Read on for my thoughts on last night's Raw.
- Mr. Fuji graphic:
I'm glad he was honored. Hopefully Enzo or someone makes a good reference to him tonight.
- Roman/Cass/Rollins/Owens promo:
I'm not generally a fan of heated rivals sharing the ring casually, but it can be handwaved as Stephanie and Foley requesting them all out there or something. It's not like they won't be able to come to blows later.
That was a good enough promo from Seth. He's pretty much already sold as a top guy.
Owens even burying Corey Graves. That's cold.
Fun back-and-forth between Owens and Seth.
Owens is killing it. This is pretty fun.
I really hope Cass' remark about size mattering was a double entendre given that one picture of Seth that was leaked. 1999 WWF would have gotten everything out of that they could have.
I'm looking forward to the main event.
That was fine from Roman.
I would be fine with Roman turning heel and taking the title. They might as well at this point.
- Y2J promo:
Jericho acknowledging the rumor of Vince wanting Neville to be "like Mighty Mouse," which spread like wildfire as the "they're buryin muh indie darlin'" story because people thought it meant he'd be a cartoon character or they'd focus on his ears. Of course, if it happened at all, it was probably an acknowledgement of Neville being small but strong instead of "let's make him Hurricane 2.0" or whatever people were thinking.
- Neville vs. Y2J:
No matter what happens here, the loser will be "buried" with "bad booking," according to the Internet.
This is OK, but not the big match it could be. That's fine after seeing so many flip spots on this weekend's ROH show.
This is heating up.
Nice homage to the spot that injured Neville in the first place.
I'm pretty much ready for Neville to be shipped to the cruiserweight division where he can flip to his heart's content. I don't really see anything in him beyond his amazing athleticism. Somestimes the glass ceiling exists for a reason.
Oh, man. People are REALLY going to be upset at Neville tapping.
- New Day/Bayley/Dana segment:
New Day and Bayley is such a natural combination.
Poor Dana's always going to be the second fiddle.
- Jobber promo:
She should probably get that enlarged heart checked out...
- Nia vs. Hyan:
Hyan is kill. I assume we would have been in for Sasha vs. Nia had Sasha not been hurt. Now she's just kind of hanging out until Bayley's done with Charlotte one way or another.
- Club promo:
Some of these comedy segments are BRUTAL.
Nurse Dana has some potential.
- Seth promo:
YOU DA MAN SEF.
- Zayn vs. Mahal:
At least Jinder's doing better than Hyan.
I hope Jinder had a good time in Texas...
- Charlotte/Sasha segment:
I'm glad they didn't do something important on the pre-show and not use it on Raw.
That was fine enough to sell whenever Sasha returns. I hope whatever she's going through is resolved by then.
- Kofi/Big E/Bayley vs. Club/Dana:
Pretty good opening action.
Kofi's pretty much stalled as a performer. He has his role and he seems content on staying at that level.
Bayley vs. Dana could be good feud if they both get mic time and it's not just "Bayley vs. Charlotte's buddy."
The Club aren't all that special as wrestlers. It was more the whole "foreign invaders" thing that got them over.
That was solid and enjoyable. Good work all around.
- Cesaro promo:
So it looks like a title match is at stake. That's good.
Good ending line, but Cesaro's still lacking as a personality.
- Cass promo:
I think Cass can be a top name in the brand split era. There's less competition in the title picture with guys like Cena, Ambrose, and Orton on Smackdown. Cena and Orton benefited from the first brand split because they didn't have as many names to compete with for pushes.
- Sheamus promo:
Now that was a good promo.
- Sheamus (1) vs. Cesaro (0):
Nice Giant Swing spot. It was good to see something different with that move.
These two always work really well together. They hit hard and bring out the best in each other. I LOVE IT MAGGLE.
Nice story of Cesaro targeting Sheamus' weak point (for massive damage).
Good story of two people who know each other well enough to have counters for big moves.
Just awesome, awesome work here. A little heavy on the uppercuts as always, but great action.
Good match overall. I get the eerie feeling we're in for an 0-3 comeback from Cesaro that will still be seen as not pushing him.
- Fuji video package:
Good to see the man honored.
- Owens video:
WWE generally does these pretty well, putting over the talent and what they're after.
- Americo promo:
Can't wait to see this guy flip around in next year's CWC.
- Americo vs. Strowman:
Is it wrong that I want WWE to ship Nia and Braun given their mutual dominance? They've got to at least interact at some point.
- Americo unmasked:
LOL AMERICO BTFO. I guess he'll be Texano or something going forward.
- Cruiser commercial:
Three solid talents who can definitely contribute to the division.
- Stephanie/Heyman segment:
I really hope this leads to more than just non-wrestlers not wrestling.
This is kind of odd given their behind-the-scenes issues when Heyman was on Creative.
I'll pop if Americo or Hyan come out and take that money.
This is interesting in its own way. Heyman can make pretty much anything compelling.
I REALLY hope Heyman has something up his sleeve. But what?
- Roman promo:
Poor guy barely gets any mic time now. If they let him go off the cuff more, he might be a pretty good speaker.
- Titus vs. Darren:
This feud seems a little forced, as in "well we don't know what else to do with you, so feud."
Great spot with Titus and the cameraman.
I like how these two work together. Titus' offense is rough (in an intentional way), but effective. He's not there to be the flashy hard worker Darren is. He's just there to be the heel and the hoss.
Titus' trash talk game is great. With Bubba Ray gone, he might get a decent push as the No. 2 in-ring trash talker behind Owens.
Well that was pretty quick. I hope this feud actually settles something and brings someone up a notch. Otherwise it's just filling space.
- Titus/Darren post-match:
Simple, but effective. Darren got the clean win, but Titus got his heat back. "50/50 booking," but it keeps the feud going. I hope Pancake Patterson and Bob Backlund cut promos on each other at some point.
- Foley/Stephanie/Rollins segment:
I wish they would have had Stephanie explain why Foley wasn't needed out there. Otherwise, why wasn't he out there with her?
Rollins potentially has another big moment ahead of him tonight. He can become the Franchise of Raw.
- Enzo/Cass promo:
I'm glad there wasn't a big comedy promo here. This should be a really big night for Cass.
- Roman vs. Seth vs. Cass vs. Owens:
Owens is gold right out of the gate.
I like the strategies being employed here.
It's good to see all these New Era names in the title picture instead of Big Show, etc.
Enjoyable hoss battle between Cass and Roman.
MAN. BRUTAL suicide dive spot. Rollins takes some big risks with himself and his opponents.
Reigns doing a plancha is always super impressive.
HILARIOUS for Owens to take Foley's move right in front of him.
I love the crazy action of a four-way at times.
Everyone really bringing their A-game.
This is really enjoyable.
-- Fall Two:
The Tower of Doom is usually pretty overused, BUT here it served the purpose of destroying two opponents at omce.
Nice counter to the Falcon Arrow.
I mean, seriously. Everyone's bringing everything they've got here. It's a really big match.
AWESOME counter to the pop-up powerbomb.
That was all really cool.
Wow. Didn't see HHH returning like that. I guess with Balor out, he's adding star power.
-- Fall Three:
That was kind of an odd conclusion, but we'll see what they do with it. Owens as champion has a lot of potential. Owens vs. Zayn headlining a PPV would be unreal.
So, did HHH act independently of the Raw bosses? Did he text himself to get involved? We'll see as we go on.
More wrestling coming up.
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