Hello! Yes, the Reviews are finally back. It's been a long time between Reviews, but I'm sure most of you were aware by following me on Twitter that I was actually in America for the Summerslam weekend which basically made the Reviews impossible. Anyway, I'm back in England now- so that means the Reviews are also back. Before we jump into last night though, it's probably a good idea to give my general thoughts about Summerslam weekend. In short, Takeover was great, Summerslam was good but way, way too long and RAW was kind of "meh". One of the highlights of the weekend of course being witnessing Finn Balor's entire run as Universal Champion, and the Universal Title was the focus of last night- so without further ado let's get reviewin'.
Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, Kevin Owens, Big Cass Opening Segment
I really liked this segment. I'm over the whole format of RAW with the guaranteed 20 Minute promo to kick things off, but I don't write them off because they've happened- and last night was definitely at the higher end of the scale when it comes to quality of the opening segments we've had in recent times. Cass had that one great line directed at Seth, Seth did well with what he had, Roman looked really good in the segment- but the star of the segment by far was Kevin Owens. He was just so great, from his promo, to his mannerisms to his off-mic shit-talking. Owens made this segment, without a shadow of a doubt.
Chris Jericho v Neville
The fact Jericho was paired with Neville last night and we're 3 weeks away from the Cruiserweight Division becoming a "thing" has given me some hope when it comes to my idea of Jericho having a run as the "Original Cruiserweight" out to bury all the young guys. The finish feeds into that as well, what with Jericho going over. I doubt it, but I could be onto something you never know. Although with the Main Event I think it's more likely Jericho ends up a lot higher up on the card, even if it's in a "living vicariously through my child Kevin Owens" sort of role.
The match was quite good, without ever pushing the barrier to get beyond that categorisation. In short, this was a pretty standard RAW match- but there's nothing wrong with that. It was good to see the Liontamer make an appearance as well, even with Cole calling it the Liontamer.
Bayley meets The New Day
The portrayal of Bayley in this segment as basically someone on their first day of school complete with rucksack was funny to me, but it also did work in-terms of being the right way for Bayley to come off. Pairing Bayley with New Day wasn't necessarily what I would have done, but it was without a doubt a smart position to put Bayley in when thinking about how to get Bayley over with the supposed "casual" non-NXT watching crowd.
Nia Jax v Hyan
Nia's squash matches just don't have quite the same impact as Braun's do. If they were smart about it, they'd be going out of their way to find the smallest women possible for Nia to kill- but instead they've just got her squashing generic looking girls every time. I'm interested to see how Nia's booked in the immediate future, because the title picture's going to be occupied by Charlotte, Bayley and Sasha for a while- but the fact they've already cut down on Nia's squash matches to every other week isn't exactly a ringing endorsement of her.
Dana Brooke, Gallows & Anderson Promo
I won't make the porn jokes I've seen a lot of other people make. What I will say is that this is up there as one of the weirdest pairings in WWE history.
Sami Zayn v Jinder Mahal
I've got no idea where this injury angle with Sami's going to end up going. Just off the top of my head, Jack Swagger does the Ankle Lock. It's not looking great for Sami at the moment is it? Doing an injury angle that probably won't lead anywhere and having competitive matches with Jinder Mahal. Although that is quite disrespectful to Jinder, because last night was his first loss on RAW since his return.
Bayley & The New Day v Dana Brooke, Gallows & Anderson
This was a really fun match, and the perfect way to really establish Bayley on the Main Roster after her debut last week. The only thing they really did wrong from start to finish was it looked like they mis-timed the Tube Men in that they inflated too early. I joked that I wished Gallows and Anderson popped one of the Tube Men, and when someone eventually does that the heat is going to really be something else. This whole segment just simply worked, and that's the best thing to say about it given what the purpose of the segment was- which was to get Bayley over with the crowd and look like a threat to Charlotte.
Also, if you haven't seen the New Day & Bayley backstage interview from after the show- watch it. There's a reference to a certain Jamaican character who's best year was 2009 that's quite funny.
Sheamus v Cesaro- Match 2 of the Best of 7 Series
My interest in this series of matches is pretty minimal. Everyone knows that these two can have good matches with each other, and to me, sometimes "just" having a good match isn't enough. Especially in this "era" of RAW where we're pretty much guaranteed 2-3 good matches every week.
It's with all that said, that I say this was a good match. I'm hoping they just switch things up a bit for one or two of the matches. Say for the next match if they're working the injury angle with Cesaro, Sheamus just Brogue Kicks him right off the bat and wins quickly. Or flip it, for one of the later matches when Cesaro's doing his comeback after going 3-0 down in the series he runs at Sheamus, Uppercuts him into the corner and hits the Neutraliser straight away. There's ways to elevate this series beyond "just" an excuse for these two to wrestle each other and have good matches 7 times.
At least the series is actually for something now in that they've said it's for a Universal Title shot.
Braun Strowman v Americo
I'd noticed a pattern over the last month or so, that they were alternating the "squash match" spot between Braun and Nia. I tweeted about my theory on them not being on the same show anymore last night, so of course they were both on last night's show. This was basically the standard Strowman squash. Braun ripping the mask off was a nice touch though.
Paul Heyman & Stephanie McMahon Promo Segment
I was quite tired by this point, and I've been a bit ill the last few days. But can anyone tell me what this segment actually accomplished? This segment was literally just Heyman coming out with a big wad of cash, Stephanie threatening Paul, Paul apologising and Steph going "okay" and walking off.
I was expecting a sort of almost comedic "apology" segment with Steph and Heyman where Heyman would apologise for Brock attacking Shane in the most insincere way possible and Steph would reply in the most insincere way possible and it would have that kind of vibe to it. Especially after they did the gimmick where Brock was "fined" $500. As it is, I'm not quite sure what we got.
Darren Young v Titus O'Neil
Titus' promo weirdly ended up being one of the highlights of the Summerslam long weekend, but then I remembered that this feud was a thing and it all fell apart. This feud is still a thing, and I think that's the worst criticism I can bestow upon it. I'm just completely beyond caring to be blunt. The worst part is, because of the finish and what happened after with Titus getting his non-existent "heat" back it likely means this isn't even over yet.
Kevin Owens v Seth Rollins v Roman Reigns v Big Cass- Universal Title
It's best to start with the finish and Kevin Owens winning. The one thing I'm wondering is whether Triple H would've been aligning with Finn had Finn stayed healthy. I say that because it's pretty common knowledge that Finn was Triple H's "guy" in NXT, while Rollins was Triple H's "guy" on the Main Roster- at least on TV. I haven't really seen that brought up, so I thought I'd at least throw it out there and get a couple of you to think about it.
I've been expecting a Triple H turn on Rollins pretty much since Rollins returned, and even toward the back end of Seth's run before he got hurt. So to say this came as a surprise to me would be a lie, but that's not taking away from just how much I loved this finish. If you had to criticise it you'd say it served to primarily put Triple H over given the fact it was his finish that put Roman and Seth away- but to me it's a non-issue because it fit the story they put and are going to put over in the coming weeks.
I thought the match was really well done, especially building up to the finish of the match. They kept Rusev off the whole show, presumably with this match in mind and everyone expecting him to fuck Roman out of the Title. That worked really well, because I think that's what most people were expecting and it made Triple H's appearance even more of a surprise. So overall I just really liked this match, and I'm interested to see what happens next. I think that's the biggest victory RAW had last night. Their best RAW by far was the one right after the Draft, but a lot of the good stuff that happened was sort of an "instant gratification" type thing like Sasha winning the Title. There wasn't a lot they could really do with it storyline wise. This on the other hand has left the whole Title picture and the dynamics of basically every Main Event guy up in the air.
Overall I really enjoyed last night. As is the case with every 3 Hour RAW it had high points and low points, but the high points this week were good enough to outweigh the low ones. It did feel a bit dragged out, but it's the same as the first Smackdown after the Draft where they packed so many of the "top guy" into the Main Event that the rest of the show suffered from it. RAW also needed this sort of moment with the NFL and Monday Night Football coming back in September, because Smackdown could potentially be beating RAW pretty soon.
Speaking of Smackdown, hopefully you'll be tagging along on Twitter tonight for Smackdown and the fall-out to the best promo in god knows how long from The Miz. The review of said fall-out and more will be up tomorrow so hopefully you stay tuned for that. Thanks for reading as always, the reviews are back baybay!
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