SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...
Opening Segment – MISS: There were things that I liked about the opening segment of Raw, but a lot of it was just annoying. The biggest issue is that five out of the six women in the segment are heels, and the lone babyface, Asuka, doesn’t speak English. I’m not interested in seeing Charlotte Flair talking trash to other heels like Bayley and Sasha Banks. I did get a kick out of her saying “what she said” after Asuka ranted in Japanese, but why was she buddy buddy with her scheduled opponent? It set up the triple threat match which interrupted what was going to be Flair vs. Asuka, but that match ended up happening in the main event so that didn’t really effect things that much.
Asuka & Flair vs. IIconics vs. Banks & Bayley – HIT: This match suffered from some of the same issues that the opening segment had, but the action was good enough to give the match a Hit. They were playing into the rivalry between Charlotte and Asuka with them having to team up while trying to one up each other. It worked well in that way to set up the main event.
Rollins – Mysterio – HIT: This was a good back and forth between Seth Rollins and Rey Mysterio. It played well into their storyline. Mysterio sounded more sure of himself than last week when he declared that he will be back once he has been cleared to wrestle again. They both played their parts well. It teased that Mysterio and Dominic might be on Raw next week. And the segment ended with that great sneak attack by Aleister Black. I get that it was not believable that Rollins wouldn’t have seen Black coming, but I don’t care because it was such a cool visual. The tag match that followed was good while it lasted, but way too short to amount to much. It also fell into the same pattern of The Messiah Complex losing their matches only to get heat back by beating up their opponents afterwards.
The Peep Show – HIT: I’m always happy to see Christian back in WWE. He did a nice job with some reverse psychology trying to light a fire under Edge’s ass. This followed well from Edge showing doubt a few weeks ago. Edge and Randy Orton continued to play their parts to perfection. Of course, the great build to this match is being marred by the Greatest Wrestling Match Ever hype. The Kurt Angle video later on was very well done with Angle talking about some of the great rivalries and how certain opponents bring out the best in each other, but that is more of a kayfabe discussion which doesn’t belong on the actual wrestling show.
Andrade vs. Garza vs. Owens – HIT: This #1 contender match for Apollo Crews’ United States Championship had some issues, but had enough good wrestling action to get a Hit (there is a pattern to a lot of the matches this week). It is a shame that Kevin Owens has been defined down so much after returning from his post-WrestleMania absence. It is far too early to tease a breakup between Angel Garza and Andrade. We just saw Austin Theory get kicked out of their group. So those were the problems with this match, but these are three very talented workers. They were given 14 minutes to have their match and it is not surprising that they put together such a fun match to watch from start up until the typical triple threat finish.
The Viking Raiders vs. MVP & Lashley – HIT: The VIP Lounge that set up this match was solid with Drew McIntyre continuing to come across like a major star. This match suffered from too much happening with McIntyre and the Street Profits at ringside. The match suffered from the cut away in the middle of the match for a Lana interview (see the pattern again?). But, I did enjoy the match. There was a lot of good wrestling action throughout. I appreciated the fact that we got to see Bobby Lashley hit the big spear on the outside of the ring on Ivar, and then put Erik in the full nelson for the tap out win. That was a good strong statement from Lashley going into his WWE Title match at Backlash. The fighting afterwards worked well too.
Asuka vs. Flair – HIT: This Hit is mostly for the second half of the match which was so good after Banks & Bayley and the IIConics were removed from ringside. Their part made sense to hype their Tag Team Championship match at the PPV (along with Nikki Cross & Alexa Bliss), but they did distract from the match. Also, you knew the mach couldn’t end without Nia Jax making an appearance. But the work from Asuka and Charlotte was so strong that I have to give the match a Hit. These two do have great chemistry in the ring. WWE continues to tell the story that Asuka can’t beat Charlotte. They are clearly setting up Charlotte for a future Title shot against Asuka and hopefully that will include Asuka finally getting that win over Charlotte.
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 Jon on Twitter @JonMezzera.
“that is more of a kayfabe discussion which doesn’t belong on the actual wrestling show”
Somebody should google “kayfabe” before using it again…