WWE RAW HITS & MISSES (8/17): Reigns and The Usos seem to finally be heels, Becky and Vaquer splitting fan loyalty needlessly, Breakker-Heyman dynamic intrigues, Big Cass attack

Vaquer – Judgment Day – Lynch – MISS: This was a very good episode of Raw, but it didn’t start off that strong. I like that it started with Stephanie Vaquer. I appreciate that she is getting more mic time since her return from injury. But, she looked pretty stupid in taking on all three women from Judgment Day by herself. I know it is supposed to make her look tuff, but I always feel like these types of segments make the babyface look stupid. The physicality was all well done with the four of them and Becky Lynch getting involved. But, again the two faces end up looking bad for the way they treat each other. I want to like both Vaquer and Lynch, but it is hard to do so when they act like this. The opening segment was made worse by the backstage encounter later in the show.

Evans vs. McDonagh – HIT: This impromptu opening match was kind of weird in the way it started on the commercial break, but it was very good. Je’von Evans needed a win and he picked it up here over JD McDonagh. Evans did a nice job of selling the leg injury throughout the match, while fighting through the pain to continue to pull off his great high flying offense. The attack after the match from Big Cass worked well to continue to build heat on him since his return, while actually making Evans look strong as well. I also like how the announcers went after Cass for his cowardly attacks. Far too often, those types of tactics are praised by the announcers which undercuts the heel’s ability to get heat.

Fenix vs. Fiscal – HIT: There wasn’t much doubt as to who would win the two luchador tournament matches on Raw this week, but they were both still fun to watch. I appreciate that they did the short videos of the wrestlers before the matches, which at least gave a little bit of an intro for the fans to El Fiscal and later on El Hijo Del Dr. Wagner Jr. Fiscal’s match against Rey Fenix was fun to watch. Fiscal needs more seasoning. He’s only been wrestling for four years which showed a little in some of his odd mannerisms and body language at times. But, he performed well overall, and Fenix is always fun to watch.

Ruca vs. Valkyria – HIT: Sol Ruca continues to build momentum as both a character and more importantly, a performer. This was her second strong showing in a row. She continues to show more confidence in the ring. I never was worried about her botching a spot here. She and Lyra Valkyria had a very good match, Ruca’s best match on the main roster, and Valkyria should be given a lot of credit for her performance. WWE hasn’t done enough to capitalize on her huge win over Bayley. While I get Ruca’s storyline chase for the Intercontinental Championship, and understand she needed the win here to get back into the Title picture. But, Valkyria should get some wins soon too. Perhaps this loss will push her even further to the dark side.

ARTICLE CONTINUED BELOW…

Check out the latest episode of the Wade Keller Podcast weekly Tuesday Flagship: CLICK HERE to stream (or search “wade keller” on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or any other iOS or Android app to subscribe free)

Breakker – Heyman – Femi – HIT: Sunday Night’s Main Event might be too soon to go to this match between Bron Breakker and Oba Femi, but WWE does seem to be working hard to make this version of SNME more of a big deal that it typically is. Bron Breakker is a babyface waiting to happen when he breaks away from The Vision. Paul Heyman was great here in getting Breakker to back off to get the match made official. Breakker was great especially at the end when he spotted Heyman shaking Femi’s hand after he left the ring. I am intrigued to see where this goes, but I’m worried that we won’t get a real ending to the match.

Wagner Jr. vs Dragon Lee – HIT: WWE has certainly made a bigger deal of Wagner Jr. than El Fiscal, which made me think that he might get the upset win here over Dragon Lee. I assumed Lee would win, but it was at least a little more in the air than the first tournament match of the show. This was a better match all around. The power bomb into the ring followed by the top rope frog splash led to a nice believable near fall for Wagner late in the match. I still feel an argument could be made to help get some AAA talent over with a win here over Lee, but I won’t complain about seeing the Lee vs. Fenix semi-final match next week.

Mysterio vs. Gable – HIT: This was a great Intercontinental Championship match with Chad Gable’s first Title defense over Rey Mysterio. I didn’t think they would take the Title off of Gable so soon after winning it, but the fans were definitely buying into Mysterio as the possible winner. He was clearly more popular than Gable, but Gable was well received too which is a good sign. They are continuing to keep him a face and respectful of the luchadors. Hopefully they build up a few strong heel challengers for him like Ethan Page for instance. At least we are likely to get some very good matches out of his Tittle reign like this one.

Bloodline – HIT: This Hit is predicated on the fact that I am calling Roman Reigns and The Usos heels at this point. WWE seemed to want the fans to boo them this week, much more than at any time since Roman first turned babyface after his WWE Title loss to Cody Rhodes at WrestleMania a few years ago. I have complained about the face vs. face aspect of this storyline lately, and the inconsistency in the presentation for some of the wrestlers involved – particularly Reigns and The Usos. But, that wasn’t the case here as they were clearly heels in their dealings with Solo Sikoa and LA Knight. Everyone played their parts well here, including Jacob Fatu who seemed upset over how Reigns kept calling him off from beating people up and then the way he honored The Usos. Once Sikoa snapped and attacked Reigns to a huge pop, it was interesting to see Fatu just standing in the corner, not helping Reigns, but not helping the babyface duo either. I am much more into this storyline after this show-closing angle than I have been in quite a while.

(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.)