It's that time of the week again when we take a look back at the multitude of storylines, angles, and matches that the WWE presented to us and decide if we liked it or not. Every week, we have our own wants and hopefully, the WWE grants our wishes. This week we had three big events in Payback, Raw, and Smackdown.
While Payback was good for the most part, except for the occasional hiccup, this week’s episodes of both Raw and Smackdown suffered from the same problems. In a strange move, the WWE decided to keep the likes of Shinsuke Nakamura, Randy Orton, Braun Strowman, and Roman Reigns all off TV meaning both shows felt very empty with a lot of filler.
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Despite excellent main events, the top of the show just didn’t do enough to save the rest of the content from feeling stale and unnecessary. The WWE definitely dropped the ball this time around. So, without any further ado, here are 5 things we wanted from WWE this week and what they delivered: 02nd May 2017:
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#5 What we wanted: A good House of Horrors match; what we got: A terrible House of Horrors match
Look, I know the match falls into the “This is so bad, it’s great” category, but that doesn’t excuse the fact that it was atrociously constructed, shoddily booked, and had one of the worst endings imaginable.
The pre-recorded bit was campy throughout and felt like an overacted low-budget movie rather than a serious bout of professional wrestling. There were also a number of “What the hell?” moments such as the stipulation that the match had to be finished in the ring after starting in the House. And, then there’s the whole fridge incident.
The whole thing was a bunch of nonsense and the ending did little to gave Bray Wyatt any sort of credibility thanks to the interference of Jinder Mahal.
#4 A shakeup in the Raw Tag Team Division; what we got: The Sheamus and Cesaro heel turn
Here's one of the biggest positives to come out of Payback: The Hardy Boyz finally having a legit heel tag team to challenge them going forward. With The Revival out injured, the Sheamus and Cesaro heel turn was exactly what was needed in order to spice up the Raw tag team scene.
And, quite honestly, we were all getting very very bored with the handshakes at the end of the match thing that happened this past couple of weeks on Raw. The European pairing even delivered a great promo on the post-Payback Raw to cement the turn in a move that should do wonders for tag team wrestling on Team Red.
#3 What we wanted: Both main event titles; what we got: Zero main event titles
Brock Lesnar, the WWE Universal Champion, and Randy Orton, the WWE Champion, both decided to take a break from WWE television this week. Of course, Lesnar hasn’t been around for more than a month, so that’s hardly a surprise.
Instead, it was left to the Intercontinental Championship and the US Championship to go on into the main event picture and while that seems nice, with the likes of AJ Styles, Kevin Owens, Dean Ambrose, The Miz, Seth Rollins, and Finn Balor around, the belts didn’t even need the boost.
We had to deal with a practically empty mid card because the upper mid card titles had to be promoted to the main event scene due to the absence of Lesnar and Orton. Add to all this, even Strowman and Reigns didn’t turn up due to kayfabe injuries meaning the whole Universal Title picture is just empty at the moment. At least Jinder Mahal decided to turn up on Smackdown.
Also read: 5 Mistakes committed by the WWE this week: 2nd May 2017
#2 What we wanted: Sorting out the jumbled feuds on Raw; what we got: Feuds on Raw sorted out
Before this week’s episode of Raw, things were very confusing between the likes of Seth Rollins, Finn Balor, The Miz, Dean Ambrose, Bray Wyatt, and Samoa Joe as to who would be feuding with whom exactly going forward?
Balor appeared on Miz TV and had an altercation with The A-Lister, then The Architect and The Demon King took shots at each other, then Dean Ambrose got involved, before all this, Bray sent spooky messages to Finn but had also attacked a bunch of superstars last week. An almighty mess.
Thankfully everything was sorted out this week in the Triple Threat match between Balor, Rollins, and Miz to determine the No 1 Contender for the Intercontinental Title. With Joe attacking Rollins, Wyatt attacking Balor, and Miz winning the match to earn the right to challenge Ambrose, all three feuds are set.
#1 What we wanted: Braun Strowman winning at Payback; what we got: Exactly that
Braun Strowman beat Roman Reigns clean at Payback and then proceeded to murder him in a post-match assault. Things also got evened out when Reigns dodged a Strowman charge during a Raw Talk segment sending The Monster Among Men crashing through the door of an ambulance, sort of giving him some small measure of Payback (heh, get it?).
All in all, a perfectly booked main event. Now, if both these men and Brock Lesnar showed up on Raw, things would be much much better.
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