Raw kicks off in LA with SmackDown Live superstar, Elias. Wild Card number 1. He disses LA & gets booed. Then Elias showed that he was wearing a Referee’s shirt and told us that he was the referee for the Universal Title match this Sunday at Stomping Grounds (they haven’t sold it out and are having so much trouble doing so that they’ve even started a 2 tickets for $20 promotion just to sell it out. Troublesome times for WWE at the moment. But, that’s what happens when you put on rubbish shows for months on end whilst ignoring your fans and mistreating your staff/independant contractors and the rival “Piss Ant” promotion puts on the best wrestling show of all time, whilst providing a positive and memorable experience for fans in attendance & at home and talent is flooding the gates to get in to AEW. Even multiple WWE talents!) Before he could say anything else, he’s attacked by Seth Rollins and his trusty chair.
Rollins gets on a mic and says after all he’s been through with Lesnar, he’s done playing games now. He says Corbin ought to take notice. He’s warning the person who is guest referee.
2.5/5 🌟
Fatal 4 Way Elimination Match
Bobby Lashley vs The Miz vs Cesaro vs Ricochet vs Braun Strowman
Elias was still in the ring selling the chair shots. He got hit with everyone’s finisher as they made their entrances. SCF, Swing, Spear, Codebreaker & Powerslam. Not sure why, but it was funny & damn entertaining.
4/5 🌟 just for being weird and making me laugh.
Now the match.. this time it actually WAS an elimination match.. the match was to set a new Number 1 Contender for the US title. Samoa Joe was at ringside. Cesaro was first eliminated by Strowman’s powerslama after 3 or so minutes. That sucks.
Lashley next, same way. Strowman dominated everyone. Until the 2 eliminated men came in and did their respective finishes on him. The Neutralizer was spectacular! Then Ricochet hit a 630 and all 3 men pinned Strowman. Strowman went on a comedic rampage leaving Miz & Ricochet to fight for the opportunity.
After 10 more minutes of great back and forth, Ricochet got the win and the title shot this Sunday! Also got the upper hand on Samoa Joe who tried to attack him after. This was a really fun match. Longer, less predictable & satisfying. Loved it.
4.5/5🌟 .5 lost for jobbing Cesaro out.
Becky Lynch promo
She came out and talked down Lacey Evans. She told us she was ready to destroy Evans and so Lacey appeared and talked down to Lynch, she then explained she was a US Marine and can run circles around Lynch in her sleep. Becky suplexes her. End of segment.
2.5/5 🌟
Daniel Bryan & Eric Rowan promo
Bryan says LA is the smog capital of America and filled with ignorant people. He said Raw sucks too and said he and Rowan are the best Tag Team in history! Viking Machine Warriors Raiders came out and took out 2 jobbers in 2 minutes.
2/5🌟 2 because I like ‘The New’ Daniel Bryan & Rowan. Lost 3 because what the hell are they doing? The Vikings are arguably the best team on Raw and they’re feeding them Jobbers!? What a waste of talent and time. How many teams have you got chasing R-Truth? I know for a fact that I saw Hawkins & Ryder during the segment following this.. you know the former tag champs? The guys who won the belts at Wrestlemania, ending a record losing streak for Hawkins and then defended them 2 times in 3 months and lost them last week?
24/7 Championship Shenanigans
R Truth and Carmella are sat in the front row dressed up in crazy costumes & booing. The job squad came to get him and they all scrambled around, Truth hid under the ring and when people pulled him out, for some reason they pulled out Titus O’Neil, which was funny. Then they all ran after Truth through the crowd.
3.5/5 🌟 3.5 because I love the 24/7 championship stuff with Truth and Mella, it’s so crazy. Cracks me up. 1.5 lost because I want to see more than just a group of rarely seen people running after Truth. Super Market or, They’re in LA, how about Hollywood Boulevard? Have someone win the title on Vince McMahon or The Rock’s stars. I just feel the res loads more that could be done here.
Backstage
Heath Slater comes in to the private board room that Shane McMahon, Drew McIntyre & The Revival have gotten fot their food and stuff. Heath wanted a raise so he asked Shane, Shane said no, but respected that he came to ask him like a man, so he will let him leave like one and walk out. Drew followed him out on Shane’s orders, he took Heath aside and said he knows his family and has known Heath for a long time, so he wants to help him out by giving him some money, but as Heath went to help pick up the notes Drew accidentally dropped, Drew attacked Heath viciously. I hope this starts a programme with them. Slater is a great wrestler!
4/5🌟 4 for consistently booking Drew as a bastard. 1 lost because I’m not comfortable giving this a 5.
Sami & Kevin Show
Baron Corbin is introduced. Videos of Rollins attacking everyone with chairs for the last 2 weeks are shown. Corbin announces EC3 as the Ref, but Rollins appears and beats him down with a chair. Corbin says “Seth you’re taking another opportunity from an up and coming superstar” – obviously a reference to the absolute bollocks EC3 has had to suffer through.
But New Day shows up and pretend EC3 is talking and moving and makes a 6 man tag match for right now. More 6 Man Tag team matches. Roman Reigns is on the show later too. Every. Single. Week. He’s on both shows. People couldn’t stomach him on just one after a while, now two? Did Vince learn nothing from the last 5 years of booking him?
2/5 🌟 2 because I liked the comedy aspect, but lost 3 because it was nonsense in reality. It was all a set up for another 6 Man Tag match.
Backstage
AJ Styles is backstage and is cleared by medical. However Gallows and Anderson show up dressed as doctors to be silly with him. But Styles gets real with them, told them The Usos are the best in the world and that the two of them have lost their way, they dominated Japan but now they have gotten comfortable, not made an impact and haven’t been on WWE TV for more than 5 minutes in a long time. That stung them and they said they will show him later.
3.5/5 🌟
The New Day vs Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn & Baron Corbin in a 2 Out Of 3 Falls 6 Man Tag Match?
Wasn’t advertised but yeah, that’s what it was. New Day got a quick pin on Zayn for the first fall. The match was okay, still a little stale, nothing exciting really. I think 6 Man Tags are just tired now. They don’t hold any appeal. I appreciate the 2 out of 3 falls addition, but it didn’t add much. I think an elimination factor would have been better. Even with the first match having it.
It did get interesting when Corbin did his round the post clothesline thing, and accidentally hit Sami. KO didn’t like it and Superkicked Corbin’s head off. Then both his partners left him on his own. This left him open for Trouble in Paradise and a loss. 2-0 to New Day.
3.5/5 🌟
Nikki Cross & Alexa Bliss backstage
Nikki gets given a scroll invitation for a Women’s Tag Team Championship from Alexa Bliss for later tonight. Alexa says she worked her magic and got the title match for them. Nikki gets psyched up.
2/5🌟 I love Nikki Cross, but I detest this new character. She’s just cringeworthy to me. Such a shame. Her maniacal attitude from NXT is what drew people to her and had her fans going mad for her. If she was bored and wanted something new, fair enough, but if this was actually what she had in mind, what a terrible choice.
Paul Heyman promo
Fake tanned so bad that he would put a wotsit to shame. He said he won’t be the Ref this Sunday because anyone who accepts the job gets a beating. He basically said he doesn’t know if Brock is there, nobody does but most importantly, Rollins doesn’t know.
2.5/5🌟 kind of indifferent to this type of thing. I don’t get hyped for Brock Lesnar anyway. But Heyman is a master of the Promo.
Corbin Backstage
Talking to EY (Eric Young) – who is now sporting a shaved head and face with grey stubble, he asks him to be referee, he says he will think about it and starts walking off, Rollins sees him and EY says he won’t do it and is going to turn it down, Rollins says he has nothing to worry about as they go way back and Rollins knows he won’t do anything to mess that up. Eric smiles and they walk off in separate directions, until Rollins cracks him with a chair and ends up bending it over his back! It was brutal.
I love this running theme of the show. It’s different and makes Rollins look like bonafide renegade badass! It’s a refreshing direction for him.
4/5 🌟 I awarded a bonus point for this because of the continuity.
The Usos vs Gallows & Anderson
Now. On paper this should be incredible. But in practice, it was not. Anderson and Gallows had the upper hand and had the match won! But they got cocky and lost. Looks like The Club could be getting back together because AJ was watching them backstage. Seeds are good. Hopefully it grows into a strong story.
3.5/5🌟
Roman Reigns promo
He came out and issued a challenge to Shane on his own and said he could prove he is a man. Shane appears on the screen and says now, executes a decent heel promo and then let’s Drew McIntyre say he will hurt him and wants to disfigure him so his children will scream when he returns home. Roman goes to the back and beats the holy living hell out of TheRevival and then Reigns goes into the private room, beating Drew up and putting him through a table, Roman then gets to Shane and attacks him. Spears him and beats him down in the arena.
Despite saying the word “ass” about 200,765,021 times in this segment, everyone did well. Took the bumps well, sold like gold and it all flowed really well, Shane McMahons arm looks gross though. Bruised as Hell! I quite liked this. The new camera angles were refreshing too.
4/5🌟
Backstage
Bayley, Naomi & Nattie are all backstage and Bayley gets asked by Charlie Carruso if she has a comment on Bliss claiming Bayley refused to take a picture because someone was wearing a Nikki Cross shirt. Bayley says that’s Alexa Bliss all over, but Natalya and Naomi check the post on Twitter and discuss whether or not they think she’d do that. I am smelling a potential double turn for Bliss & Bayley. I’m liking this stuff. It’s fresh.
3.5/5🌟
The IIconics vs Nikki Cross & Alexa Bliss
This match was really good. Before anything could happen, Bayley came out to watch from ringside. The match started and was actually really balanced. Nikki Cross is getting over nicely and Alexa and Nikki are a really cool pairing. It’s so odd to see it but I can’t help but really love them together. Especially when they have each other’s backs and work well as a team. The match drew towards the ending and Nikki Cross gained the upper hand, but Bayley distracted Alexa “inadvertently” and when Alexa got out to tell Bayley to back off and shoved her back, Bayley shoved Alexa on her ass, which prevented her from breaking a pin up, thus causing The IIconics to retain. They squealed and blew kisses at Bayley as they exited up the ramp, but Bayley says she didn’t do it for them. Alexa aks Bayley if she’s happy now, Nikki is devastated in the ring and Alexa goes to comfort her, Bayley says Alexa shouldn’t have been running her mouth and then this wouldn’t have happened.
4/5🌟 This story is becoming one of the more interesting ones of the show lately. I really like this dynamic they’ve created. We know Vince changes his mind at the flip of a switch, which makes it really hard to get invested in anything anymore, but if this goes to fruition then I think it could continue into Summerslam. Definitely feeling a double turn in the works though. I feel like they’re swerving us into thinking they’re swerving us. Alexa is acting slightly shifty, but Bayley is also. She’s got a new demeanour, as has Bliss, they’ve both almost gone into a neutral alignment. Neither Heel or Babyface, but that will be set soon enough I think. Maybe even as soon as this Sunday.
Backstage
Following on from the match, Bliss & Cross are backstage and Nikki says Bliss is right about Bayley. Nikki says Bayley crushed her dreams and she wants Bliss to do the same to her on Sunday. Nikki says but she wants to be there in Bliss’ corner to watch her do it. That got a big pop from the crowd. Now, this story is getting over.
4/5🌟
Firefly Funhouse
Best. One. Ever. So Bray is gardening, he says that we should know that watering plants is like watering the ideas in our minds. Because our minds are like gardens. All they need is water and sunlight and then our ideas grow, but some are filled with worms (worms flashing on the screen) then he tells us and our children that people will always lie to you and that he bets our parents told us the earth was round but never travelled around it or that school taught us Dinosaurs are extinct but they know nothing. He says he knows what it means to be lied to, to be alone and cast aside. That’s why he built the fun house for us all. Ramblin’ Rabbit, Mercy The Buzzard, Abby the Witch, The Boss & Huskus The Pig Boy join Bray to chant “join us” over and over as the ambience crept up and flashes of The Fiend went across the screen this time. Bray says people worship what they fear, that fear is power then he just stares blankly at us for a second as the ambience is at its peak and the next flash of The Fiend put him in the damn room with them all, then everyone but Bray is gone, Bray is then replaced in a flash. The Fiend looks at us, turns his head in an unnatural way and croaks “Let me in!”, then he vanished! I think someone let him in.. this was outstanding. I love this all so much. Bray is a creative genius.
6/5 🌟
Daniel Bryan vs Seth Rollins
The first match ended with a brawl between Rowan, The Usos, The Revival & a few others, then it got restarted and it was AWESOME!! It finally had that “big fight feel” in a match on Raw! This needs to happen more! That’s how you do a Wild Card pick. Honestly, I’d even go as far as to say this was probably the best match on Raw this year. It was great. It had the narrative where Rollins had never beaten Bryan before, so Rollins was the underdog weirdly enough, but that made it even better. The near falls, the crazy high impact spots, the mat-game from Bryan was awesome, at one point he had the Labelle Lock in so deep I though Seth’s shoulder was about to pop, then Bryan transitions it into a modified Nagata Lock III and I just lost it. It was outstanding. Rollins escaped it with a Rope Break and shortly followed up with a Stomp and a 3 count. Rollins beats Bryan for the first time ever.
5/5🌟
After this, Corbin came and attacked Rollins with a chair. Beating him up and then executing a picture-perfect End of Days, he went and did something stupid. He went and raised the Universal Title. Everybody knows that’s bad luck in kayfabe, Baron! That’s gonna bite him on the ass. But he did look cool with the belt and seeing that as the closing image of Raw was really cool.
Bonus 🌟
Conclusion
Raw Score: 71/101🌟
OveRAWll Result: 70.29%
That’s a huge spike in enjoyment levels. It is going in the right direction for sure. I think it was a slow start and they left most of the good bits for the end, but it was a decent show in entirety. There was way too much talking again. But I didn’t mind so much because a lot of it lead to Seth Rollins battering someone with a chair. I enjoyed the continuity in the Bayley/Alexa/Nikki Cross story and the Seth Rollins narrative through the show was perfect. The matches themselves were actually really entertaining too. Some too short, but that’s down to most of the air time going to Shane McMahon and talking segments, so I think if they cut back on the yapping and put more stock and time into the matches, it would have easily been in the 80% region which is really where a really enjoyable show would rank.
Superstar of the Night
This week I am going to go with Alexa Bliss. I think the story is there, the acting abilities were decent (excluding Nikki Cross 90% of the time because her new character feels so unnatural) and the inclusion of the tag titles this week was cool, the match wasn’t short (it wasn’t long either but still) and I am enjoying it so far because of the focused continuity so that’s a plus. Double turn incoming. You heard it here first!
