WWE Raw Results: Highlights, Analysis, and Grades for August 28

Blues? Nope, It’s Brock-abilly

There are days where I want to start a Kickstarter campaign just to raise money to pay Paul Heyman to record like a dozen children’s books on tape. Heyman could make Green Eggs & Ham sound like it was the height of Shakespeare. I mean, Heyman literally tells the same story every time he’s on Raw: Brock had a challenger, and he had a tough go, but he’s The Beast so he persevered. That’s it.

But the way he gets that story across is always tailor-made for the situation. There’s enough tweaks each time you hear it that you don’t get sick of it, or really think of it as the same thing. Listening to Heyman speak is like seeing John Coltrane in his prime – every time you heard “Giant Steps” it was a brand new performance, even though it was the same melody, same harmony, same structure, same everything.

The story this time is that Braun Strowman is the toughest challenger in WWE for Lesnar. (Already very similar to the Great Balls of Fire build with Samoa Joe.) Heyman bends over backwards putting Strowman over, and sounds 100% believable while doing it. Even Brock begrudgingly acknowledges how much punishment Strowman dished out at SummerSlam, and on Raw the next night.

But the pivot into “Brock is The Beast, and he will overcome” is so seamless, that it takes Brock grabbing the mic to punctuate things as only he can – with a catchprase and borderline profanity – to really send things home. Usually, the less Brock says, the better. But lately, he’s been dropping these random interjections, and they’re perfect. We’re still four weeks away from No Mercy, but I am super hyped for this Universal Championship match.