WWE Raw: A mixed go-home for Hell in a Cell

Six days before Hell in a Cell, WWE Raw had its go-home show for Sunday’s event. For a show meant to build my anticipation in hopes of  me purchasing the pay-per-view (or in the hopes of WWE and NBC Universal, subscribing to peacock), it achieved that…in some respects.

In others, it did the opposite, as well as have me questioning why some segments were even on a go-home show to begin with.

It was a mixed bag of a go-home WWE Raw, but the negatives outweighed the positives.

I’ll begin with segments that had me question their placement on tonight’s show, mostly because as of now, the wrestlers involved aren’t scheduled for Sunday’s card and/or the segments tonight didn’t seem to lead to being on Sunday’s show.

Elias vs. Jaxson Ryker? It was an apathetic three minutes that ended with a count out (one of two on the night to go along with three disqualification finishes).

Jeff Hardy’s two matches against John Morrison and then an impromptu retirement match (for him) against Cedric Alexander? It was time filler that made Alexander look weak and incompetent for losing to an aged veteran who just wrestled a match that, while short, saw him take a clean pin after being hit with Morrison’s finisher, Starship Pain.

The much ballyhooed return of Eva Marie? Not only was it dampened by WWE announcing her match earlier in the day on Twitter, but she didn’t even wrestle! Instead, an unnamed woman who looked suspiciously like Piper Niven squashed Naomi.

Shouldn’t we at least have heard from Marie as to how they formed their mentor/protégé relationship and the identity of her student or why Not Piper Niven wrestled instead?

I hate to do this for the best match of the night, a 20+ minute affair between The New Day and RK-Bro, but neither team is scheduled for the PPV as of writing, a point M.V.P. decided to needle at Kofi Kingston in their backstage segment later in the show. With the Tag Team Champion likely facing another team on Sunday (more on that below), it seemed like a waste to have their match last night rather than Sunday night.

(I embedded the whole segment because my goodness, the segments between M.V.P. and Kingston the past two weeks have been the best segments on Raw. The conviction, the whole-hearted belief in their ideology and utter disbelief in the other’s, the seriousness: these have been the epitome of delivering promos.)

Even for those that built toward a match on Sunday (or seemingly built), there was more bad than good.

First, while not scheduled as of writing, it seems like there will be a Women’s Tag Team Championship match Sunday based off of this interaction between Natalya & Tamina and Mandy Rose & Dana Brooke. I mean, cool if the match happens, but what exactly did the latter team do to earn a title shot? Brooke did mention they won their match two weeks ago, so all you need is a lone victory prior to a PPV to earn a title shot it seems.

Also, who’s the face and heel? Natalya & Tamina were just training, and it’s not their fault a ring happened to be positioned close to a photoshoot area. They also made a good point about Rose & Brooke needing to focus more on their wrestling skills, but Rose made a strong point about the power of the last names “Hart” and “Snuka.”

Go team?

Next, Alexa Bliss vs. Nia Jax I initially thought was the endgame, with Shayna Baszler being a hurdle along the way. However, I was wrong, and Bliss faces Baszler on Sunday…

so why didn’t we hear from Baszler to hype the match from her perspective?

I get it, WWE wants to sell what happened last week, but if anything, tonight’s segments cooled me off from their forthcoming match. It wouldn’t have taken too much for Baszler to have recorded a promo from “home” and discuss how she’s haunted by last week and knows the only way to regain her sanity is to beat Bliss on Sunday.

The same issue plagues this match as the Women’s Tag Team Championship match and many others: who exactly is the face and heel, and why?

The WWE Championship match build for inside the Hell in a Cell structure was a mixed bag, to use the term again. Lashley was strong in the backstage segments until he said he was going to “publicly execute” Drew McIntyre. As Wade Keller wrote, “No he won’t”

It’s just not believable. If WWE wants to toe that line, something like, “After I’m through with you inside Hell in a Cell, you’re going to need a stretcher to leave the ring,” because based on the context and history of the match, it’s believable.

While getting to the six-man tag was overbooked (and WWE lost a golden opportunity to have Teddy Long come out and declare a six-man tag match even though it’s Raw and not Smackdown), the match itself was fine.

McIntyre got a pin after some miscommunication by Lashley and Styles and hitting the Claymore, The Viking Raiders furthered their recent feud with A.J. Styles & Omos (probably leading to a match Sunday night) while getting the rub from McIntyre, and Lashley has a legit justification as to why he was pinned for only the second time this year.

We also saw more from Omos, though WWE was strategic in just how much time Omos spent in the ring each time he was tagged into the match.

I’m just not excited for yet another Lashley-McIntyre match. I was hoping it would be Kingston, and we might be headed down that line with the previous M.V.P./Kingston segments as context. I’m hoping Lashley retains and remains WWE Champion throughout the summer.

Now, there was one segment that actually had me more excited for a scheduled match on Sunday than I was heading into Raw.

That brawl was a good old fashioned pull apart brawl, or as Jim Ross might say, “a slobberknocker.” Charlotte Flair jumped Rhea Ripley with ferocity, and both women really laid into each other. That helped sell the fact that these two hate each other.

It took a horde of referees and WWE officials to separate the two, and even then they weren’t successful as Flair would return to attacking Ripley, or at least try. Flair ended up with a bloody nose (possibly broken?), and was glaring intensely at Ripley. Ripley, standing in the ring, just asked for more.

Yes, the same face/heel dynamic issues are present, but that brawl was intense and leaves me wanting to see them try to beat each other into submission on Sunday.

Further, two other tidbits from this build leave me intrigued. First, will Flair face repercussions for striking Adam Pearce with an elbow to the chest not once, but twice? Second, will part of the repercussions be Pearce adding Nikki Cross to the match on Sunday, reducing Flair’s chances of winning?

Also, I would be remiss if I didn’t compliment Flair on her attire in the above video. Just exquisite, really.

I’m not sure who wins, but I’ve been predicting Flair facing Becky Lynch at SummerSlam either with Lynch returning on that day or having Lynch win the Money in the Bank match and using it to set a match with a champion Flair, so regardless of who wins, there’s ample time to get there.

Ripley could use a definitive victory over a bonafide modern legend to solidify her reign, though, so either victor works (unless Cross is added, then who knows?).

Maybe the lethargy of being in the Thunderdome and without fans is playing a part, and that’ll dissipate once WWE returns to touring.

However, last night’s show was just emblematic of WWE productions that past 15 months, regardless of being go-home or not: they just haven’t been that good.