I’m so glad all that Survivor Series stuff is over. The ppv itself wasn’t awful, but the last few Raw’s have been. I came into tonight’s episodes with low expectations and thankfully I was wrong. This was one of the more coherent episodes of Raw in recent memory.
One More Title Run
I’m still trying to process what happened between Goldberg and The Beast Brock Lesnar last night. Then Goldberg says that he’s going to be at the Royal Rumble, and now I don’t know what to do with my life. I know he’s old as hell, but he still looks good and seemed to be in good form in the few moves he did last night. The hell with it, I’m on board.
Through Thick and Thin
The Highlight Reel was one of the reasons why I was in such good spirits about the show last night. Chris Jericho and Kevin Owens are too good together and no matter what happens, it’s entertaining. When they cried Roman Reigns‘ name in unison, the Universe bellowed with glee because we all hate that guy. Plus it meant that the bestest best friends in entertainment are still here to stay. I actually thought for a second that they were going to break up.
Another interesting thing about this is that I fully expected Mick Foley to make a tag match after Roman made his brief appearance. Instead he made a title match of the non DQ variety. Banning Jericho made me think I was going to see something definitive. The ending wasn’t definitive, but they fooled my little gullible mind into believing so. That’s. How you get your third hour viewers up.
The main even definitely lived up past the hype because Rolling and Owens put together another damn near classic. After the type of night Raw had, topping it off. With two of the best guys fighting all over the arena was perfect. I was a little pissed in the beginning because a couple. Of big spots happened. During the commercial break. Thankfully they made up for it with Rollins heroics and Kevin’s intensity.
The ending was another easy way out I think. Jericho saving KO took away the opportunity for KO to actually get some heat and possibly out smart Rollins or something. The thing that waters down the rivalry between the two is that there are too many other players. Stephanie McMahon, Mick, Triple H (where is he btw), and Jericho is too much star power for a establishing title run. I’m sure this will lead to yet another great match between Rollins and Owens but the build around it is sort of weak.
A New, New Day. Kinda
New Day might be turning heel again, or perhaps it’s just sloppy booking. It wouldn’t be the first time they cheated as babyfaces. Either way, they got some major heat last night and this won’t be easily forgotten. With that said, they have a match against The Club next week. It’s going to be a weird dynamic watching those four face each other next week. It could be sloppy, or it could be something great. I’m giving them the benefit of the doubt because they at least made an effort to set up for next week.
I’ll See You in Charlotte
I’m getting tired of seeing Sasha Banks and Charlotte. I guess I should be glad they’re getting a tile shot out of the way to set up for bigger and better things. I love the idea Nia Jax and Banks getting it on, and I expect the booking team to do Banks some favors given the whole size factor. After Bayley came down for the save, it’s only right that they made a tag match. Charlotte tapped out to Sasha in an exciting finish.
Bye Bye Cruiserweights
Even all the action between the 205 division was relevant. There was a great triple threat match between Rich Swann, TJ Perkins, and Noam Dar. The action always comes across a bit more crisper when it means something. Rich Swann deservedly walked away with the win, and I’m extremely looking forward to their match on 205 live. I can’t say enough about how much I love Brian Kendrick‘s heel work since he’s been back. The video package they aired at Survivor Series before his match is enough to attest to that.
Cedric Alexander pretty much had a squash match, just to keep him in the spotlight. I do appreciate them for at least making the effort to give these guys a chance to get over. This week anyway. I’m curious about how much the 205 pounders will be featured on Raw after the 205 premiere next week.
I Wouldn’t Call It A Problem
There’s something very old school to how they set up the match between Enzo Amore and Rusev. I loved it too. This is the kind of comedy that they should be going for more often. It wasn’t reinventing the wheel, but seeing Enzo in this kind of role is where he’s best fit for. I was getting tired of them pandering to the home crowd with a bunch of puns. This was good for Rusev as well because he’s been embarrassed and damaged over the past few weeks so it’s only right they have him squash a big star like Enzo.
The Dog House
Stephanie pulled Foley’s puppet strings and convinced him to punish Sami Zayn for losing last night. That punishment was a match against Braun Strowman, who he’d challenged a few weeks ago. Not sure why that’s supposed to be a punishment. Also Braun lost last night too, so where’s his punishment. The whole idea for punishing superstars like this is annoying. They’re here to wrestle in matches, that’s the whole point.
Survivor Series was a bunch of bull, but they made the outcomes mean something going forward. Pretty much every story line of tonight’s show was coherent, and affected storylines going forward. There are two title matches next week and Jericho and Owens are still together. That’s enough to make me tune in.
My Grade: B, I told you I was in a good mood.
