The biggest winners and losers of last night's Raw (August 19)

...And new...for now.
...And new...for now.

Last night's Raw got the King of the Ring tournament underway and presented us with some big developments about the future of the Universal Championship picture, while it took the slow burning route with the Becky Lynch vs. Sasha Banks feud. All of these were positive.

Unfortunately, some of the details of the execution were lacking, and the show was beset with a long sagging middle that undercut its effectiveness as meaningless "wild card" nonsense still reared its ugly head.

Who got the most and least out of last night's show?


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Winner: Bray Wyatt

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Jerry Lawler made a surprise return to talk about the King of the Ring tournament, outlining its importance and illustrating its hallowed hall of winners. After a few minutes of talking, though, the lights began to go out, and Lawler knew what was up. He tried to make a break for it, but he couldn't escape from the Fiend.

Bray Wyatt attacked Lawler with the Mandible Claw and disappeared again. Fans broke out into chants of "Yowie, wowie."

Wyatt continues to be the most interesting thing in the company. Everyone wonders who his next opponent is going to be. At this time of the year, where WrestleMania plans begin to form into an embryo, Wyatt needs to be in consideration for some kind of major match in Tampa Bay.


Winner: Samoa Joe

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Samoa Joe defeated Cesaro last night to advance in the King of the Ring tournament. It's a shame that one of these two guys had to go out in the first round, but that's what happens when the brackets are strong.

Samoa Joe probably doesn't have a chance of winning the tournament, but whatever he winds up doing will be better than the things he had been doing prior to this.

Winners: The Revival

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The Revival pummeled The New Day last night. Even though they lost by disqualification, they laid a beating on the SmackDown tag team champions and stood tall with Randy Orton, who laid out his rival for the WWE Championship, Kofi Kingston.

The Revival has come to a point where they are a pathetic act in WWE, so this development, where they find themselves involved with the likes of New Day and Orton, can only be counted as a positive for them. As much as the "wild card" was grating, the Revival benefited from it.


Winner: Cedric Alexander

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Cedric Alexander defeated Sami Zayn last night to advance to the second round of the King of the Ring tournament. Jerry Lawler had earlier mentioned that Alexander was one of his favorites to win Raw's side of the bracket, so that was another piece of positive news.

A win over an established main roster star like Zayn is a positive for the former Cruiserweight Champion. He probably won't win the tournament, but he can use it to open a lot of eyes.

Winner: Sasha Banks

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Sasha Banks looks in top form as a heel, telling Natalya to "go to hell, and you're her daddy I said hi." She's channeling the Sasha Banks everyone loved in NXT. The heel turn was exactly what she needed.

Finally, we have an exciting rivalry for Becky Lynch again, who has been out of form since the Royal Rumble, stuck with unexciting storylines.


Losers: The OC

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Now I have to question the wisdom of having AJ Styles beat Ricochet at SummerSlam.

My impression was that the OC was going to be built into Raw's dominant faction, but last night, Gallows and Anderson lost their newly-acquired tag team titles to the makeshift team of Seth Rollins and Braun Strowman.

Good for Braun, but it looks like this team will implode over the Universal Championship sooner rather than later. Braun will likely lose that encounter, so this win isn't a huge boost for him.

Meanwhile, Gallows and Anderson ate another loss they couldn't afford.

They might get the titles back quickly, but it just goes to show how much WWE needs improvement in the way they build angles. If Rollins vs. Strowman for the Universal Championship is in the cards, there are other ways to get there.

Do Gallows and Anderson regret signing that new contract?

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Edited by Zaid Khan
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