WWE RAW review: Looking back at the Legends, few Superstars and Divas

Hulk Hogan dressed as Santa on Monday night Raw

Raw was a culmination of legends coming back home, the crowd showing support much like what goes around on the internet, some repetitive bouts and some good build up for feuds.

Hulkamania goes Ho Ho Ho

Hulk Hogan returned to Raw and looked absolutely ridiculous in a Santa costume. Wasn’t Foley synonymous with it? Enter Cena and Rollins and the usual banter. No matter how many times Rollins puts his body on the line, no matter how many times Super Cena goes over and continues playing his virtuoso character to point, this feud lacks chemistry. These two have failed to garner any interest.

The one point that lingers on in this feud is Rollins’ undying quest to get Cena to bring back the Authority. As any of you who have been following this storyline would know that Vince McMahon announced that if The Authority loses at Survivor Series, they’ll be done. And only John Cena could bring them back.

If that happens or if Creative makes this look like a possible scenario, then things might get interesting with this feud. For most of the part, this feud is just filler until Cena meets Lesnar for their showdown at Royal Rumble.

Piper’s Back

Roddy Rowdy Piper returned for the latest edition of Piper’s Pit with Rusev and Lana and it definitely and inevitably had Ryback making an appearance. Now, here’s a feud that people are talking about and are interested to watch as nobody can predict what’s going to happen.

Everybody knows that the management is high on Ryback, that reflects in the way he’s been protected and the many pushes his career has received. Rusev, on the other hand, hasn’t lost via pinfall or submission.

Essentially, he hasn’t lost clean yet. Nobody has been able to get this guy down for a three count or made him submit. If Ryback loses, he becomes just another superstar Rusev crushes. If Rusev loses, then that’s a bigger moment.

Sure, his streak is not as prestigious as Undertaker’s streak but it is quite an impressive extension of his gimmick. This feud should have Ryback beat Rusev clean once, to make it a meaningful rivalry between the two.

Of the two legends’ appearances, at least one paved the way for the future.

The Standout

On the other hand, the Divas had a decent showing on Raw- something that is unheard of on a consistent basis. There was a pointless six divas tag match but what stood out was the crowd’s appreciation for Paige. She lost the match but it indicated that Paige won’t be forgotten anytime sooner and she deserves to have a decent storyline going and good feud.

In an era which has jaded away the attention once reserved for the divas division, it is an important point to note that someone is popular with the crowd. Sure, her feud with AJ was underwhelming but onus for this falls majorly on Creative which wasn’t able to put a storyline to it marring feud with multiple back and forth title wins.

The other divas match consisted of Brie Bella and Natalya and it was quite a good match, even though it was short. Natalya picked up the win and celebrated with the divas title raised above. Is that an indication that she may be in title contention soon?

Nikki and Brie Bella are two very underrated performers in the divas division. Sure, they represent that phase in the WWE when models were given more preference than skilled, trained wrestlers. But they have improved quite a lot over the years and they can bring about a decent match with the likes of wrestlers like Natalya and Paige.