Credit: TJ and prowrestling.net
I was fearful of this Raw because the product has been so stale lately. I went to this show with my Dad and my sister (both not wrestling fans) and we had third row seats behind the announcers. The crowd was really into the show.
The opening of Raw was a mixed bag. The Wyatts came out to feud with the League of Nations. I don’t know if WWE wanted to gauge our interest in a possible Wyatt babyface turn, but the crowd was receptive. From a storyline perspective, the Dudleys coming out to stop two heel factions from fighting made no sense. It was pretty cool to see live, though. The opening of Raw was a lot of fun from an in-person perspective with great crowd participation.
Roman Reigns is over, at least in Charleston. There were at least ten different chants of “We Want Roman” throughout the first match. He got probably the biggest pop.
Kevin Owens vs. Dolph Ziggler was a long match. The crowd was really into the near falls at the end. Where was the heat on KO going into his showdown with Ambrose? Why is it so hard to have a meaningful story for your mid-card?
They didn’t announce a main event and there was no dark main event, so we got stuck with Tommy Dreamer. That was disappointing.
Seeing Ric Flair in person was cool, and I enjoyed the Charlotte turn. She’s much better as a heel.
I’ll say this about the last segment, the crowd seemed to enjoy it. They were chanting “tater tots” pretty loudly a few times. I actually like Reigns, but he’s much better as a mysterious ass kicker of few words. Having him do these long promos does not help his character. It sucks because he was definitely the most popular superstar last night, and he’s really the only guy last night that truly felt like a big deal.
All in all, this was a fun show to attend. My dad and sister both really enjoyed it. My sister is 27 and her favorite performances of the night were Reigns and Sheamus… go figure.
Biggest reactions: Reigns, Flair, Ambrose, Rhyno, and Wyatt.
