Just hours before Monday Night RAW went live, it was announced that "due to overwhelming social media support," Shane McMahon would be hosting RAW again. This is one thing to nitpick regarding Shane's storyline but I'll let it slide. If last week's episode was good, last night's episode was great. The results can be found here.
All 3 hours of RAW, which normally feels like a weekly chore to sit through, was consistently entertaining. Shane McMahon kicked off the show by announcing upcoming matches on tonight's card and giving opportunities to other people. It has been such a long time since the show has had a mostly neutral GM who not only made sure the audience would enjoy the show, he also made sure to look out for the talent. He gave Sami Zayn another chance to be another possible contender for the WWE WHC title by going up against AJ Styles, and Zayn and Styles put on a great hardhitting match. He sets up Kevin Owens and Cesaro in a match, where the winner will face off against the Miz for the IC title. He also kicks out Owens for threatening to harm Zayn again and cost him his match. He announces a tag team tournament where the winners will face off against New Day for the Tag Team Championship title. And in one small hilarious in-ring segment, Shane (via a crumpled memo from Ambrose's pocket) cancelled Jericho's "Highlight Reel" and replaced it with "Ambrose Asylum."
On top of well booked matches were a few surprises. First was Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows taking out The Usos. While WWE didn't officially acknowledge them as Bullet Club, that didn't stop the audience from chanting their name. The Tag Team division looks promising with 2 new NXT call ups (sorry Lucha Dragons and Ascension) and now these new "Outsiders." Another surprise was Dr. Phil, whom the audience feared would be a throwaway celebrity guest, who actually tried to reach out to Charlotte and implored her to stop using Ric Flair to cheat her way to the top. This might be the start of a much needed split between Charlotte and Flair since she's turned heel.
Shane even set up the main event match that saw Roman Reigns and Bray Wyatt teaming up against Sheamus and Alberto Del Rio. It was a baffling set up, considering Reigns and Wyatt's drawn out feud from last year. The crowd reaction basically changed Wyatt into a babyface while Reigns was continuing to get the boos. This was a refreshing change from the last time Reigns and Wyatt closed out RAW. As tweeners (the champ being more of a dick and the cult leader being more of babyface), they had good chemistry, even though Reigns remained cautiously adamant after they won.
Overall, this was another feel good RAW following WrestleMania and it really seems to reflect that they're taking extra steps to improve their product. The main story is not about Authority vs Reigns anymore. Now we're seeing other talents getting the spotlight. We're seeing storyline progression. And most importantly, the show ended on such a good note and renewed excitement for their upcoming shows. I'm just happy that 3 of my current favorite wrestlers (Ambrose, Cesaro, and Owens) got TV time.
So I mentioned last week how worried I was that WWE killed Ambrose's momentum (again), especially after WrestleMania. I honestly didn't expect him to appear on RAW at all until Jericho's Highlight Reel segment was announced. I'm excited at the fact that they're quickly moving Ambrose and Jericho into a feud. This doesn't appear to callback Jericho's shoulder check to Ambrose from Night of Champions or when Ambrose eliminatied Jericho from the Royal Rumble. Instead, this is a cocky Jericho saying he's untouchable after beating AJ Styles at WrestleMania and Ambrose simply stepping up. He's back in TV mode, where he's being goofy instead of intense, which is fine for him. At least he'll get a believable win this time.
No comments:
Post a Comment