-Umm, WWE knows that the second biggest event of the year is just a couple of weeks away right? Like, Raw was odd this week. Vince McMahon wasn’t back was he? It kinda felt like one of his shows from the end of his run and that isn’t a compliment. Everything seemed off he cuff, the angles were quiet, and the audience reacted as such.
-The opening tag team match between The Vision and the team of Je’Von Evans and Dragon Lee was excellent. Traditional tag team wrestling. Get heat, hot tag, and go home. Simple, but effective. The audience was arguably hotter for this than anything else on the program.
-I can’t wait for Otis and Akira Tozawa vs. The Vision. That’s a SummerSlam night two opener if you ask me. The fans want Otis and Tozawa to take Breakker and Theory down. If they work that match exactly like they did the one this week, the Minneapolis crowd will be eating out of the palm of their hands.
-Another Big Cass vignette this week and they are heavily leaning into his tumultuous history. I’m interested.
-I guess Danhausen and The Judgment Day are still feuding. I mean, it’s something to get Danhausen on the show? The $100,000 storyline really makes no sense, but nothing about the Danhausen character really does. It’s Danhausen vs. Dominik Mysterio at SummerSlam. That works. Don’t forget about Oba Femi’s involvement with this. For some reason I smell an Oba Femi and Danhausen vs. Judgment Day match next week on Raw. That doesn’t smell good and hopefully I’m wrong, but it would be very easy to book Brock Lesnar to massacre everyone in that match as a final way to hype up not only Dom vs. Danhausen, but Lesnar vs. Femi too. Here’s hoping it’s Danhausen teaming with Joe Hendry instead. Femi really shouldn’t be touching this type of program, yet there he was. A perfect example of why Raw was so weird this week.
-Speaking of Lesnar vs. Femi, the Paul Heyman sit-down promo vignette was very well done and a fun chapter in the story. Basically, Heyman propped up and talked up Lesnar to build his portion of the match. Heyman brought it, but that’s not enough and neither is what I outlined above. Femi and Lesnar need a true go-home angle of some kind next week to push the feud over the finishing line before the match at SummerSlam.
-Solo Sikoa cut a nice promo this week. It’s still hard to believe he’s a babyface, but you heard it here first — he isn’t one. Sure, he said he would help Seth Rollins out, but you’re looking at your Reigns vs. Rollins SummerSlam finish right there. Sikoa rejoins The Bloodline and helps Reigns win.
-Like Lesnar vs. Femi — Rollins and Reigns need a strong go-home angle next week during their final face to face ahead of SummerSlam. And not a tear each other down one either. Like, a straight up angle to try and get some sizzle on a match that is a bit flat given all the history and time over the years that went into building it.
-Penta and Chad Gable tagged up this week against Ethan Page and Rusev. Fine. I guess? Look, it’s great that Gable is in a singles title match at SummerSlam, but either get in the Gable business or don’t. The poor guy is sabotaged in trying to have his big crowning singles title moment in WWE opposite another babyface that everyone loves. Gable vs. literally any heel on the roster was the play here and WWE shot themselves in the foot instead.
-Femi and Danhausen … AND Iyo Sky and Danhausen on the same show. Look, I like Danhausen. WWE shouldn’t have top contenders like these two around a comedy act like him. It’s one thing for a heel champion like Liv Morgan to be there — though I’d argue she shouldn’t either. Entirely different when it’s a babyface you want the audience to take seriously.
-Mic time for LA Knight is always a good thing. Here’s the issue. Nobody in this new Bloodline saga is defined enough for the story they’re telling to work. Knight ripped on The Bloodline during his promo, but it fell on deaf ears because a lot of the audience likes that group and haven’t been given a real reason not to like them. This has to be cleaned up.
-A nice little main event this week. LA Knight and Jacob Fatu had a solid match — albeit one that was tough to judge based on the fact that both of the guys are essentially babyfaces. It’s Knight and his guys against The Bloodline at SummerSlam. See the above note. None of this is landing as good as it could because of a lack of definition on what The Bloodline is supposed to be and how the audience is supposed to react to them. Can’t have your cake and eat it too on this one. Pick a direction and go.
What was the segment of the night this week on WWE Raw? Paul Heyman. How about you? Let us know in the comments!
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