AJ Styles and Dolph Ziggler VS The Judgement Day
Raw kicked off with the “Phenomenal One” AJ Styles teaming up with “the Showoff” Dolph Ziggler to take on the Judgement Day. This was a solid match between 4 really good competitors. Dolph Ziggler’s reversal into a fameasser was really cool and Damian Priest’ South of Heaven chokeslam looked really great due to both Ziggler’s selling and the fact that the Archer of Infamy got the victory with the move which doesn’t usually happen. Edge was then seen arriving to the building and all three members of the Judgement Day took turns berated the “old timers” on the mic. Because Edge is smart, he didn’t come alone as the Mysterios attacked Priest and Balor with kendo sticks. The closing part of this whole angle was the fact that Dominik wouldn’t hit Rhea Ripley with the kendo stick. This was fine and it sets up a match between the Judgement Day and Edge and Rey Mysterio for Clash at the Castle this Saturday.
Grade: B-
Alexa, Asuka and Bianca beat enhancement talent. The Miz and Ciampa
After a segment where the Miz refused to talk about what happened to him last week and Raquel and Aliyah cut a backstage promo, Alexa Bliss, Asuka and the Raw Women’s Champion Bianca Belair had a sort of warm up match for this Saturday. This was pretty pointless in the end. It was a longer version of a squash match and Asuka won with a modified Asuka lock. After this, Adam Pearce told the Miz that Dexter Lumis had been released from custody due to the fact that the Miz refused to talk about anything. The most notable part of this segment was Ciampa calling him Mike, which is the Miz’s really life name which makes it feel more serious.
Grade: D for the Women’s tag, B for the Ciampa and Miz segments
Kurt Angle’s back, The Street Profits VS The Alpha Academy
Hometown hero Kurt Angle was on Raw wearing his really cool looking Olympic Gold Medal from 1996. Kurt was soon interrupted by another former Olympian in Chad Gable and his prize pupil Otis. Gable offered Angle the opportunity to join the Alpha Academy for one night only, but the former World Champion said he’ll pass which angered Master Gable before the two faced off in a shooshing war. Just as Otis was about to teach Kurt a lesson, The Street Profits came out and challenged the Academy to a tag team match. Gable had one condition though, if the Alpha Academy won, Kurt Angle would be forced to join the Alpha Academy. This match was good. Otis’ power, Gable’s technical ability, Montez Ford’s crazy high-flying ability and Dawkins’ mix of all three made the match good. Ford doing the ankle lock to Gable was great and his frog splash to get the win is always cool. The added stipulation made the match feel more important, so this gets a thumbs up from me.
Grade: B+
Seth Rollins and Matt Riddle, Bobby Lashley VS The Miz
Matt is back! After a parking lot brawl, Seth Rollins and Matt Riddle’s face to face ended up becoming a sit-down interview from different areas of the arena. This was about 4 minutes long, but it was so good. Rollins saying that Riddle is nowhere near his level makes sense and Riddle saying he’s going to embarrass Seth like Roman and Cody have which was great as Rollins character has made it clear that those people are in his head all the time. Riddle then ended the interview by saying that the only “Man” in his marriage is Becky, which was a really cool line, particularly as it angered the visionary even more. After the official interview was done, Rollins said let's talk about your family and the fact that your wife divorced you, took the kids and now they don’t want to see you anymore. Riddle was absolutely furious and started swearing which was a nice difference. When we went back to commentary, Jimmy Smith apologised for the language used which makes perfect sense as this is a PG product. Bringing up real life things and using more edgier language makes this feud feel way more of a bigger deal.
Grade: A
The United States Champion Bobby Lashley took on a very traumatised Miz. Lashley took control and was comfortable for most of the match but outside interference by Ciampa was keeping the A-Lister in with a chance. When the Miz had a shot to win, he spotted Dexter Lumis standing at the top of the crowd. Very smartly, only he and the commentators noticed it and Lashley took advantage by applying the Hurt Lock to get the victory. This wasn’t a great match but the Miz’s acting is actually pretty good.
Grade: C+
The Bloodline cut a promo, Kevin Owens VS Jey Uso
The Bloodline arrived on Raw with the honorary UCE Sami Zayn. The Bloodline talked about how Roman Reigns was going to retain his Undisputed WWE Universal Championship against Drew McIntyre at Clash at the Castle. The three where then interrupted by Kevin Owens, who not only reminded Sami Zayn of how good of an in-ring talent he is, but also the fact that he would be Universal Champion if it wasn’t for Jey Uso and Paul Heyman. This led to a match between Owens and Uso. This was cool as it felt like a Thunderdome edition of SmackDown but this time it was in front of a live audience which was probably a nice thing for the two. We saw the two hit their best offense, but the ending came when Sami Zayn couldn’t hit his former best friend with a chair which aloud Owens to take advantage and hit a stunner to beat the right-hand man. A good match and KO taking out all his former allies/enemies is really cool.
Grade: A-
Backstage segments
Bayley, Dakota Kai and IYO SKY cut a backstage promo saying that they were going to win the Women’s Tag Team Championships and then they will win their match at Clash at the Castle. Ciampa runs over to see if the Miz is alright, but he said he didn’t want to talk about it. He then said the same thing to Kevin Patrick who was trying to interview him and as the movie star drove off, Dexter Lumis was seen sitting in the boot. This was good. A recap package then played of Johnny Gargano’s return last week and it also showed all his accomplishments in NXT. Gargano was then doing an interview of sorts before he said that he is happy to see Theory doing well and that he is family to him. He then made a funny comment about how Theory didn’t call him when his son was born. Theory then came and sat next to Johnny and asked him where his phone call was when he won the United States Championship and the Money in the Bank briefcase. Theory then mentioned the fact that Gargano is now in the big leagues, a small dig at what he achieved in NXT. This was good and felt fresh. If they are allowed to tell the story that they want to tell, this could be one of the best storylines of the entire year.
Grade: B+ for The Miz, A- for Gargano and Theory
Women’s Tag Team Championship Final
Raquel Rodriguez and Aliyah took on Dakota Kai and IYO SKY for the right to be called the WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions. I will be honest, I thought this was pretty awful. Raquel and Dakota Kai’s history was only brought up once in a throwaway line and there was no real interaction between the two. Aliyah once again disappeared after being hit once, once again showing that she isn’t very good even if she is trying really hard. At one point in the match, Bayley was chased off by Belair, Asuka and Bliss and the ending came when Aliyah rolled up Dakota Kai meaning that Raquel and Aliyah are the brand-new Women’s Tag Team champions. Them winning was a mistake as this was a good way to make Bayley’s faction feel super important. Aliyah doesn’t come across as a likeable good guy and Raquel didn’t even pick up the win despite all the heavy lifting that she did for the team over the three matches. Belair, Asuka and Bliss getting involved didn’t make them look good. Bliss has never been a good babyface, Asuka is becoming really obnoxious, and Belair is starting to become unlikeable to the point where it’s much easier to cheer for the bad guys. Also, the fans where pretty flat with the result, particularly as so many people were expecting/hoping for a return from Sasha Banks and Naomi but that didn’t occur. A bad way to end a pretty good show.
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