RAW Review: May 30th

Hello! Well, last night was definitely a RAW. I think that's the best, and basically only way to describe it. The thing is, despite what I'm about to say- they didn't actually do many things that were "bad". The problem for last night's RAW was they didn't do much that was "good" either, and indifference is in a way the worst emotion to have after a RAW. This goes back to what the commentators are putting over with Roman, and what's actually true with Cena. Any reaction is good as long as it's loud, whether that's love or hatred- at least it's provoked an emotional reaction. After the 6-Man ended last night, I instantly just went to bed completely indifferent to what I'd just watched and I woke up having forgotten 95% of what happened last night.

Shane, Stephanie & The New Day Opening Segment
I thought we'd be getting something "different" last night. For the simple fact that Memorial Day RAW's are always typically low-rated. Meaning that the WWE wouldn't necessarily be as afraid to try something "out there" as usual. What I wasn't expecting, was this Opening Segment. When you strip everything back from it, it was basically them explaining to everyone how the Brand "extension" was going to work. But of course, it was in New Day's own unique way.

I just have one thing to say about this segment, if they even think about splitting New Day up I'm going to bring heavy weaponry with me when I go to Summerslam in August.

New Day v The Vaudevillains
The match wasn't much, but at the same time I don't think it was meant to be. I hope The Vaudevillains aren't completely pushed aside for The Club after last night, because they've done really well over the last Month or so. With that said, I'm all for Gallows & Anderson being inserted into the Tag Title picture. New Day need fresh opponents, and in Gallows and Anderson we've got the first team in a while where I legitimately think New Day have a chance of losing the Titles (because they probably will).

The Club Backstage Promo
There's not much to talk about, because this was a fairly generic Promo. But when Anderson said "we're just getting started" I thought these two were going to just wreck everything last night. So in that respect I was disappointed, especially as the show progressed and we had so many Tag Matches I thought they must have done this to troll people who had that hope.

Apollo Crews & The Big Show Backstage Promo
Oh My God. This segment was just horrible. Big Show was talking to Crews, one of the best and most natural athletes in the entire company like a child. I just can't they actually did this segment.

The Usos v Fabreeze
The only surprise there was in this whole segment, was the fact they actually protected Fabreeze to an extent. Especially with them wrestling The Usos, the fact Fabreeze weren't just beaten clean like it was nothing is at least something. The stuff after the match was as expected though, and while I still prefer Fabreeze to Golden Truth- I do want to see the Slingshot Powerslam as Golden Truth's finish. It looked great.

Roman Reigns & Seth Rollins Segment
While some may not agree with Rollins returning as a Heel, now that he is- they're actually doing a really good job with him. They know that no matter what Rollins says in a Promo, the fact he's saying it about Roman will mean he's cheered. So what do they do? They don't have him talk. They're literally taking away everything that could make a crowd cheer for Rollins, and despite what some may think that's a good thing. I want Heels to be Heels, and that's probably why I like Miz so much.

On top of that, I'm happy they're seemingly keeping Rollins and Roman away from each other in a physical capacity for now- because that'll make it mean more when they do meet in a couple of weeks time. Again, I'm sick of people wrestling each other- and then them wrestling each other again at a PPV.

Rusev v Zack Ryder
The match wasn't much, but I don't think anyone was expecting anything different. Given the placement of this on the show, it wasn't a surprise to me that Cena didn't come out and interrupt him like many expected. There was a chance they would've had Cena interrupt and then build to these two for the US Title in the Main Event, but it wasn't likely. I'd completely forgotten Titus came out to confront Rusev on Smackdown, but at least it's a thing to get Titus back on TV. He's a nice dad after all.

Charlotte/Ric Flair Reaction stuff
This was actually quite an interesting little video package type thing. The fact they had some proper top level guys talking about it put over how big of a deal this was, and definitely elevated the angle. But then they just couldn't help themselves and had Stephanie get in Charlotte's face and scream at her like she's done to probably about 80% of the Roster at present when we know they're not going to have Charlotte and Stephanie wrestle. Ugh.

Enzo & Big Cass v The Dudleys
This goes back to a point I made in last weeks Review. While Big Cass didn't outright beat The Dudleys in a Handicap Match, he might as well have done. So, heading into this match- had The Dudleys won Enzo would've been confirmed as a complete liability as far as Big Cass is concerned. I know it isn't ideal, and the feud may well have been good if Enzo hadn't have gotten hurt- but he did and as such this feud is just a complete mess now. Hopefully the fact Enzo & Cass won clean means the end of it, but I highly doubt it.

Sami Zayn, Dean Ambrose, Cesaro Backstage Promo
At least this was a bit fun. I'm sick of all of the monotone Backstage Segments we get, usually with Roman. I'm sick of a lot of things, that's what we're learning in this Review. Probably as a result of those damn Canadians.

John Cena, AJ Styles & The Club Segment
I absolutely loved this whole segment. Well, not the whole thing. Cena starting off with all of the Murica stuff was just "meh" to me. I don't mind them when he's wrestling a Foreign Heel, but times like last night it just annoys me and makes me want to vomit freedom. But once he actually got back onto Wrestling, this segment just went from strength to strength.

As soon as AJ came out I knew something was going to happen. When AJ spent basically his whole Promo before The Club came out talking about how much he respected Cena, I just knew he was turning. I wasn't necessarily expecting The Club to be involved, and I thought they'd do AJ asking for a match, Cena accepting, Handshake, Attack. We've seen it done before, and I thought we'd see it again. What we got instead was so much better.

Firstly, I'd like to point out that I was right about The Club and AJ not being done after the segment last week. While we haven't gotten what I predicted, I was right for the first part. AJ turning Heel and fully being in The Club is just absolutely great in my opinion. Heel AJ truly is the best AJ. While I don't necessarily think he's going to beat Cena overall in this feud- it's another chance for AJ to prove himself, this time in a completely different role.

The thing some people don't realise is, AJ without a doubt wasn't brought in to be a "top guy". So having AJ in the ring with Roman was a massive deal, and him delivering to the extent he did could only have helped him. Now he's in there with Cena, and these two could have a genuine Match of the Year Contender at Money in the Bank. In short, wins and losses don't mean much for AJ at present. What does is him going out and having amazing matches and getting good crowd reactions, merch sales etc. to the point where Vince has to view him as a top guy.

Also, given what happened earlier there's a very high chance of AJ, Gallows & Anderson v Cena & New Day. This means two things, Xavier will get to play Cena's Theme on Francesca II and we may well get Cena dancing with New Day. I really want to see one of those things happen.

Dana Brooke v Natalya
This was the literal definition of a filler match. Nothing happened, and then there was a distraction and it was over. Blink and you miss it. The Becky run-in was something at least, and it wouldn't surprise me to see Nattie transitioned out and us getting a fresh 2v1 dynamic, eventually leading to Sasha's return. Which I still maintain was the angle they were building towards before Emma got hurt.

Baron Corbin v Dolph Ziggler
This whole segment ended up being one of the highlights of the night. Which I definitely wasn't expecting. Ziggler's 1005 Holds Promo was fun, although he forgot to say Armbar. Then the "match" actually did something relatively unexpected and furthered the angle in a good way. He kicked him in the groin! It works on so many levels!

Miz Promo
This wasn't much, although the fact he mentioned we're going to get him "updating us" every week suggests to me someone may be attacking him in his Trailer during one of them. It also made me think how much I miss the 24/7 Rule for the Hardcore Title. Just imagine one of the Outcasts sneaking up on Miz while he's sleeping in his Trailer and getting the Pin, only for Maryse to show up and scream Miz awake and he regains it.

Jericho, Owens & Del Rio Backstage Promo
This was another fun Backstage Promo. Jericho and Owens together just work, and I do want a Y2KO run at some point.

Dean Ambrose, Cesaro & Sami Zayn v Kevin Owens, Alberto Del Rio & Chris Jericho
Don't get me wrong, this was definitely a fun 6-Man. But, I just wanted something more from it as an overall segment. I don't even know what that would be, whether it's the 7th Man coming out at the end and clearing house whomever it may be. I don't know, I just felt like it was lacking something especially for the Main Event segment it found itself in. I don't have a bad word to say about the match, but its lack of that little bit extra just capped off an overall disappointing night in the WWE Universe.

That's my main feeling after last night. It's the old parent thing of "I'm not angry, I'm just disappointed". I would have preferred RAW just be completely wacky last night, especially with the predicted low rating. Instead, for the most part we just got a RAW that seemed phoned in and just dull.

Also, going back to a point I raised in my Brand Split Blog from last week, we've got nearly the full roster back now. The only ones out are The Wyatts, Orton and Neville. Yet, we had things like the stuff with Fabreeze and Golden Truth on RAW. THIS IS BEFORE THE BRAND SPLIT. How WWE are going to fill 3 Hours of TV every week Post-Split without completely overexposing anyone with even a shred of credibility left is beyond me.

Thanks for reading as always, hopefully you enjoyed the Review. As just mentioned, I did a Post on the Brand Split last Tuesday when it was first announced so if you haven't already I'd recommend reading it. Thanks again for reading, all I can say is hopefully we have a better RAW next week. Hopefully you have a good week, and if anyone from WWE is reading this- remember. New Day Split = Heavy Weaponry.