The show started with some backstage politics between Stephanie McMahon and Mick Foley. Foley has a little more gravel in his voice this week and seems to be weary of Hunter and Stephanie's possible scheming. Is this the first sign of a return to the ring for Mick? Probably not, but he could nominate a surrogate in his place or even take Seth Rollins under his wing; we'll see how this unfolds.
With K.O. poised as the top dog for the time being, this week was about establishing his challenger, Seth Rollins, as a babyface. I'd say it was a success, especially after his match with Jericho. Rollins has that kind of dynamism built into his move set that works great for a fan favorite; I like the new role for him. Jericho is still playing besties with Owens, but I expect that to implode in on itself. That's two great challengers and countless great matches to look forward to. Factor in Roman at some point and Finn's return sometime next year and I think it's safe to say the Owens title reign could be epic.
The Charlotte/Dana Brooke stuff isn't going as well as I'd hoped. Dana might need to temper her skills a bit longer in NXT. Bayley came out looking strong for the third week in a row, scoring a victory over the women's champion Charlotte. This match got almost fifteen minutes, a far cry from the Diva matches of yore. Good stuff between the competitors, but like I said, Dana isn't adding anything here.
A more intense version of Bo Dallas got a quick win over a jobber last night. I don't know what the ceiling is with Bo, to be honest. I loved the "Bolieve" gimmick and his upbeat, oblivious mannerisms, but they seem to want to try him out as a more serious heel. He's got the mic skills, and if given time to build his character, could be taken seriously as a U.S. title contender.
Sheamus pulled ahead 3-0 in the best of seven series with Cesaro. Apparently, some of the future series matches will take place at live events. Coupled with the upcoming Orton/Lesnar rematch, I see the 'E is taking serious steps to make their live events matter. The ongoing story here, with Sheamus slowly wearing down Cesaro's back and shoulder, has been great. It feels very old-school, no doubt the brainchild of some of WWE's great backstage talent and road agents like the legendary Pat Patterson. Cesaro has to start picking up some V's here or he's done. It should make for a very tense couple of match to finish the series.
The Shining Stars, Primo and Epico, picked up a surprise roll-up win on Enzo and Big Cass. (I hope this isn't a sign that management is cooling off on these two.) This sets up a TV feud that may get a pre-show match at the next PPV or something. This week's Enzo promo was especially strange. I love it when they go really far outside the box with their trash talk. It's refreshing and a nice change from the usual jibber jabber you here between feuding teams.
Nia Jax destroyed another local girl, then started a tiff with Alicia Fox. I like Jax calling out the Total Divas girls and destroying them one by one; could be a fun role for her. Like her song says, "She's not like most girls." Braun Strowman also beat up another smaller opponent, although he seems to be making some progress on the card since he actually got to take on someone on the main roster (Sin Cara) rather than a jobber. We have two archetypal monster heels for both the men and womens' divisions. Jax is food for Bailey or Sasha, but I don't know where Strowman is headed yet. Maybe fighting with Roman over the U.S. title if he takes it from Rusev? I dunno . . .
Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson led a segment with the New Day that nearly put the otherwise peppy crowd to sleep. Follow that with another chapter in the Darren Young/Titus O'Neil feud no one cares about, and you have your mandatory half hour of lackluster wrestling content. Both segments were a bust. (WTF are they doing with my former Bullet Club guys? C'mon, man!)
Sasha Banks pulled a fake-out on Twitter yesterday, teasing "bad news". It turned out the bad news was for Charlotte because Sasha is back! (I feel like she never left, but hey.) Dana Brooke came out and they started talking and I got kind of mesmerized by the two beautiful women on my screen and forgot what was going on.
Longtime rivals Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn met in the main event. These two could wrestle every night for a year and have a unique match each time. Needless to say, it was a good match and a nice epilogue to their spring feud, this time with Owens wearing gold around his waist. Zayn has been teasing a leg injury for his last couple of matches, and he continued that here. I like the week-to-week continuity as it makes the whole thing look less like a circus and more like a series of contests. Plus, with people still reeling from Balor's injury, it stokes the flames of Sami's sympathy inferno. Roman Reigns interjected himself at the end, and Foley gave him the opportunity to fight his way into the title match between Owens and Rollins at Clash of Champions. Do not like. Keep Roman where he was; Owens, Rollins, Jericho, Zayn, and Cesaro will be just fine.
Good show, but obviously not as memorable as last week's with the huge fatal four way and Owens winning the title. Raw has two weak spots right now, in my opinion. One is the undercard stuff that doesn't seem to be catching on and the other is the wonky New Day feud with Gallows and Anderson. Both can be remedied by canning the bad acting and letting the guys tell physical stories in the ring. Look at what Zayn is doing. Or Cesaro. Their providing the weekly soap opera, but without the corny skits.
Thanks for reading! I can be found on Twitter (@ChrisBComics) and on my myriad other blogs, including but not limited to, Gotham Animated. See you tomorrow for some Smackdown results!
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