Photo Source: WWE.com via Twitter
The July 2 edition of WWE Raw was a bit of a snooze fest throughout much of the show, but it did feature a few Extreme Rules pay-per-view developments along the way.
Last night’s WWE Raw was a subpar show as a whole with too many filler type of segments thrown in. But a key match for Extreme Rules was made official and the upcoming pay-per-view also saw a couple other developments last night.
Hopefully the red brand gets its act together soon because it is being completely outdone by the blue brand. With that being said, let’s take a look at five key takeaways from the July 2 edition of WWE Raw.
5. Constable Corbin Gimmick Has Potential
A superstar that seemed destined for mediocrity after a rocky 2017 was Baron Corbin. The Lone Wolf had the potential for a big 2017, but after some backstage heat and controversial tweets, his momentum was cooled off immensely.
A switch over to Raw seemed like a bad idea, but Corbin has found new life as of late with his constable role. He was appointed as the constable of Monday nights by commissioner Shane McMahon to help aid GM Kurt Angle and so far, so good. Constable Corbin has been annoying everybody on-screen with his gimmick, but it has given his character more layers.
One person, in particular, that hasn’t seen eye to eye with Constable Corbin has been Finn Balor. The two struggled through a tag team match last week and last night, Corbin addressed Balor via an in-ring promo. Balor came out and continued to take shots at Corbin, leading to the two trading blows with each other before Corbin ran off with Balor looking to inflict more damage.
Whether this current feud of sorts with Balor works or not, the Constable Corbin role has been working lately and it has quite a bit of potential moving forward. This has given Corbin’s otherwise dilapidated character life and could lead to a more consistently prominent position on the red brand in the future. Only time will tell, but so far, so good.
Constable Corbin is wreaking havoc on Monday nights and that is exactly what The Lone Wolf needs.
Photo by WWE’s Twitter
4. Natalya Deserves A More Prominent Role
The Raw Women’s Championship picture has been crowded lately with three of the top women in the WWE vying for the gold. But one woman has been lurking in the background as of late and has quietly added a lot to the situation.
Natalya had a solid 2017 on SmackDown and even became the SmackDown Women’s Champion on one occasion. Since switching over to Raw, she has been a babyface in the corner of her training partner and friend Ronda Rousey. Natalya has also been in the corner of Nia Jax lately and that stayed true last night when Jax battled Alexa Bliss’s friend Mickie James with Bliss ringside.
As expected, Jax got the win over James in a decent match. Nattie offset anything Bliss tried to do and it went a long way in Jax getting the win. But the bigger story involved should be how Natalya is climbing up the ladder among the women’s division on Monday nights and how a Raw Women’s Championship opportunity should be in her future.
Nattie is a seasoned veteran and still a talented in-ring worker that brings out the best in her competition. And given her relationship with Rousey, that automatically puts her in a prominent position. However, she deserves a more prominent role that should feature a title opportunity sometime in the near future. After all, she did make the Raw Women’s Champion tap out last week.
The Raw women’s division is crowded, but Nattie is holding her own and proving she deserves a shot at climbing the ladder in the division.
Photo Source: WWE.com via Twitter
3. Bayley And Sasha Banks Counseling Segments Could Work Out Tremendously
The Bayley and Sasha Banks storyline has been building towards a breakthrough for months now. And after last week’s fallout when Bayley finally had enough and laid out The Boss, that breakthrough was officially present.
Due to both superstars’ recent actions, Kurt Angle told both Bayley and Banks that they had to attend counseling. Fans wondered if this would help or hurt their storyline, but after last night, most fans are still happy about the return of the best there is, the best there was, and the best there ever will be, Dr. Shelby.
The man that helped Team Hell No a few years ago is back, but this time he’s helping out two former best friends in need of reconciliation. The beginning segments of the counseling began last night and they were solid as a whole. The part where each of them began acting like the other one was probably the best part of the segments.
These segments have a lot of potential to be something truly memorable if the writing is anything close to what it was when Kane and Daniel Bryan went through a similar situation with Dr. Shelby. It should be very intriguing to see where these two go from here and it could even lead to a marquee singles match in the future.
Dr. Shelby is back and he hopes to get The Hugger and The Boss back on track to bring his track record as a counselor up another notch.
Photo Source: WWE.com via Twitter
2. Roman Reigns’ Direction Is All Over The Place
The perceived chosen one over the past couple of years has undoubtedly been Roman Reigns. Fans tend to either love him or hate him and have made him the most polarizing figure in sports entertainment, but his status as the top guy has taken a hit over the past few months.
After failing to capture the Universal Championship from Brock Lesnar on two separate occasions, The Big Dog has floated around from meaningless match after meaningless match with the likes of Samoa Joe and Jinder Mahal. He has found a new rival in Bobby Lashley as of late, but he’s not the only person that Reigns has been dealing with.
Dolph Ziggler and Drew McIntyre have given Reigns and his friend Seth Rollins fits lately, which led to a tag team match last night pitting the two Shield members against Ziggler and McIntyre. The match really got going towards the end, but it ultimately ended in a disqualification after The Revival got involved. And for the third week in a row, Reigns and Lashley teamed up to battle The Revival.
This match was pretty good, but really served no purpose besides making Reigns and Lashley dislike each other even more. And to top it all off, it had a non-finish as well. Simply put, The Big Dog was just on TV way too much last night. It seemed like he was on every other segment through the first two hours last night and his direction has been very erratic lately. He’s been involved with too many different angles and that doesn’t help him out in the slightest.
Hopefully an Extreme Rules pay-per-view match with Lashley gets him back on track because lately, The Big Dog hasn’t been in the best position.
Photo by WWE’s Twitter
1. Braun Strowman And Kevin Owens Feud Is The Most Entertaining On Raw
Mr. Monster in the Bank Braun Strowman has been giving people these hands on a week to week basis lately. And nobody has felt the brunt of these hands quite like Kevin Owens has been feeling since he decided to form a pact against Strowman at the Money In The Bank pay-per-view.
Strowman has been making KO’s life miserable and he took it to another humorous level last week when he flipped over his rental car. But just when you think Strowman can’t do anything else to Owens, he outdoes himself. Owens was set to begrudgingly battle Strowman last night in the main event, but the match itself wouldn’t take shape.
Owens immediately left the ring and ran way to get counted out. He left the arena and tried to leave before Strowman could find him, but The Monster Among Men had other ideas. While outside, KO hid in a porta potty. But that didn’t stop Strowman from finding him and he taped Owens inside of the porta potty and drug it all the way back inside the arena.
And with the porta potty precariously hanging from the edge of the stage, Strowman tackled it down to the ground with KO inside. It was just another memorable moment from this feud that is easily the most entertaining on Monday nights right now. It really doesn’t have much point at this stage, but it’s so entertaining to watch and just makes Strowman even more likable.
Next: WWE Raw Review For July 2 Show
KO has been down in the dumps lately courtesy of Mr. Monster in the Bank and that reached a new low last night.