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I don't know if I can call RAW (read results here) a good show or not, really. I mean it was the site of the Superstar Shake-Up and the crowd was hot for sure. But at the same time, there were some issues with the overall scheme of things. There was much I did not really care for.
And therefore, as always, I shall separate the best from the worst, and serve you my post-show recap. I invite you to leave your comments and thoughts in the section below and let me know if you enjoyed the show or not. I'm curious to know what you thought of the superstars who changed brands this week.
Also, would you rate this show as a thumbs up or a thumbs down? I am torn about it myself, so I thought I'd ask you guys.
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Anyway, here's what I thought of the show, personally.
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#1 Best: RAW becomes Phenomenal
I really do think that while SmackDown was synonymous with The Phenomenal One, he had nothing else to prove on the blue brand. By arriving on RAW, he has a fresh set of opponents that he can square off against and put on incredible matches with.
One of those men is the Universal Champion Seth Rollins himself and fans who enjoy the art of in-ring action will be thrilled at the possibility of these two men taking each other on down the line. Both men are really good in the ring and could put on a match for the ages.
In a lot of ways, Styles was the stand-in for Dean Ambrose on RAW this week, which was a very strange sight. If Reigns doesn't move to SmackDown Live, could WWE reform a new Shield with The Phenomenal One?
Never say never.
#1 Worst: Three champions get pinned
The Sasha Banks situation is currently unclear and I will not comment on it until further information comes to light. What I do know for a fact is that Naomi will be Bayley's tag team partner for the time being.
But then again, wasn't it weird to see The IIconics lose their first real match after winning the titles at WrestleMania? The same can be said for Finn Balor as well, who lost a nondescript nontitle match to Andrade, with the help of Zelina Vega.
And that was not all. The Viking Experience arrived on RAW with much gusto and they ended up pinning Zack Ryder, who is the current RAW Tag Team Champion.
While it is to be assumed that in all three cases, the losses will be used to further the careers of the new entrants, isn't it strange to see so many champions pinned at once?
#2 Best: The Usos arrive!
RAW has not really been the show to watch great tag team wrestling, honestly. No sir, that's been the domain of SmackDown Live with great teams like The Usos, The New Day and The Bar, among others. Even though RAW has The Revival, it clearly has the weaker tag team division.
The arrival of The Usos to RAW, a team that has done it all on SmackDown Live, was a much-needed development. The brothers can now put on great matches with The Revival and The Viking Experience among others, not to mention Ricochet and Aleister Black. Day 1 on RAW certainly is H.
I wonder which tag team will move to SmackDown Live now to make sure that the division on the blue brand does not collapse unto itself? I am guessing that it will probably be some insignificant team like Heavy Machinery or The Ascension.
#2 Worst: The Viking Experience
I wrote an entire article on this, so I'll try and keep this short. But The Viking Experience is a really silly name if you compare it to War Raiders or indeed War Machine. The NXT Tag Team Champions did not even carry their Championships when they arrived on the main roster.
It was once said that a rose by another name is just as sweet. I would have to differ and say that The Viking Experience is one of the weakest names that WWE has thought of in the recent past, and should have stuck to what was working while in NXT. It's only one step up from the Authors of Pain, which was also a lackluster name.
Let's all just hope that despite the name, The Viking Experience becomes a dominant force in the main roster over time. I wonder how and when they will drop their NXT Championships now that they will be on the main roster.
#3 Best: Lacey Evans
Lacey Evans had the most annoying gimmick in the main roster, where she would step out to compete and then go back up the ramp. This time, she put on quite the match against the hometown hero, Natalya and to be honest, she impressed!
Lacey Evans has a moonsault that everyone online seems to be talking about right now, because of how good it looks. While not a lot of people may have been invested in her at the start, a match with Becky Lynch seems like a pretty interesting possibility now.
She also certainly has a look and a physique that WWE has been traditionally known to like, and therefore, I can imagine her going the distance. The Charlotte Flair comparisons that she gets are very warranted in this regard, I feel.
Could she potentially take away one of the two Championships that Becky Lynch holds?
#3 Worst: Braun Strowman absolutely decimates EC3
I really did not get the point of this segment at all. Why was EC3 brought out only to be squashed by Braun Strowman in a sequence that really meant nothing at all?
I have tried to make sense of the whole segment in this article, but here is the truth. WWE does not know what a goldmine they have in the form of EC3, a man who is supremely gifted in the ring and on the microphone and are just wasting him away.
Many people online are wondering if he rubbed someone high up in WWE the wrong way and I wonder if this is the case at all. I think a far likelier case is WWE not knowing what to do with the amount of talent they have right now.
Is it any wonder that so many people backstage are currently unhappy?
#4 Best/worst: Rey Mysterio
I personally think that Rey Mysterio is a good get for the red brand, but this just wasn't his day. He arrived on RAW and made short work of Elias for sure. But he arrived with a botch that was just ugly to watch on screen.
And then, he was laid out by Lars Sullivan. I wouldn't have minded Lars Sullivan laying out EC3 because I understand that he has to be built as a monster. But him taking out Mysterio soon after his triumphant arrival was a very strange decision.
In any case, what did you think of the whole Alexa Bliss and Sami Zayn segment? I did not really have a take on it so, I'm leaving it up to you guys.
One thing that I can say for sure is that you, me and all of us in the WWE Universe need to worship at the altar of the Goddess.
