After WWE’s plan A went out the window with Finn Balor’s injury forcing him to relinquish the Universal Championship, this week’s Raw would be headlined by a fatal-4-way match to determine the new Champion.
There were also question marks over the immediate future of the Women’s Championship after Sasha Banks’ injury and last week’s debut of Bayley. Not to mention the controversy still surrounding the finish of the Brock Lesnar vs Randy Orton match at Summerslam. So, how did WWE address these issues, amongst others, on this week’s Raw and was it good or bad?
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So, how did WWE address these issues, amongst others, on this week’s Raw and was it good or bad?
1- Comedy Club
Starting with the bad points of this week’s edition of Raw, The Club need to get away from these goofy backstage skits they have been doing over recent weeks. Every now and again is fine to see Gallows and Anderson showcase their comedic sides, but every week is too much. Plus, they’ve not even been funny recently.
The Club need to be booked as dangerous and as a legitimate threat to the New Day’s tag team titles and it needs to happen soon.
2- Jobber Mahal
Why did WWE decide to bring Jinder Mahal back? Nobody missed him when he was gone and he’s being an afterthought ever since he returned as he’s been nothing more than an enhancement talent. If that’s all WWE were looking for there, are better options for them to bring in than a superstar that nobody cares about.
3- Snooze City
When it was announced that Paul Heyman was appearing on this week’s Raw to address Brock Lesnar’s actions at Summerslam, I’m sure I wasn’t the only person who had high hopes for that segment.
On top of that, he was going to verbally spar with Stephanie McMahon. Putting two of the best talkers in WWE currently head to head, surely you’d get a must-see segment. But ultimately this segment was pointless as it did nothing to further the storyline and ended on a very flat note when Steph accepted Heyman’s apology and walked away.
4- Far from Primetime
The Primetime Players feud was not in the primetime slot on this week’s Raw. In fact, it was probably in the worst slot on the show – just before the main event when everyone is starting to get tired and decide to reserve their energy for the big match at the end of the show. To be honest, this is exactly where this program deserves to be placed. Few people have been invested in the Darren Young angle from the beginning, and it’s only been getting worse since the Titus feud started. Both of these superstars have only found success when teaming together and neither of them has what it takes to thrive as singles competitors.
5- Stephanie’s Universal Failure
The final bad point is more annoying than bad. Stephanie McMahon, the Chief Brand Officer of WWE, not once, but twice claimed that Raw would see the crowing of the “first ever WWE Universal Champion”. I’m guessing she forgot about that little show a couple of weeks ago called Summerslam where one of the matches saw Finn Balor win the Universal Championship against Seth Rollins.
The new Championship has failed to feel prestigious since it was announced anyway, but now Stephanie McMahon, who was ringside for the first ever Universal Championship match, can’t even remember being there, that’s not a good sign.
6- Big Cass has class
The opening segment on last night’s Raw did a good job of hyping the main event and made all the four men involved look like bona fide superstars. This was further enhanced throughout the night with video packages dedicated to each individual competitor.
Big Cass, in particular, was impressive not just here but in the main event itself later on in the night. He proved he can hang with the top guys on the Raw roster, not just verbally but in the ring also.
7- The Gift Of Jericho
Arguably the greatest heel on the roster today is Chris Jericho and he showed his class again this week in his match against Neville. The two men put on a very good match which saw some classic heel tactics from Y2J and showcased Neville’s unique abilities which the crowd loved. Neville and Jericho appear to have great chemistry and this match is just the beginning of a feud between the pair.
8- “Hey, we want some Bayley!”
I wrote an article a couple of months ago on this website in which I predicted that Bayley would struggle on the main roster and wouldn’t connect with the fans as well as she did in NXT.
Well, what do I know? Thus far, Bayley has been quite over with the crowds whenever she has performed in front of in the main roster and looks set to continue her momentum from her NXT run and reach new heights, which I am more than happy about. Having her team up with New Day on this week’s Raw was a good move and cemented her as the biggest female babyface on the current roster.
9- A true main event
The main event this week was just that, the ‘main event’. Many Raws over the last few years have been headlined by lacklustre matches that the fans aren’t bothered about seeing which has left the show ending on a bum note.
However, this week’s fatal-4-way Universal Title match had a big fight feel and more than lived up to its hype when it came the time for it came. The whole match was great and everyone in it came out of it looking stronger than they did going in.
All men got in their signature moves and were highlighted at different times. As for the finish, well, that leads us to the final and by far the greatest moment of this week’s show.
10- The Game Changer
After Cass was the first to be eliminated the Universal Championship match, we were down to three men - Roman Reigns, Seth, and Kevin Owens. Just as Reigns was building up some steam and was getting the better of his two rivals, he was blind sided by a returning Triple H who pedigreed his WrestleMania 32 opponent on the outside before tossing him in the ring and helping Rollins get the cover to eliminate the “Big Dog”.
Which brought it down to Kevin Owens and Seth Rollins, who would walk out as Universal Champion? The answer appeared fairly obvious when Triple H dragged Owens into the ring seemingly for Rollins to defeat and win the title.
However, Triple H turned his attentions to Rollins and pedigreed ‘The Architect’ to shock everyone in the arena, including Owens who then crawled over to Rollins’ lifeless body to get the cover and become the WWE Universal Champion!
It was a fascinating and well executed ending to an overall decent edition of Raw. It leaves everyone anticipating next week’s show, the first-ever ‘Kevin Owens Show’.
Vince Russo answers who killed WCW HERE
