Hey guys, so I’ve decided to get back to doing RAW reviews again. Things titled “Best” are things I liked, things titled “Worst” are things I didn’t like, and things that are “Best/Worst” I liked and disliked. Sound simple? Cool. Let’s get started.
Best/Worst: The More Things Change, The More Things Stay The Same
The Revival put it best when they said it’s like a new week but nothing has changed. The segment started out decent, with Roman Reigns and Bobby Lashley giving their pitches to face Brock Lesnar for the Universal Championship, and I actually thought both men were pretty solid on the mic. Roman Reigns is at his best when he has an edge to him, and I thought he provided a terrific energy, especially with the clapback of Lashley’s departure from the WWE a decade ago. Bobby sounded a bit more robotic and teleprompter-y, but he was solid as well, referencing how Lesnar may not be here on RAW because he’s tired of seeing the same challenger and perhaps a new face to step up to the plate would entice him to actually come and compete. He also said what was needed to be said to Roman for a while, and that’s that Roman Reigns has had 3 years worth of opportunities at Brock Lesnar, but that he has only proven that he can’t beat him definitively. That was all well and good, and it could have been upped another notch if the two just started brawling all over the place. Unfortunately, we then basically got a re-run of last week’s RAW.
The Revival come out yet again, say basically the same thing they said the week before, and what we get is another impromptu tag match between the two as well. It’s like the writers forgot to add in a few things from last week’s segment involving these four, so they just decided to run it again and put whatever was meant for last week, this week. These are really the times where you can see the visible laziness from the writers and just choose to mail it in. What’s even more irritating is the fact that Michael Cole spent pre-match asking how Roman and Bobby would co-exist as if we didn’t see this same “dysfunctional” team beat this EXACT same tag team as recently as last week.
That said, I suppose that was foreboding as The Revival picked up a legitimately shocking victory over the Roman/Lashley duo. I’ll take any victory in any form for The Revival, but this renders everything that happened last week pointless. The typical trope of building up a match between two faces by having them in a tag team match and losing is a common form of WWE booking, so this isn’t anything out of the ordinary, but this should have been the only match between the two teams. Why bother having these two teams fight last week if you’re just going to have the same exact match for 20 minutes but just with a different outcome? What was the point? I seem to be asking that more than I should about WWE these days. That said, let’s hope that something productive for The Revival forms out of this and that it isn’t just a one-shot deal as a footnote in Roman and Bobby’s feud.
Best: Simple, but Fine
The RAW Tag Team Championship feud between The B-Team and The Deleters of Worlds hasn’t set me on fire, but I do appreciate the simple things that they are trying to do to put over the feud. I’m glad that WWE didn’t completely just give up on Dallas and Curtis upon The Miz’s move to Smackdown, and I thoroughly believe they have a nice chemistry with each other. While I often complain about the repetitive nature of WWE, I wouldn’t mind watching Bo and Curtis mock Bray and Matt week after week. The facial mannerisms, the body language and everything in between are pitch perfect. I am sort of perplexed that the only WWE knows how to build up to a tag team title match is by pitting one superstar of one team against one superstar of another, but this was what it needed to be, if not somewhat underwhelming once we got to the ring.
Worst: Casual Returns
Oh, hey Authors of Pain. Forgot you existed. Oh, and hey Alicia, haven’t seen you this year at all. You really gotta hate the way WWE sort of make returns very underwhelming. Even if it isn’t involving prominent members of the roster, the least you can do is make them pop up on your screen instead of having the camera just cutting to them to take the fun out of everything. Imagine if we immediately cut from a match straight to The Rock just casually walking backstage talking with Kurt. Alicia and AOP aren’t doing anything big any time soon, but you could still at least act like you care.
Worst: Not So Blissful
I really felt like Alexa Bliss just came out and said nothing. Literally nothing. We know she’s the champion. We know she overcame a lot become champion at Money In The Bank. But I didn’t hear anything of substance. It sounded like her just ranting on and on and on about nothing. This was pretty much a repeat of last year, and Natalya didn’t really state anything of substance to add to this promo. Then to top it off, Natalya beats Alexa after a simple distraction. I’m more than okay with Bliss being champion because she has a dynamic personality, but she just looks so vulnerable in the ring. It’s kind of hard to see how she can visibly get Ronda Rousey grounded with the way she has looked. I really didn’t like this segment at all, and everything else with Natalya and Nia afterward added absolutely nothing. What I also don’t get is how Nia and Natalya are all of a sudden cool and on good terms after the fiasco they had before Money In The Bank. Nia didn’t necessarily attack Natalya, but it’s not like they were all buddy-buddy before anyways. There is just an abundance of confusing layers to this story in regards to who’s the bully and who isnt’.
Best/Worst: Shouldn’t Have Taken Us This Long, But We’re Here
I don’t want to be fooled with the impression that what Bayley did to Sasha Banks is just something Randy Orton would do to other people even though he was a face, but if it’s a heel turn for Bayley, then thank goodness we’ve finally reached this point. We’ve had to go through roughly a year of booking gymnastics of wondering whether these two were on the same page, and then having to see them fight each other backstage, but then kiss and make up the week after as if everything was cool again. Initially, I was just going to give this a straight up worst because Kurt decided to give us Sasha and Bayley tagging together yet AGAIN a week after they were fighting, and it’s the same six women tag that we saw on RAW not too long ago. But since this match led to Bayley wrecking Sasha, I’ll forgive it. Once again, the Riot Squad won the match off of shenanigans, but they don’t really gain anything from it.
Now, the reason why this gets a worst is that WWE is already sabotaging this feud by having Bayley undergo therapy next week. Excuse me? This isn’t Team Hell No. Why the hell is therapy now all of a sudden something that’s being introduced into a storyline. You have a PPV in 3 weeks. Bayley just attacked Sasha and the two attacked each other last week. What should have taken place is Angle just announcing a match between the two for the PPV and let the story continue to tell itself. But once again we have more gymnastics. It’s hard to believe that something that was once heralded as one of the best individual rivalries in NXT history is now something that has been grossly gentrified 3 years later. All is not lost, but we can do better than therapy, can’t we?
Best: “WE WANT TODD”
In another act of repetitiveness and unoriginal ideas, Mojo Rawley and No Way Jose was going to compete in another match, but this time, Mojo decided to take his time, decline to humor Jose with a rematch and targeted one of the members of his conga line and decided to bully him with a series of taunts, telling him he didn’t earn the right to walk down the WWE aisle and will never amount to anything. I gave this a Best because it started to give Mojo an identity. I don’t think he’s some big-time superstar that’s being held back, but what I appreciate are things on a show that has a purpose. Maybe you thought it was boring and didn’t think much of it, but Mojo was used in a productive light here. Perhaps WWE may have a credible worker on their hands if they continue things small with him. Everyone has to start somewhere.
Best/Worst: Fun, But Non-Sensical
I don’t know if WWE is building towards a feud between Kevin Owens and Braun Strowman, but the theme of tonight’s RAW seemed to be dysfunctional tag team action. Backstage, Braun Strowman decided that he wanted to be Kevin Owens’ friend for a night for whatever reason, so we get another tag team match featuring Owens, Corbin, Balor and Strowman, but they just decide to flip it with Owens and Strowman being partners. What we get is an inoffensive matchup between the two teams that ends in a countout and Strowman flipping Owens’ car over. I give this a “Best” because I did think the match was good, and I did like how Owens looked to copy Strowman’s running shoulder tackle just to get clocked by Corbin, but none of this made any sense. What’s the story here? Balor’s just there smiling STILL mad about Brock Lesnar, Corbin is in a suit and isn’t involved in any feuds right now, and we don’t know what the deal is with Strowman and Owens. I just felt like this was giving people something to do just for the sake of getting them on TV. No one gains anything out of this, and while it wasn’t a horrible way of spending time, it just all seemed hollow in the end.
Best: Wrestling On A Wrestling Show, What A Crazy Concept
WWE isn’t required to give us PPV quality material for free on Monday Nights. So when we do get something that could main event a Summerslam or Survivor Series like we got in the Intercontinental Championship match between Seth Rollins and Dolph Ziggler, we should be ecstatic. It can’t be put into mere words how awesome Seth has been in 2018, not only in terms of character but in terms of his in-ring work. He’s finally developing into the face we all knew he could be when he first made the leap over to the good side, and it looks like he’s finally put it all together. Tonight, he once again got to share the ring with a man he’s always had chemistry with, Dolph Ziggler. The match took a while to get going, but once it got into that second gear, we got pure awesomeness. Great near-falls, an electric crowd and an uncertainty of what will happen makes for a great main event and a satisfied crowd.
I’m sure many aren’t a fan of a DQ finish after over 20 minutes of tremendous back and forth action, but DQ’s in the proper context doesn’t hurt the match quality. If this happened at WrestleMania, yeah, you could get mad at it. But look at it. Ziggler and Drew are in a crusade of sorts, trying to make a statement in the locker room and establish themselves as a dominant unit. Ziggler’s title is something that gives him that added edge. I’m sure we all knew the moment Drew was ejected, he was just going to come right back out and cost Seth the title. Predictable as the DQ finish was, the match was still incredible, and Seth’s ring work continues to be marvelous. Roman coming out wasn’t shocking either, but it does raise questions for me as to what he will be doing exactly at Extreme Rules. He has a beef with Bobby Lashley and it was announced that the two will face off in a singles match in 3 weeks. But now he also inserted himself into Seth’s conflict with Ziggler and Drew. I’m not sure where he fits into that picture, but I’d prefer if he just stays in his own sphere instead of leeching off the popularity of Seth.
Conclusion:
RAW this week still had some questionable moments and a repetitive nature that makes it seem like the booking team just said “f it”, but there was more quality on this show than what we’ve been subjected to the past couple of weeks. That said, at the same token, there were a lot of things that once again didn’t accomplish anything. It just appears that a win for WWE these days is having good indiviudal moments as opposed to putting together a complete show. I give this RAW a 5.5 out of 10. I may do Smackdown tomorrow. See you then!
