WWE RAW HITS & MISSES 7/16: Ronda Rousey looks strong, Kurt Angle looks strong, Ziggler vs. Roode for IC Title, Triple Threat matches, Heyman

RAW HITS

Opening Segment: This was a long segment with a lot going on. And while I wasn’t a fan of everything that happened, it was certainly good enough and news worthy enough to get a Hit. I liked the character that Kurt Angle played this week better than most other weeks. He actually had a backbone like he showed here in dealing with Paul Heyman. Heyman was his usual good self. This nicely established that Brock Lesnar will definitely be defending his Universal Title at SummerSlam. They needed to get that done. The fans are obviously over the absentee champion at this point. I am not a fan of the parade of challengers coming out one after another to make a claim to being the #1 contender. It always makes me think about all the other wrestlers and why nobody else came out. They each made a strong case for themselves, other than Elias who didn’t really seem to belong with the others. This set up the two big triple threat matches this week with a hook for a huge match next week.

Angle: As I said above, Kurt Angle looked much stronger this week than most. His interactions and decision making at the start of the show were strong. He stood up to Constable Corbin when he questioned his decision making. It was great that he pointed out to Corbin that he put Finn Balor into one of the triple threat matches instead of him because he lost to Balor the night before. Later, he stood his ground in dealing with Ronda Rousey and tricked Corbin into thinking his phone was missing so he couldn’t immediately call Stephanie McMahon. That was a little cheesy, but still part of the overall theme of having Angle look smart and competent this week which is a nice change.

McIntyre vs. Balor vs. Reigns: This was the best match of the night. It took up nearly 20 minutes of airtime and was fun to watch from start to finish. When you follow up a good long opening segment with a good long match like this, it makes for a fun long start to Raw. This was a much better show than we’ve seen lately, and this match was a big part of that. Drew McIntyre, Finn Balor and Roman Reigns all worked hard and put on a very good match. It made Balor and McIntyre look strong despite not winning. I suspect we are in for a McIntyre vs. Rollins feud going forward. I’m not sure what’s next for Balor. Maybe Dolph Ziggler? The only issue of course is the predictable win for Reigns.

Rousey – Bliss: Alexa Bliss continues to be a great character whom the fans want to see get beat up by Ronda Rousey. Ronda Rousey continues to be a great character who the fans want to see beat up Alexa Bliss. Both of them played their parts perfectly here. The fans are into it. There is a bit of a credibility issue with the lack of security to keep out a wrestler who has been suspended. Hopefully she won’t be on next week to sell the extended suspension and then they can move on the following week and continue this strong build towards their Women’s Title match at SummerSlam.

Elias vs. Lashley vs. Rollins: The main event triple threat match wasn’t as good as the opening one, but it was still a good match. This one was a little less predictable. I assumed that Bobby Lashley would win to set up a rematch with Reigns for next week. But, there was at least a decent chance that Rollins would win to set up the Shield brothers facing each other for the #1 contendership. Fans want to see Rollins vs. Lesnar, so that would at least have given them some hope. I guess if the plan is to have Lashley win next week, then I understand, but I doubt that’s going to happen. As for the match itself, it was a good main event with some very memorable spots. The best was when Lashley was setting up a superplex on Elias, only to have Rollins pick him up from behind and deliver a buckle bomb in the opposite corner and then run across the ring, and jump up on the turnbuckle to do his own superplex into falcon arrow on Elias. That was a great sequence. It was a good ending to a good show.

RAW MISSES

Bayley – Banks: Okay, I don’t know what to say any more. The longest and worst storyline of the year in WWE just keeps going and keeps getting worse. There has not been one logical reason for Angle’s decision making when it comes to Bayley and Sasha Banks. There has not been any explanation as to why Angle wants them to get along instead of fight each other. Why would he trade one of them to Smackdown if they can’t work as a team? Just have them settle things in the ring like you always say you do on Raw. And then you get this odd proclamation of love from Banks after their match against Alicia Fox & Dana Brooke. I don’t know what’s going on here. It is just bad on every level.

Roode Challenges Ziggler: This is a minor Miss. Ziggler did a nice job in his promo following up on his win over Rollins in the Extreme Rules main event. As an aside, I have to say how disappointed I was with the fans doing the Royal Rumble count down during that match and whining when WWE took the clock off the screen. You got what you wanted, a main event other than Reigns vs. Lashley. You got Rollins instead. Instead of being happy about it and responding positively to it, you went and entertained yourself with the countdown. You disrespected Rollins and Ziggler. And worst of all, you sent a message to Vince McMahon validating Roman Reigns’ position as the top star in WWE. McMahon can now say that fans do these types of chants no matter who is in the main event. It isn’t a rejection of Roman Reigns any more. So he can now justify pushing Reigns despite the fans’ reactions to him. This was the worst crowd of the year.

Okay, getting back to the follow up to that match, I liked how Ziggler talked about the win. The problem is that I knew someone was going to interrupt him to challenge him, but I couldn’t think of a single worthy challenger. I never once thought about Bobby Roode. So when Roode came out to interrupt, it was a let down. It wasn’t a good moment. It didn’t make me want to see Ziggler lose to Roode since Roode has been so defined down and so blah as a babyface for his entire time on the main roster. The match was fine. It was nice to see Ziggler get the clean win and I hope that this leads to a heel turn for Roode.

Sarah Logan: So now Sarah Logan is a Viking? It is bad enough that Kairi Sane in NXT thinks that she’s a pirate (seriously, that’s such a stupid gimmick – she likes boats so somehow that makes her a pirate? What does she do that is like a pirate? Does she rob or plunder anyone? How is she a pirate?), but now we have Sarah Logan thinking she’s a Viking? I thought she was like a country farm girl hill billy or something. It is good to have some type of character for her and for Liv Morgan beyond their backstage bullying and cute piggy back ride. But, it is always better to show than to tell. Show us her character. Have her present her character. Don’t just have the announcers talk in goofy ways about how she found out she has Viking ancestry. They were cracking jokes about it. They were not taking it seriously, so I don’t know if we are supposed to take it seriously or not. I did laugh when one announcer said he thought she grew up on a tater farm and Corey Graves responded that that was before she found out she was a Viking. But, that isn’t a serious presentation of her character. WWE has been effectively building up Ember Moon over the past few weeks. She gets a star reaction from the fans which is important. So, I don’t quite understand having her lose to Logan here. They made a big deal about this being her first singles victory on the main roster, but that came at the expense of the far more talented Moon.

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 7/9: Reigns-Lashley brawl, Strowman-Owens hype, Coach on commentary, Rollins vs. McIntyre main event, Balor-Corbin, B-Team-Deleters of Worlds