RAW Review: September 7th

Hello! That's right, I'm back for more. After last weeks show that was just really weird we're onto this week and I wasn't expecting much better. The thing people seem to have forgotten is these few months between Summerslam and the Rumble build are always pretty dodgy on the whole. Anyway, on the road to Night of Champions we had some good stuff- and some bad stuff so let's just get into it.

Rollins, Sting & Sheamus Promo
Look, I'm as bored as anyone by these opening Promo segments. BUT, as far as 15 Minute Opening Promo segments this was far from the worst one we've seen this year. It might just be because we had Sting and Sheamus in it and it felt relatively fresh- but still, it was fine. This was also the segment where we- or at least I realised we were going to get Crazy "Joker" Sting tonight which I personally was fine with, because I actually liked his Joker Sting run (to a point).

Triple H, Rollins, Stephanie Promo
I may well be wrong about this, but this is at least my theory on last week with the Triple H stuff. Triple H was obviously meant to be at RAW, but then the shooting stuff happened at the Performance Centre and they had to completely rewrite the segments he was going to be in which would have been teasing tension with Triple H and Rollins. So basically my theory about the Triple H overkill last week was they basically just panicked at the last minute writing it all. So in short, what happened this week with Triple H booking Rollins in "bad" matches for him was exactly what Triple H's role was going to be last week and it just fell to Steph to do it. But on the whole this segment was fine, just a week late.

Sasha Banks v Paige
I think some people are going WAY overboard with their praise of this match. The match was fine- but it really wasn't anything special, the one thing that does have to be said for this match was they had the crowd for the majority of it. The one exception being the limpest and just least-passionate "this is awesome" chant probably ever. So that was quite hilarious, but as said the match was fine and the finish was good. I won't hear anyone bitch about the finish, for what they're trying to do (however flawed that may be) it was a perfectly acceptable finish.

Roman Reigns & Dean Ambrose v The Ascension
This is the first time I got annoyed last night. I actually watched Smackdown in it's entirety for the first time in about 2 Years last week. Mainly because it was New Day heavy, but it at least appeared as though they finally had something for Ascension with them aligning with Stardust. Nope, Stardust (and Neville) were nowhere to be seen last night and The Ascension got killed. I've said it seemingly every time the Ascension come up as a talking point now, I don't rate them as a top-tier team who I want to win the Tag Titles. With that said, it amazes me how badly they've been fucked since they got called-up.

Developmental is (this may be shocking to you) about developing. Both in-terms of developing Wrestling skills and characters. So the fact they completely changed Ascension on arrival basically made their whole developmental run moot and they were dead on arrival. I suppose Stardust and Neville not being on tonight means they might still be involved on that front, but it wasn't a good start.

Wyatt Family Promo
This was fine, this may be a weird comment- but Strowman's voice is really good for his role. I don't know if it's naturally like that, or it's just naturally that low- but either way it's good.

Ryback Backstage Promo
This was the best promo in history. I need to write out what happened to properly comprehend it, Ryback said he had a plan for Rollins and I suppose acted out hitting Rollins with the Meathook and getting him up for the Shellshocked. It was at this point that the Wrestling business peaked. The Owens stuff was funny, I wanted him to spit the apple at him SO much- so the fact Owens didn't made him #1 Heel on earth in my book.

It actually amazes me just how bad Ryback is in a Backstage Promo setting, the guy has charisma and when he gets out in front of the crowd to cut a Promo it's really good. But when he's Backstage fucking hell is he bad.

Ryback v Seth Rollins
This match just astonished me. I'm not surprised this match was a really good one because BOTH of these guys can really go. The problem for Ryback has been that he's been in the ring with people who he hasn't been able to "up his game" with- Rollins on the other hand is one of the best on the planet right now. The good match/Ryback performance didn't surprise me, what surprised me was THEY ACTUALLY PROTECTED THE INTERCONTINENTAL CHAMPION!  Ryback, the IC Champion now has a win over the WWE Champion however it came and that in turn elevates the Ryback/Owens stuff for Night of Champions. This is just amazing to me, I realise I've got very low standards now.

THE BEST SEGMENT IN THE HISTORY OF ANYTHING
So it was fine. If you haven't seen this already GO AND FUCKING WATCH IT. I am of course talking about the Rollins, New Day, Edge & Christian, Dudleys segment. The only thing I wish they'd have done different was gimmick the Kazoo so Big E could actually eat it. It would either have been a really cool thing to do as a singular thing, or they could run with it for a few weeks and have Big E "Kazoo Coughing" in segments. I just loved this segment, I love Rollins to death- but as soon as Edge & Christian showed up I wanted him gone ASAP because of what we were going to get. This was just great, and once again New Day saved the show.

Summer Rae, Dolph, Rusev Segment
I hate this feud. I never want to see it again. BUT, I did actually get a few laughs out of this segment- so it wasn't a complete waste as it was last week. Rusev is still amazing, his whole Promo basically being "It's not Summer and Lana's fault, They're only Women" was hilarious to me and his Broken English stuff hasn't overstayed it's welcome yet. But the bit that I just loved about this segment and probably stopped me going off on one, Summer calling Rusev "Ru Ru". That made me laugh so much, and any segment that makes me laugh that much isn't a complete dud. Oh Yeah, Dolph is still a dick in this feud. If Lana hadn't gotten hurt I would still have been banking on a double-turn. As is I'm not sure of Summer's turning on Rusev which is still where I'd go- but without the Lana component they might not go there.

Randy Orton v Sheamus
I might as well Copy & Paste every single Review for their matches yesterday. In a very weird way I'm actually enjoying these seemingly endless matches between the two just because of how fucking stupid it is. The thing is, both of these guys are great workers- Orton especially but there's just nothing to get excited about during these matches. It's just another match between two guys who DESPERATELY need to move on.

The Wyatt stuff after was good for a few reasons, it helped build the "3rd Man" reveal for the Night of Champions match and it also helped write Orton off TV until they actually have something for him hopefully.

I did see the Baron Corbin stuff, I still somewhat doubt it's him- but as I said last week anyone who is the same height (or around it) as Strowman is fair game. The thing with Corbin is (if it is Corbin) the crowd will HATE him, but as I said a bit last night- that might actually be the plan. Corbin coming in may well be just to take the heat off of Roman because I can see them trying to build Roman back up again ready for Mania season starting from around now. Hopefully if Roman doesn't get hurt this time he'll have more time as well.

The Dudley Boyz v Los Matadores
This match wasn't much, I don't know if they're getting ready for another Jobbercide with people like Los Matadores and The Ascension- but them turning on Torito surely means the act isn't long for this world now. Unless they finally realised having a Bull tag along and be friends with two Bull-Fighters was a stupid idea.

The only thing I wish they'd have done was before they put the Matador through a Table New Day ran out and either saved the Matador, saved the Table or Torito took out Xavier and the Matador went through the Table. Torito/Xavier is of course Main Eventing next years Mania after all. Gotta build it.

Cesaro v Miz
This was just hilarious to me. It might just be because I'm really tired today, but I don't have the energy to get pissed with stuff today. The actual match section was quite fun, Cesaro's still great and him killing Miz for 99% of the match was the right way to go. The Big Show stuff made me laugh, because as I've said a few times now- Big Show's gimmick now is that he turns every week as he did last night.

Team Bella & Team PCB Promo
Firstly, some people seem to think the Divas will be Main Eventing next week. While it's not 100% not going to happen, there's about a 99.99999999999999999999999999999999999999999% chance it won't. Nikki Bella v Charlotte Main Eventing a Go-Home show for a PPV regardless of what PPV it is over Sting, John Cena and Seth Rollins. Somehow I doubt it'll happen. The segment was fine I suppose, I zone out every time Nikki Bella is talking- the bits I was "zoned in" for were weird and Nikki seemed to be wanting to get cheered. Not in a Heel "cheer me" way, but genuinely wanting cheers so that was stupid.

John Cena & Primetime Players v New Day & Seth Rollins
This match was so much fun. It was weird- or at least it was to me that Cena was the one taking all of the heat during the match when they had Darren in the corner. That said, Big E throwing around Cena and generally killing him in between hip gyrations was great. Whoever had the idea to give Xavier a Trombone should be instantly promoted to Head of Creative, and this match on the whole was great. It was a complete House Show match- but as I've said quite a few times, these type of matches are almost always really fun.

The Sting/Statue shenanigans were good, it's not as good as the idea that I heard/saw somewhere that the Rollins statue was Chocolate and Sting ate it. The thing is, I know they probably have a "statue guy" but that Rollins statue can't have been Free so hopefully this isn't the last we see of the statue. Kind of like Sandow's Money in the Bank after Cody put in the ocean before he got the leather one.

This RAW on the whole was pretty bad, but any show that had a segment that just filled me with so much joy as the New Day/Rollins/Dudleys/Edge & Christian segment did and had a few really fun/good matches can't be considered a complete failure.

Thanks for reading as always, I actually had some sleep before I did this RAW Review unlike last week- so hopefully it wasn't a complete mess. We've only got one more RAW before Night of Champions so stay tuned for that Review and of course the Predictions/Review for the show and more. Next up on here is the Impact Review where we're counting down the days on TNA's Destination America run so hopefully you'll come back for that. Thanks again for reading, let's just hope it's a quieter week than last week.

Quick PS, If there's a Jobbercide this week as I suspect there may be I'll do a thing looking at all of the Releases- which may turn into a Booking Blog of sorts.