WWE Raw Review: 26.09.2016

So Clash of Champions happened and, well, it didn’t really do much to help solve the mediocreness of the Raw product recently. As usual, the matches were all well and good but the end result was lacking as the finishes were questionable at best. Now this week’s Raw had the biggest competition it has ever come against. Not only was it up against Monday Night Raw but they were also against the US Presidential debate which had a supposed audience size of 80 million people. So could Raw do its best John Cena impression and overcome the odds that it was up against? No of course not you’d have to be high to think that.

Ignoring the events that took place in the real world, let us dive back into the glorious world of wrestling and digest the show we got this week. Raw opened with the rematch from last night between newly crowned US Champion Roman Reigns and former champion Rusev. To sum the match up in a few words it would be same old shit. Seriously how many times have we seen this exact match up not only on Raw but on PPVs too. It’s just too much and if the ending of the match is any indication of the future it looks like we might be seeing plenty more of this match to come. Also Reigns no selling the chair shots is ridiculous. I mean sure the Super Reigns train has clearly been derailed somewhat but he’s still doing a lot of the superman shit he did back when he was being pushed to the moon.

The rest of the show was a mixed bag, to be honest, we get a lot of the fallout from Clash of Champions, including the resolution to the best of 7 series which as some predicted resulted in the duo of Cesaro and Sheamus now forming a tag team after Mick Foley gave yet another passionate speech about the two of them bringing out the best in each other. Now I have to stay on our beloved GM for a moment and I can definitively say that he is the worst thing about Raw at the moment. This GM role is just an absolute career low for the hardcore legend. Now I love Mick, he’s a great guy and a great wrestler but this character at the moment is just not working. All he does is get bitched out by Stephanie and all the other times he starts rambling passionately talking about how he was brought to tears by this or how he had faith in that. It’s embarrassing.

The fallout continues as we deal with the other titles on the show. Gallows and Anderson continue to be booked like utter crap in the tag team division (I don’t hate New Day at all but I have begrudgingly come to accept they will break Demolitions reign record). Charlotte is still the only woman in the Women’s division who feels like she has an actual character. I am seriously questioning why Sasha Banks is getting all these opportunities. What has she done?

Meanwhile, the cruiserweight division is still getting started but of all the title pictures it looks the most promising despite Brian Kendrick receiving a title shot for no reason like Banks. Not to sound like a hypocrite the reason I think this works for the cruiserweights is that the division is only getting off the ground so it needs to establish the major players like THE Brian Kendrick, therefore it makes sense for him to be TJ Perkins’ challenger for a while.

As for the Universal Championship, this week a whole lot of nothing happened, with Seth Rollins not being medically cleared tonight, so therefore he could not get into any fights with Kevin Owens or Chris Jericho. Though a confrontation was teased during the highlight reel, where Seth Rollins came down to the ring and threatened to attack the Universal Champion, though he was stopped by the backstage agents/security before he could get there. This lead to tonight’ main event, a Summerslam rematch between JeriKO and Enzo and Cass, and of course the team of JeriKO win. As the champion should be, I just wish Enzo and Cass could be involved in actually winning for a change.

This week’s Raw just felt messy. I get that a lot of what took place tonight was necessary to further storylines but there is a distinct lack of storytelling in many places. Why should I really be invested in Cesaro and Sheamus going after the titles? Sure they are both good wrestlers but why are these titles important to these guys in particular? This is why I and many others are just finding it so hard to get engrossed in Raw at the moment. Simply said there is really no reason to.

That being said there were some good moments in tonight’s episode. The cruiserweights once again put on a great show, Perkins vs Nese was the match of the night, and while Perkins hasn’t been able to show off much character yet he is showing charisma in the ring and is just a joy to watch. Also, we got to see other cruiserweights show off their stuff with the arrival of  Drew Gulak and Lince Dorado and seeing Enzo and Cass do something other than wrestle The Shining  Stars was a nice change of pace. Despite this lack of direction going forward, many of the talents are still able to drag their material kicking and screaming into something watchable. Obviously, people like Jericho and Owens are known for their charisma, but someone who has really impressed me as of late is Charlotte who has become the star of this Raw Women’s Division.

However, until Raw gets more focused and starts to head in a clear direction with its story it will continue to lag behind the blue brand in terms of quality and this week it will probably be in terms of viewers as well. This week gets a 5.5/10.

FINAL NOTES

• Tonight’s MVP – Charlotte
• Match of the Night – TJ Perkins vs Tony Nese
• Moment of the Night – Charlotte is killing her promos
• Man, I was legit concerned for Kofi during the match. I spotted the cut straight away but his face went from 0-100 real fast
• Cedric Alexander continues to impress me in ring
• I feel like I could really get behind the Cesaro – Sheamus tag team if Mick Foley wasn’t doing all the talking in the feud
• Now I’m not an idiot for still thinking Roman is the heel in the feud, right? He ruined their wedding ceremony, attacked Rusev’s wife and has repeatedly come out to interrupt his matches

WWE Raw Review: 05.09.2016

OPENER

Before the show starts we get a recap of last week’s events, and the reaction to Kevin Owens’ victory and the shocking Triple H return. Then we kick off with a cold open that shows Stephanie McMahon talking to somebody on the phone about the upcoming celebration for Kevin Owens’ title win. The call is followed by a tense confrontation between her and GM Mick Foley who demands to know if Steph had any about what was planned for last week with her husband Triple H. Stephanie denies any knowledge leading to a heartfelt conversation between the two. It was quite cringy to be honest but I see what they were going for, and it was decent.

CELEBRATION TIME                                                            

Kevin Owens comes out to the ring decked out in a sharp suit to join the authority figures in the ring (no HHH though). Kevin Owens agrees with the overwhelming “you deserve it” chants, but he lashes out at the crowd for trying to take over the show and steal his moment (looking at you Full Sail). This celebration is interrupted by one very pissed off Seth Rollins who comes down to the ring and at first he completely ignores Kevin Owens and instead demands an explanation from Stephanie, who continues to deny any knowledge or involvement. However after some goading by the new Universal Champion he decides to attack Owens leading to Stephanie suspending Seth, a decision that is quickly overturned by Mick who decides that Seth is worthy of a title shot at Clash of Champions as he was screwed out of a win last week. This segment was great, I never knew I wanted a Rollins/Owens feud but now it’s all I want. Face Rollins was intense and awesome while champion KO was as great of a heel as ever.

• Stephanie and Foley talk about what had just happened in the ring and she tells him that it was the right decision to make but if he ever undermined her authority again he would be gone. Kevin Owens arrived to shout at Foley too, followed by Chris Jericho who arrived to back up his best friend (love this by the way), in response two matches are set up, Rollins vs Jericho and Owens vs Sami Zayn.

CHARLOTTE vs BAYLEY

We see that before the match earlier Charlotte gave her apprentice Dana Brooke some advice and told her to take notes during the match with Bayley tonight. The match was pretty good as it involved both wrestlers getting good amounts of offense in, making both Bayley and Charlotte look like a threat. The key focal point in the match became Bayley’s leg as half way through the match Bayley would seemingly botch a corner post dropkick and then pull a muscle in her leg, this leg was then worked by Charlotte throughout the rest of the match. The focus on the leg hints that this was not a real injury and while Bayley was obviously not hurt it the botch itself seemed very real possibly hinting that they decided to focus on it half way through the match, which would be very impressive. With Orton at Summerslam, Zayn last week and now this I have to say that WWE is doing well in working me recently. Bayley ended with the win after Dana’s attempt at distracting the hugger ended up costing Charlotte the match.

• Charlotte slaps Dana backstage

BO DALLAS vs KYLE ROBERTS

This was weird for so many different reasons. Firstly because after the recent Bo Dallas controversy they thought that this was the best time to put Bo back on the show, secondly because of that weird battle poem that Bo recited before the match. Lastly and most importantly, why does Bo Dallas need a squash match? Why him of all people? Bo wins.

• Jericho promises to win his match tonight

SETH ROLLLINS vs CHRIS JERICHO

Another week another good Seth Rollins match, well actually I could change that name to Chris Jericho and it would be just as justifiable. This match was my personal high point of the show as it was a high paced and well worked match between two excellent performers. Seth looked dangerous throughout and as his face turn seems imminent it was no surprise he went over clean. Each of the competitors looked great, especially Rollins who fought with intensity and focus that really sold his current mental state. The use of the pedigree surprised me as I would have assumed he was cutting ties with HHH completely but it was used to send a message here. I wouldn’t be surprised if after the inevitable feud with Haitch he drops it for God’s Last Gift or the Phoenix Splash.

CESARO vs SHEAMUS (BEST OF SEVEN)

Before the next stage of the best of seven series begins we see a video package dedicated to the result of last week’s match, especially focusing on the damage done to Cesaros back, it seems that this damage will play a part in tonight’s contest. Well it did, Cesaro lost handily tonight as Sheamus immediately and precisely targeted the injured back, with this victory it means that Sheamus could wrap the series up on Wednesday in London (WHICH WILL BE ATTENDED BY YOURS TRULY). The only question is whether he will have more tape by then.

• The Shining Stars dare to plug Puerto Rico on Labour Day so they are interrupted by Enzo and Cass who talk smack and then Enzo has a baby. Weirdly I still enjoyed this.

ENZO & CASS vs THE SHINING STARS

The match goes the usual way an Enzo and Cass match does, with Enzo taking a massive beat down and then Big Cass makes his way into the ring with the hot tag to decimate the competition. Look, I love Enzo and Cass but this match formula is beginning to get boring. Let Enzo do something other than getting beaten up all match up. For some odd reason The Shining Stars get the win, even if it was by surprise roll up after a distraction, the decision was a weird one as The Shining Stars have been doing absolutely nothing since the draft.

• In an interview Sami Zayn admits that things haven’t gone his way since his match with Kevin Owens at Battleground, and that he is a little jealous and that KO being champion does affect him. Owens arrives to mock Zayn.

NIA JAX vs ANN ESPOSITO

We find out that Nia Jax’s latest victim is Ann Esposito who is a friend to WWE diva Alicia Fox, though I would not blame you if you forgot Alicia existed. Surprisingly this Ann Esposito actually got some offense in on Nia Jax as she was able to hurt Nia with kicks and then land a choke hold. However eventually Nia was able to put away her competition like she always does.

THIS SEGMENT SUCKED

I’m not going to go in detail about what happened in this segment, The Club came out they brought out a parody of the New Day called the Old Day, then the New Day came out drove off The Club and beat down the Old Day. I think it is more important to go into detail about what the fuck they have done to this feud and to The Club overall. It’s a joke to be honest, they seem to be trying to make Anderson and Gallows look like a new version of DX or something like that but they don’t need to be, how about you make them like the Bullet Club instead? It’s worked before. This feud has become my least favourite part of Raw which really shows the disservice they have done to these teams.

DARREN YOUNG vs JINDER MAHAL

These two guys compete in a nothing match with Titus O’Neil on commentary trying to discredit Darren Young, Bob Backlund and the entire Make Darren Great Again campaign. Darren wins the match with the Gut Check, then Titus comes down to the ring and the two brawled. No one cared.

• Alicia Fox is waiting for her friend Ann Esposito who is being treated by the medics. Outside the medics room Nia Jax shows up then Alicia goes all crazy diva bitch which really takes me back to the butterfly belt era. Fox seems to be Nia Jax’s first real feud.

BRAUN STROWMAN vs SIN CARA

It seems that Braun Strowman is finally allowed some real competition as he faces off against Sin Cara, who vowed to defend his culture and heritage after Strowman disrespected Americo last week. The match, like Nia’s is slightly different as for once Braun’S opponent is able to get some offense in, however Braun ultimately dominated the match. The contest ended in a count out after Braun was dragged Sin Cara out of the ring and smashed him into the barricade. This was a bit clumsy but I actually like that Braun is getting real opponents.

SASHA BANKS RETURNS

Sasha Banks comes out to the ring and he puts over the new Women’s Revolution, Stephanie McMahon and the heroes of the past (as usual WWE change history to suit their narrative), she buries the butterfly belt and also teases a possible retirement. However the swerve was that she was completely okay and she will be back to take her title at Clash of Champions against Charlotte (and possibly Bayley?). I didn’t like this segment just because there was no reason to resort to the fake retirement angle as it was completely unnecessary.

KEVIN OWENS vs SAMI ZAYN

The match between these two at Battleground was a masterpiece and it was painted as the last time in a while we would see the pair of Owens and Zayn face off, so having them be the main event of tonight’s show was a bit surprising but despite that I am okay with this as the matches they put on are always fantastic. This match was slightly different as KO being the champion presented it as a different fight with Sami being more of an underdog than he had ever been before. The match saw the trademark spots from the two including the senton from Owens and the Blue Thunder Bomb from Zayn. Zayn would lose the match partly due to the ankle injury he suffered at the hands of Rollins last week which gave him an excuse but still allowed Owens to look strong.

After this Roman Reigns would make his entrance and scare Kevin Owens from the ring. Before the situation got out of hand GM Mick Foley made his way out to announce that next week if Reigns can beat Owens then he will be added to the main event at Clash of Champions.

FINAL NOTES & SCORE

• Tonight’s MVP: Kevin Owens
• Match of the Night: Rollins vs Jericho
• Moment of the Night: KO Celebration
• I’m disappointed in a no show from HHH but the anticipation is only growing to see what he will do next.

This week’s show was definitely a mixed bag with some great in ring work and terrible promos, the confusion with some of these promos/matches were mind boggling, but the in ring work does save this weeks raw. 6/10

WWE Raw Review: 29.08.2016

Wow, just wow. That ending right? I know, I know the thing everyone wants to talk about is the main event, but patience, we’ll get to that, first, however, I just have to say that this week’s Raw stepped up big time considering what it has been the last few weeks and the show it has been up against.

OPENER

So we open this week with the four contenders in tonight’s main event being interviewed collectively by Corey Graves. It is not long before Graves gets hijacked by Seth Rollins who decides he wants to take over the segment, and soon the other guys decide they want to too. The other members of tonight’s main event also had something to contribute with Kevin Owens being his usual sarcastic self, Big Cass making a great dick joke on Seth and finally Roman Reigns deciding he didn’t need words just action (please keep him silent as much as possible). Overall this was a great segment as not only did it make the prize of the Universal Championship seem important but it also was short and sweet and by the end, I was still very much engaged (unusual for a Raw opening) as was the crowd who were very much a presence tonight.

• Paul Heyman will be here tonight to address the Brock Lesnar situation
• Tom Phillips interviews Chris Jericho and there isn’t much more to say other than this is some of the great back and forth we have seen in previous weeks with Jericho.

JERICHO vs NEVILLE                    

Though this match really had no stakes to get me emotionally invested into the result it was still a great contest between the two. Jericho and Neville had great in ring chemistry and are obviously both great workers. Apparently, Jericho is rumoured to be cutting to under 205lbs which would make him eligible for the Cruiserweight division, which will obviously feature Neville heavily. The match was back and forth with both hitting big spots including Neville’s standing shooting star press and almost landing the Red Arrow but the highlight was from Jericho who went full Liontamer on the man who gravity forgot to pick up the win. Great match even better finish.

• Bayley is handing out hugs backstage when she runs into the New Day who she is thrilled to see. This happiness is returned as she and the tag team champs bond before being rudely interrupted by Dana Brooke. It seems a mixed tag with Bayley and New Day vs Dana and The Club is set up (also watch Big E specifically in this segment. He cracks me up).

NIA JAX vs HYAN

Same deal different day. Nia squashes the competition in the usual fashion and picks up the win. The only question is, who is she being built up for? Bayley? Sasha?

• The Club continue their PSAs which infuriates me. I want the Club to just kick the shit out of people not be comedy acts. Dana Brooke also joined in, but she just looked like an absolute porn star in her outfit.
• Rollins video package

SAMI ZAYN vs JINDER MAHAL

This wasn’t a squash match but it might have well have been. What was the point of having Sami Zayn win his feud with Kevin Owens to the put him in a nothing match at the biggest show of the summer, then have him compete in more nothing matches like this? Zayn wins.

• We get an update from Sasha Banks about her back injury, in which she calls Charlotte a coward.

NEW DAY & BAYLEY vs THE CLUB & DANA BROOKE

It is kind of refreshing to see a mixed tag match as they happen so rarely but with the WWE rules on mixed gender fighting this basically felt like two separate matches happening in the same ring for the majority of the matchup, the corner dropkick from Bayley to Anderson was the notable exception from this. The match was fairly even as both teams got solid hits in and were allowed to work for a decent amount of time. Bayley ended the match with a Bayley to belly suplex, the crowd was crazy for her all match.

• In an interview, Cesaro claims that he will come back from is a loss at Summerslam tonight.
• Kevin Owens video package

BEST OF 7: SHEAMUS vs CESARO

This was another excellent match between the pair, this best of 7 series seems to have been a great idea as it is giving both guys a chance to showcase their skills. During the early parts of the match, Cesaro showed his game plan by going for the quick pinfall. The match was very stiff as both guys took brutal hits none more so than the brutal cloverleaf to finish the match with a Sheamus win.

• Touching Fuji tribute
• Kevin Owens video package

BRAUN STROWMAN vs AMERICO

Braun Strowman once again squashes his opponent instantly. Two good things, first Strowman has seemingly ditched that terrible reverse chokeslam, secondly, Braun showed some character when he removed the Lucha mask showing great disrespect.

STEPH & PAUL

Stephanie comes out to address the controversial ending to Summerslam with Brock Lesnar but before she can really address anything, the advocate himself makes his way out to confront the commissioner. Paul receives the ECW chants which Stephanie brilliantly counters by claiming that she bought the company years ago, however, this just leads to the Punk chants (that wound is somehow still too fresh). Paul claims he is willing to pay the $500 fine, and he brings out 500 single dollar bills and proceeds to count them. The segment ends with some back and forth threats between the two, I am excited to see where this goes.

• Roman Reigns video package

TITUS O’NEIL vs DARREN YOUNG

Ugh. Not this feud again, it actually pains me to have to write about this, especially after the Titus O’Neil promo last week. Like all Titus matches, this is slow and clumsy as Darren Young is not good enough to save it from the mess of a wrestler that is Titus O’Neil. Darren grabs the win using a roll up but after the match, he is ambushed along with Bob Backlund by Titus,

• Foley apologized to Stephanie for not having her back. Rollins arrived and he told both Steph and our GM that he would bring home the gold tonight then he hugs Steph (I SURE HOPE NOTHING HAPPENS TO HIM TONIGHT).
• Stephanie and Mick Foley are ringside for the main event
• Enzo came out with Cass and hyped up the big man. Cass, Owens, and Seth all got pops from this hot crowd. Roman got booed out of the building despite being better tonight.

ROLLINS vs REIGNS vs OWENS vs CASS (WWE UNIVERSAL CHAMPIONSHIP)

So finally onto what we have all been waiting for, the main event for the Universal Championship. Immediately after the bell rings Owens escapes from the ring to chill with the authority figures at ringside. Meanwhile, in the ring the action starts as both Cass and Roman team up on Rollins then we get another tease of a Roman/Cass showdown. The rest of this match was high paced with some great spots. The 4 superstars saw action both inside and outside the ring and looked dangerous at all times. All guys excelled in some way, Big Cass looked like a real threat which helped elevate him to the level of the other guys. Roman and Seth continued to look main event worthy as in ring they were able to control the tempo and finally Kevin Owens’ earlier statements about being a smart fighter proved true. Big Cass was the first to be eliminated after taking a barrage of punishment from the other 3 men.

After this, things got REAL interesting. In the middle of this great match things really couldn’t get much better, you know unless TRIPLE FUCKING H RETURNED! (DICKS OUT FOR HHH BOYS). Amidst the chaos of Roman and Seth struggling HHH takes Roman and gives him a pedigree seemingly paying him back for the loss at Wrestlemania. The COO then hands Seth the pin allowing him to eliminate Roman. So if this crazy shit wasn’t enough when Triple H goes to hand Seth the win against Kevin Owens, HHH turns on The Man and lays him out for KO. WHAT IS HAPPENING? Owens defeats Seth after a pedigree from HHH, and celebrates to a crowd chanting “You deserve it”. As HHH left he stared down Foley and even his wife.

This ending was insane. The transition from Rollins to Owens as HHH’s guy was totally unexpected but felt perfectly natural and the possibilities after this are endless. On youtube after the show, the heartbreak of Seth Rollins can be seen as he is seen talking to a confused Steph. This is definitely setting up a Seth face turn and hopefully, we get a Seth/HHH feud or even a Steph/HHH battle for Raw.

FINAL NOTES & SCORE

• Tonight’s MVP: Kevin Owens
• Match of the Night: Main Event Fatal 4-Way
• Moment of the Night: HHH Return
• Commentary was on point tonight especially the main event
• I pray the stuff with Paul and Stephanie ties into the HHH return. Brock should play a part in this battle as should the entire roster
• Beat that Smackdown

So wow is a fitting word to describe this ending. Nothing could have gotten me more excited than that ending, well maybe a Punk return but other than that this was it for me. The show wasn’t all good, though, there were some noticeable bad parts such as the squash matches, the mixed tag wasn’t great and Titus vs Darren sucked. Overall this show earns an 8/10.

WWE Raw Review: 22.08.2016

Sooooooo…. Summerslam was weird, right? The matches weren’t terrible and there wasn’t a major problem with the results either, but the show was just off in some way. Going into Raw there are some big events that need to be addressed. The ordeal that was the main event, the lack of a US title match and most importantly the Universal Title. The belt may look like trash but my boy Finn Balor ascended to the top of the mountain and has earned his first WWE world championship, let’s pray for a long fruitful reign.

OPENER

Well fuck. The show opens with the announcement that last night Finn Balor injured himself during his match with Seth Rollins. Due to this injury, Finn will be out for 6 months and therefore has to vacate the title. This is fucking terrible news and I am praying Finn gets better ASAP. Balor gives a moving speech announcing that he has to leave but when he comes back he will be back in the hunt for the title. Before the Demon even has the chance to make his way to the back, the herd of challengers make their way into the ring. First Seth Rollins, followed by Zayn, Owens, Jericho, Enzo & Cass, and Roman Reigns. Foley announces a short tournament for the title that will end with a fatal 4 way next week.

SETH ROLLINS vs SAMI ZAYN

Before the rest of the wrestlers were able to make it to the back, Seth decides to ambush Zayn to get the first match of the tournament started. The match went as all the previous Rollins/Zayn matches did, which means it was very good.  Zayn eventually takes a nasty bump on his ankle which looked like a legitimate injury but as it turns out this was a worked spot that completely fooled me. Zayn was almost able to pull off a comeback to grab the win but in the end, a pedigree from Seth was able to seal the deal and made Crossfit Jesus the first man in the finals next week.

KEVIN OWENS vs NEVILLE

Well, we know who is winning this match right? I mean, no offense to Neville but he is far from the main event picture at the moment. Whereas Kevin Owens seems like the next in line for his moment. Despite the predictable outcome, Owens and Neville put on a really great match. Owens worked wonders selling the insane offense of Neville, and despite the unnecessary Jericho involvement the finish worked well as it allowed Neville to look slightly stronger than he would with a clean loss.

• The New Day come down to the ring and discuss their title reign. They celebrate retaining the title to make their reign officially over a year. The club comes down and demands their rematch which they are entitled to as they won the match last night even if it was by DQ. This segment sets up the next match Big E vs Karl Anderson, but honestly… I don’t care. This feud has managed to make what used to be one of the freshest teams feel stale, and weaken the reputation of the Club.

BIG E vs KARL ANDERSON

This was a short pointless match that had no purpose and only made The Club look ridiculous and gave little momentum to the New Day. Most of the action happened outside of the ring with the other members of both respective teams at ringside. Woods and Kingston brawled with Gallows and Big E hit the Big Ending for the win.

• Titus O’Neil delivers one of the worst promos I have ever heard. I mean Jesus Christ this was bad. He stumbled over his words like they were Olympic hurdles and the actual meat of the promo wasn’t anything special to being with. The promo ended with a Titus vs Darren confrontation.

RUSEV vs BIG CASS

Rusev is obviously worse for wear after the events of the previous night with Roman Reigns, which can be seen by the taped up ribs. Throughout the match, Rusev tries to act like his usual bullying self but the injury to his ribs prevents him from doing so. Rusev does a great job of selling the injury to his ribs and the damage done to Rusev obviously impacts his ability to go in the ring. The Bulgarian Brute walks out of the match halfway due to his injuries, meaning that Cass picks up the victory by count out. I feel like this was the right decision as the count out victory does not hurt Rusev too badly and even though he will not win the match, just being involved elevates Cass.

• Tom Phillips interviews JeriKO who as usual make fun of the interviewer and then argue about who will win the title.

CHARLOTTE DOESN’T LIKE HUGS

Fresh off her title win last night Charlotte delivers a promo detailing how she was able to beat Sasha Banks all by herself, without the help of her dad or Dana. Charlotte once again, top of the female division, decides that she is the queen of the WWE roster and tells Sasha that there is no point in her coming back to WWE. As she is about to leave Mick Foley decides to once again get overly involved in women’s wrestling and announce the new signing Raw has made, BAYLEY! The hugger herself has made her way to the main roster finally! Who would have thought that Alexa, Dana, Mojo, American Alpha and Nia Jax would get called up before her? Bayley is her usual babyface self as she hugged  Foley and even stole his cheap pop which made me laugh out loud. Charlotte is furious at this addition to the roster so she decides that Bayley has to make her way through the Women’s division the good ole fashioned way. By wrestling. Foley agrees to this and sets up Dana vs Bayley.  The pop for Bayley was great and her involvement will give the roster a fresh new feel.

BAYLEY vs DANA BROOKE

Bayley vs Dana Brooke was a solid match which is to be expected when you have a great worker vs a not so great worker. The hugger surprisingly had a 50/50 match with Brooke, considering this was her debut I expected her to bury Dana or whoever she would be facing, but it looks like they are committed to this babyface underdog story which is a good choice. Despite Charlotte’s involvement Bayley is able to pick up the win.

• Reigns says he is a big man with a big fist
• Cruiserweights are coming to Raw September 19^th. Excited to see my favourites such as Swann, Alexander, and THE Brian Kendrick.
• The best of 7 series continues next week. Sheamus says Cesaro will fold like New York sports teams (cheap heat).

BRAUN STROWMAN vs GAY RIGHTS

So we see the latest victim of Braun ‘I piss my pants’ Strowman, who is in an interview with Byron Saxton. His reasoning for fighting Braun is that he likes big sweaty men….. Is this the LGBT stories we had been told to expect? I can’t say I am surprised. Obviously, Strowman wins.

DUDLEYZ SAY GOODBYE

The Dudleyz come out to the ring in their hometown of Brooklyn, New York to say their goodbyes. I was certain that we would be seeing a Bubba heel turn on D-Von (come on Reverend D-Von I need you). However, it seems that the teasing we have been getting over the last few weeks will have no payoff. The Dudleyz go through their career bringing up the famed TLC match and their opponents like Edge and Christian and The Hardys (DELETE). The Club come out and they attack the retiring legends, earning the Club some cheap heat and possibly setting up a final match for the Dudleyz at Clash of Champions?

ROMAN REIGNS vs CHRIS JERICHO

This matchup has a rocky first half. The match seemed like it was just going through the motions from spot to spot. Nothing was visibly impressive despite both men being good in the ring (Jericho especially is an all-time great). Y2J played the part of an over cocky heel who really had no reason to be while Roman played the part of a dominating beast, beating down Jericho and hitting big moves. Kevin Owens arrives to help out his pal Chris but while he is able to hit the Samoan Badass with a superkick he is ultimately unsuccessful at securing the win for Jericho as Roman is able to get the W after taking out Owens and hitting Y2J with a spear.

FINAL NOTES AND SCORE

• Tonight’s MVP: Kevin Owens
• Match of the Night: Zayn vs Rollins
• Moment of the Night: Bayley debut
• So the title 4 way next week is Owens vs Reigns vs Rollins vs Cass. My prediction now is Owens to win and for us to get Reigns vs Owens up until Survivor Series.
• Finn you will be missed, I pray for a Demon return at the Rumble.
• The Club needs to be given wins soon, they are quickly becoming a joke.

So this Raw was once again weaker than its blue counterpart, but it wasn’t as bad as last week’s go home show. Good matches that actually meant something saved this Raw earning a 6/10.

WWE Raw Review: 15.8.2016

So we start the show with a cold open that takes us outside the arena for once. We see the WWE Universal title contender Seth Rollins standing in the parking lot. The Man decides he wants to call out Finn Balor, but not just normal old Finn. No, he wants the Demon King. When I saw this I was excited that they were referencing the demon and was glad they called him the Demon King as it confirmed he would be assuming the person come Summerslam. In hindsight, I envy that excitement, as I did not know that the name Demon King would be forced so much that I still flinch when I hear those words.

OPENING SEGMENT

The Bulgarian Brute and his bride make their way to the ring and boy are they angry. Rusev in his typically charming manner calls out both Roman Reigns and the General Manager Mick Foley after what happened last week between Rusev and Reigns. Eventually, after everyone makes their way to the ring we get a frankly childish back and forth between the champion and the challenger. I mean that is okay for Rusev as he is the heel, but why is our babyface making ugly jokes and calling Lana a mail order bride? Just makes him look like a dick. My confusion increases after GM Foley sets up a non-title match between the two tonight under the guise that Rusev is defending his wife’s honour. Why are we meant to boo this guy? He’s just a good husband.

SHEAMUS vs SAMI ZAYN

Before the match begins Byron Saxton interviews Sheamus about his recent rivalry with Cesaro. Sheamus claims that he is better than him and that he’s moved past him onto Zayn. This is clearly not true as Cesaro is on commentary. The match is fairly standard, as each man hits their routine moves, Sheamus with the white noise and Sami Zayn with the blue thunder bomb. The match ends after Sami hits the helluva kick (with some help from a Cesaro distraction) for the win.

• Backstage Tom Phillips interviews Team Jeri-KO about their match with Enzo and Cass at Summerslam. They claim that they are already close than those two will ever be, which obviously means that Owens will turn on Jericho.
• Sheamus and Cesaro continue their feud backstage before Mick Foley interrupts them and sets up a best of 7 series starting at Summerslam. Why? I don’t know, Cesaro has already won 2 out of 2 matches.
• More testicle jokes from the good doctors.

THE NEW DAY vs THE DUDLEYZ

This was yet another run of the mill matches in a run of the mill Raw. But at least this one served a purpose as the win for the New Day gave them momentum to take into their title match at Summerslam. It also showed more evidence of an upcoming split between the Dudley Boyz after Devon accidentally hit Bubba (Common where’s Rev. Devon?). Kofi was able to take the win after he hit the trouble in paradise. After the match we get another visit from the local physicians who show they have jars for the balls of both Kofi and Xavier. This was alright at one point but The Club needs to look like a serious threat. Not like little kids.

• Seth continues his search for the Demon King backstage when he runs into Neville who gives him a warning about the Demon persona.

NIA JAX vs RACHEL LEAVY

Another week another squash match. I understand the purpose of a squash match but it is really hard to get excited about them. When Nia Jax does eventually move onto the main event opponents she will have the reputation of a monster.

HEATH SLATER vs THE WORLD

Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman come out to do their usual shtick, or as The Beast would put it “say something stupid”. The duo is in the ring and is ready to talk but they are interrupted by one man, a one man band. Heath Slater came out to the ring and once again called himself the hottest free agent in sports entertainment. Who am I to disagree? It is then revealed that Slater has been offered a contract to join Raw, the only catch is he has to defeat Brock Lesnar. Ouch man. Slater is committed to the task as he has to get a job to provide for his children and Lesnar for once actually, speaks up and tells Heath that he respects him for trying to provide for his children. But at the end of the day, “he doesn’t give a shit about his kids”. Damn Brock, this is why not matter what I’ll think you are awesome. Brock proceeded to kick the shit out of Slater and then they hyped the Summerslam match. This was by far the best segment all episode.

JERI-KO vs ENZO & CASS

The heels are able to get the win against Enzo and Cass after a solid match. Big Cass was pushed as the real danger in the match at all times and it is clear that they want to push him as a force to be reckoned with. However, with this win, the Jeri-KO duo look dangerous going into Summerslam.

• Roman Reigns and Rusev fight backstage, that’s what happens when you insult someone’s wife.

THE PRIME TIME PLAYERS vs THE SHINING STARS

Apparently, Titus and Darren are friends again. Does this mean there will be a grand resurgence for the Prime Time Players? I doubt it. So both teams come out, and I have to ask is it possible to get an anti-pop? Seriously the crowd was completely dead. As we all predicted the Shining Stars picked up the win due to more dissension between Titus and Darren.

NEVILLE vs JINDER MAHAL

Neville is just floating around until the cruiserweight division finally gets to Raw. It is obvious that with the CWC superstars he will be placed at the top of the division, so this match was another filler match for The Man Who Gravity Forgot. Neville picks up the win with the Red Arrow.

• Seth is unable to find the Demon King so Mick Foley suggests he go to the ring to call him out.

DEMON KING

Rollins decides to take the advice of our GM and heads out to the ring. He claims he is not afraid of the Demon King, that the Demon King is the one that is afraid. After a bit of a wait, we still have no Demon King. But wait who’s that? IT’S…. some random fan. Okay then….. That was weird. Anyway moving on let’s get to the Demon King (Have I mentioned he’s the king of demons?). Balor comes out to the Demon entrance… But it is not the same. There is something off about this version of the entrance compared to the real deal from NXT. Maybe it was the terrible Corpus Christi crowd or the shoddy producing from Kevin Dunn, but this felt slightly underwhelming despite my love of Finn and the Demon character. Something of this magnitude should have been saved for Summerslam.

THE CLUB vs THE GOLDEN TRUTH

As with the New Day earlier, The Club needed a win to take the momentum into this Sunday, however, they needed to dominate the Golden Truth, not look even with them. I get that the Golden Truth seem to be a favourite of those backstage, but they are glorified jobbers at best and they had a back and forth match with future tag team champions. Post-match The New Day try to ambush Anderson but he is saved by Gallows.

• Dana Brooke apologises to Charlotte but it is not enough and it seems they are teasing a split between the two.

CHARLOTTE vs ALICIA FOX

Woah Alicia Fox exists? Well, she just jobbed to Charlotte so does it matter? I’m just kidding this was, of course, the correct decision as Charlotte is going into a huge title match at Summerslam and she needs to be built as a legitimate threat to the newly crowned champion Sasha Banks who was on commentary. After the match Sasha was ambushed by both Charlotte and Dana beat her down. This wasn’t anything special but in the middle of this show, it was stood out as one of the highlights.

RUSEV vs ROMAN REIGNS

So this main event ended up being a 25-minute slobber knocker. Both guys spent a lot of time brawling and using the environment such as the barricade or the steel steps. Many have questioned the decision to give Roman the win over Rusev but to me, it is not a big problem as Roman needed a legitimate reason to be given a shot at the US title. Even if it did come a bit late. The match wasn’t bad but it was a typical Roma Reigns matchup, with little to no selling of major moves from Rusev. Reigns lasted too long in the accolade and just way too many near falls. By the third-second rope headbutt, I knew this wasn’t going to be the Bulgarian Brutes day. Reigns eventually wins with a Spear.

FINAL NOTES & SCORE

• Tonight’s MVP: Heath Slater
• Match of the Night: Reigns vs Rusev
• Moment of the Night: I don’t give a shit about your kids
• DEMON KING DEMON KING DEMON KING DEMON KING DEMON KING DEMON KING DEMON KING DEMON KING
• Smackdown was better

This week’s Raw was bad. Real bad. I’m talking 2010 Super Cena bad, as a go home show, this just reeked of laziness. Of course, hardcore fans will watch Summerslam but casuals have not incentive after this week.

WWE Raw Review: 1.8.2016

OPENER

So after last week’s Raw, this Monday had a lot to live up to. The New Era had got off to a great start with fresh new matchups and surprising swerves, could this week live up to the hype? I was sceptical.

The show opens with the arrival of the new Women’s Champion Sasha Banks, already a great start as the women starting off the show is a great way to shake things up. The audience in attendance at Atlanta was welcoming to The Boss as they all celebrated with her. However, there was one person in particular who was less than pleased, the former Women’s Champion Charlotte. The current and former champs argue in the squared circle about the results of last week’s match as well as addressing the upcoming rematch at Summerslam. Unexpectedly it is Chris Jericho who interrupts the two, Y2J lends his support for Charlotte (after some great heel work telling the crowd to be “Quiet”). The pair of Jericho and Charlotte berate Sasha by calling her “selfish” and a “brat”, this prompts the certified G himself Enzo Amore to come to support/flirt with the “Bauce” (sorry Mikaze I officially ship Sashzo now). Our GM Mick Foley comes out to set up a mixed tag team match between the two pairs (and to plug his new show, ugh).

CHARLOTTE & JERICHO vs SASHA & ENZO

Kevin Owens joins the commentary table and the weirdest thing happens, for once there is more than once good commentator on the desk as Graves and Owens make a great pair. For the first portion of the match, the face team of Banks and Amore dominated the heels as they hit them with fast past action and lots of high flying moves (Enzo does love that top rope crossbody). However, this did not last long as the heels are able to gain momentum and eventually the win as Charlotte’s crony Dana Brooke got involved and distracted Banks. The match was good if not a bit formulaic and predictable, with another Dana Brooke interruption. Unsurprisingly the men and the women in the matchup did not touch aside from one slap by Banks onto Jericho, and this match was obviously used to further/create two separate feuds, the women’s title picture and Jericho taking on Enzo and Cass.

• After the match, Jericho attacked Enzo before being chased off by Cass

STROWMAN vs JOBBY MCJOBBER

Another week another squash match in favour of the baby-faced giant Braun Strowman. If you saw last week’s Raw then you would know how this match turned out, if you didn’t then just imagine a really bad reverse chokeslam.

• Backstage Stephanie McMahon and Mick Foley are getting on well when they have to tell Mark Henry that his time in the limelight is over and he should be taking a mentor role the former strongman believes he still has some left in the tank and makes his case to Foley. Mick, being one for second chances, gives him that opportunity tonight in a US title shot.
• The Golden Truth try to be relevant with Pokemon GO. Yawn.

THE SHINING STARS vs THE GOLDEN TRUTH

After last week’s interruption from the Golden Truth in their match with Enzo and Cass, the Shining Stars are looking for revenge as they take on the Golden Truth, at least one of the Golden Truth as R-Truth is too concerned with Pokemon GO. Truth’s obsession with Pokemon costs Goldust the match. Honestly, I’d rather forget this whole ordeal.

ADVENTURE TIME WITH FINN & SETH

We get the first confrontation between the two contenders for the WWE Universal Championship, Seth Rollins, and Finn Balor, this occurs when Finn makes his way out to ringside to be interviewed by Michael Cole. The announcer does not last long however as the Man journeys down to the ring. We get some back and forth between the two as they list their accomplishments including Seth’s many firsts and Finn’s travels all over the world. It turns violent as most things do in the WWE when Rollins tries to surprise Balor with a sneak attack but the Demon is able to counter driving him back. This segment is passable considering Finn can be quite stale on the mic as a face. I am still insanely hyped for this match as Rollins and Balor are my 2 favourites in the world right now and whoever wins I will be thrilled.

RUSEV vs MARK HENRY (US CHAMPIONSHIP)

There is a big focus on the marriage of Rusev (Lucky bastard) and Lana who comes out in a wedding dress, it seems that this will be heavily featured on the next season of Total Divas. Henry comes out in American gear ready to reclaim the title for the good ole United States. The World’s Strongest Man gets in more offense than I would have expected but as we all expected he is not able to win the matchup leading to yet another Rusev rant about Eastern Europe being superior to the western world, with some extra controversy due to the Russia Olympic scandal. So who comes out to stop Rusev? It’s Roman Reigns! WAIT, WHAT? Roman in the US title picture?! This cannot be happening, Roman has finally been pushed down the card, and they seem to be committed to giving him time away from the spotlight. Reigns comes down to the ring and after a stare down with the Bulgarian Brute, they begin a surprisingly even brawl which ends with a victorious Roman.

TITUS O’NEIL vs DARREN YOUNG

Forget the SHIELD triple threat, this is the true match we have all been waiting for, player vs player in a clash of former tag team champions. This match was created after Titus insulted the Make Darren Young Great Again campaign when he questioned when Young was great in the first place (someone has been listening to what we have been saying). In the match, it seems that Titus has the slight edge as he is able to use his size and strength advantage to counter Darren’s mat wrestling tactic. However, in the end, Titus resorts to cheating to pick up the win when out of frustration he grabs the tights to gain the pinfall victory over his former partner.

• More of the backstage friendship between Foley and Steph when Sheamus arrives and demands to know why he didn’t get a title shot like Henry. He is not the only one who is confused however as Cesaro joins them to complain about the exact same thing. Mick sets up a match in which the winner will get a future championship match.
• Bob Backlund screams at Titus backstage for cheating and when O’Neil is about to lose his cool Darren Young attacks him both for revenge and to protect his mentor. It seems that this is an undercard feud that will get a lot of attention.

NIA JAX vs MRS MCJOBBER

This is another typical squash match as we saw with Braun earlier on in the night. Not much to say about the result but I have to say that Nia Jax is still looking very green in the ring. She clearly needed more time in NXT despite the massive improvements she did make. Jax has a lot of potential to be a star but the experience and skill are just not there yet.

• In an interview with Tom Phillips (who was definitely crouching), Sami Zayn promised to beat Rollins tonight.
• The New Day will be facing The Club tonight but with the stipulation, they picked fruit from a sack and the member with the odd fruit out will be sitting out of the match, which turned out to be Xavier.

THE CLUB vs THE NEW DAY           

This was a weird match, the Club, who are just being announced as Gallows and Anderson now, controlled throughout, as they were easily able to isolate Big E from his partner Kofi Kingston, but one cocky too sweet ended up being their undoing as Big E was able to get a roll up win. The weirdness about the match stems from the focus that a win for The Club would put them directly in the title picture, instead, it seems they are intent on having them ambush their way to the title as even after Xavier Woods came to support his team the New Day were left decimated.

CESARO vs SHEAMUS

Nothing to say about this really, it was a good clean match between two big and strong guys. The Swiss Superman and the Celtic Warrior put on a solid match as Sheamus worked the heat while Cesaro continues to astonish with his in ring ability (I’ll never get tired of that springboard uppercut), in the end, a surprise gotch neutraliser is able to allow Cesaro to pick up the win.

• After coming back from break we see that Cesaro and Sheamus have had to have been separated by security, and Heath Slater and a returning Jinder Mahal take advantage of this by storming the ring demanding to be signed to Raw. Foley comes down but reveals there will be a match between the two for a contract.

JINDER MAHAL vs HEATH SLATER

1, 2, 3 Jinder Mahal wins. That’s all you need to know.

• Backstage Jericho goes off on Enzo and Cass and reveals that they should be scared of him as he does have someone to watch his back when asked who he clearly makes up a name until Kevin Owens shows up and declares he will support the Ayatollah of rock n rolla. Man I love heel Jericho

SETH ROLLINS vs SAMI ZAYN

As anyone could have predicted Zayn and Rollins are able to put on a great match, I’m pretty sure at this point these two guys could put on a good match with anyone in their sleep. This match had plenty of great spots including the close falls with the blue thunder bomb and the Michinoku driver from Sami Zayn. In the end, Rollins is able to avoid the helluva kick and hit the pedigree to pick up the win. I have to commend WWE on their treatment of Seth since he returned. He may not be the face that a lot of us wanted but the cowardly heel character has been erased, pinning Roman and now Sami Zayn clean.

THE BEAST RETURNS

All night the teasing has been leading up to the return of the Conqueror Brock Lesnar, who returns for the first time since UFC 200. Brock returned with the advocate Paul Heyman who praised the Beasts triumphs and called out the Viper Randy Orton ahead of their match at Summerslam. Paul completely refutes that there is any possibility that Orton can win at Summerslam, claiming that the Randy being one RKO away from a victory is a myth when concerned with Lesnar. Coincidentally while saying this we see a very shocked Brock Lesnar ambushed by Orton with an RKO from literally outta nowhere. The show ends with Randy escaping through the crowd being chased by security and screamed at by Stephanie McMahon. Some are claiming that this has damaged the brand split but I was a huge fan of this. All the little things were so great such as no theme music for Orton, the security chasing him into the ramp and the surprise of Lesnar who actually acknowledged the change in crowd reaction when Randy turned up.

FINAL NOTES & SCORE

• Tonight’s MVP: Seth Rollins
• Match of the Night: Rollins vs Zayn
• Moment of the Night: Orton’s escape into the crowd
• Sashzo 4 lyfe
• It seems that they intend to completely ignore UFC 200 after the PED scandal.
• Randy Orton is snek

This show definitely had a lot to live up to after last week and did it succeed? No definitely not. But was it a bad show? No definitely not. Despite a lot of short/squash matches this show had a good start and a great ending. This week gets a 7/10 from me.

WWE BATTLEGROUND Results/Recap

Kickoff Show
Usos vs Breezango
Jimmy and Jey Uso arrive first on the kickoff entrance. I still believe they have one of the more entertaining entrances even though it has lost some steam over time. Breezango enter right after to a few spots of cheers. It feels like Breezango might win the match. Fandango starts against Jimmy, getting caught in a decent double team move followed by some chops. Tyler Breeze and Fandango show some decent teamwork with a slingshot elbow hopping over the top rope by Fandango. Frequent tags by Breezango leads to an opening by the Uso’s after they miss a window of opportunity. The Uso’s try to pump up the crowd with an US-O chant but it is followed by a sea of boos. The match is slow-paced with the crowd waiting for something to happen. Crowd cheering for Breezango after some near falls. A confusing outside spot leads to a super kick fiasco by the Usos. Jimmy sets up for a big splash, as Jey spears through the ropes with a suicide dive taking out Fandango on the outside. Jimmy jumps and hits the splash on Tyler Breeze but being the legal man, he wisely rolls Jimmy into a small package ending in a 1,2,3 count victory! Received well by the crowd to a moderate cheer!
Winners-Tyler Breeze and Fandango (Breezango)

Main Match Card
Charlotte and Dana Brooke vs Sasha Banks and ????
Sasha Banks enters to an eruption of cheers after Charlotte and Dana are already in the ring. Sasha’s mystery partner is……BAYLEY!!! Thank You GOD!!! WWE finally did something for the fans!! My heart is racing from the enormous reception she received. I have donned Bayley the female Daniel Bryan. Charlotte and Dana cutoff their celebration attacking both Sasha and Bayley knocking them outside the ring. Referee Mike Chioda settles things down and they ring the bell! Charlotte and Bayley begin the match with the crowd cheering for every move done by Sasha and Bayley. Sasha botches a hurricanrana off the top rope but still manages some effectiveness. Dana Brooke and Charlotte control the majority of the match for a good five minutes. A vicious double clothesline by Bayley and Dana allows the hot tag to Sasha who cleans house against Charlotte. Sasha hits double knees on Charlotte but again botches a cross body off the top rope barely connecting. Charlotte hits natural selection but Bayley makes the save! Sasha hits a bank statement but Dana makes the save. A squirm ends, with Sasha hitting another bank statement, Charlotte tapping fairly quickly! Sasha and Bayley have a moment with a hug after to a huge reaction! I was happy for Bayley, especially starting out the night on a great note and a gift from WWE. An ok match in which you kind of wanted more from Bayley but WWE did not allow it.
Winners – Sasha Banks and Bayley

Second Match
A New Day vs The Wyatt Family
New Day come out to a big crowd reaction as they immediately make a Taylor Swift joke while referencing Bone Crusher’s “Never Scared” hit song entering the ring. As they spew out the giddiness of being drafted together to RAW. The Wyatt Family disrupts them as the crowd turns into a sea of fireflies. New Day tags each member in before the match starts, while Xavier Woods is still hypnotized by Bray Wyatt. Frequent tags by both teams as every member appeared in the ring, in the first 30 seconds. Erick Rowan and Kofi Kingston end up as the beginners of the match. There has been 2 headlocks with no real action to begin with, other than a mean clothesline by Bray Wyatt on Kofi. Wyatt family clearly in control for the first part of this match. Big E gets the crowd back into it with his Big Splash chanting “New Day Rocks.” Kofi moments later hits a flip over the top rope on Strowman on the outside. Bray goes to hit Sister Abigail and Xavier Woods interrupts, to a standoff with Bray again hypnotizing Xavier. Eventually he breaks out of it and attacks Bray to a crowd cheer. Strowman grabs a hold of Xavier choking him and Big E hits his suicide spear on Strowman landing really awkwardly. Hopefully he is alright. In the blink of an eye you see Bray Wyatt in his spider walk, freezing Xavier in time which allows him to hit sister abigail for the 1,2,3 count! I am a fan of the Wyatts but it doesn’t matter as the winner of this match means nothing. Only time will tell where all these Wyatt Family superstars wil go. Bray Wyatt got the pin so I am satisfied with it.
Winners – The Wyatt Family

Third Match
United States Championship
Rusev vs Zack Ryder
Lana is in the ring pretty much wearing a wedding dress outfit and tiara. I am already falling asleep. Zack Ryder comes out in an american flag Randy Savage looking outfit. Rusev is dominating with a series of wrestling moves and headlocks. Zack Ryder fights back to a desperate crowd cheering USA! trying to will some energy into this match. Rusev has done nothing but hug Zack up until this point. Ryder again trying to fight back with some forearms. Crowd chanting Woo! With every connection. The first attempt for a Broski Kick is stopped short by Rusev. Zach reverses a suplex into a neck breaker which is quite a good move on the eye. They tangle outside for a minute ending with Zack Ryder hitting a dropkick off the barricade. They enter the ring with Zack Ryder hitting a Rough Ryder and missing a Macho Man-esq elbow off the top rope. Rusev then locks in the “Rusev Crush'” applying major pressure, ending in a Zack Ryder tap out. Snooze Button Please….Rusev attacks Zack after the match with Mojo Rawley coming out for the save! I don’t know what this does for WWE but maybe just a segment that the writers did not want to work too hard on.
Winner – Rusev

Fourth Match
Sami Zayn vs Kevin Owens
Let’s Go! Sami Zayn receives a great reaction as the vignette done by WWE was actually pretty good in-between matches. Kevin Owens musics hits to an equally big pop from the Verizon Center dawning a clean look. Sami immediately goes for a helluva kick, but misses as they spill to the outside exchanging aggressive moves, with Sami having the upper hand. The crowd going back and forth cheering both amazing wrestlers. Owens hits his cannonball to a near fall. You can feel the energy with crowd again starting an Ole’ chant, to Kevin Owens mocking them. Owens has had the advantage for most of the match so far. A 2 minute headlock by Owens allows the crowd to build behind Sami as he fights back with a big clothesline. A Michinoku driver out of nowhere to a near fall. Sami botches a flip off the rope, which looked like a botch on purpose so Owens can work on that limb. A blue thunder bomb, again out of nowhere to a near fall. Sami clutching that arm, again looks like a work on the botched move. Each wrestler struggles on the top rope teasing a superplex. Sami fights off Owens ending with a super kick into a crossface. Pretty good match so far I must say. Sami moments later hits a exploder suplex missing a helluva kick again. Both men fight on the apron with Sami hitting an amazing Suplex on the side of the apron to a “This Is Awesome” chant. Exchanging right hands to the crowd, being again half and half on the cheering meter.  Violently trading right hands. Later, Sami goes for the tornado ddt through the ring post and is met by a super kick followed by a cannonball, followed by a frog splash! What A Sequence! Only a 2 count as Sami Keeps fighting! Sami hits a tornado ddt, walking on the ropes Undertaker style. Walking into a super kick by Owens followed by dragon suplex and then another, for a 2 count! The Crowd Is Standing Up Chanting YES!! Sami goes for a helluva kick running into a pop-up power bomb to a really close 2 count with Sami’s foot on the rope. Again “This Is Awesome” chant! Kevin Owens slaps the s**t out of Sami, with him begging for another. Sami stands up and hits Kevin with an exploder suplex, followed by 2 vicious helluva kicks for the 1…2…3!!! An amazing match!! By far the best match in a while put on by WWE, finally giving the crowd a great match stealing the show! A match for the ages, story telling, good wrestling and a finish sequence that had the crowd cheering the whole time. I really wish they would fight forever every week for the rest of my life!
Winner- Sami Zayn

Fifth Match
Natalya vs Becky Lynch
Every time Natalya’s music hits I get a nostalgia moment for my favorite wrestler Bret Hart. They grapple for the advantage with Natalya leaving the ring in a heel move. Becky is the crowd favorite, as Natalya methodically stays outside the ring every chance she gets. Whipping Becky into the steel steps hurting her leg. Natalya works on that leg Bret Hart style setting her up for the infamous sharpshooter hopefully. Becky is doing a fantastic job of selling her leg injury as Nattie continues to attack it. Natalya does a very acrobatic flip showboating, which is quite impressive. Becky comes back with an enziguiri, followed by some clotheslines. They trade submission attempts but Natalya locks the sharpshooter in with Becky crawling to a rope break. Moments later another sharpshooter hold is applied in the center of the ring. Strategically dragging her back into the center everytime Becky crawls to the ropes. Becky taps painfully with the winner Natalya! This match will go unnoticed because of the short segment they had. I like both female wrestlers and believe they are both at the top in terms of talent. Obviously Natalya is the best given her experience and background. Once again they deserved a better rivalry and more time to expand this feud!
Winner- Natalya

Sixth Match
Darren Young vs The Miz
What the hell is Miz and Maryse wearing?!?!? All I can say is google it. Darren Young looks good to start the match executing his holds well. Backlund shouts some words of encouragement as again he performs his maneuvers very technically. Maryse with a distraction, allowing Miz to push Young off the top rope. Headlock by Miz allowing the crowd to pick sides, they clap for Darren to come back. Miz talks trash to Backlund, which I think is a dumb move, if you know who Bob Backlund is. Both guys try a backslide and fail for about 10 seconds. Miz hits the boots in the corner stomping out Darren Young showboating. Young explodes with a suplex. Pumping up the crowd Young drops Miz on the apron. Miz tries to leave the arena as Backlund cuts him off. Maryse comes over and slaps Backlund pretending that Bob hit her. Miz comes outside the ring to confront Bob as Darren Young hops down and applies the crossfire chicken wing! The ref rings the bell in a disqualification because of a 10 count! Darren holds the submission attempt while referees try to break it up. Darren Young pushes a referee, which the commentators say will lead to a fine. I thought Darren Young looked good but we didn’t get a good enough sample size for these wrestlers which stinks! Darren Young does have potential with Bob Backlund but again a segment which felt rushed, and a terrible ending on a PPV!
Winner- The Miz

Seventh Match
John Cena, Enzo Amore and Big Cass vs The Club
Cena, Enzo and Big Cass gets a big crowd reaction! Enzo and Cass do their thing with the crowd behind them echoing every word. Enzo actually tells a few good jokes which are pretty funny. The crowd is 100% behind them. Well, all I can say is if there was a mic war, this match is already over. S-A-W-F-T SAWWWFFTTT! Great mic work by both men. Enzo Amore starts against Karl Anderson. Karl immediately tags AJ Styles to the crowd’s favored chant. Cass and Anderson enter, off both teams tagging. A minute later Cass sends Enzo outside into The Club minus AJ. Right after Cass sends AJ into The Club as well knocking everyone down. Cena chants, back and forth as you could imagine. Great teamwork by The Club attacking Enzo every moment they get. Enzo five minutes later is still getting beat up by The Club. Enzo fights them off and flies for a tag, which he is met mid-air, by a fantastic knee by Karl. Finally a tag to Cena, with the five moves of death coming. Every wrestler gets their hits in, finishing with a sit down choke bomb by Gallows on Cass. I am not sure what just happened as Cena used Enzo as a kendo stick almost. Every wrestler is hitting their spots, while it concludes with Enzo jumping off the steel steps hitting a ddt on Karl Anderson. Cena makes it into the ring, with the count of 8, falling into a styles clash disrupted by Cass. The Club takes control of the ring. Enzo is left in the ring hulking up against Anderson and Gallows. He takes out Anderson. Him and Gallows stand toe to toe eating a boot to the face. It is now Gallows and Cena in the ring with John knocking Gallows outside the ring. Styles mounts the top rope as Cena hits an amazing Attitude Adjustment for the 1…2….3! An entertaining match/segment that any fan would appreciate. All wrestlers had their good moments as Enzo stole the show again with his microphone skills! It’ll be interesting to see where Enzo and Cass go after this.
Winners-John Cena, Enzo Amore, Big Cass

Highlight Reel with Randy Orton
Randy’s music hits and everybody reacts positively! Randy is enjoying the response and he deserves it. He makes a joke about Y2J and the crowd immediately chants, RKO! RKO! They exchange insults which is pretty entertaining. Chris Jericho recalls the asylum match involving the 69 thumbtacks. Randy makes a pretty good Ellen DeGeneres joke as well. They show a vignette of Brock Lesnar. Randy explains he needed to make an epic return not like Jericho did against Fandango. Randy introduces he only needs 1 RKO a.k.a. Viper Ville, and says he does not need any enhancement!! WOOOO!! Jericho talks some more and they tease the RKO, followed by an RKO outta nowhere!! At SummerSlam it will be Suplex City vs Viper Ville!! Another segment which did not need to be on a PPV. It would have been much more exciting to see Randy return interfering in a match or interrupting a segment. But I did enjoy seeing him back as his mic skills have greatly improved.

Main Event
WWE Championship
Dean Ambrose vs Seth Rollins vs Roman Reigns
They introduce all the GM’s with Shane McMahon and Daniel Bryan getting huge reactions. Seth Rollins has a good reaction. Roman Reigns gets booed like crazy. Dean Ambrose gets a pretty decent pop, but Seth wins the crowd reaction. The crowd is anticipating a great match. Mike Chioda rings the bell here we go! Roman Sucks! Chants echo through the Verizon Center! Reigns shoulder tackles Rollins to begin. Rollins taking the damage from both guys to begin. Quick schoolboy on Roman by Ambrose. Dean against Reigns to start. Boo! Yeah! Chants as Dean and Roman exchange right hands. Seth gets back involved in the match attacking both men. All 3 men go at it, fighting for control hitting intermediate level moves on one another. Rollins and Ambrose take the ring as Seth mocks Dean by slapping him. You can feel the crowd ready to explode! Reigns then goes after Rollins with Ambrose interfering. Running knee off the apron by Rollins on Ambrose. All men are outside the ring. Back body drop into the time-keeper on Rollins by Roman. Dean runs across all 3 announce tables colliding with each member of the former Shield. Dean and Roman scramble into the ring, with Ambrose having the upper hand. After a near fall Seth Rollins hits a splash on Dean following the pin. Roman takes advantage knocking out both men looking for a spear on both guys. Superman Punch on Seth, Clothesline from Dean on Roman! In a triangle, the former Shield members exchange punches. Concluding with Dean and Seth stomping out Roman to a YES! chant. Roman falls to the outside, suicide dive by Dean, Flip over the rope by Seth! Seth and Dean rip the spanish table off..YES! YES! YES! Dean sets up Roman on Seth Rollins for a power bomb Shield style! Through the table goes Roman! Seth grabs a chair and deja vu, nails Dean in the back with it! They get back in the ring with a turnbuckle power bomb, reversed into a hurricanrana by Dean. They fight on the top rope with Seth hitting his vintage superplex into another suplex pin. “This Is Awesome” chants ring again. Reigns is back, powerbombing Seth, knocking out Dean to a close 2 count! Roman teases, superman punch misses, Dean teases dirty deeds, Roman teasing Razor’s Edge, Seth hits the pedigree 1…..2….kickout! Seth turnbuckle powerbomb, reacted with a superman punch by Roman, Dean breaks the count up and hits dirty deeds on Roman Reigns! 1…….2……..3!!! Dean Ambrose retains!! Smackdown Wins!! The whole Smackdown roster comes out and lifts Dean up, ironically it is the Uso brothers lifting him. A great match with a good finish!  Dean winning is fine with me as long as Roman did not win. Smackdown has the championship which will keep the fans interested in the new product. The PPV as a whole only had a few good moments, but it was the first ppv after the draft. Give them time to get acquainted. I am fine that I took time to type this all out and appreciate the good wrestling that took place. RAW should be interesting tomorrow!

WWE BATTLEGROUND Preview:

Tonight is the long-awaited WWE PPV Battleground 8pm Eastern on the WWE Network. Taking place live from the Verizon Center in Washington, D.C. I am super excited for this match card based on the fact it is going to determine the future of the WWE. The brand split has raised many questions with the recent WWE Draft. Personally I see many good and bad things that come out of this but we will only know by the end of the tonight. Let’s preview the matches that will change the WWE Universe!!

Kickoff Show
Usos vs Breezango
This is going to be a warmup match for the crowd piling in, in what usually is a good energetic scene in the Verizon Center. Breezango to me has a huge upside in the long run. We haven’t seen much of the Usos on Raw and Smackdown lately so it’ll be interesting if this is just another match or they will actually make them competitive again in the tag team division. Not a bad match from my view but in today’s society nobody has the patience to appreciate the work in a good match on paper.

Highlight Reel with Chris Jericho Featuring Randy Orton
I am a little confused as to why this is even on the PPV. Maybe we will see Brock Lesnar interference or Randy Orton possibly putting Chris Jericho through a table just to get the crowd on his side. I am not too interested in this segment even though Randy Orton is one of the better wrestlers in the company today. A waste of time to fill space is what comes to mind.

New Day vs Wyatt Family
Unfortunately this feud could have been so epic but again WWE had to kill it with the recent WWE Draft. After having a great segment at the Wyatt Family compound, New Day will be staying together with the Wyatts breaking up after this match. I am a huge Bray Wyatt fan and you just wish he would get the push he deserves already. Maybe Bray turns against his family and destroys everyone after the match? That is the only way this would be interesting. Another match where the outcome won’t matter at all unless they doing something dramatic.

Becky Lynch vs Natalya
Becky Lynch and Natalya are two of the most talented and well equipped female wrestlers today. Not giving Natalya any love and Becky switching partners every month pushes them to the bottom of the barrel which they do not deserve. This clash should have been written better with a more dramatic storyline then another partner who turned on Becky. Natalya and Becky Lynch will put on a better match than expected as long as the WWE gives them a decent amount of time for their segment.

Charlotte & Dana Brooke vs Sasha Banks & Mystery Partner
The big question since this match was announced is who is going to be Sasha’s partner? Obviously everyone in the world wants it to be Bayley, but WWE does have a tendency to go against the people just to prove whose in control. I have heard names like Eva Marie, Carmella, and even Nikki Bella. With the crowd expecting Bayley anybody who comes out will get booed out of the gym unless it is Bayley. The only other name I can think of to get some sort of recognition is Asuka. Asuka injured Dana Brooke in NXT so there is some history there and is arguably the best female wrestler in the company. I’ll be biting my nails like everyone else until we have the answer to, who is Sasha Banks’ mystery partner?

Kevin Owens vs Sami Zayn
I can write 100 pages on why this match is going to be amazing. With the move sets and history these best friends have on the indy scene, this will be your match of the night. A rivalry that we all wished would last forever. Crowds have ironically chanted “fight forever” when these two square off. Kevin Owens is a genius in terms of mic skills and in-ring psychology. Sami Zayn is your perfect underdog to get behind and root for considering all the injuries he has been through.I am a huge fan of Sami and I will be on the edge of my seat this whole match, unless of course WWE lets somebody win by DQ or interference which would cause a riot at the Verizon Center.

Cena, Enzo & Big Cass vs The Club
Enzo and Big Cass shockingly joined John Cena in the fight versus AJ Styles, Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson. Enzo and Cass have a great gimmick going and to pit them with John Cena shows that the people backstage are clearly high on them. Another segment which should be entertaining and might even be a good idea to start the show with given the mic skills from almost every wrestler in this match. Is it going to be #BeatUpJohnCena day or The Club turning SAWFT after the match concludes? The future is foggy for The Club after being split up by the WWE Draft. Another match I believe will be fun and exciting for the fans.

United States Championship
Rusev vs Zack Ryder
Rusev and Zack Ryder have been forced to compete against each other in the weirdest way. I can’t even remember how this feud started to be honest. I am a fan of Zack Ryder and was happy for him with his big IC win at WrestleMania. Nobody wants to see Rusev, they all want to see Lana, which we have had a small taste of with her in-ring abilities. So we don’t really know how good she is. This match will be a low point for me with Rusev most likely retaining the United States Championship with his infamous “Rusev Crush.” A good time to take a bathroom break or even play Pokemon Go!

Intercontinental Championship
The Miz vs Darren Young
A rush of energy ran through my body when Darren Young signaled for the CrossFace Chicken Wing last week! Bob Backlund and Darren Young are entertaining whether your an old school fan or not. The Miz has been the same gimmick for years and Maryse is a nice addition. It would be funny if Maryse and Bob somehow got into it distracting Miz and Darren Young coming away with the victory! Once again WWE won’t give the fans what they want unless their investors agree. So another match which could have the potential to be really good but a Miz win with a distraction by Maryse seems to be the consensus like we have seen 1000 times.

WWE Championship
Dean Ambrose vs Seth Rollins vs Roman Reigns
Whether you like it or not this is the match everyone has wanted since The Shield broke up. “The Man” against “The Guy” against “The Dude.” Personally I think it was a little to premature to do it this earlier but everyone will be looking forward to this. Former Shield buddies with injuries plaguing almost every member up until this point. A match which should have been saved for a WrestleMania opportunity and a little bit better of a build up. Who is going to be the victor? Was the Roman Reigns suspension for Adderall a work? (Find out HERE with an article written by Mr. Skatronixxx himself) Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose work magic segments together and will always come through entertaining in my opinion. Another possibility in this match is we can see some type of tag teaming back and forth between the 3 former Shield members. A match everyone will be glued to the television for in hopes of something spectacular happening. I can’t see this match failing in any way, but if it does I will be extremely disappointed and it will kind of be a turn-off with the let down of the recent WWE Draft. Come on WWE, don’t fail your beloved WWE UNIVERSE Tonight!

Smackdown – 14/07/16

Welcome back to our weekly Smackdown reviews. This one is a special Smackdown as this is the final Thursday night Smackdown. That’s right, it’s finally here, next week we start up Live Tuesday Night Smackdown with the Brand Extension draft. Before that though, let’s see what we have in store for our final taped Smackdown.

We open with some replays of the pre show, with Kevin Owens complaining about a birthday card to his son from Sami containing only 20 Canadian dollars. He brings up how that is a pitiful amount for a kid’s godfather to give to him. Can you revoke someone’s right to be Godfather or is that for life? We also get Charlotte cussing out Sasha, Miz talking about Darren Young and Ambrose talking about how he’ll annihilate Kevin Owens. Can you tell that I thought the Owens promo was the best one?

Dana Brooke vs Sasha Banks

We open the show with Sasha Banks coming out to the ring with Dana and Charlotte following on. It’s another match between Sasha and Dana everyone! :(. While the match goes on we get a stunning observation from Mauro. ‘Charlotte isn’t afraid of any female in the women’s division’. By god, are there suddenly some males in the women’s division that I wasn’t clued in to? Is Charlotte gonna get Brogue kicked by Sheamus on her next title defense? I’m sorry, this match is just so overdone that I need to go on these tangents to bring some enjoyment out of it. Brooke taps out to another Bank Statement before Sasha takes a Big Boot from Charlotte. Then she’s thrown into the announcement team while Charlotte yells out some wooden ‘You’ll never beat me’ statements. This is going on past Battleground by the way. battleground is another tag team match. Man if it goes on to Summerslam I want a Sasha vs Charlotte and Dana handicap match.

Winner by Submission: Sasha Banks

Rusev vs Dolph Ziggler

Before Smackdown goes live, Ziggler wants to try and up his value to become a better prospect, he chose to fight Rusev for this value. I’m glad that they’re being conservative with the Rusev/Ryder matches before Battleground, if they overdid that, Ryder would be mush by the time he challenges for the title. After all, we remember the condition of Kallisto going into his title match against Rusev.

Oh god we get the injection of pop culture early in the match with the poignant statement ‘Unlike Pokemon Go, a fight against Rusev isn’t a walk in the park.’ Ah man. Dolph Ziggler fights like only Dolph Ziggler can, selling every hit to the level that it deserves. He also follows the only tactic that seems to work on Post-LoN Rusev, the sleeperhold. I hope that whoever beats him doesn’t manage it through that, it’d lose some of the impact on whoever’s career that manages it.I hope its Ryder. Speaking of, a ‘Woo Woo Woo’ plays as Ryder walks out to distract Rusev and help Ziggler get the pin. I’m glad Ziggler took it, they have to make Ryder winning at Battleground somewhat plausible to put on a good match.

Winner by Pinall: Dolph Ziggler

Then there was a replay of the Breezango vs Luchadragons match from Raw

Then there was a replay of The Wyatt Compound

I liked the Wyatt compound the first time I saw it, I really did, but filling up so much of the LAST taped Smackdown with Raw replays is kinda stupid.

We get back to the Smackdown action with

AJ Styles and Karl Anderson vs Enzo and Cass

This Cena Styles feud was completely revitalised by Enzo and Cass, I’m so glad they came into it. The big talk starts immediately with Enzo roasting them immediately. ‘I’m sick of your “Too Sweet” talk, I suppose at the end of the day, a cup a’ salt looks like a cup o’ sugar’ and Cass just saying that they’re only fighting them tonight since there’s nothing else for them to do. It’s a good motivation as motivation goes. As usual, all 4 guys showcase their skills as top athletes in their field, though I still cringe when Enzo gets reckless. Surprisingly, Enzo puts on some of the most impressive work in the match, taking the big hits and putting on some great moves before finally submitting to AJ, the tag going unmet as Cass is beat up outside the ring as AJ revitalises himself to attack Enzo.

Winner by Submission: AJ Styles and Karl Anderson

Tyler Breeze vs Kallisto

Oh hey, this again.I’m glad that Breeze is using what hes been given to try and claw his way up to relevance. I’m not entirely sure if this is Breezango moving up or Lucha Dragons moving down though. Either way, Kalisto was US Champion like three months ago, and he’s successful enough on his own, a match against him should give Breeze the help that he needs. Even though it resulted in a loss. Eh.

Winner by Pinfall: Kalisto

Oh my ever loving Christ, is that Darren Young’s entrance? Bob Backlund’s rasping voice and a trump-esque Titantron stand in? That poor fuck. He deserves more. Darren Young is then immediately ignored in his own Miz TV interview in favour of a Backlund retrospective. Man I really hope he wins at Battleground. His highlight reel only strengthened that. There was none. Miz shows how great of a heel he is, actually making me support Young. The face off actually gives this feud some heat as Young scares Miz out of the ring.

A faux injured Banks is then approached by Charlotte and Brooke to tell her that she needs to find a tag team partner for Battleground, that’s right, two months no title defense. Yaaaaay. I hope its Paige or Bailey.

Dean Ambrose vs Kevin Owens

Seth Rollins comes out just before the match starts and attacks Ambrose approximately two minutes into the match, then Sami Zayn comes in for a piece of Kevin Owens. The match is turned into a tag team match.

Dean Ambrose and Sami Zayn vs Seth Rollins and Kevin Owens

I’m ok with this change in programming. It’s a god main event to end taped Smackdown for good. The teams work pretty well, with Ambrose and Zayn coming off as pretty good tag team partners throughout the match, with good synchronised moves and synergy throughout. The match is predictably insane as the match gets towards the end, with the odds going either way on the winner as it gears up, the match ends with a pedigree on Zayn before Rollins gets the pin for the win. KO then tries to get one over on Zayn outside the ring before Ambrose defends him then fights with Rollins in ring. Man these tag teams made more sense than I could have imagined. I hope we see more team ups in these four, but the brand extension makes that unlikely.

Winner By Pinfall: Seth Rollins and Kevin Owens

I think that the final taped Smackdown represented Thursday Night Smackdown as an entity, Alright.I can’t wait to see how Smackdown evolves as it’s importance grows with the new brand extension on Tuesday. I’ll be seeing you earlier on in the week from now on, but you can always catch me @oliverwoodster on Twitter.

 

 

 

 

WWE Raw Review: 27.6.2016

OPENER

With the shocking announcement of Roman Reigns’ suspension after last weeks the WWE Universe has been eagerly anticipating this week’s episode of Raw, wondering what the official response from the WWE will be. Well, we immediately got our answer at the start of this week’s Raw as Seth Rollins made his way out to the ring in order to discuss the upcoming triple threat at Battleground. Seth claims that “they said I wasn’t allowed to talk about this”, but talk he did and we find out that the WWE are going to acknowledge the suspension on TV, though I am sceptical it seems that the suggestions this suspension could possibly be a work might be legit (check out the article on Skatronixxx.com about this specific topic). As expected Roman has not been removed from the match to Rollins’ chagrin (he has a point though). Seth suggests that it becomes a singles match between him and champion Dean Ambrose, however after interruptions from superstars AJ Styles and John Cena, as well as the princess of wrestling herself Stephanie McMahon, it is revealed it will still be a triple threat with the possibility of becoming a fatal five way. Tonight Cena will face Rollins and Styles will face Ambrose in order to earn a spot in the title match at Battleground. Holy crap those are some big matches.

PAIGE & BANKS def. CHARLOTTE & BROOKE          

I feel like saying this might get me crucified by the IWC who rightfully adore Sasha Banks as she is definitely an amazing performer, however, this is the second time she has been in a title feud on the main roster and it is also the second time that her involvement has felt forced and undeserved. Sasha has been gone for months now and all of a sudden she comes back and overshadows Paige who has 2 legitimate clean wins over the champion Charlotte. I’m sure they will make something good out of this feud but the Women’s division deserves more. The match itself was pretty standard with the babyfaces coming across strong as they got the win, Banks especially continues to look like a force to be reckoned with after submitting Dana Brooke.

TITUS O’NEIL def. RUSEV (UNITED STATES CHAMPIONSHIP – COUNTOUT)

The match started with a beat down from Titus as he continues to take out his rage on Rusev, eventually after trading control things get moved outside the ring and eventually lead to a count out victory for Titus after a double clothesline spot. They continue to build this feud for absolutely no reason. I have no issue with Titus but he is not the tight person to be challenging the Bulgarian Brute like this currently. Titus is not a credible singles champion and was an okay victim to build Rusev’s monster status but this is not how you do it. Titus is being portrayed as a serious threat towards Rusev seen by this count out victory.

• Corporate Kane makes his return to speak with Stephanie McMahon, once again pleading for the job as Smackdown manager. They are interrupted by a returning Miz who rudely complaining about the lack of a movie star treatment. In response, Kane sets up a surprise IC title match. (Call me crazy but I was hoping for an NXT call up, especially hoping for my man Finn).

SETH ROLLINS def. JOHN CENA

Now if you were around during Summerslam last year and saw the Rollins/Cena over both the WWE and US titles, also paired with the fact that Cena can really raise his game when put with world class performers (examples being  Michaels, Styles, and Punk), then you should have known that this was going to be a good match. Well, we aren’t disappointed as what we receive is definitely the match of the night with some great spots, such as the falcon arrow from Seth and the near fall after the AA from Big Match John. Seth eventually picks up the win but not after a run in from The Club which is not surprising as we all know a clean win over John is hard to come by. I would have liked Seth to get the win clean, however. I know this is a lot to ask the WWE, especially for a heel but it would be nice to see Rollins become the cocky heel who really is that good, making him that much of an asshole. This does make sense however as they want to keep both Cena and Rollins protected going into their big matches at Battleground.

ENZO AND CASS def. JOBBERS

It would take me longer to recap this match then for it to actually take place. So Enzo & Cass win. Easily. The only thing of note is that the Social Outcasts come out to the ring after the match and make a penis joke. It’s as bad as it sounds.

• I am beginning to wonder when all these Darren Young promos are going to lead to something. We have been seeing them for a while now, maybe they are waiting for the general elections?
• Becky Lynch had a scheduled match with Summer Rae (underrated by the way) but it never happens as she decides to attack Natalya who is at commentary. It is good to see Becky look like less of a victim.

THE HIGHLIGHT REEL – SAMI ZAYN AND KEVIN OWENS

Jericho sticks with his heel shenanigans and starts to insult our WWE Champion Dean Ambrose (depending how long Dean is champ this is definitely a possible future championship feud). Y2J announces his guests, former best friend’s now bitter rivals, Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens. I enjoyed this segment as they brought up the storied past between the two, both recent and not so recent events. My only complaint is that Jericho felt uneeded in this segment and though he tried to stay out of focus he interrupted enough that it became annoying, even if it did end with a cool double kick spot. Both Owens and Zayn were great in this segment but I have to highlight Sami especially as he brought some real fire to his promo on Kevin Owens and anyone who doubted his serious mic skills needs to watch this segment.

DEMON KANE (SIGH) def. THE MIZ (INTERCONTINENTAL CHAMPIONSHIP – COUNTOUT)                    

Earlier in this review, I said that the best case scenario for this surprise Intercontinental title match was a call up for NXT star Finn Balor, who has to be arriving soon due to the upcoming brand extension. It seems that WWE decided to mock me as we did end up getting a demon. It just happened to be the wrong one. Kane completely dominated The Miz in this short-lived match up that is until Maryse Streep took a dive that looked like it belonged on a football pitch (soccer for my Yank readers). In order to save his lady love Miz receives a count out loss which of course allows him to keep his title. This was really a crowd killer as it was the second title match that ended in a count out, plus the reveal of Kane was extremely underwhelming. Bad match.

• Maryse reveals to Miz that she was faking the injury in a masterclass of acting that it worth an Emmy.
• Jojo interviews Dean Ambrose but they are interrupted by Stephanie who tells Dean that she is furious that he is a champion and cannot wait until he is no longer champion. I understand that Dean is meant to be the anarchist/renegade face who hates the authority so they are getting big heels to hate him but why does Steph hate him so much? She has a bigger and more and more troubled history with Reigns.

CESARO & CREWS def. SHEAMUS & DEL RIO          

I can’t think of much to say about the action of this match. The most striking thing about it was that there was an unusual focus on Sheamus and Alberto Del Rio who despite being former teammates they are not in a rivalry, unlike Sheamus and Apollo Crews, and possibly Del Rio and Cesaro. I’m still waiting for Apollo to turn it up a notch like I know he can. Also, it is upsetting to Cesaro without a solid storyline which he deserves. Not inherently bad, just there is nothing to make me care about this at all.

• The New Day impersonate The Wyatt Family by coming out to a parodied version of their entrance while wearing similar clothing. The interactions between Xavier Woods and Bray Wyatt is absolute gold as Woods continues to be the star of this rivalry so far. They are continuing to play on the possession angle they introduced last week.

DEAN AMBROSE def. AJ STYLES

This match has never been considered a dream match by a lot of people but as soon as it was announced I couldn’t wait to see it. On top of this surprise main event, we get some Seth Rollins commentary as he hilariously has to deal with the fact that he is rooting for his arch rival The Lunatic Fringe. The match is quite good as both men seemed to adjust comfortably with working with each other. We get to see some varied move sets from both of the wrestlers, including a brain buster from Styles (I bet Vince wasn’t crazy about that). In the end, Ambrose gets the win with a Dirty Deeds on Styles after Cena provides some distraction. Raw ends with Cena being taken out with the Magic Killer at the top of the ramp while Seth takes out Ambrose in the middle of the ring. Once again Styles proves how insanely good he is in the ring, as he was able to really show off and frankly he overshadowed Dean a little bit. Not that Dean isn’t also good, just that you need someone special to keep up with AJ.

FINAL NOTES & SCORE

• Tonight’s MVP: AJ Styles
• Match of the Night: Seth Rollins vs John Cena
• Moment of the Night: New Day and The Wyatts
• Cena, can you PLEASE call your spots a little quieter? It’s like you’re a guest commentator for your own matches.
• Enzo and Cass are definitely popular with the fans but that wave stuff is way cooler when it is spontaneous
• Let us all pray to God that we do not get a Miz/Kane feud
• So no new additions to the Battleground main event. Not really surprised but at least the matches we got were good.

This week’s Raw was poor for a 3-hour show, but it is saved by a good New Day/Wyatt segment and the two qualifying matches. I am going to give this week’s episode a 6/10.