SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...
Opening Segment – HIT: Raw got off to a good start, recapping the important events from Crown Jewel while putting the focus on the women’s division with Women’s Champion Liv Morgan with her bestie Raquel Rodriquez bragging about becoming the first Crown Jewel Champion, only to be interrupted by Tag Team Champs Jade Cargill & Bianca Bel Air. The performances were all decent to good. It set up the idea that Cargill and Bel Air won’t be together forever, while also pointing to both of them being potential future challengers for Morgan’s title. It set up the battle royal for after the first break to actually name a no. 1 contender. That battle royal was solid, and I’m fine with Iyo Sky as the winner, but it wasn’t quite good enough to get a Hit.
Miz Video – MISS: I just can’t get behind The Wyatt Sicks in any way. I didn’t like their feud with American Made. I don’t care about The Final Testament, so we are now getting a feud between two factions who I don’t care about. Throw in the Miz who has meant absolutely nothing for years, and this is a perfect storm of apathy on my part. The idea that a wrestler gets kidnapped is idiotic. Where are the police? Why isn’t Maryse getting involved? I don’t care about Miz’s past from years ago with Bo Dallas. I don’t even remember them having any screen time at all together. I would honestly keep AOP and get rid of everyone else involved here.
New Day vs. War Raiders – HIT: This was a good tag match which continued to build up the recently returned War Raiders as a strong team to take on the Tag Team Champions, while also continuing to build the tension between Xavier Woods and Kofi Kingston.
The Usos – HIT: WWE continues the slow build towards the ultimate reunion of the original Bloodline. It isn’t going to be easy to get these four back together after all that has happened between them all over the years. We got to hear a recap from Sami Zayn about all of the times when Jimmy Uso kicked one of the other three in the face, reminding us that he has been far from perfect in all of this. The performances from all three were very good. It also served as a nice tease for Smackdown. When you get them all together facing off against Solo Sikoa and his new Bloodline, it is going to get a huge pop!
Gable vs. Lee – HIT: This was mostly a good match. The wrestling action and execution was spot on which isn’t surprising considering the talent of Chad Gable and Dragon Lee. I’ve been wanting to see Lee getting a push for a long time. He is way too talented to be floundering in the lower mid-card with the rest of the LWO. WWE showed a hype video for Lee recently and he got the win here which are good signs. Of course, there had to be some type of shenanigans with both Ivy Nile and Zelina Vega at ringside. I’m also not a big fan of the no selling sequences like they did here when neither wrestler sold after getting dropped on their heads by German suplexes. This seems like the type of thing you’d see in a Will Osprey match which would get the WWE stans all upset on Twitter, but you hear nothing from them when Gable and Lee do the same thing here. I’m still giving it a Hit, but it could have been better.
Mysterio vs. Priest vs. Rollins vs. Sheamus – HIT: I know that for idiotic reasons, there are no disqualifications in triple threat or fatal four way matches. We had the same thing in the battle royal earlier in the show. Maybe have fewer moments on the same show when the announcer has to throw up his hands and say “well, there’s no disqualifications in this type of match.” The wrestling was very strong in this main event. Damian Priest was the right guy to win, and advancing the feud between Seth Rollins and Bronson Reed made sense. Reed needed to get his heat back after losing to Rollins at Crown Jewel. Plus, the pure physicality from Reed on Rollins, Sheamus and Priest was very memorable. I just wish WWE would find a way to accomplish the same thing without the interference in the match itself.
Jon Mezzera is PWTorch.com’s WWE Raw Hits & Misses Specialist, providing his point of view for Raw each week. Email him at jmezz_torch@yahoo.com.
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