WWE Monday Night Raw begins with the 10 bell ring out for all those lost in the horrific tragedies in Dayton, Ohio and El Paso, Texas. We then go to a new opening video, they actually played an opening video haven’t seen that in a while.
Opener
We are on the road to Summerslam coming to us live on Sunday, to kick off the go-home edition of Raw, Samoa Joe is on top of the commentary desk and is out to interrupt the schedule to “right a very hideous wrong”. He is out to call out the 3 announcers for the things they’ve said about Joe trying to murder Roman Reigns. Cole and Graves try to reason with the furious Samoan but he snaps back at them furiously saying that they put the idea in people’s heads and that he was nowhere near Roman when it happened. He asked who saw him near him? None of them did. So Graves told him that the poll on WWE.com that said 80% of voters thought Joe would be the one. To be honest, he’s the only one vicious enough to try but I still think it’s Daniel Bryan. – Joe says to roll the footage of the attack to prove that 80% of the WWE Universe are idiots. We see it again under way more ominous overtones. Joe says that he was not in any footage, so his good name being besmirched means he isn’t going anywhere until he gets an apology and the show is being shut down until then and if anyone had a problem with that then.. Then The Man came around and walked to the ring mouthing “Nuh-uh, this is my show.”.
5/5🌟 What a way to open this show. So, so interesting! I cannot wait to see what happens in this storyline. Drama, drama, drama.
Becky Lynch & Charlotte Flair vs Natalya Neidhart & Trish Stratus
The announcement that Natalya vs Becky at Summerslam will now be a Submission Match.
This match was built really well. The hot tag sequence for Trish was excellently executed (see.. See what I did there?). Nattie got whooped by Flair after she tagged herself in, Flair refused to tag Lynch after this and was making it clear she was going to hurt Trish on Sunday. Becky got a tag on Charlotte as payback, but Charlotte attacked Becky for it. Flair walked away, Nattie locked a Sharpshooter but didn’t let go after a rope break so got DQ’d. Trish didn’t even get tagged in, but the build up was good. She got in to get Nattie off Becky and ended up being shoved by Nattie as a result. I’m a little bummed that Trish literally did nothing here. She doesn’t look strong going in at all. Charlotte does though!
3.5/5.🌟 it was better than average and I liked the storytelling throughout. This match felt like it had so much tension, but Trish needn’t have shown up really. It doesn’t help her or the match they are selling going in to Summerslam at all. I’m excited to see it, but that could have been pushed to the max had they left this with a white hot brawl or something!
Rey Mysterio vs Andrade w/ Zelina Vega
After being unmasked last week by Andrade, Rey has a lot of anger against him in this one. Every single time this match happens it is new and exciting and absolutely incredible. They are perfect for eachother. The commentary even refer to La Sombra, who was Andrade’s character outside of WWE where he was a masked luchador, adding more spice onto the rivalry.
These two kicked the crap out of eachother for about 20 minutes! Absolutely outstanding performance from two of the best on the WWE Roster. Andrade and Rey had many near falls and tons of awesome moves and some that I thought legitimately injured them. It was excellent. Zelina Vega got involved and cost Rey the match in the end, this was done so well. I hope we see this again this Sunday!
5/5 🌟 – this was so refreshing to see such a long and hard hitting match on Raw. Two weeks in a row they’ve put on pretty lengthy cracking matches in the first hour. Let’s hope it continues!
24/7 Championship Shenanigans
Some hilarious video package shows the exchange of the title from R-Truth to Maria Kanellis. After this.. we are legit in an OBGYN waiting room with Mike and Maria. Maria being very selfish as usual at the moment, Mike being whipped as usual. She puts Mike down again.. shes so abusive in this storyline. It’s just really sad. Especially to those men who have been in similarly emotionally abusive relationships before. Seeing it being glamourised isn’t edgy TV, it’s just insensitive and ignorant. The story would still work without it. Anyway, they get called in to the appointment and then Maria says Mike needs to be a man and protect her 24/7 Championship, he says she needs to relax, they are at the OBGYN and they need to focus on their baby and he lays her down into a cuddle, kisses her and the doctor pays him three times on the back.. then takes the coat off and reveals a Referee’s uniform and Mike jumps for joy, takes the belt and runs away! This absolutely killed me.
3/5 🌟 only because I love these guys and I wanted this to happen all week. But the mental abuse shit is still in really bad taste.
More 24/7 Championship Shenanigans
Truth and Mella are waiting in the OBGYN waiting room and when Truth pretends to birth a child, he rolls Mike up soon after and becomes an 11 times WWE 24/7 Champion!
Go Truth go!
4.5/5🌟 I LOVE THE 24/7 TITLE!
Becky Lynch Backstage
Becky cuts a fantastically real promo that cuts to the bone. She says whilst she was in the ring bringing eyes to their division with a broken face with blood pouring from it changing the game, Nattie was on a reality TV show changing her Bikini. Becky says she will make Natalya tap in front of all of her people and give them a new hero to back. Becky Lynch.
Sarah Schreiber is with Natalya, who I hoped had been scripted this week as we saw last week that she cannot do improv very well. Unfortunately this was awful. Again. Natalya cannot do this type of promo. It is so cringe-worthy.
4/5 🌟 I think Becky Lynch is a master at the art of the promo at this stage. She is exquisite. But.. Nattie needs to stop. She needs a manager or something. That’ll help her a bunch.
Brock Lesnar & Paul Heyman promo
Heyman basically tries to bury Rollins as the new hero of this generation, the Beast Slayer, the one man who has Lesnar’s number. But he shows the vicious onslaught from last week, and it was bloody vicious too!
Heyman runs down Rollins and says he has more balls than brains because he’s here tonight. Rollins comes out limping like crazy, wielding a chair. He seriously is a moron. He gets in the ring and gets the living bajeezus beaten put of him.. again, 6 days before Summerslam. He’s an idiot. He deserves to lose for this because what kind of combatant picks a fight with the same dude who damn near killed him just 7 days prior anyway but the fact that he’s only at about 25% at most & just 6 days before his title match and his big ol’ rescue of the Universal Title, is flat out fucking stupid. Not brave. Not archetectual consistent with the battle plan technician and ‘Architect’ of The Shield we have grown to expect. This paints him a wounded man not smart enough to know when to quit. If Brock loses to a man like that, he looks just as stupid as Rollins does. Rollins got on the microphone and asks himself if this is worth it, he says when you love something so much that you would do anything to keep it safe, even it the thing you love keeps you getting destroyed you know it’s worth it. He is getting “What!?” chants now because people are very invested, clearly. He says this is all he has ever wanted and of course this is worth it. He says it’s all he has. He will be at Summerslam and he will beat Brock Lesnar. He got booed, then ‘Burn It Down’ chants started from nowhere.
1/5 🌟 I feel like Randy Orton said it best to Kofi Kingston back in 2009. “Stupid, stupid, stupid!”. If Rollins wins, Lesnar looks weak getting beaten by a broken and beaten Seth Rollins and if Rollins manages to hobble into Summerslam and just gets whooped again and loses in minutes then this whole thing was a really great waste of time really.
Kurt Angle Backstage
Angle drinks milk with Street Profits, Drew McIntyre shows up to remind Angle to call the match down the middle. Street Profits protect Kurt but Drew just walks away.
2/5🌟 meh.
The Viking Raiders vs Jobbers
Ugh. More pointless jobbing. Same shit different week. Not. Impressive. Beating. Nobodies. But I like that they’re at least being used and are being ever so slightly pushed.
2/5 🌟 for the push.
Harley Race video package
After the tragic loss of Harley Race this past week. It was a beautiful homage to the legendary figure who was responsible for so many incredible moments in wrestling and responsible for many wrestlers we all know and love.
5/5 🌟
Drew McIntyre vs Cedric Alexander w/ Kurt Angle as Special Guest Referee
Well this match immediately erupted into a brawl, which then got really savage and when Angle was trying to get the folks back in the ring after a nasty Tornado DDT from Alexander off the barricade, the lights went out and The Fiend had Kurt Angle in the Mandible Claw! What an amazing character The Fiend has become! He is genuinely exciting and pretty damn creepy!
The match got thrown out I guess as they were gone after the break and New Day came out.
5/5🌟 I like it.. it was weird how it finished with no one mentioning anything.. but The Fiend is everything we needed him to be.
The OC vs The New Day
Gallows has his face paint back!!!! His NJPW style paint!! Now they look and feel like the original, official and ONLY club that matters!
AJ got involved early and caused a DQ, Kofi wasn’t at Raw so it was a 3 on 2 assault until Ricochet made the save!
New Day & Ricochet (that’s fun to say) vs The OC
This was a quickish match. Gallows and Anderson pinned Woods after a Magic Killer, but they distracted the ref in order to get the cheated setup.
4/5🌟 really excited to see AJ Styles vs Ricochet at Summerslam.
Samoa Joe Promo
Joe hears that Roman Reigns is on his way to the show. So he said he will give him a chance to come and apologise to him. Joe went and got a chair and sat in the ring until Roman came out. Joe shut the show down until Reigns shows up. CM Punk chants got loud during this. Joe went to the parking lot to find Roman. He found him, and saw Roman nearly get killed again by a speeding car that crashed into his car! So it can’t be Joe. Joe was telling Roman to stay down and was calling for a medic, HHH came out to see him and make sure he was okay. Whoever it was drove away very quickly.
5/5 🌟 I love this storyline. It is the best thing since FireFly Funhouse!
Fatal 4 Way Tag Team Elimination Match for the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships – The IIconics vs The Kabuki Warriors vs Fire & Desire vs Bliss & Cross
I am so pumped for this match!
The IIconics clean house to start the match! Taking everyone out as a team! It was epic. Then they got eliminated by Fire and Desire and my heart broke in two. BUT we were guaranteed NEW Women’s Tag Team Champions! There was an awful botch where Asuka was meant to reverse Mandy’s finish, but didn’t and ended up taking it, but Mandy stayed stood up and it just looked terrible. On top of that Sonya was under the bottom rope, half in the ring, watching Mandy get choked out by the Asuka Lock and did nothing about it! So we are down the The Kabuki Warriors vs Cross and Bliss.
The match was well balanced and had so many near falls, just when the stage was set for Kabuki Champions Nikki Cross got involved and caused Alexa to hit Twisted Bliss and become the third ever NEW WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions! 2nd ever Grandslam Champion of the Women’s Division too!
4/5 🌟 loved it! Exactly my kind of match. I created and play these types of matches on the WWE 2K series all the time. Elimination is my favourite stipulation. New champions aren’t the best idea since the IIconics barely got to showcase themselves at all, but I am hoping that this will give the titles a bit more meaning since Bliss and Cross have been on every episode of Raw for months now. The same cannot be said for The IIconics. Neither Raw or Smackdown. But I am a fan of Bliss and Cross, so let’s see where this goes.
Dolph Ziggler & The Miz contract signing with Shawn Michael’s present for some reason.
So this all made sense. Eventually.
Ziggler runs downnboth men, calls them ass kissers and shadows of themselves. One thing I will say though is the use of the term “Pro Wrestling” being included in Ziggler’s promo. He said hes the best thing to happen to Pro Wrestling since HBK lost his smile. Which I thought was a cool touch, Zigglet then goes and signs his name on the paper. Miz cuts him off and says he cannot wait to get his hands on Ziggler next Monday on Raw.. Ziggler looks confused and asks why it isn’t on Summerslam and Miz says Ziggler should have read the contract, he isn’t facing Miz at Summerslam.. HBK walks up to him and the two star down.. Shawn then says it isn’t him either.. then that drum beat kicks in and the orchestra sound out as Goldberg makes his way to the ring in what can only be an attempt to end on a high note after his abysmal match against The Undertaker this year. I’m all for it, so long as he is careful. I mean putting Goldberg in a match with the greatest seller in the business is a definitively good move. Goldberg tells him he’s next and HBK Superkicks him from the ramp. This ends Raw.
5/5 🌟 I’m all for this. High profile match with a lot on the line for both dudes if you follow their careers. Summerslam looks strong as of now.
Conclusion
🌟s achieved: 58/75 total
RAW SCORE: 77.3%
They are smashing it lately. Sure there are some bits that people don’t care for, but there is a whole lot more that people do care for now. It has had a huge revamp and it is showing already. I am falling in love with WWE all over again it seems. The inclusion of The Fiend was a great touch, new champions of the Women’s Tag Team division and the 24/7 title changing hands twice, Roman Reigns was almost murdered and Samoa Joe was ruled out as a suspect, no Shane McMahon, long matches, Andrade vs Rey being absolutely off the chain and seeing The OC looking so strong together again is a sight for sure eyes indeed. Absolutely pumped for Summerslam now. WWE are on somewhat of a streak of their own now it seems. 3 solid weeks in a row. Tell me the last time that happened!
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CB
