WWE Raw: Season premiere sets the bar high for the future

The Sept. 30 edition of WWE Raw was a night of change and impactful moments on the red brand’s season premiere for 2019 in the midst of a huge week in the WWE.

Last night’s season premiere of WWE Raw was just the first night of what’s shaping up to be a week that will change the WWE forever, but things got off to a hot start with some of the most impactful moments the red brand has seen lately.

It all kicked off when Rey Mysterio opened up the show to address his upcoming Universal Championship match later in the night against Seth Rollins.

However, he would be unceremoniously interrupted by Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman, which would only be the tip of the iceberg as to what would happen to Mysterio at the hands of The Beast Incarnate.

Lesnar attacked Mysterio with several F5s before turning his attention towards Mysterio’s son Dominick, who was sitting ringside.  That didn’t stop Lesnar and after he pulled Dominick over the railing, he viciously attacked him while his father couldn’t do anything to stop it.  This was one of the most intense segments in a long time and it felt uncomfortable watching.  Dominick would eventually be stretchered out with his father apologizing to him in overwhelming sadness.

This was about as impactful of a start as you could have imagined on the season premiere of Raw, which brought several changes that should help improve the red brand moving forward.  The show started with a new intro video and song before the long-awaited return of pyro to start the show just like it used to.  Not only that, but pyro was used for several superstar entrances throughout the night.

It’s only a superficial improvement, but little things like an intro video and pyro can go a long way for fans.  They both help make the show feel bigger, especially pyro.  Not to mention, the new announce team did a solid job and the new Raw graphics looked good.  The stage was also different from what the set has looked like for the past couple of years, and it was an improvement.  Little things can go a long way and at least last night, they made a big difference.

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Outside of superficial improvements to the show, there were plenty of standout moments throughout the course of the show in terms of the product.  The Lesnar/Mysterio family segment was amazing, but there were plenty of other memorable moments.  In what might be the greatest episode of Miz TV ever, special guests Ric Flair and Hulk Hogan tore the house down and announced the upcoming Team Flair vs. Team Hogan match at Crown Jewel.

In what will probably be the final chapter of a rather short and one-sided rivalry between AJ Styles and Cedric Alexander, Styles successfully retained his United States Championship in a tremendous match with Alexander really shining even in defeat.  We also were treated to another episode of the Firefly Fun House just days before The Fiend takes on The Architect for the Universal Championship inside Hell in a Cell.

The originally-scheduled title match between Rollins and Mysterio last night transformed into Rollins vs. Rusev, the first two superstars on Team Hogan.  Rusev helped Rollins fend off an attack from Team Flair members Randy Orton and Baron Corbin earlier in the night to set the stage.  This was a solid match to main event the show, but the real fireworks came when Bobby Lashley made his return and brought out a special guest with him.

Lashley brought out Rusev’s wife Lana, who apparently has kayfabe marital issues with Rusev after The Bulgarian Brute has been back a couple of weeks without Lana by his side.  Those issues came to a head when Lashley and Lana started making out on top of the stage while Rusev stood and watched inside of the ring.  Soon after that, the lights went out and The Fiend appeared at ringside to choke out Rollins with the mandible claw.

This was a big night for the red brand just days before Hell in a Cell and even fewer days before SmackDown’s debut on FOX Friday night.  This is just another example of the notion that when the WWE wants to put on a good show, it is more than capable of doing so.  It just doesn’t happen consistently enough, but that needs to change to improve the overall quality of the show.  And with the blue brand making headlines now, the red brand has to keep up.

Things are heating up in the WWE and last night was just the first night of a loaded week that will see a lot of change.