Opener
There’s an opening video package to start RAW, it was a beautiful tribute to the awe-inspiring revolutionist, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Highlighting all he did in his wonderful career and the earth shattering moments he was murdered and the world was told. This was a very beautiful video package.
Brock Lesnar was next out, with his advocate beside him. Heyman talked about Finn Balor and how he talented he is. Heyman said he believes in Finn Balor, especially after pinning John Cena last week!
Heyman basically says Balor is incredible, but not as incredible as Lesnar. He issued a spoiler alert saying Lesnar would win, but Vince McMahon them entered to have a quick word.
Vince likened this to David & Goliath, only his version was wrong – Saying David was destroyed and never seen again, until now, where he has been reincarnated as Finn Balor. But then swerved us and started insulting the fans and Balor. Then Braun Strowman came out – Braun said he lost $100,000 and his title match because of Baron Corbin last week, he then warned Finn and said he’d better win the title. Balor came to the ring and told the real story of David vs Goliath – Vince McMahon made a match against Balor & Strowman with Lesnar and Heyman at ringside.
Braun Strowman vs Finn Balor
Braun and Finn went at it in a very Finn heavy match. Finn wad getting Strowman on the floor as well as Lesnar. Finn looked strong and almost beat Braun after a Coup De Gras. But Lesnar came in and hit an F5 instead to get the match thrown out and to get his revenge on Balor. What an awesome start to RAW! Balor looked really strong and is super over too. I’m looking forward to their match this Sunday.
Bobby Lashley IC Title Celebration
This was interrupted by Apollo Crews who then challenged Lashley to a Match, but Lio Rush said that can’t have a match unless he can beat Lashley in a “pose off”. Apollo said no, but then agreed and messed around during it, won it and then they had their match.
Apollo Crews vs Bobby Lashley w/ Lio Rush
The match seemed okay for a minute, but then for whatever reason it seemed rushed and weird. Like Apollo should have done more but instead almost got Jobbed out. He had like 3 or 4 connections on his moves and then Lio distracted him and Apollo got speared for a 3. Meh.
Seth Rollins promo
Seth came out to talk about how much MLK inspired him and how he feels pumped up and promises to win the Royal Rumble. This prompts The Scottish Psychopath, Drew McIntyre, to come out and deliver a great Heel response where he declares that he hopes they’re the last 2 in the rumble so he can eliminate him and watch his dreams crumble.
Drew McIntyre vs Seth Rollins
Wow. This match was something! So. Many. Great. Spots! Drew McIntyre and Seth Rollins are arguably two of the best storytellers in the WWE. Their interactions, facial expressions and their trust in one another causes their matches to become explosive! The Inverted Alabama Slam to the floor was mad! The Top Rope Air Raid Siren was awesome again too. I think the match ending was even good. Rollins won with a roll-up, leaving both guys looking strong heading into the Rumble.
Revival backstage
The Revival are asking Mr McMahon if they can have another tag title match due to all of their matches being unfairly called, which is a genuine thing that happened. They said they want a special referee this time, Vince says no though.. until Curt Hawkins interupts them and says he wants a spot in the Rumble. Vince says no more matches, he’s lost too many of them. But he can be the Special Ref for the Tag Titles Match.. later on tonight.
Lucha House Party vs Jinder Mahal & The Singh Brothers
Awesome to see The Bollywood Boyz back in action, but they’re still being used as fodder. The win came prematurely and Jinder got mad that Sunil took the fall. This could spell the end of this partnership, hopefully it’ll give the Boyz room to grow now!
Elias Segment
Elias’ low E string was seriously out of tune, but he seemed to notice this and moved the lick onto the A string. Which was cool.. if you’re a music nerd like me and picked up on that.
Corbin interupted him and ended up getting roasted by Elias for wearing a vest still after getting fired. He sang him a song. Then when Corbin tried to attack Elias, Elias swung the guitar so fast that if it had accidentally connected with Corbin’s head, as it almost did, Corbin would be out cold – or worse. It was a lethal swing!
Baron Corbin vs Elias
Despite the match actually being okay, it was short and Corbin sort of cheated to win via End of Days. Not the best, but it was okay. The build up was better.
A Moment of Bliss
Alexa Bliss announces 21 of the 30 women in their respective Royal Rumble. Nia Jax came on as a guest, Ember Moon interfered and said she will win, then Alicia Fox did the same, then Mickie James did too.. then all the women did and a huge brawl went backstage… leaving Alexa to announce her in ring return this Sunday in the Royal Rumble match! Then Lacey Evans came out, insulted Alexa and the rest of the Women’s roster. I look forward to seeing this play out!
The Ascension vs Heavy Machinery
Yes! I was so pumped to see these guys on the main roster! They’re such a throwback! Otis is a big ball of energy that can squat almost 700lbs and Tucker is an absolute beast! So deceptively athletic!
This was amazing too! They whipped out all of their moves! I couldn’t help but smile at them being on RAW! They also won via the Compactor too. It was awesome!
The Revival vs Roode and Gable for the WWE RAW Tag Team Championships with Curt Hawkins as Special Guest Referee
This match was outstanding. The back and forth was sublime! It was cut so close and I loved seeing #FTR (Forever The Revival) on the back of The Revival’s trunks, they recently trademarked it and it’s funny because #FTR also what The Young Bucks and the rest of The Elite used to hashtag, but F stood for… something different. The Revival also asked for their release last week.
Hawkins caught The Revival cheating time and time again, then fast counted so they’d lose… they then decided to attack Hawkins after the match – Zack Ryder made the save and seemingly reunited the Tag Team of old The ‘Major Brothers’ as Well as their ties with Edge in ‘La Familia’, they’ve been teaming together on and off for over 10 years and are best buds so this is a good move for them.
Sasha Banks and Bayley vs Ronda Rousey and Natalya
This match started with a heated stare-down. It seemed real personal. But the match itself was so-so. It wasn’t anything to go mad about but it held it’s own okay. Sasha Banks managed to lock in a Banks Statement on Rousey to no avail and then on Nattie who tapped out to it. This lead to another stare-off between Banks and Rousey to end RAW. Not a strong finish, but it wasn’t terrible. Definitely wouldn’t have ended the show with it.
Conclusion
8.5/10 🌟
What can I say? This was another great show from WWE. At least, miles better than what we were getting just a month or so ago. Still some teething issues, but definitely a great show all round.
Match of the Night: Seth vs Drew. Easy. It was just flat-out faultless! I loved everything about it, it really built a narrative for the Rumble match too.
Annoyance of the Night: The way they ended the show was bad. It was probably the weakest match of the night. Really shouldn’t have ended the show. I imagine the viewership dropped considerably in the final hour.
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
