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Opening Segment – HIT: Raw got off to a good start with the encounter between Gunther and Damian Priest. WWE has been doing a good job of building Priest up as a legit contender to defeat Gunther for the World Championship at Survivor Series. Gunther is playing his part well in showing doubt for the first time ever since losing to Cody Rhodes at Crown Jewel. Priest is playing the confident challenger very well also and getting strong reactions because of it. The physicality was strong to make it seem like Gunther was finally getting the better of Priest, only to have Priest turn it around in the end.
Mysterio & Lee vs. The Creed Brothers – HIT: This was a good tag match between a talented team and two talented singles wrestlers. I don’t really need to see Dragon Lee in a tag team at this point, but at least he’s getting featured. As I said last week, American Made needs more wins, so it was good to see the Creeds getting the win here. But, it also feels like 50-50 booking after last week.
Kaiser vs. Breakker – MISS: Once again, a non-finish ruined what was otherwise a very good match. Bron Breakker and Ludwig Kaiser were having a good match before Sheamus predictably got involved to cause the disqualification. It was so predictable, that I wasn’t able to enjoy the match despite the quality, knowing that Sheamus was going to show up sooner or later. That spot where Breakker ran full on into the corner of the announce table was brutal looking. It probably should have been saved for a time when it would have meant more. The match was followed by a good pull apart brawl, but WWE has been going to the pull apart brawl too often.
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McDonagh & Balor vs. The Viking Raiders – MISS: Like the previous match, this match had good action. WWE had done a nice job of building up the Viking Raiders as challengers for JD McDonagh & Finn Balor’s Tag Team Championship. They are a very good team and it has been nice to have them back after so many injuries. But, the duo from Judgment Day are not strong Champions. They have barely defended their Titles since they won them. They always have the rest of their faction interfere to help them win, so their matches are predictable. This would have been a chance to put the Titles on a real team and try to make the Titles mean something. Right now, they are meaningless.
New Day Blow Up – HIT: The tension between Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods has been growing and growing for several weeks now. It had to blow up at some point. Their quick loss to Alpha Academy was the catalyst for a very strong verbal fight between them. Both of them performed very well here. It was intense. You could actually see them both make legit points. You could see where Woods, the clear heel in the situation, was coming from, even if you didn’t agree with him. He didn’t seem totally unreasonable. It was very memorable and a definite highlight of this episode. It should make fans really want to see what will happen next week with their Anniversary celebration with Big E returning.
Bel Air vs. Jax – HIT: Bianca Bel Air and Nia Jax worked well together to have a good main event. They played nicely into the idea that Bel Air can’t overpower Jax like she can with most of her opponents, so how will she adjust her approach? The match was well booked to tell that story. I understand why they had Bailey interfere to help Bel Air win, but I would have rather seen a clean win. She is trying to win favor with Bel Air so that she can be the replacement for the injured Jade Cargill. I guess we will find out on Smackdown if her plan worked. I am not excited about the match in part because it does not feel worthy of WarGames. The dynamics between the babyface team also are odd. Why would Bailey want to team with any member of Damage CTRL? WWE has been consistent with some of the personalities involved, continuing to sell Bel Air’s dislike for Bailey for instance. But, what about Bailey and Iyo Sky?
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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