WWE Raw: Results, Highlights, and Grades for August 20, 2018

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Big Dog Got a New Collar

Oh, to be a fly on the wall in the production truck for this one. I’m picturing Kevin Dunn screaming at some poor kid with a BA is Film Editing to “find someone, ANYONE, who’s cheering!”

Now, this may not be a popular opinion, but I feel bad for Reigns to a certain extent. My wife popped into the room during SummerSlam last night, and she watches enough to kinda know what’s going on. She said to me, “Wow, Roman got old looking!” And he does have that “former president who aged 75 years in a four year term” look going for him. Crow’s feet, a sure sign of excessive stress, are clear.

But who cares — he finally did it, folks. There’s a smattering of approving cheers in the background, which intensify when Reigns basically announces an open challenge for the Universal Champion — after he picks his first opponent, that is. And by choosing Finn Bálor as his first opponent, he becomes the top babyface Vince McMahon has always envisioned him as.

I may be the only person on the planet who really, truly appreciates the magnificent work Baron Corbin has been doing in recent weeks. His casting in the lackey role has been pitch perfect, and it continued tonight. He’s every office worker who gets a modicum of power — he lords it over everyone under him, but the second he’s faced with confrontation he shrinks back. Look at how he backed away from Roman Reigns.

Of course, the Constable has an excuse for everything, and he tries to cancel the match Bálor and Reigns shook on. Enter Kurt Angle, who basically tells his “assistant” that his opinion is less important than that of the riff raff in the crowd, and the main event championship match is set. And Corbin gets a match, too — against Bobby Lashley, and that’s up next.