WWE Monday Night RAW Review // 19th March 2018

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

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

Interviewer - Charly Caruso 

Ring Announcer - JoJo

The Ultimate Deletion // 

"Woken" Matt Hardy vs. Bray Wyatt

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Brock Lesnar returns 

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

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

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

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

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

Sasha Banks confronts Bayley 

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

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

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

John Cena wants an answer from The Undertaker

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

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

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

Braun Strowman vs. RAW Tag Team Champion Cesaro 

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

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

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

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

Also on the show 

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

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

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

ATPW Scale Rating //

5.5 out of 10

Written by James Marston //

@IAmNotAlanDale 

WWE Monday Night RAW Review // 12th February 2018

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Bayley def. Sasha Banks // Pinfall

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

Roman Reigns def. Sheamus // Pinfall 

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

Braun Strowman hit Elias with a double bass 

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

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

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

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

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

Also this week

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

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

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

ATPW Scale Rating // 6.30 out of 10

Written by James Marston // @IAmNotAlanDale

WWE RAW Review // 5th February 2018

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Asuka def. Bayley // Submission

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

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

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

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

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

Kurt Angle announced the Women's Elimination Chamber competitors

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

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

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

Mickie James def. Sonya Deville // Pinfall

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

Nia Jax def. Vanessa Floyd // Pinfall

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

ATPW Scale Rating // 4.20/10 

RAW 1279 Review // Roman Reigns vs. Elias // Intercontinental Championship

The past month on RAW...

RAW 1275 Review // The Miz vs. Matt Hardy // Intercontinental Championship
RAW 1276 Review // Seth Rollins & Dean Ambrose vs. Cesaro & Sheamus // RAW Tag Team Championship
RAW 1277 Review // The Shield vs. The Miz, Cesaro & Sheamus
Survivor Series 2017 Review // Raw vs. SmackDown 
RAW 1278 Review // The Miz vs. Roman Reigns // Intercontinental Championship

With Survivor Series firmly in the rear view mirror and with nine weeks until the Royal Rumble, it seems we're in for an interesting two months on RAW. The 27th November episode came to us from Knoxville, Tennesee and was main-evented by Roman Reigns' first Intercontinental title defence against Elias, with Reigns being moved into a new feud with Samoa Joe post-match. There was also a curious angle that saw Kane in action against Jason Jordan and then Finn Balor, before Braun Strowman turned up for some revenge, whilst Seth Rollins clashed with RAW Tag Team Champion Cesaro, with both men's partners absent from ringside. But was RAW 1279 any good? Lets take a look!

Elias stepped up to Roman Reigns

then...

Intercontinental Championship // Roman Reigns def. Elias [Elias Samson] // Pinfall

With The Miz written off TV to do a film, Roman Reigns was shifted into a feud with Samoa Joe, but not before he'd spent a big portion of the episode opposite Elias. The opening segment of the show set the tone for the interaction, with Reigns cutting a run of the mill promo, before being interrupted by The Miztourage, who introduced Elias. Not a whole lot else actually happened. Considering Reigns had issued an open challenge on social media, having it answered by Elias was a let down. The Drifter has done some good character work in the mid-card, but it's hard to pick out a match of his that has come anywhere near exciting me. Had the challenge not been issued a week in advance it wouldn't have been as bad, but allowing the fans (and other roster members) to get interested in who could step out to face Reigns and to then provide Elias as the answer seemed like a misstep. The highlight of the segment was The Miztourage joining up with Elias as the trio has potential to entertain, whilst also opening up a programme when The Miz is ready to return.

Before the main event (coming at the top of the third hour) could get underway, Elias was allowed to shine as he did an extended concert alongside Bo Dallas and Curtis Axel. This was the best part of the one-night story with Elias controlling the crowd with ease. The Drifter has a good sense of when to bring the crowd up and when to settle them down, threatening to stop at multiple points, only to continue with his sweet tunes, much to Knoxville's displeasure. Dallas and Axel playing the harmonica was a bizarre twist, but meant the concert could continue way past what we usually see from a solo Elias, resulting in a decent sized "We Want Roman" chant. This segment provided even more evidence that an Elias, Axel and Dallas trio could work extremely well as a mid-card act and under other circumstances do well from an Intercontinental Championship run.

Unfortunately the match couldn't follow the concert, not helped by some strange booking. With the crowd chanting "We Want Roman" by the end of the prior segment, it would've made sense to have Reigns come straight out of the gates with a big face shine, yet instead we got five of the dullest minutes of wrestling in recent memory. Wear down holds, general beat down stuff and a few slow and clunky moments littered the opening exchanges and struggled to grab the audience or hold my attention. The best moments came from the interference from Axel and Dallas as the pair bought something mildly interesting to match, popped the crowd and then Axel got speared out of his boots on the floor after a nice bit of build. There was also a handful of decent near falls for Elias with the Miztourage being used well to increase the threat to Reigns' title run, as the Drifer came close with a diving elbow drop and a wicked spinning sitout powerbomb. Eventually, Reigns picked up the win in fairly convincing fashion with a spear. Post-match, Reigns was assaulted on the ramp by Samoa Joe in an intense angle. The two have clash three times already on RAW this year, but a full blown feud could prove fruitful as the show bides time between now and the Road to WrestleMania.

Kane def. Jason Jordan // Countout 

then...

Finn Balor [Prince Devitt] def. Kane // Disqualification

Well, this was a strange close to the show. Kane vs. Jason Jordan was supposed to be our final match, but it didn't last long with Jordan getting thrown over the top rope and selling his knee, getting counted out. There wasn't much to the match at all and it seemed like just another way of furthering the story that Jordan is trying to look tough, whilst simultaneously pussying out at any sign of things not going his way. After Kane murdered Jordan, Finn Balor came roaring out to let us know that Vince McMahon really doesn't see anything in him. Balor actually got some decent offence in on Kane, but after a shotgun dropkick sent the Big Red Machine into the barricade, the former WWE Champion came back with a chair to cause the DQ. Kane smacked Balor about a bit with the chair, in a grim metaphor for Balor's current trajectory, before Braun Strowman came out to make the save. It was a needlessly complicated piece of booking, that whilst aiding Jordan's story somewhat, did very little for Balor. It's clear that the company has cooled on him as a top level guy, but feeding him to Kane (who will inevitably be fed to Strowman) seemed unnecessary with such a deep roster.

The show would conclude with Strowman dishing out a beating to Kane, as a receipt for last week. Whilst The Monster Amongst Men lobbing people around and wielding a chair will always be fun to a certain level, there was also Kane escaping through the crowd whilst gasping for air. This was after Strowman drove the chair into the steel steps with Kane's throat at the other end and then repeated the act. Obviously, this was supposed to be a reply, after Kane did the same to Strowman last week, but became an uncomfortable watch, going on way past what was necessary. Perhaps in the middle of the show it would've been, at the very least, not quite as jarring, but having the newly babyface Strowman ram a steel chair repeatedly into another man's throat, even as a revenge attack was a strange way to end the show. Having the Devil's Favourite Demon stagger away through the crowd, gasping for breath has to be one of weakest ending's to an episode of RAW in the last few years. Surely, the running powerslam on the steps was a good enough ending? 

Seth Rollins def. Cesaro [Claudio Castagnoli] // Pinfall 

The best match on the show, pretty much saved the messy upper card as Seth Rollins and Cesaro put on a great television opener. After a handful of TV matches over the last two years, this still felt like a fresh pairing and with a little extra time they seemed to really get their teeth in this, with a series of creative highspots. The fameasser on the apron from Rollins, as well as Cesaro slamming Seth into the post, during the break, stand out in particular. However, the match's driving forces was the amazing selling on display from both men and how that was woven into the story, creating added drama at points. Simple things like Rollins selling a backbreaker by not being able to hit the Falcon Arrow, and then selling an eye-poke by blindly swinging in the corner made all the difference, whilst Cesaro also did some nice grit-your-teeth style work, getting over the physicality of the contest. The Swiss Superman got a couple of good near falls against the two time WWE Champion, including the Kingslayer spending sometime in the Sharpshooter, before a smooth sequence resulted in Rollins nailing the King's Landing and falling into the cover. Post-match, Rollins told Charly Caruso that The Shield was still a unit, comically talking about Dean Ambrose being on honeymoon, before announcing he and Ambrose would be cashing in their rematch clause for the RAW Tag Team Championship next week in Los Angeles.

Cruiserweight Championship #1 Contendership Tournament Semi-Final // Rich Swann def. Akira Tozawa and Noam Dar and Ariya Daivari // Pinfall 

After Kurt Angle admitted he'd let the Cruiserweight division got off the rails, claiming he didn't even know what The 'Zo Train was despite it dominating 205 Live for months, the RAW General Manager booked a tournament to crown a number one contender, with the first semi-final happening this week. Rich Swann, Akira Tozawa, Noam Dar and Ariya Daivari put on a four-way sprint, that featured lots of enjoyable action, even if the crowd was a little flat. There could have been more storytelling with Dar and Daivari both in the 'Zo Train, but as a showcase for the four's in-ring talent this was a good starting point for anyone looking to jump into 205 Live. The Swann vs. Tozawa section was some of the best straight-up wrestling on the show. The pair have lots of history in Dragon Gate and DGUSA, but this was the first time they'd been on opposite sides in WWE and it was brilliant to watch. Dar would also put in a great showing down the stretch as he desperately clawed to get the win anyway possible, connecting well with both Swann and Tozawa, getting a decent bit of heat, before eventually taking the pin after a Phoenix Splash as Swann advance to the final on 1281.

Bray Wyatt def. Matt Hardy // Pinfall 

For an eight minute portion of the show, Bray Wyatt going over Matt Hardy featured a lot of talking points. The match itself was a short and straightforward victory for Wyatt, as he weathered a Hardy storm, kicking out of a Side Effect, before winning with Sister Abigail. However, the stuff that book-ended the match was much more noteworthy. We began with a wild promo from Wyatt, as he spoke about Thanksgiving and then proceeded to shout "You're all dead" four or five times. I'm not quite sure what it was supposed to be, but it was the first Wyatt promo in a long while that has felt different and engaging. It's difficult to ignore being told that you and everyone else is in fact dead, by laughing 285lb man. Post-match, things were all about Matt Hardy as WWE finally prepared to pull the trigger on "Broken" Matt. It had been referenced that Hardy's attack on Elias last week had seen a change in the former United States Champion, which to be honest I hadn't clocked, but now made perfect sense. Hardy sat in the corner, screaming a few times, before doing the signature "Delete" gesture that we haven't seen for a little while. A "Broken" Matt feud with Wyatt has bags of potential if WWE can keep more to the Final Deletion style than they did with the House of Horrors, whilst the return of Jeff Hardy in 2018 opens doors to other potential stories

Paige, Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville [Daria Berenato] laid out Sasha Banks

After the surprising return and debut last week, Paige, Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville couldn't match things this time round with an oddly booked segment. Originally supposed to be a six man tag with Mickie James and Bayley tagging with Sasha Banks, when neither came out, Paige later brought up footage of the pair nursing injuries backstage. This lead to an overly wordy segment, including Mandy Rose seemingly not knowing how to walk, in which Paige explained the reasons behind attacking the roster last week. Basically, it was the same kind of thing we've heard time and time again from performers after time off, moaning that they were forgotten about while injured etc. Paige is strong on the mic, but giving time to Deville and Rose seemed like a poor choice, especially having them do it after walking to the ring to surround Banks. Deville struggled with dealing with the "What?" chants, whilst Rose positioning herself on the hard-cam side of the apron resulted in some awkward camera angles. The beatdown followed the same pattern as last week's, with Banks taking Bed of Roses from Rose, a jumping roundhouse kick from Deville and a Rampaige from Paige. Oh, the trio is also called Absolution now and after a lengthy explanation, I still have no idea why.

Samoa Joe def. Titus O'Neil // Submission

Quick squash that was mostly strikes, before Joe used a separation by the referee to lock in  the Coquina Clutch for the submission victory. After the match, Apollo Crews tried to stand up to Joe, but ended up caught in the Coquina Clutch as well.

Asuka [Kana] def. Dana Brooke // Submission

An in-vision promo from Dana Brooke called Asuka a "slow-starter" before The Empress of Tomorrow made Brooke tap out to a cross-armbreaker in under five seconds in a laugh-out loud moment. After the match it was teased that Asuka had some involvement with Absolution when the group hit the ring, but didn't attack.

Finally... 

Not a great RAW this week, with a number of poor booking decisions that left performers exposed, but also featured a couple of good to very good TV bouts. Roman Reigns vs. Elias was highlighted by the involvement of The Miztourage, but the match itself was poorly put together, whilst Kane's matches with Jason Jordan and Finn Balor seemed unnecessary and Braun Strowman's attack on the Big Red Machine's throat was a shitty way to conclude. This left Seth Rollins vs. Cesaro as the only top segment to deliver, with the pair having a cracking opening bout, that the rest of the show struggled to follow. Asuka destroying Dana Brooke in seconds, the Cruiserweight four-way and the potential for "Broken" Matt in WWE gave the undercard a boost, but the new Absolution faction lost some of the edge they had last week in an ill-advised promo, in lieu of the advertised trios match. 

There's still no idea what the show is going to do to keep things interesting before the Royal Rumble, but we've got Cesaro & Sheamus vs. Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose to look forward to next week, as well as the live episode on Christmas Day for 1283 and the 25th anniversary special as the go-home for the Rumble on 22nd January for 1287.