I can't remember if I said this in my Mania Review or my RAW Review from last week, but the beauty of Wrestling is that it's truly a never ending story- there's never a proper last chapter in the book so to speak. Yes, Wrestlemania was ridiculously underwhelming and most of its finishes were fucked- had that been the "Season Finale" of the WWE fair enough. But, it wasn't and the WWE always had time to get it "right" again coming off the back of Mania. Enter last night's RAW. There's no such thing as a perfect Three-Hour RAW. Especially when you factor in probably 80% of the crowd being in for Superstars as well, it's just impossible for a Crowd to stay at its hottest for the entirety of RAW- and to be blunt WWE just can't book one. There's always a "lull", or a segment that's just plain annoying- however last night came pretty fucking close to achieving perfection.
Shane McMahon, Kevin Owens Opening Segment
This was such a great Opening Segment, in the sense that it felt relatively fresh. Not having a Heel open the show, and basically bury the crowd and everyone watching just sort of seemed to start the show off on a more "upbeat" note. Shane managed to put together the entire card in about 5 Minutes, when The Authority would have taken 25- and then out came Kevin Owens. Again, going back to fresh- I know Owens had the interactions with Stephanie when they set-up the IC Title Ladder Match. However, I wouldn't say Owens has had enough interactions with the "Authority Figures" recently to say that this wasn't a really good idea. Having different people interact with Shane, open the show etc. will only ever elevate said guy- whether it's Cesaro, Kevin Owens, Miz and pretty much everyone else. I'm not sure why Owens had to "earn" his mandatory Rematch Clause, but I suppose the only other way we can judge if they're still a thing in "Shane's WWE" is to look at the only other Title that changed hands- and Triple H has yet to claim his either.
Cesaro v Kevin Owens- IC Title #1 Contender Match
This was just simply a really fucking good match. It's just so great to finally have Cesaro back, and everything points to them finally treating him like the complete star that he is. I love them having the Bond Gun Barrel thing for his Entrance now. They've managed a sort of hybrid of making Cesaro; Bond, Superman and the Transporter with his Entrance- and I just absolutely love it.
I've probably said this a ridiculous number of times when these two had their series of matches around Summerslam last year, it's literally impossible for these two to have a bad match with each other. I don't think the crowd knew quite how to react to the match in all honesty, with the focus being on Owens working Cesaro's Shoulder and the whole match being almost exclusively based on that. I'm not sure about the finish to be honest, obviously Cesaro needed to win- but Owens losing clean combined the finish of Sami's match just caught be a bit off guard. I was fully expecting shenanigans, especially in this match after what happened with Sami and Owens last week.
Dr. Phil meets Charlotte and Ric Flair
I only know this bloke from references to him on TV Shows I watch, and I genuinely thought his thing was that he wore a mask with how much Plastic Surgery he's had. This was just a weird segment, I understand the train of thought of having the Dr. Phil involved with the Womens Championship being a bad thing, but with what happened- and more specifically said by Dr. Phil later I understand why the did it.
The Dudleys v The Lucha Dragons
The New Day Promo just prior was New Day's usual stuff, and it was just a means to an end- and was largely treated as such.
This match was just so weird to me. They went to an Ad Break, and then by the time they came back Kalisto was dead- or at the very least in the process of dying and it was a 2-on-1 match. If I had to take a guess, Kalisto's next feud will in fact be Sin Cara- but with how much they've fucked the US Title up since Cena dropped it there's really nothing certain about it.
Enzo & Cass coming out after confirmed a couple of things; Enzo Amore has money written all over him, and Enzo & Cass aren't winning the Tag Tournament. I worked it out on Twitter last night, going by the brackets- and assuming The Usos aren't somehow written off after last night's attack it's The Usos who'll be winning.
By Bracket;
The Usos (Confirmed)
The Vaudevillains
Enzo & Cass
The Dudleys (Confirmed)
The Usos (although, there's a chance we get interference & the Vaudevillains win now)
Enzo & Cass (most likely with a roll-up)
The Usos/Vaudevillains w/ Dudleys interference.
I'd also like to say how happy I am to see a Tournament in Wrestling again. I know we had the WWE Title one out of necessity, but I've always felt Tournaments were such a great part of wrestling. Both in the spectacle sense, and also because it gives a spotlight to 8 in this case Tag-Teams while also maintaining the big spotlight on the current Champions. Without knowing for definite, I'd assume New Day are going to be taking it easy for a few weeks- which isn't necessarily a bad thing and can give a tiny bit of a rest in-terms of their act with the Fans which should serve them in good stead.
Roman Reigns, The Wyatts, The League of Nations Segment
I actually quite liked this segment. I genuinely hold the opinion that the WWE now give Roman three scripts per Episode and one is deployed depending on how the crowd reacts to him. 1 for a Heel, 1 for a Babyface and 1 for a Tweener. Last Week was most definitely the Heel script, and this one was more a Tweener. I still maintain that Roman's a Heel, as I said last week putting anyone up against him makes said person the most over Babyface in the Company. How that doesn't mean Roman's considered a Heel is beyond me. The stuff with the League of Nations was an interesting direction, in the sense that they kept AJ and Roman completely separate and focused on building both guys up tonight- which is smart in my book.
As soon as the League came out, I'm sure we all knew The Wyatts wouldn't be far behind. What did surprised me was the match made off the back of said Wyatts not being far behind. It was just complete "Holla Holla" booking, but I was fine with it- because Roman and Bray are always going to be opposing each other for the duration of their most likely lengthy WWE Careers. Anyone but you, Roman.
Epico & Primo Vignette
I make a point of giving literally every gimmick on WWE TV a try before I start burying it. So, with that in mind I won't start burying this gimmick yet. But, WHAT IN THE ACTUAL FUCK IS THIS GIMMICK GOING TO ENTAIL?! Are we going to get Epico & Primo refusing to wrestle in the ring, and insist all of their opponents wrestle in Puerto Rico or what?
Natalya v Charlotte- Women's Title
I'll start with how this ended, and more specifically the Dr. Phil stuff. In the WWE's minds, Dr. Phil will attract more viewers. I think that's safe to say- otherwise he wouldn't have been booked to appear on RAW. So, in the WWE's mind- he's bringing in all these extra viewers so they decide he's best used to put over how great the Women's Division is. I'm not saying it'll be successful, and I've got no idea how much "pulling power" Dr. Phil has in America- but from someone completely cold to him that's why they did it.
My problem with this match, and basically the feud is there's no jeopardy involved. Nobody actually believes that Natalya's getting the Divas Title. With that said, I think it's a testament to just how good the match was that the crowd were as into the False Finishes as they were toward the end of the match. These two are two of the better Wrestlers in the Women's Division without a doubt, it's just a shame Nattie's been fucked up beyond repair in my opinion.
I could be wrong, but the constant Flair interference says to me that they're angling for a Cage Match between Charlotte and Nattie. That would be a massive step in the right direction for this new Women's Division and I'm assuming that's why the WWE have put a "trusted veteran" like Nattie in the position for said Cage match.
AJ Styles & Sami Zayn Backstage Promo
I liked this, it was the sort of friendly, competitive rivalry type thing that I wish we'd get more of in the WWE.
The Usos v The Social Outcasts
Let's be honest, nobody cares about that- The Usos won.
Karl Anderson & Doc/Luke Gallows join the Social Outcasts
I mean, that's what happened right? This moment was one of the times that you just know was special, and is going to lead to something absolutely massive.
I'll go point-by-point on this one, because there's a few to talk about. Firstly, I've seen some people saying they expected them to make more of an "impact". Presumably wanting them to attack Roman, AJ, Shane etc. I'm not going to constantly compare the Bullet/Balor/Whatever it'll be called Club to the nWo. However, Scott Hall didn't show up on Nitro and instantly go after Savage, Sting etc. He just randomly showed up in a nothing match, and they built up from there. I'm not expecting this build to be any different.
This brings me onto my next point, and again- I'm not going to constantly bring up the nWo. The "3rd Man" discussion. I think 99% of people are expecting Finn, and Finn is the most likely candidate by quite a long way. However, I've got this sort of weird feeling that the initial group isn't going to involve Finn- and Anderson and Gallows will turn on the initial 3rd Man and align with Finn later down the line.
This all stems from an idea I was sort of toying with over Mania Weekend when I was thinking about Booking Blogs I could do once the Football Season's over. This idea I was toying with, was to have Roman be the "3rd Man". I realise everyone apart from me probably thinks it's a horrendous idea, but I think it'd be absolutely genius. If it's me booking, I have Roman/AJ at Payback and Gallows and Anderson interfere- we get the sort of teaser of their past lives with AJ before they beat the fuck out of him allowing Roman to retain. To me, this accomplishes the objective of protecting AJ, keeping the Title on Roman and giving Roman's Character the massive reset button it needs.
As I said, it wouldn't be the long-term plan however- and a bit down the line once Gallows and Anderson are fully trusted in Roman's eyes the "master plan" comes into effect and they turn on him with Finn debuting in the same segment. To me, the end-game of the Bullet/Balor Club coming in should be Finn as WWE Champion and Gallows and Anderson as Tag Champs- with others possibly coming into the group at some point to monopolise the Titles in WWE. The WWE have got something special here, and I'm just praying to god that they don't fuck it up.
Miz & Maryse, Cesaro Backstage Segment
I really liked this segment. Maryse's English has improved massively since she was last in WWE- and that's good in one way. But, there was something beautifully annoying about how disjointed it was in her initial run. Miz & Maryse are going to be such a fun pairing, they've obviously got chemistry with each other and Miz just "gets" being a Heel. I know people will say Owens, but it's still the "cool" thing to like Owens. Miz is pretty much the only true Heel left in the WWE. You don't want to cheer for him at any point with anything he does. I liked the little Cesaro bit, and Maryse's whole stopping Miz drinking "domestic water" bit was really funny. All-in-all this segment was really good.
AJ Styles v Sami Zayn
This was the second of two matches tonight, where it was just so clear that the WWE are trying to put of an emphasis on the Wrestling side of things at the moment. We had two really long matches between 4 of, if not the 4 best Wrestlers in the Company at the moment. Again, it's literally impossible for these two to have a bad match with each other. I mean, Sami dying when he landed on his head may have taken a Star or two off- but that would still have ranked it was an Above Average match.
I don't know if it's because I'm so accustomed to shenanigans in matches to further a feud, but I had a sort of fixed idea in my head that nothing was going to happen until Owens was back in the Arena driving a Tim Horton's Truck that the finish caught me a bit off guard. I'M NOT USED TO CLEAN FINISHES IN BIG RAW MATCHES FOR GOD SAKE, WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO ME WWE?! Overall, this was another really good match- on a really good show.
The
It's not often I get properly serious in these Reviews. Everything I say is done with somewhat of a light-hearted manner I like to think. However, sometimes it's unavoidable. Like when I ended up talking about a possible ISIS Attack for Hell in a Cell (?) Last Year for example. Last Night is another one of the times that's prompted me to be serious.
We witnessed a horrible, horrible accident last night. As Dean Ambrose gave Chris Jericho the Dirty Deeds, the Potted Plant that Ambrose brought out tragically fell from its standing and died right before our eyes. I'm expecting Riots on the streets today, protests outside of Deans House, #PlantLivesMatter to be trending worldwide. WE SHOULDN'T STAND FOR THIS, GUYS! WHAT DID THAT POTTED PLANT DO TO ANYONE?! HE WAS AN INNOCENT BYSTANDER! HE DIDN'T DO SHIT!
So I'm sure you'll all join me in paying our respects to the Potted Plant during a week of mourning.
Apollo Crews v Adam Rose
If there was one weak segment last night, it was this one. Even then, this still had a defined purpose in the sense of building Crews up. I suppose the fact this was probably the weakest segment is a testament to how good RAW was last night. It still did a good job of putting Crews over, and Rose did well with what he got.
Golden Truth Backstage
This capped off a decent night in the history of RAW Guest Hosts. Dr. Phil wasn't at all invasive in the way he was featured on TV. He had the tease of Flair and Charlotte splitting up, put over the Womens Division which to me was his main purpose and then we got a little bit of comedy with this segment. This was by far the best Golden Truth segment in my opinion, apart from maybe Goldust writing "No" on Truth's Forehead, Truth looking in the Mirror and thinking it said "On". IT'S ON!
Bray Wyatt & Roman Reigns v The League of Nations (Sheamus & Alberto Del Rio)
Can someone correct me if I'm wrong here, but did Bray Wyatt look absolutely amazing last night or what? It's almost as if he wasn't systematically de-railed by the WWE in a long-term effort to get him off TV. I think in the future whenever someone says "X" has been buried to me I'll ask for their definition of the word "Burial"- because it's probably the most over-used word in Wrestling nowadays. Even Jericho's using it as a sort of "hint, hint, nudge, nudge" joke at the expense of fans over-using it now.
This was equal parts weird and good. As I just said, Bray Wyatt looked absolutely great last night. I'm not sure what to expect from Bray over the next few months, as I've already said the Main Event scene would be populated by AJ, Roman, Bullet/Balor Club and then Finn over the next 6 or so Months if it were up to me. So, ideally they keep giving Bray a big spotlight on RAWs as they did tonight and build him/the Family up with wins over the League of Nations- and perhaps even New Day before they likely re-commence the feud with Brock for Summerslam.
Long-Term, and I think the massive reaction to Bray's Hot-Tag and just Bray in general last night as a Babyface I think we're going to get Bray/Triple H. Possibly at next years Mania, although the "Bring Down the Machine" part of the feud I booked for the potential feud in my "Booking Wrestlemania 32" blog over a year ago will most likely not be relevant anymore. At least not in the sense of Triple H being recognised as part of "The Authority".
It's worth repeating on good nights for Bray as well as bad, time is on his side. In the last 4 Months they've teased Bray/Triple H, Wyatts/League of Nations (which they're currently doing), Brock/Bray and as recently as last night Bray/Roman. In short, he's not going anywhere in a hurry.
As I've already said, this was one of the best RAWs top to bottom in absolutely ages. Put it this way, if we start getting RAWs to this level every week then there'll be very little to complain about in these Blogs. Which is absolutely fine, I'm a big believer in the Power of Positivity after all.
Thanks for reading as always, as the Football Season's coming into its last month or so expect there to be a few more Wrestling Posts once it's done- think Booking Blogs, Opinion Pieces etc. Thanks again for reading, and remember. #PlantLivesMatter.
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