RAW 1278 Review // The Miz vs. Roman Reigns // Intercontinental Championship

It was the first RAW after Survivor Series and we where still in the Toyata Center in Houston, Texas on 20th November. The show heavily featured The Shield as they appeared on an episode of Miz TV, resulting in Roman Reigns getting a shot at The Miz's Intercontinental Championship in the main event, whilst Dean Ambrose also had a match against Sheamus. We also saw the return of Paige, as she interrupted a RAW Women's Championship #1 Contenders match, alongside NXT performers Sonya Deville and Mandy Rose, as well as some of the fallout from the Survivor Series main event as Kurt Angle, Jason Jordan and Braun Strowman confronted Triple H, resulting a match between Jordan and Strowman happening later in the show. But was it any good? Lets take a look! 

 The Shield wreaked havoc on Miz TV

Dean Ambrose def. Sheamus // 9:01

Intercontinental Championship // Roman Reigns def. The Miz (C) via pinfall // 12:54

The Shield were all over the show this week, beginning with an appearance on Miz TV, that had originally been announced as solo appearance from Roman Reigns. Miz drifted past his loss to Baron Corbin the night earlier, before The Shield arrived and things got interesting. The two parties did job, playing around with the lively pro-Miz portion of the audience, having a load of fun along the way, even if the lights did go off in the middle! I get a weird satisfaction anytime Miz loses his head and starts ranting and raving at people and there was plenty of that on display here as he went on a madcap tirade asking The Shield to say "thank you" for the part The A-Lister played in the group getting back together. The crowd bought into it and Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins joked around, bouncing off each other and looking natural in their interactions as they took the piss-out of Miz for losing at Survivor Series. When Reigns said he felt left out when Rollins talked about he and Dean Ambrose (who mostly wandered around in the background, presumably because he's the Lunatic Fringe) getting a RAW Tag Team title shot, Rollins suggested Reigns have a chance at The Miz's championship, leading to The Miztourage taking a beat and a main event IC title match being made.

A good television bout in the second chapter of the Shield's story on this episode. Dean Ambrose and Sheamus worked a physical contest in their tenth TV singles match, based around a number of power moves from The Celtic Warrior. Some work was done on Ambrose's elbow, although despite the commentary team mentioning it a few times and The Lunatic Fringe selling well, it didn't seem to be a massive focus of the in-ring action. What was a focus was the power of Sheamus, as he lobbed around Ambrose with a series of release verticle suplexes, as well as a cool moment when The Great White went straight from a stretch muffler into a sitout powerbomb. Ambrose's scrappy comeback, after Sheamus went into the corner post was fun, but the match peaked once Seth Rollins and Cesaro started to interact at ringside. This produced a couple of distraction near falls, as well as a brilliant moment of Rollins flying through the ring and hitting The Swiss Superman with a suicide dive on the other side, seconds before Ambrose hit Dirty Deeds on Sheamus to pick up the clean win. The match used it's time well, built towards its finish and also included a really good highspot near fall for Sheamus off an avalanche rolling senton.

As Kurt Angle tried to check on Jason Jordan's injured leg, The Miz was unsuccessful in his attempt to get Angle to cancel his match with Roman Reigns...

After no title matches on the main show the night before it was a good idea to stick one on this episode and perhaps a brighter one to take the belt of The Miz, following a poorly booked loss to Baron Corbin. Considering that loss, the creative for the contest did a stellar job of making Miz look like a threat to Reigns. Without The Miztourage or Maryse at ringside it could have easily felt like Reigns was going to coast to a quick victory, yet we saw The A-Lister constantly ducking to the floor in the early goings, before eventually managing to block a Superman Punch coming off the steel steps and hit snap DDT on the floor and from then on wards Miz became a threat to the Big Dog, able to escape Samoan drops and superman punches. Amongst a couple of really well-done chains of action, the threat level was raised when Cesaro & Sheamus came to ringside and Miz got a believable near fall off a Skull Crushing Finale following the distraction. The ending with Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose out to counter the threat and Reigns nailing a gorgeous spear on the champion had bags of energy and ended the show on a high note, getting a good pop from a crowd who had initially been split for the pair. A solid main event, that opened a few interesting avenues for The Shield and their rivals, especially with no RAW PPV scheduled in December.

Paige, Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville attacked Mickie James, Sasha Banks, Bayley and Alicia Fox

Before we talk about Paige's return, I wanted to discuss the dud of a segment that preceded her return. RAW Women's Champion Alexa Bliss was out to complain about fans patronising her following a loss to SmackDown Women's Champion Charlotte Flair the night earlier. It was alright work from Bliss, but it was clear she had very little direction or idea where this promo was supposed to go. Mickie James, then Bayley, then Sasha Banks and finally Alicia Fox came out to say they thought they deserved a title shot. The problem was none of them did. James had lost two consecutive title bouts in October, hadn't won since and didn't even quality for the RAW Women's team at Survivor Series, Bayley was the first RAW Woman eliminated at Survivor Series and had only won one non-tag team match since her last title shot in September, Banks probably had the best case, with two wins over Fox since the September five-way and a stellar tag team record, but had also submitted to Natalya the night earlier and Fox had one win since May. Kurt Angle coming out and making a four-way because the four women had came out was daft, because of Asuka's performance at Survivor Series. I understand wanting to hold off her win, but at least give her a reason for not going after Bliss' title. This was a ham-fisted attempt to get bodies in the ring for the upcoming attack, but they could have just as easily done that without this segment.

The Fatal Four-way didn't last all that until Paige interrupted, making her first WWE appearance since, to a massive pop. Paige commanded the crowd with ease, before Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville hit the ring to cause the Four-way to go to a no-contest.

After the match, Paige, Deville and Rose lay waist to Bayley, Banks and James, concluding with a Rampaige to Bayley in an interesting development to RAW's Women's division. Backstage, Alexa Bliss interrupted Renee Young trying to interview Paige, Sonya Deville & Mandy Rose, before the trio battered the RAW Women's Champion, leaving her lying on the floor.

Kurt Angle, Jason Jordan and Braun Strowman all confronted Triple H // 5:55 

Braun Strowman def. Jason Jordan via Disqualification // 1:45

Following the contentious conclusion to Survivor Series, the show began with the fallout from the main event, with Stephanie McMahon gloating over the RAW victory and bringing out her husband, Triple H. The segment kept a great pace with Kurt Angle, Jason Jordan and Braun Strowman all flying down the ramp to get in the face of The Game, with Angle in particular doing a brilliant job of selling his anger after Triple H hit him with a Pedigree on Sunday. Whether you enjoyed that finish or not, this was Angle's best acting performance since returning to WWE as he looked genuinely pissed off with his 2000-02 rival. He stormed to the ring, got up in The Cerebral Assassins face and looked fucking furious, like Triple H had told him that milk was a bad choice. Jordan coming out was okay, it made sense after the Pedigree he took last week, and the crowd was actually into him challenging Triple H, but it was Braun Strowman's arrival, moments after the D-Generation X founder had said he wasn't afraid of anyone in the locker room that created the real moment. A tense stare-down, with Triple H exiting the ring was a lovely piece of business, with the crowd desperate to see Strowman go off on one and lob the COO all over the ring. Where this is heading I have no idea, but I'm interested to fine out. The segment closed with Stephanie McMahon booking a match between Strowman and Jordan later on.

Jason Jordan tried to get out of his match with Braun Strowman, telling his Dad that he was really hurt, but then got weirdly pumped up about the prospect when Angle couldn't stop the match... Braun Strowman told Charly Caruso he was glad that Jason Jordan had said he wasn't afraid of him, because that makes him different from everyone else, including Triple H... Jason Jordan went to Matt Hardy for some advice about his mater later, with Hardy telling him "some nights it's just not your night" HELPFUL...

The Strowman vs. Jordan match didn't last long, as it appeared Jordan was ready to bail after less than two minutes, holding onto his injured knee and with Strowman looking the other way, Kane attacked the Monster Among Men with a steel chair.

Kane continued to attack Strowman after the match, driving a steel chair between Strowman's throat and the ring steps, leaving the Monster Amongst Men gasping for air...

Akira Tozawa, Rich Swann, Cedric Alexander & Mustafa Ali def. The 'Zo Train // 4:13 

I had a few issues with the segment that lead to this week's only Cruiserweight match and very little of that has to do with the performances of the Cruiserweight. Firstly, Enzo Amore doing his usual schtick isn't working. It was great when he had a sore throat and would get his 'Zo Train to help out, because it actually go heat, however right now the crowd is happy to join in and it caps the reactions that the actual babyfaces of the division are able to get. Secondly, if all of the 'Zo Train are here, then why on earth didn't they book an Elimination Tag on the Kick-Off show for Survivor Series? It would've showcased ten different performers from the division and surely been a much more exciting affair than the crowd sitting in silence to watch an adequate Amore vs. Kalisto title match. Thirdly, if they didn't want to do that, why weren't some or all of the 'Zo Train not at ringside to enhance Amore's gimmick and give him a cheaper than cheap victory? Rich Swann even mentioned "Without your boys you're nothing but a catchphrase and a T-Shirt!" which made Swann look like a goon, because Amore had clearly retained his title on his own 24 hours previously! Drew Gulak was the one shining light throughout the whole thing, he's a babe.

The tag match was solid multi-man fare with a nice spot involving interference and distraction from Amore allowing The Zo-Train to take control and an action packed hot tag from Cedric Alexander, that would conclude with a Neuralyzer to Dar and Lumbar Check to Nese, before Ali picked up the pin on Dar with the 054 splash. It wasn't much more than filler, but it would've improved the quality of the Kick-Off show had it replaced the Kalisto vs. Enzo Amore match on the show.

Samoa Joe def. Finn Balor [Prince Devitt] via referee stoppage // 8:34 

A good opener, but weirdly thrown away here on television, with a clean finish to boot and no follow up. This quality of the action was a step down from the match the pair had in Manchester two weeks ago, being mostly Joe dominating his smaller opponent. The Samoan Submission controlled, about 80% of the match, reversing slingblades into overhead belly to belly suplexes, hitting suicide dives and more or less rag-dolling Prince Devitt all over the ring. The action was always crisp and impactful, but lacked a little something of the energy and fire that I enjoyed in their Manchester bout. It was, of course, better to see a decisive finish, instead of the previous double countout, but I was surprised to see Balor lose so clearly. He looked good in his final fire up, but Booker T threw him under the bus on commentary for not making it to the top rope quick enough and this took away a little from Joe eventually dragging him off the top and locking in a Coquina Clutch for the win. I'd suspected Balor might've been a future opponent for Brock Lesnar before WrestleMania, based on this match that appears to no longer be the case.

Matt Hardy attacked Elias [Elias Samson]

Elias mocked the crowd and attempted to sing about Matt Hardy, but was quickly interrupted by his subject. The two brawled a little, before Elias escaped a Twist of Fate and left...

Asuka [Kana] def. Dana Brooke via pinfall // 2:35 

Dana Brooke had a split-screen promo ahead of her match with Asuka, claiming that she'd watched the Asuka Collection on the WWE Network and had found some holes in her opponent's game....hmmm, yeah, ok hen. 

Dana Brooke wasn't ready for Asuka, 5-0. 

Also

Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows shilled various merch for WWEShop, as part of the Countdown to Black Friday.

Roman Reigns won the Intercontinental Championship, Paige returned alongside the debuting Sonya Deville & Mandy Rose, Kane assaulted Braun Strowman. In terms of creating moments this show did a very good job. There was also quite a few good to very good matches for a television product, with the main event, Ambrose vs. Sheamus and Balor vs. Joe (to some extent) all standing out. However, some of the booking showed a lack of thought and at times, direction. Specifically, Asuka's positioning in the Women's division and the mindless segment that lead to the four-way and to a lesser degree the baffling use of the Cruiserweight division. There was a few developments that I'm interested to see play out, such as where Samoa Joe and Finn Balor are heading next and also I feel like Jason Jordan's story is beginning to head somewhere productive (hopefully!). My match of the night was the Intercontinental title change as it had some drama to it and was one of the better finishes we've seen on RAW this year.

Review by James Marston

RAW 1275 Review // The Miz vs. Matt Hardy

On 30th October 2017, WWE aired the 1275th episode of Monday Night RAW live on the USA Network from the Royal Farms Arena in Baltimore, Maryland. The show featured The Miz defending the Intercontinental Championship against Matt Hardy, Finn Balor battling Cesaro in a first time TV bout and Mickie James challenging for Alexa Bliss's Women's Championship, as well as appearances from SmackDown General Manager Daniel Bryan, RAW General Manager Kurt Angle, Kane, Seth Rollins and a returning Samoa Joe...but was it any good? Lets take a look.

Commissioner Stephanie McMahon confronted General Manager Kurt Angle (5:26)

I've been looking forward to seeing an interaction between Stephanie McMahon and Kurt Angle ever since Angle was appointed RAW General Manager, the night after WrestleMania. So when McMahon made her first on-screen appearance since crashing through a table at WrestleMania 33, I was pretty hyped to see what went down and this short interaction between the pair was just enough to whet the appetite for a potential feud between the pair going forward. Whilst Angle's acting is still suspect at the best of times, there's no denying that he has a strong connection with the crowd and the same can be said for McMahon, but obviously in the complete opposite direction. After a lengthy time off, McMahon's act felt fresh again and having her compliment Angle before turning on her bitch cannons and continually rise in intensity as she went off on one on the 4 time WWE Champion was a lot of fun. Whilst the announcement that Angle would be the Team Captain for the RAW Men's team at Survivor Series would've had more impact if he hadn't competed on at TLC less than two week's ago, it still got a decent pop and opens up a number of intriguing storyline possibilities as we get closer to 2018.

In the parking lot, Stephanie McMahon left the show in a limo, before Intercontinental Champion The Miz and the Miztourage (Bo Dallas & Curtis Axel) arrived in one of their own, with a Miz rant, leading to Kurt Angle blowing up in his face and booking Miz in an Intercontinental Championship match later in the show.

In the arena, Alicia Fox, wearing a captain's hat because she's RAW Women's team captain at Survivor Series, named the returning Nia Jax as her replacement in a match with Bayley, so I guess the rumours about Jax leaving the promotion were false and Fox has match-making powers now. 

Nia Jax def. Bayley via pinfall (3:51)

An extended squash victory for Nia Jax here, which is a shame because these two have good chemistry and have shown in the past that they can put on good matches when given the opportunity, at a time when Jax was much greener as well! Putting Jax over so strong felt a little unnecessary as part of the Survivor Series build, but the two managed to do a decent job in the time they were given, pulling in call back to NXT Takeover: London and an impressive finishing sequence from Jax, alongside some lovely selling from Bayley.

After the match, Fox continued to be batshit insane doing a pilots impression, before offering Nia Jax a spot on the RAW Women's Survivor Series team.

Samoa Joe returned for his first appearance since SummerSlam, cutting a promo on the crowd for not reaching out during his time off, which whilst it might have been a little cliche was delivered with gusto and intensity. 

Samoa Joe def. Apollo Crews via submission (3:38)

Some decent stuff here, but it lacked the excitement level that an Apollo Crews vs. Samoa Joe match could potentially have, with Crews' offence being limited to headlocks and enziguiris. It did, at least, put Joe over strong and he looked like a bad ass in his comfortable victory with the Coquina Clutch.

Post-match, Titus O'Neil and Samoa Joe stared each other down, before Joe locked in a Coquina Clutch when O'Neil went to check on Apollo Crews.

Intercontinental Championship Match: The Miz (C) def. Matt Hardy via pinfall (9:57)

Matt Hardy's first televised Intercontinental Championship match since he lost to Test on a November 2001 episode of SmackDown was an interesting contest, being well-put together, but awfully sloppy in the first five minutes. The two struggled to connect for most of the match, often ending up out of sync with the action, leading to a couple of sequences that clearly didn't come off as well as they could have, including something that I think was Miz' old Reality Check (Running knee lift followed by a neckbreaker slam). That aside, Hardy worked well fighting from underneath having to combat the entire Miztourage, garnering good crowd support which made a couple of near falls feel much more important than they would have for a less over performer. Hardy's getting a series of near falls, whilst always looking for the Twist of Fate, gradually gave the former ROH World Tag Team Champion a feeling of momentum with the crowd popping big for a diving moonsault from the 43 year old. For me, the finish came across as a little uncreative, as after the best sequence of the match saw Miz miss the roundhouse kick in his IT Kick's combination, allowing Hardy to hit a Twist of Fate at the fourth attempt, Miz simply rolled under the ropes and when Hardy went to bring him back into the ring managed to pull Matt's throat across the top rope and hit a Skull-Crushing Finale for the win. I feel like the Miztourage could've been utilised to help get the most out of a near fall of the Twist of Fate, which felt like it was wasted after some good build up. Like most, I expect either The Miz or Baron Corbin to drop their respective titles before we get to Survivor Series, because a match between the two isn't particularly appealing.

In Kurt Angle's office, Women's Champion Alexa Bliss told Angle he should fire Mickie James and potentially replace her with Mae Young's corpse, which lead to Angle booking Bliss against Mickie James in a title match later in the show.

Asuka def. Stacie Cullen via submission (1:40)

A straight-up squash match for Asuka with the debuting Stacie Cullen getting in absolutely no offence before tapping out the Asuka Lock. 

Kane attacked SmackDown General Manager Daniel Bryan (3:07)

This curious angle was laid out across four consecutive segments, beginning with Kurt Angle shitting his pants when SmackDown General Manager Daniel Bryan turned up in his office, before subsequently locking his counterpart in the room. Later on, we saw the lights go off on Bryan, before Kane appeared, lit only by Bryan's mobile phone, with the Big Red Monster appearing to chokeslam SmackDown's GM, with it being clear that Bryan didn't take the bump, so I wouldn't get your hopes up that this is the start of Bryan's in-ring comeback trail!

Finn Balor def. Cesaro (with Sheamus) via pinfall (8:14) 

As soon as I saw these two come to the ring, I had a flashback to the tremendous series of TV matches Cesaro had with the likes of Randy Orton and John Cena in the build towards Elimination Chamber 2014 and whilst this bout didn't hit the heights of that classic run, there was still some very good wrestling on display here. With no real issue between the pair, the crowd wasn't massively into the action, but I enjoyed the crisp wrestling exhibited by the pair in only their second singles match (after a March 2015 NXT live event). The two mixed physical strikes and smooth back and forth grappling well, whilst peppering in a couple of big spots like Cesaro's wicked good deadlift superplex. The sequence of submissions from Cesaro as he switched from a Sharpshooter to a Crossface to a side headlock in an attempt to keep control of the match was a personal highlight. It was a shame that as soon as the match began to lift the pace that it was over, with Balor able to counter the threat of Sheamus on the outside and win with a diving double stomp to the back of Cesaro's neck. Balor had to be put over strong following his loss to Kane last week (and what would follow), but as always I just wanted a little bit more between these two world-class professional wrestlers.

After the match, Kane met Finn Balor on the ramp, quickly overturning Balor's offence and nailing a Tombstone Piledriver on the stage. 

Kane def. Tag Team Champion Seth Rollins via pinfall (5:42)

Ruddy hell, WWE is really set on turning Kane back into a monster, as he ran through one of the companies biggest stars Seth Rollins, in a rematch from Hell in a Cell 2015. I didn't really get much out of this one, with a number of repetitive sequences resulting in Kane hitting a throat thrust. Whilst I could question why a monster is putting on a conventional headlock, I'll instead choose to praise the energy in Rollins last burst of offence as he hit two enziguris and a blockbuster for a near fall and then two speedy suicide dives. The finish saw Rollins defend partner Dean Ambrose who got jumped by Cesaro & Sheamus at ringside, only to springboard into a ridiculously telegraphed chokeslam with the Big Red Machine having his hand in place for the move before Rollins even left the ground. WWE is putting an awful lot behind the Big Red Machine to build him up to put Braun Strowman over in his new babyface role, in a move that seems unnecessary considering the reactions that Strowman already receives and the limitations of a 300lb+ 50 year old. 

Dean Ambrose made the save for Seth Rollins hitting Dirty Deeds on Kane, only for the Big Red Machine sat up and aided by Cesaro & Sheamus went on to hit Tombstone Piledrivers on both Ambrose and Rollins as the weirdest push on 2017 continued.

Daniel Bryan was loaded onto a stretcher following the assault by Kane earlier on.

The Miz, Bo Dallas and Curtis Axel discovered a bag full of rubbish in the lockeroom and jumped to the bizarre conclusion that Braun Strowman must be in the arena, this led to Miz searching out Kane backstage to let him know the news.

Santa Claus [Heath Slater] & Mrs. Claus [Rhyno] def. Chad 2 Badd [Karl Anderson] & Tex Ferguson [Luke Gallows] in a Trick or Street Fight via pinfall (4:53)

Well, good goly, this was a thing. Santa Claus & Mrs. Claus clashing with Southpaw Regional Wrestling's Chad 2 Badd and Tex Ferguson with halloween themed weapons, whilst Mrs. Claus flashed her knickers and the commentary team took the piss out of the whole thing, before a comedy pumpkin spot gave the Clauses the victory.

Backstage, The Miz told Cesaro & Sheamus about the bag of rubbish he found, they told him not to worry, but he was on his own, leading to Miz making a call to Curtis Axel telling him to pack the bags because they were leaving, as the sage continued. 

Jason Jordan attacked Elias (3:11)

A cute but poorly executed idea, as Elias sang a song for Jason Jordan over replays of Elias twatting Jordan with a guitar last week. Of course, this lead to Jordan coming out, hitting an overhead belly to belly on the Drifter and smashing up a new guitar. 

Kurt Angle caught The Miz and The Miztourage as they were about to leave the building, refusing to let them leave, because Miz arrived late at the start of the show. 

Cruiserweight Champion Enzo Amore had found his voice, but Drew Gulak still did most of the talking as they ran down Kurt Angle, before some wonderful mic work from Gulak as he comically miss-performed Amore's catchphrases. 

Kalisto def. Drew Gulak via pinfall (0:58)

Quick squash M9, with Kalisto nailing Salida del Sol for a sub-minute victory.

Of course, Enzo Amore attacked Kalisto post-match, hitting Jordunzo before quickly escaping with Drew Gulak.

The Miz instructed Curtis Axel to tell their limo driver to get their car ready for the end of the show, as the paranoia built.

Women's Championship Match: Alexa Bliss (C) def. Mickie James via pinfall (7:41)

I thought Alexa Bliss and Mickie James' match at TLC on 22nd October was alright and was hoping that this rematch would build on some of the solid storytelling and remove some of the sloppiness due to a growing familiarity between the pair. In fact, the complete opposite happened and we received a clumsy bout with little story and a crowd who could not have given less of a fuck. The pair seemed to lose the crowd within the first couple of exchanges with James hitting a horrible looking snapmare and following it up with a messy diving hurricanrana. The crowd was not encourage by a headlock which seemed to last half of the match, garnered no reaction and concluded with a scrappy STO from Bliss. The one thing that seemed to come out well was a neckbreaker from James as part of her comeback sequence. Then Bliss won with a slap/punch/palm strike to the face, after kicking out of a series of roll-ups from James way too early to build any drama or excitement. I did not enjoy this match.

Braun Strowman attacked Intercontinental Champion The Miz and The Miztourage (6:59)

Rightio. Lets start by addressing one of the most confusing moments in the history of RAW. The Miz and Miztourage are attempting to escape the building in their limo, they are blocked in by a bin lorry, out of the bin lorry came Braun Strowman, making his first appearance since TLC. Was the idea that Strowman had been in the bin lorry for over a week? Or was it that Strowman had enjoyed his ride at TLC so much that he'd decided it was his only way to travel? I'm not sure that visual was cool enough to justify the fact that it made no sense at all, whether it was the night before Halloween or not. Luckily Strowman destroying the Miztourage inside the arena, lobbing all three down the ramp and then beating the ever loving shit out of Curtis Axel, after The Miz and Bo Dallas escaped. Axel being carried like a child up the ramp to get powerslammed through the announce table was a sick moment and was made even cooler by the fact Strowman is now babyface and is getting brilliant reactions. I'd expect Strowman will take the Intercontinental title from Miz next week, before squaring off with Baron Corbin at Survivor Series, ahead of a showdown with Kane later down the line.

On paper this show looked stacked. The RAW returns of Daniel Bryan, Samoa Joe, Stephanie McMahon and Braun Strowman, alongside two title matches and Finn Balor vs. Cesaro, this should have been a home-run. Finn Balor vs. Cesaro did end up being a solid match, whilst Matt Hardy challenging for the Intercontinental Championship was well structured and the Braun Strowman beatdown (not the bin lorry bit) was great stuff too, but nothing was good enough to carry the rest of the show. The final hour especially (until Strowman murdered Axel and a slight exception to the wonderful Drew Gulak) was dire, with Mickie James and Alexa Bliss's Women's Championship match proving a botched opportunity for the pair. Add alongside this Kane's bizarre 2017 monster push and you've got a Halloween RAW that was much more trick than treat.

Review by James Marston

RAW #1271 Review - Kalisto joins the Cruiserweight Division

On 2nd October 2017, WWE aired the 1271st episode of Monday Night RAW, live on the USA Network, from the Pepsi Center in Denver, Colorado. The show featured Kalisto joining the Cruiserweight division and confronting Cruiserweight Champion Enzo Amore in a segment that featured General Manager Kurt Angle and the entire Cruiserweight roster, Sasha Banks and Bayley teaming up against Emma and Alicia Fox and Matt Hardy joining Jason Jordan to take on Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson, with Intercontinental Champion The Miz, Cesaro & Sheamus, Tag Team Champions Seth Rollins & Dean Ambrose, Roman Reigns and Bray Wyatt also featuring. But was it any good? Let's take a look.  


The show began with the entire RAW roster on the stage as a moments silence was held for the mass shooting in Las Vegas. Our thoughts are with the friends, family and loved ones of anyone involved in this terrible incident. 

Braun Strowman def. Seth Rollins (7:22)

A good strong opening television match here, as Braun Strowman continues to be cemented as the next big star on the RAW brand with a big dominant victory. Similar to last week's match with Dean Ambrose, this was a classic David vs. Goliath style contest, with Rollins fighting from underneath throughout the whole bout, with scrappy offence like an initial slap to the face and doing a good job of selling the beating of the Monster among Men. There was a real simple and solid story told throughout, with Rollins attempting to hit a number of moves, such as a suicide dive and a blockbuster, only to be foiled repeatedly by the larger men. However, when Rollins finally managed to hit two suicide dives and a blockbuster it only resulted in a one count. It probably deserved a bigger reaction than it got, but I got a kick out of that feel of a babyface battling hard to hit some killer offence, only for that killer offence to barely dent their opponent. Strowman, as usual looked like a beast and Rollins looked valiant in defeat against a practically unstoppable Monster, after falling to a big clothesline and a running powerslam.

After the match, Strowman nailed another running powerslam to Rollins, leading to Dean Ambrose to come out to make the save, only to end up on the receiving end of a pair of chokeslams and another running powerslam, before Cesaro & Sheamus entered delivering a Nuetralizer to Ambrose and a Brogue Kick to Rollins. 

Backstage, Mickie James bumped into Alicia Fox and Emma, finding out that someone had left gifts of some Depends and a zimmer frame in her lockeroom, after storming to Alexa Bliss' lockeroom, James was met by Nia Jax (despite it being made clear Bliss and Jax weren't friends a few weeks ago) with the two agreeing to a match later tonight. 

In his magical rocking chair smoke room, Bray Wyatt rocked back and forth, chuntering about being told to use his hands and saying "She'd never lie to me"

Elias sang a song about Denver and got some good heat, people really love their towns and cities in America. 

Elias def. Titus O'Neil (2:58)

Not a good match, sloppy, awkward and part of a storyline that I couldn't care less about.

Mickie James def. Nia Jax via Disqualification (6:38)

This was one of the worst RAW matches I can remember in quite some time. James looked uncomfortable taking Jax's power offence, which was often sloppy despite being relatively elementary stuff. There was a few times in the match where I'm sure things happened, but I'm not quite sure what those things were, this was mostly down to some awkwardness between the performers, but also at point due to the camera showing Alexa Bliss at ringside instead of what was going on in the ring. The crowd did at least get into the two doing a bit of brawling, but I thought said brawling looked weak and pretty uninspired. The finish saw Alexa Bliss get involved, breaking up a pin after a nasty looking Tornado DDT from James, which really does nothing for anyone involved. I'll give the two the benefit of the doubt because it was their first match together and I've been pretty high on Nia Jax over the last couple of weeks, but they really should've done better in this spot, even with the lame finish.

After the match, James managed to counter Bliss' attack, sending her into the barricade and hitting a rubbish looking Mick Kick.

Renee Young attempted to interview Cruiserweight Champion Enzo Amore, but he had nothing to say and just looked around a bit and blinked.

Everyone wanted to congratulate Mickie James on her "victory" with General Manager Kurt Angle booking her in a Women's Championship match against Alexa Bliss at Tables,
Ladders and Chairs.

Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson def. Matt Hardy & Jason Jordan (8:01)

A nothing match, that went a little too long, but at least the regular tag team in Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson picked up the victory. It's probably harsh to call this a nothing match, actually, because there was some nice tag team work here from Gallows & Anderson, with blind tags and double teams and Matt Hardy's hot tag was quite fun, but there was very little story or reason behind this match taking place and no real reason to care. That's exactly what the crowd did for most of the match, they didn't care. They woke up slightly for the Hardy hot tag but for the other six or seven minutes of that bout, Denver remained pretty much silent. Following Hardy & Jordan's match against The Miztourage last week, this really could have done with some kind of story development and whilst there's an interesting story to be told in Jordan trying to replace Jeff Hardy, if WWE wanted to put him in a tag team, he was already in a really good one a few months ago in American Alpha. 

Roman Reigns spoke to Charly Caruso about the situation with Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose earlier on, which seemed to point towards a Shield reunion being imminent, he also said something about his Intercontinental title bout with The Miz later on.

The RAW Women's Division honoured breast cancer survivors (3:07)

As part of WWE's partnership with Susan G. Kommen, Dana Warrior presented three breast cancer survivors with pink versions of the Women's Championship, with the whole Women's roster in the ring. It was all rather lovely and ended with everyone hugging.  

Before the next match, Roman Reigns nailed the Miztourage with a pair of Superman punches, followed up with a Drive by to Curtis Axel, sending Bo Dallas into the steel steps, before going through the crowd and up onto the stage and taking a steel chair to both men numerous times. A nice piece of storytelling here with Reigns looking to make the match one on one and remove the potential ringside threat. 

Roman Reigns def. The Miz via Disqualification, The Miz retains the Intercontinental Championship (7:39)

This was another match that I struggled to get into and after really enjoying the pairs non-title match last week, that was a little disappointing. I think, most of that comes from Reigns taking Axel and Dallas out of the picture before the match and whilst I enjoyed that pre-match angle, I feel like it ended up taking away potential story elements, that had worked really well last week. It also appeared that Reigns had recovered from his rib injury, or at least he didn't sell having a rib injury, so there was another element gone. I understand the need to keep things fresh and to avoid being repetitive, but there's was nothing in this match that took the place of those things, in terms of narrative, so what we were left with was two guys who went through the motions for seven minutes before the DQ finish. Miz trying to get a countout win was a nice touch and the near fall from a Skull Crushing Finale was probably the highlight, but even that felt oddly time only six minutes in, so ended up lacking the impact it would have had, had it came five or six minutes later in the bout. The finish, where Reigns was setting up Miz for a spear, only for Sheamus & Cesaro to appear and drag Reigns out the ring, was what it was, a TV finish to set up a larger angle afterwards.

A post-match angle saw Roman Reigns take a Neutralizer from Cesaro, a Brogue Kick from Sheamus and a Skull Crushing Finale from The Miz, before the trio would return to the ring mimicking The Shield, hit a Triple Powerbomb and then pull out the traditional Shield fist-bump. I'm so behind the way this Shield reunion has been built to over the last few months and there's huge potential in having a Shield v Miz, Cesaro & Sheamus match at TLC, the event where The Shield had their in-ring debut almost five years ago! 

Bray Wyatt introduces Finn Balor to Sister Abigail (4:30)

So this feud is still going on and whilst they added a new dimension to it this week, it's hard to get excited about a storyline that's been on and off since just after WrestleMania. Finn Balor's promo wasn't bad, but his "Don't sing it Bray, bring it" line was an awful, awful line and Bray Wyatt's included the Eater of Worlds rambling on about the demon or something and then revealing Sister Abigail is alive "and she's dying to meet you", before concluding with a creepy effect and Bray laughing.

Carmella, Becky Lynch, Bayley, Charlotte Flair, Emma, Dana Brooke and Sasha Banks put over Asuka, ahead of her debut at TLC on 22nd October.

Sasha Banks & Bayley def. Emma & Alicia Fox (10:17) 

I'll go out on a limb and say this was the best match on the show. A well put together tag team match, with some lovely flowing wrestling, strong character work and story development, the only thing the match was really missing in it's spot was a high tempo gear change that could have taken it to the next level. I was super impressed with Alicia Fox in this one, especially considering she hadn't wrestled on RAW since early August and hadn't been in any kind of match for a month. Beyond one slightly awkward sequence with Sasha Banks, Fox was crisp and energetic, hitting a nice dropkick to knock Banks off the apron as well as a lovely tilt-a-whirl backbreaker on Sasha in a well-timed cut off. The match made use of a number of tag team wrestling clichés, but also all four bought lots of little touches that made the match. Banks and Bayley having fun as a team at the start, Banks' selling in a headlock and Fox grinding the forearm, Bayley selling her neck at ringside after taking multiple forearms from Emma, as well as The Hugger getting the crowd worked up well whilst on the apron, all came together to make a rather cute compact TV bout. The finish with Emma walking out on Fox is an intriguing one and I'm looking forward to seeing where it plays out and where this non-title women's storyline is going.

Kalisto confronted Enzo Amore (11:51)

Nearly ten minutes of Enzo Amore talking. This was both glorious and excruciating at the same time. This is because Amore/his character genuinely gets under my skin and here I ended up finding myself becoming angry at his mere existence, but I'm also fully aware that that's now the reaction that he's going for. He's not pussy footing around it, he's going out there to be as dislikeable as possible, wearing even more ridiculous outfits, he's running down a roster of talented performers and trying to get them fired, he's talking quickly and saying things that don't make sense, he repeatedly reminds the audience that he's hurt and he's just a tart. While there was some going over old ground with his promo from last week's 205 Live, Enzo's facials, vocals, body language and a whole lot more was spot on throughout and there's a delightful blurring of fiction and reality, that's tying it all together.

Once Amore had taken the piss out of each of the Cruiserweights who turned up ringside (including Ariya Daivari, which made literally no sense after last week's 205 Live, although it seemed like that episode was retconned anyway), Kurt Angle interrupted to introduce the new Cruiserweight, someone who could touch Amore and someone who could still challenge for the Cruiserweight title, Kalisto. Obviously, the show closed with Amore on his back after taking spike rana and Salida del Sol and Kalisto and the whole division going nuts. Let's be honest, it's been baffling that Kalisto hasn't been put in the Cruiserweight division til now and while he's yet to show his full potential under the WWE banner, the purple ropes is somewhere he can really shine, perhaps not in the ring with Enzo Amore though.

The show closes with Roman Reigns sitting injured backstage, being approached by Dean Ambrose and then Seth Rollins, before both men eventually walk off without doing the Shield fist bump. An electric backstage segment to close the show with all three men taking their time, letting the moment breath and the crowd going absolutely nuts for every little details.

Check Out - Strowman v Rollins, Cruiserweight Segment, The Shield reunion build

Stay Away - Jax v James, Elias v O'Neil 

Review by James Marston

RAW #1270 Review - The Entire Cruiserweight Division Confronts Enzo Amore

On 25th September 2017, WWE aired the 1270th episode of RAW live on the USA Network, from the Citzen's Business Bank Arena in Ontario, California. The show featured Neville and the Cruiserweight division crashing Enzo Amore's hosting a Certified G Championship celebration, Roman Reigns facing Intercontinental Champion The Miz and Matt Hardy teaming with Jason Jordan to face the Miztourage, as well as appearances from Tag Team Champions Seth Rollins & Dean Ambrose, Sheamus, Goldust & Finn Balor. But was it any good? Let's take a look! 

Roman Reigns appeared on Miz TV (10:08)

A paint by number edition of Miz TV here, with The Miz insulting his guest, Roman Reigns, followed up by General Manager Kurt Angle booking a match between the two (as well as The Miztourage vs. Matt Hardy and Jason Jordan). Reigns quickly moved past beating John Cena the previous night with talk of respect, then called Miz an idiot and things got a little more interesting. A motivated Miz is an entertaining Miz and he got a chance to rip into Reigns, ripping into Reigns for choking at important moments, bringing up Reigns record inbetween WrestleMania and No Mercy, whilst Curtis Axel seemed to be having an absolute ball in the background. The highlight was, of course, Miz suggested "if the Miztourage was around five years ago, nobody would remember The Shield". It's a great heel line, because we all know that's not true, but the Miz character clearly believes that he, Axel and Dallas are unstoppable. There was, of course, time for Reigns to put over Jason Jordan, calling him a "thoroughbred", which will do little to help Jordan amongst the audience that he is struggling to win over. 

Matt Hardy & Jason Jordan def. The Miztourage (7:09)

I think the highlight of this was Booker T going off on one on commentary about Jason Jordan "wanting to get all of his stuff in". It didn't make much sense, kayfabe or otherwise, but it made me laugh. The match was your pretty standard tag team match, with the majority of Dallas and Axel's heat coming during the commercial break. Hardy got the hot tag and it was pretty much over from there, as Hardy pulled out a series of his greatest hits, including a bulldog and a side effect. The finish came when Jordan took out an interfering Axel with an overhead belly to belly, allowing a Twist of Fate to get the pin on Dallas.  There was enough going on that things remained watchable and Hardy looked better in there than he has done of the last couple of months, but equally so there was very little to get excited about. Jeff Hardy is supposedly injured (he was at ringside) according to commentary, so it will be interesting to see what WWE does with Matt in the meantime or whether this will play into the Broken Universe finally coming up north.

Highlights of Brock Lesnar retaining the Universal Championship against Braun Strowman the previous night at No Mercy.

Before his match, Elias treated us to another of his hipster ditties, about how Ontario is a shithole and Crews is a loser. 

Elias def. Apollo Crews (2:40)

A short match, that was pretty much all Apollo Crews until the finish, that saw Elias kick out at Titus O'Neil, before taking advantage of the distraction to hit Drift Away and remain undefeated since 24th July.

After the match, Elias went to attack Titus O'Neil, only for the Titus Worldwide leader to turn the tables and send Elias packing.

Charly Caruso interviewed Finn Balor with the Irishman seemingly done with Bray Wyatt and saying he's now got his eyes on the Universal Championship. 

After issuing an open challenge, Curt Hawkins quickly bailed when Braun Strowman answered, leading to Strowman chasing him down, chokeslamming him through a table and then powerslamming Hawkins through the set. Strowman would then get on the mic and issue an open challenge of his own...

Braun Strowman def. Dean Ambrose (6:31)

Well, this was a lot of fun and by the end I was a little disappointed we didn't get to see a little more. It was mostly Braun Strowman lobbing Dean Ambrose around, clobbering him a bit and Ambrose scrapping and fighting from underneath, whilst selling for his life. Whilst occasionally Ambrose's selling verged into the comedic region, it bought something different to the regular fighting from underneath cliché and got some good reactions out of the live crowd. I could give or take it personally, but I don't think it detracted from how powerful Strowman looked in dominating a former WWE Champion. The two characters slotted well together, with their strengths creating an entertaining contrast, as Ambrose did everything he could to remain in the match, including a tornado DDT on the floor. The finish ended up feeling a little abrupt with Ambrose going for a diving elbow drop, only for Strowman to turn the move straight into a running powerslam for the pinfall victory. Just under seven minutes wasn't long enough to satisfyingly tell the story between the pair and whilst a punchy victory over a top star helps with Strowman's recover after his loss to Lesnar and extra five minutes or so would have produced a more gratifying bout.

Enzo Amore asked Kurt Angle if he could have a championship celebration later and then refused to listen to some advice from Kurt, it would seem that Enzo has completed his turn now.

Seth Rollins brought Dean Ambrose some ice in the lockeroom and told Ambrose to think more with Ambrose replying that maybe Rollins needed to think less...it was also revealed that Rollins had a match with Sheamus later and would be facing Braun Strowman next week. 

Mickie James Confronted Alexa Bliss (6:43)

When a feud between Alexa Bliss and Mickie James was teased on RAW Talk after No Mercy, I can't say that I was particularly excited about it. James' work hasn't particularly impressed since her return with a lot of matches coming across as sloppy or rushed, whilst she's also faced Bliss three times on TV this year (with Bliss winning the last two bouts on RAW). Therefore, this clash of words ended up being the sleeper segment of the show, because quite frankly it was brilliant and one of the best female talking segments in recent memory. Both ladies brought the fire with James coming out to confront Bliss for calling her an "old lady" a night previously. The tension between the two came through the screen, with Bliss initially throwing barbs like "I think you were even in my top 8 on Myspace, back when Myspace and Mickie James were relevant" with that trademark Bliss snarkiness. James bringing her bitchy side back and talking about breaking down barriers before Bliss was wearing a training bra got a nice reaction, before the exclamination point of "which is obviously still working out for you!" put a nice cap on things. Bliss eventually called James an old lady again and a few slaps and Mick Kick later and we had an interesting feud on our hands heading in Tables, Ladders and Chairs.

Seth Rollins def. Sheamus (4:09)

I've got a lot of time for what Seth Rollins and Sheamus have been doing lately and they both proved their worth here, creating an exciting match within the confines of four minutes. Sheamus spent a lot of times working over Rollins' back and knee, including three irish curse backbreakers, a powerbomb and a cloverleaf, before a pacy finishing sequences saw Rollins dodge a Brogue Kick, block a dive with a superkick of his own before sealing the victory with the Kingslayer knee to bring to a close an action-packed encounter and seemingly the rivalry between the Tag Team Champions and Sheamus & Cesaro.

Finn Balor bumped into Goldust with Goldie seemingly shifting back to a heel, telling Balor he wasn't a victim and didn't need his help, before attacking him and sending Balor into various items backstage..."Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer...The Godfather 2 (1974)"

Highlights of Roman Reigns beating John Cena the previous night at No Mercy, including clips from RAW Talk with Cena putting over Reigns as a "better man". After Jerry "The King" Lawler asked if Cena was done with WWE, Big Match John revealed he wasn't done but perhaps couldn't go at the same pace anymore. 

Roman Reigns def. The Miz (8:47)

For me, this was a better match than the one Reigns had with John Cena the night earlier, as it told a much more interesting story. The main bulk of the contest was the Miztourage providing distractions at ringside and Miz working over the back and it provided a great platform for Reigns to showcase his selling. The Big Dog sold like a beast throughout, with the idea being that the four Attitude Adjustments he took from Cena the night previous, whilst Bo Dallas and Curtis Axel alternated on being a dick at ringside. Corey Graves chatting about sciatica at ringside was a great little touch that got over the pain that Reigns was playing on his face and body. Whilst I was never made to think that Miz could potentially take the victory (a snap DDT was probably the best near fall) as a TV match there was a lot to enjoy here, with the bout being kept snappy and a feeling of constant movement that drove a simple, but well-told story that concluded with Reigns escaping a Skull Crushing Finale and nailing a spear for the victory.

Post-match, The Miztourage jumped Reigns from behind and when it seemed like Reigns would be able to fight back, they produced a pair of steel stairs, took multiple shots at Reigns, before throwing Reigns to Miz for a Skull Crushing Finale. After initially leaving, Miz and The Miztourage returned to the ring, delivering another Skull Crushing Finale on the chair and a con-chair-to, before doing the traditional Shield fist-bump pose.

Finn Balor def. Goldust (4:20)

Another brief, yet entertaining contest here with the attack earlier in the night and Balor's rib injury suffered the night earlier being the two main elements as the two brawled for most the match on the outside. Balor sold well and we got a nice spot of Finn not being able to hit 1916 because of the injury, but eventually the Irishman picked up a head of steam and finished things off with a slingblade, running front dropkick into the buckles and a Coup de Grace.

Post-match, Bray Wyatt's visual gimmick flashed across the screen and then a creepy childlike voice sang "He's got the Whole World in his Hands"

Backstage, there appeared to be issues with Bayley and Sasha Banks following the Women's Championship Five-Way match at No Mercy, but both vowed to forget about it ahead of their tag team match with Nia Jax and Emma.

Enzo Amore bugged Kurt Angle again backstage, asking for a non-contact clause to be added to his Championship celebration later on, because he was getting serious jealousy vibes from the Cruiserweight lockeroom...he's surely a heel now? 

Sasha Banks & Bayley def. Nia Jax & Emma (5:21)

Whilst the match wasn't much to get excited about, it was nice to see the Women's division get two decent length segments on the show and multiple storylines begin to develop. With Mickie James stepping into the Women's Championship picture, there's room to tell stories with these four women and that's what we got here. Jax continues to look like a potential breakout star for the division, in the same vein as Braun Strowman and she looked like a beast for most of the match as she chucked Bayley about the place. It also looks like WWE is finally looking to pull the trigger on a feud between Bayley and Sasha Banks with some interesting exchanges where Banks was having to save the Hugger, including a spot on the outside where Banks was able to hit Jax with a crossbody off the apron after Bayley failed to do so. Like most of the last few months, Emma suffered from a lack of direction and eventually fell to a Bayley-to-Belly when the match got a little itself after Jax had collided with the ringpost. There's still a long way to go with the Women's division that hasn't found its feet since the brand split, but this was a step in the right direction.

The Entire Cruiserweight Division Confronts Enzo Amore (13:27)

Holy shit, RAW closed with a Cruiserweight segment. Enzo Amore's Certified G Championship celebration was arguably the best RAW segment for the Cruiserweight's since they became part of the show as Enzo Amore and Neville both put in great performances on the microphone as their characters naturally shifted. Amore talked about sleeping with a the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen, brought up having more "haters" recently and compared himself to John Cena, Batista and The Rock, before claiming to have made 205 Live relevant. It wasn't just the content that was different here, Amore exaggerated parts of his character that had been there before but perhaps been understated and made it even easier to hate him than it had been when he was an annoying caricature babyface. After the Cruiserweight division took some verbal abuse from Enzo, Neville's coming out was played pretty much perfectly. The Geordie has been magic on the mic recently, taking his time and delivering his lines with punch, so when he went off on one here it was a wonderful slice of wrestling television. "Now Enzo Amore...on behalf of the whole Cruiserweight division, I am here to end you" gave me a little shiver, if I'm honest. When the King of the Cruiserweights finally went after the man who holds the crown, it wasn't the attack that was interesting but the non-contact clause that Kurt Angle had put in place earlier. The idea that Neville was so angry he was willing to give up his title shot was a powerful idea that added depth to the attack and opened up a question for 205 Live. For perhaps the first time, RAW provided a reason for people to tune in to Tuesday night's Cruiserweight showcase! And as much as I hate to say it, Enzo Amore is right, him coming to the purple brand has provided it with a much-needed dose of intrigue and excitement, that has the potential to give the platform for superior in-ring performers like Akira Tozawa, Gran Metalik and Jack Gallagher to shine.

Heading out of No Mercy, this was a strong effort from the RAW crew, that opened a number of different narrative avenues. A number of stories that had been running since before SummerSlam seemed to be replaced with fresh direction as the Cruiserweight and Women's divisions both give time to tell or set-up better stories. The second two hours of the show in particular featured a good mix of fun in-ring action and well-produced talking segments. Strowman vs. Ambrose and Reigns vs. Miz both provided good television matches, whilst the segment with Enzo Amore and Neville at the end of the show featured great character work and deliver, opened questions about the future of the division and felt different to anything on the rest of the show

Review by James Marston