WWE RAW HITS & MISSES 7/2: Reigns & Rollins vs. Ziggler & McIntyre, AOP vs. Titus Worldwide, Bayley-Banks, Revival, Reigns’s promo

RAW HITS

Authors of Pain vs. Titus Worldwide: I’m very happy that this was a squash match. Authors of Pain have potential. They improved a lot over their last year or so in NXT and can be a serious act in the tag division which is greatly needed. So, seeing them get a strong quick win over Titus Worldwide was definitely welcome.

Reigns & Rollins vs. Ziggler & McIntyre: The storyline surrounding this match and everything else involving Roman Reigns was a mess on Raw this week, but at least this was a good tag match. We got to see more of Dolph Ziggler vs. Seth Rollins which is nice since they have shown great chemistry in the ring together. I am looking forward to their Iron Man Match at Extreme Rules. The match built well to the hot tag to Reigns which never actually came due to The Revival’s interference which caused a disqualification. That should have put heat on The Revival for stopping a good match, and then beating on a babyface team as part of a 4 on 2 advantage. It doesn’t get as much heat considering the announcers praise it for being smart and a great way to make a name for yourself. The question I had at the end of this match was “where is Bobby Lashley?” I know he has issues with Reigns, but he should want a healthy partner for their tag match later in the show. He should have come out to help. We know he was watching the match. That’s a lot of negative for a Hit.

Strowman – Owens: This is a minor Hit. Overall, I’m not a fan of what WWE has done with Braun Strowman and Kevin Owens over the past two weeks. This week was better than last. I liked a lot of what Owens did this week. He had some very good performances in the back with Kurt Angle and even Jinder Mahal. The way he tried to bribe Angle with Shania Twain tickets and babysitting his kids was hilarious. The way he tried to hide from Strowman at the end was amusing, but not great. I wasn’t nearly as impressed with the show of strength from Strowman this week. The live fans were certainly more into it than I was. The image at the end with Owens covered in what looked like blue slime was bad. But, I am reluctantly still giving it a minor Hit.

RAW MISSES

Reigns’s Opening Promo: The opening segment wasn’t good, but the physicality at the end saved it from being a Miss. However, the promo from Roman Reigns portion of the opening segment was a definite Miss. He just comes across like a jerk. He was so condescending to The Revival and Bobby Lashley. He said he wasn’t going to make an excuse for losing to The Revival last week, and then blamed his partner which is an excuse. I don’t understand how WWE creative can possibly think the promos they write for Reigns are good for him in any way.

“On Raw, we settle things in the ring.”: No you don’t. This favorite line of Kurt Angle is so bogus. Reigns and Lashley don’t like each other. They both ask for a match against each other at Extreme Rules. Instead of having them settle their differences in the ring by booking that match, Angle takes it “under consideration” and forces them once again to team up with each other for reasons that aren’t clear at all. Yes, he eventually made the PPV match between them, but it didn’t make sense to wait and have another tag match if they are supposed to settle their differences in the ring. The biggest example of this is Bayley and Sasha Banks. I will get to how bad their therapy sessions were next, but for now I will focus on the idea that Angle would have them settle things in therapy instead of in the ring. When he told Owens that he should settle his differences with Strowman in the ring, Owens (the heel) correctly pointed out that Strowman needs counseling more than Bayley and that his actions (destroying property) were suspendible, if not fireable offenses. Strowman destroys Owens’ car = settle it in the ring. Bayley and Banks are at odds and fighting with each other for months = go to group therapy. This is terrible and inconsistent writing.

Bayley – Banks: Ugh. This was so bad. I do have some fond memories of Dr. Shelby from the formation of Team Hell No all those years ago, but somehow Daniel Bryan and Kane were able to pull it off back then. Bayley and Banks are not pulling it off now. It isn’t their fault. As I outlined above, the reason behind this story was ridiculous to begin with. The writing for their scenes and the overall way they were produced was terrible. They had nothing to work with and WWE managed to go from getting the biggest pop of Bayley’s main roster career last week, to this crap. I’ve heard so many times about how WWE has the best focus group in television with the live response they get right away in the arenas. Why don’t they actually listen to those fans? This was an easy audible call after that response to run with it and do away with this idea. But instead, the creative team is so stubborn and in love with their own ideas, that they can’t see how a change would actually do good.

Reigns & Lashley vs. The Revival: This was a continuation of a bad night for Reigns and Lashley. Neither came across well on this show. I mentioned earlier that Lashley should have come to Reigns’ aid earlier in the show. Reigns continued to be a jerk and an egomaniac in this match when he refused to tag out to Lashley despite being injured. Do the writers actually think this is going to get him cheers? I totally understand why Lashley would leave after the match, but I’m not sure we were supposed to side with him. I’m not sure what WWE wants us to think of this feud which is a big part of the problem.

For another view from the original Hitlist author, compare Jason Powell’s views to mine by visiting ProWrestling.net’s “Hitlist” section HERE.

Jon Mezzera is PWTorch.com’s WWE Hits & Misses Specialist, providing his point of view for Raw and Smackdown each week. Email him at jmezz_torch@yahoo.com. Follow him on Twitter @JonMezzera.

NOW CHECK OUT LAST WEEK’S COLUMN: WWE RAW HITS & MISSES 6/25: Bayley Snaps, Ziggler vs. Rollins IC Title main event, Reigns-Lashley, Hardy vs. Axel, Kurt Angle, Bliss’s loss