Des Moines, Iowa hosts Raw this week and it kicks off with HHH making his way to the ring and we see 2 matches advertised and they’re both Triple Threat matches. Samoa Joe vs AJ Styles vs Rey Mysterio & Drew McIntyre vs Baron Corbin vs The Miz and the winners of those matches will face off and the winner of that match will have earned a Universal Championship opportunity.
HHH Promo
Before his music cuts, Rollins is on his way out in his hometown! He and the game talk about the struggles of Seth getting to where he is and HHH says he did it, but now the landscape has changed. He tells Rollins that he is the measuring stick for everyone else and HHH explains the triple threat matches and that the winners will face off in the main event, then everyone in those Triple Threats come out and cut some promos on Rollins. Triple H couldn’t really hide his smile when McIntyre was talking either. This was a really cool segment, AJ Styles said it’ll be AJ vs Rollins at MITB, Corbin asked people if they’d beaten a gold medallist in his final match at Wrestlemania.
AJ Styles vs Rey Mysterio vs Samoa Joe
Oh, as you could imagine, this match was superb! The creative offense from all 3 men was sublime and it looks like they’re going for an absolute killer MITB card to combat AEW’s Double or Nothing show.
This match actually had a bit of everything in it! Lucha Libre, Strong Style, Technical based, it was a modern veteran classic! It had 2 commercial breaks during too, so it was roughly a 20-25 minute match! Samoa Joe is a beast, but was noticeably absent during this match as he spent a fair amount of time out of the ring, perhaps he’s still not 100%, but he hit a Double Waterwheel Drop from the top rope and jumped backwards with both Styles and Mysterio on both of his shoulders, he landed badly on the back of his head as a result and was seen clutching at his head during the match after that. I hope it was just a bad headache and nothing more.
AJ and Mysterio absolutely tore it down with their undeniably natural chemistry and put on an absolute clinic! Samoa Joe works so well with both of these guys having worked with and sharing a roster with Styles for the majority of his career and as we know very well by now, any time Joe tangles up with Mysterio its going to blow people’s minds, but to have all three men in the same match, scrambling to get the upper-hand and win so they advance to the main event was absolutely awesome and exactly what I want to see each week when I tune into Raw! (Not this exact match every week, I’m sure it’d lose it’s appeal after a while, but this type of thing is what I want from an episode of RAW.) 3 of the companies biggest stars battling it out to gain advancement into the No.1 Contenders match in the main event. It’s just great television!
The match ended with Styles reversing a West Coast Pop, Powerbombing Mysterio onto Joe and then Styles Clashing him onto Joe and pinning Joe. So AJ moves to the Main Event. Honestly, this match was one of the best on RAW in forever. I loved it and I think if people are still not hooked and are switching off the TV or changing channel after this opening contest, then there is just no pleasing those people.
Naomi vs Billie Kay w/ Peyton Royce
I love The IIconics. They’re so funny and so entertaining to watch in the ring and on the microphone. They had a hilarious promo and the crowd did their “IICONIC” thing with them. Also, speaking of the crowd, there was lady in her mid 40s/early 50s in the front row laughing her ass off at The IIconics’ promo and that cracked me up even more!
The match itself has got to get some heated criticism though, it’s bad enough that The IIconics have lost almost every match they’ve had since winning the gold but Naomi not only managed to out-smart both Billie and Peyton by Clotheslining Royce off the apron whilst simultaneously attacking Billie Kay with some sort of Rope Guillotine move but she then hit a Sunset Flip into a rollup on Kay and won the match in, roughly, 40 seconds.. Booking Naomi strong, that’s nice and all, and I love the storylines surrounding the Women’s Tag Team Championships, but The IIconics should be booked better than this. They’re looking weak as all Hell right now. Where is that crafty Heel nature they had? Where’s the ‘do whatever it takes to win’ mentality? I like Naomi and she deserves a decent spot on the roster, but The IIconics deserve better than this too. I feel like there’s a way to make Naomi look strong without burying Kay & Royce – they’ve almost had The Revival’s Championship booking, minus the awesome title defences!
Creepy Bray Wyatt return thing
Same creepy doll scene we’ve seen 5+ times already. Already it doesn’t feel like they’re going to treat him properly. The dude has had 2 separate return promos and they’ve just been repeated over and over again. Surely if they wanted him to feel important, then they would least record different return hype videos for each week. Repeating it just feels like you don’t care. Even Mojo bloody Rawley had new ones recorded and they’ve materialised into literally nothing, so what does it mean if they’re not even willing to do different ones with Bray? Or at least that’s what their constant nowhere booking of returning characters like Kevin Owens, Mojo Rawley & SAnitY (who have been disbanded now anyway! They didn’t even get a chance to show what they could do on the “Main Roster” and they were NXT Tag Team Champions! I’m worried for Bray. They’ve never booked him right and even when they finally put the World Title on him after winning an Elimination Chamber match in one of my all time favourite moments in WWE History they still sold him as fodder for ol’ Randal Keith Orton at Wrestlemania! We’ll see what happened I guess, the doll is creepy, the music is chilling but it’s lost its mystique already from too many replays I think.
The Miz vs Drew McIntyre vs Baron Corbin
On paper, for many people, this doesn’t look like it’d be anywhere near the same level as the first Triple Threat, right? The first match was a booking made in Wrestling Valhalla with 3 of the best in-ring workers in history tore the house down. But they were matched perfectly on their skill inside the ropes, and whilst I personally agree that Miz, McIntyre & Corbin all share that as well in some ways, they’re perfectly matched as 3 of the biggest and most outspoken characters in the WWE, Drew McIntyre has the razor sharp edge on his Wrestling abilities though I feel.
Corbin and McIntyre being somewhat accepting of eachother decided to team up on poor Miz too. Who saw that coming? Not McIntyre! He got clocked by Corbin who goaded him into a Double Team only to then smack him in the mouth. But Drew wasen’t playing that shiz, he just laid Corbin out with a boot and then this match picked up quick! Miz has changed his style quite a bit, he’s doing Knee attacks and even hit a Springboard Axe-Handle, it was really cool!
There have been some awesome spots so far in the show, but the coolest spot in the show thus far goes to these 3 dudes. When McIntyre had Miz on the top rope and set up his Air Raid Crash off the middle rope, Corbin appeared and Powerbombed McIntyre off the ropes whilst Miz was still in the Air Raid Crash! It looked brutal too!
This match was super exciting. There were so many near falls but when McIntyre hit a Claymore that nearly kicked Miz’s head around 360°, it was over and when Corbin ran in and knocked Drew out of the ring and stole the victory, our main event was set. Baron Corbin vs AJ Styles – winner faces Seth Rollins at MITB for the WWE Universal Heavyweight Championship – much to the horror of The Scottish Psychopath. Who mat just wreak havoc upon Corbin for that Stunt. – fantastic match and a great finish.
Sami Zayn promo
He’s out dancing like an idiot again. I love it. He then showed us a slideshow of his Instagram and showed us his travels around the globe whilst he was off, he said it was the happiest time of his life. Then his return was approaching he started feeling depressed and getting symptoms of Anxiety and he wondered what it could be that’s causing that.. Sami said it wasn’t the entitled wrestlers in the back who only care about their own egos, it’s not about the corporate structure that he doesn’t agree with, he said the problem is all of us fans. The “toxic culture” that we’ve created – that’s the weird thing about his Heel turn – he’s not wrong. Some fans are assholes. Some fans are horrible and some I wouldn’t even class as “fans” – but he can’t group us all together. But he jumps around the ring saying if they have a problem, take a page from his book and take a trip. To Hell. He then rolled around the ring laughing at all the booing, he waved goodbye and then Cedric Alexander walked out, making his debut on Raw and just walked past and smiled at Sami.
Cedric Alexander vs Cesaro
Cesaro is on Raw and The Bar is dissolved too! Despite Cesaro coming out wearing The Bar attire and walking out to Sheamus’ music.. Not a great decision from a Tag perspective, but great for Cesaro who is now hopefully going to get a a long overdue singles push and new music.
Alexander showed his stuff and the two of these dudes absolutely smashed it! Cesaro nailed Cedric with an Uppercut in mid-air and got the win. That’s looks very promising for both men as Cedric lost, sure, but he had an outstanding debut and Cesaro needed a win. Also, something worth noting. At the end of the match Cesaro exclaimed “I don’t just set the bar, I am the bar!” so, this lead me to speculate that “The Bar” may now be his adopted moniker. I don’t think I’d hate that if that was the case. Another great match!
The Usos backstage interview
They are just so damn good on the microphone, man. So damn good! They rhymed stuff as they usually do, turning SmackDown Live into “Lockdown Live” and mentioned “The Viking Raiders” looking like they’re out of Braveheart and shouted “Freedom!!” (The Viking Raiders.. That’s you could do about The Viking Experience disaster? So, they raid Vikings? What for? Their clothes? Is that why they look like Vikings? Having a team with the word “War” in their name wouldn’t exactly start World War 3 now would it? They already changed their name from War Machine to The War Raiders when they started their NXT run after ROH. Literally hate the name so much. It’s not as bad as Experience but for blokes who are dressing like Vikings, to called them “Viking Raiders” is absolute nonsense.) Then they mention the tag champs and Lucha House Party in similarly amusing ways until they’re cut off by The Revival (these two teams would have match of the year without a doubt I think) who start saying they’re the Top Guys around these parts and The Usos were the best Tag Team in SmackDown Live history, but the Usos are pretending to be asleep stood up, which totally got me laughing like a little kid, then they ‘woke up’ and explained they had a crazy Dream about 2 guys coming to beat them up looking something like these 2 guys in front of them.. they welcomed The Revival to the Uso Penitentiary and walked away. Nice set up for a sure-fire MOTY.
The Viking Raiders vs Lucha House Party
They attacked LHP before the match. But it was actually alright. The match never happened by they hit their finisher which is now called “The Viking Experience” which actually worked really well. The Fallout is still in their arsenal I hope and this is just a name added to their Pop-Up Powerslam. My only major gripe is that the NXT Tag Team Champions didn’t bring their titles with them. Seriously, what harm would that do? It would get more people taking notice of NXT & make the Viking Raiders look like total beasts because they’re debuting as champions! Why isn’t that happening? It seems like a no-brainer to me!
Major Brothers backstage
They got asked about The Viking Raiders’ decimation of LHP and if they’re worried, they said they’re not and that they’ve been here for over 10 years whereas the newbies have only been there 2 weeks. They earned their titles and Ryder says he’ll be damned if he’s gonna let some “sweaty, horny Wooley Mammoths” take them away..
Becky Lynch vs Alicia Fox
Foxy has returned to TV after not appearing for quite a few months now. Since she wrestled whilst intoxicated and according to Dave Meltzer, refused to enter rehab.. quite why she’s in the ring with Becky Lynch I do not know, but it’s always nice to see Foxy. Demons & vices aside (we all have them), Alicia Fox is the longest tenured female superstar on the roster and I’ve always liked her. Foxy be crazy.
Becky Two Belts is in the ring about to do her usual stuff. Seth Rollins’ blatant Girlfriend says she expects new challenges and says it’s all about new challenges. The shakeup guarantees that. She then talks Lacey Evans. Says Lacey is just Charlotte 2.0 and she will slap her head off just like she did the last Blonde who’d “accrued favours” from management, so whilst Lacey is backstage trying to “further her career” (Oh no she di’n’t!) she’s out there trying to cement hers, so she calls for Alicia and she gets Lacey Evans. Lacey comes out and patronises and condescends her, then she gives her a lesson on how to be a Lady, she then announces she will be facing her at MITB, Becky Lynch gets angry and says Evans is getting on her last nerve, she cuts Lacey down to size and says she will go to MITB just to slap her head off and dismantle her in front of the world just because she can. Also, it seems the match will be for both titles, which is strange. – Alicia Fox then comes out for the match.
I have to say it. This was dreadful. Foxy was stumbling, rolling, she botched a Side Headscissors Rana and ended up nearly dropping Becky on her head, luckily Becky saved herself with a tuck, if she hadn’t it would have been a broken neck for sure! Then Becky tapped her out after some mean looking Bex-ploder Suplexes. Then Lacey Evans walks in, punches Becky in the head, Becky didn’t feel it and didn’t realise Lacey was in the ring yet and when she saw her about 3 painful seconds later, she collapsed to the floor and held her head looking dazed.. It was horrific. Then Becky got up and Lacey absolutely wallopped her again and this time Becky sold it like a diamond. But this was not good and, halted the 9.5/10🌟 It was getting so far.. this was just bad.
Baron Corbin backstage interview
Corbin said he doesn’t need to defy any odds, who’s odds? Well, the “greaseballs sitting at home in their mum’s basement” of course. He says they are the same people who said he didn’t deserve to face Kurt Angle at Wrestlemania and he can’t wait to shut them up again when he beats Seth Rollins to become new WWE Universal Heavyweight Champion. Great stuff from the best Heel in the game.
He will be champion before the year is out. Mark my words.
Ricochet vs ‘The Glorious’ Robert Roode
Any old school fans know why Robert Roode is an especially satisfying name change.. we saw a video from WWE.com where he says Chad Gable was “dead weight” and Ricochet reminds him of Gable, he’s young, talented, but missing that crucial thing that makes my brand new favourite character, Robert Roode, absolutely “Glorious“. I cannot express to you just how happy I am that a Heel Robert Roode is on the main roster! Finally!!
This match though, man.. It was awesome! I loved the whole dynamic that these two had. The Heel roles always suit Roode way better than any Babyface role he could do in my opinion and he ended up winning after smashing Ricochet into the corner and hitting a nasty Glorious DDT. LOVED it, guys. Seriously.
Baron Corbin vs AJ Styles
Winner goes to MITB.
The match was good and the moves were excellent, I thought at a few points that Corbin was about to win, but Styles nailed a Phenomenal Forearm to Corbin’s temple and that was all she wrote. AJ Styles vs Seth Rollins for the first time ever and it’s for the WWE Universal Heavyweight Championship! I am SO excited for that.
Conclusion
9/10🌟
Correct me if I’m wrong but I’m pretty sure this is the highest score I’ve ever given an episode of RAW. It was great! It was fun, it was new, it was integral to the current narratives whilst creating new ones and for once it felt like the wrestling mattered. Every match aside from two, was exceptional. Foxy, Lynch and Evans had a car wreck of a segment/match and the IIconics being buried isn’t fun to watch. One thing that did shock me though, Bray Wyatt’s return video wasn’t aired in the UK. Instead, we got 3 minutes of a Raw logo and the Raw theme song. I found out after the show when my internet blackout to avoid spoilers ended. What the hell!? The only thing I can think of ad to why they cut it was because he cut his own head off of a cardboard cut out of his old character. Whom he vows never to return to again. He’s like a twisted children’s entertainer.. I kind of like it..
Match of the Night: For once it’s tough to choose. But I’d say it was Styles vs Rey Mysterio vs Samoa Joe. It opened the show and it was absolutely captivating. Spot on opening match.
Annoyance of the Night: Alicia Botch. She could have killed Becky and the fact that Fox wrestled intoxicated (incredibly irresponsible of her and Arn Anderson for allowing her to, although he got fired.) She has a reputation for drinking and being verbally aggressive, just like she did to Rousey’s husband last year and now she’s wrestling the dual champion and botches 75% of the match? Why are they putting Becky in a match with someone so reckless and dangerous? As much as I have always loved Alicia Fox, she needs some help.
