SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...
Opening Segment – HIT: Raw got off to a good start with Drew McIntyre cutting a promo challenging Seth Rollins to a WWE Championship match at Money in the Bank. He is playing his part very well right now despite the lack of a crowd. I like how he specifically made the case for why Rollins deserves a Title match. Rollins’ answer to the challenge later in the show was also good. The interruption from Zelina Vega and her group wasn’t as good. It was ok, but I didn’t like how they refused to go to Andrade’s aid. That made McIntyre look dominating, but it didn’t do much for the heel trio. But, it was still a good segment overall.
Theory vs. Black – HIT: This was a solid to good MITB qualifying match which went the right length to give Austin Theory a chance to get in some offense against Aleister Black, while not dragging. Black still got the strong win in the end as he should. I don’t see the post-match interviews as a smart move in this landscape (in regular circumstances they should be done more often), but I liked the content of this one with Black talking about not being familiar with the concept of being “corporate.” The whole Corporate Ladder thing is dippy and makes the wrestlers look less than outlaws for wanting to climb that corporate ladder, but Black shook that off with this interview.
Baszler – HIT: I like this version of Shayna Baszler where she just breaks her opponents arms on purpose. It isn’t against the rules, but the announcers have done a nice job of pointing out what makes her actions despicable despite being legal.
Bobby Lashley Flipping Tires – MISS: I kept assuming that Bobby Lashley would strain a muscle at some point doing tire flips because he couldn’t get one done and Lana would be berating him to do it. I assumed this would be another step in the storyline of him getting tired (no pun intended, but that worked out well!) of her. But, I was wrong. This was simply boring videos of him showing off his strength which doesn’t do anything for anyone.
Sane vs. Jax – MISS: Did we need to see this match again? I guess Kairi Sane got in a little more offense than last week, but not enough to make her feel like anything other than a jobber to the much larger Nia Jax.
Viking Raiders – MISS: What was that all about? Seriously, I’d like to know. It was so weird and felt so out of character for them. I just don’t understand the point.
MVP vs. Crews – HIT: This is a marginal Hit for being better than I expected. It was so predictable that Apollo Crews would get the win over MVP, but they did a nice job of building some doubt particularly with that strong near fall towards the end of the match. I still think MVP is best in a managerial role right now, not in the ring, but he performed well here. WWE is getting behind Crews. It may be a case of lacking other options, but he is talented. Unfortunately, he is also damaged. Will the fans accept him in a more prominent role?
Morgan vs. Riott – MISS: The action in this match was perfectly fine. The issue is how it was presented. It was smart that Ruby Riott got to have a pre-match interview. It would have been better to have a response to that interview from Liv Morgan. In fact, I would argue that this match should have happened next week. Have interviews with each, show a video of their history and then announce the match for next week to build anticipation for it. And then give them more than 4 minutes. Morgan has shown improvement in the ring, but she doesn’t have much of a character right now. Riott is better all around so it would have made more sense to give her the win, or at least have a longer match so she doesn’t lose so much in the loss.
Murphy vs. Mysterio – HIT: This was the best match of the night. Buddy Murphy (I refuse to allow his first name to die) and Rey Mysterio worked very well together and put on a really good match. The announcers actually added to the match (they were much better than last week), helping to tell the story of Mysterio getting his finger dislocated early on and having to fight through the pain and questioning whether or not he’d be able to execute a 619 with an injured hand. Mysterio sold that injury well. The match built nicely to the end where Mysterio was able to overcome that injury and get the win. I also am enjoying his story about wanting to win the MITB briefcase to help cement his legacy and avenge the fact that he lost the WWE Title to a MITB winner 10 years ago.
Caruso – MISS: I just don’t think it is smart to present Charlie Caruso as having a crush on Angel Garza. It makes her look unprofessional. She is good as an interviewer. She doesn’t need a character.
Tozawa vs. Andrade – HIT: This is a marginal Hit. The action between Akira Tozawa and Andrade was very good. These are two talented wrestlers who had a good match. The problem is that Tozawa is part of the Interim Cruiserweight Title tournament on NXT where he is being presented as a legit contender who won his first match last week, yet he is jobbing out on Raw each week at the same time. This is a problem with the limited roster and having wrestlers like him doing double duty. They are also using NXT talent as jobbers in multiple Raw matches. Overall, I’m ok with that depending on who is being used. Kayden Carter hasn’t been presented as a threat to the NXT Women’s Division, so jobbing her out to Charlotte Flair was fine. But, once you put Tozawa in that tournament you shouldn’t be using him like this on Raw.
Street Profits – MISS: Last week, I praised Bianca Bel Air for adding something to the act of The Street Profits. This week, I have to do the opposite for the Street Profits subtracting from Bel Air’s act. They took away from her match. She got a strong win, but I couldn’t pay attention to the match since they were so over the top and annoying on guest commentary. WWE needs to do more with wrestlers like that at ringside to add energy and less with the guest commentary. That’s true for positive contributors to the commentary like Zelina Vega, and doubly so for an act like the Street Profits.
McIntyre vs. Garza – HIT: This was a good main event for McIntyre to show off how good he is in the ring, his personality, and his dominance as WWE Champion. Garza, Andrade and Theory are good wrestlers for him to bump for. The problem is that they are all skilled wrestlers (although Theory isn’t ready for Raw yet), Vega is a great manager, and their trio has potential to be something meaningful on Raw, yet they are constantly decimated by one man. So while I enjoyed the match and McIntyre is looking like a very strong WWE Champion, I have reservations about how Vega’s trio is being presented.
Jon Mezzera is PWTorch.com’s WWE Hits & Misses Specialist, providing his point of view for Raw and Smackdown each week. Email him at jmezz_torch@yahoo.com. Follow me on Twitter @JonMezzera.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.