RAW Review: 20th July

Hello! It's another RAW Review- I know, 2 in a row now! Battleground was interesting, I was saying leading in that this had the most expectations on it of any WWE Pay-per-View all year, so it perhaps wasn't a surprise that it didn't live up to the high bar that was set for it- that said it did generate buzz for last nights RAW and while I haven't seen the ratings I would assume it did it's intended job so more power to it. With said buzz generated it was now a matter of following through and giving the fans a product they wanted to come back to week after week and encourage people to get the Network for Summerslam, so the question is- did it?

The Undertaker Promo
This is a weird one. For me Taker was never a great promo, I love Taker but his character has a certain mystique surrounding it- and when he talks he loses a bit of it for me. I don't know if that's because of his accent or just in general it just never clicks for me. Last Night wasn't an exception, the actual content wasn't the best- it sold the motivations of Taker which was fine but apart from that it just felt like a bit of a ramble on the part of Taker and the delivery was just quite weird (and not good weird). That said the crowd were popping when they were meant to pop and were into it, so maybe I'm wrong.

Charlotte v Brie Bella
This match annoyed me way, way more than it should have done. Brie Bella is a case of you can see they've trained and tried to improve- she's just awful. Some of her selling is genuinely laughable, and as The Bellas were sure to point out THEY'VE BEEN DOING THIS FOR 8 YEARS. HOW CAN YOU NOT KNOW HOW TO SELL A CHOP?! That said it was still a fine match to put Charlotte over in- I'm assuming that Becky is still a bit banged up given the logical thing to do would have been to have Becky in the Singles and Charlotte in the Tag seeing as Charlotte wrestled on the PPV.

Los Matadores v The Primetime Players
The PTP lost, and that made me happy. The match was fine for it's intended purpose and we got to see New Day being amazing for a bit- so everyone's happy! I might be reading too much into it, but the Matadores can claim they deserve a Tag Title shot now so I've got a feeling we're going to see another 4 Team match most likely on the Pre-Show at Summerslam in pretty much a repeat of Mania. I don't know when the Injured Uso is back but if not them they can work it so The Ascension or The Lucha Dragons are the 4th team.

Big Show v The Miz
Miz's character can afford a loss- that's not the issue I had with this segment. Why on earth is Big Show squashing people in 2015? This makes absolutely no sense to me. Also I'm pretty sure we got another turn somewhere in this.

The Undertaker & Brock Brawl
This is where this RAW got absolutely amazing. All of the little backstage things with Triple H in some form whether it was with Steph, with Heyman or rallying the troops so to speak all to hype this segment was so worth it.

The Heyman Promo was great, but what's new? He just sold this feud perfectly and managed to hype this up like nobody else could even possibly do so. Then this went to a whole other level.

The Taker/Brock brawl was arguably the best we've ever seen on RAW ever. It was all played to complete perfection, whether it was the commentators just going "Nope" when Brock came out to just the completely hectic nature of it. This one of those times that I can say a lot about it- but none of it will do it justice so just go watch it. The "I'll Kill You" (by the way, that was great on it's own- it differentiated Brock even further) "You're Gonna Have To" line is all you need for this whole feud. Just Replay that line for the next few weeks and we're set. But Yeah, I've probably done a horrible job selling just how great this was- GO AND WATCH IT, NOW. RIGHT NOW.

Also a couple of small things, It was hilarous that R-Truth of all people was the one in the closest proximity to Brock trying to talk him down- but I wish it would have been Axel what with Brock being so close to Mr. Perfect. It's nuanced stuff like that which I notice and really love because it shows they've put genuine thought into it. Also Brock randomly flipping a table in the Backstage section of this brawl when it wasn't even in his way was just amazing, and to an extent it reminded of when Owens was running away and still took time to kick Alex Riley. He just get's it. Shock Announcement, Brock Lesnar get's it.

Roman Reigns v Luke Harper
I really liked this match. It's now two nights in a row that I've been massively into a Roman Reigns match- maybe this is the corner turning moment for Reigns when it comes to me? Then again if what happened later is anything to go by Vince will be sure to cut that firmly off. The Promo before was great, it's amazing how much better Bray Wyatt is when he's actually got something to sink his teeth into- and it was good to see Harper get a few words in. Then the actual match was great, they actually told a story which appears to be the big hang-up in WWE. Reigns fucked his arm up, Harper then proceeded to work the arm for the majority of the match. Crucially REIGNS SOLD IT THE WHOLE TIME. I love Ambrose, but he's one of the biggest offenders in what I call "selective selling" in that they're meant to be selling say a Leg and they do an amazing comeback where the leg is fine- and then they suddenly remember "Oh Yeah, I'm meant to be selling the leg". I didn't even have an issue with the DQ Finish because it keeps the story going- and both sides at one point were firmly on top in the after-match brawl so it keeps the dynamic balanced.

Quick Point, If they are angling for a 6-Man Tag of Reigns/Ambrose/Sting v Wyatt/Harper/???, then I would love and I mean LOVE for them to give Adam Rose to Bray and make him Leo Kruger. For me that's almost too perfect of a fit/storyline. That said if they were going to pull the trigger on a "Leo Kruger" transition I think they'd have done it directly after the ESPN thing.

It was at this point the whole show completely went off a cliff.

Rollins & Cena Promo
I've loved Cena for the majority of this year, At this stage he's had at the very least 4 proper Match of the Year contenders- and at this stage been in my Match of the Year without a doubt in the Triple Threat at the Rumble. I don't think many people could argue that in terms of ring-work and general performance this year has been the best of Cena's career. It's been Cena's best because he's been Midcard to Upper-Midcard working with the "Young Guys" and doing his absolute best to make the US Title mean something again, and I think the Internet genuinely had started to appreciate Cena.

WELL THAT'S ALL GONE OUT THE WINDOW NOW. I'm still not 100% sold on it actually being Rollins v Cena at Summerslam, I don't know if that's just wishful thinking though. I can't say I'm not in any way interested in a Title v Title sort of feud because it's an interesting dynamic without a doubt- but it's just absolutely horrible timing.

Sasha Banks & Naomi v Paige & Becky Lynch
This was a fine match, Sasha Banks is just a complete star- and she's only 23. She does all of the little things perfectly and that just makes her overall performance that much better than pretty much any of the other Divas. That said I can't say I really liked this match because The Bellas were on Commentary and JBL was talking about the nWo (No, Really). In short the Commentary actively took away from the in-ring product, I know that may shock some of you.

Summer Rae, Rusev & Lana Backstage thing
Rusev is amazing. He's such a great goofy heel. When he was kissing Summer and just opened his eyes and stared directly at Lana I absolutely howled with laughter. Rusev has just been amazing since his return from injury.

John Cena, Cesaro and Randy Orton v Kevin Owens, Sheamus and Rusev
I honestly don't know what to think about this match. It was such a House Show match, but at the same time it's been ages since we had this sort of match with the Babyfaces standing tall to end the show that in a weird way it was actually quite refreshing. I suppose we can now add Sheamus and Rusev to the people Owens is feuding with- and there was a great moment when Owens was about to leave and he kicked Rusev and Cena just shouted "I'm okay with this" at him. The finishing sequence was fine and I had to laugh at Orton sort of marking out for himself after he hit that Slingshot RKO.

If I had to have one issue- and I'm pretty sure 99% of you will know where I'm going with this seeing as I've repeatedly gone on about it. RUSEV IS A HEEL. STOP HAVING HIM PLAY THE SYMPATHETIC FUCKING BABYFACE. It's surely got to be a rib at this point having Rusev put in a role where he comes off as the Babyface over and over and over. I'm not saying it's a rib on Rusev, I'm saying it's a rib on me!

Last Nights RAW was so strange. If it cut off at the end of the Reigns/Harper match and aftermath brawl thing I'd have been calling it the best RAW of the year by an absolute mile- then the third hour happened, and much in the way of the Night after Mania the 3rd Hour completely took away from the first two.

Thanks for reading as always, these next few weeks leading up to Summerslam are definitely going to be intriguing and I'll be here every step of the way for them. So I hope if you've read and enjoyed any of these recent posts then you keep coming back every step along the way. Now we wait with baited breath and just pray that it isn't going to be Cena v Rollins. Then if it is, we all know what we'll need to do to calm down. NEW... DAY ROCKS, NEW... DAY ROCKS, NEW... DAY ROCKS.