Hello! It's now a matter of weeks until everything goes a bit mental in the Wrestling world. By my reckoning we've got three more RAWs until the Brand Split comes into effect. That's obviously going to shake up the whole landscape of WWE, and with potential returns and debuts really give the product some new energy. Then of course less than a week before the split, we've got the Cruiserweight Classic starting on the Network. Basically, I'm not going to be getting much sleep from Mid-July onwards. Talking of not getting much sleep, I was of course up until 4am last night in the hope of seeing a good RAW. If only I had some way to look back through RAW and write my thoughts down where it could be read by other people.
Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins, AJ Styles, John Cena Opening Segment
This was probably the most interesting opening segment in a while, in the sense that everyone was interested to see how they'd address the Roman Reigns problem. This is one of the times that you have to give credit to WWE, because they just went out there and (without being completely direct about it) told us what had happened with Roman.
I had to laugh at Rollins acting like what he was about to say about Roman was a "shoot" because he "wasn't supposed to talk about it" but they had Roman's apology tweet ready for the big screen. That was probably all we'll get when talking directly about the Reigns stuff for the next month now, but at least they addressed it- because now they don't have to talk about it for the next month.
The other promos were decent, I'm not sure if I really like AJ's clearly oversized jacket though. It just looks a bit goofy to me. The jacket is a good idea, but at least make it a bit more "fitted". The stuff with making the two "qualifying" matches with Cena and Styles was a good angle in the sense that it took the spotlight off of the dynamic between Rollins, Ambrose and the "empty chair at the table" and overall I thought this was a decent segment.
Sasha Banks & Paige v Charlotte & Dana Brooke
This was just a really standard (average) Womens Tag, and that's all that can really be said about it. Dana tapping to Sasha was perhaps the most obvious finish in wrestling history, but that's a good thing. While sometimes a "swerve" is good, most of the time in wrestling if it's "predictable" it's because it makes sense.
Titus O'Neil v Rusev
This is the first time in a while I've all but screamed "YOU STUPID FUCKERS" at my TV as a result of a RAW segment. Feel free to tweet me if I'm wrong, but the angle with these two unless I'm mistaken is Titus wants to kill Rusev because he made fun of his kids and was a general dick to them at Money in the Bank. Correct?
So, in this literal blood feud- when after last week Titus couldn't even wait for the bell to ring to start attacking Rusev what was the finish for this match? Titus and Rusev were brawling on the outside, and Titus decided he would rather win by COUNT-OUT than continue to beat on Rusev. Why? Maybe Titus isn't such a nice dad after all. We all know Titus isn't going to beat Rusev for the title, and he's not even to the level where he can actually pin him. However, why they couldn't have Titus just beat the shit out of Rusev with a chair until he agreed to a PPV rematch is beyond me. Instead, Titus is going to use his COUNT-OUT victory to get a Title rematch.
Stephanie McMahon & Korporate Kane welcome Miz & Maryse back
I'm happy to see Miz back, I will say that. This segment was a fairly standard segment, although we didn't get any "fire" related jokes out of Kane. So maybe the writer who came up with all of them a few weeks ago was off sick this week. As soon as Korporate Kane suggested that Miz should be in a Title match tonight I knew where the angle was going, as you'll see if you go back far enough on my Twitter timeline. I suppose that was good, because judging from some of the reactions to what did actually happen later on- people really had their hopes up.
Seth Rollins v John Cena
This match reminded me of all of the John Cena US Open Challenge matches we were getting around this time last year. It was a really good match, between two really good workers- and nothing more. It was about on par, perhaps a little below their match at Night of Champions last year. The one thing that does have to be said is that I was quite surprised we actually had the AA and it not being the finish of the match. After the spot with Rollins getting his foot on the rope after the AA, when we had Cena get distracted before being hit by the Pedigree I did think Cena was going to kick out. So that did surprise me a bit, but overall it was a good match with quite a predictable finish.
I'd also say Cena looked a bit "off" in the match. There were a few moments where I started to think Cena was actually hurt and wasn't selling because he just seemed to be moving and acting weird. Lets just hope it was just Cena doing a really good job of selling.
Enzo & Big Cass v Jobber #1 & Jobber #2/Social Outcasts return
I had to laugh at us getting an old school jobber squash the likes of which we only see in NXT nowadays when they were in Florida. The match wasn't anything really, but it was never going to be something.
Then we had the return of the Social Outcasts, and they were hard! This feud has the potential to be quite fun, and crucially it keeps Enzo and Cass on TV with something to do heading into the Draft, which was my point with Baron Corbin last week. So basically now I've said this, don't expect to see Enzo & Cass on TV next week.
Special Olympics Segment w/ Big Show
This is the second part of the show after the Titus stuff where I started to get really annoyed. It wasn't the segment, the segment was fine. However, after the Enzo & Cass/Social Outcasts stuff they went to an Ad break. They came back and had this segment which was probably about 3 Minutes in length and then went straight to another Ad break. That pissed me off. We had 8 minutes of Adverts either side of a 3 minute segment that served no purpose to furthering any storylines.
Summer Rae v Becky Lynch
Coming back from the Adverts, we had Summer Rae in the last stages of her Entrance, Becky did her Entrance, went straight over to Natalya- they started brawling for all of 30 seconds and then when that was over it was STRAIGHT BACK TO MORE ADVERTS. By my reckoning we had about 5 Minutes of TV time and 12-13 Minutes of Adverts around this stage of the show. That is an actual joke.
On a more positive note, SUMMER RAE DIDN'T LOSE! NEXT STEP, MAIN-EVENTING WRESTLEMANIA! IT'S SUMMERTIME!
The Highlight Reel w/ Sami Zayn & Kevin Owens
I actually loved this segment. It's been so long since we had a proper fiery Babyface promo that wasn't primarily stupid, that the Promo from Sami was just great. As I said, the fiery Babyface promo has almost become a lost art in WWE- so when it's done well it's just amazing. This feud has been built perfectly to the crescendo at Battleground- and I'm just really looking forward to the match and the continued build over the next month.
I said this last week, but now the match has been made it's worth repeating. This match is perfectly positioned by having the blow-off at Battleground. People will have been talking Summerslam, as I was- but this match wouldn't have gotten nearly the same amount of time if they did it at Summerslam. This match will be positioned third behind Cena/Styles and the Shield Triple Threat at Battleground. Especially with the Draft likely separating them, they can have their "last match", we'll have a spot with them in the Rumble every year and then it's "until the next time" with these two.
Kane v The Miz- IC Title
I will say, "Demon" Kane coming out when some people were probably expecting Balor after his tweet last night isn't a coincidence. As I said earlier on in the Review, I called Miz wrestling Kane when we had the Backstage Segment at the time- but it's one of the times where I wish I was wrong.
This match would've been the perfect opportunity to debut an NXT guy. Whether it's Balor, Nakamura, Joe or any of the others likely to be called-up for the Draft. My choice would've been Nakamura, because they need to establish the fact that Nakamura's a big fucking deal to the "casual" fan as soon as he arrives to avoid him being written off as a weird Japanese guy to them. So having him debut in-front of a Florida crowd would've been perfect.
Instead we got a match that nobody cared about, and given the finish most likely a feud that nobody cares about. Which is a shame, because Miz has been putting in some really good work this year when he's been put in with guys who are better than him in the ring.
The little backstage segment with Maryse saying how she was acting was funny though, and Miz talking about how she should win an Emmy and all that stuff. I can only assume Maryse gets best Actress as "Broken" Matt Hardy gets best Actor.
Apollo Crews & Cesaro v Alberto Del Rio & Sheamus
I actually ended up liking this match. It's one of the matches where my interest and general appreciation levels can vary so much depending on the mood that the show's put me in up to the point of the match starting. The Miz match didn't do much for me, but the show didn't really feel like it was dragging too much last night- and as a result I was in a decent enough mood to appreciate this match.
It was a decent tag match on the whole. They're presumably going to run with Del Rio as a Babyface after the reaction he got at Money in the Bank heading into the Draft where Babyfaces at a decent level will be in short supply. The one thing I do wish had happened in this match was instead of Del Rio slapping Sheamus for the tag and then hitting him with an Enzuigiri, just have the Enzuigiri be the Tag. That would've been so much better to me, although granted I'm not sure if it does in fact count as a legal tag.
Dean Ambrose Backstage Promo
This was basically the Backstage Promo you've come to expect from Ambrose. A bit wacky, a bit funny but him always being able to get the point across. I do have to laugh at some people talking about how Stephanie making fun of Ambrose is weird because he's the "cleanest" member of the Shield Triple Threat after Roman's suspension and Rollins' small matter of cheating on his fiancé with a Nazi. SHE'S BEING A HEEL!
New Day & The Wyatts Promo Segment
This segment was the best thing on the show last night, and it wasn't even really close. From the moment they cut to New Day backstage doing the "we're here" thing this segment was just instantly great. New Day have pretty much been treading water for a while now, so the fact they've now gotten something that they can sink their teeth into again is welcome both by me- but also New Day. The Wyatts, and obviously Bray in particularly are always compelling characters when they've got a purpose- so giving Bray an actual purpose for his Promos just instantly makes them better.
I'm not sure where the angle's going with Xavier to be honest. I'm loving the fact that in Xavier and his reactions to The Wyatts we're actually getting a bit of a fear factor reestablished with them. So in that respect, you'd have to assume they'll do something with Xavier to cost New Day the Tag Titles. However, I really don't want New Day to break up- but the only "out" they've got is Xavier teasing turning on Kofi and Big E and then just going "nah" resulting in The Wyatts losing which'd kill the "fear factor" that they're trying to build.
So basically, while I'm loving this feud and the segments involving these two factions- there's not really a perfect outcome for this feud in my eyes.
Also, Xavier doing the Luke Harper "YEAH, YEAH, YEAH" thing on the Entrance was just amazing. It was a bit of a shame we didn't get Strowman doing the clap again though.
Dean Ambrose v AJ Styles
As soon as The Club interfered in Cena's match with Rollins and Rollins won, the finish for this match was obvious to anyone with a brain. The match was really good for what it was, but you could tell from the crowd that they knew nothing big would happen until we had The Club and Cena show up. When they did show up, the finish was decent I thought, and AJ's sell for Dirty Deeds was really good. This was basically just a solid Main Event between two really good wrestlers that ended with a predictable finish. But going back to the point I made in the Review for the first match (it's almost like I plan these sort of things) predictable is good 95% of the time.
Overall I thought this was quite a solid RAW I thought. Basically everything on the show had a point to it, and despite some segments like the Titus one being stupid- the good segments outweighed the stupid ones tonight. You do get the feeling that despite some good segments that the product's a bit in limbo at the moment with the Brand Split, and that's because it is. All we can really hope for is what we got tonight in respect to generally solid segments and feud progression on all major fronts.
Thanks for reading as always, as I've said a few times now- we're just weeks away from the Brand Split now- and with it will come Smackdown Reviews on Wednesday. I'm debating as to whether I want to do a join NXT/CWC Review for Thursday as well, so if you'd be interested or think it'd be too much let me know on Twitter. Thanks again for reading, and would you look at that- I got through the entire RAW Review without mentioning Brexit or England going out to Iceland. TAKE NOTES JBL. TAKE FUCKING NOTES.
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