Tuesday Raw Roundtable: Four Way For #1 Contendership, Alberto Del Rio Raw Return, Paige Turns

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WWE had another new Raw on Monday, what did the Pulse Wrestling crew think of the show?

Darren Paltrowitz

As always, The New Day stole the show.

Tyler Breeze had a great entrance. And didn’t wrestle.

Alberto Del Rio was fun to watch, but he has zero heat as a heel and the pairing with Zeb Coulter makes no sense.

Cesaro and Kevin Owens both did great in spite of having awful creative to work with, as usual.

Damien Mizdow is still missing in action.

Totally wasted cameo by Stone Cold.

Tag team division is in shambles. Ditto the Divas.

I swear I’m just 1 or 2 episodes from not watching “Raw” anymore. I swear. For real this time, guys.

Philly Phil

Having the winners at Hell in a Cell face off in matches for a spot in a Fatal Fourway main event for the #1 contender spot made 5 matches on the show actually mean something. This is refreshing and the matches having an actual purpose ought to be a regular staple of future shows. All of these matches delivered especially the main event, which was nearly pay-per-view quality. It is now known that Alberto Del Rio and Zeb Coulter are heels and the “MexAmerican” concept of the USA and Mexico is going be controversial and anger certain people so all the better. Cesaro continues to put in more and more effort and he must know he has a serious chance of being elevated if he keeps taking advantage of even small opportunities.

The furthering of The Wyatt Family’s absolutely terrorizing The Undertaker, even if only through his brother Kane, re-establishing them as a threat and Bray Wyatt singing “Whole World in His Hands” is a welcome detail.Best Raw in ages following possibly the best PPV of the year in Hell in a Cell creates some much needed momentum for the WWE and if they can keep it up they will finally be utilizing what is one of the most interesting rosters they’ve ever had. I also reviewed this Raw more thoroughly in video form.

Brittney Soban

Fatal Four Way for the Number One Contender spot; Roman Reigns v. Kevin Owens v. Alberto Del Rio v. Dolph Ziggler: Despite a lot of chaos with these four contenders running around the ring, hitting their best moves, the match was solid. Everyone had a chance to shine. Del Rio and Owens formed a brief alliance only to turn on each other within seconds. Still, Roman Reigns came out on top after pinning Kevin Owens and the crowd approved. Reigns earned this Number One Contender spot and it was definitely a great way to end Raw with Reigns and Rollins staring each other down before Reigns, with confidence oozing out of him, turned his back on the champ to play to the crowd.

Check out my full 10 Thoughts on Raw!!

JT

Interesting use of blurry still frames to hide the blood in the Lesnar/Taker match.

Rollins has been booked as the weakest champ since Rey Mysterio – kinda hard to see that Vince believes he is the future of the company. I’d be surprised if Reigns doesn’t have the belt within 3 months.

Reigns vs Kingston was more evenly matched than I expected, but suffered in comparison to Owens vs Cesaro. These two know how to put on a great match, and I’m loving Owens casual abuse of Michael Cole. Give Cesaro a manager and he has almost unlimited potential.

The Divas trio tag match was entertaining, and it’s interesting to see how hard Paige, Charlotte and Becky are working to make the Bellas look good. As usual, the clearing of the ring spot to allow the pin was incredibly contrived. And… Paige finally turns heel, to the surprise of absolutely nobody.

So Zeb Coulter makes more sense than Donald Trump on the subject of border control. Sounds about right… Del Rio vs Neville was solid, and while ADR might be a little light on personally he can certainly bring it in the ring.

Oh come on. Another bloody six man tag match? FTS.

In my opinion Bray Wyatt may not know the meaning of the word ‘explain’. So is he meant to be Jesus now?

There are few things I want to see less than Kane vs Big Steroid Baby. And now Kane has been taken too. Somebody call Liam Neeson.

Ziggler vs Big E was decent despite the distraction of Tyler Breeze on the outside, although I do find the spot where Big E licks his hand and slaps Zigglers belly a little unhygienic.

The fatal 4 way for the number 1 contendership was a little spotty and shambolic for my taste, and would Have worked better as an elimination match. On the other hand. it was hard hitting and introduced a possible alliance between Owens and Del Rio, so wasn’t a total waste of time. Overall a solid Raw off the back of Hell In A Cell, although the Wyatts vs Brothers of Destruction story needs a lot of work.

Jonathan Widro is the owner and founder of Inside Pulse. Over a decade ago he burst onto the scene with a pro-WCW reporting style that earned him the nickname WCWidro. Check him out on Twitter for mostly inane non sequiturs