WWE Monday Night RAW #1437 Review - McIntyre & Sheamus vs. Styles, Miz & Morrison

 
 

This week’s RAW had an interesting card on paper. The on-going issues between WWE Champion Drew McIntyre and Sheamus were highlighted as the pair tagged up to take on McIntyre’s TLC opponent AJ Styles, Mr. Money in the Bank The Miz and John Morrison in a three-on-two handicap match, Randy Orton went one on one with Bray Wyatt in a rematch from their dreadful WrestleMania 33 bout and Asuka and Shayna Baszler squared off for a mouth-watering first time ever match-up. Plus, Kofi Kingston vs. Shelton Benjamin, Bobby Lashley vs. Jeff Hardy and Ricochet & Dana Brooke vs. SLAPJACK & RECKONING in a mixed tag team match.

It was the last show of WWE’s residency at the Amway Center in Orlando, Florida, so the ‘E were gonna pull out all the stops, right?

Three-on-Two Handicap Match: AJ Styles, Mr. Money in the Bank The Miz & John Morrison def. WWE Champion Drew McInytre & Sheamus

The main story this week centered around the issues between Drew McIntyre, Sheamus, AJ Styles, The Miz and John Morrison. Aside from a Styles promo on Miz TV, you’d be hard pressed to work out what the WWE title match at TLC was, as the problems between the two weren’t as well-defined as what we saw between McIntyre and Sheamus or even the Celtic Connection and Miz & Morrison.

Beginning with Miz TV (not sure why WWE have dropped the Dirt Sheet or why Morrison has essentially become Miz's caddy), we got a quick interview with AJ Styles. The interview was mostly generic TLC based threats, before Sheamus interrupted, followed by his pal and WWE Champion Drew McIntyre. Whilst Sheamus looks absolutely hilarious at the moment (something he’d make a nod to on RAW Talk later in the night), McIntyre was on good form ripping apart Miz and Morrison for a perceived lack of balls, including a mildly amusing line about Miz borrowing Morrison’s because Miz’s wife Maryse kept them in her purse. In someone else’s hands this probably would’ve come across as pretty lame (like Miz and Morrison’s Scottish and Irish accents earlier on) but McIntyre has a knack of taking sloppy scripts and making it sound cool. McIntyre & Sheamus brawled with Miz & Morrison to close the segment, whilst Styles and his bodyguard, Omos, hung around the outside. Of course, the fact that Styles didn’t help out would get absolutely no reference later on. A clip of McIntyre launching Miz’s Money in the Bank briefcase from the ring to the top of the entrance ramp would be replayed multiple times throughout the show.

The match was fairly standard stuff with Styles only wanting to tag in when McIntyre had been subdued. This was watchable for the most part with solid action, but not a whole lot to talk about until the finish. Actually, that’s a little bit unfair on John Morrison who pulled out some creative offence on a handful of occasions, whilst also taking a major bump off a double fallaway slam from Sheamus & McIntyre, with the Shaman of Sexy getting launched over the announce table. Outside of that you had Sheamus as the Celtic Warrior in peril with Miz and Morrison doing some good heel work, before a hot tag from McIntyre. The pace of the finish was very good however lifting the whole match as Sheamus cleaned house on the heels, until a sweet back and forth sequence with Morrison lead to the Celtic Warrior nailing his own partner with the Brogue Kick. The shock allowed AJ Styles the time to pick up the win for his team with a Phenomenal Forearm. My main takeaway from this was that Morrison is way too good for his current role and I’d be interested to see him switch to go after Miz’s MITB briefcase sometime soon (A Mania ladder match between the two has major potential).

 

The post-match brawl between Sheamus and McIntyre backstage was a lot of fun with the build-up to the confrontation being well handled, creating more tension before the pair exploded on each other. These two are fantastic brawlers and didn’t hold back for this as they leathered the fuck out of each other, until stooge Pat Buck decided to try and break them up. The hapless Buck got launched through a table for his troubles in a wicked spot, before McIntyre and Sheamus laughed off their issues. I’m enjoying the story with Drew and Sheamus at the moment and their relationship is something that hasn’t been seen in WWE for a while, as they’ve been positioned as friends with a healthy rivalry who aren’t afraid to have a scrap if they need to settle something, but will still go for a pint when it’s all over. RAW Talk put an exclamation point on their relationship with the pair coming across very well on that show, with Sheamus happy to show off the shiner that McIntyre had given him. I’m not sure why this is happening during the build-up to McIntyre’s match with Styles a week on Sunday though.

 

Randy Orton vs. Bray Wyatt ended in a No Contest  

 

This is a feud that we’ve seen before and as much as WWE is trying to put a new spin on it with The Fiend and Alexa Bliss, it’s still the same feud. Orton’s promo to open the show was okay, but I’ve always felt like anytime WWE try to push Orton as (in his own words) “the most evil son of a bitch on planet Earth” it doesn’t feel like a natural fit. There is some a decent story to be told here but shoehorning Orton in a box that he doesn’t really fit into isn’t the way to do it. Another issue I had with this was Wyatt’s turn in the Firefly Funhouse. I didn’t get it at all. Wyatt hosted a gameshow (alongside his puppet friends) called “Let’s Get Randy” (see what they did there?) and it went on for ages, had absolutely nothing to say and wasn’t remotely funny. I’m really not sure why this happened. Wyatt does play both sides of the coin well, but his eventually change of pace was not worth having to sit through the gameshow for so long. Eventually, Orton challenged Wyatt (not the Fiend) to a match later in the show, despite the segment having been promoted as Orton going to the Firefly Funhouse.

 

Orton vs. Wyatt went on last and produced some solid action. Despite being two talented dudes with a lot of parallels, the pairs record when opposite each other is less than stellar (WrestleMania 33, anyone?), so it was nice to see them tie up and actually work a decent match with no bells and whistles. Wyatt having a big smile on his face whilst Orton beat the shit out of him was fun stuff. The lad looked absolutely buzzing to get his ass handed to him and played his moments well. Admittedly, the match was fairly paint by numbers stuff but with a couple of nice storytelling touches to keep things interesting. Wyatt being unable to hit Sister Abigail after multiple attempts and Orton initially having his signature back drop on the announce table turned on him, before managing to hit it later on worked well, amongst the standard beatdown-comeback structure. Your mileage on the finish will probably come from how hokey you find the way WWE plays the relationship between The Fiend and Bray Wyatt, but I have to admit that I found it pretty cool when the lights went out mid-RKO and revealed the Fiend lying underneath Orton when they came back on. Finishing the show with a non-contest isn’t all the fun though and without any new direction, cliff-hanger or reason to tune in next week, this ended could have done a lot more. Personally, I’d have ended the show on the brawl with McIntyre and Sheamus as that would have worked as much a better hook for next week.

 

RAW Women’s Champion Asuka def. Women’s Tag Team Champion Shayna Baszler

The top women’s segment this week focused around the build towards the unlikely duo of Asuka and Lana challenging the previously unlikely duo of Shayna Baszler and Nia Jax for the Women’s tag straps at TLC. The scrap between RAW Women’s Champion Asuka and Baszler was the best action on the show this week with the pair have a real physical clash, with plenty of energy. In a way, it feels like a waste of their first one on one clash, as this pairing have so much potential opposite each other that it should have been saved for a PPV, rather than thrown in to push a tag team storyline that is being used as a vehicle for a less capable performer (Lana). The submission sequence with Asuka grabbing a flying armbar before Baszler was able to counter into the Kirafuda Clutch with Asuka reversing into a roll-up and grabbing hold of the Asuka Lock before Baszler got to the ropes was superb stuff indeed. So smooth and yet still full of animosity and intention. The finish, of course, saw Lana and Nia Jax get into it on the outside, with Lana eventually sending Jax into the ringpost with a hurricanrana, before Asuka grabbed a schoolgirl roll-up victory on the Queen of Spades. A good match, but one that could have been great in the right storyline and setting.

 

Following RAW Talk, I was left wondering why Jax & Baszler aren’t allowed to show as much personality on the main show. On RAW we saw them talking before the match about wanting to put Lana’s boobs on her back, but on RAW Talk the Women’s Tag Team Champions were actually entertaining, showing real chemistry and having some fun interactions with Charly Caruso and R-Truth. WWE continues to stilt it’s talent and expect them to make chicken salad out of chicken shit scripts. R-Truth comparing Lana to Goldberg and constantly chanting “Lanaberg” was also entertaining as hell and did a great job of winding up the heels. Truth really is a national treasure and deserves more credit for his work.

 

RAW Tag Team Champion Kofi Kingston def. Shelton Benjamin

Cedric Alexander def. RAW Tag Team Champion Kofi Kingston

We time-travelled back to 2008 as Kofi Kingston and Shelton Benjamin renewed their ECW feud and produced a mediocre match. I was expecting much better out of Kingston and Benjamin here, but at times they looked like they’d never seen each other before, putting together a number of awkward sequences. Moments that would have been pretty cool had they been performed with the pairs usual slickness, such as Benjamin reversing an SOS attempt with a Gutwrench Powerbomb, came off as flat because the crispness and speed just wasn’t there. After four minutes or so Kingston pulled out the victory with a Trouble in Paradise. The follow-up match Kingston had with Cedric Alexander (after Alexander had called Kofi back to the ring) was a better match, continuing to tell the story of Kingston having an injured leg and doing a much better job with that element. It wasn’t all plain sailing and was hurt by a horrible looking SOS from Kofi, but the scaffolding of the narrative helped out a short match. The aggression from Alexander as he targeted the leg and Kingston’s selling were spot on, with some great storytelling in the finish as Ceddy took advantage of Kofi tweaking his leg coming off the top rope to pick up the win with the Lumbar Check. With Alexander picking up victories over Kingston and Xavier Woods in consecutive weeks, it looks like we’ll get New Day vs. Hurt Business scheduled for TLC on next week’s show.

 

Alexander & Benjamin turned up on RAW Talk later on, but the only noteworthy moment was R-Truth confusing Shelton Benjamin with Benjamin Button.

 

United States Champion Bobby Lashley def. Jeff Hardy

 

Perhaps surprisingly this was Lashley and Hardy’s first one on one match in WWE (although they had two bouts in TNA in 2014 and 2017) and this was certainly a match that happened this week. Nah, seriously, this was solid but much more about building to feud between Lashley and Riddle than it was about putting on an impressive singles match. The wrestling here was fine, with Hardy mostly fighting from underneath as he took beats from Lashley, whilst Riddle’s appearance allowed the Charismatic Enigma some breathing space against the United States Champion. The pair put together some nice exchanges like Lashley attempting to turn Hardy’s Twist of Fate into the Hurt Lock submission and the finish where Lashley dodged the Swanton Bomb to nail a spear and get the submission win with the aforementioned hold. However, for a match that went nearly 15 minutes, there was very little of note and I feel like the pair could have made better use of their time here.

 

Post-match, Lashley lobbed Hardy at Riddle (who kept turning up with his “Bronuts” throughout the show and earlier suggested he and Jeff could team as “The Hardy Bros”). If Riddle wasn’t such a trash human then this could be an interesting feud.

Mixed Tag Team Match: Ricochet & Dana Brooke def. RETRIBUTION (SLAPJACK & RECKONING) 

Remember when Retribution were a big deal? Now they’re getting beaten by Dana Brooke in under two minutes. Brooke and RECKONING had a cat fight, Ricochet hit a rana and corkscrew tope on Slapjack, Slapjack hit a Falcon Arrow on Ricochet then missed a cannonball, RECKONING hit a Jon Woo on Brooke, who instantly recovered to win with a Samoan Driver. That was it. Quite fun to watch, but completely pointless.

After the match Mustafa Ali kicked off at SLAPJACK and RECKONING, so maybe that’s going somewhere. But let’s be honest Retribution has been a complete disaster.

 

Finally…

 

ATPW Scale Rating – 3.68/10

All in all this was a watchable episode of Monday Night RAW, but one that didn’t provide a whole lot to talk about heading out of the show. Besides, the brewing issues with Drew McIntyre and Sheamus that are completely overshadowing what should be a massive showdown between McIntyre and AJ Styles at TLC and a hokey finish between Randy Orton and Bray Wyatt, I’m sure what my main takeaway from this episode was. Asuka and Baszler had a good match that was needlessly thrown away on TV, Shelton Benjamin and Kofi Kingston looked awkward as fuck with each other and the rest of the action was somewhere in between. Meanwhile, I wasn’t given much of a reason to tune in next week (Nia Jax vs. Lana?) and arguably even less of a reason to give a shit about TLC.

 

PPV Review // WWE Evolution // Ronda Rousey vs. Nikki Bella

On 28th October 2018, just over three week's removed from Super Show-Down, WWE presented it's first ever women's only PPV, Evolution, at the Nassau Colliseum in Uniondale, New York. Billed as a historic moment for women everywhere, the show was main evented by Ronda Rousey defending her RAW Women's Championship against Nikki Bella, whilst other top matches saw Charlotte Flair get a shot at Becky Lynch's SmackDown Women's Championship in a Last Women Standing match and an NXT Women's Championship match between champion Kairi Sane and challenger Shayna Baszler, whilst Sash Banks, Trish Stratus, Natalya, Mickie James and Kelly Kelly were all also in action. But was it any good? Lets take a look.

Trish Stratus & Lita returned for their first matches since the Royal Rumble in January, picking up the victory over Mickie James & Alicia Fox in a simple and fun opening match, that had more than a little nostalgia to help it through. Whilst both Stratus & Lita have performed on a number of occasions since their "retirement" matches, this was the longest either has spent in the ring since 2006, so it would be unfair to comment on some of the sequences being a little awkward, especially considering there was more than enough that worked. A handful of nice moments between Stratus and James, especially the build up to the top rope rana, made this more than worth it's spot on the card. James and Fox both worked hard to make their opponents look every inch of the stars that they possibly could, with some sound and solid heel work, helped by logical booking, whilst James in particular sold very well, in one of her best performances since her return. It's a shame that Alexa Bliss was out injured as her involvement would have upped the level of "moments" that could have taken place within the match and whilst Fox has a nice Northern Lights suplex, she felt more like someone there to make up the numbers and even ended up being out of position on breaking up a nearfall right at the end. What really made this match come together though was the crowd treating it as something special, getting behind Stratus & Lita and booing James & Fox, stuff like that makes all the difference for me as a viewer at home adding to each moment or spot the ladies went for. 

Dasha Fuentes interviewed The Bella Twins with Nikki possibly cutting her best promo of all time, heeling it up fantastically as she dedicated her match to Ronda Rousey's Mom.

The IIconis got some promo time before the battle royal, which was cute, they mocked the legends and putting themselves over. You can guess the first spot of the match. 

Nia Jax earned a shot at the RAW Women's Championship, by last eliminating Ember Moon, in an entertaining over-the-top rope battle royal. The majority of the legends included were used to put over the regular roster with that and the fact that almost every elimination felt like it's own moment, meant that there were a number of wrestlers who came out of the battle royal better off for having taken part. The IIconics got a lot of time before the match before their instant elimination, Sonya Deville & Mandy Rose eliminated Molly Holly, Kelly Kelly and Torrie Wilson before Rose turned on Deville, Carmella got to dance with Ivory before helping her new friend to eliminate Rose and Asuka worked a nice sequence to eliminate Ivory. The highlight for me had to be Ember Moon eliminating Asuka, because the crowd was hot for a showdown between the two former NXT rivals and Moon finally managed to get one over on the woman she could never take the NXT Women's title off. There was some awkardness though, as Lana ended up being out position for a spot involving Jax and Tamina, whilst Carmella and Moon ended up cocking up a tilt-a-whirl rana spot, which Michael Cole would describe as rather unique. The crowd seemed to be behind Moon winning the match when it came down to her and Jax, which is always a problem when going for a babyface final two, but if it leads to something more substantial down the two, who have been portrayed as friends on RAW, then this finish will be absolutely fine.

After the match, Jax was interviewed by Charly Caruso about whether she'd rather face Nikki Bella or Ronda Rousey for the title, with Jax wishing them both the best and telling them to enjoy the moment, because it won't last long. Short and simple and got a big pop, lovely stuff. 

Toni Storm won the 2018 Mae Young Classic in a ten minute sprint of a match with Io Shirai. The bout was choc-full of action from the beginning, kicking off with some technicality before launching into a series of big moves and reversals that didn't stop until Storm hit her second Storm Zero for the win. Obviously, with more time the pair could have worked some better storyline elements into things and created a match with more depth, but the brevity also made the match stand out on a card that was packed with big time singles matches in it's second half. The two have competed a number of times together in Stardom in Japan over the last two and half years and that was clear to see from the crispness of their action, the speed at which they moved and the number of risks they took for a couple of memorable spots. The work towards the German suplex on the apron from Storm and Shirai's beautiful moonsault to the outside stand out in particular, whilst Shirai's sunset flip was something else too. It was a shame we didn't get a few more convincing near falls for Shirai, which felt mostly down to the time the two had, but to pack ten minutes with such high quality, exciting pro wrestling is a testament to the talent of both women. Hopefully we see a lot more them both in NXT and NXT UK soon.

Bayley, Sasha Banks and Natalya picked up the win over Ruby Riott, Sarah Logan and Liv Morgan (collectively known as the Riott Squad) in a six woman tag that was put together well, but fell apart later on for a number of reasons. The first of these reasons was Sasha Banks seemingly being at least a half step of the pace for her hot tag, which did come after some lovely work from the Riott Squad and Bayley as the hugger in peril. There were a number of sequences that Banks had that just weren't up to scratch, that featured good ideas, but didn't pay off. With The Boss working the hot tag this obviously hurt the match, killing the pace and knocking timing off in other areas. The biggest problem came when Banks attempted what I think was supposed to be a tope con hilo and had to be saved by her opponents. The other issue for me was the spot that saw Bayley jumping on top of Banks to save her from a diving senton from Riott, which was just a stupid thing to do. Maybe if the timing had been better it would have looked like a heroic moment of friendship, but at the time it happened simply pushing Riott off the top rope or moving Banks out of the way made much better sense. There were some nice moments like Morgan breaking up a double sharpshooter from Natty on Riott and Logan, the bout was structured nicely for the spot on the card it had, which makes it even more frustrating that the bout didn't live up to it's potential had everything gone to plan. The Riott Squad losing another big match so soon after Super Show-Down probably means it's time to end the group and send Riott out on her own.

In the only title change of the night, Shayna Baszler won back the NXT Women's Championship from Kairi Sane in Evolution's second best match, using the Kirufuda clutch for submission victory. Whilst a notch down from their NXT Takeover: Brooklyn 4 match, Baszler and Sane continued to show plenty of chemistry, with their two characters seemingly made to get the other over. The back and forth flurry at the start grabbed the crowd well with the brawling being some of the best work in the match as Sane looked to go toe to toe with the harder striker. Sane's diving crossbody to the floor, as well as Baszler getting lobbed over the barricade onto some NXT performers at ringside provided the match with some replayable moments later on and whilst the narrative wasn't as strong as their last encounter Baszler did some solid work targeting the arm that Sane sold well. The finish was perhaps a little overbooked with Baszler's Four Horsewomen pals Jessamyn Duke and Marina Shafir getting involved for a couple of spots on the road to Baszler being able to lock in the Kirafuda Clutch for a second time. This followed on from a call-back near fall as they repeated the finish from Brooklyn, that perhaps deserved a better reaction from the Nassau Coliseum. I'm looking forward to seeing where this feud goes next on NXT, how Sane goes about looking to regain the title and how the Duke & Shafir play into the story.

The match of the night came in the form of a Last Woman Standing match that saw Becky Lynch retain the SmackDown Women's Championship against Charlotte Flair. This was easily in the Top 5 of it's type in WWE (maybe higher) for me, with Lynch and Flair producing a physical and compelling match-up with plenty of big spots and animosity. The crowd being almost completely behind Lynch throughout with Flair able to flip into a tweener role worked well, for a number of sequences, without diluting the edge that has made Lynch's "heel turn" so fun to begin with, including an early moment with Lynch going nuts with a kendo stick. There was some recycled tropes that from recent Last Man Standing matches, like Lynch burying Flair under a pile of chairs, but more often than not the action was creative with a general feeling of escalation for each highspot and near fall. Particular highlights for me included the nasty looking back suplex onto a chair from Flair, the Figure Eight using the ladder and the mad leg drop off a ladder through the announce table from Lynch. Flair's back suplex onto a chair. There were a couple of moments that didn't seem to go anyway, with the brawl in the crowd being a particular creative cul-de-sac, as well as the terrified look on Lynch's face when Flair escaped the rubble, which I'm sure looked good on paper but came across as particularly lame in execution. Often these types of matches can struggle to find a satisfying finish after packing in so much action, but I felt Flair and Lynch came up with big enough spot to conclude this one with Lynch powerbombing Charlotte off the apron through a table to retain her title. The move looked brutal and both women sold it well, whilst there was also a question about whether Flair could still make it back to her feet to keep the match going. Overall, I feel like this is the match that the PPV will be remember for amongst the majority of fans and both women should be proud of what is probably their best match since leaving NXT.

Whilst it probably would've had been better received in a different spot on the card, Ronda Rousey's victory over Nikki Bella, was a serviceable main event that did a stellar job of placing Rousey in an underdog role. The structure was simplistic but played to the strengths of the three characters involved, perhaps ironically using elements of the finish of Rousey's Four Horsewoman stablemate Shayna Baszler's NXT Championship match earlier in the night, as Brie Bella allowed Nikki to control the mid-section of the match following absolute domination from Rousey. It's easy to dislike the Bella Twins, especially one returning to main event a PPV, meaning there was lots of fun to be had in Rousey lobbing both of them about the place, including sending Brie over the announce table and perhaps into orbit. A couple of big spots gave the match a WWE main event feel, with  the double reverse kata-gurama, the aforementioned announce table spot and a sweet top rope transition into the armbar as the finish standing out, whilst Bella also got a strong near fall off an slightly awkward Rack Attack 2.0. Yes, it could have been longer, but another five minutes almost definitely would have exposed either Rousey or Bella, probably both. There's a strong argument to be made that Charlotte Flair vs. Becky Lynch deserved to be the main event with the pair much more capable of closing the show, and personally I can see that this swap would have benefitted both matches, whilst also understanding WWE's decision to have Rousey (who is one of the biggest stars of any gender in the company right now) close their first ever women's only PPV as they make her focal point of the promotion. The fact that Rousey main evented the show could also provide fuel for the rumoured WrestleMania match between Rousey and Flair. 

ATPW Scale Rating - 6.94/10 

Show in a Sentence - A real triumph, that proved many doubters wrong, showcasing the depth and potential of the current female roster, whilst celebrating the stars of the past. 

Written by James Marston 

TV Review // NXT UK #1 // Pete Dunne vs. Noam Dar

It feels like we've been waiting a long long time for NXT UK to finally begin. The rumours, the non-starts, the Takeover classics, Pete Dunne battering Enzo Amore on RAW, the three sets of tapings with no episodes aired...it had been almost two years since WWE UK first began to take shape. But on 17th October 2018, WWE finally aired the first episode of NXT UK on the WWE Network, with footage coming from the 28th July taping at the Cambridge Corn Exchange in Cambridge, England. 

The premiere episode brought us a United Kingdom Championship main event as Pete Dunne put the title on the line against 205 Live regular Noam Dar, whilst Moustache Mountain's Tyler Bate & Trent Seven, Toni Storm, Mark Andrews, Dave Mastiff and Joe Coffey all appeared. But was it any good? Lets take a look. 

A big ol' pompous opening that felt very Triple H, as it discussed building an empire and showed some of WWE's history with the UK. 

The first match of the show saw ICW's Joe Coffey get the better of PROGRESS' Mark Andrews in a battle of UK Championship Tournament semi finalists. The pair had a rock solid bout, that played to their strengths, with Coffey able to display his power and Andrews pulling out a lot of very pretty fast paced offence, with a healthy dollop of the underdog babyface fire that made him a top name on the BritWres scene. Mark Coffey's distractions at ringside worked well to develop the dynamic between the brothers, whilst also building to the spot of the match nicely when Andrews nailed a moonsault onto both men at the same time. Cambridge was super hot for Mandrews from the very beginning and I think that had a massive impact on my enjoyment of this one, as it bought a new dimension to the dynamic and meant that every fight back from the smaller man felt that little bit more important. I'm still unsure whether WWE realises how much of a diamond they have in Mark Andrews. On that note, Coffey would pick the win moments after the moonsault spot, nailing an overhead belly to belly suplex and the Aw'ra Best for the Bells lariat to earn the first ever victory on NXT UK. 

Stat - The only other match between the pair had the same result when they battled at Discovery Wrestling in Edinburgh, Scotland back in November 2015.

After the match, the Coffey Brothers began to lay into Andrews, with "Flash" Morgan Webster heading out for the save. A nice early bit of storyline and what could a fun feud between these two teams. All good so far. 

Moustache Mountain were seen wheeling their suitcases through Cambridge, looking like a pair of b i g s t r o n g b o i s. 

Eddie Dennis made his debut in a video package, discussing his history with Pete Dunne and Mark Andrews, with some classic pictures of all three flashing on screen, before Dennis revealed he had some stories to tell. This has a lot of potential and was one of the elements of this episode that made me most excited to see what was to come from the brand.

Former NXT Tag Team Champions Moustache Mountain (Tyler Bate & Trent Seven) came out to say a few words. I don't really know what else I can say here, because nothing really happened, with the segment seemingly acting as a way to simply shoe-horn Bate & Seven onto the first episode without having them compete. I mean, there was nothing wrong with the pair interacting, they're both entertaining to watch and managed to hold the crowd with their banterous chat, but there also wasn't anything resembling substance. There was no feud to push or surprise interruption, this was just a thing that happened for a bit. Even the discussion of the NXT Tag Team titles ended up abruptly, because at this point there's not enough teams to have a division, which is an odd thing to have to point out on your first episode. The rest of the promo was a bit circle-jerky, discussing the achievement of NXT UK and how the fans had been a big part in it happening. I'm hoping NXT UK doesn't continue this habit of repeatedly patting it's own back, because it will get old fast. 

Dave Mastiff is in action next, so we get a little look at what Mastiff is all about, which is basically bodying lads. 

A recap of how Noam Dar earned his WWE United Kingdom title shot last June, with his four-way victory over Travis Banks, Morgan Webster and Mark Andrews.

Dave Mastiff picked up his first victory on WWE TV in a quick, one-sided match with the debuting Sid Scala (IPW:UK). Mastiff looked very impressive here, showing off not only his range of power moves, but also his innate charisma as he laughed at any offence that Scala managed to get in on him. The 16 year veteran owned the space, showing off his range of agility with a wicked closing sequence of moves that included a front dropkick, release german suplex and a 315 lb cannonball. Scala is someone who could offer a lot to NXT UK in the future and his bumping performance here should have put him in good stead to do just that.

Match stat - This was Dave Mastiff's first televised victory since defeating Grado to win the vacant World of Sport Wrestling Championship on New Year's Eve 2016.

Blue Peter presenter Radzi Chinyanganya (strangely uncredited) interviewed Nina Samuels backstage as Samuels said she wanted to make a name for herself at the expense of Toni Storm. For me, the promo felt a little forced, with Samuels coming across as nervous throughout, whilst it also taught me very little about Samuels or her character, with a general "insert name" here feel. This could have been anyone. 

Considering Toni Storm's only previous WWE losses have come against NXT Women's Champions Kairi Sane and Shayna Baszler, it was no surprise to see her pick up a clean victory over the debuting Nina Samuels (Pro Wrestling EVE) here. This match didn't click for me, with Samuels looking awkward when on both attack and defence, whilst she also struggled to stand out as anything other than a generic heel foil. Obviously the match was designed to showcase Storm, but considering the amount of offence Samuels got in, I felt like I learnt next to nothing about her from this performance, with the character coming across your basic wrestling villain. This wasn't helped by some sloppy offence, including a poor tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. That isn't to say that the match didn't have it's bright spots, because some lovely stiff forearms from Storm as part of her comeback and an early tease of the running double knee smash that would later help Storm on route to her victory. The finish felt a little familiar with a similar set-up to how Dave Mastiff went over Sid Scala a few minutes earlier, as Storm hit a German suplex into the corner to set up the knee smash, with the addition of a Storm Zero adding a little differentiation. 

Stat - These two had previously faced off at WrestleForce in Southampton in 2015, British Empire Wrestling in Tooting and Westside Xtreme Wrestling in Tufnell Park both in Greater London in 2017, with this match leaving Storm with a 3-1 record. 

Next week - Tyler Bate vs. Wolfgang in a 2017 United Kingdom Championship tournament semi-final rematch.

The main event saw Pete Dunne successfully retain the United Kingdom Championship in a very good match with Noam Dar. A strong example of the meshing of a classic British technical outing and WWE style main event, this clash gave plenty of hope that NXT UK will be able to find its own distinct style, whilst still appealing to a wider audience. The match managed to be both all-action and storyline-based with the early part of the match showing this off perfectly as whilst numerous threads for later in the match were being woven we also got a great spot as Dunne's trademark backflip out of the corner was thwarted by a chop block, before Dunne also used his signature X-Plex and then a sitout powerbomb for a near fall. Dar worked as the matches aggressor, targeting Dunne's knee in anticipation for the Champagne SuperKneeBar, but the crowd split about 70/30 in favour of Dunne, which created a cool football match type atmosphere on the screen. A series of delicious back and forth strikes, followed up by a superb submission exchange seemed to have the Cambridge Corn Exchange rocking and would be my pick for the best wrestling in the match, although the gorgeous Bitter End reversal into the CSKB by Dar was also a major contender. I'd have loved to see these two go another ten minutes, because their work was so crisp and precise and it felt like they'd only scraped the surface of their creativity together. The finish had been hinted at all match with Dunne attempting the finger snap on Dar multiple times and Dar repeatedly flashing his pinkies up with cocky swagger, so therefore it was only fitting that Dunne would eventually bend Dar's pinky back and stomp it right into the mat. The spot looked horrible but in the absolute best way and set up for the Bitter End to seal the victory.  For me, this was the best that Dar has looked in his time with WWE, given the opportunity to work a type of match that suits his style with an opponent capable of helping him to raise his game when needed. 

I was half expecting a big attack angle to close the show and lead into next week, but instead the commentary posed the question of who could possibly take the belt off Pete Dunne. This was a pretty cute way to end the first episode, especially because, as of now, it's rather difficult to pick someone from the pack as the person who could do it. Building the show around a dominant champion is an interesting move to kick off the brand with, but one that should provide plenty of scope for storytelling, as well as a number of top class matches. With the thought that it can surely only be a matter of time before Dunne finds himself on an even bigger stage, I can't wait to see who will the one chosen to step up from the pack and take over his role as the face of the brand.

Stat - Pete Dunne continues to be undefeated in singles action on WWE TV since losing the final of the 2017 United Kingdom Championship tournament. With the run now at 16 matches, Noam Dar joins a list that includes Roderick Strong, Ricochet and Adam Cole, Dunne's overall singles records stands at an impressive 19-1.

A strong debut episode for NXT UK, booked ended by a good opener and a very good main event. The middle of the episode could have been tighter, with the women's match and the Moustache Mountain appearance not really working for me. There's certainly lots of space for improvement, which will come as the wrestlers become more acclimatised to regularly working with WWE and WWE becomes more aware of the performers it has on it's books and what they are capable of both in the ring and within the various storylines and feuds that we'll hopefully see develop. It's clear that this isn't the finish product, just like the early episodes of NXT only showed glimpses of what that show would become and Iooking forward to seeing how the show finds it feet and who from the roster of talented performers steps forward and takes this considerable opportunity by the horns.

Written by James Marston 

WWE Monday Night RAW Review // 27th August 2018 // Reigns & Strowman vs. Ziggler & McIntyre

This week's RAW was a weird one as WWE looked to build a number of big shows at the same time. We got a major surprise heel turn, a classic Intercontinental Championship match between Seth Rollins and Kevin Owens, Trish Stratus making a surprise appearance to confront Elias in her hometown, as well as Baron Corbin's first week as Acting RAW General  Manager. But was it any good? Lets take a look!

The opening segment was as pretty paint by numbers situation, giving us both a main event for the next PPV, Hell in a Cell, as well as the evening, as Braun Strowman officially announced he'd be cashing in his Money in the Bank briefcase against Universal Champion Roman

Reigns in San Antonio on 16^th September, before Dolph Ziggler and Drew McIntyre challenged the Monster and the Big Dog to a match. The interaction between Reigns and Strowman was decent enough, the two clearly still have some chemistry from their surprise hit rivalry last year, whilst the Toronto crowd reacted well to a few well-placed verbal jabs. After Ziggler & McIntyre interrupted though the segment lost any of it's sting. The pair seemed to talk for a long time without actually saying anything, firstly complaining about Ziggler losing to Seth Rollins and then rambling on about wanting to face Reigns and Strowman for reasons that they didn't really make clear, all while getting little to no reaction from the crowd. Things weren't made better when Acting General Manager Baron Corbin came out and made all the confirmed matches official, taking his sweet time in doing so. I get what they're going for with Corbin, with him attempting to take credit for the work done by everyone else, but he's got so little charisma that he ended up sucking more air out of a segment that was already dying. The entire segment went about 15 minutes, felt like 25 and could've been done in 8 or 9.

No Disqualification Match – Acting RAW General Manager Baron Corbin def. Finn Balor via Pinfall

Under the section labelled “Feuds that have gone on way too long”, we have Baron Corbin and Finn Balor in their fourth singles match since the middle of July. This wasn't a feud that anyone was clamouring to see in the first place. The match itself was okay, some good back and forth in the later stages, once we got past an endless stretch of the same weardown hold from Corbin. It was clear to see that the two have been working together regularly from the couple of slick sequences they put together during the second half of the match, with some good variations on stuff like Corbin's Bossman clothesline spot. The highlight came from a slingblade on the outside from Balor that lead into the ad break, whilst a Tope con Hilo in the closing stages also looked great. The finish was used as a way to establish Corbin as Acting General Manager further, with the Lone Wolf causing a Disqualification with a steel chair, only to announce he'd forgotten to make announce that the bout was No DQ, following up with another chair shot and an End of Days for the win. You'd expect that this feud is finally done now, but with Balor unable to get the victory without the Demon it's hard to see where he goes next, especially if Corbin is staying as AGM for any amount of time.

Despite the match being six weeks away still, we got a package looking at Triple H vs. The Undertaker at Super Show-down with Ric Flair, Christian, Mick Foley, Jeff Jarrett and Kevin Nash discussing what we could see and who they thought would win.

We learned that Dana Brooke would be facing Sasha Banks next in her first RAW singles match since November 2017 in a backstage segment with Titus Worldwide crew. There seemed to be some tension teased between Titus O'Neil and Apollo Crews, with Crews confused at O'Neil's optimism for Brooke's chances.

Singles Match – Sasha Banks (with Bayley) def. Dana Brooke (with Titus O'Neil & Apollo Crews) via submission

In the first of a number of short matches on the show, Banks put Brooke away with the Banks Statement in two and a half minutes. For what it was, I found this relatively entertaining. Brooke going for a number of roll up attempts early made storyline sense, whilst the wrestler, who has consistently been towards the lower end of the female performers since debuting in 2015, actually didn't look awful here, hitting a nice looking enziguiri, pulling out some flippy type stuff, before going for her Samoan Driver finish and getting caught with a backstabber. I'm not quite sure what this match was for, with very little storyline development, but with Evolution not to far away it makes sense to give some depth to a couple of women at the far reaches of the division to fill out that card.

Backstage, there was an interaction between Dean Ambrose and Jinder Mahal that filled sometime and would eventually lead to a match in the third hour.

The first very good segment of the show was next as we got promos from Intercontinental Champion Seth Rollins and Kevin Owens, with the latter accepting an open challenge from the former. Rollins promo was alright, not offering much beyond crowd pandering, but effective enough to keep Toronto engaged and getting pops when necessary, before issuing the challenge. Owens on the other hand was on fire, full of anger at not having Sami Zayn by his side anymore, like Rollins had Dean Ambrose at SummerSlam, whilst also discussing how RAW hadn't been as much fun as he'd expecting. The Toronto crowd was super hot for their fellow Canadian, that is until he mentioned he's from Quebec and began speaking exclusively in French to a chorus of boos. It was timed to perfection with Owens spending enough time reeling in the crowd to get them to believe in his cause, only to turn on them just before the match began. Although with the skill and fire of the segment of his babyface promo it's curious that Owens has yet to be seen in this role regularly since his very first match with WWE at NXT Takeover: R Evolution back in December 2014.

Singles Match for Intercontinental Championship – Seth Rollins def. Kevin Owens via pinfall to retain

A superb television match here, with Kevin Owens and Seth Rollins putting on what was almost certainly their best singles match in WWE, and definitely the best match on the show. Part of why this match worked better for me than their series over the Universal Championship in Autumn 2016 was that Rollins has grown and grown as a babyface since that point, becoming arguably the best performer on the main roster since then, honing his moveset, whilst also making better use of his impeccable selling. That was on full display here as Owens targetting the Architect's shoulder, including a lovely senton onto the afflicted area. A couple of tremendous sequences in the middle of the bout with Rollins looking to hit either the Curb Stomp or the Ripcord Knee, only for Owens to block with an attack to the shoulder, would eventually string together into Owens locking in a Crossface and then modifying the submission to block Rollins arm reaching the rope, in a well-done dramatic moment was a personal highlight. Some back and forth series of reversals that would conclude with Owens hitting a Stunner as an answer to Rollins' Avadra Kedavra was brilliant in a completely different way, more reminiscent of their indy work than their early WWE series, as both men continued to show their versatility as in-ring performers. I would have liked to have seen Rollins' shoulder used further in the closing stages, as whilst Rollins still sold well the injury was put on the back burner in the final third, whilst playing very little role in the eventual finish. I think that with a little work on that this bout could've been pushed even further. However, it was super cool to see Owens pull out a double jump moonsault from his bag of tricks and, of course, missing the move would lead to Rollins retaining his belt at the first time of asking, collecting a W with a Curb Stomp to bring a stellar Intercontinental Championship match to an end.

Backstage, Braun Strowman handed his Money in the Bank briefcase to Baron Corbin, signalling that his cash-in at Hell in a Cell is now official.

There was an intriguing angle post-match as a frustrated Owens, who has struggled for victories since moving to RAW in April, sat in the ring, muttered the words “I quit” before slowly walking to the back. Like most, I'm very intrigued to see what happens next, which is the most important part of any weekly wrestling show.

Dolph Ziggler and Drew McIntyre managed to improve on their promo from the opening segment in an interview with Renee Young. The pair bought a whole heap more energy to their performances, whilst also seeming to have a better idea of why they were challenging two of the most dominant performers on the RAW brand. This boiled down to the idea that Reigns' body wasn't ready to compete following gruelling matches with Brock Lesnar and Finn Balor last week, whilst Braun Strowman's mind wasn't ready to compete after two thwarted Money in the Bank cash-ins in the same time period.

Tag Team Match – The Revival def. RAW Tag Team Champions The B-Team via pinfall

The B-Team's undefeated streak finally came to an end at the hands of Scott Dawson and Dash Wilder this week as The Revival went over Curtis Axel and Bo Dallas in a rematch from SummerSlam Kick-Off. This was a fairly basic tag match in structure, failing to get any real reaction out of the crowd. A lot of the action felt contrived and clunky, including a couple of roll-up spots that went on for way to long and killed an energy the match could have had. WWE seems to have no idea what made either team popular and even less of an idea about how it wants to present them to it's audience. Are the B-Team a comedy babyface act? Because there was very little in the way of shenanigan or attempted shenanigan from them here. This meant that the Revival's cutting off the ring schtick simply comes across as boring, because there's little to no promise of anything exciting or entertaining later on in the match. With The Revival's act, if the crowd aren't behind the face in peril then it falls flat. It's difficult to see how RAW's tag division can recover at the moment, as whilst there is some talent there, especially in Dawson & Wilder, the creative and attention to detail, both big and small, simply isn't there.

An entertaining segment saw Trish Stratus interrupt Elias, after The Drifter began ripping into Stratus' hometown of Toronto. Neither performer was without their slip-ups during their promos, but both has enough charisma to keep the crowd and the vocal talent to roll with their mistakes. There was a couple of really well-written lines in this with Elias making a reference to Torontonian Drake's song “Started from the Bottom”, whilst a pair of barbs from each wrestler later on in the promo got great pops from the crowd, even if it did feel like they were papering over that they had no legitimate chemistry. A Stratus slap closed the segment, with Ronda Rousey and Natalya's entrance for the next match being used as a way to swiftly move on from the fact that there wasn't any real ending in place.

Before, Natalya took on Alicia Fox, we got to here from Alexa Bliss, with the revelation that she was revoking or invoking or devoking perhaps, her rematch clause for Rousey's RAW Women's Championship at Hell in a Cell. Bliss also reintroduced Mickie James who hadn't been seen for quite a while, for a nice pop.

Singles Match – Natalya (with RAW Women's Champion Ronda Rousey & WWE Hall of Famer Trish Stratus) def. Alicia Fox (with Alexa Bliss & Mickie James) via submission.

A quick and simple win for Natalya in her home-country in her first match since her father, Jim Neidhart, passed away. Natty won with a Sharpshooter in a few minutes and whilst there was nothing of note in the bout, it's difficult to complain about WWE allowing for such a sentimentally sweet moment. This was made especially heart-warming/heart-breaking by Natty pointing to the sky and proclaiming the match was for her Dad afterwards. WWE doesn't always handle death well on it's television products, here's hoping that Jim Neidhart becomes an exception and makes a new rule.

Backstage, Natalya, Rousey and Stratus were met by the Bella Twins. Brie and Nikki talked awkwardly for a few seconds, before it was revealed they'd be returning to action on next week's show. Yay. (For fact fans, this will be their first TV match as a duo since the 17^th October 2015 edition of Main Event, where they went over Team B.A.D.'s Naomi and Tamina on a show that also included Stardust vs. Fandango and Ryback vs. Adam Rose!)

Another look at what various WWE alumni thinks about The Undertaker facing Triple H in Melbourne in October. This time we heard from “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, Booker T, The Big Show and Diamond Dallas Page, which was nice.

In a surprisingly entertaining segment, Baron Corbin informed Bobby Lashley that he had a match next, but that Corbin couldn't remember who he'd booked him against. I got a kick out of Lashley laughing it off, pretending to be pals with Corbin whilst slapping him on the shoulder. Corbin later informed Lashley that his match was a handicap match once the former Impact World Champion had got in the ring. I'm interested to see how long WWE pushes Corbin as the heel GM using his power irresponsibly and what the actual pay-off is, considering his boss is still the villainous RAW Commissioner Stephanie McMahon.

Two-on-One Handicap Match – Bobby Lashley def. The Ascension via pinfall

This was a thing. A rather stupid piece of booking, as Lashley going over two guys who haven't looked like a threat in years, but are also considered to have never been booked correctly since leaving NXT, isn't going to help him get over, whilst neither placing him in a feud with Baron Corbin. With the RAW tag team division a mess it's irresponsible to kill another team off in what was a pretty throwaway contest.

Singles Match – Dean Ambrose def. Jinder Mahal via pinfall

Completing a trifeca of short matches, Jinder Mahal's run at the top of the SmackDown brand seemed a distance memory as he lost cleanly to Dean Ambrose in under five minutes. Mahal had pretty much the whole match, controlling after a distraction from Sunil Singh, leading to dull and forgettable contest that offered very little in the way of entertainment. Ambrose's comebacks were repeatedly cut off by Mahal, the Lunatic Fringe reversed a Khallas attempt with a Dirty Deeds. Out of the three matches The Shield members had on the show, this was the weakest and ultimately most pointless, coming across as generic time-filler. I suppose Ambrose needed to be continued to be reintroduced to the audience and a quick win over a former World Champion is a solid way to do, but the delivery came off as lazy and unimaginative.

In the lockeroom, Braun Strowman and Roman Reigns had a confrontation, although seemed to be on the same page before the main event.

Tag Team Match – WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns & “Mr. Monster in the Bank” Braun Strowman vs. Dolph Ziggler & Drew McIntyre ended in a no contest

Less of a match and more of a set-up for a shock conclusion to the show, as Braun Strowman turned on Roman Reigns, appearing to side with Dolph Ziggler & Drew McIntyre as the trio turned away both Dean Ambrose and Intercontinental Champion Seth Rollins, before inflicting further punishment on Reigns. The match was alright up until this point, as Reigns battled against Ziggler and McIntyre as the face-in-peril with McIntyre and Ziggler continuing to work well as a team and showing plenty of intensity and physicality throughout as they thwarted various Reigns comeback attempts. But I'm not sure how effective the angle was or if it was the right decision to turn Strowman at this point. The Toronto crowd didn't seem to know what to make of what was happening, especially at the start, when it was very unclear where the angle was heading, but even then the reaction from them didn't match what was going on in the ring, mostly because nobody wanted to see a Braun Strowman heel-turn just 10 months after he became a babyface. Following the Becky Lynch heel-turn at SummerSlam, this feels like another case of WWE being out-of-touch with what it's core audience wants to see and how it is connected with the performers in the ring.

There's intrigue from this reviewer in how this plays out next week and going forward and it has been a while since RAW ended with a genuinely surprising moment. There is also potential in a Strowman/Ziggler/McIntyre vs. The Shield match to main event RAW with variational singles match also having promise whilst also filling valuable minutes of content. Like any good episodic TV ending, I was left asking questions about how the relationships between the characters were effected and whether there was an full and proper alliance between the villainous trio or whether this was one-off or month-long partnership, but I was also left questioning whether the timing was right, whether the correct person had made the turn and how WWE's insistence of keeping Reigns as the babyface star of the show could negatively impact on not just Strowman, but on Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose also.

Finally...

As episodes of RAW go, this was high on big impact moments and talking points, but low on good quality content across the three hours, with some horrible booking seen throughout. Kevin Owens and Seth Rollins stole the show with their Intercontinental Championship match, whilst Owens' walk-out was probably the most interesting storyline development. Alongside this we had Braun Strowman's questionable heel turn and alignment with Drew McIntyre and Dolph Ziggler, whilst we also got a surprise appearance from Hall of Famer Trish Stratus in a fun appearance with Elias. We also got a look at Baron Corbin in the role of Acting General Manager for the first time, something which feels like it could be fun in the short term, but could get tiresome if a pay-off doesn't come by Survivor Series at the very latest. A nice moment for Natalya and a surprisingly competent performance from Dana Brooke aside, the rest of the show was a mix between filler matches and dull matches with bad booking as WWE continued to struggled to know what to do with it's tag teams and Bobby Lashley.

Try to check out the gem of a match between Rollins and Owens in full, but I'm sure all of the moments worth seeing from the rest of the show are available on YouTube.

Review by James Marston