WWE Monday Night RAW Review and Reactions
This week Monday night RAW saw the WWE Tag team division take centre stage with the current champs opening the show with a delightfully entertaining segment witch started with a great deal of attention on the Steph Curry trainers/sneakers sported by Kofi Kingston. Now, I'm pretty confident that everyone reading this blog post has wanted to see the New Day and Enzo and Cass meet in the ring together for a very long time. For the past year fans all around the world have expressed their desires to see these two massively popular tag teams collide in the ring both in a match up and on the mic and last night the WWE finally gifted us all with what we wanted with a fantastic segment between the two teams taking place. Honestly, it really was worth the wait and I enjoyed every single moment. These are without a doubt two of the most charismatic and over teams the WWE has seen in a very very long time and with both picking up such a huge reaction from the live crowd it was the perfect way to open the show. They insured the night started out with plenty of energy and excitement and more importantly it gave that one last push the fatal four way tag team match needed heading into the Money in the Bank pay per view this weekend. The segment concluded with the Club looking strong as per usual and the Vaudevillians delivering their own message and giving their much needed input witch all resulted in an eight man tag team match.
As you will read later on in the week in a prediction post I am very excited and interested in this tag team fatal four way on Sunday. These are four very different, very unique, and very talented tag teams and the match itself shows perfectly the stars of the new era and the future of the WWE. Last night all four of these teams took centre stage at the opening of the show both in a segment and the opening match of the night. Momentum is always important heading into a big championship match and so this last night was a big deal to all four of these teams. Looking back at the start of the action it was the baby faces who took early control but things took a turn for the worse when Enzo Amore found himself taking a beating at the hands of Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows who had yet another dominate performance showing how brilliantly well they work together. Once backed into their corner Enzo continued to take a beating at the hands of his heel opponents. The isolation game plan at the hands of the Club and the Vaudevillians was your classic move to make but it worked and allowed Big Cas' role in this match last night make even more sense. The best spot in this match was without a doubt the moment that saw Kofi Kingston launch himself over the ring post and into a see of superstars. Very well executed and completely out of nowhere! Throughout the match each team was able to get their moment in the spotlight with the New Day proving why they have been the tag team champions for so long and every other teaming proving why they really could walk out of Sunday's pay per view the new champs. I do think the Vaudevillians out of everyone struggled the most and looked most out of place but thats not to say that they haven't earned their place because they sure have. We had plenty of character, decent story telling, and a solid all round opening match up. The closing moments were done very well and Anderson and Gallows predictability scored the victory for their team pinning Kofi Kingston.
A backstage segment between Shane McMahon and Stephanie McMahon also revealed the return of Cooperate Kane. Like I mentioned last week I am defintley expecting to see a different superstar/past manager make a return all looking to become the new general manager of Smackdown. This should get very interesting.
Over the past several weeks Titus O'Neil has been setting his sights on the United States Championship and this weekend at the Money in the Bank pay per view he will challenge the current champion, Rusev in a one on one match up that will sure be an interesting one. Now, last night the number one contender was set to compete in singles action but a blindsided attack from Rusev left O'Neil lying flat on his face with Rusev look as strong and as dominate as ever. Perfect. Honest, I found myself clapping my hands at the TV last night while watching this. The past couple of weeks we have seen Titus looking very strong, sending a huge message to the champ and building momentum. However, last night the tables were turnt and Rusev was able to gain back the control and momentum he needed ahead of Sunday's pay per view, sending a message of his own. It was your typical beat down but it was done so well and so convincingly by Rusev and together it just worked perfectly. I couldn't fault it. I would have liked to have seen the commentators make this feel like an even bigger deal than it was to make Sundays championship match mean more and come across as a far more anticipated match than it has done, but again I liked this a lot last night.
Last week on RAW the WWE announced that during this weeks show all three former Shield members, Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins, and Roman Reigns, will all be sharing a ring at the same time when they all take part in an addition of the Ambrose Asylum. You guys know all too well how much of a massive fan I am of both The Shield and these three superstars as singles competitors. I have written about all three plenty times before both on twitter and here on my blog and I have also recently mentioned that despite it being two whole years since the Shield split I'm still not over it and yes, I do still wait for a reunion. This addition of the Ambrose Asylum last night was one that I sure was not going to be missing after spending an entire week looking forward to it. I have to say that seeing these three superstars back in the ring together at the same time not involved in a match was
For weeks wrestling fans have been questioning when Paige would be making her return to Monday night RAW and last night the former two time champion did so when she took on Charlotte in one on one action. I have to admit, it was great seeing Paige back on my TV screen. She has been extremely missed and pitting her against the champ less than a week away from the Money in the bank pay per view was a solid and smart move. Yes, the whole match/segment was predicable but my love for both these women and their strong history meant that this was a match I sure was going to tune into. I have to start off by saying how extremely disrespectful and annoying it was that both Paige and the women's champion didn't even have their entrances shown on RAW last night. I don't know what the WWE are doing right now but their work with the women's division has gone right back to being completely terrible. This weekend Charlotte will compete in tag team action at the money in the bank pay per view when she teams up with Dana Brooke to take on the team of Natalya and Becky Lynch, a match that I certainly won't have any interest in. The baby faces did spend some time on commentary last night during this match witch was a short one but an important one for Charlotte. However, it was Paige who completely dominated this match from start to finish and in the end was able to capture a huge win over the women's Champion. Interesting booking decision.
Earlier on in the night we saw Sheamus and Zack Ryder clash in a backstage segment where Ryder was shown making comments about Sheamus witch of course left the former World Champion rather embarrassed. The two later on in the night competed one on one. This weekend Sheamus will face new guy, Apollo Crews in singles action on the Money in the Bank kick off show and so last night was important for Sheamus to both gain some momentum and prove his point. The match was kept short and simple as expected with Sheamus walking all over Ryder during the closing moments that result in Sheamo walking away with a clean, quick victory. Once the match had ended Sheamus decide it was time to send a little message attacking Ryder even more until Apollo Crews came to the aid of the former Intercontinental Champion and actually really made a rather big statement. I have to admit that I'm pretty excited to see what these two deliver on Sunday night. It's going to be a big one for Crews.
Cesaro and Sami Zayn are two superstars with a lot of history. During their time in NXT we saw them deliver a couple of phenomenal matches that to this day I still talk about and recommend new fans to watch. They of course have fantastic chemistry and their history of brilliant matches meant that this really as a treat last night. As usual, throughout the night you really did feel the passion behind Sami Zayn. There honestly is no other superstar that demonstrated passion as much as Zayn and you really felt that throughout this singles match last night. Watching this match last night really did take me right back to NXT two thousand and thirteen and fourteen where these two just tore the house down every single time they stepped in the ring together. They manage to still bring that same feeling and intensity to their matches but at the same time it really is just an easy watch match. I didn't and couldn't take my eyes off the TV screen. They without a doubt lived up to the expectations and I honestly did not know who would be walking away with the victory. Cesaro did dominate a great deal of the match. he cam across like the true WWE veteran in this match while Zayn once again took on the role of the underdog who in the end was able to build up more momentum when he scored a huge victory over Cesaro. While the match wasn't a long one it was an entertaining one that the only match that truly had all my attention from start to finish.
This Sunday live on the WWE Network at the Money in the bank pay per view a dream match will take place when John Cena and AJ Styles meet inside a WWE ring for the first time ever. This is a match that I honestly cannot wait to sit back and enjoy. It really is a dream match and one that is certain to be in the talks for match of the year once Sunday has passed. Last night during Monday night RAW the official contract signing took place witch I actually thought was a brilliant addition to the show. Just when you thought you couldn't be any more excited for this match they throw in a contract signing witch I always love watching anyway. Now, before Styles could even make an appearance last night Cena actually did a great job hyping their match even more and actually hyping up and making Styles sound absolutely amazing and a superstar we should all not only respect but be completely invested in. As for Styles, we are beginning to see him grow and improve on the mic. I mentioned before that his mic skills when he first came to the WWE were something that needed to be improved on because they were a touch weak but since turning heel has been showing much more character and his mic work has really improved. The entire segment last night was very well done and once again I was left even more excited for this match!
Tag team action next and this time it was the Lucha Dragons taking on the team of Kevin Owens and Alberto Del Rio. Despite being a fan of all four of these superstars I would be lying if I said I had a great deal of interest in this match. It was one that took me some time to begin to care about and Kevin Owens was once again the man who took the spotlight. Saying that however, both the Lucha Dragons and Del Rio also had a couple of impressive spots that worked in their favour and made this match far more interesting. The closing moments saw Kevin Owens deliver a fantastic popup powerbomb on Sin Cara to pick up the victory. After the match, Del Rio sent a message attacking his tag team partner for the night making sure he walks into Sunday's pay per view looking strong and full of momentum.
This may not have been the best Monday night RAW in the world but I did really like it. They managed to spread out each story throughout different times of the show meaning that we were actually given a reason to stay up and watch the whole show. I did think it was a good go home episode and did the job perfectly in making everyone excited for Sunday's pay per view and of course I freaking loved the opening! Remember that throughout the week I will be uploading my Money in the bank prediction posts and on Sunday night I will be live tweeting throughout the pay per view. I would love to know what you guys thought of lasts nights show so feel free to leave a comment bellow tweet me at @TezangiVictoria.
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