Raw begins with Rollins calling out Corbin to tell him some truth about the job he’s been doing. He said Raw has sucked because of him and his choices. Which I thought was nicely done, WWE. Rollins mentioned the huge ratings slump, the piss-poor urination jokes.. and the Lucha House Rules burial of The Revival and how they should be treated better. I loved this so much I couldn’t quite tell you just how much. Corbin responds to Rollins by saying he doesn’t give a crap what he or anyone else thinks. Rollins challenged Corbin to a TLC match and Corbin declined, until Rollins started poking him and calling him a coward, it was pretty damn funny. Corbin agreed to the TLC match, but it’s now gonna be for the WWE Intercontinental Championship! – Now this is more like it, WWE. First time in 6 years there’s been a TLC match on Raw.
Following on from this was another title match and a weird one at that.
3 on 2 Handicap match: Bobby Roode & Chad Gable vs AoP & Drake Maverick for the WWE RAW Tag Team Championships
Gable has his own robe this week and does the entrance with Roode, it was pretty cool, he’s new ring gear too. Gable and Roode are matching now and it’s only a small thing, but aesthetically pleasing nonetheless. There was a really funny moment at the start that saw Gable and Roode launch Maverick over the ropes onto the AOP, Maverick looked like a majestic eagle dropping to the ground like a wet towel.
Roode and Gable took a beating, but gave as good as they got, Maverick wanted to pin Roode after a Super Collider. But as he was pinning, Roode countered it into grounded Crucifix Pin and got the WIN! NEW WWE RAW Tag Team Champions! Nice move, WWE. Now make sure you revitalise the Tag Team Division with Roode and Gable. It seriously needs it.
Backstage
Gable and Roode were talking about their win and cut a nice little promo.
Promo
Natalya tried to come out and tell us all about Ruby Riott and explained all that she’s been through to get where she is. The Montreal Screw Job, Bret Hart punching Vince in the face. She said she’s gonna dedicate her match to her Dad this Sunday and then was interrupted by Ruby on her lonesome.. which made me nervous as the two other loose cannons were nowhere to be seen.
Ruby cut a fantastically Heelish promo and revealed a table with a full scale Jim ‘The Anvil’ Neidhart on it and vowed to put her through it this Sunday. Decent segment, I really liked the approach the production and creative teams are taking with this episode so far.
Drew McIntyre vs Dolph Ziggler
Rematch from last week which was bloody awesome. Ziggler won last week after a distraction which made McIntyre very angry and so he this week he cut a promo before the match about respect and his dominance.
What a cool match! Drew won after a Claymore from outta nowhere. The Claymore was delivered as a reversal to a Superkick. It was awesome. McIntyre beat Ziggles down after and delivered a 2nd Claymore but this time Ziggler’s head was against the LED board and it looked about as nasty as it sounds, after Drew rolled around laughing like a madman, babbled about his dominance and then walked off continuing laughing to himself. This worked.. like.. seriously effing worked, you guys. Drew looked like an absolute Goliath! A totally psychopathic one too! The match was great. The Air Raid Siren from the top rope was especially epic. The ending was fantastic and makes me excited to see more of it.
Bayley w/ Sasha Banks vs Alicia Fox w/ Jinder Mahal, Sunil Singh and Samir Singh
The match wasn’t anything particularly spectacular, but when Mahal got involved, Bayley’s new MMC partner, Apollo Crews, ran down to even up the battlefield. Sasha asked him at one point to throw her onto Jinder Mahal from a Military Press position, so he did and I kid you not, as the camera panned around, it looked very much like Apollo had his fingers pressed firmly into Banks’ foof. Like.. All up in there. Awkward.
Bayley won after this with a Bayley to Belly. Finn Balor was off feeling ill and unfortunately cannot participate in the MMC Semi Finals, we wish him the best and hope he’s fighting fit for Sunday! But Apollo being in his place is a nice shot. There’s no decent reason that Apollo Crews isn’t in the main event scene already. He’s a sublime talent and I have thought from the very first time I saw him on a YouTube compilation video under the guise of ‘U’ha Nation’ that he has “It”, whatever “it” is, he’s got it. Like all the greats had it. Hogan, Warrior, Hart, Michaels, HHH, Austin, Jericho, Angle, The Rock, Booker T, Cena. All that was left to do was fix his promo skills and by golly has he done that! Miles upon miles better than he was! Nurture that, Vince! #GiveApolloAChance
Ambrose Interview
Charlie Carusso welcomes “the Lunatic Fringe” to her interview set but Ambrose promptly and very intimidatingly tells her to never call him that again. Which made me happy. Not because he was intimidating someone, but because I have always detested that ‘moniker’. What even is a lunatic fringe anyway? An unco-operative side-parting!? A windswept pixie cut!? Huh!??… 5 years he’s had that bloody nickname. Five years! Never again! Mwahahahaha!
He teased swearing when describing Rollins and says he doesn’t care what Roman Reigns thinks about this feud with Seth. Ambrose said Seth is a fool and his match later with Corbin was a stupid call. He fails to comment on the beat down he gave Rollins last month and still will not explain why.
Elias vs Lio Rush w/ Bobby Lashley
The match was fun. Lots of cool moves. Heath Slater was the referee and he didn’t call for the bell when Lashley got involved. Lashley smashed Elias’ guitar over his back and then Slater was made to count to 3 but looked physically hurt by what he’d just done. He has another match to call later too according to Corbin.
Ronda Rousey and Nia Jax face off, mediated by Alexa Bliss
Nia Jax has decided to get nasty and serious pretty fast. She talked some smack and Rousey was quick to retaliate but Rousey didn’t want to talk, she wanted to whoop some Samoan ass. Then Ember Moon appears and tries to help and ends up in a match with Tamina for some reason.
Tamina vs Ember Moon
This was not good. It was all a bit pointless to be fair. It serves nothing into this rivalry in the slightest. The match featured Ember and Tamina, yet mostly all the commentary team would discuss was Rousey and Jax. I found that a little disrespectful if you ask me. I mean watching Tamina is about as exciting as being waterboarded so I get the drifting off when she’s on, but Ember?? Ember won after a beautiful Eclipse. That was it. Nothing else happened. That was the build for the RAW Women’s Championship match this Sunday.
Lars Sullivan promo
This was a reallt cool little promo. Seems it won’t be long now, and he was talking on this one too. He mentioned TLC so maybe the RAW or SDL after that we will witness The Freak debut!
TLC Match for the WWE Intercontinental Championship Seth Rollins vs Baron Corbin
Well first off this match was actually really quite decent for a RAW. Tables got used and broken, Ladders obviously were in effect and Chairs were used to their full extent. It was really good. At one point, it looked like Rollins was about to be screwed by Heath Slater, who was the official for this match, he pushed the ladder over whilst Rollins was on top. Seemingly Corbin had made him do this, but that’s purely speculation. He ate a mean Superkick for his efforts though. Corbin ate a Stomp and Rollins climbed his way to victory. Ambrose was on the stage staring Rollins out when RAW went off air. Loved this match, although I do feel this was done merely to shadow the fact that Strowman won’t be cleared for TLC, but I’m so hoping someone is going to stand in for him if he isn’t. (Cough.. Bray Wyatt.. Cough.)
Conclusion
7/10🌟
I thought this was a ballsy attempt at a save in their product after some devastating ratings and ticket sales in the last quarter of 2018. A bit edgier, deeper story telling and some real substance to the upcoming PPVs is exactly what is needed to power through this viewership lull. Still some weirdness and some awkward moments, but all in all I had a good time watching Raw this week. That’s weird. I really wasn’t expecting that at all.
Performance of the Night: Drew vs Dolph I think takes this. The TLC was great! But the match between Drew and Dolph felt super in depth and there’s some real bad blood there. It translated well in the ring and their chemistry is solid. Dolph even pulled off the impossible when he did a good ‘videomo’ (Wordart video phone promo things that are always super cringe)! I’m looking forward to this feud.
Annoyance of the Night: Tamina vs Ember Moon just happening out of nowhere was annoying and just placed there. Under exposure for the women this week and that was annoying too.
Thank you all so much for stopping by again if you’re a regular reader and if you’re not then thank you for taking the time out to have a little gander, I appreciate every single one of you, please feel free to comment, like and share and make sure to Too Sweet that follow button on the Twitter machine @KayfabeToday. Peace and love to one and all! ✌🏻💚 – CB
