SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...
Oba Femi – Jey Uso – HIT: Raw got off to a good start with Oba Femi and Jey Uso’s face-off over their upcoming King of the Ring final match at Night of Champions. In no world should Jey Uso beat Oba Femi. I don’t care if that was the original plan, presumably with lots of Bloodline and Brock Lesnar shenanigans. I don’t care if some people think it is too early for Femi. Listen to the crowd and run with the star. I expect that they will have Uso win, which is a shame. But, this Hit is for what happened on Raw, not for what is likely to happen at the PLE.
Bayley & Valkyria vs. Paige & Bella – HIT: The Tag Team Championship match with Paige & Brie Bella successfully defending the Titles against Bayley & Lyra Valkyria was a pretty good match. It wasn’t anything particularly memorable, but it worked for a successful defense leading to Valkyria snapping and turning heel on Bayley. The beatdown after the match was very well done. Valkyria and Bayley were both good later in the show in not talking about what happened for very different reasons. Valkyria has potential to catch on as a heel better than she did as a babyface. The follow up will be the key.
Chad Gable – Alpha Academy – MISS: This is a minor Miss despite strong performances from Chad Gable and Maxxine Dupri. Gable has been very good in his apology tour. Dupri will be a better heel than face. The problem is that Gable is hot coming out of the El Grande Americano storyline. He has a chance to be pushed way up the card. Alpha Academy is at the bottom of the card. It makes perfect sense for him to have to make amends to Otis and Tozawa, but this is going to be stretched out for awhile now, which I fear will totally stall Gable’s momentum. They should all be far beneath him at this point. I guess it will lead to a Gable vs. Austin Theory feud down the line, which is better, but not that good either. I also didn’t like how desperate Gable looked when he first got in the ring trying to get the fans to clap along with his music.
Dragon Lee vs. Ethan Page – HIT: Ethan Page definitely needed a win to get some momentum. As good as Dragon Lee is, he hasn’t gotten a big push which is disappointing. But, at least he is getting a chance to show off his great in ring skills in matches like this. Where will the story go? Rusev, Rey Mysterio, and Penta are all still involved. It feels like a Intercontinental Title reign for Ethan is inevitable.
ARTICLE CONTINUED BELOW…
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Danhausen – MISS: I have enjoyed some of Danhausen’s antics. I do get a kick out of his performances. But, I haven’t been a fan of the electrocution bit he’s been doing lately, mostly on Smackdown with The Miz and Kit Wilson. I certainly didn’t need to see that bit expanded to Raw. Considering how good Judgment Day has been and could still be, I particularly don’t want to see the electrocution silliness extended to Dominic Mysterio and JD McDonagh.
LA Knight vs. Jimmy Uso – HIT: This was a good match which fit in well with the growing tension between LA Knight and the Usos revolving around their involvement in the Bloodline. Jimmy Uso had tried to play peace keeper between Jey and Knight, but after what happened last week, he’s over it. They had a good match together which culminated in Solo Sikoa helping Knight beat his brother. Knight did a nice job of acting surprised given that he has been assuming that Solo is really still part of the Bloodline. I am curious to see where they go from here with these different moving parts, but it is still too muddy with Knight as a babyface going up against other babyfaces who often act like heels, while now possibly working with a heel himself.
Tag Team Title Main Event – HIT: Bron Breakker doesn’t need to be teaming with Austin Theory at this point. Having him fill in for the injured Logan Paul made some sense, but now that they’ve lost the Tag Team Championship to The Street Profits, Breakker can get back to focusing on his singles career with this upcoming steel cage match against Seth Rollins at the PLE. This was a good tag team title match which was brought down some with the shenanigans involving Paul, a returning Joe Hendry, and Rollins. The Vision has been cursed by the injury bug over and over again. The announcers did talk about Bronson Reed during his rehab, so perhaps he’ll be back soon to help out. But, the lack of Paul Heyman and the lack of more credibility, hurts the presentation of the faction.
(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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