The 15th August Edition of Monday Night Raw AKA ‘The Go-Home Show before Summerslam’, took place at the American Bank Center in Corpus Christi, Texas. The show started on a bad note, with the electricity going off, merely hours before it was about to begin. This sour note would continue throughout the event, with Monday Night Raw dragging at several points.
This edition was definitely unable to recreate the magic of just a few weeks ago. However, in the interest of fairness, let’s examine what worked for the show and what didn't in the build to Summerslam.
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THE GOOD
Here are the things from today's show that worked for us
The debut of the Demon King
Finn Balor has been a part of the main roster for all of 4 weeks, but this was the first week that the dark side of his persona, that we are so used to seeing on NXT, was unleashed upon the world. Seth Rollins spent much of the episode searching for the mythical Demon King, in a highly condescending manner.
After a fruitless search, General Manager Mick Foley suggested that he step out to the ring, and call out this monster himself. Soon enough, the lights went out and the music hit. Balor’s dark demonic personality emerged, and the WWE will never be the same again.
We can only guess what his Summerslam entrance will be like. PS: As great as Neville is in the ring, he is the worst on the mic.
The Commentary Team
Who would have thought, that in 2016, we at Sportskeeda would be praising the commentary team on Raw? Truth be told, Corey Graves’ presence has energized the entire unit. Even Byron Saxton has upped his game and has much better chemistry with Graves than he had with JBL.
We really can’t recall a better color commentator than Graves, since the time of Lawler in his heyday.
The Annihilation of Heath Slater
The Heath Slater ‘hottest free agent’ gimmick continues to impress on both Raw and Smackdown. Slater has impeccable comic timing, and can take bumps like nobody else. Brock Lesnar appeared like a total monster heading into his Summerslam match against Randy Orton, and Paul Heyman built up the ‘Beast vs Viper’ encounter masterfully, with a promo like never before.
How many kids does Slater have again?
The U.S. Championship feels important again
Roman Reigns is the new John Cena. Of course, we didn’t need to tell you that. But in all seriousness, he’s doing the same thing for the U.S. Championship that Cena did during his reign. In other words, making it relevant again.
Roman’s demotion to the mid card seems to be working in his favor too, with crowds accepting him far more. Rusev and Lana too, shine in their roles.
BAD
Sadly, there were more bad moments than good on today’s show. Let’s (reluctantly) revisit them.
PG-Era Humor
From The Club’s segments about Big E’s genitalia to Roman Reigns’ quips about Rusev finding his wife online; 70% of the jokes on today’s show, absolutely bombed. We understand that there are restrictions in the PG era, but the level of humor is sometimes cringe-worthy.
We really hope that the writers go watch some Bill Burr before the next edition of Raw.
Lazy Booking
The booking on today's show was horrendous. Why would anyone book a mid-card ‘Best of 7’ feud between Cesaro and Sheamus? Why would we get an ‘honor’ match between Rusev and Roman Reigns right before their Summerslam U.S. Title clash? Why are the Dudley Boys jobbing like The Golden Truth and The Shining Stars (and appearing even sloppier in the ring, if that’s possible)?
Some questions have no logical answers.
Dead Crowd
The Corpus Christi crowd is notorious for being corpse-like: dead still and silent. While crowds in the PG era have traditionally been very quiet, tonight’s crowd was almost comatose. Well, we can sympathize with them because of point number 4. Our last major grievance.
Filler Content
The 3-hour format can make a tolerable show absolutely awful. This is primarily because of the vast amount of filler content that is crammed into Raw. And this will remain the trend, with Smackdown outshining Raw on a weekly basis simply because it's a shorter show with less filler. Something needs to change drastically.
To conclude: In conclusion, RAW was a 4/10 show with some moments. We will tune in again next week, if only for Lana.
Vince Russo answers who killed WCW HERE
