SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...
This week’s episode of WWE Monday Night Raw has wrapped. Let’s take a stroll down memory lane and relive some of the madness.
-Pretty cool moment for Cody Rhodes to kick off WWE Raw this week. His performance on Sunday night at Hell in a Cell was magnificent and the crowd reminded him of that during his promo. He’s had quite the run since joining the company and though you’d never wish injury on anyone, he’s going to have a ton of momentum when he returns and won’t be over exposed either. Silver lining.
-Seth Rollins destroying Cody again made perfect sense. Cody got sympathy and Rollins got loads of heat back. Simple, effective, but ultimately necessary.
-Under no circumstances should Becky Lynch get pinned by Dana Brooke. I get that they are trying to tell a story of the Lynch downward spiral, but c’mon. No, no, no. I like the story, it works and will have a nice payoff if she faces Ronda Rousey at WrestleMania next year, but you get there in a different way. Brooke is the jobber of all jobbers and that should not have happened. Plus, it’s the 24/7 Championship and let’s call a spade a spade, nobody wants that.
-Quick! Cody is out and we need another draw on Raw. John Cena, you’re up. Who knows if Cena’s Raw appearance in a couple weeks will lead to a match of some kind, but this screams WWE calling in the reinforcement’s while down a man.
-The Miz was SO “The Miz” on the show this week. Full on hype and promotion mode and zero instincts or even attempts of being a threat as a wrestler. Riddle destroyed Miz, which the crowd obviously wanted and he had a bit of edge to him with how he spoke to Miz as well. A positive sign for his long-term trajectory if he keeps it up.
-Also, are we going to find out why Tommaso Ciampa attacked Riddle? It happened, Riddle wrestled Miz, and then Ciampa stuff was never spoke of again.
-The Street Profits and The Usos can’t have a bad match together. I enter into evidence this week’s bout on Raw. Smooth and creative, but with the idea of a fight at the core. The finish would have worked better had WWE not put so much out with finishes like this one, but it made sense in the end. The Street Profits didn’t pin The Usos, leaving some anticipation on the table, but they got to a title match at the same time. Good booking.
-Bobby Lashley vs. Theory? I’m on board. If the WWE Championship was present on the show week to week, though, my guess is Lashley wouldn’t be doing this.
-A solid little promo from Veer Mahaan this week. A low bar, but he added some depth to his very one note character.
-Finn Balor is in The Judgement Day and Edge is out. Holy moly! This turn of events was jarring and without question out of left field. The faction was going nowhere, though and worst of all, Edge was neutralized within the group. Now he isn’t. He can feud with the trio and then move on to bigger for ‘Edge-like” things.
-Finn Balor can play heel and he can play a good one. He needs time, though. A promo from him and the rest of the new Judgement Day faction needs to hit a home run next week on the show.
-Hey! Dolph Ziggler and Robert Roode are back … as babyfaces … anyway ……
-Oh good, another Ezekiel vs. Kevin Owens match next week. Eye roll.
-I like the women’s fatal four-way main event quite a bit. Good action throughout and each woman got a chance to do her thing out there. Liv Morgan continues to impress and has improved significantly in just six months’ time. Ripley winning and challenging Bianca Belair is a logical next step. It elevates Ripley’s Judgement Day faction because they have wins, big matches, and moments together that position it as impactful. It makes sense for Belair too. She needs an opponent that feels like a threat. Ripley is certainly that.
CATCH-UP: HEYDORN’S DYNAMITE RECEIPT 6/1: For better or worse, MJF steals the spotlight
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