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As we head closer to Survivor Series, the Bloodline saga continues to be the dominant storyline in the company across both shows. While parts of it have felt rushed, everything that has happened over the last two weeks has all been well done. With Jey Uso now reunited with his brother Jimmy Uso and Roman Reigns, Sami Zayn has now made his way into the story (which many of us saw coming). It was around Survivor Series time two years ago that the Bloodline saga was at its peak with Sami Zayn being a huge reason why. Now with the tease of which side Sami will be on, it all looks like it’s about to get hot again at just the right time.
Everything that happened at Crown Jewel from Solo Siko pinning Roman to Sami accidentally kicking Roman in the face really heated things up for what will potentially happen next. While we have a lot to look forward to this Friday on Smackdown, there was some more development on Raw with Sami’s loyalty and motives being heavily questioned.
In addition to that, Raw saw the crowning of number one contenders for both the men’s and women’s World Titles, the further disintegration of the New Day, and an incredible match between Chad Gable and Dragon Lee. For a pre-taped episode of Raw, it had enough action, storyline progression, and crowd enthusiasm to make you forget that it was taped.
Liv Morgan vs. Rhea Ripley
Latest Developments
Last week on NXT, Rhea Ripley was found outside of her car viciously attacked and bleeding from her face as Liv Morgan & Raquel Rodriguez had previously left the scene with steel pipes in their hands. The storyline was devised to explain why Ripley will be out of action for a while after previously suffering a fractured orbital bone. In addition to that, Liv defeated Nia Jax at Crown Jewel with help from Raquel and Dominik Mysterio to become the inaugural Women’s Crown Jewel Champion.
Raw opened with Liv, Raquel, and Dominik coming to the ring as Liv gloated about her recent actions. The trio were soon interrupted by the Women’s Tag Team Champions Bianca Belair & Jade Cargill, fresh off their successful title defense at Crown Jewel. Liv then tried to drive a wedge between the two as she mentioned the only thing keeping them together is the fact that they’re the champions. Adam Pearce then came out to break things up and as Liv continued to taunt Bianca, Bianca slapped her. Pearce then flipped out and announced that Bianca & Jade would be included in a women’s battle royal to decide the new number one contender for Liv’s title, and that battle royal would be happening right away.
The battle royal came down to Bianca, Jade, Iyo Sky, and Lyra Valkyria. As Bianca and Jade teased a confrontation (similar to the Royal Rumble in January), they were interrupted by Iyo and Lyra. As the champs were about to eliminate them, Raquel grabbed Bianca’s braid and, as Jade tried to keep her from going out, Liv jumped on the apron and pulled them both out of the ring. As Liv and Raquel taunted them, Bianca and Jade chased them through the crowd. Iyo and Lyra both went over the top rope and fought on the apron until Iyo eventually eliminated her with a German Suplex on the apron. Iyo Ski is now the new number one contender for the Women’s World Championship.
Analysis
With Rhea now gone for the foreseeable future, it’s clear that they’re trying to keep Liv busy with other feuds until Rhea comes back. This segment accomplished that by giving her a new challenger in Iyo Sky and a feud for Liv & Raquel against Bianca & Jade. It felt lately as if Liv’s feud with Rhea was getting stale, but with Ripley gone for a while, it’ll feel fresh again whenever they get back to it. With the momentum Liv has right now coming off Crown Jewel, it’s a strong possibility that she and Raquel will be the ones to take the tag titles off Bianca & Jade. We also saw in this segment the first rumblings of a potential split between the two; it looks like once they lose the titles, that’ll be the beginning of the end for their partnership.
The battle royal was nothing special up until the end, and Iyo winning makes for a new fresh challenger for Liv. From the way it seems now, we more than likely won’t see the final blow off between Liv and Rhea until WrestleMania, which honestly is for the best. Now that they’re forced to take a break from that feud, stretching it until WrestleMania sounds like a better idea than it would have been a month ago. Coming out of this segment, we now know that Liv is going to be an even more dominant figure on the show and the split between the women’s tag champs will be happening much sooner than later.
Grade: B
Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods
Latest Developments
Even though this month marks the 10-year anniversary of the New Day’s formation, there doesn’t seem to be a lot for them to celebrate these days. Last week, Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods came up short in the triple threat number one contender’s match due to Xavier Woods allowing Rey Mysterio to distract him. As they were being interviewed backstage, Xavier tried to blame the loss on Chad Gable’s interference, but Kofi pointed out that the real reason they lost is because of Xavier’s misstep. Then Xavier claimed that it was Kofi who was the one who dropped the ball, as he was the one who got pinned.
They had a rematch this week with the War Raiders and as Kofi was setting up for the Trouble in Paradise, Xavier selfishly tagged himself in. This distraction allowed the War Raiders to take out Xavier with the War Machine and the New Day would lose once again.
Analysis
This storyline continues to be one of the more consistent ones on Raw over the last three months. Xavier constantly keeps trying to control everything, and that always ends up costing them in the end. While Xavier turning on Kofi could’ve happened a long time ago, they’ve done a good job in taking their time with it.
With their 10-year anniversary celebration announced for some time this month, we all know the official split between the group is right around the corner. However, with all that being considered, there must be an eventual appearance from Big E to attempt to mend fences between the two. Whether or not Big E will play a part in this story long-term remains to be seen, but all the tension building between Kofi and Xavier so far has worked. As interesting as all of this has been, there’s no reason why this can’t all lead to a match between the two at WrestleMania.
Grade: B
The Bloodline Saga
Latest Developments
After Jimmy & Jey Uso caught Sami Zayn talking to Solo Sikoa last week, there was doubt among them of where Sami’s loyalty stood. At Crown Jewel, Sami showed where his loyalty was when he hit Solo with an Exploder after he initially acted as if he was going to hug him. As Sami, Roman, Jimmy, and Jey Uso had Solo surrounded, Solo moved out of the way and that caused Sami to accidentally kick Roman in the face. To no surprise, this angered Jimmy to the point where he even shoved Sami before Jey separated them.
This week on Raw, Sami Zayn was in the ring as he was interrupted by Jey Uso. As Jey asked him whether kicking Roman was an accident, Jimmy then interrupted. Jimmy made it very clear that Sami couldn’t be trusted due to what happened on Saturday, in which Sami countered by pointing out all the times that Jimmy turned on someone when things started going bad, including when he turned on Jey last year. As Sami mentioned that he only came out on Saturday to help Jey and how everything always falls apart when they’re all together, he decided that he wasn’t going to involve himself in this issue anymore. As he was leaving the ring, Jey asked him if he would be willing to come to Smackdown Friday and talk things out with Roman. He then ended the promo by referring to Sami as Sami Uso, and that he hoped to see him on Friday.
Analysis
While nothing major happened in this segment, it did a good job of setting the stage for what we will see Friday on Smackdown. Considering that Roman only appears there usually, it’s not surprising that they’re going to have to wait until then for this to really spice up. Sami Zayn’s intensity was great as always and he showed once again why he was such a critical part in the original Bloodline story two years ago. Solo pinning Roman at Crown Jewel was a huge surprise, but it was the right outcome to build to War Games. The post-match angle where Sami accidentally kicked Roman was great, as they still need to keep that tension among everyone with Survivor Series still a few weeks away.
Even though the last few weeks in a way have felt rushed, everything that’s happened has made sense and made both shows more interesting. Everyone’s been anticipating this old Bloodline vs. new Bloodline battle since the summer and the way it’s been building lately shows that it’s all been worth the wait.
Even though it’s not official yet, this match between both sides already feels like the biggest main event for a PLE this year since WrestleMania. A feud like this is exactly what the War Games concept was made for and to see it play out in that setting is going to do right by that match, and in re-establishing why Survivor Series is one of the big four.
Grade: B
Rey Mysterio vs. Chad Gable
Latest Developments
Last week, Chad Gable cost Rey Mysterio & Dragon Lee the number one contender’s match. As Rey was going for the 619, Gable grabbed him from underneath the ring and put him in the Ankle Lock. With both their respective factions the LWO and American Made feuding, a singles feud between the two of them is the natural direction.
To gain some revenge for what happened last week, Dragon Lee went one-on-one with Chad Gable this week. In a great match that even saw both men exchange German suplexes, it seemed as if Gable was about to win unfairly by putting his feet on the ropes. As Zelina Vega pushed his feet off the ropes, she was then put into a Dragon Sleeper by Ivy Nile. Rey Mysterio then came out to interrupt and as Gable attempted to pull him up on the apron by ripping his mask, Mysterio responded with a kick to the face that allowed Dragon Lee to pick up the win with the Operation Dragon.
Analysis
Hands down, this was the best match on the entire show. Both men had great chemistry and were given enough time to give the audience something worth investing into. While it was disappointing to see Gable lose again, it’s hard to be upset after watching a match that was this good. Considering that this played into furthering the Gable and Mysterio feud, the outcome in a way made sense.
Gable vs. Mysterio really gives off the vibe of Angle vs. Mysterio from 2002 and if their matches can be as good as those matches were, we may have some late candidates for Match of the Year. Not sure if this all will lead to anything bigger for Gable down the road, but him eventually defeating Mysterio is the only logical conclusion to this feud. Regardless, getting more great matches like this on Raw every week only makes the show better.
Grade: B+
World Heavyweight Championship Scene
Latest Developments
With Crown Jewel in the rearview, this week was all about determining who Gunther’s next challenger would be for the World Heavyweight Championship. A Fatal four-way match that would main event Raw between Damien Priest, Seth Rollins, Sheamus, and Dominik Mysterio would determine who that next challenger would be. As Priest, Rollins, and Sheamus are all former champions, Dominik made his case for being in the match by a fluke win over Priest last week. As Gunther was interviewed before the match, he blamed himself for his loss to Cody Rhodes at Crown Jewel and maintained that he as well as Ludwig Kaiser need to be better (referring to Kaiser’s loss to Sheamus last week).
As the four-way match progressed, it seemed as if Rollins was about to finish off Dominik with a Curb Stomp. However, Rollins noticed someone outside the ring and that someone turned out to be Bronson Reed, whom he defeated at Crown Jewel. Reed then attacked Rollins, hit Priest and Sheamus with Tsunami’s inside the ring, and then hit Rollins with a Tsunami through the announce table. As everyone was down, Dominik took advantage by hitting Sheamus with a Frog Splash but as he was about to get the win, Priest interrupted the count. Dominik then hit Priest with a 619 and when he attempted another Frog Splash, Priest caught him with a South of Heaven to pick up the win and become the new number one contender. Gunther then came out to confront Priest, and the two stared each other down as the show went off the air.
Analysis
Fun main event with the right outcome. With the Rollins and Reed feud far from over, it was no surprise to see Reed come out to cost him the match. While realistically no one expected Dominik to win, it seemed like he was going to for a split second when he took advantage of Sheamus being down. The finish to the match was excellent when Priest caught Dominik from the top rope and did the South of Heaven, there’s probably no one who takes that move better than Dominik does. Priest was the right choice to win as he and Gunther had that brief confrontation two weeks ago and considering that they still have unfinished business stemming from Summerslam.
While one would think Survivor Series would be the place for this rematch to happen, there has yet to be any mention of that. While the match could potentially happen there, it feels like they may hold off on doing it until Saturday Night’s Main Event. Regardless of when it does happen, the match already feels like it’s going to be an even bigger deal than their first match was. The ending to Raw set up two major matches down the road with this one as well as Rollins vs. Reed and left us with a good cliffhanger for what’s to come next week.
Grade: B+
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