RAW Review: August 1st

Hello! We're officially in a little bit of a "come down" period after the last two weeks that have been absolutely mental in wrestling. Between the Draft, Battleground, the CWC, the best RAW in ages and... a Smackdown- the last two weeks have just been absolutely great as a fan. Now however, that's all blown over a bit- and as I'll discuss throughout this Review it would seem as though it's business as usual for the most part. At least on RAW that is. There's nothing wrong with that necessarily, because the chances of last week's RAW being topped this year is slim to none in my opinion- but given the fact we're fast approaching Summerslam I was hoping we'd get another good RAW last night. Whether or not we did, well, you'll have to keep reading.

Sasha Banks, Charlotte, Chris Jericho & Enzo Amore Promo Segment
This was such a wacky way to open the show, but I'll say right off the bat that I really liked it. It wasn't amazing, especially before Jericho and Enzo came out- but Charlotte and Sasha did their best and they had some good lines to make sure the crowd didn't die. When Jericho came out though, this segment just went up another gear. You could just tell Jericho was having so much fun with his role in this segment, and despite how good he is at playing a role it's a feat in and of itself that he didn't start corpsing at any point.

The stuff with Enzo and Sasha was fun. I will say the stuff where they "flirted" with each other was a bit awkward to me- but it did give us Jericho and Charlotte's "SAWFT" line so I'd say it was worth it. On the whole this was a good opening to the show in my opinion, for the simple fact that it was something different and fun. The Authority came into being nearly 3 years ago now, and any combination of them has opened RAW for at least three quarters of the shows we've had since. So just getting a fun little opening segment where nobody told me my life was meaningless was nice.

Charlotte & Chris Jericho v Sasha Banks & Enzo Amore
A Mixed-Tag match can be really fun. A Mixed-Tag in WWE is flawed from the start. I'm not necessarily a fan of Intergender wrestling, but when it's done right it can be really good. Having this match in WWE where it's literally not possible for Jericho and Enzo in this case to do anything to the women hinders the match from the start. With all that said, they did well with what they could actually do- and Charlotte pinning Sasha via distraction was the right move. As an aside, I genuinely don't think Sasha's been pinned clean in the entire year she's been called up.

Braun Strowman v Evan Anderholm
I was disappointed they didn't try and find someone who looked even weaker and more feeble than James Elsworth did last week. This new jobber didn't quite have the same presence (or lack thereof) as James Elsworth did- he just sort of looked like a generic guy. Braun killing these jobbers is going to be one of the highlights of RAW for as long as they do them for me. Speaking of killing though, Braun is going to kill someone with that Reverse Chokeslam. If he fucks it up, there'll legitimately be a death in the ring.

Now, here's my idea to take this Braun stuff to the next level. Especially after Mr. Anderholm here brought up the fact he'd taken the match to earn $1000. You do a gimmick, not dissimilar to Macho Man's in the 2002 Spider-Man where he fights a "fan" every week and if they win the match they get a prize. They could say it's a flat 100k, or build it up by increasing the reward by 10k each week. In that case, once it's reached 100k+ you have someone do a "Santino debut", beat Braun, win the money and you've got a guy who's made on his first night.

Stephanie McMahon, Mick Foley & Mark Henry Backstage
When I first watched this segment, and with Mark getting the US Title match with Rusev I didn't think much of it- because Rusev was obviously winning. However, I pretty much worked myself last night. The more I thought about the fact Mark was going to the Olympics as WWE's representative, added on to the fact Rusev just got married and would presumably like some sort of honeymoon- the more I thought Mark was going to win the Title. WWE are never ones to turn down some cheap publicity, so having Mark in Rio with the Title posing will all the winning US athletes and some of the megastars like Usain Bolt was something I convinced myself they would want to do.

The Shining Stars v Golden Truth
Can I just point out, Golden Truth was the end-game to the whole angle with Fandango & Tyler Breeze. Fabreeze have since gone on to win almost every match they've had, and Golden Truth have won I believe twice. This was fine as a comedy segment, although the fact they gave the Pokemon Go gimmick to two 40+ Year Olds- and not... ya know... the guy with the Gaming Channel on Youtube is stupid to me. All will be forgiven if Goldust brings the wigs back and Golden Truth start dressing as Team Rocket though. Little Jimmy can be Meowth.

Finn Balor & Seth Rollins Promo Segment
As much as I like Finn, I was so happy we didn't get a Promo with him exclusively out there for a length of time. Finn's an alright promo, but he always needs someone to play off- especially as a Babyface. This segment was good, especially in front of the sort of crowd it was last night- they needed to really try and get Finn over by basically saying how great he was. But it did work, and the crowd were into it as much as almost anything else that took place last night.

Rusev v Mark Henry- US Title
So yeah, about that whole Mark Henry winning thing. This was just such a nothing match, and I was waiting for Mark's comeback, and waiting for Mark's comeback, and it just never came.

Rusev's Promo after I thought was so blatantly teasing Kurt Angle's return. As the US Champ, he started going off about Americans, American Olympians and how no member of Team USA deserved a medal. I mean, come on! As it was, we got Roman Reigns- and while it wasn't Angle I'm honestly quite excited by this.

Cena got over with basically everyone who previously hated him because CENAWINSLOL last year by dropping down the card, winning the US Title and putting on a really good match every week with the US Open Challenge. While I'm not necessarily expecting an Open Challenge with Roman, if they book him right he might finally get on track as the Babyface that they're insistent on pushing him as. Added to that, when/if Roman wins the Title at the end of August- Rusev's got the second half of his wedding in September so he can take a bit of time off allowing Roman to hopefully have good matches with some other guys.

Titus O'Neil v Darren Young
This is a match that they could have actually built up a bit. Especially with the split, feuds like this can actually get time to develop now. Instead, there was segment on the RAW Pre-Show where Titus said what we've all been thinking "When was Darren Young ever great?"- and then we had this match. The match was pretty much what you'd expect from Titus O'Neil vs Darren Young. It was a completely nothing match, and they just randomly gave away Darren's first pinfall loss away on a nothing RAW sandwiched between Battleground and Summerslam.

Especially with what we got after with Darren attacking Titus, presumably to put him over- you have to wonder why Darren couldn't have been DQ'd in the match to stop him taking his first pin on a nothing RAW sandwiched between Battleground and Summerslam.

Mick Foley, Stephanie McMahon, Sheamus & Cesaro Backstage Segment
I thought this segment was actually quite well done. Whether or not you bought the explanation, the fact they tried to give an explanation as to why Cesaro was drafted so low- that actually did sort of make sense is at least something.

Nia Jax v Ariel Monroe
I have to believe WWE are all-in on Nia, in the sense that they just need to have her keep killing girls until they either think she's ready or they need her for a Women's Title feud. If they give up on her a month or two into this and give Sasha or Bayley a win over her to further put them over- it'll be beyond stupid in my opinion.

This was a fine squash match, if a bit sloppy. That's another concern of mine, in NXT- Nia was working with people like Bayley & Asuka who'll make her better. I don't know if she's started the Main Roster House Shows yet- but she needs to be put in with someone better than her on them for as long as she's doing these squashes on TV.

I do also sort of wish Nia would've killed Byron after the match. It just would've been quite funny to me, and the thing is Byron can actually bump- so it wouldn't have been a complete impossibility.

New Day v The Club
I just don't know what the point of this all was. The end-game was doing the injury angle with Big E, which long-term is presumably setting up Gallows and Anderson winning the Tag Titles by pinning Xavier. However, did they really need to do this in a segment with a match where Big E pinned Anderson in like 2 Minutes? This crowd was dead for about two thirds of the show, one absolutely guaranteed pop would've been to have Xavier wrestle- or really do anything except get killed in his hometown.

As I've already said, the end-game of this segment was good. But you do have to wonder if there wasn't a better route to get there.

Cesaro v Sheamus
I actually thought this was the best match on the show last night. These two really clicked, and it was a match I don't think we've actually seen that often which is quite rare for these two- so that was an added bonus. These two, simply put, just absolutely beat the shit out of each other for the majority of the match. The ending to the match was really fun, and Cesaro got the win and promised future title shot. It doesn't look like this was a one-off based on them brawling after, and while it's likely to be a feud I can dream that one of them gets traded to Smackdown to avoid them constantly disrupting the show.

Jinder Mahal v Heath Slater
For about a minute and a half, all was right with the world. THE BAND WAS BACK TOGETHER BAYBAY! Then Foley just had to go and ruin it, didn't he? It's funny to me, because Heath is genuinely over with the crowd. So if they keep returning all these guys to kill him, and eventually he wins a contract in an "upset"- if done right it could potentially be a really big deal. While it's not likely he goes on to great things after winning said contract, that moment would be worth it in my book. I'm just looking forward to seeing who else they bring back, presumably with another return tonight.

I've seen some people question why Jinder of all people was brought back, which I do understand. The thing you have to remember is, none of the returning guys except maybe Shelton with the IC Title is going to get a proper push. Jinder is an "easy" worker, in that he works a safe style- and he's got an easy gimmick to work with in that he can just be "foreign heel".

Chris Jericho & Kevin Owens Backstage Segment
If the jobber Strowman kills next week is called Jimin Marvenluter, I shall forgive WWE for everything they've done previously. I actually really liked this segment, and just the general idea of Owens & Jericho as a team. They're two singles guys who've been thrown together, but they actually liked each other prior to this within kayfabe. Jericho's the Goat and Owens is the Donkey! I'm sure both guys will have hoped to be higher up the card at Summerslam, especially Owens. However, being in a Tag match in Brooklyn against Enzo & Cass is a pretty good spot- especially given all of the other matches taking place.

Seth Rollins v Sami Zayn
Sami's someone I'm a bit worried about in the immediate term. He's billed at 205lbs, and I think with the landscape of the WWE at the minute- the Cruiserweight division is the best he can hope for. That's not a bad spot to be in, don't get me wrong- but given the fact he's just delivered one of the best matches of the year and has just won his feud with Owens you do have to be disappointed it's not more.

The match was fine, as I say pretty regularly- you're not going to see a bad match with these two. It did feel like they were holding back a bit, but I won't complain about that because they shouldn't have gone all out. Rollins pinned Sami clean, which was to be expected- but it was still a bit annoying  and overall this was a perfectly good match.

Brock Lesnar returns & Randy Orton "invades" RAW
I've seen a lot of people saying how they don't know why people are complaining about Orton showing up on RAW, without seeing any actual complaints. I'm sure there's some, but honestly I think that stuff is being completely blown out of proportion. The fact is, Randy wasn't "meant" to be there- which is why when he attacked Brock every single security guy in the building came out to try and catch him. It's not like he came down the ramp with his entrance music playing and did a 10 Minute Promo.

Speaking of Promos, Heyman was great as usual last night. I've missed Heyman, and I hope his new contract means he's around for the foreseeable future- even if Brock perhaps isn't. We may have actually had a first last night as well, we had an RKO that legitimately came "outta nowhere". The crowd didn't even register Orton's presence in the ring before he hit the RKO it happened so quickly. This was a really well done segment, and crucially to me it sold this as a proper RAW vs Smackdown feud- which I didn't think we'd get properly until Survivor Series.

As for where they go next now Randy's fired the first shot, I'd love it if they had Brock kill Shane to write him off TV for a while.

I wasn't expecting last night to even get close to last week's RAW. However, between a combination of a flat crowd and a show that really dragged at times- this RAW just didn't really do much for me beyond Jericho being by far the best thing from last night. That's perfectly fine, because there's going to be some shows like this- especially at this early stage while both brands are still trying to establish new feuds and new talent. So for now, all I can say is I'm looking forward to Smackdown- with them having an actual chance of topping RAW this week and then seeing how RAW plays out next week.

Thanks for reading as always, the posts have calmed down a bit on the wrestling-front after last week that was a bit mental. With that said, there's a Smackdown Review to look forward to tomorrow- so hopefully you'll be back here for it. Thanks again for reading, and just remember guys- it's only a matter of time before D'lo Brown returns and kills Heath Slater. If that thought doesn't get you through the week, then I don't know what will.