RAW Review: May 9th

Hello! Yep, it's another RAW Review- and the first Post-Football season for me. This of course means there'll be more of a focus on these Wrestling Posts for the next few months, and there'll be a few more on top of the Reviews and Predictions.

It was only as the Opening Title sequence started that I realised, we're only two fucking weeks away from Extreme Rules already. I don't know how that's ended up being the case, because it only feels like yesterday when it was Payback. But, that's where we are- and there's a lot of stuff that needs to be done over these next two weeks to make sure Extreme Rules has some sort of momentum and crowd investment.

Before I jump into last night's Review, we did of course have a number of releases last Friday- some of which may have upset people, some may have delighted people. Either way, I thought I'd give my take on all of them- and some of them may surprise/annoy you.

Alex Riley- Firstly, I'm not going to touch all of the stuff he's done on Twitter- because I get the feeling that with the exception of the "Push Rage" debacle he was just trying to work everyone. Whether or not he worked himself into a shoot (brother) it's hard to tell however.

I'm surprised Riley didn't get used more to be honest, I think it was Meltzer that said in any other era he would have been a star. As it is, it hasn't worked out for him- but Riley will be fine. He was legitimately a part of a Main Event of Wrestlemania that involved The Rock and John Cena. Whatever else can be said about him, he still has some name value.

Cameron- If one of the current Women on the Roster prior to last Friday could perfectly sum up what's wrong with the Womens Division it was Cameron. I don't use the word literally that often because it's massively overused, and a lot of the time in the wrong context- however Cameron LITERALLY couldn't do anything productive on a Wrestling/Sports Entertainment Show.

Not only that, she's a horrible human being- and I'm not talking about the Total Divas stuff she got done for drink driving, lied about where she worked, and then tried to bribe her way out of it. It's amazing to me that she managed to stay employed for as long as she did. As it is, thankfully she's gone now- and all that's left to be said is Girl. Bye.

Damien Sandow- This is perhaps the most controversial one, just in-terms of what people wanted out of someone vs what they got. The thing with Sandow, and he's not the first- and definitely won't be the last to be like this. People are in love with the fantasy of Damien Sandow as some Main Event level talent who can sell out arenas if they just gave him the opportunity to get over. That simply wouldn't happen. While he does have charisma, Sandow's bang average in the ring and in what was his best chance at a serious storyline with Cody and the MITB Briefcase the crowds just didn't respond to him.

Yes, people will go on about how Cena buried him with the Cash-In stuff- and I don't disagree with that. But, at that point I think they just wanted to get the Case off of him. Sandow obviously has some name value so he'll be fine wherever he ends up, but as far as a 3rd chance in the WWE goes I wouldn't be holding my breath.

El Torito- The thing I think some people didn't realise about Torito because he came in as a Midget in a Bull Costume, he can fucking work. I'd expect him to show up at Lucha Underground pretty soon, where hopefully he gets the chance to properly showcase what he can do in the ring that he simply didn't in WWE.

Hornswoggle- I can't say I'm sad to see Hornswoggle go, especially if even half of the Backstage Rumours about him are true. As with Torito, I think he might end up being Lucha Underground and good luck to him.

King Barrett- Of all the people on this list, Barrett's the one that had the most potential and the one I'm saddest to see go. If they didn't do that fucking finish at Summerslam with Team WWE vs Team Nexus, I'm absolutely convinced Barrett would have been a multiple time WWE/World Heavyweight Champion. But you can't change the past, and with every injury Barrett got the chances of him being cemented as a proper Main-Eventer got smaller and smaller- to the point where he ended up being the window dressing for the League of Nations.

Good luck to Barrett wherever he ends up, I hope he takes some time off, gets a Preston North End Season Ticket and just relaxes for a while.

Santino Marella- I, as I'm sure many of you, was just surprised Santino was still under contract when his release was announced. I liked Santino, there's always room for a Comedy/Fun Character on the show- and he knew that and made it his niche. I do wish we could have gotten one serious run out of him before he was done, because as with Torito- most people don't realise that the bloke could work. But he's got his BattleArts thing, and he'll be fine with whatever he ends up doing.

Zeb Colter- Of all the people on this Released List, Zeb's the only one where I saw a potential angle that would make it to WWE TV this year. Two words; Trump. Enthusiast. Especially with Trump likely getting the Republican Candidacy, it would have been perfect timing to get Zeb back on TV. It wasn't meant to be however, and Zeb's riding off into the sunset.

That's my thoughts on the Releases, and it'd be interesting to see yours to feel free to let me know. Anyway, now lets move onto last night and the review.

The Highlight Reel w/ Big Cass
I really liked this segment. For all that can be said about Jericho, the guy knows how to get new talent over. You don't wrestle for 25 Years and not know how to sell an opposing character- and Jericho's mastered it. I was surprised to see Big Cass given the sort of push that he was given on last nights show, but I definitely wasn't opposed to it. Cass is seemingly in the Kalisto boat of their Tag Partner getting injured ending up with them getting a bigger push than they were perhaps in line for. I really did like this segment, apart from when Jericho exhumed the body of the fallen Mitch and paraded it around on Live TV. It's without doubt the most sickening thing I've seen on a Wrestling Show.

Also, a bit off topic- I'm really interested to see what the Ratings were for last night. Consider the fact the show opened with Jericho cutting a Promo on a Plant, and ended with an advertised Main Event of Jericho against someone who's been on the Main Roster for a Month and a Half- it'll be really interesting to see if there's a drop.

Chris Jericho & Stephanie McMahon Backstage
As with last week, I actually liked Stephanie tonight. They're obviously going to tease tension between Shane and Steph, but for now I can get behind two relatively neutral Authority Figures- even if they take up much more screen time than they really should.

Baron Corbin v Dolph Ziggler
This match was pretty good on the whole in my opinion. I'm not sure if last night was the end to this feud or not, because they're of course on 1 Win each in-terms of Pinfalls. But, I'm not really sure what the point would be in getting another match out of these two when Corbin's already beaten Dolph clean in the middle of the ring. It's just like, what else can they really do? Having Corbin squashing Dolph on a PPV is perhaps the only thing, but I doubt they'd do that. Also, if Corbin can get a cool End of Days out of everyone he wrestles, I'll be all for it. Last Night's wasn't as good as the one he did on Gable- but it was still really cool.

Shane McMahon, Charlotte & Ric Flair Backstage
I'm not really sure what the end game to this angle is to be honest. The Charlotte one, not the McMahon one of course. As I've said a number of times, Nattie isn't getting the Womens Title- so that of course means Charlotte will beat her (presumably) clean at Extreme Rules. Then where do we go? I can't see them taking Ric off TV when it comes to Charlotte because it's easy heat for her as a Heel Champion. Plus, he's Ric fucking Flair. He's great.

They can tease tension, but it's not like they're going to have Charlotte turn Babyface when pretty much every Woman on the Roster apart from Emma & Dana Brooke are Babyfaces. In short, I'm expecting the Submission Match to mean absolutely nothing in the grand scheme of things.

The Club Backstage Promo
I really hope "The Club" isn't a locked in name. I think someone said it best on Reddit when they said "The Club" sounds like when you make the Bullet Club on 2K16 and have to pick a Commentary Name for it. This Promo was decent, as I said last week the feud just needs to gradually escalate to the point where it's ready to explode in a sea of Weapons at Extreme Rules and this Promo did its job in that respect.

R-Truth v Fandango
This was nothing really. It didn't touch last weeks shenanigans for me, and I'm just hoping we finally get the pay-off of Golden Truth soon. Partially because I want to see Fandango & Breeze team, and partially because I just want this whole "will they/won't they" angle to fucking end.

The IC Title Picture, Shane & Stephanie McMahon Backstage
This segment was pretty good, and goes back to what I've said in-terms of what's necessary for the secondary Titles. Simple storytelling, like we got here with everyone stating their intent and why they should be where they want to be. It all took about a Minute and a Half and it furthered the angle with all 4 guys. Easy, right?

Paige v Charlotte
This whole segment was really good, and arguably the best last night. The match was really good on the whole, and it's amazing to me how over Paige still is considering she's taken some time off and before that she was the Female Equivalent of The Big Show. That all added into how they furthered the angle with Nattie and Charlotte and Ric being a distraction to Charlotte and costing her a win (or at the very least making her lose) meant this segment was simply put just really good and really effective. Wrestling isn't a hard thing to book, especially with them trying to establish the new Womens Division/Title simplicity is always best in this case.

Sami Zayn v The Miz
This was another really good match. I'd be interested to know if there's anyone still not sold on The Miz as an in-ring competitor. I'm sure there's some, who are basically set in their ways when it comes to Miz- but as far as a majority goes I'd say Miz is accepted as a good wrestler nowadays. When you talk about fully formed characters, and a Wrestlers ability to play their character in a match- Miz is if not top of the list, very close to the top of those who do it best.

The reason he may not be top, is one of the people competing with him for that spot was on the opposite side of the ring to him. In short, these two knew exactly what they were doing to elicit the maximum reaction out of everyone when the finish did it come- and it worked.

Dana Brooke & Emma attack Becky Lynch Backstage
Yep, it's the new era- and that means even more talent is coming up from NXT. The latest call-up is Dana Brooke and I'm all for it. I'd seen a few people say something along the lines of "Why did Dana get called up before Bayley", and to that I say they're in completely unique situations. Even though Bayley lost the Title and that would indicate she's on her way up, she's still the benchmark to me in-terms of what the other Women in NXT need to reach. In short, they need to keep Bayley down in NXT for a little while longer while they get someone like Nia Jax or Alexa Bliss up to her level within Kayfabe so Asuka has legitimate competitors.

That's that side of things addressed, and when it comes to Dana I'm all for her being called up for the very simple reason that her and Emma are just great together. Provided Dana being on the road doesn't hinder her in-ring development too much and she can keep growing in that respect, I'm all for Dana being Emma's shit-talker on the outside and the heater for when Emma needs a cheap win against Becky.

Also, we are of course in a 2v1 dynamic now Dana's been called up. So basically this is how they bring Sasha back on TV with a storyline. I don't know (and I hope they don't) if they're going to beat Emma and Dana or one will turn on the other- but I'm looking forward to finding out.

"Make Darren Great Again" Vignette
I'd seen they did this on Smackdown, and I was more bemused than anything else. It's just such an odd pairing that it could end up working. I would however like to object to the phrase "Make Darren Great Again" being used. That phrase implies that at one point in Darren's career he was in fact great.

UpUpDownDown Pizza Hut Advert
This was a thing. Even in a Pizza Hut Advert Ziggler gets fucked over.

Shane, Zack Ryder & Kevin Owens Backstage
I don't know what the payoff to this Zack "he always gets so close" angle, if there is in-fact going to be one. Literally the only thing that would make sense to me would be if he won Money in the Bank. That of course isn't going to happen in a million years considering we're set for one of the most stacked Money in the Bank matches every in-terms of people with a legitimate claim to the Briefcase. But at least Zack's getting on TV pretty consistently, which is more than can be said of him a few months ago.

Roman Reigns & The Usos Backstage
As I'm going through this show, I realise there was a lot of Backstage Segments last night. This was basically a Copy & Paste of the AJ, Gallows & Anderson segment- so I'm all for it as I was with the previous one.

Sin Cara v Rusev
This was a positive indicator as to what's going to happen at Extreme Rules in the fact that Kalisto "got one over" on Rusev tonight. I actually think Rusev's next US Title run, assuming that's where they're going could be better than his first if he's handled correctly. Rusev can actually afford to be pinned cheaply, as he was last night- and primarily he's just grown as a character and performer since he lost the Title at Mania 31.

Roman Reigns & The Usos v The Club- Elimination Tag Match
I said the WWE had to be really careful how they handled Gallows & Anderson once they came in, basically to avoid the angle becoming the new Nexus. They haven't blown it yet, and with Balor probably not far off debuting now I still have reasonably high hopes for the angle- but they're really testing it at this stage. As soon as I saw "Elimination Tag" I groaned, because unless they were going to have The Club get a clean sweep in all likelihood it meant Gallows & Anderson taking Pins.

Anderson in particular is annoying, because he's completely fresh to the WWE scene. I was expecting it to end up a 3v1, with Roman being the 1 of course. Because at least then they could rationalise it as Gallows & Anderson got beat by the WWE Champion even if the numbers were in their favour and that was the case with Gallows. As it is, Anderson got done with a Roll-Up by one of The Usos. That is genuinely one of the most annoying things I can think of that's happened in WWE all year.

As I was expecting a 3v1, I was expecting a DQ finish- so I was at least right on that front. I actually liked the very end of this segment with the whole "I dare you to hit me with a Chair thing" coupled with Roman going for the Chair when AJ flew into the ring. For once there was actually a certain degree of nuance in that regard. So well done to whomever thought that up.

Puerto Rico Vignette
Right then, next weeks RAW is possibly going to be the greatest day in the history of the Wrestling business. Epico & Primo are back. I'm intrigued more than anything else, because I want to know what the fuck their gimmick actually entails. We've obviously had the vignettes and stuff, but they're not bring called Puerto & Rico like I suggested at one point and I just can't see an obvious way of them pulling it off in-front of a live crowd.

Kevin Owens v Zack Ryder
The crowd was pretty much dead after the Elimination Match, and I wouldn't have been surprised if a couple of people went home thinking it was the end of the show. It of course wasn't, but this match did a pretty good job of helping them along their way. To put it bluntly, nobody thought Zack was goign to beat Owens. As a result, the crowd didn't really invest in the match- but they actually had a proper back and forth match that was in my opinion too long for what it was.

The Dudleys v The New Day
In-terms of storyline progression, and opening up avenues to explore- I thought this segment did a really good job. They obviously furthered The Vaudevillains storyline with the attack, but they also opened it up for The Dudleys to say "Hey, we've beat New Day give us a Title shot" which furthers their character progression. The match wasn't much I felt, and in an ideal world New Day will be turning again soon- but with how much Merch they're shifting I can't see it happening yet.

Also, as we're fast approaching it- there's of course Ambrose, (possibly) Rollins, Owens etc. all in the hunt for Money in the Bank, but I'd love it if Big E or Kofi were to win it and if that meant they dropped the Titles I'd be all for it.

Big Cass v Chris Jericho
As I've already said, with this as the advertised Main Event I'm really interested to see what the ratings will be for the show in general as well as the 3rd Hour. We of course didn't have the match take place, which makes the placement of this as an Advertised Main Event even weirder.

I won't lie, everyone was expecting Ambrose, we got Ambrose, but when it was all black apart from the Jacket Lights I suddenly perked up a tiny bit and thought "Hang On, this could be Finn". It obviously wasn't, but I still liked the angle with the Jacket up to a point. I liked it in the sense that it fit with Ambrose's character and what I'd believe he would actually do. However, I just can't get over the fact that this feud has boiled down to Jericho and Ambrose destroying inanimate objects.

Fair enough Jericho smashed the Plant over Ambrose's head, that would fucking hurt. But Ambrose literally just took a pair of Scissors and cut the sleeves off of Jericho's jacket. It just looked fucking stupid to me. I was quite done with RAW at this point, I will admit- it just felt like it dragged on a bit for me. That could be down to how tired I was though.

As I just said, last nights RAW definitely dragged for me. Whether that's a general consensus I don't know. They did accomplish a lot last night, and with next week being the Go-Home for Extreme Rules that's obviously a good thing. I think the one thing I want between now and the end of Extreme Rules is some proper storyline progression in the Styles/Reigns angle. Even if it's just the end of said angle, I just want it to go somewhere because everyone involved is just spinning their wheels at the moment.

Thanks for reading as always, especially with the addition of the Releases section this was of course a longer than usual RAW Review. Should these sort of "big" newsworthy situations occur in the next couple of months expect an entirely separate post where I'll end up going into a lot more detail on whatever I'm discussing. Thanks again for reading, hopefully you have a good week- let's face it after we spent the whole of last week mourning Mitch it can't be worse.