Instant Reaction - WWE Raw 12/9
By Benjamin Tucker, PWTorch TV specialist

Overall Score - 4.5

The 2014 edition of the Slammy Awards managed to disappoint, as the gimmick tends to do every year. Why is that? Well, considering the treatment of the concept, the quality of the show turns out to be a self-fulfilling prophecy. No one is willing to take the Slammys seriously with ridiculous trophy names, such as the "OMG Moment of the Year" award. Considering the over-the-top nature of the Slammys historically, it has been proven that there is a place for that concept to be used. However, using it as the main thrust of the company's flagship show, interweaving awards throughout key storylines and treating the trophies as though they have some form of importance, muddies the effectiveness of the novelty of the idea.

The lack of "specialness" given to the awards show makes it feel less important as well. Remember the 1987 Slammys with the Honky Tonk Man singing on-stage? What happened this year? RVD showed up and regurgitated some lines fed to him. If WWE is going to create a tone-deaf gimmick to drive an entire three-hour broadcast, don't do so in a half-baked manner. The lack of an over-arching story to Raw damaged the overall quality of the program, and the interference of the Slammys played a large part in creating that dilemma.

Fortunately for WWE, the two largest successes of the night's broadcast were the two most important aspects of the show. Bray Wyatt finally cut a true, black and white heel promo cutting down the fans, and his subsequent brawl with Dean Ambrose was effective while not advertising the TLC gimmick Sunday in a hamfisted manner. While Ambrose's momentum has slowly cooled over the last two months, he continues to feel like a breath of fresh air in the WWE upper mid-card. His dynamic with Wyatt was perfectly portrayed tonight, with Ambrose being the first Superstar "unstable" enough to beat Wyatt at his own manipulative game. Wyatt, after seemingly stalling after his latest character reboot, is taking every opportunity possible to flesh out and continue to evolve his character. If the announce team had any inkling of understanding how to explain the developments of this feud, the segment would have been a complete home run. Sadly, WWE seems to live in a world where everyone is obligated to wear ear plugs.

The post-main event brawl was also effective in putting heat on the heels for TLC. While the use of tables, ladders, chairs, and stairs felt forced (as it has throughout the month), the fact remains that it successfully hyped this Sunday as being filled with carnage and memorable spots. Each face talent was given individual time to shine as well, which is definitely a plus, but the star of the group happened to be the heel Seth Rollins. Between accepting Slammys that did not belong to him and exuding rage when Sting's name was brought up by guest host Seth Green (who, by the way, seemed knowledgeable about the product and was a welcome addition to the broadcast), Rollins developed his heel persona even further tonight, continuing to increase the villainous nature of his character at a lightning speed. The last time I have seen such a rise was, as stated in prior weeks, with Triple H's ascension in late 1999. It has been a treat to watch him break out into his own in 2014, arguably more so than either of his Shield brethren. Within six months he has developed a killer look, continues to wrestle consistently fantastic matches, and is incredibly in-tune with his character. Great stuff.

I would say that he is my Superstar of the Year... but according to WWE, I should be referring to Roman Reigns. Attribute it to paranoia, but I have more than a slight feeling that WWE rigged the "Superstar of the Year" poll in Roman Reigns's favor. Is this a bad thing? On its own, no. But, the thought of WWE forcing another new "Face of the WWE" down our throats makes me shudder. Gone are the days of Hulk Hogan, who can walk into Madison Square Garden with a month of hype behind him, steamroll through the Iron Sheik and immediately take the reigns of the company away from Bob Backlund. We still know nothing about Roman Reigns. What does he stand for? Why is he in WWE? The last long-term WWE champion who faced this dilemma was Diesel. And he was one of the lowest-drawing WWF/E champions of all-time during a poor era for WWF/E. Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it...

The rest of the show felt either inconsequential (the milquetoast New Day's Kofi Kingston getting a forgettable win) or repetitious (John Cena vs. Big Show. Again.). All matches for TLC that were not advertised in the two segments mentioned in the first half of this article were relegated to filler segments that incited zero interest for their respective pay-per-view bouts. Even NXT Takeover on Thursday was treated like an afterthought, with the dominant NXT Women's champion losing in two-and-a-half minutes to resident Divas division jobber Natalya.

So, in general, Raw felt like more of the same. It's shows like this where I think of the multitude of ways that WWE could spice up their drab three-hour telecasts: cruiserweight division, Television Title, studio talking segments, etc. But in the end, every scenario requires a Creative team that is not on life support. Considering's WWE current quality of writing, this is about as good as WWE will consistently get. Adequate hype and storytelling for a few feuds, and not much for anything else, tone deaf segments that destroy a show's pacing, etc. If you want something bland yet reliable, today's WWE is for you. If you want something else, then you can check out the archives on the WWE Network. Hey, that's an effective ad!

Any questions or comments? Message me on Twitter @BTuckertorch!

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