TV Review: WWE Monday Night RAW #1214 - Roman Reigns v Kevin Owens v Seth Rollins v Big Cass

It was a big week for the red brand, as they featured a four way dance for the Universal Championship that was vacated by Finn Balor on #1213. With an interesting mixture of wrestlers battling for the title, as Roman Reigns, Kevin Owens, Seth Rollins and Big Cass entered the main event, would Monday Night RAW produce a classic on the final episode of August? 

Before I get into the meat and potatoes of the Universal Championship match, lets begin by talking about the shocking conclusion and the return of Triple H. The former 9 time World Champion came seemingly out of nowhere to level Roman Reigns with a Pedigree on the outside when the Big Dog was on a roll, allowed Seth Rollins to get the elimination, before turning on The Architect with Pedigree and handing Kevin Owens the Universal Championship. I'm split on whether I actually liked the finish or not. Part of me enjoyed the surprise of The Game's return and the crowd reaction it garnered, then another part of me felt like it was another case of Triple H being put over ahead of everyone else. I think we'll have to wait til next week to see how it plays out, but there is no escaping the fact that two of the three eliminations came at the hands of a 47 year old Cerebral Assassin who hasn't been seen for over four months. Keeping things positive, it should be a good way of moving Owens up into that full-time main event slot, depending on how the story plays out over the next couple of weeks heading towards Clash of Champions.

Having considered the finish, the rest of the match was a lot less controversial, featuring some good stuff for sure. Despite being the first guy eliminated I felt like Big Cass' stock was raised considerably just by taking part, lasting a respectable twelve minutes against three guys with much more top level experience and taking a lot of offense before being pinned by Owens. The Babe Ruth of Beatdowns held his own in exchanges with Reigns and indeed seemed to have the upper hand on The Guy in the majority of their throwdowns. The Cactus Big Boot that Cass used to finish off their initial transaction was sweet, plus having him continue to be able to dodge Reigns' Superman Punch was a nice addition that opens up a potential clash for future supercards. The only man to not be basically eliminated by Triple H, Cass ended up taking a Superman Punch from Reigns as The Big Bambino looked to put Rollins away with The East River Crossing, before taking Avada Kedavra from The Man and Bullfrog Splash from Owens to crash out of the match. It was performance that instantly put Cass up a level and whilst he's clearly a long way from being as rounded as Rollins, Owens or even Reigns, if he remains fit and is booked right over the next couple of years, there is no doubt that The Don of Parmesan will be holding one of the companies top belts sooner rather than later. 

The rest of the contest had the Houston crowd hooked, as they popped for pretty much anything that happened and reacted with the over-used "This is Awesome" chant. In between Cass' elimination and Triple H's appearance, the highlight for me was a scrap between Reigns and Rollins that saw a particularly smooth series of reversals, that would culminate in The Aerialist nailing a falcon arrow for a strong near fall. The familiarity of the pair would be continue to be part of the story, with Reigns blocking a springboard high knee with a Superman punch, before the 2 time World Champion was able to block a Spear from Reigns. The pair have had numerous matches of the last two years, including a pair of bouts in Mexico over the past weekend and the fluidity created across those matches, helped to build a strong spine for this Four Way Dance. 

The biggest bout outside the main event was a six person tag, with Tag Team Champions The New Day [Big E & Kofi Kingston] teamed up with Bayley to battle The Club's Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson and their new found pal, Dana Brooke. I liked the idea of combining the Women's and Tag Team storylines as it meant that everyone got more screentime than if the two storylines had been split into separate segments and I felt like all six people involved in the match, as well as Xavier Woods in the New Day and Bayley's corner and Charlotte on commentary took the opportunity and ran with it. The bout merged the multiple gimmicks in an entertaining way, including Bayley joining all of New Day for a funky dance heading into a break. The build towards the finishing stretch was done very well, with Gallows pulling Big E off the apron to deny Kingston a hot tag, before a tag to Bayley produced a cool exchange between her and Brooke, before a Fosbury Flop style dive from Kingston onto Anderson and a Bayley to Belly allowed the babyface trio to pick the victory. 

In the second match of their Best of Seven Series, Sheamus and Cesaro continued their strong vein of form with another good collision as the tension between the two continues to build well. Having to have seven matches back to back, after already having two matches on RAW weeks before the series began, means that the duo are continually challenged to be creative and put on different types of matches and make sure that the audience know that they're going to see something new every time they sit down to watch one of these Best of Seven Series matches. Whilst Sheamus and Cesaro always bring a strong brawling style, the pair brought a different level of story-telling to this contest as The Swiss Superman was always one step ahead of The Celtic Warrior, with Sheamus kept to mostly flash pin attempts, including trying to win with his feet on the ropes towards the end of the bout. This would be flipped on it's head in the closing moments, as Sheamus sent Cesaro head over heels into the bulky ringpost, before locking in a Cloverleaf to earn a submission victory and go 2-0 up in the series. As things begin to warm up, I'm expecting this series to only get better and the storytelling to get richer. 

It was clear to see that Chris Jericho and Neville had had a house show run together over the weekend, as they put on a very smooth encounter in the shows opening match. Somewhat surprisingly it took the bout a few minutes to find it's feet, but once it did the pair produced some quality in-ring action, that presented a fun clash between the high-flying expert and the crafty veteran. Y2J was using all the old tricks to get the advantage, including hiding behind the referee before an eye rake, whilst The Man That Gravity Forgot had plenty in his bag of tricks also, including a beautiful Asai moonsault. Jericho being able to dodge Red Arrow multiple times also builds the potential for a rematch and protects the former NXT Champion despite the eventual submission loss. The final two sequences were great examples of what the pair could do together. Firstly, Jericho rolled through a German suplex attempt into a Walls of Jericho, that Neville reversed into a small package for a cracking false finish before Neville would go for a rana, after Y2J had escaped another Red Arrow, which Jericho would hold onto and eventually lock in a Liontamer to pick up the win. There's more that could be done between Jericho and Neville, I'm hoping that Owens winning the Universal Championship will free up Jericho to move into a proper feud with the Geordie. 

8 days after SummerSlam, Paul Heyman made his return to our screens in an odd segment with Commissioner Stephanie McMahon. Heyman and McMahon are two entertaining characters, that have a good amount of chemistry, which makes sure that whenever the pair share the screen, that you'll probably want to watch to see exactly what's going to happen. However, this time around, I'm not sure what actually happened. I feel like maybe I missed something, because to be honest, this felt like an unnecessary ten minutes of TV time, that didn't set up anything and didn't resolve anything either. Heyman came out, tried to pay Brock Lesnar's fine in $1 dollar bills, they then talked for a bit, Heyman begged McMahon to accept his apology, McMahon accepted and quickly left, leaving Heyman laughing in the ring. Both seemed to be heels, both came across as a bit dickish and I was left wondering if we'd ever get to see this go anywhere or if it was just a way to try to cash in on some of the controversy caused by Lesnar without actually having to pay Lesnar to be there. 

The only other lengthy talking segment on the show was Corey Graves hosting a chat between the four main event talents at the top of the show. There was some good stuff here as they looked to add a bit of depth to upcoming Four way dance and get the viewers to tune into the action at the end of the show. Kevin Owens and Seth Rollins had some banter, with Rollins initially donating his speaking time to Owens, whilst The Prizefighter compared the set-up to that of a group therapy session. Both men played their moment well, coming across as two guys jostling for each other's support in the match, whilst having a hint of animosity behind what they had to say. Big Cass also got some time to show what he can do on his own, having some decent back and forth with Owens regarding their recent feud, whilst also taking a jab at Rollins' penis size. Never forget those dick pics people, never forget. The segment concluded in fairly predictable fashion with Roman Reigns having fuck all to say and everyone brawling about.

Titus O'Neil and Darren Young continued their feud this week and still no one gave a single fuck. There was little get excited about again here, with the one big spot of the match, that saw O'Neil finally take control by lobbing Young over the top rope resulted in a ringside camera getting broken. I lost interest for a time, because The Real Deal just kept saying "You Owe Me" for reasons that weren't really explained and it would have been kind to have described any of the action as "average". The finish would see Young get a crucifix roll up victory after O'Neil got too involved with the referee. O'Neil would attack Bob Backlund before delivering Clash of the Titus to confirm that the misery will continue for a while long at least. The Prime Time Players were better together and they weren't that great to begin with.

Best of the Rest

• Sami Zayn returned to winning ways with a quick victory over Jinder Mahal following an Exploder Suplex and Helluva Kick 
• Nia Jax picked up her fourth victory in a row with a win over some lass called Hyan. 
• Braun Strowman extended his undefeated streak to over two month's with a victory over Americo [NWA's Barrett Brown] 

Finally...

ATPW Scale Rating - 6.03/10 

Topping last week's episode to become the best episode since the post-Battleground episode, this was an in-ring action heavy edition of Monday Night RAW. The main event was an epic, that will probably split opinion due to how much you enjoyed the finish, but either way it was a quality outing that did a lot for various competitors, whilst presenting one of the most shocking finishes to Monday Night RAW in quite some time. Outside of the main event, the three biggest matches on the show (New Day & Bayley v The Club & Brooke, Cesaro v Sheamus, Neville v Jericho) all delivered good wrestling and were entertaining in various ways. Only two in-ring talking segments is a never going to be a bad thing either, it's a shame that the Paul Heyman and Stephanie McMahon segment felt much more like a time filler than anything else. 

If only the continuation of Titus O'Neil and Darren Young's feud hadn't been featured on the show, then you'd probably have had the best episode since the brand split right here! 

All content - James Marston

Banner Credit - Kai Stellar

TV Review: WWE Monday Night RAW #1213 - Chris Jericho v Roman Reigns

As the dust from SummerSlam began to settle and it was revealed that the newly crowned Universal Champion Finn Balor would be on the shelf for six months, WWE was once again in position of having to change their plans and put together an evening of action that one would have to imagine was vastly different from what had been scheduled. Would WWE be able to think fast and pull out a quality episode of RAW? 

The main event of the show saw Roman Reigns and Chris Jericho battling for the final spot in a Fatal Four-way match on RAW #1214, where the Universal Championship will be on the line. Despite being unresponsive for most of the show, Brooklyn were determined to display how much they dislike Reigns, who let's be honest has been playing a tweener role since WrestleMania 32 anyway. There was still a fair reply of "Yes he can" to every "You can't wrestle" chant and despite the crowd's dislike for Reigns, Brooklyn was invested in the headline contest from start to finish, popping for every near fall and essentially playing into the story WWE wanted to tell of Reigns overcoming various obstacles to pull out the win. Personally, I feel WWE are leaving money on the table by not turning The Big Dog heel, which in the long run would probably also lead to Reigns being accepted by the fans, in similar way to what's been seen in NJPW with Tetsuya Naito. 

Reigns and Jericho put on a strong main event match, with the pair both working a clever bout that was booked perfectly and had some great near falls. Reigns sold the Walls of Jericho well but I'm sure most of the crowd knew that WWE wouldn't have Jericho beat Reigns clean, so having Y2J's Jeri-KO partner, Kevin Owens, come down to ringside in the second half of the contest allowed for some much more convincing near falls. Jericho also made sure to protect himself and his codebreaker finisher by crawling into the pin, rather than instantly grabbing the cover. The story of Reigns being the powerful one, whilst Jericho bought a crafty veteran persona, sticking his thumb in his opponents eye and having his pal help him at ringside was told well, with Reigns selling the injured eye well. They could have made a bit more of The Guy being unable to see if they had a bit more time. I don't imagine Reigns will win the Universal belt on 29th August, but his involvement will make the win more important and guarantee that the crowd will be invested in the action.

As mentioned above, Finn Balor had to vacate the Universal Championship after less than a day holding onto the red belt. After RAW Commissioner Stephanie McMahon and RAW General Manager Mick Foley had introduced him at the top of the show, Balor would forfeit the belt in an emotional address to the Brooklyn crowd. It was difficult not to feel for Fergal Devitt. I'm not trying to be smart by using his birth name, I used it because as much this was a bad time for the character on screen, you have to think that it's much worse the man behind it. Someone who's worked since 2000 to get this point, someone who toiled in Japan for eight years to make a name for himself and become one of the best wrestlers in the world, spent three years in NXT becoming a rounded sports-entertainer and went on to win the top championship on WWE's RAW brand after just three matches on the show. Everything that Devitt had done previously, winning the NWA British Commonwealth title in 2004, winning the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team titles six times between 2008 and 2012, winning the Best of the Super Juniors in 2010 & 2013, winning the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship three times between 2011 and 2014, winning the NXT Championship and the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic in 2015, having great matches with Koji Kanemoto, The Motor City Machine Guns, Naomichi Marifuji, Golden Lovers, Gedo, Kazuchika Okada, Zack Sabre Jr., Adrian Neville, Kevin Owens, Samoa Joe and Shinsuke Nakamura, wrestling in Japan, the USA, the UK, Mexico, Ireland, Australia, Germany, Canada, France, New Zealand, Palau, Poland, Singapore and Hungary, was leading up SummerSlam 2016 and within hours it was taken away.

The segment swiftly moved away from Balor's concession with Seth Rollins coming out to claim the belt, only to be interrupted by Sami Zayn, Chris Jericho, Kevin Owens, Enzo & Cass and Roman Reigns. It made for some entertaining televison as I tried to work out who would be out next and the solution that McMahon & Foley would come up with. Rollins did a brilliant job with his smarmy heel promo getting some great heat for talking about how beautifully the Universal belt was, whilst Jericho also made the most of his time putting his hand in praying position and begging McMahon to give him the title. However, this parade of RAW's top talent probably wasn't needed as The Billion Dollar Princess and The Hardcore Legend could have easily announced plans on their own and given the matches or other segments more time. Personally, I'd have liked to have seen the winners of the matches from the previous night Supercard be the ones involved, but that's probably asking to much with a number of them involved in other stories and the card having to shuffled anyway! The segment concluded with Rollins attacking Zayn from behind prior to their opening match.

Big E picked up a win in first singles match since March and extend his undefeated streak to six matches with a quick victory over Karl Anderson, gaining revenge for the attack on his nads. This was a decent match, that could have done with an extra five minutes to allow the pair to get into the next gear, but did it's job well bringing New Day's feud with The Club to a close with Kofi Kingston, Xavier Woods and Luke Gallows all involved in the match's conclusion. The segment that would lead into the contest was a lot of fun with New Day celebrating a year as Tag Team Champions and an appreciative Brooklyn crowd hanging off the groups every word. The interaction between the two groups was more good stuff with Big E making me choke on my tea with his request that The Club stop "talking that flim flam, that booty chatter". 

In the most interesting thing The Dudley Boyz (Bubba Ray Dudley & D-Von Dudley) have done for months, BRD & D-Von were out to do a retirement speech after a full year back in the company. As they were cutting their speech, I began to think how much of a shame it was that the pair hadn't been in the ring with The Club's Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson, as the two teams would seem to match up with each other pretty well. The segment was well put together and worked the crowd perfectly, as initially The Shining Stars (Epico & Primo) interrupted Dudley Boyz and when it seems like BRD & D-Von were about to put Epico & Primo through a table and end their career on a high note, The Club would attack. After D-Von took Magic Killer on the floor and BRD took it through a table, we could have the most engaging feud of Dudley Boyz's second run with WWE. The heat for Gallows & Anderson was arguably the best crowd reaction for them as a tag tram since their debut in April.

Talking of reactions, how about that pop for Bayley, eh? Making her first appearance since Battleground and her RAW debut, Mick Foley would introduce the former NXT Women's Champion as his new free agent signing after interrupting NEW Women's Champion Charlotte and Dana Brooke. This segment was my favourite part of the show, partly because Bayley finally getting the chance on the big stage, but mainly because Charlotte cut two excellent promos either side of it. Her initial speech about defeating Sasha Banks at SummerSlam was wonderfully slick as she claimed to have shown up Banks as a one match wonder. Her reply to Bayley asking for a title match was a equally well done, taking on a condescening tone and shuffling herself aside as she offered the debutant a match with Brooke instead. A great piece of business that sets up an interesting feud with two polar opposite characters with history dating back to 2013 in NXT, whilst Banks return from her back injury will only add more fuel to the fire.

The Universal Championship tournament would offer up another first time WWE clash as Rusev and Big Cass met in the ring for the first time since 2013. After some comedy from Cass & Enzo Amore as they tried to work out where the "Bulg Area" was, the match was a serious affair that used Rusev's rib injury caused by Roman Reigns the previous night as it's catalyst. As much as the victory was a huge lift for The Big Bambino, it was The Bulgarian Brute's performance that stood out, helped by some wonderful heel commentary from Corey Graves. Rusev constantly made sure the rib injury was in the audience's mind, not just grabbing the ribs, but showing the pain all over his face. The finish used this well as Rusev would walk out of the match because of the pain, in a good piece of juxtaposition between he and Sami Zayn...

The show's opening match saw Seth Rollins earn his spot in the Universal Championship match next week with a victory over Sami Zayn in a good match. Similar to the Rusev v Cass bout, it was the losing competitor who put on the strongest performance, as The Underdog from the Underground put on a masterclass, kayfabe hurting his ankle when jumping over Rollins and selling it for it all it was worth. This produced some compelling action and got the crowd behind the former NXT Champion, garnering great reactions off flash false finishes including a sunset flip bomb. The finish continued on an on-going theme from the match with Zayn's ankle not allowing him to hit a Michonoku Driver, allowing The Aerialist to hit a Pedigree for the win. Two of the best wrestlers in the company doing what they do best, a feud between Rollins and Zayn has the potential to be money.

Rounding out the Universal Championship semi-finals was another clash between two former NXT Champions as Kevin Owens and Neville had another good match with each other. The pair made the most of their short time on screen, crafting a pacy contest that was beneficial to both men. Neville looked the best he's done since his return from injury with a brilliant face shine that included a 450 splash off the apron and a 450 plancha, whilst the relationship between Owens and Jeri-KO team mate, Chris Jericho was strengthened. The had a smooth series of action, where the both avoided each others finishes, before Y2J would stop Neville from hitting Red Arrow, allowing Owens to hit an Argentine Neckbreaker to pick up the win.

Titus O'Neil cut a promo on this week's episode. I say cut, what I mean is butchered. The Real Deal somehow managed to fuck up every line he had to say, stumbling over his words and looking like a kid on their first day of drama school. He didn't looked like he believe a single word he was saying about former Prime Time Players partner Darren Young and appeared more like he was just struggling to remember what he had to say next. For someone who has been employed by WWE since 2009, it was unforgivably bad. Things didn't get better when Bob Backlund ran to the ring and Young waited until his life coach had been squashed by O'Neil before bothering to get his arse down to the ring where he'd then take a Clash of the Titus himself. A truly dreadful piece of TV. 

After an electric entrance, Bayley's match opposite Dana Brooke wasn't the best introduction for the former NXT Women's Champion. Whilst she got the win with a Belly to Bayley in an impressive fashion, I have to think those who were seeing Bayley for the first time would be wondering what all the fuss was about. Beginning the match by riding Brooke like a horse and a Slip N' Slide wasn't a great way to insert her into RAW's women's division. Despite a couple of awkward bumps the crowd remained behind Bayley throughout the short contest, which is definitely a good sign, let's hope we get to see better performance from Bayley over the next few weeks to get those more casual fans invested in her as well. Matches with Banks, Charlotte and Paige, and even Summer Rae and Alicia Fox offer plenty of options for Bayley going forward on RAW.

Best of the Rest 

• Braun Strowman picked up his six singles victory in a row, beating Johnny Knockout in just over a minute.

Finally... 

ATPW Scale Rating - 5.67/10

This a decent episode of Monday Night RAW and the best edition since the show following Battleground 2016. The unfortunate injury to Finn Balor meant that WWE put on four different matches, that had consequences and all had their own things to enjoy about them. Out of those matches, my personal favourite was the main event between Reigns and Jericho, but I also wouldn't argue if someone enjoyed Rollins v Zayn or Owens v Neville more. However, the segment featuring the debut of Bayley and some killer heel work from Charlotte was the pinnacle of the episode for me, even if Bayley's win over Brooke wasn't the best first match for the former NXT Women's Champion. 

Outside of the tournament was a mixed bag, with some good comedy from the New Day, a decent bout between Big E and Anderson, a strong angle involving Dudley Boyz, Shining Stars and The Club and an awful few minutes with O'Neil, Backlund and Young. Had the terrible promo from O'Neil not been on the show, RAW #1213 would have gotten over a 6 on the ATPW Scale.

With next week's show featuring the Four-Way between Rollins, Owens, Cass and Reigns to crown the second and longest reigning Universal Champion, which is undoubtedly a PPV quality bout, I would expect the show to be pushing back into the 6 range.

All content - James Marston
Banner credit - Kai Stellar