WWE Monday Night RAW Review // 12th March 2018

With four week's til WrestleMania, this week's RAW saw a number of new matches formed and storylines developed. After a segment on Miz TV, Seth Rollins and Finn Balor would face off one on one, the RAW Women's title picture began to thicken as Mickie James faced Asuka and Alexa Bliss accidentally told the world how she felt about Nia Jax, Braun Strowman inserted himself into a battle royal to find a Number One Contender to Cesaro & Sheamus' RAW Tag Team titles, John Cena challenge The Undertaker to a match at WrestleMania, Roman Reigns confronted Vince McMahon about Brock Lesnar no-showing for the third week in a row and Sasha Banks went one on one with Sonya Deville as The Boss' issues with Bayley continued...but was it any good? Lets take a look.

Commentary - Michael Cole, Corey Graves, Jonathan Coachman, Cesaro & Sheamus
Interviewer - Renee Young & Charly Caruso
Ring Announcer - JoJo

The Miz, Seth Rollins & Finn Balor segment

A really fun edition of Miz TV saw the relationships between The Miz, Seth Rollins and Finn Balor fleshed out ahead of their Intercontinental Championship match on 8th April. The segment had similar elements to what we've seen Jinder Mahal doing over on SmackDown in the United States title feud between Bobby Roode and Randy Orton, but did it without needing a lame top 10 ranking list. Miz attempted to find friendship with both men, whilst simultaneously throwing out insults, especially towards Balor who he called a "great up and comer" and "The Man...in bingo halls", whilst the issues bubbling under between Rollins and Balor came to the forefront as well to a big pop. The segment was built nicely to it's conclusion with three strong performances, with Balor bringing some fire when getting in Rollins face and offering to fight him right there in Detroit and Rollins doing the same as he talked about the importance of the title and the match at WrestleMania, but it was Miz who owned the segment as he looked on with glee, rubbing his hands together as Rollins and Balor looked to come to blows. They'd eventually notice Miz and beat him down, before Rollins took the opportunity to blindside Balor at the close of the segment. These three put on the best action of the Men's Elimination Chamber last month and if WWE keeps adding fuel to the fire over the next three episodes then they should have a great three way at Mania.

Seth Rollins vs. Finn Balor 

Finn Balor got the better of Seth Rollins this time round, with the two showing glimpses of what we know they can do together, but taking quite a while to get there. The earlier portion of the match seemed to go on way too long and I honestly couldn't tell you all that much about the first six, seven or eight minutes, because not that much happened at all. Rollins controlled for a bit, Balor controlled for a bit, it was a run over of the trope of the match between two guys who respect each other, but not done all that well. It took way too long for things to heat up, but when they did, as the pair started trading stiff forearms it became a real enjoyable watch, as the two went back and forth resulting in a Pele Kick from Balor being answered by a jumping enziguiri from Rollins. Had this started a little earlier, it would have been great to see the intensity continue to be ramped up, but unfortunately the match was over soon after as Balor countered a Falcon Arrow from Rollins with a small package to pick up the win. The finish was a real nice piece of business, however, playing off a spot we've all seen from Rollins multiple times, whilst also boosting Balor after he'd had to face The Miz second a few weeks ago. 

Asuka, Alexa Bliss & Mickie James segment 

No real surprises from this segment with Alexa Bliss and Mickie James interrupting an in-ring interview with Asuka, as the Empress of Tomorrow gave her reasons for choosing Charlotte Flair as her WrestleMania opponent. Some jokes about Asuka's English being bad, Asuka's reasoning being that she wanted to face someone she hadn't already beaten and the crowd being impatient with Asuka's promo, despite it being pretty clear what the Osakan was saying. In fact, it was Bliss who seemed to struggle the most with her English! A perfectly fine segment, with good performances all round, but it played out exactly as expected and perhaps wasn't even that necessary considering Asuka is shifting over to SmackDown now. The most interesting part came at the conclusion as Bliss tried calling out an opponent for Asuka, who I'm sure we're supposed to assume was Nia Jax, leading to Mickie James blindsiding the 2018 Royal Rumble winner and this match taking place. 

Asuka vs. Mickie James 

Asuka goes to 38-0 in televised singles competition, tapping out Mickie James with the Asuka Lock at the conclusion of a short, yet enjoyable match, in front of a disrespectful Detroit crowd. This match was above and beyond my expectations, because honestly I'm not the biggest Mickie James fan and have found her increasingly sloppy since her return last year, but this was probably one of her most accomplished performances since then. Building around an injury suffered by Asuka, as her leg connected with the ringpost after James ducked a kick, the match did a good job at lifting up James' chances of victory and even if most fans know WWE wouldn't have Asuka lose 4 weeks out from WrestleMania, the injury at least allowed for a stronger and more impressive victory. The strongest part of the match was a lovely sunset flip powerbomb out of the corner from James, that landed with real impact, but unfortunately garnered a "CM Punk" chant from Detroit. This was a problem throughout the match and promo, as the crowd for whatever reason wasn't interested, chanting "Rusev Day" as well during the match. I'm not sure why Detroit didn't want this, but it didn't come across well on camera, especially considering they were ruining a perfectly good match by not paying attention.  

After the match - Alexa Bliss confronted Nia Jax about not coming out when they called, whilst continuing to play the act of the manipulating boyfriend, with it also being revealed that Jax had a match next and that Bliss would be facing Asuka on RAW next week - Nia Jax squashed the debuting Joan King, winning with a Samoan Drop in under a minute 

Nia Jax, Alexa Bliss and Mickie James segment

In a superb piece of television, following Jax's squash victory, Alexa Bliss and Mickie James appeared on the screen in the lockeroom and proceeded to bitch about Jax for a number of minutes, with the idea being that we could hear and see them because they were waiting to interviewed by Charly Caruso. At points this was a real uncomfortable watch, as Jax stood in the ring watching the screen, as James seemed to goad Bliss into saying increasingly cruel things about the Irresistible Force. With jibes about Nia's weight, including Bliss calling her "shrek" and saying she was as "dumb as she is big", WWE has to be careful how it presents this feud over the coming week's, but I think at this point its just about toeing the line and if Jax is presenting a successful and able to use her size to her advantage then we've got a real positive story here. The moment when Jax stood on the ramp, looking at the screen and then wiped away a tear before looking back up with rage and power gave me genuine goosebumps and a feeling that shit was about to go down. Bliss and James would eventually bail when Caruso informed them of the mistake, leading to Jax smashing the shit out of the lockeroom in a Braun Strowman-esque moment of fury. It's a shame that WWE hasn't had such a clear plan for Jax and Bliss over the last couple of months, because with some more clarity in the storytelling this would've been an even more impactful moment. That being said, I'm still very excited to see where this goes over the next three weeks and more than looking forward to seeing Jax finally get her hands on Alexa and the RAW Women's Championship.

RAW Tag Team Championship #1 Contendership // 

Over-the-Top Battle Royal // 

Scott Dawson & Dash Wilder vs. Rhyno & Heath Slater vs. Bo Dallas & Curtis Axel vs. Apollo & Titus O'Neil vs. Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson vs. Braun Strowman 

Before the match -  The entire RAW Tag Team division answered Cesaro & Sheamus' open invitation, leading to a big brawl - Cesaro & Sheamus demanded to be traded to SmackDown, but Kurt Angle refused and booked a battle royal with the winner facing The Bar at WrestleMania

What a bizarrely booked match this was, as Braun Strowman became the #1 Contender to the RAW Tag Team Championship. That fact alone should be enough to make you wonder what the hell WWE where thinking when they put this together, but there were so many moments that had me shaking my head throughout this. The story of the match wasn't all that bad as the various tag teams tried to work together to eliminate Strowman, but everything felt a bit heavyhanded in its application, including having the Miztourage and The Revival repeatedly ram Strowman with the steel steps on the outside. This wasn't helped by the commentary team pointing out that it was pretty stupid because Strowman couldn't be eliminated on the floor, no matter how much damage was done. Moving past Strowman there was a number of questionable eliminations, the most obvious one being The Revival being sent out by The Miztourage, moments after Dawson & Wilder had gotten some good heat for eliminating hometown boy Rhyno. The spot wasn't helped by a botch that saw Axel unable to get Wilder over the top rope first time round.  I can't figure out what WWE is doing with The Revival at the moment, but its clear they don't see much of a future for what was one of the most entertaining teams in the company not all that long ago. The majority of this match was a mess and as much as I enjoy Strowman's destruction, I'm not sure I'm interested in seeing him run through an entire division and have a handicap match at WrestleMania. How does this division recover after WrestleMania? 

John Cena segment

It's official, after week's of "will they? won't they?" John Cena finally challenged The Undertaker to a match at WrestleMania. Did Big Match John hold back when challenging one of the most respected professional wrestlers in history? The fuck did he! Whilst the bait and switch stuff with Cena saying he was going to Mania as a fan and drinking some blokes beer was fun, this segment was all about what the 15 time World champion had to say about Taker. The set-up to challenge with Cena referring to something he wasn't "supposed to do" was another case of WWE attempting to add elements of reality into their fiction and whether you bought that Cena was being a rebel or not by issuing is by the by, because the challenge go and enormous pop from Detroit. We've seen Cena throw bombs over the last few years at The Rock and Roman Reigns, but never at someone as universally beloved as The Undertaker, so his comments about Undertaker being a "self-centred, conceited egomaniac" really hit home and produced some fascinating viewing. The line about Undertaker not being "beat-up" because he posts "work out videos on [his] wife's Instagram" got a big reaction from the live crowd as well. With the challenge from Cena at this point going unanswered, it means we've got something to look forward to next week and considering the strength of Cena's comments, we know that The Undertaker won't take that kind of shit lying down. Who knows what their match at WrestleMania will look like, but when it comes to the build-up over the next three weeks, I'm all in.

Kurt Angle, Roman Reigns & Mr. McMahon segment 

A real hot segment to kick off the show with, as Roman Reigns' on-going storyline continues to blur the lines between reality and fiction. This saw Reigns storm into the gorilla position to confront Mr. McMahon, after Kurt Angle announced Brock Lesnar would be missing the show for the third week in a row. Gorilla has rarely been shown on WWE's TV product, only occasionally getting glimpsed in documentaries, like WWE 24, so when it became clear what was happening it was actually pretty exciting to watch it go down. Wrestling fans love seeing the curtain pulled back, so seeing Reigns storm up to Vince, with Shane McMahon next to his Dad, despite being the storyline Commissioner of SmackDown, being a good touch to give the moment that "Ooh, is this real?" feel, as did Vince furiously telling someone to "Cut to commercial". WWE seems to be going through past elements of booking that have been successful for Reigns, including how Mr. McMahon was used to boost a failing feud with Sheamus and the worked-shoots and part-timer angle that helped make Reigns' feud with John Cena last September so fun to watch. Will it work and lead to Roman getting cheered against Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania? Time will tell.

After the segment - Roman Reigns walked out of Mr. McMahon's office, before McMahon told Renee Young that he'd told Reigns to "Know his role and shut his mouth", before giving his word that Brock Lesnar will be at RAW next week and temporarily suspending Reigns. 

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

A poor match from Sasha Banks and Sonya Deville here, as Banks got the submission victory with a Banks Statement. The action was weak throughout, with the two failing to connect with each other and running through a number of sloppy sequences, with Banks in particular looking out of sorts. This was extremely evident during a sequence that saw Sasha use the ropes to hit a knee from the apron to Deville inside the ring, with Banks seemingly struggling with the ropes and the knee looking nowhere like connecting as the commentary team described it as a "glancing blow", whilst the follow-up meteora also wasn't one of Banks' best attempts. The highlight of the action was a big roundhouse kick to the chest from Deville, but I'd struggle to pick out anything more from this one. The finish involved Bayley pulling Mandy Rose off the apron, causing the distraction that gave Banks the win, as the Bayley vs. Banks story continues to burn slowly. Out of everyone I thought Bayley had the best performance in this match, standing on the outside, as she looked completely different to her usual bubbly self and appeared to want to be anywhere else. With three episodes left to set up the match, I wonder how long it'll be before WWE pulls the trigger and who actually comes out of this as the villain.

After the match - Bayley left ringside, allowing Absolution to beatdown Banks, opening up more questions about their friendship. 

Also on the show 

- We got a preview of The Ultimate Deletion as WWE showed us more of The Hardy Compound, alongside the debuts of Reby Hardy, King Maxel, Lord Wolfgang, Senior Benjamin and Vanguard1, before Bray Wyatt cut a chilling promo threatening Hardy's family - Kurt Angle would later appoint a referee for the match, which will take place next week. 

- Kid Rock was announced as 2018's inductee in the WWE Hall of Fame celebrity wing. 

- It was controversially announced that there would be a Fabulous Moolah Memorial Battle Royal at WrestleMania. Considering the backlash, due to Moolah being trash, it will be interesting to see if WWE goes ahead with the name.

- WWE celebrated Indira Gandhi, India's only female Prime Minister, as part of Women's history month.

- Elias blamed the crowd for the injuries he suffered during last week's Symphony of Destruction match, before walking out.

ATPW Scale Rating // 5.36 out of 10  

Written by James Marston // @IAmNotAlanDale

RAW 1275 Review // The Miz vs. Matt Hardy

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Jason Jordan attacked Elias (3:11)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Review by James Marston

WWE Monday Night RAW #1257 Review (26th June 2017)

This week's Monday Night RAW came from the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California and featured a Women's Championship #1 Contender's Gauntlet match with Sasha Banks, Bayley, Mickie James, Dana Brooke, Emma and Nia Jax, The Hardy Boyz teaming with Finn Balor against Elias Samson and Tag Team Champions Cesaro & Sheamus and Enzo Amore calling out Big Cass for attacking him last week as well as Intercontinental Champion The Miz and his Miztourage, Universal Champion Brock Lesnar, Seth Rollins, Roman Reigns and Samoa Joe. But was it any good? Let's take a look.

Strowman chucked Reigns in an Ambulance

This segment was made for a GIF of one big guy throwing another big guy off a stage and into an Ambulance. That's pretty much all this eight minute slice was as Roman Reigns cut a promo about being attacked by Braun Strowman last week, then Strowman turned up in ambulance (leading inevitable Scott Steiner references on the ever-imaginative world of Twitter) and then as Reigns tried to take the action to Strowman he failed miserably and ending up leaving the back of the ambulance. The crowd was hot for it, it was entertaining and created a memorable and GIF-friendly moment. Hardly a classic, but it did what it was intended to do and did it well.

Hardy Boyz & Balor def. Tag Team Champions Cesaro, Sheamus & Samson

Our opening contest was a solid and simple six man tag, that finished hot with a couple of dives to the outside, before Finn Balor pinned Cesaro after a Coup de Grace. The match followed your usual six man structure with Balor and then Jeff Hardy taking on the face in peril role and Cesaro, Sheamus & Elias Samson working well as the bruising heels in control. This fairly basic, but otherwise enjoyable six man (the crowd absolutely loved it) was pretty much ruined when some guy joined the commentary desk and got interviewed by Michael Cole, Corey Graves and Tom Phillips on commentary. The bloke talked about a couple of movies he's in and apparently he was in the new Transformer film, but I had no idea who he was and he essentially just made the match feel even more inconsequential than it was. 

• A Goldust promo about stage fright, ahead of his match with R-Truth next, like most of these promos the direction and performance is nice but there's nothing particular catching about the content.

• Goldust came out with his own personal cameraman wearing a gold suit and beat the shit out of R-Truth. There was no match. 

• Samoa Joe interrupted a Paul Heyman interview and it was fucking great.

The Worst Segment of the Year Happened 

Who the fuck are the Ball Family? These three dickwads turned up on Miz TV to advertise some horrible looking t-shirts and the family's Dad went on a mad one, running around the ring and generally making the Miz look stupid for not kicking him in his great balls of fire. I'm not sure what it was supposed to be or how this was supposed to get people interested in anything, but it was horrible. Arguably worse than This is Your Life because it had literally no redeeming qualities whatsoever. Apparently one of the kids said the N-word as well and thankfully WWE just played Dean Ambrose music when they realised things had gone down hill quickly than greased up fat guy. 

The Miztourage def. Ambrose, Rhyno & Slater

Six man tags, we all love six man tags. Honestly, I was still trying to get over the previous segment to pay much attention to what was going on here, but I did see Bo Dallas got a roll-up victory on Rhyno. Everything else was pretty basic stuff and with having already seen a six man tag as the shows only other match to this point it was difficult to get excited about. But, The Miztourag  won, which is a good thing I suppose and makes sense with them being the unit in the match as opposed to the hodge-podge team of Dean Ambrose, Heath Slater and Rhyno. 

Cass turned on Enzo...again. 

This was another weirdly put together segment, that included a great, heart-felt promo from Enzo Amore, but also showed that WWE wasn't 100% all-in, lacking the little touches that could have elevated both guys heading into their programme. Stuff like having Cass enter to the same music as Enzo and then using the same gimmick microphone made this segment feel like an afterthought, when both guys had clearly put a lot of work into it. Having Cass apologise and Enzo accept the apology, ended making Amore look like he was missing a couple of his marbles, but we're all used to our babyfaces being stupid af so why stop now. Cass obviously attacked his pal on the entrance ramp and managed to get a decent bit of heat from it, but this segment could have and should have been so much better, with just a little bit more attention to detail. 

Rollins def. Hawkins 

Seth Rollins picked up a swift victory over Curt Hawkins, pulling out all of his big hitters before winning with his ripchord knee situation.  Hawkins is pretty good in his job as "warm body" and his quick "star-maker" promo prior to each match makes the beatings he takes more entertaining than a win over a local competitor. Bray Wyatt's big face popped up on the screen post-match and he said some words about being a God and announced that the two would face off on 9th July in Dallas, Texas. Wyatt has been coasting since his WWE title programme with Randy Orton, I used to be captivated by promos, but now I find myself zoning out because the content is way too [Insert Name Here] and struggles to break it's formula. 

Joe ambushes Lesnar 

The trope-heavy build towards Samoa Joe vs. Brock Lesnar at Great Balls of Fire continued as Joe jumped Lesnar from behind on the ramp and attempted to choke him out with the Coquina Clutch. NXT has shown over it's run that sometimes the simplest wrestling cliches are the best things to building rivalries and creating interest and that's exactly what we've seen between Joe and Lesnar so far. Joe's been built up as a credible threat to Lesnar's Universal Championship, which means even if he doesn't topple the Beast Incarnate (which let's face it he isn't going to do), he'll be in a much better place than where he was before and whoever manages to take the title from Lesnar will benefit even more. I mean, again, the babyfaces looked completely stupid, as anyone and his dog could have seen what was coming as Paul Heyman introduced his client, but that's by the by. 

• Neville def. Lince Dorado in a purple ropes match, with Akira Tozawa looking to scrap with him after the match. Titus O'Neil stopped the fight and announced the two would face off at Great Balls of Fire in a pretty awful promo. 

• Paul Heyman cut a magnificent promo when interviewed by Dasha Fuentes, telling us why we should get behind Brock Lesnar, why Samoa Joe was a threat and why we should want to see them fight, all in an entertaining and captivating two minutes of screen time. 

• Women's Champion Alexa Bliss tried to kiss up to Nia Jax as their weird, will-they, won't-they saga continued, ahead of the Number One Contender's Gauntlet match.

Jax def. Bayley, James, Brooke and Emma, Banks def. Jax in a Gauntlet Match to become #1 Contender to the Women's Championship

It was cool to see the Women end the show this week and taken as an overall piece of storytelling, this was a strong near half hour of television. Yeah it had it's problems, like Nia Jax beating Bayley WAY too quickly in the first match for my liking, but we got a match that managed to build one contender up as a monster heel who is more of less unstoppable under regular circumstances, whilst also giving us a Number One contender who found a way to beat the unbeatable, with the caveat being it came after the unbeatable had already wrestled the rest of the women's division. Jax is brilliant in her role and deserves a tonne of credit for taking her look and making herself feel like a believe bad ass. The hip attacks with her opponents on the ropes and pushing Brooke to the mat as she attempted a cartwheel elbow were great examples. She's clearly being helped by the booking (pinning Bayley, Mickie James, Dana Brooke and Emma in speedy fashion!) and could still be more polished inside the ring, but she's more than capable of creating a story-based match that gets the fans invested when called upon. I also think she's got more potential as an ass-kicking babyface, due to her overtly likeable persona off-screen (see the new episode of Ride Along) 

The way Banks won the match made her feel like a credible contender, she didn't get a cheap win, she made Jax tap out to a version of the Banks Statement. She found a way to defeat the Woman who ploughed through the rest of the division, thus we're left with one challenger for Alexa Bliss at the next PPV and another being positioned as a new potential top female heel. It was exactly how the match should have gone. Kurt Angle coming out to celebrate with Banks was a little weird, but Women's Champion Alexa Bliss' appearance made much more sense. We've seen issues between the pair before, but this set the two up for their match in just under two weeks well with Banks landing a dropkick and ending the show posing with the Women's strap. I'm not sure where this leaves the rest of the Women's division, but with only one week of RAW to fill before the six-week build to SummerSlam begins I'm sure they'll find something for Nia to do until then. 

Finally...

ATPW Scale Rating - 4.49/10 

The episode managed to finish strong with the Lesnar/Joe segment and then the Women's Gauntlet (with purple ropes in between) but there's no mistaking that this show featured one of the worst segments in television history and a lot of treading water. The two six men matches were fine, but both ruined by terrible celebrity appearances, Rollins and Wyatt haven't quite found what their feud is supposed to be (other than some time filler for both men) and despite strong performances from both Enzo Amore and Big Cass I found their segment lacked the attention to detail (from a booking and presentation stand point) that it deserved to feel like a fitting conclusion to their mystery angle. On the whole, I feel like the show managed to do it's broad strokes well, Reigns chucked Strowman into an Ambulance, Cass took out Enzo again, Joe choked out Lesnar, Jax dominated but Banks earned a title shot, but more often than not lacked the precision that should make being a long-time viewer of the product a satisfying experience. 

WWE Monday Night RAW #1254 Review (5th June 2017)

On 5th June, WWE aired the 1254th episode of Monday Night RAW live from the Mohegan Sun Arena in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania on the USA Network. The show featured Roman Reigns facing Bray Wyatt, new #1 Contender Samoa Joe against Seth Rollins and a confrontation between Joe and Paul Heyman, the advocate for Universal Champion Brock Lesnar, as well as appearances from Intercontinental Champion The Miz, RAW Tag Team Champions Sheamus & Cesaro, The Big Show, Dean Ambrose and Mickie James. But was it any good? Let's take a look.

*Times in brackets are screen time, rather than match length.

• ICYMI - Highlights of Samoa Joe becoming Number One Contender to the WWE Universal Championship at Extreme Rules, with a victory over Finn Balor, Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins and Bray Wyatt.

Reigns def. Wyatt (23:25)

Before our massive opening contest, we got to hear from both men, starting with a typically madcap promo from Bray Wyatt. The Eater of Worlds continued his rhetoric about needing to "slay the beast" and quickly skimming over being unable to get the win on 4th June claiming that "I am still every bit of the God that I have always been". I'm not sure whether the Wyatt character is actually aware of Brock Lesnar or whether he genuinely believes there is an actual beast running about with the Universal title (although that would probably better explain why we haven't seen the belt since WrestleMania). A section where Wyatt listed his opponents from Sunday and called them "guilty" got a good reaction, with each of the four getting loud pops from Wilkes-Barre, with Roman Reigns' being just that bit louder. The crowd was superb when The Big Dog made his entrance, a mixture of love and hate for Roman, who just stood there and let it happen, whilst Wyatt leaned against the ropes and soaked in the atmosphere. "The big dogs not gonna wait, he's ready to be sentenced right now" was all Reigns needed to say and one uppercut later we were into our opener. 

I always enjoy watching Reigns and Wyatt scrap it out with each other. Their 2015 feud provided us with two underrated PPV matches, as they two tore strips off each other and this bout was just as physical as the two went across two adverts breaks. The two have tangible chemistry and with similar brawling styles, they produced some hard-hitting action that held it's lengthy TV time and got a positive reaction from the Mohegan Sun Arena. After both attempting signature moves early on, the two used the heat from the crowd to take their time after the break wit Wyatt controlling the match with headlocks and subduing Reigns' hope spots with a DDT and later by sending the Big Dog into the post. Out of the second break, Reigns made his fiery comeback to a loud mixed reaction, building into Wyatt doing his spider walk moments after Reigns had pumped his fist up to signal as Superman Punch was incoming. With Michael Cole claiming that Wyatt was "thwacked out of his mind" the two headed home with Reigns gathering momentum and Wyatt looking for space. A clean win for Roman after hitting a superman punch and spear, leaves Wyatt with just one win out of four singles matches since jumping to RAW, but as we've seen time and time again from the Eater of Worlds losses rarely affect him or his popularity. Reigns is being heavily protected for the showdown with Brock Lesnar at some point (most likely WrestleMania) and if you couldn't tell from the crowd reactions he's already one of the top full-time guys on the roster. 

• Backstage - Charly Caruso interviewed Enzo & Cass, with Amore chatting up Caruso and Cass promising to keep watching Enzo's back after the multiple attacks as of late...the mystery deepens.

• ICYMI - At Extreme Rules, Alexa Bliss defeated Bayley in a Kendo Stick on a Pole match to retain the RAW Women's Championship. 

• Backstage - After Alexa Bliss told Kurt Angle she was ready to move on from Bayley, Ange shot down her demands for a "Alexa Bliss - This is My Life" segment, calling last week's This is Your Life for Bayley one of the worst segments in the history of RAW and booking Bliss to defend her Women's Championship against Nia Jax later on. 

• In-Ring - Elias Samson treated us to a song about a falling leaf or something, getting some good heat before Dean Ambrose interrupted and hit him with the microphone. A short promo from The Lunatic Fringe demanding an Intercontinental Championship rematch was cut short by The Miz appearing on the big screen, leading to Samson jumping Ambrose and ending the segment with his swinging neckbreaker. 

• Backstage - Kurt Angle told an irate Dean Ambrose to take the night off, after promising he'll get his Intercontinental title rematch soon. 

Heyman Confronted Joe (12:59)

A sublime piece of television as Samoa Joe took his place as Brock Lesnar's first opponent since WrestleMania, creating an issue with the Beast Incarnate right from the off after choking out his advocate Paul Heyman in the middle of the ring. The moments before the attack were fascinating as both dropped their mics with the only sound coming from the camera mic, as the Samoan Submission Machine backed Heyman into the corner, told him exactly what he was going to do to him and then did it. The stylistic choice with the microphones gave the TV presentation an uncomfortable, voyeuristic quality, made Joe look like a force to be reckoned with. When the segment concluded with the crowd chanting "We Want Brock" you know that the work had been done right. The best thing about the conclusion was that the segment didn't really need it. Both Joe and Heyman had cut excellent promos beforehand with the Samoan listing the various things that he wanted to take from Brock, making the Universal title feel like it means something by listing it at the top of his list, before Paul came out to a huge pop, called Joe Lesnar's "worst case scenario" before closing with "It's my job at Great Balls of Fire to make sure that Brock Lesnar is your worst case scenario". Promos that tell stories are the best promos and if you weren't super hyped to see Lesnar v Joe on 9th July, it would've been pretty much impossible not to be by the end of this slice of pure gold. 

• ICYMI - Samoa Joe just choked out Paul Heyman! 

• Backstage - After Kurt Angle berated Samoa Joe for his attack on Paul Heyman, Seth Rollins turned up, got into Joe's face and Angle booked the two in a match for later. 

Sheamus & Cesaro def. Slater & Rhyno (6:53)

After winning the RAW Tag titles from the Hardy Boyz at Extreme Rules, Sheamus & Cesaro picked up a dominant victory over former SmackDown Tag Team Champions Heath Slater & Rhyno to solidify their title win. There was very little too this match, with a couple of heel distraction tactics from Sheamus & Cesaro, before Slater walked into a Brogue Kick. It's a shame that Slater & Rhyno have found themselves in this position as they were super over for a good few months on SmackDown, but with Enzo & Cass as the only other babyface tag team on the roster, I guess it had to be these lads who were used to make Cesaro & Sheamus look dominant. After months of coming off as second best to the Hardy Boyz at every turn and then a questionable nature of their title win, the new champs really needed something to make them look like a force to be reckoned with and this match worked. The promo from the winners after the match didn't do much for me and I'm not sure the "We don't raise the bar, we are the bar" catchphrase is as good as someone clearly thinks it is. 

• Backstage - TJP asked Cruiserweight Champion Neville when he'd get the title shot he was promised, with Neville claiming if TJP beat Mustafa Ali next he'd speak to Kurt Angle about getting him a match for the strap.

TJP def. Ali (6:02)

Another short match here as TJP tripped Mustafa Ali on the top rope as the latter went for his Imploding 450 splash and the Cruiserweight Classic winner sealed the deal with a Detonation Kick. The match had very little to talk about, with a dead crowd sitting in silence, watching some technically solid wrestling at pace, but with very little reason to give a shit about either guy. The post-match angle was much more interesting however with Neville turning on TJP when the Fil-Am Flash wanted to go to Kurt Angle himself about getting a Cruiserweight title shot. The Geordie played his role well, attempting to worm his way out of his promise by telling TJP he wasn't a "miracle worker", despite TJP having only lost former #1 Contender Austin Aries since April and picking up victories over Aries, Gentleman Jack Gallagher, Lince Dorado and Gran Metalik in that time! The timing of the turn within the segment was spot on and the vicious nature of Neville's attack hit home, but I'm not sure if I'm ready for another face run from the Los Angeles native so soon after turning. The segment closed with Neville giving TJP his wish, announcing he'll defend the title on this week's 205 Live. Side note - TJP shitting himself when Neville's pyro went off was brilliant. 

• Vignette - Another Goldust promo with Goldie sitting in his director chair and quoting movies, although there's no interruption from R-Truth this week. 

• Backstage - Alexa Bliss attempted to convince Sasha Banks (who left early), Mickie James and Dana Brooke that the Women's division had a "Nia Jax problem", with the babyfaces brushing off Bliss' attempt. 

• Arena - Kurt Angle interrupted the commentary team on camera, asking to talk to Corey Graves...the mystery deepens

• Match - Kalisto picked up a quick victory over Titus O'Neil (with Apollo Crews) reversing a pin with a handful of tights, whilst Akira Tozawa watched backstage. 

• Backstage - Big Cass was found passed out backstage, with one of Enzo Amore's gold chains near him, with the referees telling Enzo to get a new partner for his match later...the mystery deepens.            

Ambrose Crashed Miz's Intercontinental Championship Comeback Tour Kickoff (10:38)

What a joyous treat this segment was, chock-full over-the-top silliness. We've seen these celebration segments time and time again, but this breathed some fresh air into the trope as Miz carried the scene as his paranoia regarding Ambrose escalated as things went on. The Awesome One quickly shut down the "You deserve it" chants (seriously? Why would you chant that? If you enjoy the Miz's work you should be booing the crap out of him) and then came the confusion about who booked the dancing bear (not a real bear) in the corner of the ring. Miz murdered the bear with a Skull Crushing Finale, thinking it to be Ambrose, only for it to be revealed as just some bloke. The second "near fall" came when a giant box was wheeled to the ring, with Miz going nuts on it with a steel chair and then hilariously dropping elbows on the box. Maryse played her reaction perfectly as she tried to get Miz to stop, because it was a present from her, leading into Miz pulling out the top of a grandfather clock to a the biggest pop a clock has ever received on WWE television. With Maryse gone and Miz losing his mind and calling out Ambrose, we got the slow reveal that the Lunatic Fringe had been the camera man all along with a superb shot of Miz watching the tron with his back to Ambrose as he removed his disguise with the look of realisation on Miz's facing telling the entire story, before taking Dirty Deeds. The segment was almost a farce in it's design with Miz's becoming a weird version of Basil Fawlty, I'm not sure who that makes Ambrose but it sure did make for an entertaining and creative piece of television. 

Amore & Show def. Gallows & Anderson (8:11)

By far the worst segment of the episode, as former RAW Tag Team Champions Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson fell to the make-shift team of Enzo Amore & The Big Show (in his first appearance since breaking the ring with Braun Strowman on #1247) in two minutes. Before the match, there was a cringey as fuck as Amore did his schtick despite partner Big Cass being laid out in the lockeroom moments earlier and also having supposedly been attacked two weeks in a row and then we got Show doing a Cass impression. Honestly, it was terrible and made me feel physical pain. I'm not sure what Show doing a shitty New York accent was supposed to do for anyone, but it certainly happened. Even more so having Show plough through both Gallows and Anderson did nothing for anyone in the long run and knocked the Club duo further down the totem pole as they essentially acted as enhancement talent for a team that will probably never tag again. With only five currently active tag teams (Sheamus & Cesaro, Enzo & Cass, The Club, The Hardy Boyz and Slater & Rhyno) treating one of those teams and especially one that has proved popular, like this is reckless and irresponsible. The fact that Slater & Rhyno also lost in a similarly short amount time highlights just how little the RAW brand seems to care about building a competitive tag team division.

• Backstage - Big Cass accused The Big Show of being the one who attack him and Enzo over the last few weeks...the mystery deepens. 

• Backstage - R-Truth's reply to Goldust, including quoting A Few Good Men and Pulp Fixxion as the intense quote-fest continued.

Bliss def. Jax via Disqualification to retain RAW Women's Championship (6:42)

This was an extremely weirdly booked match, that the crowd sat through without even a mild reaction to anything going on. You had two heels in the ring and two babyfaces on the outside in Mickie James and Dana Brooke, yet it felt like James and Brooke were playing meddling heels on the outside, whilst Alexa Bliss came across as an underdog face when taking a battering from Nia Jax. You can't blame Wilkes-Barre for not reacting to this as with two heels in the match, who are they supposed to cheer for? With little build to the match and without Jax having a singles match on RAW since early April, this felt thrown together and seemed to lack any thought on the reactions that each of the talent should be trying to receive. The performances of James and Brooke, jumping Bliss and causing the disqualification and then later attempting a two on one beat down on the champion (for very little reason when you look back at the backstage segment) were completely off the mark and whilst they weren't helped by the booking they both came across as smarmy and irritating as they intruded in a match they had no business in. Jax destroying them both was probably the best thing about the segment, merely because I'd got so frustrated with Mickie and Dana's character portrayal that I got a kick out of seeing Nia squash them both with Samoan drops. 

• Backstage -  Whilst being checked over by the doctor, Paul Heyman received a phone call from Brock Lesnar, with Heyman telling the Universal Champion that next week would be time to instil some fear into Samoa Joe and that next week, they would "unleash the beast". 

Joe def. Rollins (16:46)

Another good television match here as Samoa Joe and Seth Rollins continued their feud that's been rolling since before WrestleMania. The match was probably a couple of notches below the Roman Reigns vs. Bray Wyatt opener, mainly because the crowd was knackered by this point and was nowhere near as hot as they were for the Reigns/Wyatt match or Joe's promo earlier, this probably wasn't helped by the quality of the last two in-ring segments. The wrestling content though was solid, taking on different direction from their Payback match in April, moving away from Rollins' knee injury and being more of a straight up wrestling match. Whilst the feud has boiled under after shifting to the Extreme Rules five-way, the two got across their dislike with Joe taking control by throwing his towel in Rollins face, before the Kingslayer moments later knocked Joe down with a version of the Lou Thesz press and hammered away with punches. Whilst we saw early on that the two could produce slick reversal sequence with Rollins turning a powerbomb into a rana, most of the match could be split into two parts, Joe's domination and Rollins comeback.

Seth's comeback was superb stuff, coming shortly after a hope spot that ended with a crisp snap scoop powerslam, as Rollins gained some space with an enziguiri out of some back and forth strikes and then the Architect unleashed a barrage of offence. Rollins went nuts hitting a suicide dive by the announce table, then a slingblade in the ring, another suicide dive towards the entrance ramp, a blockbuster, another suicide dive on the side opposite the hard cam and then a diving clothesline for a two count. The momentum building up through the suicide dives was a lot of fun to witness and perhaps a recognisable comeback sequence that has been lacking from Rollins' babyface run. If his suicide dives were a little bit more convincing or impactful, I could potentially see this sequence having a similar effect for Rollins as Daniel Bryan had when he locked in his sequence during his time in Team Hell No. Seth got a series of near falls off a Falcon Arrow and a roll up before hitting Avada Kedavra, before climbing to the top rope for a frog splash. This lead into the finish with Bray Wyatt's signature flashing across the screen and as Rollins looked out for the Eater of World's, Joe locked Seth in the Coquina Clutch and claimed the victory. An interesting angle to close the show with, as Joe ended up looking great standing alone in the ring, despite the cheap victory and it leaves some questions still to be answered. Why did Wyatt decide to get involved in the match? Is he aligned with Joe still? How will Rollins react to Wyatt costing him his chance at putting the feud with Joe to bed? It's brilliant to leave us wanting to know what's happening and I'm actually looking forward to seeing how this develops next week.

Finally...

ATPW Scale Rating - 5.22/10 

This was the best episode of RAW for a few weeks (at least since I started doing weekly reviews again) with a couple of great segments and a handful of very good matches also. Paul Heyman's confrontation with Samoa Joe was gold, The Miz's farcical act with Dean Ambrose was wonderfully, whilst the opener with Roman Reigns against Bray Wyatt and the closer with Joe vs. Seth Rollins were both favourable TV bouts. It was a shame that outside of those matches a lot of the other bouts felt underdeveloped and lacked the time most needed. I really didn't enjoy Big Show with Enzo Amore and the RAW Women's title match seemed liked no one knew what kind of reaction they should be aiming for. Those segments ended up pulling down the rating this week, as well as the number of short backstage skits, replays and hype packages. 

With Brock Lesnar vs. Samoa Joe the only match scheduled for 9th July's Great Balls of Fire, the next few week's should hopefully, at the very least, keep this kind of quality up as we head closer to the PPV.