This is my first RAW review, and I'm going to try and keep this as concise as possible because of the number of segments there are during a RAW in relation to a PPV. If you think I've started rambling feel free to skip ahead to the next segment and let me know in the comments.
Stephanie, Nikki, Brie segment
I've seen better acting from footballers trying to buy a foul. I don't mind Nikki Bella turning heel, as long as they forget to turn her mic on consistently. It seems they're building to a Bella-Bella blow off match, however I think WWE are underestimating one thing, only teenage girls and horny people care about The Bellas. The reason the angle was hot going into Summerslam was because of Stephanie and her amazing heel work. Nikki on the other hand sees being a heel as shouting loudly and menacingly brandishing her finger.
Worlds Baldest Tag Team v The Wyatt Family
Yes, that is what they should and will be known as. I don't regularly watch Smackdown, primarily because its on at 10/11pm on a Friday and as such I hadn't (and still haven't) seen these teams match on Smackdown last Friday. As such I was in for a pleasant surprise, I was afraid the match would have a ridiculously slow pace and just feel sluggish in all aspects. However The Wyatts played their part to perfection and I honestly hope this is a build to a Triple Threat Tag match at Night of Champions. Would I be selfish if I said I wanted a TLC Tag match of The Usos v The Wyatts v The Worlds Baldest Tag Team?
Paige v Natalya
The match showed promise and if given a PPV slot it could easily become a classic pairing. However seeing as this segment was built around A.J. and Paige, This feud is bordering on annoying. There doesn't seem to be a lot of progression with regard to either character, and as such it makes the outcome of the feud unclear, for both the fan and in my opinion the company. On the night of Summerslam I said A.J. would be done with the company by December, and from Night of Champions (Rematch Clause) I expect A.J to be gradually phased out of WWE programming, with a Total Diva challenging Paige, so as such this next month will be interesting with regard to character development and how much they build A.J. before the next PPV.
Championship Presentation Segment
Firstly, I like the new design in comparison with the old one. WWE seem deadset on having a big "W" on their championship, so we all need to deal with it and look at other aspects of the strap. I'm very happy they've got rid of the massive "CHAMPION" part of the belt as that made it look pretty naff. Now onto the segment itself; Heyman is becoming the most important part of every single RAW he is featured in. His promos have such great impact because of the smart way in which they've built his character up prior and since Wrestlemania. The only critique I'd have for this segment would be, I'd like HHH to play up an element of distrust with Lesnar/Heyman. This would accomplish two things, It would make Rollins cashing in on Lesnar a real possibility given his alliance with The Authority and it would also add to Lesnars character immensely if he was a mercenary who went rogue, combined with the biggest scumbag in the business in Heyman.
Dolph Ziggler v The Miz
These two have a chemistry which just seems natural and as such they seem unable to have a bad match. However I discussed this in a lot more detail on my Summerslam review- there is a notable lack of midcard heels which can challenge Dolph for the belt. The count out finish prolongs this feud until Night of Champions where in my opinion Dolph will drop the title back to Miz. Looking back I think they primarily had Dolph win the strap at Summerslam because he was the only babyface who won on the main card, and they wanted to pop the crowd. However at Night of Champions I'm expecting with the exception of Bray Wyatt, Lesnar and Paige the babyfaces to dominate the winners enclosure, which would make Miz winning it back not as bad.
Jack Swagger v Cesaro
Firstly, Can someone tell JBL to shut the hell up! His consistent whinging and moaning succeeded in annoying pretty much every fan watching, and massively hurt Swaggers character, which I believe is done as a legitimate threat as a babyface. The addition of Bo intrigues me, as they could have Swagger destroy him- but they could also have Swagger align with Bo and turn heel again. Also Cesaro won! Yay!
Reigns, RVD, Sheamus v RybAxel & Orton
Reigns was massively back into his comfort zone on this RAW in comparison to the previous night. He flourishes in the "hot tag" role presently and should be used accordingly. Reigns surrounded by two work horses in RVD and Sheamus (who I rate a lot highly than some other people do) meant this match had all the elements for a great six man match, and it delivered. Ryback has really grown with Axel, and is now interacting and feeding (if you pardon the pun) off the crowd much more effectively than he was in late 2012/13 and in my opinion should they decide Ryback deserves another mega push he would be much more successful than he was previously.
The Usos vs The Dust Brusters
We had The Dust Brusters pick up a win a solid tag match, where the crowd really surprised me given the lack of time these two teams have been getting recently. The tag division is experiencing what would appear to be a resurgence for the billionth time since we lost E & C, The Hardys and The Dudleys. However this time we have such a volume of teams now, who all seem to be able to put on good matches with each other we have multiple combinations which can fight on a PPV and not look out of place. If Henry is going to feud with Rusev, The Dust Brusters could easily take the third spot in the Triple Threat TLC which I referenced earlier.
Rusev, Lana, Mark Henry segment
We had a "Real American" get a two PPV feud with Rusev and Lana, Now we're getting Mark Henry who hasn't had a "patriotic pop" gimmick since he came in after the Olympics. I don't see why they couldn't of had Swagger win by GRABBING A FLAG IN A "FLAG MATCH" subsequently making them 1-1 leading to a rubber match at Night of Champions which could of had Rusev go over. However they decided to kill Swaggers gimmick and seemingly take away his mouthpiece too. The promo's were very good but this just feels like a massive rehash of what we've had for the last two months.
Dean Ambrose v Seth Rollins- FCA
This'll be the Match of the Year conender that they don't acknowledge at the Slammys. This match wouldn't of been out of place in a PPV main event, which I expect one day these two to be in. These two have everything that Reigns doesn't have to have a successful singles run in the present, the ending was also perfect as it gives Ambrose a reason to miss a few weeks without Rollins seemingly "winning" the feud. The only things I could say as a negative about this is; Kane coming out for every Rollins match is getting tedious, and in my opinion is also hurting Rollins' character if we're supposed to view him as a threat to Lesnar. Also the "cinder blocks" which Ambrose was put through disintegrated on a curb stomp whilst the announce table didn't after a curb stomp and a chokeslam? Must of got the "cinder blocks" from Spain
Overall this was a really good episode of RAW- They addressed every feud and we didn't have any segments which I viewed as pointless which is a notorious problem of three hour RAWs.
Special Mention to the Bray and Jericho promos, these two both have a natural charisma and combined these two have in my opinion the most INTERESTING feud currently.
Thanks again for reading
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