With SummerSlam only a few weeks away, is Monday night Raw on the up and up or is it going downhill?
It was Monday night, which meant another episode of Raw took place. The show wasn’t a flop, which is saying a lot considering last week’s Raw a bit lackluster. But not being one to look on the negative, let’s stick with the positive, shall we?
For starters, we got a huge co main event in Roman Reigns vs. Soamo Joe vs. Braun Strowman and FYI, this match actually happened without having a DQ or count out finish. Other than that this night featured Micheal Cole getting owned several times throughout the broadcast, which was pretty darn entertaining. Then there was Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose still teasing a Shield Reunion, not to mention a pretty okay finish to a Nia Jax-Bayley match and to top it all off we got… Elias.
Not what you were expecting to hear? Oh well. Point is, tonight show wasn’t totally terrible. That being said, It wasn’t the greatest and there obviously still some negatives. What are those negatives, you ask? Keep reading to find out.
Kurt Angle, Brock Lesnar and a Brilliant Promo by Paul Heyman
We start off with the home town boy, Kurt Angle getting a standing ovation… and being told he sucked. Angle proceeds to give a brief run down of some of what he has in store for the WWE universe. He then, of course, proceeds to inform the fans that he won a gold medal “with a broken fricken neck”. All seems good and nostalgic until we get a surprise return from The Beast Incarnate and current WWE Universal Champion, Brock Lesnar and his advocate, say it with me everyone, Paul Heyman, who accuses Angle of stacking the deck against his beast by putting him up against 3 high caliber WWE superstars at the same time. Although Heyman seems a bit too defensive, this promo is pure gold and Heyman’s delivery is right on the money as usual.
Well, with that being said, Heyman drops a huge bombshell regarding this year’s SummerSlam. That being that if The Beast Incarnate loses his 4-way fatal bout with Roman Reigns, Samoa Joe & Braun Strowman, he will leave WWE! Well, safe to say, that makes the fatal 4-way match at SummerSlam way more interesting.
The Hardy Boyz vs. Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson
Result: The Hardy Boyz win via Jeff Hardy hitting the Swanton Bomb
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
If you’re not a fan of wrestling, I advise you to listen to the commentary provided by The Revival. Especially the obsolete mule part, Micheal Cole getting owned Dash and Dawson, Cory Graves being a great heel commentator, Cole once again getting owned by The Top Guys, The Revival, Booker T being a great and once again Cole getting owned.
Unlike what happens most of the time when heels are special guest commentators, The Revival didn’t interfere in the match in any way. Of course that all changed after The Hardyz won the match, walked up the ramp and began to exchange some heated words with The Revival. Not long after that, the two teams started brawling Gallows & Anderson got involved and I felt a little alive inside. I have to say, with enough tag teams on each brand, WWE might just have something here
Dean Ambrose & Seth Rollins Interview
So basically this segment starts off with Ambrose being interviewed. If you were looking for something comical and random. which honestly isn’t unusual for Ambrose, you’re not going to find it here. The interviewed is interrupted by Seth Rollins, who Ambrose teamed with last week. While the two seemed to be on the same page, it was made clear tonight by The Lunatic Fringe himself that he still doesn’t trust Rollins due to the fact that he stabbed him in the back some years back when they were members of The Shield. Will The Shield be resurrected officially? The world may never know.
Akira Tozawa, Cedric Alexander & Rich Swann vs. Tony Nese, Ariya Daivari & TJP
Result: Swann, Alexander & Tozawa win via pinfall
Rating: 2.5 out 5 stars
All in all, this was a decent match. The cruiserweight division has potential to be something big. Unfortunately, that probably won’t happen. All 6 of these guys are extremely talented. Why am I telling you this? Because honestly, it’s a bit sad to see 6 guys that do have talent get crunched into a 10-minute match. Of course, you had Titus O’ Neil in the corner of Akira Tozawa cheering him on, Tozawa’s arm and pectoral region being heavily worked on and overall a great display of athletic moves.
With that being said, although the match was stellar, there wasn’t much of a story being told here. Just a 6 man tag team match with not much direction. In my opinion, It’s basically the same story with 305 live. A bunch of wrestlers on that show with a lot of talent and potential, but not much direction.
Miz TV with Jason Jordan
We kick things off with The Miz doing what he does best… which is a class a jerk and a 100 percent bonafide heel. He asks Jordan a question, one of which he doesn’t care about. After that, he asks how it feels to get booed by the WWE Universe. Imagine that!
He then offers Jordan a once in a lifetime opportunity to join something great. It isn’t a Million dollars, it isn’t an Intercontinental title match, it’s a chance to become The Miz’s flunky and lackey… I mean a chance to join The Miztourage.
Jordan refuses and then things begin to become a bit heated. This eventually leads to The Miz and his cronies getting laid out and the crowd goes, semi wild. Honestly, this Kurt Angle-Jason Jordan father-son angle may be a good thing in the long run, but right now… not so much.
Sheamus vs. Seth Rollins
Result: Seth Rollins wins via pinfall
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
It should probably be noted that going into the match, Sheamus was being accompanied to the ring by his tag team partner in crime, Cessaro, Rollins, on the other hand, was not accompanied b anyone and yes, that does include The Lunatic Fringe, Dean Ambrose. The match started out with Rollins holding his own before a distraction by Cessaro changed the tide of the match in Sheamus’ Favor.
Although Rollins won the match, the story was that after the match Rollins gets assaulted and beat down by both Sheamus & Cessaro, Ambrose takes like forever to come to Rollins’ aide, and finally after it takes like 3 centuries for The Lunatic Fringe to hit the ring, he, of course, gets thoroughly beaten down… bad.
I know, I know. Ambrose doesn’t really trust Rollins and therefore, may have been reluctant to help him out, but he had to know that by the time he made his way to the ring, Rollins would have been too hurt to even try to make an attempt to help him… which was probably the point, because Cessaro and Sheamus being heel, you want to make them look strong in a way that makes them look weak because, yeah.
He is Bray Wyatt and He is EVERYWHERE
One thing is for certain, Bray Wyatt, much like The Miz, doesn’t like Pittsburgh. Before he does his shtik about Finn Balor, he first decides to put down the fans and their city, just because. Not long after verbally putting down the fans, Wyatt is confronted by Balor, who turns his back on Wyatt, daring him to take his best shot.
Wyatt tries his luck and fails and he fails miserably. If you’re a fan of The eater of world’s, I wouldn’t bet on him getting put over in this program with Balor and the only reason why I’m saying that is because despite the fact that he is extremely entertaining, cuts great promos and puts on some pretty exceptional matches, he doesn’t seem to have much luck in winning like 95.3% of his matches and that’s really kind of sad when you look at it, you know.
Samoa Joe vs. Braun Strowman vs. Roman Reigns
Result: Roman Reigns wins via pinfall
Rating: 3 out 5 stars
Samoa Joe comes out first looking like a bad, bad man, Strowman follows that up with his entrance that will probably give you nightmares if you look at it long enough and then Reigns is saved for last and it feels like his entrance lasts forever and day. For anyone wondering, yes, Reigns still gets booed during his entrance, he got booed when he made any sort of offense during the match. Example: Reigns connects with Big Boot to Joe’s head, gets. Reigns cock’s his fist signaling the Super Man punch and gets booed for his efforts and of course, he got booed pretty hard when he won the match, because yeah. Samoa Joe. Well, Joe was just kind of there. Which sucks.
If you wondering why this match gets 3 out 5 in stead of 5 out 5, you’re not alone. I’m wondering the same thing. I guess for some odd reason, something was missing, but personally, I’m not sure what. Samoa Joe at one point, leading up to the Great Balls of Fire PPV to be exact, seemed like a legit threat to Lesnar’s title. How much of a threat he is now is debatable. Which, is pretty sad, considering the potential their feud had.
Elias Samson vs. Kalisto
Result: Elias Samson wins via pinfall
Rating: 2 out 5 stars
I have to say, I don’t think people were into this match and you know what that means, don’t you? That’s right, “CM Punk” chants galore, baby! Well, to be fair, it seemed like the crowd gave the two half a chance. One thing that stood out to me was the semi heel turn we got to witness from none other than long time WWE commentator, Micheal Cole. Seriously, what’s up with putting over Elias’ guitar playing abilities? Who in the world really cares. How about the wrestling skill, huh?
Well regardless, if you’re looking forward to catching this match on someone’s YouTube channel, don’t expect a 5-star classic. For the most part, it was just a way for Elias to get put over he did and that was a wrap.
Bayley vs. Nia Jax
Result: Baley defeats Nia Jax via count out
Rating: 3.5 out of 5
The match starts off with Bayley taking a swing at Jax only to miss and get hit by a headbutt. However, Bayley is far from being done as she continues to fight Jax. This proves to have little to no effect as Jax continues to dominate and beat down Everyone’s Favorite Hugger. Eventually, Bayley manages to catch Jax with some pretty explosive offense and knocks The Hybris Athlete off her feet. Not long after that, Alexa Bliss decides to make her presence felt by attacking a weekend, Bayley. She is, however, cut off. The match ends via count out when Nia Jax is unable to get in the ring before the ref’s count.
Overall, this match was surprisingly good. No one is a fan of count out victories, I know. But, in this case, I think it was for the best. Jax is supposed to be portrayed as dominant and unstoppable, but for whatever reason, is not getting a title opportunity at SummerSlam, which is another story for another time. The woman who challenges Alexa Bliss at SummerSlam is Bayley and for that reason should probably be booked strong until the match to build interest, because, the last time these two were involved in a major storyline, many fans weren’t too happy.
Big Cass vs. Big Show
Result: Big Cass wins via DQ
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Spoiler Alert: the match comes to an abrupt end because Enzo gives Cass a piece of his mind and by mind, I mean his fists. I wasn’t a fan of the length, but two big guys aren’t expected to last too long, I wasn’t big on the DQ idea either, but then again, this isn’t PPV.
Still, for what it was, the match decent. Amore Sold Cass’ boot to the face like a pro, Big Show no selling Cass’ attempted Irish whip, the fact that they didn’t have Cass squash Show in under a minute just to attempt to get him over. The match wasn’t too slow either, it was hard hitting and Amore’s promo was the icing on the cake. All in all, it was a great performance by all three men.
Next: 5 WWE Stars Deserving of a Title Shot
On a side note, what’s the deal with Cass being billed as 7 feet tall? Guy goes about 6’9, 6’10, which is close, but not 7 feet exactly. I know, the WWE has a history of exaggerating when comes to things like that, but there’s got to be a line somewhere, right?