This
week's RAW was a weird one as WWE looked to build a number of
big shows at the same time. We got a major surprise heel turn, a classic Intercontinental Championship match between Seth Rollins and Kevin Owens, Trish Stratus making a surprise appearance to confront Elias in her
hometown, as well as Baron Corbin's first week as Acting RAW General Manager. But was it any good?
Lets take a look!
The
opening segment was as pretty paint by numbers situation, giving us
both a main event for the next PPV, Hell in a Cell, as well as the
evening, as Braun Strowman officially announced he'd be cashing in
his Money in the Bank briefcase against Universal Champion Roman
Reigns in San Antonio on 16th September, before Dolph
Ziggler and Drew McIntyre challenged the Monster and the Big Dog to a
match. The interaction between Reigns and Strowman was decent enough,
the two clearly still have some chemistry from their surprise hit
rivalry last year, whilst the Toronto crowd reacted well to a few
well-placed verbal jabs. After Ziggler & McIntyre interrupted
though the segment lost any of it's sting. The pair seemed to talk
for a long time without actually saying anything, firstly complaining
about Ziggler losing to Seth Rollins and then rambling on about
wanting to face Reigns and Strowman for reasons that they didn't
really make clear, all while getting little to no reaction from the
crowd. Things weren't made better when Acting General Manager Baron
Corbin came out and made all the confirmed matches official, taking
his sweet time in doing so. I get what they're going for with Corbin,
with him attempting to take credit for the work done by everyone
else, but he's got so little charisma that he ended up sucking more
air out of a segment that was already dying. The entire segment went
about 15 minutes, felt like 25 and could've been done in 8 or 9.
No
Disqualification Match – Acting RAW General Manager Baron Corbin
def. Finn Balor via Pinfall
Under
the section labelled “Feuds that have gone on way too long”, we
have Baron Corbin and Finn Balor in their fourth singles match since
the middle of July. This wasn't a feud that anyone was clamouring to
see in the first place. The match itself was okay, some good back and
forth in the later stages, once we got past an endless stretch of the
same weardown hold from Corbin. It was clear to see that the two have
been working together regularly from the couple of slick sequences
they put together during the second half of the match, with some good
variations on stuff like Corbin's Bossman clothesline spot. The
highlight came from a slingblade on the outside from Balor that lead
into the ad break, whilst a Tope con Hilo in the closing stages also
looked great. The finish was used as a way to establish Corbin as
Acting General Manager further, with the Lone Wolf causing a
Disqualification with a steel chair, only to announce he'd forgotten
to make announce that the bout was No DQ, following up with another
chair shot and an End of Days for the win. You'd expect that this
feud is finally done now, but with Balor unable to get the victory
without the Demon it's hard to see where he goes next, especially if
Corbin is staying as AGM for any amount of time.
Despite
the match being six weeks away still, we got a package looking at
Triple H vs. The Undertaker at Super Show-down with Ric Flair,
Christian, Mick Foley, Jeff Jarrett and Kevin Nash discussing what we
could see and who they thought would win.
We
learned that Dana Brooke would be facing Sasha Banks next in her
first RAW singles match since November 2017 in a backstage segment
with Titus Worldwide crew. There seemed to be some tension teased
between Titus O'Neil and Apollo Crews, with Crews confused at
O'Neil's optimism for Brooke's chances.
Singles
Match – Sasha Banks (with Bayley) def. Dana Brooke (with Titus
O'Neil & Apollo Crews) via submission
In
the first of a number of short matches on the show, Banks put Brooke
away with the Banks Statement in two and a half minutes. For what it
was, I found this relatively entertaining. Brooke going for a number
of roll up attempts early made storyline sense, whilst the wrestler,
who has consistently been towards the lower end of the female
performers since debuting in 2015, actually didn't look awful here,
hitting a nice looking enziguiri, pulling out some flippy type stuff,
before going for her Samoan Driver finish and getting caught with a
backstabber. I'm not quite sure what this match was for, with very
little storyline development, but with Evolution not to far away it
makes sense to give some depth to a couple of women at the far
reaches of the division to fill out that card.
Backstage,
there was an interaction between Dean Ambrose and Jinder Mahal that
filled sometime and would eventually lead to a match in the third
hour.
The
first very good segment of the show was next as we got promos from
Intercontinental Champion Seth Rollins and Kevin Owens, with the
latter accepting an open challenge from the former. Rollins promo was
alright, not offering much beyond crowd pandering, but effective
enough to keep Toronto engaged and getting pops when necessary,
before issuing the challenge. Owens on the other hand was on fire,
full of anger at not having Sami Zayn by his side anymore, like
Rollins had Dean Ambrose at SummerSlam, whilst also discussing how
RAW hadn't been as much fun as he'd expecting. The Toronto crowd was
super hot for their fellow Canadian, that is until he mentioned he's
from Quebec and began speaking exclusively in French to a chorus of
boos. It was timed to perfection with Owens spending enough time
reeling in the crowd to get them to believe in his cause, only to
turn on them just before the match began. Although with the skill and
fire of the segment of his babyface promo it's curious that Owens has
yet to be seen in this role regularly since his very first match with
WWE at NXT Takeover: R Evolution back in December 2014.
Singles
Match for Intercontinental Championship – Seth Rollins def. Kevin
Owens via pinfall to retain
A
superb television match here, with Kevin Owens and Seth Rollins
putting on what was almost certainly their best singles match in WWE,
and definitely the best match on the show. Part of why this match
worked better for me than their series over the Universal
Championship in Autumn 2016 was that Rollins has grown and grown as a
babyface since that point, becoming arguably the best performer on
the main roster since then, honing his moveset, whilst also making
better use of his impeccable selling. That was on full display here
as Owens targetting the Architect's shoulder, including a lovely
senton onto the afflicted area. A couple of tremendous sequences in
the middle of the bout with Rollins looking to hit either the Curb
Stomp or the Ripcord Knee, only for Owens to block with an attack to
the shoulder, would eventually string together into Owens locking in
a Crossface and then modifying the submission to block Rollins arm
reaching the rope, in a well-done dramatic moment was a personal
highlight. Some back and forth series of reversals that would
conclude with Owens hitting a Stunner as an answer to Rollins' Avadra
Kedavra was brilliant in a completely different way, more reminiscent
of their indy work than their early WWE series, as both men continued
to show their versatility as in-ring performers. I would have liked
to have seen Rollins' shoulder used further in the closing stages, as
whilst Rollins still sold well the injury was put on the back burner
in the final third, whilst playing very little role in the eventual
finish. I think that with a little work on that this bout could've
been pushed even further. However, it was super cool to see Owens
pull out a double jump moonsault from his bag of tricks and, of
course, missing the move would lead to Rollins retaining his belt at
the first time of asking, collecting a W with a Curb Stomp to bring a
stellar Intercontinental Championship match to an end.
Backstage,
Braun Strowman handed his Money in the Bank briefcase to Baron
Corbin, signalling that his cash-in at Hell in a Cell is now
official.
There
was an intriguing angle post-match as a frustrated Owens, who has
struggled for victories since moving to RAW in April, sat in the
ring, muttered the words “I quit” before slowly walking to the
back. Like most, I'm very intrigued to see what happens next, which
is the most important part of any weekly wrestling show.
Dolph
Ziggler and Drew McIntyre managed to improve on their promo from the
opening segment in an interview with Renee Young. The pair bought a
whole heap more energy to their performances, whilst also seeming to
have a better idea of why they were challenging two of the most
dominant performers on the RAW brand. This boiled down to the idea
that Reigns' body wasn't ready to compete following gruelling matches
with Brock Lesnar and Finn Balor last week, whilst Braun Strowman's
mind wasn't ready to compete after two thwarted Money in the Bank
cash-ins in the same time period.
Tag
Team Match – The Revival def. RAW Tag Team Champions The B-Team via
pinfall
The
B-Team's undefeated streak finally came to an end at the hands of
Scott Dawson and Dash Wilder this week as The Revival went over
Curtis Axel and Bo Dallas in a rematch from SummerSlam Kick-Off. This
was a fairly basic tag match in structure, failing to get any real
reaction out of the crowd. A lot of the action felt contrived and
clunky, including a couple of roll-up spots that went on for way to
long and killed an energy the match could have had. WWE seems to have
no idea what made either team popular and even less of an idea about
how it wants to present them to it's audience. Are the B-Team a
comedy babyface act? Because there was very little in the way of
shenanigan or attempted shenanigan from them here. This meant that
the Revival's cutting off the ring schtick simply comes across as
boring, because there's little to no promise of anything exciting or
entertaining later on in the match. With The Revival's act, if the
crowd aren't behind the face in peril then it falls flat. It's
difficult to see how RAW's tag division can recover at the moment, as
whilst there is some talent there, especially in Dawson & Wilder,
the creative and attention to detail, both big and small, simply
isn't there.
An
entertaining segment saw Trish Stratus interrupt Elias, after
The Drifter began ripping into Stratus' hometown of Toronto. Neither
performer was without their slip-ups during their promos, but both
has enough charisma to keep the crowd and the vocal talent to roll
with their mistakes. There was a couple of really well-written lines
in this with Elias making a reference to Torontonian Drake's song
“Started from the Bottom”, whilst a pair of barbs from each
wrestler later on in the promo got great pops from the crowd, even if
it did feel like they were papering over that they had no legitimate
chemistry. A Stratus slap closed the segment, with Ronda Rousey and
Natalya's entrance for the next match being used as a way to swiftly
move on from the fact that there wasn't any real ending in place.
Before,
Natalya took on Alicia Fox, we got to here from Alexa Bliss, with the
revelation that she was revoking or invoking or devoking perhaps, her
rematch clause for Rousey's RAW Women's Championship at Hell in a
Cell. Bliss also reintroduced Mickie James who hadn't been seen for
quite a while, for a nice pop.
Singles
Match – Natalya (with RAW Women's Champion Ronda Rousey & WWE
Hall of Famer Trish Stratus) def. Alicia Fox (with Alexa Bliss &
Mickie James) via submission.
A
quick and simple win for Natalya in her home-country in her first
match since her father, Jim Neidhart, passed away. Natty won with a
Sharpshooter in a few minutes and whilst there was nothing of note in
the bout, it's difficult to complain about WWE allowing for such a
sentimentally sweet moment. This was made especially
heart-warming/heart-breaking by Natty pointing to the sky and
proclaiming the match was for her Dad afterwards. WWE doesn't always
handle death well on it's television products, here's hoping that Jim
Neidhart becomes an exception and makes a new rule.
Backstage,
Natalya, Rousey and Stratus were met by the Bella Twins. Brie and
Nikki talked awkwardly for a few seconds, before it was revealed
they'd be returning to action on next week's show. Yay. (For fact
fans, this will be their first TV match as a duo since the 17th
October 2015 edition of Main Event, where they went over Team
B.A.D.'s Naomi and Tamina on a show that also included Stardust vs.
Fandango and Ryback vs. Adam Rose!)
Another
look at what various WWE alumni thinks about The Undertaker facing
Triple H in Melbourne in October. This time we heard from “Stone
Cold” Steve Austin, Booker T, The Big Show and Diamond Dallas Page,
which was nice.
In
a surprisingly entertaining segment, Baron Corbin informed Bobby
Lashley that he had a match next, but that Corbin couldn't remember
who he'd booked him against. I got a kick out of Lashley laughing it
off, pretending to be pals with Corbin whilst slapping him on the
shoulder. Corbin later informed Lashley that his match was a handicap
match once the former Impact World Champion had got in the ring. I'm
interested to see how long WWE pushes Corbin as the heel GM using his
power irresponsibly and what the actual pay-off is, considering his
boss is still the villainous RAW Commissioner Stephanie McMahon.
Two-on-One
Handicap Match – Bobby Lashley def. The Ascension via pinfall
This
was a thing. A rather stupid piece of booking, as Lashley going over
two guys who haven't looked like a threat in years, but are also
considered to have never been booked correctly since leaving NXT,
isn't going to help him get over, whilst neither placing him in a
feud with Baron Corbin. With the RAW tag team division a mess it's
irresponsible to kill another team off in what was a pretty throwaway
contest.
Singles
Match – Dean Ambrose def. Jinder Mahal via pinfall
Completing
a trifeca of short matches, Jinder Mahal's run at the top of the
SmackDown brand seemed a distance memory as he lost cleanly to Dean
Ambrose in under five minutes. Mahal had pretty much the whole match,
controlling after a distraction from Sunil Singh, leading to dull and
forgettable contest that offered very little in the way of
entertainment. Ambrose's comebacks were repeatedly cut off by Mahal,
the Lunatic Fringe reversed a Khallas attempt with a Dirty Deeds. Out
of the three matches The Shield members had on the show, this was the
weakest and ultimately most pointless, coming across as generic
time-filler. I suppose Ambrose needed to be continued to be
reintroduced to the audience and a quick win over a former World
Champion is a solid way to do, but the delivery came off as lazy and
unimaginative.
In
the lockeroom, Braun Strowman and Roman Reigns had a confrontation,
although seemed to be on the same page before the main event.
Tag
Team Match – WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns & “Mr.
Monster in the Bank” Braun Strowman vs. Dolph Ziggler & Drew
McIntyre ended in a no contest
Less
of a match and more of a set-up for a shock conclusion to the show,
as Braun Strowman turned on Roman Reigns, appearing to side with
Dolph Ziggler & Drew McIntyre as the trio turned away both Dean
Ambrose and Intercontinental Champion Seth Rollins, before inflicting
further punishment on Reigns. The match was alright up until this
point, as Reigns battled against Ziggler and McIntyre as the
face-in-peril with McIntyre and Ziggler continuing to work well as a
team and showing plenty of intensity and physicality throughout as
they thwarted various Reigns comeback attempts. But I'm not sure how
effective the angle was or if it was the right decision to turn
Strowman at this point. The Toronto crowd didn't seem to know what to
make of what was happening, especially at the start, when it was very
unclear where the angle was heading, but even then the reaction from
them didn't match what was going on in the ring, mostly because
nobody wanted to see a Braun Strowman heel-turn just 10 months after
he became a babyface. Following the Becky Lynch heel-turn at
SummerSlam, this feels like another case of WWE being out-of-touch
with what it's core audience wants to see and how it is connected
with the performers in the ring.
There's
intrigue from this reviewer in how this plays out next week and going
forward and it has been a while since RAW ended with a genuinely
surprising moment. There is also potential in a
Strowman/Ziggler/McIntyre vs. The Shield match to main event RAW with
variational singles match also having promise whilst also filling
valuable minutes of content. Like any good episodic TV ending, I was
left asking questions about how the relationships between the
characters were effected and whether there was an full and proper
alliance between the villainous trio or whether this was one-off or
month-long partnership, but I was also left questioning whether the
timing was right, whether the correct person had made the turn and
how WWE's insistence of keeping Reigns as the babyface star of the
show could negatively impact on not just Strowman, but on Seth
Rollins and Dean Ambrose also.
Finally...
As
episodes of RAW go, this was high on big impact moments and talking
points, but low on good quality content across the three hours, with
some horrible booking seen throughout. Kevin Owens and Seth Rollins
stole the show with their Intercontinental Championship match, whilst
Owens' walk-out was probably the most interesting storyline
development. Alongside this we had Braun Strowman's questionable heel
turn and alignment with Drew McIntyre and Dolph Ziggler, whilst we
also got a surprise appearance from Hall of Famer Trish Stratus in a
fun appearance with Elias. We also got a look at Baron Corbin in the
role of Acting General Manager for the first time, something which
feels like it could be fun in the short term, but could get tiresome
if a pay-off doesn't come by Survivor Series at the very latest. A
nice moment for Natalya and a surprisingly competent performance from
Dana Brooke aside, the rest of the show was a mix between filler
matches and dull matches with bad booking as WWE continued to
struggled to know what to do with it's tag teams and Bobby Lashley.
Try
to check out the gem of a match between Rollins and Owens in full,
but I'm sure all of the moments worth seeing from the rest of the
show are available on YouTube.
Review by James Marston
