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For the 3rd straight night, Barclays Center in Brooklyn was packed to the rafters with what can be described as a ‘smart’ wrestling crowd. They were vocal, they were ruthless and they made their feelings known, sometimes even annoyingly so.
The standard for Monday Night Raw has been so low over the last few weeks, that while today’s show was nothing spectacular, in comparison to recent weeks, it was well...good. Some parts were amazing, some made us cringe, and some others were just sad. We revisit today’s show and examine what worked, and what didn’t.
THE GOOD -
1: Bayley made a huge main roster debut
If any of you saw Bayley’s amazing clash with Asuka for the Women’s Championship at NXT Takeover: Brooklyn, you know that she bade an emotional farewell to the NXT universe after her match. Among those that she hugged was Charlotte, the woman who was destined to become the NXT Women’s Champion at Summerslam, the very next day.
Today, she made her sensational debut and made a show that was beginning to drag in places, tolerable. She had a great first encounter against Dana Brooke as well. We can’t wait to see how the Charlotte-Bayley feud progresses.
2: Most of the matches had a purpose
The Universal Championship was relinquished by Finn Balor, as a result of his injury, at the top of the show. As a consequence, a tournament of sorts took place today, on Raw, where every match had a purpose, a goal, a meaning.
As opposed to, say, the meaningless ‘Best of 7’ series between Cesaro and Sheamus. There was genuine storyline progression and the 4 matches (in the tournament, this week) made sense.
3: Johnny Knockout
This is the year 2016, and homosexuality is definitely far more accepted in modern society than it ever was. However, what makes this funny is that Johnny Knockout, a local jobber, decided to get into the ring with Braun Strowman because he likes big, sweaty men.
When we heard about the WWE wanting to incorporate gay and lesbian themed storylines into their shows, this is the last thing we imagined they would do. This was an angle they may have screwed up. Also a shout out to the crowd for chanting ‘delete, delete, delete’. Meekmahan couldn’t have been too happy.
4: The emotional Dudley Boyz retirement segment
Not only did the Dudleyz get to retire inside the ring, after what has been an unparalleled career; they passed on the torch to The Club who got massive heel heat for putting the retiring Devon Dudley through a table. Here’s a standing ovation for these gents, who’re definitely Hall of Fame bound, someday.
THE BAD:
1: The seeds for an Enzo-Cass split have been sown
We suspected it when we saw Enzo eat the pin during their encounter with JeriKO. Heck, who are we kidding. We knew this from Day 1. With Big Cass’ size and build, Vince McMahon sees money in giving him a singles run. We think this is premature and will only result in massive fan backlash. While he held his own during Rusev, there’s much more that the tag team can accomplish before they are split up. We can only hope that Big Cass isn’t crowned the second Universal Champion in history, at next week’s show.
2: The Titus O’Neil-Bob Backlund segment made us cringe
Let's get this straight. Cesaro and Sheamus don’t get screen time, and Titus O’Neil does? Not only did he botch his promo, the crowd wasn’t interested in his whole segment. Not even Bob Backlund could salvage the damage that had been done. But we have to grant him this...his finisher- Clash of the Titus’ looks like a million bucks.
3: Superman Reigns is back
No top superstar has been rejected as many times as Roman Reigns. After his Wellness Policy violation and subsequent suspension, he was demoted to the mid card in what looked like a far more believable role. But it looks like Vince McMahon’s favourite is back in his ‘unbeatable’ avatar, and even the combined efforts of Chris Jericho and Kevin Owens couldn't put him away. We just hope that Vince McMahon has learned his lesson, and he does not crown Roman Reigns as the Universal Champion, next week.
4: Finn Balor surrendered his Universal Championship
Seth Rollins is at it again. After breaking John Cena's nose, ending Sting’s career and busting his own ACL/MCL; his dreaded Buckle Bomb dislocated Finn Balor’s shoulder. Can we ban that move already? Be that as it may, Finn Balor relinquished the WWE Universal Championship today on Raw, and is out for 6 months at least. What an absolute shame.
CONCLUSION: This was one of those 6-7/10 Raws. Nothing excited us, really; except the Bayley segment. We gear up for a 4th straight day of wrestling with Smackdown tomorrow, and can only hope for a better show. As is tradition, we leave you with a stunning picture of Lana.
