WWE Raw: Results, Highlights, and Grades for September 3, 2018

Photo Source: WWE.com via Twitter

Hey, Renee Young is Back!

Fair warning: I spent all weekend at King of Trios, watching three ants overcome the odds to win the tournament, enjoying tiny little joshi superstars MDKing the competition, and witnessing an absolute classic between Mike Quackenbush and Madison Eagles. Oh, and PCO tried to put Cajun Crawdad on the shelf permanently. I am not looking forward to three hours of WWE Raw right now.

But no Coach and a surprise return of Renee Young on commentary? Things are picking up a bit!

Photo Source: WWE.com via Twitter

Braun and Buddies

Do you think Drew McIntyre is offended at being one of the “men” Braun is a monster among? I mean, he’s basically the same size, he’s been doing it longer, and he’s at least just as good, if not better.

The promo is all kinds of generic across the board — Braun snarls, Drew talks about bloody carcasses, and Dolph puts his crew above all other factions in history. It’s nothing you haven’t heard a billion times before, and probably better, too.

The big takeaway is that WWE is going all in on this now-confirmed Strowman heel turn. Once a guy says he doesn’t care what anyone thinks about his actions, he’s a bad guy in WWE’s eyes. Pay no attention to the fact that Braun gets cheered when he says he’s taking the Uni.. Versal… Champion… Ship at Hell in a Cell.

Before things get too far, The Shield enters — through the crowd once again — and tries to get some retribution for the retaliation they suffered last week. But acting GM Baron Corbin sends out the entire locker room to break things up, and it’s just like every other locker room clearing brawl WWE has done in the past ten years.

I think that’s why despite early hype for where things were going, things have cooled off on the Braun/Reigns feud. No new ground is ever broken, it’s always just the same old same old, and it gets annoying and frustrating. There’s still time to fix it, but it looks like we’re doing yet another greatest hits here.

After the commercial break, everyone is still jawing backstage, and The Shield gets arrested. Well, I guess we won’t see them any time soon!