The RAW Reunion is upon us for some reason and I’m actually kind of really excited to see what happens this week. Last week was really enjoyable and I truly hope this Week amazes us all even more!
With that being said, we are welcomed to the RAW by Michael Cole, but before he got anything else out, we were graced by the presence of John Cena. The crowd looks pretty packed out to be fair too! He got a warm welcome from Tampa, Florida too. He was cracking jokes and lists those who will be there. He says WWE is his home and it always will be, he said he is sorry for not being around as much, he said he’s just as excited as he was on Day 1.
Usos suckered Cena in to a kind of Rap Battle. He mentioned them being arrested and said they look just like their mugshots. Usos gave a shout out to the Miami, PD.. then they welcomed their Dad.. RIKISHI came out looking like he hasn’t aged a day since 1999. He told Cena to get back in the ring and Cena obliged… they were about to dance together until The Revival & D-Von Dudley came out.. this was surreal as hell! But I loved it.
3.5/5🌟
Booker T then came out to call a match on commentary
The Usos & Rikishi vs The Revival & D-Von Dudley
Pretty strong match, why Rikishi and D-Von were in the match I have no clue. As soon as the bell rang, they became managers to the teams.. which sucked. I was hoping for a bit of something between them. The match got really interesting when Rikishi and D-Von faced off, not attacking eachother, but stared eachother down.
Usos got the win after their splash and that was it.
2.5/5🌟 – was okay. Nothing too exciting.
Backstage
Alicia Fox and… someone? Maybe Kaitlyn?I honestly can’t tell anymore with the work they’ve all had done. But hey, theres nothing wrong with having work done if that’s what you are into, just makes it tough to recognise people 10 years later. Anyway, they are chatting when Torrie Wilson shows up (again not actually looking like Torrie Wilson anymore) so then Fox and Wilson are laughing and hugging when Santino shows up and does some Santino comedy.. Drew McIntyre was there shaking his head.
2/5 🌟 it was sort of pointless. Weird that Santino’s Cobra was basically an innuendo for his penis and he was just rubbing it on Torrie and Foxy.
24:7 Championship Shenanigans
Truth is shown some footage of his appearance at Comic Con this weekend, The Hurricane tried to pin him, but failed, then Drake Maverick tried and failed and Truth left. So then when Charlie Carruso is chatting to Truth, Maverick’s wife shows up to berate Truth but as she is, Drake runs over and pins Truth! New 24/7 Champion! He told his wife to get the car and he’s going to get the bags.
3/5 🌟 the 24/7 Title stuff is some of the best stuff WWE are doing right now.
Cedric Alexander vs Drew McIntyre
Drew beat him up before the bell, Inverted Alabama Slammed his head on the ring apron and left. Accelerating this feud heading in to Summerslam. I liked it. As I said last week, I am all for this feud going to Summerslam.
3/5 3 🌟
24/7 Championship Shenanigans
Drake Maverick walks backstage & finds his Suitcase full of worms. The Boogeyman was there and scared Maverick who then fell over and for pinned by.. PAT PATTERSON! Pat Patterson is the current 24/7 Champion!
4/5 🌟 Absolute gold. Who would have thought Pat Patterson would ever be a champion again!?
Viking Raiders vs Ryder & Hawkins
Glorified squash match, but at least it was a credible team this time.
2/5 🌟 We get it. Vikings strong. Other teams weak. Rinse & repeat is NOT hoe to handle These Viking Raiders.
Backstage
All the legends & Jillian Hall were backstage in the party room. Mike Kanellis was there also when Maria shows up. Kind of can’t wait for her maternity leave. Because this is stupid. He is chatting to Eve Torres and Eric Bischoff who got a huge pop, he invited Maria over to Smackdown and Maria ignored it and shouted at Mike for not rubbing lotion on her belly so she doesn’t get stretch Mark’s. She literally takes his balls every single week and its insufferable! It’s mental abuse! If it were a female being treated this way by a Male, everyone would be all over it. It’s a stupid storyline and its ruining 2 of my favourite characters! Gaaaah!
1/5🌟 – this is just terrible now. Either reach the pay off or hint to it at least, or kill it before it kills them for the next 5 bloody years!
The OC backstage
Yes. ‘The OC’ is the new name for “The Only Club That Matters”. I really loved it. Felt like a potshot at The Elite & The Bullet Club. They ran down Rollins because AJ is facing him later. This all made me smile as it reminded me of the days of the OGBC in Japan and I’m excited to see them in WWE in 2019. Now, let’s hook them up with Balor, call the Undisputed Era up and start the feud of the century! They Too Sweet at the end which was icing on the cake.
4/5 🌟 weirdly enough this was the best thing on the show so far. A backstage promo.. Huh.
More 24/7 Shenanigans
This was incredible surreal.. in the best possible way. Gerald Briscoe pinned Pat Patterson for the 24/7 title. That’s a sentence I actually never thought I would write.. Briscoe then ran down the hall screaming that he was 24/7 Champion and he bumps into Kelly Kelly, who then pins him to become the first female 24/7 Champion!!
5/5 🌟 This is getting better segment by segment and the 24/7 stuff, I think, is the most entertaining thing in WWE right now.
Samoa Joe promo
Joe addressed the Raw Reunion and said it was a “plague to the WWE”. An indulgence to our addiction to nostalgia. He isn’t wrong.. but this is some good TV right here. Joe continues by saying we could have had Joe out here sculpting in violence in a match, but instead we got The Usos and their Daddy spitting limmericks at John Cena. He said it was embarrassing, and was answered by Roman Reigns. Reigns said that Joe is from the same island he is, so he knows what happens when you insult someone’s family.. Joe & Reigns go at it and they talk more about Samoan heritage and Joe starts to leave after denying Roman a match, Roman says not all Samoans are cowards which then coaxed Joe into accepting.
5/5🌟 I loved this. Seeing these two Samoan beasts clash is never boring & for some reason this feels much more real this time.
Roman Reigns vs Samoa Joe
This was a really solid match in the WWE style. The back and forth was good, the near falls were cool & seeing such a hard hitting match on WWE was really fun! They clobbered eachother like crazy. Roman Reigns got the win after a very surprising spear!
4/5🌟 solid match with lots of intrigue into their story. The reason it wasnt 5 stars was that it could have been longer & this was Samoa Joe’s 5th consecutive televised loss I think! Not cool.
Miz TV
Seth Rollins is the guest
He talks about how Lesnar is a goof and makes fun of his appearance and his mannerisms, it was all quite juvenile and felt really awkward.. I dont know what it is about Rollins and comedy but it just doesn’t click with me. His voice is often just so monotonous that the delivery isn’t funny. Paul Heyman then showed up and said he can’t be mad that Lesnar cashed in MITB on him because Rollins did the same thing to Lesnar 4 years ago! Rollins says it took Lesnar 4 years to get him back and it’s only because he’s a “Seth Rollins wannabe”.. He then chased Heyman away and gave Tampa, Florida a sign off of “ignite the flames and burn it down!” which as far as sign offs go, that’s alright. I can deal with that one.
2.5/5 🌟 it wasn’t bad. But it was pretty “Blah!”. If you know what I mean? Just there for the sake of it. Why the Miz had to be there I have no clue.
Charlie Carusso Backstage
Charlie is backstage trying to get some words with the legends hanging out at the party. Sami Zayn shows up and berates Charlie for wasting airtime on these people who were “just there at the time”. Its like watching the Attitude Era through the Face App. He tells them to go home and stay home, Rey Mysterio says he needs to respect these people and remember who paved the way, Sami says he doesn’t respect any of them, Kurt Angle showed up and said they should settle it in the ring. So that’s what they’re going to do.
3.5/5🌟 Sami Zayn is an epic Heel and feels like he cares very little about those around him and isn’t afraid to say whatever he wants to say whenever he wants to say it. That kind of itchy trigger finger mentality got over massively with CM Punk, hopefully Zayn can recreate it somewhat. But again.. talking..
“24 Champion” Shenanigans
Kelly Kelly runs up to Candice Michelle and shows her that she won the 24/7 championship! Milena and Naomi are there too and Milena says she just got her license, Kelly asks what license she means and Milena then reveals the black and white strips of a Referee’s shirt, Candace turns and wins the 24/7 Championship only to be beaten and choked out by Alundra Blayze! Who then says if any of the girls have a problem with her being “24 Champion” then they better know that she won’t be champion very long.. Okay, okay.. what on any and every earth is this woman smoking!? & MOST importantly, can I have some?
4/5 🌟 Super weird, but still super ace. I love the amount of new champions this title has already and the history is already thick!
Rey Mysterio vs Sami Zayn
Zayn and Mysterio had a decent back and forth, Zayn ducked a 619 and went to leave up the ramp but.. BUT… then Rob Van Dam shows up (isn’t he signed to Impact!?) Sgt. Slaughter shows up too, then The Hurricane and Kurt Angle show up and start walking to the ring so Sami runs back in and is hit with a 619 and as Rey points to RVD and then does Rob’s thumb taunt thing and hit a 5 Star Frog Splash for the win.
3/5 🌟 it was cool and all, but Sami got buried in the end and it isn’t necessary! The dude should be a main title contender! He’s one of the best they have!
Street Profits backstage skit
Montez Ford is looking for Dawkins, when he finds him he see’s him putting in eye-drops and when he asked why, he says he was just chillin’ with RVD in the bathroom. They were “rolling” over there and Mark Henry was there, Montez got upset that he wasnt invited. Dawkins says Kelly Kelly was there, Ric Flair and Boogeyman were all there “Chillin'” with RVD. This is the most incredible thing.. not-so tongue in cheek to those in the know. It ended with Dawkins getting a call from Godfather and having to take the call. Montez looked heartbroken.
3/5 🌟 – Hilarious. These two are great, but we still want these two in a damn match! What is the hold-up?
Even more 24/7 Shenanigans
Alundra Blayze was about to put the title in the trash on the stage.. but The Million Dollar Man came and bought it from her. So he is now the new 24/7 champion!
4/5 🌟 The levels of continuity with this 24/7 story are unfounded in modern WWE. This was a throwback to when Alundra put the WWF Women’s Championship in a bin on Nitro & when the Million Dollar Man bought the WWE Title. This was so different and made so much history in one night!
Seth Rollins vs AJ Styles w/ The OC
The OC have a brand new entrance from, wall and ramp movies and new tees. Still AJ’s music though. The Club got involved in the match early on, but.. DX made the save! Well, Trips and HBK anyway. The Match continues with DX at ringside. It all kicks off with everyone. Seth wins by DQ but The OC attack him after, DX make the save again but when The OC try to Too Sweet DX and get them on side, they are told to Suck It and got punched in the face. So, The OC were wielding chairs at this stage and then OH YOU DIDN’T KNOW!? THEN YOUR ASS BETTER CALL SOMEBODAAAAAAAAAAAY! The Road Dogg, X-Pac, Scott Hall & Kevin Nash are there to back up DX & Rollins! They introduce themselves and say that with Chyna’s spirit, there’s 8 or 9 of them, but then Dogg said he forgot Billy. Which was hilarious, Road Dogg said the OC had better get to steppin’. So they did. Seth Did the “we got 2 words for ya!” thing. He did it pretty well too actually.
4/5🌟 good match with lots of story elements in there and big pops and stuff. It was great. The nostalgia part was cool, it was almost 4th wall breaking but not entirely. It made sense which was most important.
EVEN MORE 24/7 Championship Shenanigans
Million Dollar Man got in his Limo, then we heard a beat down occur, and out popped Drake Maverick the new WWE 24/7 Champion! Drake then shows his wife, but then is chased by the under card talent again they all chase him around the building.
3.5/5 🌟 this one was a little less impressive, but it did bring our boy another title reign! Let’s go Maverick!
Mick Foley promo
He talks about the 24/7 Championship, then he shows a video of his favourite moment of Raw in his career, it was a video of him winning the WWF Championship 20 years ago on Raw.. then the screen kind of burned out and flickered. The lights went down and everything shut down slowly, and when they flickered back on.. YOWIE WOWIE, Bray Wyatt was there! He used the Mandible Claw to choke out Foley and left everyone speechless, this just looked absolutely terrifying! I wonder what Wyatt’s plan is? Balor last week, Foley this week? I was hoping for Shane McMahon to be his target, then I figured that would be way too much screen time for Shane. So now I have no idea again.
6/5 🌟 Cannot fully express just how incredible this whole gimmick has been this far. We could finally have Bray heading into Undertaker territory! Yes!
A Moment Of Bliss
Nikki Cross & Alexa Bliss are out to host their guest, Becky Lynch.
Bliss says Natalya has the hometown advantage at Summerslam. Nattie shows up, she mentions wrestling Becky in Japan 14 years ago, they argued back and forth and then they brawl. That was that.
Nattie got an interview backstage after when she tells Charlie Carusso that Lynch will get an ass whooping of a lifetime.
2/5 🌟 it could be the best rivalry of the Summer, but this isn’t how to do it. They dont need to be on a talk show, they need to get personal on their own. Salt & vinegar in wounds, kicking eachother when they are down and seriously personal insults and leverage plays. That would make this something incredible.
Braun Strowman vs Randy Row (Jobber)
Braun beat him with a Chokeslam Powerbomb after throwing the poor kid about 20 miles up the road first. New finiher maybe? Looked epic either way!
2/5🌟 do we really need to be putting Strowman in squash matches again? Last time we got James Elsworth out of that crap. We all know how that worked out.. cool new finisher though.
Toast To Monday Night Raw
So all the returning faces gathered on the stage with Ric Flair & I have to say, seeing The Boogeyman walking out to Also Sprach Zarathustra was really, truly weird.
The Hulkster then graced us all with his presence and cut a promo where he thanked us all and everyone else. Only one word jumble too! He said “The Raw Renunion” but for Hogan, that’s excellent.
Stone Cold Steve Austin then returned and didn’t appear to be any different than 20 years previous. He was cracking jokes, drinking his beers, (his own brewed beers. Broken Skull IPA) and telling road stories and stuff from when they were in the hotel just the night previous. It was fun and it felt real. He even swore as he thought they were off air, which was funny.
5/5 🌟 It got me good, right between the eyes of the feels.
Conclusion
Total Stars: 80.5/115🌟
RAW SCORE: 70%
Would you believe that down to the exact decimal place, that this week’s RAW SCORE is identical to that of last week’s? Because it is! Which can only mean that this week was, at the very least, as good as last weeks.. which is consistency! Hallelujah, they did it! That is the first time that has ever happened in the history of The RAW Score! See, WWE. All it takes is a little patience, some relaxing on strictness, a smidge of listening and firing most of your creative staff to make some real progress. Too many cooks spoil the broth as they say! Or in this case mainly just the Head Chef. But this was promising! I really enjoyed the show, the surprises were excellent. I did not expect to see Rob Van Dam in WWE again until he was inducted into the Hall of Fame! So that was a treat. The Fiend as always gets the 6 star rating. It’s just the best thing on TV right now. Not just in Wrestling. Just.. like, all of TV right now. I’m more excited to see what the hell is going to happen with this story than anything else I am watching right now. Including AEW (Which I am CUH-RAZY about!). I loved seeing such a plethora of legends from all generations and even some faces that I didn’t expect to see like Gerald Briscoe & Rikishi! It was definitely a memorable episode and I feel like this was the first step in the right direction now. They’re finding their footing.
Superstar of the Night
Normally it’s The Fiend. Normally it’s something Bray Wyatt has done that gets me to go that way. But.. this week it goes to a different man. Someone who I have grown to become a big fan of lately. The man who steals the show at every given opportunity and is never afraid to make an arse out of himself and has been consistently one of the most entertaining things on WWE TV for the last 7 or 8 weeks.
My Superstar of the Night, Drake Maverick!
