Raw 16-2-15

Even when it's quite a good show like this week's Raw actually was, 3 hours is still too much so you end up not appreciating the show as much as you probably should. It's a shame because if you took out all the bad and squeezed all of the good into a 2 hour show then this weeks Raw would have been excellent.

I really liked the Tyson/Cesaro/Natalia stuff this week, I'd say Tyson's character progressed more on Raw this week than it has done so previously.

The Paige stuff was a nice addition.

Ambrose and Barrett was fun, granted you have to throw all logic out of the window to enjoy it but I guess that's just a given when watching wrestling these days.

Triple H's promo was strong, it gave a bit a backstory on the wrestlers past and added to the story (which had been rather hindered given that, despite Sting's best efforts The Authority weren't out of power for very long at all)

Best of all was the Reigns/Bryan stuff throughout the night. Stripping away the regular cheesy comedy that seems to come part and parcel of main event feuds in WWE, playing to the participants strengths and avoiding rambling, scripted monologues what we got here was a perfect go home show where the excitement for the big match at the ppv has piqued at the right time. Credit to both performers, I thought their reactions, expressions, body language ect. all felt 100% genuine, they reacted exactly how you would expect these characters to react if they were thrust into a real life situation such as this, personally I thought this was an all time high point for Reign's and his prospects of being the main player in WWE, he was pitch perfect tonight, as was Bryan. Infact by tying reality into this feud and the ultra-realistic interactions between the two tonight, this felt akin to Bret Hart/Shawn Michaels interactions on tv before Bret went to WCW, it's gone from being a match and story I didn't care for all that much to being a must see match on Sunday, credit where it's due on that front.

The bad was limited this week to Cena making Rusev look like a dweeb (he got no offence in at all!), infact by the end of the segment I again sympathised more with Rusev than Cena.

Also Bray Wyatt's rambling riddles to nowhere are a waste of time. Yes it's probably leading to Taker but the second Taker shows up these riddles will be instantly forgotten about, imo it's just dead tv time.