RAW Review and Reactions

Hello everyone and welcome back to Talk Wrestling World, I hope you are all well and good! So I know it seems like once again I have taken a lot of time off and have not uploaded a blog post in a while but most of you will know that I was really ill last week (yes again) and I was also looking after baby cousin while my aunt had her second baby. So it was yet another busy,packed, crazy week. But, I'm making my way slowly back on track and I hope that everyone understands that things have just been all over the place for me recently. A lot of you have asked me if I have been staying up to date with everything and the awnser to that is kind of. I of coursed watched NXT Takeover Respect last week and I was so disappointed I had no time to upload a review on that but if you would still like to know what I thought of the show then let me know and I will happily write and upload a delayed review of that for you. In all honesty it has been a while since I watched both Smackdown and TNA so I do really want to spend some time this week when I'm free to do some catching up and getting all up to date on those shows. I have mentioned it already but just to remind you once again, I will be starting to pre post for my of the year season starting in December so if you could let me know who your superstar of the year, diva of the year, and match of the year are down in the comments bellow, that would be amazing. Next week I will start my Hell in a cell prediction week as usual so remember that kick starts on Monday, I will be posting reminders all week for that. As usual I will link bellow any recent blog post and all my social media links and finally, you can let me know what you thought of last nights show by leaving a comment bellow or by tweeting me at @TezangiVictoria.

As the countdown to Hell in a cell continues and reaches the two week mark the WWE put on an interesting edition of Monday night RAW as they focused their attention on building up the rest of the card and teasing some future feuds and storyline's likely to take place after the Hell in a cell pay per view. The night' events consisted of rising tensions between Dean Ambrose and Randy Orton, poor booking for the divas division yet again, and a lumberjack main event. In today's blog post I will be taking you back through all of last nights action, telling you what I thought of every single match, promo, and segment. So with so much to get through let's not waste any more time and jump right into the post.

For months on end I have sat here and I have complained about the repetitive openings to Monday night RAW. From the drawling, never ending, same old same old Seth Rollins promos to the endless list of announcements from the Authority. I believe I speak for most if not all of the WWE universe when I say the opening's to sports entertainment's biggest weekly show has remained week for a very long time. However, last night, to my surprise we were all treated to something very very different as the lunatic fringe kick started the night with an in ring promo where he would soon be joined by Randy Orton who announced that in two weeks time the pair would team up to take on Luke Harper and Braun Strowman in a tag team match at Hell in a cell. Their was some obvious tension between Orton and Ambrose who spent a great deal of time bickering before they were interrupted by the New Day. Before I move on to talk about what followed and the tag team champions I need to mention this opening segment between Ambrose and Orton. I tweeted about it last night and I know I have mentioned it plenty of times before here on my blog but I am still waiting on a Dean Ambrose heel turn and I honestly feel as though we are almost there. The WWE have been teasing and teasing the fans with a potential Ambrose heel turn for a while now and with Reigns now off fighting he's own battles it opens a great door for a Dean Ambrose/Randy Orton feud witch was clearly something that the WWE wanted us to consider as an option for the pair. Will it be happening any time soon? I do think we will have to wait  a little longer but I defiantly feel as though we are almost there when it comes to a turn. Now, the New Day's interruption last night was timed perfectly and their mic work was absolutely hilarious. I find it amazing that these guys continue to deliver such unique, entertaining mic work and continue to be such consistent with their characters. The opening of the night led to an obvious tag team match between the New Day and Ambrose and Orton.

As an opening match I did enjoy watching Orton and Ambrose take on the New Day. Unlike a lot of matches now days, it wasn't just thrown together for no reason. With the opening segment it all made perfect sense. This was a match that was set up to test just how well Ambrose and Orton can work together as a team,whether or not they can put their issues with one another aside and for us to have a look at their chemistry. Throughout the match the two baby faces continued to bicker and attempted to one up each other from the start and throughout. It was basically one big ego clash that we all saw coming thanks to the opening segment. However, it did not stop the from taking control of a great deal of the match especially the start. We saw frequent tags and both superstars taking full dominance. It was during the commercial break that there was a shift in momentum with Xavier Woods being used to get the New Day in control of the action. The tag team champions made it their tactic to keep Orton as isolated from he's partner as possible making it beyond difficult for him to make the tag but the game changer was when Orton sent Big E flying through the ropes witch allowed him enough time to get to he's corner and for Ambrose to make a much needed tag. The closing moments of this match were very important and let's not deny it, predicable, but it worked. The New Day were able to use the distraction from Orton after he accidentally took out he's own partner allowing the champs to pick up a huge win. I did enjoy this match a lot despite being tired. It was a very smartly booked match up with a lot going on but kept very  basic, working very effectively. What we saw was the clear tensions between Ambrose and Orton witch made everyone question would they be able to somehow work better in two weeks time against a strongly unified Luke Harper and Braun Strowman or was what we saw last night a glimpse of what is to come at Hell in a cell. This match also allowed the New Day to carry on looking as one of the most dominate superstars on the roster and gain momentum for their own match at Hell in a cell in two weeks time.

With Nikki Bella set to take on Charlotte in her Divas Championship rematch in two weeks time at Hell in a cell, last night saw the Total Divas star go one on one with team B.A.D member, Naomi. Now, even though it was these two women who were put in the ring to compete last night it was Sasha Banks who was getting all the attention once again. After the announce team highlighted her phenomenal match with Bayley at NXT Takeover Respect last week, the live crowd (and of course everyone at home) made it perfectly clear that she was the women we all wanted to see in action as the passionate "We want Sasha" chants echoed through the arena in Chicago throughout this entire match and it became a great story development move for the division and played a huge role in the

overall match up last night. With the attention being on Sasha so much I personally found it really difficult to focus on the actual action in the ring and I think that is something a lot of the WWE universe were struggling with. Nikki Bella did manage to control a majority of the match but it was very messy. There were a couple of strong spots from both girls and even though Nikki was the girl the WWE wanted us all to be watching I was slightly more impress with Naomi and that's simply because I do genuinely enjoy watching her wrestle much much more. During the match Brie Bella attempted to drive a wedge between team B.A.D when she stood on the announce table with a mic chanting "we want Sasha" trying to prove the point that Sasha is overshadowing Tamina and Naomi. Banks did steal the spotlight once again when she took Brie down and while the crowd were so busy looking at what Sasha was doing at ringside Nikki was in the ring using the distraction from her team mates to score a much needed victory over Naomi, gaining the momentum she needs before Hell in a cell and her divas championship match. The match itself was far from the NXT quality most of us are used to now. The WWE are continuing to book it's divas on the main roster poorly and it's such a shame. If there is one good thing I can say about this match it was the story telling. It's clear that the direction the WWE are going is that Sasha will need to break free from team B.A.D who are holding her back and that's something that will be very interesting. After all who doesn't want to see Naomi VS Sasha Banks for fifteen minuets. To be fair, both Naomi and Nikki used every single second they had to put on the best match they could but it just wasn't good enough after what we saw at Takeover last week.

After the New Day took away he's chance at challenging John Cena for the United States Championship last week on RAW, this week the show off took the spotlight answering the open challenge and eventually putting on the match and performance of the night. This was truly a tremendous fight. With their history, Ziggler and Cena have a great deal of chemistry and when ever you put them in the ring together you know for a fact that they are going put on something amazing and they did not disappoint at all. I could have easily watched them go at it for another twenty minuets but I'm glad they got the time that they did. It was a clean fight (almost) throughout with both superstars struggling to get one over the other. It was as if they knew each other and their move sets so well that they knew how to counter each others counter and stuff that Ziggler in particular pulled out of the bag last night was simply outstanding. They had the whole arena on their feet completely split when it came to choosing a side. Of course the closing moments saw Cena hit the Attitude Adjustment to retain the championship but I can honestly say that there were a couple of times in this match that I was convinced we would be seeing a new champion crowned in Dolph Ziggler. After the match there was this feeling of things being far from over between the two and with rumoured storyline's between the two surfacing all over the internet I think it's safe to say that things really are far from over between them. All year round these US Championship open challenge matches have been some of the best parts of Monday night RAW and last nights could easily go down as one of the best we have seen so far and will see. There was such chemistry between the two and such determination and motivation from Ziggler and it made this such a passionate, amazing match up. Could we see a rematch between the two at hell in a cell?

Taking a look at some of the more quiet matches of the night, the fillers if you will, we first have a tag team match between the Ascension and the number one contenders for the Tag team championships, the Dudley Boyz. I will be honest, I hated this match. I understand that it wasn't meant to be anything special and was simply on the card to allow the Dudley Boyz to gain momentum before Hell in a cell but I just didn't feel anything. I didn't feel excited, I was into the match, and it just wasn't floating my boat. I of course still hate that the Ascension have become the number one jobbers in the tag division. It's obvious that the WWE are doing everything wrong with this team who are without a doubt one of the most put together teams and their poor treatment seriously makes me wish they were back in NXT. The reception they got on their last visit was huge and maybe going back for a while could be what they need. After that there was another wasted match as four superstars all of witch are in need of a push and something new competed. We had Neville and Cesaro take on the Team of Barrett and Sheamus. Once again I did not enjoy this what so ever. I'm  a huge fan of all four of these superstars, they all rank in my favourites and that's why it makes me so mad when every week we have to see the poor booking. I ave no idea what the WWE are doing with any of these superstars. I mentioned it recently but I would love to see Barrett have a run as a baby face for a while. It would be interesting seeing a new fresh feud between Barrett and Sheamus. To be fair all four of these superstars deserve to be in the main event picture and what I'm hopeing is that sooner rather than later the WWE get their shit together with all four of these talents because they are some of the best all round talents that they have. The match last night was not long enough what so ever, but Cesaro was the stand out of the match without a fail.

Before he's match with Bran Strowman, Roman Reigns cut what was actually a pretty good in ring promo focused around he's up an coming match against Bray Wyatt at hell in a cell. I defiantly was left very impressed with Reigns last night. The promo was very well cut, he interacted with the crowd well, and he hyped he's match with Bray perfectly. This was the perfect example of just how far he has come over the past year as an all round WWE Superstar. Wyatt did respond to what Reigns had to say and warned him of what is to come in two weeks time at the Hell in a cell pay per view. The match with Strowman was fast paced but very physical. Strowman worked on the upper body and did everything he could to keep Reigns grounded to control the match. However, Reigns was not going down without a fight and put the big guy through he's paces. He fed the monster a nice big super man punch witch would knock Strowman over the announce team table and allowed Reigns to pick up the count out victory. Last night was all about Reigns. He was the one to prove that he could stand on he's own and proved that he was ready to take down the Wyatt family and last night he sent a huge message to Bray and he's followers. The match wasn't the best in the world at all but it did it's job. Strowman still has a lot to show in the ring and as a character so it's still difficult to judge.The ending was done well and Reigns was very impressive throughout the whole part of the night.

Other weaker matches of the night consisted of a one on one between Rusev and Ryback. Yet again, another short, boring, pointless match that I didn't enjoy in the slightest. Ryback got the momentum he needed before he's IC Championship match in two weeks time at Hell in a cell against Owens but the main story during this part of the night was obviously to announce the engagement of Lana and Rusev and the split of Rusev and Summer Rae. Just like everyone else I absolutely hated the fact that the WWE involved the real life romance between Rusev and Lana into the storyline. It just made no sense what so ever and completely ruined the whole storyline. It was one of those creative moves that makes you question whether the company is run by a group of seals. The one good thing about this part of the night was Summer Rae standing tall and being the independent women she used to be. Now, lets hope we see her get involved in the divas revolution. It's going to be interesting seeing how they use Lana when she comes back. Intercontinental champion Kevin Owens also picked up a win against Kalisto after what was actually a pretty decent match and one that I did manage to really get into and enjoy. I've been surprised with just how much I have enjoyed this little feud between the
Lucha Dragons and Kevin Owens, the NXT feels were high throughout this match. There was then the second divas match of the night and with Paige at commentary we had a tag team match between Becky Lynch and the divas champion Charlotte and Brie Bella and Alicia Fox. This was just another case of the whole team thing making divas matches very limited and very repetitive. This was a match that was poorly booked. We hardly saw any of Becky Lynch and as usual the attention was all on Paige and to top it off the had the divas champion get pinned. I honestly gave up on creative last night.

This weeks main event was a lumberjack match between Kane and WWE World Heavyweight Champion, Seth Rollins. Surprisingly I was really excited for this match. I of course wasn't expecting as much as I am for their Hell in a cell championship match but the chemistry between the two, the build up and Kane's fantastic work recently made me really excited for the main event last night. Yes it was very much what we have seen before but I thought it made sense and I was interested in seeing how it played out. The lumberjacks for once actually did do their job and added to the excitement to this match. The New Day and Cesaro were the Lumberjacks we all had our eyes on and the big show before he stormed off like a little kid...again. We saw the heels of course really take it to Kane but the monster was on he's A game last night. He dominated a great deal of the match and it was clear the whole thing was about him and sending a message to the world champion and that is exactly what he did. Picking up a clean victory over Rollins he clearly wanted Seth to know that he's days as champion are very very limited.

Let me know what you thought of this weeks Monday night RAW by leaving a comment bellow or by tweeting me at @TezangiVictoria.