[2013-10-14-WWE-Raw] Goldust & Cody Rhodes vs Roman Reigns & Seth Rollins

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Superstar Sleeze]

WWE World Tag Champs The Shield vs The Brothers Rhodes - RAW 10/14/13 No DQ

 

Tremendous finish, but a pedestrian beginning make this too uneven of an affair to be considered a MOTYC for me. Even though this was a NO DQ match, it was wrestled as a normal mid-show RAW match (it was the main event of RAW). Where was all that energy and urgency that they showed at the PPV? Yes, the finish made for a very memorable moment, but I felt there was too much of a disconnect from the beginning until the finish.

 

For instance, the shine sequence was perfectly adequate with Rollins bumping around until Ambrose trips up Cody and the Shield takes over. It just did not have me popping out of my seat. Rollins seemed subdued bumping and the Rhodes were just hitting their spots. Reigns was awesome asking Rollins if he wanted to get some payback and yanking Cody's nose while Rollins kicked him. They tease the Alabama Slamma, but Rollins rolls through and Cody jumps over him to tag big brother. Goldust lights up me and the crowd moving around like he was 20 years younger. Gotta love the Shattered Dreams/Bulldog combo, the best of Dustin Rhodes and Goldust in one combo. Dustin takes his favorite the missed cross body crashing to the outside to send us to commercial. Goldust is a great FIP really keeping the crowd into it with well-timed hope spots and awesome selling. Since WWE feels like it has turned the clock back, Goldust's use of backslides and atomic drops dont feel out of place at all. Goldust springboard back elbow, but Seth sends Cody flying off the apron. Rollins mocks the Bizarre One and eats a powerslam for his insolence. Tag to Cody and once again he rocks the hot tag pretty well. I love the moment where Reigns does his howl and Cody just fuckin punches in the face, perfect response. At this point, if Cody finished the Shield with the CrossRhodes I would have called this an above average match that was enjoyable, but of course here come the fireworks.

 

Ambrose is in and just attacks Cody. Finally, No DQ! They are preparing for the Triple Powerbomb, but Goldust wreaks havoc with a steel chair. However, as Roman Reigns eloquently points out, he is an idiot and drops the chair and you NEVER drop the chair. Amateur hour from Goldy. But Reigns does not turn it sideways and stick straight up his bizarre candy ass. In fact, he eats a cross-body with it on his chest, great sell by Reigns. Outside the ring, Cody goes for the Disaster Kick, but Rollins catches him and powerbombs him into barricade. Ok, that was awesome, go ahead and chant it. Thank you, St. Louis. It is atomic drop-palooza and Reigns sells it the best since the heyday of the Ravishing One. We end up outside and Goldust is near the timekeeper's table. Ruh roh. REIGNS WIPES OUT GOLDUST! The Shield looks to retain, but here comes THE BIG SHOW! Knocks out Ambrose and Rollins. Reigns duck the Disaster Kick, but eats the Big Show's knuckle sandwhich and the Brother Rhodes win the titles in St. Louis!

 

In October of 2013, WWE was at the top of their game in terms of intersecting storylines and delivering hot payoffs. They would return to the norm of linear storytelling with limited interactions, but for a couple months it was very interesting. Unfortunately, there were a couple miscasts. I think Big Show was a very sympathetic babyface and for him to help The Rhodes win and knock out HHH were great payoffs. However, his main event against Orton was a misfire because at the end of the day it is 2013 and people just dont want to see him in the main event any more. Unfortunately too, after this the Brothers Rhodes became an afterthought even though they would still have great matches at Hell In A Cell and TLC. They were not given any promo time or storyline direction. Regardless, the Authority/Shield storyline was badass and gave two great babyface moments and great matches. ****

[dawho5]

I would agree on the Show thing. He did have a nice run as whipping boy #2/Bryan's backup. Even if the first two weeks after Summerslam the booking was trying to tell us to transfer all of that Bryan love over to Big Show rather forcefully. Loving the Rhodes brothers stuff up through HIAC. Only bothersome stuff is the back body drop counters. I hate both of their spots for that.

 

One thing that bothered me about this match was the whole no DQ stipulation. If it's no DQ how is the ref chasing people out of the ring? Why can't Rollins, Reigns and Ambrose just beat the fuck out of the Rhodes brothers? On what grounds would the ref DQ them or in any way interfere? It's almost like they forgot the stip when they laid out the match. Match was really good as a tag match, but the fact that they ignored the stipulation until it was convenient bothered the Hell out of me.

[supersonic]

Another excellent tag match from these two teams, with Triple H making the No DQ stipulation to give the advantage to the Shield, bitter that the Rhodes family proved him wrong and had the temerity to put a damper on his ego. Something that really stood out to me was the commentators forgetting who was legal when the match became wild in its finishing stretch, but in fact the referees and both teams still remembered who was legal. Little things like that are what I appreciate, because it's simply PROFESSIONAL.

Ambrose of course would get involved, but the Rhodes brothers came fighting, having complete confidence after already defeating the Shield a week ago. Big Show, who had been fired in storytline, came down to the ring and knocked out Reigns, allowing Cody to get the pinfall and bring the Shield's Tag Titles reign to an end in the STL, where it had poetically begun six months earlier. Again, this wasn't a berrial of the babyfaces winning the titles because of outside interference - it was a story in which HHH's strategy to play favorites backfired on him. ****