WWE Monday Night Raw results and observations (01/05/15)

The WWE closed out 2014 with a bang, but unfortunately began with 2015 with a major dud.

That was because the first episode of Monday Night Raw of the New Year, which usually packs a pretty big punch, threw very light jabs.

Enough with the puns, the show was bad. It wasn't very good, plain and simple.

Not only was most of the show uneventful, the ending fell flat for the second week in a row. It felt almost anti-climactic. It felt like it was supposed to matter, but it really didn't.

I'll get to that in more detail in a moment, but before that, let's go through the full match results from the American Bank Center in Corpus Christi, Texas:

- WWE Intercontinental Championship (2 out of 3 falls) – Bad News Barrett def. Dolph Ziggler

- The Ascension def. ??? (They're only referred to as "Local athletes" on WWE.com)

- Roman Reigns def. Big Show via disqualification

- Natalya & Paige def. The Bella Twins

- Luke Harper def. Erick Rowan

- The Miz, Damien Mizdow & Alicia Fox def. The Usos & Naomi

- Seth Rollins & Kane def. Ryback

- Big E def. Adam Rose via disqualification

With all of that rubbish out of the way, let's get to my observations from the show:

The Authority fires Dolph Ziggler, Erick Rowan and Ryback

Yup, Triple H and Stephanie McMahon gave Dolph Ziggler, Erick Rowan and Ryback the proverbial ax Monday night.

This came after The Authority put each of them through their own personal hells during the show.

I had a lot of issues with this final segment. Where should we begin? Oh, let's start with the fact that they fired three people at once.

Okay folks, we all know wrestling is not 100 percent real, so Ziggler, Rowan and Ryback aren't really fired. They're still under contract with the WWE.

My only problem is that they're going to be back sooner than you can blink. How do I know this? Because the WWE can't fill three hours of programming every week without them, that's why.

In a perfect world, the WWE would keep these guys off television for at least a couple of weeks to sell the fact that they are fired. Hey, The Authority took a five-week vacation when they were overthrown to do just that.

Unfortunately, the WWE aren't in the position to do this. That's because the roster isn't deep enough to carry a three-hour program without a multi-segment match from Ziggler and at least something from Rowan and Ryback.

So since they're going to be back sooner rather than later anyway, why have the firing angle to begin with? What's the point?

Is it really adding to the heat that The Authority has? I don't think so. They have built up plenty of heat since forming back in August of 2013 (which seems like forever ago now), so that's not an issue.

It just hurts the product when stipulations are added that the company doesn't follow through on. They stick for a little bit, but then disappear in a matter of weeks, almost as if they never even happened.

A perfect example is — wait for it — The Authority.

What also hurts the product is the fact that Ziggler, Rowan, Ryback and even John Cena just stood there looking dumb. No one seemed angry. They all just looked shocked and dumbfounded as if these big, tough guys were lost without the ability to wrestle for a living.

Heaven forbid these guys get angry about something. Heaven forbid they stand up for themselves.

I recall a time when The Undertaker and Kane broke Vince McMahon's leg, which led to him being famously attacked by Steve Austin in his hospital bed.

I don't recall The Undertaker and Kane worrying about being suspended or fired. They just did it. Why? Because they didn't give hoot about what the boss said. They did whatever they wanted because they were the stars of the show.

Believe it or not, people liked the fact that they were renegades. People liked the fact that they didn't take any crap from the authority figure, no matter how much power that person wielded.

Fast forward 17 years, and you have sad puppy dog looks on the faces of the wrestlers as they are unceremoniously handed their termination papers.

It doesn't do them any favors. They look like they need the company a lot more than the company needs them, which essentially makes them expendable.

How much of a star can Ziggler be if he's merely an expendable part of the product. I also recall a time when Vince McMahon didn't want the six-man Hell in a Cell match to take place in 2000 because the match was full of big-name talent that he couldn't afford to lose to injury, making everyone in the match seem important.

It was done to put the focus on the wrestlers and to elevate them as valued commodities to the brand, not expendable spokes on the wheel.

How much of a star would Peyton Manning be if the Broncos could just up and start Brock Osweiler at any given moment? Manning wouldn't have won all of those MVP trophies if he were so expendable.

There used to be a lot of Peyton Mannings (valuable players) on the roster. Now, the wrestlers are treated like a bunch of Jay Cutlers — loads of physical talent, but not good enough to be mentioned among game's elite.

Seth Rollins added to WWE World Heavyweight Championship match

A very important happening that occurred Monday that kind of got overshadowed by the rest of the drivel from Raw was the fact that Seth Rollins was added to the WWE Championship match between John Cena and Brock Lesnar, making it a triple threat.

I'm not sure if this stipulation will stick, but I'm hoping it does because it adds another dimension to a match that needed some extra juice. Not to mention it gives Rollins something meaningful to do during the event.

I think the dynamic between Lesnar and Rollins during the match will be very intriguing. Not only is it a pairing we've never seen before, but Rollins gave Lesnar a curb stomp back at Night of Champions, which should add a little more fuel to the fire.

My only question is, what happens to Rollins' Money in the Bank contract? You know, that briefcase he's been carrying around for six months. Inside that briefcase is supposed to be a contract for a title match whenever he wants.

I assume it's not null and void all of a sudden, but it's definitely something to wonder about.

Authority screw jobs aplenty

Because The Authority was back in the saddle, it meant it was time for screw jobs throughout the show.

I understand that the WWE was booking heat for The Authority. What good is a heel faction if it's not doing dastardly things? I get that.

But it really dragged down the quality of the show, in my opinion.

Dean Ambrose loses yet again

My goodness. I mean really. My goodness gracious!

Bray Wyatt is reportedly being built up for a major match at WrestleMania, apparently against The Undertaker, buy my word does it really have to come at the expense of Dean Ambrose?

It doesn't make any sense to me how he hasn't benefitted from this feud at all. If anything, it's made him look worse given the variety of silly ways that he's lost.

I'm still a fan of Ambrose, but there is a lot of work to be done in order to get him back in motion again. The WWE has something with this guy and they're not capitalizing on it.

I could see if he only lost on pay-per-view. I could get that, especially if he won on television most of the time. But he's lost on free television multiple times during this feud.

First, he suffers an injury that he magically recovered from five minutes later, then, he's dumped into the back of an ambulance.

Let's please move on from this. I couldn't be more done with this feud. It's like the WWE has no idea where to go with these guys next, so they keep coming up with over-the-top gimmick matches just to keep them busy.

Another useless match between Reigns, Big Show

I really don't understand the point of booking these two to face each other on Raw again.

If you're not going to give people a finish, then keep Roman Reigns and Big Show a part until you're ready to have a finish.

The last thing you should is keep trotting them out there every two weeks, giving people essentially a full match and expecting people to get excited. The people have already seen what they have to offer.

I would look forward to a Reigns-Big Show match on pay-per-view, but since I've seen it twice without a satisfying result, I have no desire to see them wrestle each other in the near future. I'm already tired of it.

Ascension promo was kind of lame

The Ascension got a chance to speak their minds Monday night and I walked away from the promo unimpressed.

I wasn't overly offended by the jab at Road Warrior Hawk, although I know a lot of people were and I can see where they were coming from.

I just didn't like the fact that they would mention the fact they've been compared to teams like the Road Warriors and Demolition. Then, they tried to gain heat from it by saying that they're better than those teams.

I've said before that I don't understand why the WWE has made The Ascension out to be a knock-off Road Warrior act, as it doesn't distinguish The Ascension as its own unit, but no one cares if they could beat up the Road Warriors or Demolition.

How about what they are going to do against the teams of today? How about giving them their own identity? Why is it that when I see them, and now hear them talk, I think about tag teams that were much bigger stars than they are?

None of it makes any sense to me.

Budding rivalry between The New Day, Cesaro & Tyson Kidd

Cesaro and Tyson Kidd are two guys looking to find their own identity on the roster, and it continued Monday night when they posed as a pair of Adam Rose's rosebuds to attack The New Day.

Although The New Day is supposed to be a group of good guys, I have no reason to cheer for them, so I'm not going to.

I like all three guys, but I wish they got something better to work with other than being three dancing black men that like the color blue.

Cesaro and Kidd, on the other hand, seem like guys that could be very entertaining together, especially in the ring.