WWE had another new Raw on Monday, what did the Pulse Wrestling crew think of the show?
Penny Marie Sautereau
Most of the show was just… complete meh and legit put me to sleep twice, but that opening segment and the resulting match? That was goddamned awesome. I actually hoped the Wyatts would come out to silence Sheamus when he made his foreshadowing “no other 4 men” claim. And the resulting 4 way dance under proper ECW 3 way dance elimination rules brought out the old ECW mark in me. For 30 minutes, Raw was GOOD again. Sadly after that, the only real fun was Ambrose’s antics as usual, Charlotte and Paige apparently pulling a double turn, and the show closing brawl was a decent enough go-home segment to close with. Otherwise…. meh.
Darren Paltrowitz
I thought that was one of the better opening segments this year. The League Of Nations did the foreigner heel thing well. When the Wyatt Family interrupted, it seemed like an incredible, unexpected face turn from the group. When the Dudley Boyz and Tommy Dreamer interrupted, it spoiled that face turn — which was a bummer — but Rhyno was a nice surprise; that was arguably the most shocking NXT call-up yet. Then came Roman Reigns and crew to make it “Smackdown”-esque. Started off strong and intriguing and then went into typical “Raw” fare.
The Fatal 4-way match with four teams was rather unique in concept. On the positive end, it was a nice mix of old and new talent. But Tommy Dreamer pinning a Wyatt and giving a swinging neckbreaker to Sheamus was not the best way of making your real full-timers look great. It sold the main event of TLC well, especially since we haven’t seen Sheamus’ fierce side in a while. However, I don’t think I’m the only person within the IWC who doesn’t care for Sheamus or Roman Reigns in a top slot.
Kevin Owens is doing the best he can with the creative he’s being given. It’s easy to rag on JBL for his outdated references, and his frequently burying talent undeservingly, but his comparison of Vader to Kevin Owens was pretty spot-on. K.O. and Dolph had a great match, of course.
I think Team B.A.D. is talented, but wonder how many people realize that their catch phrase is a “Chappelle’s Show” reference. I remain a huge fan of New Day, so if it takes them bringing Team B.A.D. into their fold to help get them over, I support it. New Day was fantastic, as always, in and out of the ring.
Charlotte promos need not happen anymore. Ditto Miz TV segments.
Jack Swagger deserves better.
Stardust, Titus O’Neil, Tyler Breeze, The Miz, Neville, Rusev, and Dolph Ziggler are all in need of a meaningful storyline.
Adam Rose, who I am a fan of, is also directionless.
Damien Sandow, Heath Slater, Zack Ryder, Big Show, Kane, Darren Young, Curtis Axel, Mark Henry, Bo Dallas, Fandango, Goldust, R-Truth, and The Ascension are among those pointlessly missing in action. Not saying I want to see all of those characters every week, but to have a three-hour show without including a substantial amount of your active roster is inefficient. There either needs to a brand split, which would make “Smackdown” fresh again, or a better use of three hours.
Not sure if I’m going watch TLC.
Brittney Soban
Sheamus & Roman Reigns Showdown: Despite the ongoing feud between these two this segment had no real tension or passion in it. Roman Reigns talked a bit too long though he has been getting better on the microphone lately. The two men did face off physically, knocking around into the tables, ladders and chairs around the ring but there was no real dominant victor here either. Also, why wouldn’t the League of Nations come save their leader? We’ll have to see how Smackdown and Sunday go.
Check out my full 10 Thoughts on Raw!!
JT
– the Shamus 5:15 thing seems like an incredibly contrived way to get the fans chanting for Stone Cold, who has repeatedly said that he is retired. Nice work, WWE writing staff. And can we maybe let Wade Barrett be the mouthpiece for the League of Nations, rather than the near-inarticulate Shamus?
– is this the start of a Wyatt Family tweener turn? ‘We came for the chaos’ would look good on a t-shirt… And now it’s the Dudleys, Dreamer and their ‘surprise’ partner Rhyno! And because 12 men in the ring isn’t nearly enough, it’s Reigns, Ambrose and the Usos. Can we please see some wrestling now?
– Remember the good old days of 6 man tag matches? Sure, they were pointless spot fests that didn’t get anybody over, but they were less of a mess than this 16 man schmozzle. To be fair there were a few decent moments, particularly once the Wyatts and ECW originals were eliminated, but the finish was painfully obvious.
– Ziggler and Owens put on a good match with Tyler Breeze looking on, including a nasty fallaway slam into the barricade from Owens. KO continues to be the best heel on the roster, and his match against Ambrose at TLC promises be a highlight.
– why is Sasha Banks afraid of Alicia Fox? Not a terrible tag match but once again the most talented female wrestler on Raw is criminally misused. Send her back to NXT, for all of our sanity…
– New Day shenanigans with team BAD were fun in fast forward, and their match against the Lucha Dragons was entertaining.
– I just can’t watch Miz TV, although I watched for long enough to realize that Charlotte has a really grating voice. The short brawl with Paige at the end was a token effort at Diva storyline development, which is the best we can hope for on Raw these days, I suppose.
– Ryback vs Rusev was notable for a really ugly plancha from the Big Guy, followed by your standard power vs power match.
– Just to show how little WWE care about Swagger and Stardust, we return to their match in progress and the Mexamericans making their way down to the commentary position, only to find it filled by Titus O’Neill. After the match ADR takes out everybody with a chair, because Mexamericans are angry, yo.
– Tommy Dreamer vs Braun Strowman was never going to be a technical classic, but Dreamer worked hard to make the lug look half decent in a glorified squash.
– The Shamus / Reigns brawl to close the show did little to get me excited for their TLC match, but then again that was always going to be a hard ask considering the participants.
