WrestlingNerd Presents: WWE Raw 9/16/13 Review (Rebellion)

What up wrestling fans, I'm the WrestlingNerd bringing you another written review. Today we take a look at WWE Raw 9/16/13. After the events of Night of Champions, what happens next? Let's find out and begin. 

Here lies Daniel Bryan's hopes and dreams

We open up the show with Daniel Bryan. As you would guess, Bryan is talking about his WWE Championship victory. Wow, what a moment for the man! So, where's the part of the show where the man with the big nose crushes his dreams? Oh, there he is! Right on time! After a replay system that makes you question the NFL replay system, Scott Armstrong admits that he made a fast count and claims he and DB were working together in order to ensure Bryan's championship victory. Bryan denies these claims, but Trips has heard more than enough to strip DB of the WWE Championship. Bryan refuses, but he eventually has no choice but to fork it over…

Randy Orton arrives and the two are about to fight, but it's revealed that Orton ISN'T the WWE Champion and things will get figured out at a later time. I should note that by the end of the night, we still don't know the fate of the WWE Championship, so we currently have no world champion at the moment…

Very intriguing backstage scene where Orton was acting like a crybaby for not getting his championship back, but Stephanie puts him in his place and claims Orton deserved to lose since he's not the same, vicious, Randy Orton who made their lives a living hell. That was definitely something. Looks like Randy is gonna have to look himself in the mirror and find that sadistic snake. This is definitely an interesting turn of events, so definitely a positive start to the show. Although, it's kinda sad that this opening might've been more engaging than the entire NoC PPV. I should note that much later in the evening, Armstrong would get fired for his actions at the PPV. Armstrong didn't seem thrilled about the news, but Trips insures that Armstrong will be taken care of. So, how much did Armstrong sell his soul to the Game? I would like to know. 

Yay, filler time!

The rematch between Dolph Ziggler and Dean Ambrose might've been better than their match from last night. I liked their match from last night, but this felt like it was given more time and thus, felt more fleshed out. Dolph defeats Ambrose with the Zig Zag in this non-title match. Well, that evens the score so far in the rivalry. I look forward to the rematch. Did King just say 'Paul-rus'? Ugggggggggggh… who's keeps writing King and Cole's jokes, Chuggaaconroy? Later on in the show, the diva match didn't feature AJ or Natalya in the ring, but they were on commentary. Yeah, it's one of those matches were listening to the banter is more entertaining than the actual match. Seriously, name one thing that happened in the match from the top of your head? I bet you can't do it since nobody remembers it. I don't even know who was in the match. I think that should sum it up right there. Although, I will admit that the interaction between AJ and Natalya was fun, but it felt like Natalya came off as a spoiled child. I can't really explain it, but that's just how I felt. 

Unleash bitch-mode

After fast-forwarding through the Fandango/R-Truth match, the American Dream, Dusty Rhodes arrives with something to say. Dusty pretty much wants the opportunity for Cody Rhodes to get his job back. Stephanie says Cody does have the opportunity to get his job back, but he can also give the job to Goldust. It's up to Dusty to decide who gets their job, Cody or Dustin. Wow, what a bitch! Dusty decides he will not do such a thing and tells Steph to go to hell. After the Shield and Big Show arrive to the party, Steph orders Show to knock out Dusty. Once Show starts to shed the tears, he apologizes to Dusty and knocks him out, but not before catching him. As you would understand, Show only did the attack since he knew the Shield would've done something much, MUCH worse to the Hall of Famer, so he took the bullet once again. I know people don't like the sniveling, Big Show, but I personally don't mind it since he plays his part very well. Still, this does ask the question at what point does Show start to rebel against the corporation? By the way, has anyone noticed that anything involving the people wanting to rebel, Booker T is somewhere in the scene? Just something I wanted to point out since its become a regular thing. So the Rhodes/McMahon family dilemma continues to grow. Just like the DB/corporation deal, this is another feud that could turn into a potential Survivor Series match, but not sure about that. The merits are there, but I'm sure something along the lines of a war can get the green light. 

Yay, more filler!

RVD hits the Frog Splash on Damien Sandow and the winner is Damien Sandow…what? Sorry, the entrance music said otherwise. Somebody hit the wrong button in the back. That dude better be care. Trips has already fired two people in his ego trip and can definitely get ride of somebody else in the process. In other filler performances, the Usos defeated Tons of Saturated Fat and Almost Real Americans to become the #1 Contender to the tag titles. Where were the Prime Time Players? Well, my guess is they forgot to set their alarm clock. While it seems the WWE wants to do something with the tag division, but it isn't clear as to what exactly. They were going with the Usos for a while, but then they went with the PTP, but now they're back to the Usos. It's usually the championships that get the hot potato treatment, not the #1 Contendership. It just feels a little odd to say the least. 

Randy's anger

Randy got an opportunity to unleash that evvvvvvvil persona once more and he does it by attacking Miz before the match. In fact, he would pretty much kill the Miz right in front of the Miz's parents. I know this is pro wrestling and everything for the most part is staged, but it would've been a nice touch to see his parents jump the guardrail and get held back by security as they try to help their son. I mean, if your child was getting the crapped kicked out of him, wouldn't you go in there and do something about it or just stand there and watch? This is a minor complaint and the scene still gets its point across, but I would've appreciated the extra effort. Like I said, the scene did its job to set up the fact that Randy Orton has mega evolved in Mega Orton, king of jackasses. Hmmm, perhaps Trips told Armstrong to do the fast count in order to not only kick DB in the balls once more, but to unleash the evil side of Orton? It's not a bad theory if you think about it. 

Kiss of death

Paul Heyman comes out to gloat about the fact he defeated CM Punk in a match, while Ryback claims he attacked Punk because he doesn't like bullies. Yeah, the bully doesn't like bullies. Try to figure that one out. To add to the creepy atmosphere, Pauly kisses Ryback on the forehead and Ryback really seemed to get off on it. I haven't seen him this happy since he forced somebody to take a shower. Yeah, we're learning a lot today. As for Curtis Axel, I almost forgot he was there. Maybe he can go make Ryback and Pauly a couple of sandwiches. He's gotta do something, right? Anyway, I still like the progress of this storyline and I think the edition of Ryback will be a great plus since Axel is still young and Brock Lesnar isn't always available. 

And now, chaos!

The final match of the night was Daniel Bryan vs Roman Reigns. I wasn't sure what to expect with this one, but I was surprised. The match was pretty damn good. Check it out if you're curious. The finish comes when Randy interferes, thus resulting in a no contest. After the match, Shield and Randy take down Bryan and it seems Bryan is about to get the Miz treatment, but some talents in the WWE have grown tired of the corporation's treatment. The rebellion consisted of RVD, Dolph, PTP (they finally woke up), Usos, Zack Ryder, Justin Gabriel, Kofi Kingston, and R-Truth. The show ends with the rebels taking out the Shield and celebrating with DB. Oh boy, the evvvvvvil, big, bad, corporation is gonna be furious. Well, Trips technically didn't put any repercussions if you helped Bryan so he can't fire them, but you can bet some 'punishment' will be on the way. You had to figure at some point, people would be willing to risk their careers to do the right thing. If anything, I expect to see some type of punishment on this upcoming Smackdown. If that's the case, it could be something to check out later in the week. 

Overall Impression:

This was a major improvement over Night of Champions. If you checked my review on the PPV, you would know that I was overall disappointed with the event and just something I don't want to go back and watch. Thankfully, WWE realized the error of their ways and put together a pretty entertaining episode of Raw. Not an episode I would put in my top five of 2013, but still an episode that the majority of wrestling fans will get an enjoyment out of. Check it out and judge for yourself. That does it for the review and I hope you enjoyed it. Tell me what you thought of my review or tonight's show. I will see you guys and girls in the next one.