. His facial expression just has the look of “come on, buddy, I thought we were doing something good” which gives the immediate bucket to the face that much more comedic effect.