WWE Monday Night RAW Highlights
First Extreme Rules Matches added to The Card
The Extreme Rules pay per view may be a little while away but that hasn't stopped the WWE from kick starting the build up with two matches added to the card. The first will see Alexa Bliss defend her RAW Women's championship against Bayley in a Kendo Stick on the Pole match. To be honest I can feel myself falling out of love with Bayley. I really do hate to say it but I just haven't liked how she has been used over the past few months. I haven't enjoyed booking and there really are other women I am much more interested in right now who are just appearing far more entertaining. This match however is something I am looking forward to. I really do hope that the WWE find a way to build this up well and avoid keeping Bayley on the same kind of story they have done over the past four months or so because it just hasn't worked. I would much rather see the Bayley we saw in NXT. Alexa was the star of the division last night. Her mic work again was very impressive and she had everyone in the arena hooked on her every word. Despite not liking how Bayley has been booked the previous championship match between these two was actually really good and I'm expecting this one to be even better.The second match announced for the Extreme Rules pay per view is a fatal five way between Roman Reigns, Finn Balor, Seth Rollins, Samoa Joe, and Bray Wyatt to determine the number one contender for the WWE Universal Championship the winner of course going on to challenge current champ Brock Lesnar. Regardless of who wins this match I of course am not expecting the title to change hands when that superstar goes head to head with Lesnar. In an ideal world I would love for Strowman to be the man who eventually dethrones the beast and with plans for the two to still collide at some point still in effect I'm expecting that to happen at some point before the end of the year. Focusing on the fatal five way however and there really is a touch of unpredictability. Of course the obvious pick is Roman Reigns. It appears to be where the WWE are going but a part of me just cannot see that happening. The winner of this match is most certainly bound to loose their match against Lesnar and I don't believe they will book Reigns to loose such a big match against Brock again despite the fact it makes perfect sense to book a match between the two. Of course there is still a huge chance Reigns will win and we could see a surprise return from Strowman in the title match later down the line but I'm just not sure... Looking at the line up I would love for Samoa Joe to face off against Lesnar. It's a dream match and one that I would pay good money to see but again the WWE are not going to go with him. They also won't book Rollins because there is no story there and the company will most certainly not book Balor to loose against Lesnar. That leaves Bray Wyatt. Wyatt has been on a roll for quite some time now. Former WWE champion, victories over the likes of Randy Orton and Seth Rollins he has closed the show on a high for several weeks now and his booking has been very very strong clearly. He's also the one superstar in this line up I can see the WWE completely fine with booking him to lose in a match up against the beat. I will be talking about this in more detail in a couple of weeks so keep your eye out for that.
The End of the Golden Truth
I said it last night and I will say it again, Goldust is one of the most underrated and underutilized superstars in WWE history. In a recent blog post I listed him as one of my all time favourite WWE Superstars (that post will be linked bellow). He is someone that over the years I have just been obsessed with! His character, in ring skills and captivating style is something growing up I have always loved and seeing him not being used to his full potential really does suck. The pairing of Goldust and R-Truth has seen a number of pretty entertaining skits. They have good chemistry and work amazingly well together. However, as a serious tag team it just doesn't work. I haven't enjoyed any of their matches and while the comedic work is great its just not enough and Goldie most certainly deserves better. During the show last night we saw the Golden Truth prepare to face off against Anderson and Gallows but Goldie has a little plan up his sleeve and a "surprise" heel turn was on the cards. While I didn't see this coming at all it didn't really have an effect. I just didn't feel anything watching this. I'm not in interested in any kind of feud between the two and can't see the WWE putting Goldust to any good use after this. I am going to pay extra attention to Goldie over the next month or so and keep my fingers crossed that they have at least something strong planned for him in the long run.Braun Strowman Expected to be Out for up to 6 Months!
It was brought to our attention last week that Braun Strowman had suffered an injury during his match with Roman Reigns and would require elbow surgery. The Monster among men went into surgery over the weekend and the WWE announced at the top of the show that Strowman is expected to be out of action for up to six months despite previous news claiming he would only be away from in ring action for around eight weeks. Throughout the show the WWE spoke heavily about Strowmans injury making sure to put extra emphasis on the time exactly he is expected to be away. Of course, at first I was devastated! I have spent a great deal of time talking about Strowman here on my blog and I have made sure you all are aware of the fact that he currently is one of my favourite WWE superstars. Strowman has been one of the biggest talking points over the past nine months or so making a huge impact on the roster. He honestly went from a superstar we had no reason to talk about to one of the biggest talents in the company. Over the past five months or so in particular he has been on fire and his push has been huge and very well deserved. The fact he is injured right now is terrible timing and if he really is set to be out of action for that long then I do hope things return back to normal once he makes a comeback and he continues to work as one of the biggest names on the roster. However, personally I don't believe he will be off our screens for that long. Lets take a look at how last night was run. Roman Reigns once again was pushed as the man of the night with a huge victory over Finn Balor (something we will talk about in more detail later on today) and the WWE made sure to remind us it was him who took out Strowman in the first place. I'm hoping that the plan is to drum into fans that he will be gone for a pretty lengthy time so that he can have a huge shock return months before he was supposed to proving he really is some kind of monster/ freak of nature. If I was booking this I would have Strowman come back on the date the winner of the fatal five way faces Lesnar. Have him return to action attacking both the opponent (probably Roman Reigns) and Brock Lesnar setting up work between him and Lesnar in time for Summer Slam. It's asking for a lot but I really do hope this is the direction the WWE are planning on going in. Either way I hope Braun has a healthy and speedy recovery.
Alicia Fox Picks up Shock Victory
Over the years I have spent a great deal of time talking about some of the most underrated and underutilized superstars in WWE history. One of the names that has continued to pop up is Alicia Fox. Hardcore fans will know that Alicia is a fantastic talent. Always clean in the ring and executing moves perfectly she is someone that has always had a great deal of potential but also someone the WWE have never really seen enough potential in to push her to the top. Sure she had her run. There was a time she was divas champion working with Mellina and she did have the spotlight on her for a little while but she's never really been giving what she truly deserves. More recently I have sent out a few tweets expressing my frustration in regards to her booking. However, over the past couple of weeks we have seen things turn around a little. The WWE have done a pretty good job in trying to allow Monday night RAW to follow in the footsteps of Smackdown LIVE in the sense of showcasing the entirety of the Women's division. We have seen a lot more of the women we don't usually see a lot of and Alicia has been one of those women. Working a program with Sasha Banks she has been the spotlight she deserves for once. Now, I'm not expecting this to last a very long time what so ever. Banks will most certainly come up on top in the end but right now I'm going to enjoy seeing more of Alicia in the ring. Her match up against Banks last night was nothing special. Under five minuets and barley any big/impressive spots this was not a standout match of the night what so ever however Alicia picking up a win over a three time women's champion is a pretty big deal and seeing her work with Noam Dar gives more to her character. I don 't know how long this will last but again it will be interesting seeing more of her and where the WWE go with her booking.
Roman Reigns Defeats Finn Balor
I really didn't want to have to make this such a negative post and I did change my mind a few times about weather or not include this final point but for the sheer reason that this was such a huge talking point I just had to. As announced at the top of the show Samoa Joe, Finn Balor, Seth Rollins, Bray
Wyatt, and Roman Reins will all face off in a fatal five way at the Extreme Rules pay per view to determine a new number one contender for the WWE Universal Championship.Throughout the show last night the superstars were all (apart from Joe) booked in singles matches against one another with Seth Rollins and Bray Wyatt set to main event the show and Balor and Reigns to collide for a second time we had a couple of matches any fan would love to witness. Personally, I was looking forward to both matches but I really did love the idea of Rollins and Wyatt going at it for twenty minuets. However, the match we ended up talking about the most was of course Reigns VS Balor. On his first night on Monday Night RAW Balor went head to head against Roman and so the match last night really did focus on that. The match itself was strong. The pair work really well together and we had a gripping, entertaining match that had us all on the edge of our seats, however the controversial ending is what got everyone talking. Now, I can understand why Roman was booked for the win last night but it just felt wrong. Having Balor lose clean to Reigns just didn't feel right and it did him no good. I don't believe he will suffer badly from last nights booking but it really was a bad move and again just did the complete opposite of getting the fans behind Roman.
Personally, I thought the show was okay. The match of the night was for me The Miz VS Dean Ambrose and the two will collide again at Extreme Rules, so far the match I'm most looking forward to. I'm not sure if I will be live tweeting throughout Smackdown LIVE tonight, I have an early morning ahead but I will try and catch up tomorrow and write a review if I have the time. For now, you can let me know what you thought of last night show by leaving a comment bellow or by tweeting me at @TezangiVictoria.
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