Raw was up against the Presidential Debate, so the show had a strange pace to it. Two big rematches from the previous night's Clash of Champions took place at the start of the show. Roman Reigns and Rusev fought over the US title again to start. Snore. Their match in Corpus from a month or so ago was great, but every subsequent segment between the two has floundered. This match in particular was a very plodding power vs. power match that lacked anything truly interesting. And I think this feud will continue . . . yeesh.
The New Day scored another win over Gallows and Anderson on their 400th day as tag champs. This was a step up from their match at Clash, and was given a little more time as well. (Man, I'd be a tad peeved at these PPV rematches if the WWE Network wasn't such a good value. But if I was paying old PPV prices, I'd be very turned off.)
Bolstering the Raw tag division was the addition of a new team: Sheamus and Cesaro. I like the idea of these two developing as a begrudging duo if the creative team has a long term plan. I don't think it quite makes up for the non-ending to their Best of Seven series, however. Still, the booking here is keeping me on my toes and I expect (based on fan reaction) they'll be the ones to dethrone New Day. File this one under "We'll see what happens next."
Cruiserweight champ T.J. Perkins took on Tony Nese in a ten minute match. Nese is pretty good and he's walking proof that not every Cruiserweight needs to be a circus acrobat. I'd like to see more of him in the future or even as a mid-boss kind of guy on NXT or something. Perkins and Brian Kendrick also exchanged words backstage, and T.J. promised to pay him back for the headbutt he received the previous night following their title match. Perkins will face Kendrick at least one more time and it'll be awesome, count on it!
Seth Rollins will be nursing some bruised ribs for a few weeks at least, so Chris Jericho and Universal champ Kevin Owens resumed their placeholder feud with Enzo Amore and Big Cass. I'm cool with this - it moves them up on the card temporarily and they get to work with two of the best in the business, which can do nothing but good things for their development as wrestlers. Enzo and Cass are both solid on the mic and Enzo plays a great babyface-in-peril, but they're going to need a few more arrows in their quiver if they're going to make it long-term. If you're in the ring with Y2J and K.O., you can't help but pick up a few tricks. We all know the betrayal from Jericho is coming, which will probably lead to a triple threat, it's just a matter of when . . .
On Smackdown, the Miz continued to be one of, if not the, best heels in the company right now, gloating about his accomplishments in a "homecoming" segment since Smackdown was in Cleveland this week. Dolph Ziggler interrupted him and after a pretty great exchange of promos from both men, put his career on the line for another shot at Miz's title. That's right, at No Mercy, Miz and Ziggler will go one on one in a title vs. career match. I expect Dolph to finally cinch this one out, but even if he loses, don't fret. I lost count of all the times John Cena was "fired" in various storylines over the years.
Bray Wyatt led Randy Orton on a sheep masked-themed wild goose chase for the extent of Smackdown. This was a pretty goofy series of backstage skits, but I think a younger me (who was a HUGE Undertaker mark) would have eaten them up. I'm not sure if I've warmed to this feud yet, and their non-starter at Backlash was a pretty "meh" affair. At least Eric Rowan got to do something this week.
The main event saw Dean Ambrose get his rematch against A.J. Styles for the WWE title. This was a fantastic match with John Cena at ringside providing commentary and getting involved a bit at the end. "Big Match" John is looking to win his 16th world title, and following the match (in which Styles won) he stood tall, nailing both Ambrose and Styles with an Attitude Adjustment. The three men will meet in a triple threat at Smackdown's next exclusive event, No Mercy. I'd have to review both Styles/Ambrose matches again to be sure, but I think this one fell just short of their encounter at Backlash, although from the crowd's reaction throughout, you can tell there was some continuity. I like when subsequent matches between performers build up over time. Tanahashi and Okada did that very well in New Japan at Wrestle Kingdom 9 and 10.
I gotta mention NJPW once per post, I just gotta.
Those were the stand-out bits for me. What jumped out at you from WWE this week? Let me know in the comments or hit me up on Twitter @ChrisBComics. Thanks for reading!
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