Welcome back to our weekly Raw review, due to illness I was unable to review last weeks show but I am back in action for this huge week in the WWE! This is the last Raw before the draft, next week the landscape of Raw will be very different.
Introducing The New Raw And Smackdown GM’s
The commissioner of Raw Stephanie McMahon comes to open the show, she is quickly followed by Shane. They have a bickering segment, that is until Stephanie decides to bring out who she has named as the new Raw GM. A nice surprise as we get Mick Foley! I did not see this one coming, and I am actually glad. I think Mick and Stephanie will work well together for these roles, and I enjoyed everything about this. So Shane has his announcement to make, and no surprise for me YES YES YES Daniel Bryan makes his way out. The crowd goes nuts as expected, and it’s great to see him back in the spotlight. More Daniel Bryan every week is a good thing for me. I really liked their individual promos as GM’s with what they plan to bring to the table. Stephanie announces that exclusive to Raw they are bringing back the Cruiserweight division, I think we knew that would happen too. Can’t wait for the fun to begin. Great opening segment, I enjoyed it all.
Rating: 4/5
Sami Zayn & Cesaro vs. Chris Jericho & Kevin Owens
With the talent involved there was no way this match was going to suck. I am sure Owens and Zayn will be on separate rosters, and their match at Battleground will be one for the ages. This was a very entertaining opening match, lots of action and I think Cesaro worked extremely hard. He was on fire in the match, pulling out all the moves and giving the crowd everything they wanted to see. We get the Owens and Zayn fighting as well, nothing to complain about here. The end came with a roll up from Zayn, who picked up the win. Great opening match!
Rating: 4/5
Alberto Del Rio vs. Darren Young w/Bob Backlund
Not much of a match to be honest, a lot of focus on The Miz and Maryse at ringside who just talked about themselves I think. I love Maryse so I end up looking at her more than I listen to her, I can’t help it. Alberto was owning the match, Young didn’t do all that much but he got the win off a distraction. So another accidental win, I guess that is his gimmick now? No just not!
Rating: 1/5
12 Man Tag Team Match
Pre-match is just craziness on the mic and I don’t even know where to begin. John Cena is confused by Enzo and How You Doin’, so there is an attempt to explain it. There is so explaining this, it just needs to be seen. I was entertained so there is that. The Club then comes up and talked about beating up John Cena, and I know Batch was just hoping that they would beat him up. The New Day came out and Woods attempted to name off the original pokemon whilst bragging about what level he is on with Pokemon Go. I was stupidly entertained by the weirdness of all of this.
Anyway to the match that eventually happened, it was pretty decent and not a total train wreck. Bodies were flying all over the place and I couldn’t keep up with the action at times. There was a moment where Enzo was ready to take on Strauman and I was thinking CRAZY! Lots of good action, with everyone getting in the ring at one point, as these matches do tend to break down. The match ended with Enzo and Cena clashing accidentally and Styles hitting the Styles Clash for the win. Not bad, but it was completely crazy.
Rating: 3.5/5
I might just note through the show there were backstage segments with the Commissioners and GM’s talking to talent and talking to each other. I loved the Bryan/Foley segment, it was so well handled and they are really going to go for a Raw vs. Smackdown thing.
Seth Rollins did an interesting promo in the empty area, talking about the WWE Title and such.
Baron Corbin vs. Sin Cara
The Lucha Dragons are over as a team and the pair will now be singles guys. Fair enough I say, this wasn’t much of a match either it was just a squash for Corbin.
Rating: 2/5
Sasha Banks & Becky Lynch vs. Charlotte & Dana Brooke
This was an attempt at a match but nothing really happened, as once Becky was thrown outside the ring Nattie came in for the attack. Things then broke down and the match called off, with Sasha taking it to Dana, but then Dana and Charlotte getting to her.
Rating: 1/5
Dean Ambrose promo, good stuff.
Sheamus & Rusev w/Lana vs. Zack Ryder & Dolph Ziggler
I missed a bit of this match but it just seemed like a beat down from the bigger guys. I am not sure if Ryder and Ziggler got in much offense and then before I knew it the match was over. Ryder has a title shot at Battleground, I like he is getting TV time and something to do but will they actually go ahead and give him the title and an actual reign?
Rating: 2/5
WWE Title Match: Dean Ambrose (c) vs. Seth Rollins
A big match to end off Raw, and I am not surprised they booked a big title match for the third hour and for this Raw. It was a pretty good match for the most part. These guys know each other so well and they know what to do to entertain the crowd and get everyone going. I liked that we have Stephanie and Mick at ringside, but also Shane and Bryan there as well. Scouting out the talent, and making everything seem really important. I loved some of the spots these guys did, with a tease of someone going through the announce table.
The ending was odd though, the ref gets knocked out but he doesn’t stay down. There is a hook up for a pin but both of their shoulders appear down. He makes the count but it doesn’t seem like he knows who has won. Stephanie just declares it is Rollins, and that is how the show goes off the air. This continues on the network with the referee stating that both shoulders were down so its a draw and the title doesn’t change hands.
Rating: 3.5/5
Well Raw was just okay, I was hoping for a better build and more excitement since this is the go home show for Raw and the draft tomorrow. Smackdown will be live, with the draft and 6 NXT people will be drafted. I hope Smackdown is an exciting show, and I am curious as to what will happen. My guess is that Stephanie wanted Seth and the WWE Title together for their first pick, so maybe to get the title they will need to draft Ambrose first. We shall see.
The Super Network 