SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...
With Survivor Series less than three weeks away, we now know for sure what two of the marquee matches will be. Friday on Smackdown, the Bloodline Civil War Games match was made official. Also, Sami Zayn made it loud and clear which Bloodline he will be fighting alongside with. While we all saw this coming, it was still satisfying to see how everything played out. Even though we’ve been led to believe that the match would be four-on-four, we found out on Raw that will not be the case. As this story has been criticized for being rushed despite the good segments it’s given us, the potential final man for each team has now given us a reason why it has been.
Now that we know whose team Sami will be on, someone else from Roman’s past has also been dragged into this issue. In addition to all that, Raw saw Damien Priest punk out Gunther, the never-ending issues between the New Day, another wild brawl between Seth Rollins and Bronson Reed, and a Women’s Tag Team Championship main event that potentially set up a Women’s War Games match. While a bit of a step down from last week’s episode, this week’s Raw succeeded in setting the wheels in motion for what we will see at Survivor Series.
Gunther vs. Damien Priest
Latest Developments
Last week, Damien Priest won a fatal four-way match to become the number one contender for Gunther’s World Heavyweight Championship. The two stared each other down as the show went off the air, with no word at the time on when the match would take place. As Gunther came out to open Raw this week to cut a promo, Joe Tessitore on commentary broke the news that the title match between the two will take place at Survivor Series.
Not even one minute into the promo, Gunther was interrupted by Priest. Before he could say anything, Priest predicted every insult Gunther would typically throw at him such as “street trash” and “Latino thug.” Priest then brought up the fact that he initially understood the intimidating vibe around Gunther when he first shared the ring with him, to the point where he even admitted that it made him doubt himself. He continued by saying that considering Finn Balor’s interference was the deciding factor in their match at Summerslam and the fact that Gunther just lost to Cody Rhodes at Crown Jewel, that intimidating vibe had faded. Priest got in his head even more by telling Gunther that he knew that if he took a shot at him, Priest would lay his ass out. Ludwig Kaiser then interrupted and as he was about to say Priest wasn’t worthy of sharing the ring with Gunther, Gunther stopped him by putting his hand on his mic. When Kaiser refused to stop going on his rant, he was punished with a right hand by Priest. As Priest then dared a visibly timid Gunther to step to him, Gunther instead walked away.
Later in the night, Priest would go one-on-one with Kaiser. After battling for several minutes, Priest would nail Kaiser with a South of Heaven to finish him off and get the win as Gunther came out to stare nervously at his future challenger.
Analysis
This feud took an interesting turn with Damien Priest getting inside of Gunther’s head. In all the time we’ve seen Gunther on the main roster, we have never seen him get punked out the way he did in this segment. Survivor Series feels like the right setting for this match and so far, the build for this match is looking much stronger than the build was for their match at Summerslam. Priest really came off well in this segment by showing that he’s not afraid of Gunther and that if anything, Gunther is afraid of him. Segments like this prove why he belongs in the main event picture.
Seeing how strong the chemistry is between the two of them, this has the potential to be a long-term feud. Their match back at Summerslam was the best match on the show, and having this match as the secondary main event to War Games makes Survivor Series even bigger. Priest seems to have outgrown his feud with Judgment Day, so to see him put back into the title picture is a positive sign of things to come. Regardless of what happens over the next few weeks or even who ends up winning, seeing these two in the ring together is a recipe for success.
Grade: B+
Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods
Latest Developments
Last week, the New Day’s on-going issues continued as they lost once again due to Xavier Woods’ poor decision making. Week by week, the power of positivity continues to fade away between Woods & Kofi Kingston with no signs of them patching things up. During a backstage segment this week, Kofi apologized to R-Truth for not helping him against the Final Testament a few weeks ago due to Xavier stopping him. As Xavier was standing behind them listening, he then interrupted. While Kofi was about to continue his explanation, Pete Dunne pushed Kofi out of the way to confront Truth. Kofi spoke up for Truth, and then Dunne asked if he wanted to make this his business. While Xavier answered no, Kofi responded by saying Woods doesn’t speak for him and agreed to a match with Dunne later, leading Woods to angrily walk away.
Kofi and Dunne had their match and when Kofi nailed the Trouble in Paradise, Dunne fell out of the ring. With the referee distracted by Kofi, Xavier clotheslined Dunne inside out. Angry at his unnecessary interference, Kofi berated Xavier for what he did, and Xavier countered by telling him he needed to focus on the match and not on him. This distraction would allow Dunne to take advantage and finish off Kofi with the Bitter End. When Xavier helped Kofi to the back while also criticizing him for agreeing to the match, Kofi pushed him off and the two continued to argue.
Analysis
Week by week, they continue to plant the seeds perfectly for the New Day’s eventual split. While many of their misfortunes recently have been Xavier’s fault and this one partially was too, Kofi allowing himself to get distracted cost him this time. Kofi pushing Xavier off as they were walking to the back was well done as it happened out of nowhere when the announcers were about to go to the next segment. As someone who has seen many tag teams split up over the years, it’s clear as glass that these two won’t be together much longer. From how it’s looking now, the split more than likely will happen on the November 25 Raw as that date will be the closest to the New Day’s 10-year anniversary.
As mentioned before in last week’s analysis, an appearance from Big E is necessary at some point as his presence will be what’s needed to push all this forward. As sad as it will be to see the New Day break up, no one can say that how they’ve gone about building up to it has been botched. This continues to be the most consistent part of Raw every week and the night everything all implodes between them is going to go down as one of the memorable tag team splits in history.
Grade: B
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Seth Rollins vs. Bronson Reed
Latest Developments
Seth Rollins and Bronson Reed have been beating the hell out of each other every week ever since Rollins returned on September 30. After Seth Rollins defeated Bronson Reed at Crown Jewel with a Curb Stomp off the second rope, Reed getting right back up afterwards ensured that their feud was not over. Then the following Monday on Raw, Reed cost Rollins a shot at the World Heavyweight Title by crushing him with a Tsunami through the announce table.
This week, Reed came out to cut a promo and mentioned that he respects Rollins as a competitor, but the big difference between them is that he’s a monster. As he continued by saying he won’t stop until he puts him down for good, he called out Rollins to fight him again. Rollins then ran to the ring as the two of them fought all over ringside. Like last week, Reed attempted another Tsunami through the announce table, but Rollins dived onto him as they fell into the timekeeper’s area. Security then came to separate them, but both men beat them all up in the process. Reed attempted to dive onto Rollins through the second rope, before Rollins moved out of the way as the security guards were taken out instead. Adam Pearce and more officials came out to keep them apart as the segment ended. However, the two still brawled some more during the commercial break before they were finally separated.
Afterwards, an angry Rollins demanded one more match with Reed in which Pearce agreed, making it official for Raw next week.
Analysis
Another fun brawl between both men that gave us an answer for when their rematch will take place. Even before the brawl, one good part about this segment was Reed’s brief promo. His delivery and energy on the mic were a prime example of how he’s more than just another big man. Other than the New Day segments, this storyline has been the most consistent one on the show over the last month or so. Neither man got the better of the other in this brawl, which really sets the stage for what will be a wild match next week.
Although it seemed as if the match would take place at Survivor Series, something that happened immediately after this helped explain why it will happen next week instead. Regardless, it always seemed like this feud would be a trilogy and this upcoming match will just be the second installment. As there is a chance the two will still face each other in some way at Survivor Series (more on that later), the final blow off for this feud will more than likely happen at Saturday Night’s Main Event. With the work between the two being as good as it has been, seeing their feud go on until then is just more reason to tune in to Raw every week.
Grade: B+
The Bloodline Saga
Latest Developments
Last Friday on Smackdown, Sami Zayn met with Roman Reigns, Jimmy, & Jey Uso. Sami said he’d be willing to fight alongside them if Roman would apologize to Jey for all the times he abused him. As Roman teased an apology, it was an apology for allowing Jey to waste his time with this and reminded Sami that he’s not family. Later that night, Roman confronted Solo Sikoa and his Bloodline all alone as he had alienated Sami as well as Jimmy & Jey afterwards. When Solo demanded that Roman acknowledge him as his tribal chief, Roman to no surprise refused. Solo then challenged Roman to find four people to go to war with Solo’s Bloodline and as Roman pointed out that there were only three people on Solo’s side, Solo called out Sami as his team’s fifth member. As Solo and the rest of his Bloodline attacked Roman, the Usos came out to help. As they were all outnumbered, Solo called Sami into the ring to kick Roman in the face. However, Sami would kick Solo in the face instead and they all cleared the ring of Solo and his Bloodline. As the Usos and Sami all put the one’s in the air, Roman put one up as well in unity to end the show.
This week, Jimmy, Jey, and Sami all agreed that they needed to find a fifth man for their team, in which Sami said that he knew a guy. That guy turned out to be Seth Rollins and Sami would plead his case by reminding Rollins that no matter how bad things got with Roman, there was still a bond between them deep down. In response, Rollins said that Sami was out of his mind for thinking he would ever team with Roman again, and that Sami was blind if he didn’t realize Roman was once again just using him. While he did say he appreciated Sami, Rollins flat out told him that his answer was no. As Rollins later was leaving the arena, he was greeted by Solo and Jacob Fatu. Solo attempted to lure Rollins into being on his team because of their shared hatred for Roman. While Rollins maintained that he would never team with Roman again, he added to that by saying that he would never team with a wannabe Roman Reigns and walked away.
Analysis
The involvement of Seth Rollins into this story now explains why Jey Uso and Sami Zayn rejoining with Roman Reigns was so rushed. Sami felt like the final ace in the hole for Roman’s team, which is why that reunion on Smackdown felt so special. Now seeing that Rollins is being added into this, it’s clear that this part of the story going into Survivor Series isn’t over. While having a fifth member for each team isn’t necessary, the addition of Rollins does spice things up considering his past with Roman. Rollins refusing to join either side made perfect sense and more than likely, this will lead to Solo Sikoa’s Bloodline getting involved in his match next week with Bronson Reed. Like what happened with Jey Uso a few weeks ago, this will be the motivation for Rollins to side with Roman’s team and could also result in Reed siding with Solo’s team.
The build for War Games has basically centered all around Roman reuniting with all his past allies that he abused at one point or another. Out of all the War Games matches that have been done in WWE, this one feels like the biggest and the one most worthy of the stipulation. Rollins and Reed would make good additions to each team and for how out of control their feud has been, there’s no better place than War Games for them to continue it. This whole match has been building ever since Solo started his own Bloodline after WrestleMania and now that we’re this close to the pay off, it’s making Survivor Series exciting in a way it hasn’t been in years. Even though it hasn’t been perfect, all the pieces coming together the way they have over the last month is making War Games a must watch.
Grade: B+
Bianca Belair & Jade Cargill vs. Liv Morgan & Raquel Rodriguez
Latest Developments
Last week, Liv Morgan & Raquel Rodriguez screwed Bianca Belair & Jade Cargill out of a shot at Liv’s Women’s World Title by eliminating them from the number one contender’s battle royal. We also saw last week the first seeds planted for a Bianca & Jade split as Liv pointed out that the only reason the two are together is because they’re the champions. As it seemed like there would be a match between both teams down the road, the match between them was made for this week. In addition to that, the Women’s Tag Team Titles would also be on the line.
The match main evented Raw this week and there was even a brief miscommunication between Bianca & Jade as Bianca almost hit Jade accidentally but stopped herself (which Jade was not happy about). As the match progressed, Nia Jax & Tiffany Stratton (whom Bianca & Jade defeated Friday on Smackdown) came down to the ring and as Tiffany distracted the referee, Nia dropped Jade on the apron. Naomi then came out to fight off Nia & Tiffany and as Liv jumped off the second rope, she was kicked in the stomach by Jade. Jade then tagged in Bianca, who would finish Liv off with the KOD to retain the titles. Before the champs could even get their hands raised, Nia knocked them both down from behind and then she knocked down Naomi. Iyo Sky came out to even the odds, which led to Bianca & Jade to double suplexing Nia and double clotheslining Raquel out of the ring. Jade, Bianca, Iyo, & Naomi all raised their hands together and celebrated as the show went off the air.
Analysis
Much like the Bloodline story, a lot of this felt very rushed. From what went down last week, it was strange that they went with Bianca & Jade vs. Liv & Raquel for the titles so early. Then from seeing Nia, Tiffany, Naomi, and Iyo get involved, it started to make sense. Despite all that, the tag title match should’ve been saved for some time down the road as opposed to just rushing to it like this. The match itself was fine, but Bianca pinning Liv considering the momentum swing Liv’s been on lately was confusing. The two highlights from this were the brief tease of dissention between Bianca & Jade and the brawl at the end between all the women.
All of this is obviously setting up for a Women’s War Games match with the strong possibility of another person being added to each team (much like the men’s). With the men’s one already being such a big deal and having the story that it does, it doesn’t seem necessary to have two War Games matches this year. You could very easily make the women’s just a traditional Survivor Series match, but it looks like this is the direction they want to go in. Even though this all feels randomly thrown together, a War Games match involving all these women will still be fun at the end of the day. With all the personalities involved, it’ll help further along already progressing storylines while planting the seeds for new ones (Bianca & Jade being one example).
Grade: C+
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