WWE Extreme Rules 2017 is this Sunday and it’s a Raw brand exclusive event. Because of this, the Monday night crew was in full “go home” mode. By all accounts, this was a solid attempt to spike interest for the upcoming Pay-Per-View, mostly thanks to a couple of matches that were advertised in advance that more than delivered.
Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns especially tore the house down in the main event, creating several must-see moments.
The only segment of the night that turned out to be a dud was Alexa Bliss’ “This Is Your Life” angle. As talented as the current Raw Women’s Champion is on the microphone, even she couldn’t make anybody care that a couple of people supposedly from Bayley’s past now want to make out in the middle of the ring.
If we can all scrub those few minutes from our memories, then we can properly get back to praising the best moments from this Monday night.
Other highlights that you’ll kick yourself if you missed include when R-Truth borrowed some of Goldust’s promo schtick, the Tower of Doom that contained three of Raw’s biggest stars, and the final move before the Hardyz tasted victory in a big multi-man matchup.
This is the countdown that provides visual aids via gifs for its recap, so continue on and find out what the most must-moments were from this edition of Monday Night Raw.
#5 Two thumbs up for these promos
Since reverting back to his cinema-obsessed origins, Goldust no longer is buddies with R-Truth. His promos have been great, including the one this week that was laced with Pulp Fiction quotes. Surprisingly, he wasn’t the only one referencing popular movies.
R-Truth sat in the director’s chair as well for a backstage promo that aired right after the one from his former tag partner. Believe it or not, this was actually really good. Truth showed some fire and even played off the movie theme well when he inserted some Shaft lines.
Hopefully, Goldust, as well as Truth, get to make a few more of these pre-taped backstage packages with the cinematic theme because this really plays to both of their strengths.
#4 Exciting start to the show
Raw kicking off with MizTV, which is always a good thing. The Miz hosted Cesaro & Sheamus on his talk show, which led into the opening six-man tag match. That bout had those three face Dean Ambrose & The Hardyz.
All of these guys got to show off their stuff while building hype for their upcoming title matches and they did all of this very well. The good guys won after Matt Hardy gave Miz a Twist of Fate. Then, brother Jeff followed it up with this gorgeous Swanton Bomb off the top rope.
It’s also worth noting that there was a good fan sign just to the left of Jeff as he begins jumping. It’s hard to make out in this highlight but it reads, “Someone please break Matt Hardy.” We’re behind you, unknown fan with a sign. Maybe one day Impact will get off of Matt’s case and let the rest of us have some Broken fun again.
#3 Tower of doom
Three of the five men who will compete this Sunday for an upcoming shot at Brock Lesnar’s Universal Championship went toe-to-toe in a Triple Threat Match on Raw. Bray Wyatt, Finn Balor and Samoa Joe had a pretty physical contest, as evidenced by this Tower of Doom spot in the corner.
Being on the very top, Finn Balor suffered the most damage from this must-see move. Samoa Joe was in the middle, so he still took a bump but not nearly as badly as Finn. Bray Wyatt served as the base for this spot so he was perfectly fine.
Samoa Joe went on to win this matchup, which probably doesn’t bode well for his chances at Extreme Rules. The old “Win on TV, lose on PPV” adage isn’t quite as ironclad as it used to be but it’s still solid enough to likely rule him out from being victorious this weekend.
#2 The counter Superman punch
After the other three competitors for this Sunday’s Number One Contender match at Extreme Rules got their chance to show what they can do on Raw, Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns got their turn in the main event and it was a fantastic contest.
The easy recommendation would be to simply name this entire bout a must-see moment (and really, you should try to watch it if you missed out), but there were a couple of specific spots that definitely needed singling out.
First up from this semi-Sheild reunion was a reversal by The Big Dog. Roman took a buckle bomb in the corner and then rebounded into a Superman Punch. The timing was spectacular.
However, there was another reversal that happened later in the match and directly affected the final pinfall. It’s the most must-see moment from Raw, so continue on to check it out.
#1 Hot ending to the main
The Roman Reigns counter-maneuvers off of some of Seth Rollins’ most potent speciality moves kept coming. This tactic played a pivotal role in the match ending and also served as the most must-see moment of the night.
Seth went for his fancy new knee strike that he uses an Okada Rainmaker-style wind-up for, but Roman avoided the strike. Unlike Okada, Rollins wasn’t able to hold on to the arm and Reigns sidestepped past it. The Big Dog then bounced off of the ropes and nailed his former Shield buddy in the middle of the ring with a Spear.
It’s not every week that Raw closes out their show with a hot main event, so this was a standout. These two showed what kind of chemistry they had together and it was undeniable. With the addition of Bray Wyatt, Finn Balor, and Samoa Joe to this mix, the big match at Extreme Rules looks to be amazing.
Send us news tips at [email protected]
