By: Keila Cash
Hello everyone and welcome to another installment of The Raw Exposé. Tonight’s episode of Monday Night Raw emanated from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. After a one week hiatus, I am back and ready to tackle night three of four as WWE invades New York’s most populous borough. After a so-so SummerSlam PPV, did the company offer some razzle dazzle on free television as a make good or did the pre-fall malaise start to set in? The answer to that question can be found throughout this blog. Without further ado, let’s dissect tonight’s show in no particular order.
· After Paul Heyman suggested that the beatings, victimizing, and conquering should be left to Brock Lesnar after successfully defending the Universal Championship at SummerSlam, Braun Strowman came out and kicked Lesnar’s ass by laying him out with a pair of Running Powerslams.
· Strowman grabbed the Universal Title and held it high in the air to proclaim that he was next in line for a championship opportunity as the opening segment came to an end.
· This was a hot way to start the show. Paul Heyman did a great job putting The Beast over, but Strowman was the true star as he laid out the Conqueror for the second time in under 24 hours. Strowman and Lesnar should have quite the slobber knocker for the Universal Championship whenever the match takes place.
· Enzo Amore defeated Big Cass in a Brooklyn Street Fight after Big Cass was unable to finish the match due to injury. Apparently, Cass injured his left knee which caused the referee to put up the dreaded X sign to call off the bout. It’s hard to tell whether or not the knee injury is a work or a shoot. It should be noted the camera didn’t cut to Cass again after the trainer checked on him at ringside. It was later confirmed by WWE that Cass did suffer a legit knee injury and will undergo an MRI tomorrow to examine the extent of the damage. Here’s hoping it’s nothing too serious, but the things don’t look promising at the moment.
· The match itself was bland as Cass was on offense for 99.7% of the match until he got injured. This was similar to the lopsided and hideous Kendo Stick on a Pole Match between Bayley and Alexa Bliss for the Raw Women’s Championship at Extreme Rules from a couple of months ago. This feud needs to come to an end. Stat!
· Nia Jax defeated Emma with a Samoan Drop in a quick match. Emma’s mouth continues to get her into trouble.
· Elias defeated R-Truth with a Swinging Neckbreaker in a serviceable match. Elias held a pre-match concert dissing Brooklyn, but the crowd was more than happy to clap along to his song. I think The Drifter has garnered a following amongst hardcore fans. That would’ve been unheard of a year ago.
· Kurt Angle introduced John Cena as the newest member of the Raw Roster which led to a series of events which saw Cena call Reigns out, Miz complaining that the spotlight should be on him instead of two glory hogs who get moment after moment each week, Cena challenging Miz and a member of his Miztourage to a tag-team match against him and Reigns, and Samoa Joe offering his services as Miz’s partner while ripping Reigns on the mic and sucker punching Cena.
· Joe had Cena locked in the Coquina Clutch until Reigns nailed Joe with the Superman Punch. Cena had Joe up for the AA until the Samoan Badass rolled out of the ring.
· The segment was a bit all over the place with the fans siding with the heels while chanting “You Both Suck” at Cena and Reigns. Normally, Cena can win over a tough crowd over by throwing serious amounts of shade at his opponent. He didn’t get a chance to do that here which might cause the crowd to be even more ferocious during the main event. It won’t be a pretty sight, to say the least…
· Cedric Alexander, Mustafa Ali, Gran Metalik, and Rich Swann defeated Tony Nese, Drew Gulak, Ariya Daivari, and Noam Dar when Alexander pinned Nese with the Lumbar Check. The match was fine, but the crowd mentally checked out when they started to do The Wave after the commercial break. Sad times…
· Why is Seth Rollins channeling his inner Heath Slater by saying the word “baby” with such zest and enthusiasm?
· Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins defeated The Hardy Boyz when Rollins pinned Jeff Hardy after Ambrose nailed him with Dirty Deeds. This was easily the best match on the show so far as both teams were on point when it came to executing the art of tag team wrestling. For whatever reason, the crowd faded as the match went on. I guess the face vs. face dynamic left them a bit cold, but they popped for the finish.
· I do question WWE giving away such a high-profile match on free television, but I guess the company wanted to give the Brooklyn crowd a hot match despite the so-so response down the stretch.
· In a blockbuster announcement, Brock Lesnar will face Braun Strowman for the Universal Championship at No Mercy next month. Welcome to Monster Mash 2017!
· Alexa Bliss and Sasha Banks traded some ho hum bars leading up to a rematch for the Raw Women’s Championship next week in Memphis, Tennessee. The promo work from both ladies was bland and uninspired for the most part.
· Finn Bálor defeated Jason Jordan with the Coup De Grace in a solid match. The fans are not buying Jordan as Kurt Angle’s long-lost son as he was greeted with general apathy when he made his way to the ring. To make matters worse, someone blew up another beach ball that made its way to the front row before tumbling over the barricade. If fans want to play with a beach ball, they need to go the beach.
· It’s incredibly rude and disrespectful for fans to go into business for themselves while the wrestlers are in the ring entertaining the rest of the audience that came to see a quality show. It’s not cute and most of the crowd has booed the stunt in recent months. At this rate, Cesaro should be the Beach Ball Monitor of WWE to curtail this disturbing trend.
· John Cena and Roman Reigns defeated The Miz and Samoa Joe when Cena pinned Miz with the AA. The match was good, but the fans decided to go into business for themselves when another beach ball reared its ugly head before The Wave broke out once again. Miz was visibly frustrated while Cena tried to embrace the madness. The fans eventually calmed down, but their chill factor killed the heat of the match down the stretch.
· Reigns made the hot tag to Cena which saw the 16-time World Champion run roughshod over Miz. Samoa Joe stopped Cena in his tracks when he locked in the Coquina Clutch. Reigns tried to break the submission hold, but he inadvertently nailed Cena with a Superman Punch.
· This gave Miz the opening he needed to hit the Skull Crushing Finale, but it was to no avail as Cena countered with his finisher for the win.
· Raw went off the air with Cena and Reigns standing tall with the Big Dog apologizing to Cena for nailing him with an errant Superman Punch.
· This was a fine way to end the show. The main event was marred by fans who wanted to entertain themselves instead of focusing on the action in the ring. It took me out of the match from an emotional standpoint and I don’t blame Miz for pitching a fit with his mannerisms and insults. The man deserved better after wrestling in an empty arena during the SummerSlam pre-show last night. One can only assume that the Hollywood A-Lister is glad to get the hell out of Brooklyn.
· As for Cena and Reigns, they have an uphill battle to climb when it comes to making hardcore fans care about a potential dream match. The Brooklyn crowd was pretty nonchalant during their face-to-face confrontation earlier in the show. If this is one of the marquee matches for WrestleMania next year, Cena has to bring his A+ game when it comes to demolishing Reigns on the mic. The Big Dog might want to brush up on his promos because he will get destroyed if he’s scripted to sound like a monotonous robot. Here’s hoping WWE can rearrange the pieces on the chess board because tonight’s experiment was a bust.
· Overall, I thought tonight’s episode of Raw was middling at best. The opening segment and Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins vs. The Hardy Boyz were the best things on an otherwise boring show.
· SummerSlam was a borderline meh show and WWE made matter worse by delivering a so-so Raw. The fans resorted to playing with beach balls and doing The Wave in order to pass the time. It’s never a good look to see fans entertain themselves when the wrestlers are supposed to be the main attraction. A part of me can’t blame them because the company didn’t give them much to sink their teeth into from an in-ring standpoint. However, their antics have become grating instead of humorous over the past couple of years which detracts from the overall viewing experience.
· With SmackDown Live emanating from the same building and city tomorrow night, let’s hope the blue brand puts on an entertaining show that is hijack proof. Fingers crossed!
On that note, this wraps up another edition of The Raw Exposé. I hope you enjoyed it and I will be back tomorrow night with a brand new installment of The SmackDown Files. See you later, boys and girls!
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