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 

RAW #1269 Review - Sheamus & Cesaro vs. Dean Ambrose & Seth Rollins vs. Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson

On 18th September 2017, WWE aired the 1269th episode of Monday Night RAW, live on the USA Network from the SAP Center in San Jose, California. The show features a triple threat tag team match pitting Tag Team Champions Dean Ambrose & Seth Rollins against Sheamus & Cesaro and Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson, a six pack challenge with Jeff Hardy, Matt Hardy, Bo Dallas, Curtis Axel, Jason Jordan and Elias battling it out for a shot at The Miz's Intercontinental Championship and Michael Cole interviewing Universal Champion Brock Lesnar (with Paul Heyman) and his #1 contender Braun Strowman at the same time, as well as General Manager Kurt Angle, Roman Reigns, Bray Wyatt, Dustin Rhodes and Sasha Banks on the show. But was it any good? Let's take a look, eh? 

In-Ring

General Manager Kurt Angle, Intercontinental Champion The Miz, The Miztourage, Jason Jordan 

(5:40)

After I praised the booking of Jason Jordan since SummerSlam last week, WWE decided to make me look a fool, as they relapsed into pushing the idea that he was Kurt Angle's son hard in the opening segment. After The Miz interrupted a run of the mill promo from Angle to complain about not defending his Intercontinental strap at No Mercy on Sunday, we learned that Angle had planned a Fatal Fourway bout to crown a challenger later on between Jeff Hardy, Matt Hardy, Jordan and Elias. What a treat. This set Miz off about Jordan not being worthy of a chance, which lets be honest, makes a lot of sense since Jordan hadn't won a singles match since defeated a local competitor at the start of August. They did an awkward bit where Angle took a swing at Miz's future child, which made the General Manager look like a real doofus and just meant Miz had more opportunity to take the piss out of the whole sorry situation. Somehow when Jordan came out, Bo Dallas and Curtis Axel ended up getting added to the #1 Contenders match, before there was a bit of a brawl and the Miztourage escaped. As we've seen in his matches with Finn Balor, John Cena and Roman Reigns over the last few weeks, Jason Jordan has bucket loads of potential, but this storyline is not helping him at all. 

• Backstage - Kurt Angle, Jason Jordan - Angle gives Jordan some advice about not blowing up when people say something about Kurt, before a little pep talk ahead of the Six Pack Challenge later on.

Singles Match

Nia Jax def. Women's Champion Alexa Bliss 

(3:10)

A pretty simple bout, Bliss constantly ducked to the outside, Jax over powered her at every turn, Bliss tried to leave, Sasha Banks turned up to stop her and Bliss jumped straight into a Samoan drop to leave her with one singles victory since Extreme Rules in June. Nothing wrong with the match in particular, but again it was a case of the women getting shafted on their TV times, three minutes of action aired is a joke. Post-match, we did get the return of Bayley, who turned up to help Bliss and Banks fight off Jax in a really confused piece of booking (Emma was supposedly still in Australia after the recent tour), then Banks and Bayley teamed up to beat up the Women's Champion. I have no idea what's going on with the Women on RAW at the moment. 

• Commentary Desk - Corey Graves, Michael Cole, Booker T - The trio push the WWE Network with a run down of the cards for No Mercy and Hell in a Cell 

• Promo - Brock Lesnar vs. Braun Strowman at No Mercy - A long ass video looking at the feud, beginining by looking at the similarities between the two before launching into clips of Strowman's domination. A well crafted package as usual from WWE.

In-Ring 

Sheamus & Cesaro, Tag Team Champions Dean Ambrose & Seth Rollins, Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson

(5:43)

Whilst the women are having their time squeezed, it seems like it's a bloody good time to be in a Tag Team on RAW, because we got a five minute promo, followed up by a fifteen minute (TV) match. The talking segment was a pretty clunky way of leading into the match, which had initially been announced as Sheamus & Cesaro vs. Gallows & Anderson, but just as we saw last week, once Ambrose and Rollins inserted themselves into the situation, plans changed. I enjoyed parts of the Sheamus and Cesaro promo, when Cesaro began playing with the crowds "What?" chants, it's always cool to see a heel play into what the crowd is doing and remind them that it's a really stupid thing to do. However, most of the promo covered similar ground as last week, talking nostalgia acts and Ambrose and Rollins not being a real team. This was followed by a weak effort from the Tag Team Champions that referenced Brave Heart (1995) and Taxi Driver (1976) just to prove they weren't a nostalgia act, despite neither being alive when the latter was released. Gallows and Anderson said something about being good brothers and nerds and there was a little entertainment heading into the three way brawl...but not a classic moment for anyone.

Triple Threat Tag Team Match 

Sheamus & Cesaro def. Tag Team Champions Dean Ambrose & Seth Rollins and Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson

(15:10)

A solid three way tag, that went a little bit long, for my tastes. There was a lot to enjoy here, with the two heel teams spending most of the match working over Ambrose and Rollins, with both doing some good Lunatic and Kingslayer in peril work as Gallows, Anderson, Sheamus and Cesaro did their bruising heel act nicely. They worked in a couple of nice hope spots for both Shield boys, including Rollins making the tag, only for the ref to be distracted by Sheamus. At times it felt like Gallows & Anderson were third wheeling it, as whilst creative has worked little issues for them with both teams, the match basically boiled down to The Good Brothers helping out Sheamus and Cesaro to wear down their opponents at No Mercy. They got a decent near fall off a Magic Killer on Rollins, with Ambrose making the save and Gallows had a bruising sequence with Sheamus to kick things off, but beyond that there wasn't much too their involvement in this match, beyond the finish. Considering, the match went over 15, there was certainly room to mix things up a little. 

So the finish saw Sheamus tag himself in as Ambrose went for a Lunatic Lariat and then take advantage after the lunatic fringe had hit Dirty Deeds on Anderson to give his team some momentum heading into Sunday. The finishing section in general was a lot of fun, coming more of less straight off an Ambrose hot tag, that including an excellent criss-cross suicide dive spot from the tag team champions as things broke down further. I thought the finish was a cute way of giving Sheamus & Cesaro a little drive before the PPV and showed that the team had the potential to, at least, out smart their opponents and make the most of opportunities. It was one of the few times that the three way concept was really embraced during the match, with the gimmick of having one team on the outside really hurting it, in terms of making it feel any different from a regular two v two match. The structure was the same, the two heel teams were mostly interchangeable and there was an overall lack of creativity on display. Perhaps having a six man scramble later on the show effected it, I don't know. Chop off five minutes and you'd have had a good match here. 

• Backstage - The Miz, The Miztourage - Curtis Axel and Bo Dallas put forth their cases for winning the Six Pack challenge later on, as The Miz reminds them that Jason Jordan doesn't deserve their spotlight.

• Promo - John Cena vs. Roman Reigns at No Mercy - A very similar feel to the Lesnar v Strowman one from earlier, two similar stories etc. Some clips from their rivalry, but looks like that's all we're getting tonight...

• Backstage - Kurt Angle, Dustin Rhodes - After being beaten by Bray Wyatt last week, Goldust returns as Dustin Rhodes, asking Angle for a rematch to prove to Wyatt that he won't be a pawn in his feud with Finn Balor. 

Singles Match

Apollo Crews def. Curt Hawkins 

(2:15)

Curt Hawkins got some mic time and claimed that he would be putting an end to his losing streak tonight, bless him. That didn't happen as he fell to a Crews spin out powerbomb, that gave the Titus Brand associate a win in his first singles match on RAW in a month and a half. 

Titan Tron
Brock Lesnar, Paul Heyman, Braun Strowman
(5:55)

I thought this took a while to get going, going over some previous material and sort of trundling along towards the PPV, using the momentum they'd created over the last few weeks and months and just keeping that fire burning until the mammoth collision goes down in Los Angeles. Strowman sitting nice and close to the camera, getting his big beardy face right into the camera and oozing confidence as Paul Heyman reminded us about Lesnar being an underdog, but also being an underdog when he defeated the Undertaker at WrestleMania. All good stuff. Then Heyman cut off a question from Michael Cole, asking why all of the questions were being sent in Strowman's direction and things got interesting. Not perhaps for what Heyman said, but more for the fact that The Advocate was almost immediately interrupted by Lesnar, who himself got himself as close to camera as he could and spoke directly to Braun, in that weirdly charismatic and deeply terrifying way that only Brock Lesnar can. "I'll see you Sunday" closed the Beast, before turning away to leave. He then returned for the exclamation point "Suplex city bitches". These boys best go to war on Sunday, because if they do it's going to be magnificent. 

• Commentary Desk - Corey Graves, Michael Cole, Booker T - It's revealed that Bayley has been added to the Women's Championship match at No Mercy 

In-Ring

Roman Reigns 

(5:02)

With John Cena away this week for some reason, it was left to Roman Reigns to push their match on Sunday and you know what, I think he did a pretty good job. We got some more swearing from the Samoan, we got a reference to shit wrestler Alex Riley, we got a clip of John Cena from February 2012. What more do you want, people? Of course, this was a clip of Cena taking the piss out of The Rock for being a part timer and not being there to push their match. Turn about is fair play and Roman levelled the same accusations at Cena, before copying the closing line of his future opponents promo with "I'll see you Sunday, movie star".  I mean, the segment was clearly heavily produced and thought through, but Roman carried it well, held the crowd throughout and kept me interested in what he had to say. It was also a nice change of pace from the back and forth worked shoots they've done over the last three weeks. Most importantly, Roman made me want to see their match on Sunday, just that little bit more. 

• Backstage - Renee Young, The Hardy Boyz - The obvious question about the upcoming six man scramble bout, with Matt and Jeff concluding by saying "Let the best Hardy win", after a couple of "Broken" teases.

Singles Match

Bray Wyatt def. Dustin Rhodes 

(2:36)

Another short match, but unfortunately this one wasn't a patch on last week's effort with Goldust, there was perhaps more intensity, but certain parts looked awkward and the finish of Wyatt taking a duo of Shattered Dreams, before popping up to hit Sister Abigail made me groan, even if the Eater of Worlds kind of sold his inner thigh. A post-match promo on the screen from Finn Balor, however was rather effective, with the Irishman essentially telling the origin story of the Demon, before positing "if the Demon is a creation of the man, which one is more dangerous?". 

• Vignette - Bobby Heenan - A lovely look back at the career of Bobby "The Brain" Heenan who died earlier in the day, covering his managerial and commentary exploits in the WWE. 

Singles Match

Cruiserweight Champion Neville def. Gran Metalik 

(3:22)

Enzo Amore came out to talk for some reason, then got beaten half to death by Braun Strowman for some reason, followed up by Neville coming out and hitting a Red Arrow on his #1 Contender for at least, some reason. This was followed by Neville's match with Metalik, that for a sub-four minute encounter was brilliant stuff, that had me wondering why this was the former Mascara Dorada's first singles match on RAW and why he hadn't won a singles match on TV at all since February. Neville ripping a MASSIVE hole in Metalik's match gave the match some real fire in it's closing stages, before a missed moonsault proved to be the downfall of the luchadore, leading to Neville getting the submission victory with the Rings of Saturn. 

• In-Ring - Elias - Poor Elias only gets one bar of his tune about his opponents and San Jose being shit, before he's interrupted for the next match. 

Six Pack Challenge for a shot at the Intercontinental Championship 

Jason Jordan def. Jeff Hardy, Matt Hardy, Bo Dallas, Curtis Axel, Elias

(7:13)

A mildly entertaining six pack challenge to close of the show, even if it didn't feel anywhere close to being a "main event". There was a lot of moving parts in the match, as we got to see the Hardy Boyz scrap with each other, Jason Jordan attempt to get one up on Miztourage, lots of interference from The Miz and also Elias was there. To be fair to Elias he did a cool jump up to the top rope, but that was about it for the Drifter, until he had the worst sequence of the match with Matt Hardy. I'll always pop for a tower of doom spot and there was solid effort here (mostly because it didn't involved Elias), before Jordan provided the highlight of the bout with a series of lovely, lovely suplexes to both members of the Miztourage. There was no distinct flow or direction to the contest, meaning the finish felt a little bit disjointed when Jeff nailed one of the worst looking Swanton Bombs he's ever done on Axel, with The Miz making sure his pal didn't take the loss, before Axel recovered to hit Axehole on Jeff and left himself wide open for a belly-to-back suplex lifted and dropped into an elevated neckbreaker from Jordan for the three count. There was way too much going on and at the same not much at all going on in this match, as a bunch of guys with no clear course scrambled about in the closing match of RAW. That resulted in the one guy they wanted to push as a capable babyface getting a sort of cheap win, in a six way, by pinning a guy who wasn't originally in the match and only after the man he's supposed to be feuding with stopped someone else from winning the match. Shambolic, illogical booking. 

• In-Ring - Jason Jordan, The Miz, The Miztourage - After Jordan nails a couple of belly-to-belly suplexes on Miz, The Miztourage make the save and send Jordan into a Skull Crushing Finale, before Miz calls his #1 contender "a bastard". 

ATPW Scale Rating - 3.74/10 

Yeah, this wasn't a good three hours of wrestling television. The Brock Lesnar/Braun Strowman interview and the Roman Reigns promo (and to some extent the three way tag team main event) manage to stop the rating falling any lower. So much of the booking of the undercard lately has been illogical and with only a short segment for Strowman and Lesnar and no John Cena, it became even more obvious this week. Jason Jordan seems to be being set up to fail and the six man scramble was not on the right level to close a show with, the tag team storyline struggled to carry over twenty minutes of television despite big stars being involved, the Women's division has gone to hell in a handcart, who the fuck knows what the Cruiserweights are up to and then there's the Balor v Wyatt feud taking a weird turn up Dustin Rhodes alley and what on earth is going on with Curt Hawkins. There's so much potential that is being let down by creative focusing on the top two stories and suddenly having to scramble when some of those stars happen not to be there that week! 

Review by James Marston 

PG Tips #1 - Edge apologises to Vickie Guerrero and a Fatal Four-Way for an ECW Championship shot (22-25/07/08)

On 22nd July 2008, WWE's television output went from being rated TV14 to TVPG. 

This series plans to take a week by week look at how the RAW, SmackDown and ECW on Sci-Fi developed under this new rating, as well as the quality of the PPVs. The era hasn't been particularly romanticised, especially by the older generation of fans, but considering that those who were ten years old when WWE turned PG are now old enough to be attending University, it's certainly time to look back and re-evaluate just how good or bad for WWE the shift was in terms of quality. 

This week's edition see's us feature a Fatal Fourway for a shot at the ECW title at SummerSlam and Edge attempt at an apology to Vickie Guerrero following his affair with their wedding planner, Alicia Fox! 

We join the Universe just a few days after the last TV-14 PPV, The Great American Bash 2008/ Just to lend some context, here's the results from that PPV.

This week's trip to the "Land of Extreme" brings us a main event of The Miz, John Morrison, Matt Hardy and Finlay battling it out for a shot at Mark Henry's ECW title, which whilst sounding like an interesting match, makes little sense considering all four men lost on the PPV...but was the show any good?

Mark Henry received a new ECW Championship belt in Philadelphia 

An eventful opening segment to begin the show, as we get a new ECW title belt, a promo from Tony Atlas and Colin Delaney (who Atlas calls "Collars Delaney" for reasons) explaining his heel turn from two days earlier. It's not a good segment by any stretch of the imagination, but there was something persevely entertaining about watching Teddy Long and Atlas stumble through their awkwardly worded promos. Considering the show is in Philadelphia, the home of the original ECW, Atlas gets very little heat for mentioning that fact and then telling the crowd "for all of you all, who tired to hold onto yester year, you're going to get squash". I would've expected the comparisons between the two ECW brands to met with at least some kind of derision, but this crowd is almost completely apathetic towards Atlas and his charge Mark Henry. Perhaps by after two years of WWE's version of ECW the crowd had gone past the point of caring that it bore zero resemblance to the rebellious company that Paul Heyman used to run. However, they do come alive once Colin Delaney starts burying Tommy Dreamer, eating up Delaney's burial, before Long gets a nice pop from announcing we're getting Dreamer v Delaney next! 

• Tommy Dreamer def. Colin Delaney. An almost complete squash match for Dreamer here as he gets his revenge on Delaney with a flurry of offence, before picking up the victory with a Dreamer DDT. 

• Backstage - The Miz and John Morrison are upset about dropping the WWE Tag Team Championships two nights earlier, but both put each other and their clothing over, before shaking hands and wishing each other luck in the main event. 

• Promo - Actress Jenny McCarthy will be at Saturday Night's Main Event on August 2nd, to promote the organisation, Generation Rescue. This was an organisation that advocated that autism was caused by vaccinations, which is total utter trash and should never have been promoted on WWE's television product or anywhere else. 

• Evan Bourne def. James Curtis [KC James]. Bourne looks pretty good here, even if extended squashes for high-flying babyfaces don't really work all too well, we did get to see Bourne landing on his feet out of a snapmare early doors, as well as a rana out of a pop-up from Curtis, before a shooting star press got the three count. Bourne was then able to dodge a post-match attack from Chavo Guerrero and Bam Neeley, who had been on commentary. 

• Backstage - A weird backstage segment where Assistant General Manager Tiffany [Taryn Terrell] told Ricky Ortiz about her education, before Teddy Long placed Ortiz in a match next week after Ortiz had claimed her was undefeated after just one match on the brand. 

Matt Hardy def. The Miz, Finlay and John Morrison to earn an ECW Championship match

Despite a shaky start and some terrible commentary from Mike Adamle, this ended up being a more than competent television main event. The opening played up the partnership between The Miz and Morrison, but lacked any notable action as we got the four repeatedly splitting off into pairs and not a whole lot else. The action in the first third was dull and slow and despite all four men being in the ring for an extended period of time, not much actually happened. However, once the action spills to the outside things begin to pick up, as Morrison and Finlay brawl on the outside, before Miz & Morrison are able to hitting their catapult into a forearm smash and then elbow drop/backbreaker combination using the barricade on the Irish man. After this things are much better, with Miz and Morrison trying for victories on Hardy, whilst trying to outwit each other at the same time, before we get a couple of sequences with all four men involved that are particularly well-done. The finish is a frenzied affair with Finlay nailing Miz with a Shillelagh, before getting knocked to the outside himself with a roundhouse kick from Morrison, leading into Morrison springboarding into a Twist of Fate from Hardy to take us home. Despite the early awkwardness and the lack of any convincing near falls, the last five or six minutes featured some really good TV action and provide us with the first recommended match of the PG Era. 

• In Arena - Mark Henry comes out to the ramp for a stare down with his SummerSlam opponent. 

ATPW Scale Rating - 3.83/10 

A good main event, but beyond that there wasn't much on this episode and it's clear that WWE isn't putting a whole lot of effort into the brand or anyone on it. Colin Delaney cut a strong promo in the opening segment, but was surrounded by bumbling speeches from Teddy Long and Tony Atlas and then had his feud with Tommy Dreamer almost immediately put to bed. The build towards Matt Hardy vs. Mark Henry at SummerSlam begins next week so it shall be interesting to see how that is handled and where the likes of Finlay, John Morrison, The Miz, Evan Bourne, Chavo Guerrero and Tommy Dreamer find themselves fitting onto the hour long show.

The episode aired on 25th July 2008 on the CW Network, having been taped on 22nd July at the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvannia. The episode included Edge's apology to wife Vickie Guerrero after the previous episode revealed he'd been cheating with wedding planner Alicia Fox and an edition of The VIP Lounge (hosted by Montel Vontavious Porter) with Jeff Hardy, but was it any good? Let's take a look. 

The VIP Lounge with Jeff Hardy

I didn't enjoy this segment at all, but the Philadelphia crowd was massively into both men. The main thrust of it was that MVP was being a massive dick to Jeff Hardy, bringing up his suspensions, issues with drugs and the death of Hardy's dog, Jack, whilst Hardy looked uncomfortable with the content, delivered his lines with very little enthusiasm or believability and looked like he'd rather be anywhere else. Some of the dialogue was terrible here, when MVP bought up Hardy saying in WWE Magazine (remember that?) that he wouldn't get suspended again, Hardy replied with "I wouldn't, I'd be released", which, whilst in line with WWE wellness policy rules, is hardly the most inspiring babyface line. We close with Hardy pushing MVP over and shouting "You make me sick", for reasons I'm not quite sure. They'll both be involved in the "Biggest Blockbuster of the Summer" Battle Royal later on for a shot at Triple H's WWE Championship at SummerSlam. 

• United States Champion Shelton Benjamin def. Jimmy Wang Yang - A swifty victory for the US Champ with Paydirt, after cutting an uninteresting promo.

• A nervous Edge congratulated Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder on their Tag Team Championship win, before awkwardly looking at his hands for a bit. 

• Festus def. Curt Hawkins - This went under two minutes with Festus winning with a the one man flapjack, before his lame gimmick of going into a vegetative state when the bell rings for a pinfall allowed Hawkins and Zack Ryder to hit a double-team DDT on the Corn-Fed Colossus. 

The Biggest Blockbuster of the Summer Battle Royal for a shot at Triple H's WWE Championship at SummerSlam 

So when I saw the lineup for this battle royal and knowing the time period, I thought this was going to a car crash and it wasn't. Was it a classic? No. But it was well-booked and made the most of its components. We had Mr. Kennedy, The Great Khali, MVP, Umaga, Jeff Hardy and The Big Show; six men who didn't make it onto the Great American Bash card in an unusually thin over-the-top affair. This took away part of the spectacle of a battle royal, but also negated those early stages where a bunch of no hopers are thrown out. The opening portion was kept interesting with a couple of nice spots, like a Poetry in Motion to Khali from Hardy using Kennedy, a Khali and Show face-off being interrupted by a pair of thrust-kicks from Umaga and a Whisper in the Wind from Hardy to Umaga. The match built well towards its conclusion as Hardy eliminated Show by turning a powerbomb into modified hurricanrana that sent the World's Largest Athlete over the top rope, leaving The Charismatic Enigma alone with The Great Khali. The crowd was super hot for Hardy, with Philadelphia desperate to see the underdog overcome, however despite a Swanton Bomb and a low blow to escape a vice grip, Khali picked up the win, dumping Hardy over the top after a Khali Chop. We get a staredown between Khali and Triple H to end the segment and I am already dreading this match. 

• R-Truth is coming to SmackDown soon and we get a package of him in North Carolina talking about his time in prison. Truth had been having dark matches since March, included one before this episode with Sheamus O'Shaunessy.  

• Michelle McCool def. Maryse - Another quick bout as the first ever Diva's Champion picked up a submission victory with a MADT Heel Hook.

• The Brian Kendrick def. Shannon Moore -  A quick promo from Kendrick about his new persona, as he let the roster know that if anyone had a problem with him they should take it up with his bodyguard Ezekiel [Jackson]. This was followed up by Kendrick quickly going over Moore with The Kendrick. 

Hell Hath No Fury Like Vickie Guerrero

Edge and Vickie Guerrero were both brilliant in this segment as Guerrero took revenge for her husband's infidelity by reinstating The Undertaker and placing Edge in a Hell in a Cell Match with the Deadman at SummerSlam. Edge trying to explain away the footage claiming that "No means no, but she wouldn't listen" in regards to Alicia Fox and then explaining he only got involved with Fox in order to make sure the wedding went smoothly was played perfectly by the Rated R Superstar. Edge gets the cowardly cheat act just right, remaining entertaining and getting a couple of laughs, but also being utterly contemptible as a character and someone who you look forward to seeing getting what they deserve. Vickie seemed to relish getting to say something that the crowd would pop for and paced her lines wonderfully getting a huge pop for almost every word that came out of her mouth. The crowd went nuts for The Undertaker coming back, leaving Edge having to let them get on with it whilst looking terrified and trying to come up with a way out of facing his rival again. The segment could have done with a better conclusion as once the announcement has been made there was a lack of a climax or conflict, perhaps just playing Undertaker's music and a few special effects would've rounded off the segment perfectly. 

Finally... 

ATPW Scale Rating - 4.29/10 

Not a terrible episode, but not a great one either. This is pretty much saved by the strength of it's closing segment as Edge and Vickie Guerrero shone in an emotional climax that both played wonderfully, as the opening segment was dire and the Battle Royal was okay. Elsewhere the show was filled with short, inconsequential matches, that did very little for anyone. 

An interesting start to the PG Era as ECW and SmackDown took the leap first. The ECW Four Way main event producing the strongest action of the week, whilst the closing sequence of SmackDown was a great example of the chemistry between Edge and Vickie Guerrero and just why that feud involving the pair and The Undertaker worked so well. Across the three hours there was a lot of talking, with three of the five major segments being promo based and I noticed that the matches were a lot shorter than what we are used to seeing in 2017. When we begin to include next week, a show that is known to include more talking and entertainment segments, it will interesting to compare that to what the other two brands were offering, as the company moves away from the adult and teen orientated programming that caused it's late nineties boom and more towards the family and children market. 

Next week - RAW features a Tag Team main event pitting John Cena & Batista against John "Bradshaw" Layfield and Kane, ECW sees John Morrison and The Miz take on Finlay & Hornswoggle, SmackDown features a classic segment between Edge and Mick Foley, before the Rated R Superstar faces off with one of his signature foes, Jeff Hardy, on the final Saturday Night's Main Event.