Well it’s that time of the week again for me to throw my opinion at your eyes about this week’s RAW, after All In, I really wasn’t sure that Raw was going to cut it this week. Im still so buzzed from the All In hysteria! But this week seemed to promise a lot, AND Renee Young is back on Commentary! So that’s a good thing straight away. So without further ado, here’s my RAW review!
Promo
Braun Strowman comes out with Dolph Ziggler and Drew McIntyre and basically just delivered an amazing promo. Braun is legit Heel now too apparently. He said he didn’t care if the fans liked it or not, he was coming for the title. The Shield came out through the Crowd and then for some reason the superstars from the back came out and attacked The Shield! Basically just trying to “separate” them, but it looked like an ambush! It was all separated and calmed down a little, until it wasn’t when Rollins ran after them and the others followed to the back.
After the break, it goes to the back and the Shield have been arrested and Constable General Manager Baron Corbin is the one to send them away in the back of the Police van.
Riott Squad vs The Bellas
Ì quite liked this match. Despite Brie Bella’s two failed Suicide Dives. Yes, two failed Suicide Dives! I was terrified she got injured at one point but the match was good and I especially liked that the Riott Squad weren’t jobbed out like I feared last week when this match was announced. They lost, obviously, but they kicked some Bella arse first! I liked the bit where Liv Morgan did Cena’s ‘You Can’t See Me’ at Nikki too, I got a kick out of that. But yeah, the match ended with Brie Bella trying a Suicide Dive for a second time, her falling on her face, then Nikki hitting a Rack Attack 2.0 for the win. It was pretty good.
Backstage
Corbin was on the phone to Steph McMahon when Balor showed up and they has a really good, entertaining trading of words, Balor says he wants a rematch and Corbin obliges. Main Event tonight. I have to say, I’ve never really liked Finn when he talks, he just has a reallt flat way of delivering a promo, but this exchange was heated and he looked legitimately angry at Corbin. It was possibly the best talking work I’ve ever seen him do.
Chad Gable & Bobby Roode vs The Ascension
New Tag Team formed between Chad Gable and… Bobby Roode? Their entrance was actually pretty funny and it made me smile until Konnor got a mic and ended up calling Gable a “Duck butt”. The cringe in the writing was strong with this one, but it worked!
For once, The Ascension weren’t Jobbers. They did really well but Gable is truly something remarkable and ended up getting the win for the team. So the new team picked up the win, it was great! But I guess that Bobby Roode Heel Turn isn’t happening any time soon.
Elias Performance
This was one of the best Elias segments in weeks! He ran down Ohio and said Trish Stratus took it too far when she hit him last week. He starts a song and gets interrupted by Ohio’s own Alexa Bliss. She lulls the Crowd into a false sense of Babyface security until quickly pulling the rug out from under them and savagely put then all down. She then wanted to ‘walk with Elias’, which I’m sure made Buddy Murphy feel good, she asked him to sing her a song but before that could happen Ronda Rousey and Natalya Neidhart come to the ring for their match. – side note – why is Elias NOT having matches anymore? The guy is solid gold in quality but is just used as a buffer for other people’s storylines. It makes no sense to me.
Natalya w/ Ronda Rousey vs Alexa Bliss w/ Foxy and Mickie James
The match wasn’t anything particularly spectacular, but it was okay. Alexa beat Natalya with an Armbar submission to send a message to Rousey. Which it did, but apparently it got lost in translation because Ronda got in the ring and just beat everyone up.
Backstage
Braun walks into Baron Corbin’s office with Ziggler and McIntyre in tow and Drew and Dolph says that since he can’t invoke a rematch clause for the IC Title on account of Rollins being detained by police, they want a tag title match. Corbin says The Revival have earned it and are fit to go, but Dolph asks “what if they weren’t?” then walk out and Braun then asks for competition. Y’know, like Heel Braun does.
Interview
Backstage interview with The Revival goes awry when McZiggIntyre attack them! Brutally too! It looked nasty. Which made me assume obviously that The Revival aren’t getting their title match, and that just bummed me out. But it was a good segment.
B Team vs The Revival for the WWE RAW World Tag Team Championships
B Team came out to their ridiculous music and then The Revival’s music played and they didn’t show up. Then the record changed and Ziggler and McIntyre showed up to take The Revival’s spot!
B Team vs Dolph Ziggler & Drew McIntyre for the WWE RAW Tag Team Championships
This match was great! I love Drew McIntyre and Dolph Ziggler! These guys are on fire right now! The match was a steady back and forth of offense, but eventually the brutality and sheer force of the challengers would prove fatal to the title reign of The B Team. The devastating tag finish was hit and the pinfall hit a 3 count and we have NEW WWE RAW Tag Team Champions! Congratulations to Drew and Dolph, a well deserved victory after their incredibly impactful second coming!
Backstage
Alright, this was weird. AOP are walking with Drake Maverick backstage toward the ring.. without context this was one of the weirdest things I’ve seen in a while in WWE and I just watched Joey Ryan return from the dead accompanied by giant penises. But it’s all about to make sense, so don’t panic.
AOP vs Jobbers
Despite this being a squash, it was amazing! AOP looking like they did in NXT! Brutal moves, great talker with them, why they got rid of Paul Ellering I don’t know, but also a real dominant display for the team. They will be a big factor in the tag division for years to come if they continue like this.
Backstage
Corbin tells Balor that he won’t be facing him again that evening because he’s too busy, but instead he will face Braun Strowman.
HBK promo
So awesome to see this man back. He looks older but he’s still HB Shizzle, dude! I was all over this. He began by talking about Super Showdown with Taker vs HHH and he said he and Stone Cold have Trips winning. Then.. I about popped so hard I nearly hit the ceiling! GONG….GONG…. FRICKING GONG! Undertaker was there! He and HBK took a turbulent little stroll down memory lane, it turned into quite the intense stand off between them. Then effectively Taker tried baiting HBK out of retirement. He wants HBK to face him again it seemed. HBK said that unlike almost everyone who has retired in this business, he stayed retired because he’s a man of his word and he respects The Undertaker for ending it for him how he did. So Taker asked if it was respect he had, or fear? I predict a rematch!! HBK & Taker at Mania! Taker says he will put HHH down for good in Australia, then leaves in his signature fashion.
Dana Brooke & Ember Moon vs The Boss and Hug Connection
Quick match. Dana and Ember looked great but Dana got fed up with Titus shouting instructions from ringside which actually ended in Dana getting rolled up by Sasha Bore-nks for the 3. Dana had a go at Titus after and seemingly quit Titus Worldwiiide! I hope she and Apollo walk together as they decend into Heel.
Promo
Jinder Mahal is in the ring waiting for Bobby Lashley so they can do their calm down session. Lashley tried to be comedic but it just came across like bullying to be honest. Maybe that’s because I just don’t like him, I don’t know. But what I do know is that once the session underway, it was cut short by Kevin Owens, who returned and attacked Lashley. He didn’t quit by the looks of it, he’s targeting Lashley now. He hit an apron powerbomb on Lashley too which was awesome. Owens is back. He’s got his edge back too, hopefully.
Finn Balor vs Braun Strowman
We hear from Corey Graves’ mate via text message that The Shield are are out of the police detainment unit and that pretty much tells you what’s about to go down in this Main Event doesn’t It? The Shield will show up and whoop their asses for whooping their asses last week and for having them arrested right?
Wrong.
The match was chaos. Pure chaos. Balor gave it a good go, but Braun Strowman, after hitting only 4 or 5 moves successfully over the 10 minutes match, he got the victory over ol’ Finn. But that was merely the beginning.
After the match, Braun, Drew and Dolph beat up Balor and threw him out of the ring. Then a police siren sounded and a police van rolled into the arena. Who popped out to say hello? Gangrel! He spat his blood, ran down and started hitting everyone with Impaler DDTs, he and Braun had a mega stand off, the crowd went nuts and then.. sadly, not really. Should have happened though. What actually transpired was something of equal proportions of wonderful though! The Shield returned to Raw to make an emphatic statement, presumably with their fists, but as they charged the ring, they were attacked by a whole bunch of Heels from the back. Kevin Owens, The Ascension, AOP, Jinder Mahal, and more but it was so fast they all got mixed up. Anyway, what culminated from this was both gruesome and shocking. Roman Reigns got his head thrown into a Steel Step wielding Braun Strowman for a thunderous clout to the head x2. Ambrose got beaten within an inch of his life right in front of his wife who was on commentary for the whole show (she was noticeably quieter than the last time she did commentary) and Seth Rollins? He got the absolute worst of it. He had the same spot Roman Reigns had when he and Braun were locked in a feud deep into 2016 when Strowman through Reigns into an ambulance from the stage, this time however Seth hit the window on the side, smashed it and cut his arm open quite significantly it seemed. There was a lot of blood. The show went off air with the Shield being dragged down to ringside, they were then laid out next to one a other as the new alliance of Strowman, McIntyre and Ziggler raise their arms and give out a war cry!
Conclusion
9/10 🌟
This week felt like WWE took heed the warning sent by All In’s success and stepped on the accelerator a bit more. This was an awesome episode of RAW and I was expecting far less! It had legends, build, seeds, title changes, an old school story throughout with the Shield and their arrest, it had either good or great matches. It was really fun to watch and I’m really excited about next week as a result. That’s how you do it, WWE. Bravo.
Match of the Night – I’d have to say it was the Tag Title math between B Team and McZigglIntyre because the build up to it was great, it really showed the dominant nature of the two challengers and the lengths they’re willing to go to in order to get what they want, I really like these two as well, I’m bummed out about The Revival, but this could be a really good story for them where they come out looking amazing! What with AOP looking dominant again and Team Gablorious(AKA Gable and Roode, Team Gablorious isn’t their name, but I strongly, strongly feel like it should be.) forming, The Shield reuniting and if the rumours at true and Undisputed Era are coming up accompanied with Kevin Owens and eventually Sami Zayn, with Ziggler and McIntyre as champs the tag division could just about spontaneously combust out of nowhere and become the most must-see element of the WWE landscape! Maybe that’s just one of my optimist personalities popping in to say hello, but I feel that’s exactly where this angle is heading.
Performer of the Night – Now, this is usually only ever one person, but this is a joint award, HBK and Undertaker absolutely stole the show with their stand off. It was like being transported back 7 or 8 years and watching their promos for Wrestlemania! It was nostalgic to the max!
That’s that, gang. Thanks you so much for checking in to read my feeling and theories on what’s just unfolded on RAW. I appreciate each and every one of you.
Peace and love! ✌🏻💚
– CB
