WWE Monday Night RAW Review // 19th March 2018

With just under three week's until WrestleMania, the latest episode of Monday Night RAW came to us from Dallas, Texas for the first time since 2016's RAW after Mania. The show featured the culmination of the Bray Wyatt and "Woken" Matt Hardy feud as the two faced off in Ultimate Deletion at the Hardy Compound, Asuka putting her streak on the line against RAW Women's Champion Alexa Bliss, the return of Universal Champion Brock Lesnar, a six man tag between The Miztourage and The Balor Club, an escalation of the issues between Bayley & Sasha Banks as they faced Absolution's Mandy Rose & Sonya Deville, John Cena demanding an answer to his WrestleMania challenge to The Undertaker, Braun Strowman vs. RAW Tag Team Champion Cesaro and Titus Worldwide taking on The Revival...but was it any good? Here's our review. 

Commentary - Michael Cole, Corey Graves, Jonathan Coachman & Seth Rollins 

Interviewer - Charly Caruso 

Ring Announcer - JoJo

The Ultimate Deletion // 

"Woken" Matt Hardy vs. Bray Wyatt

Before the match - As Queen Rebecca played the piano, Matt Hardy introduced us to King Maxel and Lord Wolfgang, told Vanguard1 to scan the Hardy Compound for an intruder and Senor Benjamin to prepare the battlefield - Hardy discussed his plans for the match with the spirit of George Washington, now inside a giraffe - Hardy took a trip around the Lake of Reincarnation, inside his dilapidated boat, Skaarsgard

So, The Ultimate Deletion finally arrived, with Matt Hardy victorious over Bray Wyatt, and it was...good. I'm not sure it was TNA's Final Deletion levels of madness, but it was much closer to that than the House of Horrors thing we saw last April, which is a massive positive. The close camera work produced a claustrophobic feel, that was difficult to get used to at the start, because of the match coming at the tail end of a three hour RAW. The idea of the two moving between different "zones" within the Hardy compound was a cute one, with the on-screen graphic helping to create the feel, with the match shifting in tone numerous times because of this. This could have been jarring, but I felt like the darker moments gave the comedy a more unexpected feel, which helped some of the more out there times. I would've liked Bray to have been a bit more engaged in the wackiness, as his character has more potential than what was shown here, with most of the memorable moments coming from Hardy's utterances, like when he tried to work out whether to use a "chair with wheels" or a "mower of lawns" on his opponent. The finish was the best part of the whole thing, being completely absurd and felt like WWE fully embracing the concept, as Hardy disappeared after Vanguard1 had caused a distraction, Senor Benjamin throwing an inflatable globe (take that Flip Gordon!) at Wyatt (who had found Benjamin hiding under Skaarsgard) to catch, with Benjamin and a debuting Brother Nero singing "He's got the whole world in his hands", before Hardy returned to win with a Twist of Fate. It was very daft and presumably not everyone's cup of tea, but I enjoyed this a lot, especially the second half. Overall, it was simply just a treat to see the Broken Universe fully realised on WWE television, making what felt like an endless and, at times, directionless feud feel worthwhile.

After the match - Matt Hardy pushed Bray Wyatt into the Lake of Reincarnation, with it being insinuated that Wyatt had perished in the water by Senor Benjamin.

RAW Women's Champion Alexa Bliss (with Mickie James) vs. "The Empress of Tomorrow" Asuka 

Before the match - Alexa Bliss made it clear that she wasn't sorry for what she said about Nia Jax last week in a fairly run of the mill promo for the Goddess. Your classic Bliss bait and switch situation, before being interrupted by Asuka for the match. 

Asuka remained undefeated this week as Alexa Bliss ended up losing by countout after attempting to walk out on what had been a sloppy match. I'm not quite sure what the issue with this bout was, but as soon as Asuka got on offence it went downhill quickly with Bliss taking a number of weird bumps off Asuka's attacks, alongside a weird moment where they dicked around the ropes for a bit and then Bliss took a back bump. Whatever it was it didn't work. Whilst 80-90% of the match didn't come together as well as it should have, there were two nice moments of action that stopped the match from being a complete dud, as Bliss jumping out of the way of a leg sweep from Asuka and immediately landing a dropkick, as well as a Code Red out of the corner from the RAW Women's Champion both looked lovely. It's also worth noting that Dallas was pretty into the match, especially the Code Red near fall. After some fumbling around Bliss spent a lengthy period in the ankle lock before attempting to get out of dodge with the help of James, which at least wasn't another pinfall or submission loss for the champion before WrestleMania.

After the match - Nia Jax charged down to ringside and chased Alexa Bliss through the crowd after sending Mickie James head-first into the ringpost - After Bliss complained about Jax, Kurt Angle made a match between Bliss and Jax for the RAW Women's Championship at WrestleMania. 

Brock Lesnar returns 

Ruddy hell. After week's of boiling under nicely with no appearance from Brock Lesnar, the Universal title feud was kicked up a gear or two as The Beast returned and brutally assaulted WrestleMania challenger, Roman Reigns. Takeaway the transparency of what WWE have been doing with Reigns lately, because elements of the fanbase will never be convinced for whatever reason they have, this was a great piece of WWE theatre from start to finish. Reigns turning up despite being suspended last week gave him a rebellious edge and even if destroying three US marshals whilst handcuffed was a bit heavy handed and should probably result in Reigns missing WrestleMania, it was at least a fun thing to watch. I think that was the main takeaway from the segment, as the subsequent appearance from Lesnar, as he destroyed a still handcuffed Reigns was at what ever you chose to watch it at an entertaining situation, with a number of well-timed moments tent-poling the segment. Both the initial appearance of Lesnar and when he returned as Reigns was being carted out on a stretcher produced a good sense of foreboding as you knew exactly what was going to happen (whilst Reigns played both moments well) and either you got excited because you dislike Roman Reigns or it made it dislike the Brock Lesnar character for assaulting a defenceless Big Dog. I'm big into this feud at the moment and look forward to seeing what WWE has in store on the final two episodes before WrestleMania.

Intercontinental Champion The Miz, Bo Dallas & Curtis Axel vs. Luke Gallows, Karl Anderson & Finn Balor

Before the match - The Miz cut a promo about not being on the cover of "WrestleMania Magazine", which had echoes of CM Punk once again, whilst also promising to send "Tyler Black and Prince Nevitt (sic)" back to the bingo halls in a weird moment. 

Nothing special to be found in this six man tag, as Finn Balor got the win for his team with a schoolboy roll-up pin on WrestleMania opponent The Miz. Most of the action was solid, yet unspectacular, with it often feeling like the teams were simply trying to get through the bout and move on to next week, with nothing getting past second gear. The Miztourage have their act pretty nailed on, with lots of creative heely cheating here, as they targeted Balor early on, which made a lot of sense considering Balor challenges for Miz's title in less than three weeks. The one moment of weirdness came as Karl Anderson seemed to struggle with Miz's snap DDT routine, leading to an atrocious looking chain of action, that hurt the match heading into the break. I wasn't a massive fan of the finish either, as Balor and Miz went for the overused reversal of Skull-Crushing Finale, where the person taking jumps when taking the move and rolls through for a pin, before a slightly clunky series of reversals and nearfalls lead to Balor getting the win. The three-way rivalry between Balor, Miz and Seth Rollins (who was on commentary) had been moving at a nice pace and whilst this week didn't quite put the brakes on the IC title feud, it did end up taking the creative foot off the accelerator a little.

After the match - Seth Rollins made the save for Finn Balor after The Miztourage attempted to assault the Irishman, with the Rollins and Balor having a staredown to conclude the segment. 

Sasha Banks confronts Bayley 

We got the closest we have so far to getting some form of explanation for the ongoing issues between Bayley and Sasha Banks this week as the pair got some mic time before their match with Absolution. Whilst I am interested in the feud and there's a couple of good ideas in there, this segment felt a little forced to me, with Bayley especially not bringing much conviction to her promo. That being said, the content she was supposedly given to work with wasn't the best as she had lines like "it ate at my core" and motivation being that Banks smiled after she kicked her off the pod at Elimination Chamber. We again saw glimpses of Banks "Legit Boss" character when she told Bayley she'd allow her to apologise to her, but I think it's taking a little bit too long to get into the meat of this feud. Sometimes a slow-burn can be effective, but the content needs to be stronger than what these two are being given and actually play to their strengths, rather than putting them in awkward positions like this one. It wasn't a bad segment, but it could have been a lot better with either better or looser scripting. Absolution would interrupt before we'd find out anything significant and we'd head into the match.

Bayley & Sasha Banks vs. Mandy Rose & Sonya Deville (with Paige)

A decent tag team encounter saw Absolution's Mandy Rose & Sonya Deville pick up a big victory over Bayley & Sasha Banks as the issues between the later continued to cause them issues. This was a pretty standard tag team match structure, with the relationship between Bayley & Banks being used as fuel to keep things interesting throughout as both women would tag in on each other at various points. It was hardly revolutionary storytelling but it worked well enough within the time and was highlighted by a rather lovely hot tag from Bayley in the final third. There were a couple of moments of awkwardness, mostly revolving around the Absolution duo struggling with pinfalls, as well as a sloppy hiptoss from Banks to Rose at one point. The finish obviously played on the Bayley/Banks relationship as Banks ended up inadvertently distracting the referee by attacking Rose as Bayley had a backslide pin on Deville, before more arguing between the pair allowed the New Jersyan to pick up the win with a jumping roundhouse kick. I'd like to see WWE get a bit more creative with this feud sooner rather than later, as whilst it's been okay, it's been very paint by numbers and has quite often failed at getting into what had made the relationship between the pair interesting in the first place, that being their juxtaposed characters and history in NXT.

John Cena wants an answer from The Undertaker

Another firey promo from John Cena this week, as Big Match John looked to find a way to get The Undertaker to face him at WrestleMania, before Kane turned up and chokeslammed the 13 time WWE Champion, leaving the audience with more questions than answers with just two more episodes before WrestleMania. Cena's promo was a natural progression of what we saw last week, with no answer from The Undertaker on Cena's Mania challenge, as John went in hard on The Deadman with an angry, almost rant-like speech about what he believed to be cowardice. Cena's performance the last two week's have been spot on, managing to portray a number of different things at the same time, as it appears more like the character is simply trying to rile up Undertaker, rather than believing what he's actually saying. Some of the lines in this were superb as well with the pinnacle being "You are not the God that they made you, you are the man that you've allowed yourself to become. And that man, Undertaker, is a coward. The Undertaker is a coward.", as it built towards the coward line and pulled on a number of topics Cena had discussed previously. Adding Kane into the mix is a good way to prologue the feud with Undertaker having to appear, but having the commentary team wonder whether it will be Cena vs. Kane at WrestleMania seems counter-productive, as I'm not sure many people would either be interested in seeing that match on the biggest stage or would even buy into the possibility. It'll actually be Cena vs. Kane next week on RAW , when hopefully Kane's brother will finally make his appearance post-match.

Braun Strowman addresses having to choose a tag team partner for WrestleMania

So we didn't actually find out who Braun Strowman will be tagging with at WrestleMania, but we did get a Mighty Boosh reference from Sheamus. I can forgive Sheamus stumbling all over his promo and having to repeat himself a few times, because he mentioned "Old Gregg" and Old Gregg's got a mangina. What more do you want from a promo? Seriously though, I wonder how many people watching actually got the reference that was tucked away in between Black Panther, Captain America, Ricky and Morty and Dallas Cowboy's owners references. Who cares it worked for me, so fuck everyone else. The rest of the segment was Cesaro & Sheamus telling Strowman they'd give him a beatdown and Strowman being like "Nah pals, you wo" and we'd transition into a match between Cesaro & Strowman, after Sheamus had bluffed that he'd help fight the Monster as well. Oh, there was also a weird moment where it was implied that Cesaro & Sheamus were sleeping together that really popped Dallas for some reason, but felt kinda dated from where I was sitting. 

Braun Strowman vs. RAW Tag Team Champion Cesaro 

A fairly straightforward Braun Strowman match here as the Monster Amongst Men put away one half of the RAW Tag Team Champions with a running powerslam after catching a crossbody attempt. With just over of five minutes of television time for the bout, the two worked a solid encounter, that saw most of Cesaro's offence coming from dodging a Strowman attack or from a Sheamus distraction, whilst the Swiss Cyborg struggled against the power of his #1 contender. Within the structure there was a number of good highspots, including Braun catching Cesaro diving off the steps and ramming him into the barricade and Strowman charging around the ring to shoulder barge the fuck out of Sheamus, whilst the best wrestling could be found in a nice sequence where Cesaro attempted the Neutralizer and the springboard spinning uppercut to no success. I guess next week we'll see Sheamus step in against the Monster and then at some point we'll find out Strowman's partner of choice, with my money on a returning Big Show.

Apollo & Titus O'Neil vs. Scott Dawson & Dash Wilder

The Revival put away Titus Worldwide with a Shatter Machine to Apollo in what was a completely random, but all-action tag bout. There was some really nice stuff in this bout, especially when Apollo got tagged in, with the Georgian working well with Scott Dawson & Dash Wilder on a couple of sequences. 

After the match - The Revival announced themselves as the first entrants into the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal.

Also on the show 

- An extended sit-down interview with Ronda Rousey and Kurt Angle, featured an emotional Rousey discussing her previous exploits and how they've lead her to be ready for the Grandest Stage of The All, with very little from Angle. It's weird that WWE announced Rousey would be at every RAW between Fastlane and WrestleMania and now she's missed two in a row.

- Mark Henry was announced for the 2018 Hall of Fame class, with a package including interviews with The Godfather, Xavier Woods, The Big Show and The Rock. No problems with Henry's induction here, he's given the company over 20 years of services, had over 1000 matches with them and his 2011 World Heavyweight title run and Hall of Pain gimmick was one of the highlights of the early part of this decade. 

- This week's "Hungry for Mania Moment" was John Cena defeating John "Bradshaw" Layfield for the WWE Championship at WrestleMania 21. 

ATPW Scale Rating //

5.5 out of 10

Written by James Marston //

@IAmNotAlanDale 

WWE Monday Night RAW Review // 12th February 2018

The penultimate RAW before Elimination Chamber featured a number of big matches as WWE loaded the show for the second week in a row. The main event saw Seth Rollins, Matt Hardy, Bray Wyatt, Finn Balor and Apollo Crews fight it out for the final spot in 22nd February's Elimination Chamber bout, whilst we got a rematch of the WrestleMania XXVII main event with John Cena facing Intercontinetal Champion The Miz in a match where the loser would have to enter the Elimination Chamber first and a collision between best friend as Sasha Banks met Bayley one-on-one. But how did it all go down? Lets take a look! 

Elimination Chamber Qualifying Match // Seth Rollins and Finn Balor def. Matt Hardy and Bray Wyatt and Apollo Crews // Double Pinfall

So Seth Rollins and Finn Balor both find themselves having qualified for what is going to be the first ever seven person Elimination Chamber match, after a rubbish ending to what had been a very good multi-man bout up to that point. So, Balor and Rollins ended up both pinning Bray Wyatt after a tower of doom spot that also involved Apollo Crews. Firstly, when have you ever, ever seen anyone take the pin off a tower of doom? Especially when they weren't even the top part of the tower? I can't remember such a thing ever happening, but admittedly I haven't seen all the wrestling matches in the history of wrestling matches. Even when you factor that two people were pinning Wyatt and therefore it would've been more difficult to kick out, how dumb does that make Rollins and Balor look? You're lying next to another competitor as you're getting the pin, but somehow believe it was you who won the match? Come on, lads. With a little extra thought I'm sure a better finish could have been configured, such as Balor and Rollins both hitting their finishers on different chaps and not realising the other was getting a pin at the same time. 

The finish was a shame, because as I said the rest of the match had featured some brilliant action. Perhaps, that's why the finish felt so weak and anti-climatic, as so much thought had been put into a number of intricate sequences, that the sheer lack of thought in the conclusion stood out like a sore thumb. The match began hot with lots of action, as we joined the contest in progress after the break, with Wyatt nailing Matt Hardy with a DDT onto the apron, before Crews hit a moonsault off the apron. From there it felt like the match didn't let up, with a real sense of urgency (even during replays you had Balor hitting shotgun dropkicks on the outside), with the bout peaking during a slick sequence that saw Hardy hit a Twist of Fate on Wyatt, with Balor breaking up the pin with a Coup de Grace, only for Rollins to catch Balor with the curb stomp for a superb near fall as Crews recovered to make the save. Whilst that was exciting, I think a personal highlight was the sequence between Rollins and Crews that followed, as it seemed like WWE was finally beginning to put some faith in Apollo as he got a good deal of time to show what he could do one on one with a top guy. He came into the bout looking like the odd one out, but hopefully the strength of his in-ring work here will be enough for a continued push at some point in 2018.

Of course, Rollins hadn't been originally announced as part of the match, but managed to get himself inserted into the main event after a segment with RAW General Manager Kurt Angle earlier in the show. The segment made headlines for Angle announcing that Ronda Rousey would sign her RAW contract as Elimination Chamber, but it was Rollins' performance that stole the segment for me. It feels like it's been a while since we've seen a real fiery Rollins on the microphone, a while since we've seen Rollins speak with a purpose and desperation, a style that brings out the most in The Kingslayer. Yes, his partnership with Jason Jordan (who was announced as being injured and missing WrestleMania) was entertaining at points and before that the feud the stuff with Dean Ambrose and feud with Cesaro & Sheamus has provided some great matches and moments, but this felt much more like the Rollins that invaded NXT Takeover in January 2017. "I don't want to be a part of RAW anymore...I want to BE RAW!" set the tone as Rollins asked to placed in the qualifying match as he wanted to challenge Brock Lesnar for the Universal Championship at WrestleMania. Angle through the decision open to the public, like a modern day Davey Cameron, with the audience obviously loudly showing their approval for Rollins getting his opportunity. 

Loser enters Men's Elimination Chamber first // John Cena def. The Miz // Pinfall

For the first time in almost five and a half years, John Cena and The Miz went head to head on our TV screen, with Big Match John picking up the win with a middle rope Attitude Adjustment after a very good opening match, to make Miz the first entrant into the Elimination Chamber on 22nd February. For me, this may have been the best match out of the fourteen the two have had on TV and PPV together as they worked strong WWE main event style contest, that wouldn't have looked out of place on a PPV. The crowd was hot for both men and the two rewarded that with some hard work as they crafted a couple of rather lovely submission sequences, that perhaps one wouldn't expect for these two performers. The two near falls with Cena kicking out of a Skull Crushing Finale, before Miz escaped after an Attitude Adjustment, felt even sweeter because of the stature of the contest and by the end of the match it had become something much more than I think many people were expecting. After being caught going for a middle rope Skull Crushing Finale, Miz seemed to be crushed following the loss and sold that loss wonderfully on the ramp with some delightful facial expression with some great direction on the camera positioning helping to sell the moment as well.

The match came about from the show's first segment with The Miz interrupting Cena's opening monologue. Both bought energy to the segment that was aided by the San Jose crowd being well up for joining in, with a mixed reaction for both men, that gave the segment a real off-kilter type feel. It seems like WWE is putting some real effort into building the importance of the Elimination Chamber and showing how much it means to those who are taking part, with Cena spending a good deal of time putting over his desire to get a shot at the Universal Championship, even going as far as to say that he might not compete at the event if he doesn't win. There was also a thinly veiled reference to The Undertaker, which knowing Cena was slotted into the promo to add fuel to the rumour fire that the two are set to finally square off at the Grandest Stage of Them All this year. Miz brought the passion that's made him one of the most popular acts in the company to his promo, claiming he stacked up better than Cena against Brock Lesnar, before Bo Dallas and Curtis Axel attacked Cena and Kurt Angle made a match between the pair official.

Bayley def. Sasha Banks // Pinfall

This week's biggest women's segment featured Sasha Banks still looking for her first singles win since the end of October as she fell to Bayley after a mid-rope Bayley to Belly at the conclusion to a stellar contest. The first two thirds of the bout were particularly strong, beginning with some of the best back and forth chain wrestling that I've seen in WWE's women's division in quite some time, pushing the idea that the pair were best friends and this was a mere athletic exercise. Gone was the sloppy Bayley we saw against Asuka last week and in her place was the motivated Bayley of old, trading holds at pace with the Legit Boss. The bouts second act developed on this as Banks began to heel up just a little bit, showing hints of her criticically acclaimed NXT badass bitch character as she targeted Bayley's injured shoulder by wringing it across the top rope. There was great moment with Bayley escaping Banks' signature double knees in the corner, only to catch Banks on the injured shoulder and allow her friend to take control once again. Unfortunately, this was undone a little bit later in the match, when Bayley hit a stunner through the ropes using the injured shoulder, which she then didn't sell. As the tension built after the match, Nia Jax would wipe out both women, hitting a pair of Samoan drops, before revealing to Charly Caruso that this was meant as a message for Asuka (who would receive a "by the numbers" hype package later in the show) 

Roman Reigns def. Sheamus // Pinfall 

After I'd been dissapointed with Roman Reigns' reigniting his feud with Bray Wyatt for a singles match last week, the Big Dog revisiting his 2015/16 feud with Sheamus was a much more fruitful affair with the two putting on a wild contest that concluded with Reigns getting the pin with a spear that caught the RAW Tag Team Champion coming off the top rope. After a hectic opening, that included a rolling fireman's carry slam on the floor from Shamo, the match did lose its way slightly after the Celtic Warrior was in control, with the crowd drifting and beginning to chant "Rusev Day" ("We're so random" someone probably said to their mate), with Reigns locked in a weardown, but the pair soon recovered for a series of top-drawer near falls and momentum shifting sequences that had the crowd eating out of the palm of their hands. The two best examples of these were Reigns hitting a Superman Punch with perfect timing as Sheamus attempted a Brogue Kick and the Irishmen getting two convincing near falls one of another, first off a roll-up from a Cesaro distraction and then with a nasty knee strikes straight after. The finish continued the theme with some exciting back and forth, with Reigns fighting off Cesaro, Sheamus sent into the ringpost, before blocking a Drive-by with a clothesline that sent Reigns onto the apron, before Reigns hit a massive spear after Shamo attempted a dive off the top rope. 

Braun Strowman hit Elias with a double bass 

HOLY SHIT, BRAUN STROWMAN HIT ELIAS WITH A FUCKING DOUBLE BASS! A DOUBLE BASS! A. DOUBLE. BASS. This segment was fantastic and probably the best thing on a show packed with good TV matches. Both men were on real form with Elias introducing us to the Elimination Chamber Blues song, ripping on his opponents on 22nd February with a number of entertaining lines, whilst receiving a hell of a reaction from San Jose, moments after calling the city a shithole. The reveal that Strowman was sitting on the ramp, complete with introduction from JoJo, was utterly brilliant and then got even better when the Monster Amongst Men pulled out his instrument and then somehow Braun can actually sing. The whole segment was a series of "What the fuck is going on?" moments in the absolute best way, topped off by Strowman hitting Elias with a double bass. The tease that this would happen earlier on as Strowman left the instrument outside of the ring as he beat down the Drifter added to moment when it finally happened and got a monster reaction from San Jose. Both these men have developed into stars over the last twelve months and this may have been the best thing either has done to date.

Mandy Rose & Sonya Deville def. Mickie James & Alexa Bliss // Pinfall

A short and solid match saw Absolution's Mandy Rose & Sonya Deville get back to winning ways against Mickie James and RAW Women's Champion Alexa Bliss with a little help from their manager, Paige. We got to see some brief tandem offence from James & Bliss, after the RAW Women's Champion had attempted to reconcile the pair's differences in a backstage segment (Side note: Please stop using the phrase "biscuit butt"). However, the majority of the match was Rose & Deville working over James, as any potential hot tag from Bliss was cut off as the finish. It meant the match ended up feeling a little incomplete, but was actually done rather well, with Paige distracting Bliss on the apron just as James was readying for the tag, before Deville completed the job by pulling Alexa off the apron. Rose's Bed of Roses finish looks like it could still do some work or perhaps it's just James that can't take the move, but apart from that there was nothing to moan about here. Bliss would save James from another Absolution attack post-match, so it looks their storyline is going to continue until at least Elimination Chamber, therefore it will be interesting to see if WWE is deciding to turn Bliss babyface heading into WrestleMania.

Scott Dawson & Dash Wilder def. Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson // Pinfall

Whilst the booking of the feud has been counter-productive, The Revival's victory over Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson was a fun tag encounter that appeared to cap of the rivalry between the two groups. After being called "nerds" in a pre-match promo, Scott Dawson & Dash Wilder kicked off the match by attacking Gallows & Anderson on the ramp, giving the match some nice energy from before the bell even rang. This was followed up some lovely tag work from Dawson & Wilder as they target Gallows' knee, pulling down his knee pad and rolling up his tights and working a number of holds on the area. Anderson's hot tag has become a strong part of the Balor Club's babyface act and this week saw probably the best example of that, as after Gallows had limped to the corner, Anderson came flying out the gate with a series of strikes, including a tasty looking running knee in the corner. Eventually, Anderson was left fighting alone against The Revival in an energetic sequence which saw him eventually succumb to the numbers gave as he walked straight into a Shatter Machine to take the loss. I'm interested to see what The Revival do going forward, as with the RAW Tag Team belts currently around the waist of fellow heels Cesaro & Sheamus, the tag team division on the red brand feels like it's in a state of flux right now.

Also this week

- Ivory was announced as being apart of 2018 Hall of Fame class, seemingly because of her relationship with GLOW.

- The spotlight moment was AJ Styles winning the WWE Championship from Dean Ambrose at Backlash 2016.

- Alexa Bliss and Titus O'Neil discussed the Freedom Rides as part of Black History Month. 

ATPW Scale Rating // 6.30 out of 10

Written by James Marston // @IAmNotAlanDale

WWE RAW Review // 5th February 2018

On 5th February 2018, WWE's RAW brand made it's return to Des Moines, Iowa after a three year absence and WWE presented what was a pretty stacked card on paper. You had the RAW Tag Team Championships on the line as Roman Reigns subbed for an injured Jason Jordan to join Seth Rollins in challenging Cesaro & Sheamus, with the stipulation that if Rollins & Reigns lost it would be Rollins last shot at the titles. You had John Cena, Braun Strowman and Elias battling over the chance to enter the Elimination Chamber last on 25th February. And you had Roman Reigns pulling double duty to renew his feud with Bray Wyatt with a spot in the Elimination Chamber on the line. But could the show deliver on its promise? Let's take a sweet-ass look at how it all went down!

RAW Tag Team Championship // Cesaro & Sheamus (C) def. Seth Rollins & Roman Reigns // Disqualification

This week's main event was a solid RAW Tag Team title bout, that was heading into recommended match territory before Jason Jordan (who had been replaced by Roman Reigns after being unable to compete due to injury) interfered and gave Cesaro & Sheamus the disqualification victory. The bout featured good solid tag team foundation sort of stuff, with Reigns operating in the face in peril role, after Sheamus caught a Seth Rollins suicide dive into an Irish curse backbreaker. The crowd were super hot for Rollins to get in the ring from after the ad-break as Cesaro & Sheamus worked over the Big Dog, bringing in a couple of distractions and cut offs to get some heat and build towards the hot tag. Rollins hot tag is bloody brilliant at the moment, he's got a number of moves that are exciting to watch, like the blockbuster and slingblade, and also threw in a couple of suicide dives for good measure, the sequence was full of energy and performed with precision. The fact that this happened in his homestate of Iowa meant the crowd was rocking as well.

The finish was disappointing to see, because the match had began to feel like it was heading in the right direction. In fact, Jordan even coming to ringside (in his ring gear, like a twat), made me groan a little, but I'm pretty sure that was the aim or at least that's where Jordan's character has been heading for the last few months. We did get a lovely series of near falls off of Jordan's interference, with Jordan blocking Cesaro from capitalising on a poke to the eye leading to Rollins getting a two count off a tight small package. Whilst it meant we didn't get the great finishing stretch that I was hoping for, having Jordan cause the disqualification develops the storyline with him and Rollins further, with Rollins doing a sound job of selling his disappointment and frustration with the Illinoisan following the finish. A heated backstage confrontation with Rollins and Jordan being mediated by RAW General Manager Kurt Angle featured some good performances and concluded with Angle sending Jordan home to recover from his neck injury.

Last Entry in Elimination Chamber // Elias def. John Cena and Braun Strowman // Pinfall

The show-closer was relatively short, but did receive a good amount of build-up throughout the show. WWE continued their trend of using hand-held promos, with John Cena and Braun Strowman both getting some time to put themselves over and push the match. Cena's promo was the most interesting, with Strowman's amounting to pretty much "get these hands", as Big Match John, talked about the Road to WrestleMania whilst walking up and down a corridor. Because a road is a bit like a corridor, I suppose. There were highlights of Strowman murdering Kane last week and Elias beating up Cena on RAW 25 as well, before Elias hit the ring to sing us a song. More often than not I enjoy these little ditties and Elias' ramblings about town's being shitholes and the same was the case here. It's fun to see how much the crowd enjoys joining in where Elias allows and hearing the Drifter discuss his hatred of small towns was a blast as well. 

The match wasn't much, but was an easy watch nonetheless. The narrative felt a little blocky, but there was at least a logic to how things went down. Strowman was dominant, Elias and Cena combined to keep him out of the match, Cena and Elias wrestled for a bit, Strowman returned, Elias nicked a pin on Cena following a Strowman running powerslam. The most interesting section of the contest was Strowman taking a barrage of abuse from his two opponents, including a guitar shot from Elias and an Attitude Adjustment onto the steel steps from Cena. There was plenty of spirit at this point, with the crowd on-board, and it made complete sense that this would be happening. The rest of the match then struggled to keep up, Elias and Cena's section was rather dull, mostly consisting of a prolonged chin lock from Elias, with it feel like the two were simply wasting time before the Monster returned. Surely, Elias would want to put his opponent away as quickly as possible before Strowman recovered and would look for power moves rather than a weak looking weardown? After Elias had gotten the win, it was Strowman who ended the show tall, hitting a plethora of running powerslams on both of his fellow Elimination Chamber combatants. 

Elimination Chamber Qualifier // Roman Reigns def. Bray Wyatt // Pinfall

My main positive coming out of this match was that it started the show and the new back-to-back to-camera promo situation that WWE played before the two took to ring. At best I could describe the in-ring action as okay, because whilst I often found myself a little bored, there was also a handful of cool spots (even if these were recycled from their 2015 feud). I had enjoyed the pairs match at Battleground 2015 and thought their subsequent singles matches on TV were at least interesting, but this was often slow and plodding, lacked the thudding physicality of their previous outings and even verged into sloppy territory at points. The crowd seemed to be almost completely lost when both men spent a long time on the mat following a sloppy sitout powerbomb from Reigns, but suddenly began chanting "This is Awesome" after Reigns kicked out of Sister Abigail. If in doubt do a finisher kick-out. It's a shame to see someone kicking out of the move that was so heavily protected on SmackDown last year, especially when I still couldn't bring myself to imagine Wyatt going over Reigns. A spear got the win after Reigns escaped a second Sister Abigail attempt, before Matt Hardy ambushed Wyatt with a Twist of Fate after the match.

Asuka def. Bayley // Submission

This was a mixed bag of a bout, starting strong and finishing brightly, but with a flabby middle that saw Bayley seemingly losing her way slightly. The match structure was well thought out, with Bayley hitting some big moves early, knocking Asuka off the top and sending her into the barricade twice, to allow the Hugger to look like a threat to the undefeated Empress of Tomorrow, before after a period of Asuka dominance the two launched into a lovely finishing stretch, trading pinning combinations and submissions, before Bayley finally submitted to the cross-armbreaker. The main thing that held the match back was Bayley looking out of sorts at times, whether she'd taken a knock of simply wasn't on top of her game I don't know, but a lot of her offence looked sloppy and her feeding and timing both seemed out of sync with what was going on around her. Asuka is now 12-0 in singles competition since moving the main roster.

Elimination Chamber Qualifier // The Miz def. Apollo Crews // Pinfall

A short, but fun match, that's main success was in making Apollo Crews look like a genuine threat to The Miz, despite having not won a singles match on RAW since September. After The Miz had cut a rambling promo about constellations, claiming to have won the Super Bowl for the Philadelphia Eagles and the potential of facing Brock Lesnar, the match was lively throughout and featured a number of very convincing near falls for the former Open the Twin Gate Champion. These included Crews pulling out his old indie finisher, the Uhaa Combination (standing moonsault, followed up by standing shooting star press) for a very late kick-out from the Intercontinental Champion, before also being able to counter the Skull Crushing Finale for an even later escape. The latter was so close that WWE decided to replay the pin in slow motion just to show that the referee had made the right call. I've got a lot of time for Crews and it's nice to see him getting more time to show off his skills, he certainly won't have been hurt by a loss to the Intercontinental Champion, especially with the finish involving Crews getting pushed balls-first onto the top rope! 

Finn Balor & Karl Anderson def. Scott Dawson & Dash Wilder // Pinfall

The booking of The Revival at the moment bothers me. This week's match was announced to involve Finn Balor battling the team's Dash Wilder, only for the former NXT Tag Team Champions to challenge Balor and either Luke Gallows or Karl Anderson to a tag match instead, because they are "tag team specialists". Logic would then dictate that Wilder and Scott Dawson would find a way to win, they had prior knowledge of their plan to make it a tag bout and also Balor and Anderson hadn't tagged up as a duo since 2013 in Tokyo. Coming out claiming to be tag team specialists, only to lose to an unprepared tandem only serves to make The Revival look like utter losers. Maybe this was the plan, they've hardly been booked effectively since being called up. The match itself was technically fine, with a basic tag structure, featuring an Anderson hot tag and a Coup de Grace from Balor to Dawson for the win, but I couldn't get past the short-sighted booking.

Kurt Angle announced the Women's Elimination Chamber competitors

Kurt Angle seemed to channel from General Manager Mick Foley in this segment as he stumbled over his lines as he announced the participants for the Women's Elimination Chamber. At least Foley would've bought a bit of passion to proceedings, because, to be honest, it sounded like Angle both would've preferred to have been anywhere else and wasn't actually familiar with the talent he was announcing for the match. It's difficult to push the idea that women are being treated on the same level as the men, when one; a man is the only person present when the participants are revealed and two; the men's Elimination Chamber has had qualifying matches taking up three weeks of television time. RAW Women's Champion Alexa Bliss' interruption and promo had some good content, which she delivered with conviction, bringing up a number of the flaws with the Women's Evolution and the fact that Brock Lesnar wasn't having to defend his title at the event. If she's being switched face then the promo worked, if this was supposed to be a heel promo it felt a little bit like creative were taking a dig at the women, by having Bliss try to use the movement for her own personal gain. The EC match is Bliss defending her title against Bayley, Mandy Rose, Mickie James, Sonya Deville and Sasha Banks if you were wondering, with Asuka scheduled to face Nia Jax at the event as well. 

Cedric Alexander & Mustafa Ali def. Drew Gulak & Tony Nese // Pinfall

This match was simply here to get new 205 Live General Manager Drake Maverick (formerly Rockstar Spud in Impact Wrestling) out on commentary to get over his character and discuss the ongoing tournament to crown a new Cruiserweight Champion (following Enzo Amore's firing for rape allegations). Maverick did a good job on comms, interacting well with the trio of Michael Cole, Jonathan Coachman and Corey Graves, revealing that we could very well see a number of surprises amongst the 16 man field of the Cruiserweight Championship tournament. The match itself was solid filler stuff, a basic tag team match with nothing to play for. Alexander appeared to take a nasty fall on his shoulder after taking a clothesline from Gulak whilst sitting on the top rope, but seemed to be fine later in the bout. A pacy finishing sequence followed the hot tag with Gulak pulling out a wicked lariat on Ali, before Alexander entered the fray once more to seal the win with a Lumbar Check. Personally, I'm not sure why the competitors in tomorrow's tournament matches on 205 Live weren't in this one as a bout pitching opponents Hideo Itami and Roderick Strong against Lince Dorado and Kalisto would've had a little more intrigue and made it easier for commentary to discuss the tournament.  

Mickie James def. Sonya Deville // Pinfall

This match was mostly ugly looking strikes and mild awkwardness. Mickie James hammered Sonya Deville early on, including a shot that seemed to connect directly with Deville's nose, before Deville came flying back with some of her own later on. I love a strong-style clash, but this was more uncomfortable to watch than enjoyable. The little wrestling on display included a horrible looking snapmare attempt from James that seemed to take an absolute age to pull off. James would pull out her first singles win since August, catching Deville with a roll-up to conclude a poor match in just under four minutes. The post-match featured an interesting development as Alexa Bliss saved James from a beat-down from Deville and Absolution stablemates Paige and Mandy Rose. I'm imagining we're going to see Bliss looking to rekindle a partnership with James as an attempt to counter the potential partnerships of Deville & Rose and Sasha Banks & Bayley inside the Elimination Chamber at the end of the month.

Nia Jax def. Vanessa Floyd // Pinfall

A quick squash match for Nia Jax, winning with a leg drop after dominating Vanessa Floyd (seventeen year old Glory Pro trainee Savannah Stone). Post-match, Jax was interviewed and cut a promo on Asuka ahead of their match at Elimination Chamber, threatening to make the Empress of Tomorrow, the Empress of Yesterday in a horrible piece of scripting.  

ATPW Scale Rating // 4.20/10 

WWE Monday Night RAW 1284 Review // 1st January 2018 // Roman Reigns vs. Samoa Joe

It's Two Thousand and Eighteen, lads. New Year's Day brought us the first Monday Night RAW of the year and WWE put together an intriguing card for the American Airlines Center in Miami. After Roman Reigns got disqualified in an Intercontinental Championship match with Samoa Joe on Christmas Day, this week saw Reigns put the belt on the line once again in the main event, with the caveat being that if the Big Dog was disqualified he'd forfeit his title. Newly-crowned RAW Tag Team Champion Jason Jordan battled former champ Cesaro and the undefeated Asuka collided with RAW Women's Champion Alexa Bliss in a fascinatingly poised non-title clash, whilst General Manager Kurt Angle, Kane, Universal Champion Brock Lesnar, RAW Tag Team Champion Seth Rollins and "Woken" Matt Hardy also made appearances. 

Did we learn anything about the direction of WWE's product for the upcoming trip round the Sun? Let's take a look, ATPDubbers. 

Intercontinental Championship // Roman Reigns (C) def. Samoa Joe // Pinfall 

This week's main event received some heavy build across the opening two hours, with a lengthy hype package (especially for a TV bout), as well as three backstage segments. The hype vid was your regular look at the history of the feud, focusing on Joe's attack on Reign's Shield partner Dean Ambrose, as well as the DQ finish to their encounter last week. I thought the backstage stuff was done well, with the two interviews having some real impact and punch behind them. Reigns looked confident and assured on the microphone (something he seems to have gotten much more comfortable with since the John Cena feud last September), but Joe's promo was utter fire. Joe spitting his words out with a throw back intensity and general bad-assery was just perfect, the kind of thing that makes you wanna see two big lads throw each other around. The line about turning Dean Ambrose into a "stay-at-home husband" whilst being interviewed by Ambrose's real-life wife, Renee Young, got a gorgeous reaction from Miami, with Young selling the comment just right too. Joe has been almost untouchable on the microphone recently. 

The title match was an enjoyable heavyweight collision between two opponents who have become increasingly familiar with each other over the last 11 months. Joe's intense and fiery beatdown from the bell gave the match a real sense of urgency that helped it hold it's sizeable television time and also featured as a driving force for the bout's main narrative. That being that if Reigns was disqualified then he'd lose the title. This stipulation has been used many a time over the years and can often come across as a little lame, with a handful of worn-out spots. Luckily, I didn't get that feeling here, as Joe just seemed determined to rile up the champion as much as possible, playing on the emotional reaction we saw from Roman last week. The only moment that felt a little laboured was Reigns clattering into the referee after a push from Joe, as Reigns pleading with the ref not to disqualify him, and all that went with it, was a bit too pantomimey for my tastes. That being said, it did help create some needed drama down the stretch and the crowd seemed to go for it. 

The highlight of the match was Joe locking in the Coquina Clutch in the middle of a fire-up from Reigns, because it got an amazing reaction from the Miami audience. At that point it felt like the crowd were super ready to see Joe take the Intercontinental title and I'm sure it would've got an even bigger reaction had he managed to grab the title from Reigns. However, after Reigns slipped out of the move and won a few minutes later with a spear, it seems like we're well on the road to another WrestleMania title challenge for the Big Dog (and surely a FOURTH main event in a row), as Joe was only one of two men Reigns hadn't  been able to best this year (The other being Kevin Owens if you were wondering). Where does this leave Joe on the Road to WrestleMania? There's the obvious Dean Ambrose collision on the horizon, whenever he's back, I suppose. 

Jason Jordan def. Cesaro // Pinfall

This match would come about in a frankly confusing opening segment. It began with Kurt Angle announcing the rules for the Women's Royal Rumble match (They're the same as the Men's) and then concluded with Angle booking Jason Jordan vs. Cesaro. Why on earth weren't ANY women involved in the announcement of the rules? This was perhaps a worse move than having Stephanie McMahon the star of the original match announcement...BECAUSE THERE WERE NO WOMEN INVOLVED AND THEN SOME MEN INTERRUPTED THE ANNOUNCEMENT! It's not hard guys. The rest of the segment was super wordy and mostly focused on Cesaro and Sheamus accusing Angle of "favourtism" towards Jordan  and then Jordan looking like a dork and getting booed. Surely, the match that followed up between Jordan and Cesaro would pick things up a notch? 

Actually, yeah, it did. Whilst the crowd weren't particularly paying attention, The Swiss Superman and Chad Gable's former pal wrestled a lovely television match, with a good story that played out nicely across it's ten minutes or so on-screen. The idea that Seth Rollins wasn't really into helping out his fellow Tag Team Champion at ringside, whilst Sheamus' constant interference on the outside allowed Cesaro to control the majority of the match was made clear early on. Whilst Rollins could've been more involved in lifting the crowd, his presence served the storyline well. Now, let's talk about Jason Jordan's selling...because it was sublime here. Cesaro worked the left leg after a distraction aided chop block and from that moment onwards the injury was kept firmly in view as Jordan hobbled through the match, struggled to hit certain moves and even had to use a one-legged bridge after a Northern Lights suplex. It's a shame that Jordan was lumbered with the gimmick of being Kurt Angle's son, because without it he actually has real potential as a babyface. Bringing the story full-circle, Rollins finally came to Jordan's aid, taking out Sheamus at ringside, giving Jordan the chance to hit his as yet unnamed belly-to-back suplex dropped into an elevated neckbreaker finish and only for JJ to completely ignore The Kingslayer after the match!  

Asuka def. Alexa Bliss // Submission

Whilst the women didn't get the chance to be involved in the announcement of the rules for their Royal Rumble match, Asuka and Alexa Bliss were involved in one of the feature bouts of the evening, getting a good deal of time. Completing a hat-trick of good upper card matches, this was another contest with a great story, that played into the strengths of the performers and made Asuka look like a boss without doing a massive deal of harm to Bliss or the RAW Women's Championship in the process. We'd seen earlier in the show that Bliss was doing anything she could to get out of the match or to find some kind of advantage with Kurt Angle and then Nia Jax refusing to offer their help (Jax was taking some soup to Enzo Amore in hospital, because why the fuck wouldn't she be?), so Bliss stalling repeatedly and then clawing her way into the contest, using a modified bow and arrow on the ringpost made perfect sense. It was a shame that Asuka's comeback featured some of the worst looking dropkicks I've ever seen. I'm not quite sure what was wrong with them, but Bliss seemed to be taking the move in a way that I've never seen it taken before and it took a bit of wind out of the sails for me. Of course, the Empress of Tomorrow would get the win with an armbar, but Bliss looked credible in defeat, lasting longer than anyone has on RAW. But what exactly happens next? If Asuka doesn't automatically get a title shot, then there needs to be a damn good reason why found over the three weeks moving towards the Royal Rumble. 

Finn Balor, Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson def. Bo Dallas, Curtis Axel & Elias // Pinfall

For the first time since April 2014 in Tokyo, Finn Balor tagged with Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson and whilst the match was a straight squash, that didn't stop it being a cool moment, that popped the smarks amongst us good and proper. Gallows and Anderson looked reinvigorated as babyfaces, with Anderson even pulling out a slingshot dive to the floor in the closing stages. They've now got the opportunity to really run with their "Nerds" catchphrase for a little while, before an inevitable contest with The Shield. It was a shame that before we got to the match we had a piss-poor concert segment with Elias and The Miztourage. I thought the idea of Elias was that he's actually not that bad at playing his guitar and singing and that, but he just says dickhead-ish things about wherever he is and looks like a hipster twat. This weird Auld Lang Syne parody with cow bells and those bells that come on sticks veered more into the Jillian Hall territory. This is surely more likely to cause people to switch over, rather than give a shit about seeing them get beaten up.

Kane attacked Brock Lesnar 

I was pretty indifferent about the show-closing segment. I'm pretty indifferent about the match it's promoting. Paul Heyman's promo about Lesnar being able to beat everyone in the Royal Rumble in one go was a little odd, but mostly Heyman's usual intensity and vigour was there, so it ended up decent. Kane coming out and just chokeslamming Lesnar was a decent interaction, I suppose. Lesnar sitting up and laughing directly afterwards was a fun call back to THAT WrestleMania match with The Undertaker, who we all know is Kane's brother, so that was decent. Then they had a bit of a scrap and some lower card lads came out to stop it going too far and someone doing the other a mischief, which whilst a little confusing, was in it's own way...decent. To be quite honest, I'm still trying to work out what Kane's doing in a World (Universal) title match in 2018. 

Bray Wyatt def. Apollo Crews // Pinfall

This match made me smile for the sole reason that it was the longest match that Apollo Crews has EVER had since moving to the main roster in April 2016. I mean, it was only just over ten minutes (with some taken up by an ad break), but we got to see Crews actually use some of the offence that makes him stand out, so that's a start right? For me, this competitive match did much more for Wyatt than a 2 or three minute squash would've done, as we were allowed to see him take a bit of a beating, as an impressive 17 stone bloke pulled out Standing Shooting Stars and moonsaults off the apron, only to almost brush it off in the conclusion, rebuffing a spin-out powerbomb and nailing a snap Sister Abigail to seal the victory. I could've done without the Dana Brooke falling off the apron spot though, because it did absolutely nothing for the match or anyone involved. I'm not sure what was dafter about the post-match antics, Matt Hardy turning up on the screen and then the image of him multiplying in the same space or Wyatt acting like he was scared of the editorial wizard in the production booth. This was certainly the weakest part of the "Woken" angle so far. 

Goldust & Cedric Alexander def. Drew Gulak & Ariya Daivari

Because Enzo Amore ended up in hospital with the flu, we didn't get to see Cedric Alexander get his advertised Cruiserweight Championship match...instead we got Goldust. Google says Goldust in 260 lbs and who am I to argue with Google. Goldust is 260 lbs. I understand the logic behind putting the character in there with a Cruiserweight division that has struggled to grab the audience (mostly down to awkward and inconsistent booking), as Goldust is a well-loved veteran, whose name may encourage a few extra clicks on the YouTube video. But I'm not exactly sure how this helps anyone in the long-term (or even beyond Wednesday afternoon tbqh). I don't remember Goldie even taking any offence here. He got the hot tag after a minute or so and then Alexander pinned Gulak with a Lumbar Check, after some admittedly cool interplay between Goldust and Alexander as partners. I guess, there's the element of Alexander getting a rub off of tagging with Goldust and being endorsed by a future Hall of Famer, but on the flip side two of the three 205 Live competitors to appear on the show ended up looking like complete chumps. 

Braun Strowman def. Rhyno // Pinfall

This was a magnificent moment. ICYMI - Braun Strowman just kept powerslamming Rhyno and Heath Slater. There was a match, but it's inconsequential when put up against what followed with all the powerslams and that. Strowman did some slamming, his music would play, either Slater or Rhyno would move a toe and then Strowman would slam them again. The crowd was hot as shit for it, I was chuckling my little titties off and my Dad was looking on confused as he tried to take the lights off our plastic Christmas tree. 

Also this week...Whilst a jazzy Auld Lang Syne played in the background, we heard from Bayley then Sasha Banks and then Paige, Mandy Rose & Sonya Deville of Absolution on why they're gonna win the Women's Royal Rumble...There was a look at DX Invasion of WCW from April 1998 (because some people hadn't heard about that yet)... We learnt The Miz will be returning next week on RAW... Booker T potentially died when trying to discuss the Universal Championship match at the Royal Rumble... 

Finally... 

All in all I thought this was a pretty good way to start the year for the red brand. Yeah, there was some baffling moments like the opening segment, whatever Matt Hardy was supposed to be doing on the tron and Goldust rocking up in the Cruiserweight division. But if you haven't realised you aren't going to like everything on a three hour RAW yet then you're gonna be a pretty miserable person. The three uppercard matches delivered and all told dynamic and different stories, plus we got Finn Balor tagging with Gallows & Anderson, a decent length Apollo Crews match and Braun Strowman powerslamming Heath Slater and Rhyno to death. That's a solid enough haul to keep me happy for this week.