SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...
Opening Segment – HIT: It was good to hear Bron Breakker and Bronson Reed talk this week, since the vast majority of the talking from this group so far has come from Seth Rollins and Paul Heyman. It was also interesting to see the reactions of Rollins and Heyman in the background to the unexpected words from Breakker at the start of this opening segment. They all played their parts well. The issue is that they are not doing enough to get boos from the crowd. Or maybe I should say, Rollins isn’t doing enough. WWE has to change his music. It is crazy that they haven’t. He should not be playing to the crowd for cheers. Breakker did a nice job of acting like a heel in his promo, but he needs to stop the barking. Breed has an issue that his finisher is over in a big way. So, they have an uphill battle, but there are a few things they aren’t doing that they should absolutely be doing starting with the music.
Sane vs. Perez – HIT: This was a good match which played well into the Judgment Day dynamic. It followed a fun clubhouse segment which further established the relationship between Roxanne Perez and Raquel Rodriguez. I’m enjoying their dynamic. WWE had to pivot their stories because of Liv Morgan’s shoulder injury, and they are doing a nice job of handling the situation. This match grew out of that injury as Perez was trying to get revenge on Kairi Sane for hurting Morgan. The post-match attack worked to get Asuka to save Sane to reform their team. I assumed that Nicki Bella would find a partner since her return was around Morgan, presumably setting up a match for Evolution. But, we’ll get the Kabuki Warriors instead which is better.
Breakker vs. Zayn – HIT: WWE is telling multiple stories with Sami Zayn right now, as his feud with Karrion Kross continues, along with his issues with the Rollins faction. This match played into both of those stories as Kross once again attacked Zayn before the match, re-injuring his ribs right before Breakker took advantage of that injury to basically squash Zayn. Heyman promised at the start of the show that they would take out all their enemies, and this was a strong start to that program. But where will Zayn go from here?
Lynch/Bayley/Valkyria – MISS: Lyra Valkyria continue to come across so poorly to me. Bayley doesn’t look much better, but she does look a little better. The only one who looks good to me in this Intercontinental Championship angle is the Champ, Becky Lynch, and she’s the one heel in the feud. She is right. Why should she have to defend her title in a triple threat match against two women whom she has already defeated, neither of who won the no. 1 contender match last week. So, how did they earn that Title shot? I’m sure the match will end up being good, as these are three talented workers, but damage has been done to the two babyfaces in particular.
ARTICLE CONTINUED BELOW…
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Reed vs. Uso – MISS: In a vacuum, what WWE did with this match between Bronson Reed and Jey Uso could have been a Hit. It continued the dominance of the Rollins faction. It made Reed look like a killer. But, this was the second straight match that ended very quickly. We weren’t getting a lot of in-ring action on this show. Also, we’ve seen Reed hitting several Tsunamis in a row on wrestlers multiple times in the past, so this felt a little anticlimactic considering he only did it once on Uso here. And, the idea of one Tsunami being devastating was undermined right away by the L.A. Knight video where he bragged about returning from three of them. That was not well thought out. I’m not too concerned about Jey like I should be.
El Grande Americano vs. Dragon Lee – HIT: This was a good match that went a decent length of time. I am happy to see the El Grande Americano gimmick continuing despite the injury to Chad Gable. The bit earlier in the show with American Made talking about it with Adam Pearce was amusing. Unfortunately, Dragon Lee means nothing. He was protected by the metal plate in the mask gimmick, but why does he need to be protected? He’s barely featured and hasn’t been presented as important in any way.
Gunther – Goldberg – HIT: A bigger deal should have been made about the fact that this will be Goldberg’s final match. That part of the build to the Goldberg vs. Gunther World Title match at Saturday Night’s Main Event has been a Miss. But, if you just look at it being a special feature at SNME, they have done a nice job with the build. The surprise appearance by Goldberg here was nice. He got some physicality against Gunther in, and teased a spear, but didn’t hit it which should build anticipation for him to potentially hit it on Saturday.
Penta vs. Rollins – HIT: This was the best match of the night which isn’t surprising. Penta got a huge babyface reaction which is good considering the continued cheers for Rollins and his crew. The match went back and forth nicely with lots of good wrestling action. I would not have had Rollins kick out of the Penta Driver. Once that happened, I certainly wouldn’t have had him escape a loss after the Mexican Destroyer. Rollins doesn’t need to be Superman in terms of his toughness. He is a great wrestler, and is very crafty. Not every main event wrestler has to be super tough to kick out of a bunch of finishers. He should be successful because he’s too good at avoiding those finishers to begin with. It didn’t ruin the match as it was still clearly a Hit. The ending with the low headbutt worked okay. It protected Penta, but made the referee look like an idiot. The post-match angle with L.A. Knight worked well to hype their match at SNME.
(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. Follow him on BlueSky @jonmezzera.bsky.social.)
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