-Before we get into the segment by segment analysis that these columns are known for, a quick comment on the overall show … when you hit a guy with a freaking car, there better be some strong follow-up planned. After Jacob Fatu was mowed down by Jaida Parker from the 946 last week, you’d think Adam Pearce or the police would have consequences lined up? If not that, how about creating a way to get 946 in the ring for a promo to explain themselves and allow for the audience to hate on them and give them the heat the angle was for? None of that happened. Nothing happened. There were a couple recap vignettes and that’s it. A really bad showing following a questionable angle to begin with.
Just waiting on Roman
-Ok, can Roman Reigns just be a damn heel already? There wasn’t anything inherently wrong with the go-home Reigns and LA Knight in-ring promo, but it lacked intensity. It lacked the audience frothing at the mouth for a certain outcome. Because Reigns is hell bent on playing a tweener, he caps the potential of the match with Knight. It’ll be fine and maybe even better than good, but you won’t have an audience collectively cheering for Knight to win. That’s a problem.
-I expected better from Knight too. Out of all the babyfaces in the company, Knight is the most organically over and yet the promo on Reigns this week was a rehash of stuff that he himself and everyone else Reigns has faced in the last five years has said. Knight is better than that on the mic and needed to find his own lane to rundown Reigns in.
-A strong opening tag match this week … until the finish. Holy smokes the finish was a disaster. More on that in a minute. Penta and Je’Von Evans are a fun team and The Vision are perfect heels for them to work with. There is still an aura when Penta walks out to the ring and WWE has to continue finding ways to magnify that as the weeks go on. Ok, here’s a rant for you. Why on earth is Evans using brass knuckles to win his match? This is as babyface of a babyface character that WWE has and he’s booked to cheat to win? There’s a long list of problems with this, but here are two major ones. First, it undercuts Evans. Evans should be presented as “good enough” to win without a weapon. Second, how can any heel in the company get heat after this? If there’s nothing wrong with illegally using a weapon to win matches, you don’t have a solid foundation for heels to build their heat on.
-That Lola Vice spinning back fist finisher is impressive. She has to make sure she protects that as she continues to climb to the top of the main roster. Unfortunately, she clocked her own partner with it this week and cost her team the tag match against Judgment Day. The angle created drama between Vice and Sol Ruca — who are in the women’s Money in the Bank ladder match this weekend. Collectively, there wasn’t enough final hype for that match. The women in the match didn’t have nearly enough time to talk about why winning was important. We know that it is, but you want to see the characters actually talk about it in order to sell the match harder, while giving fans a reason to invest. Is there a favorite? Not really and that’s an issue. The same holds true for the men’s match.
Ethan Page needs more
-Ethan Page and Rey Fenix had a nice match for the AAA World Cruiserweight Championship, but lo and behold, Page did a job. Page has too much mid-card upside to be losing at the clip he does. WWE has a top heel there, but they never feed that momentum with wins and booking. How Chad Gable vs. Ethan Page is a staple middle of the card program right now is beyond me. It’s right there for the taking.
-Big Cass had a good week. He finally looked menacing, dominant, and someone on the roster that makes the audience turn their head a bit. Cass taking out Rey Mysterio sets up a clear match between the two. I’ll call it for Raw sometime in the next two weeks.
-I think Paul Heyman likes Oba Femi. NOT. Well, that’s what Heyman wants everyone to believe. I’m just not buying the Heyman love for Femi. He’s going to turn on the guy … somehow and someway. The Heyman love comes across as an obsession and it’s setting up pins for Femi to knock down on the way to a world title. This is one of the more interesting storylines on Raw each week because of how up in the air all of it seems.
-WWE did a nice job setting up the Liv Morgan vs. Becky Lynch world title number one contender match throughout Raw. The video promos from Morgan and Lynch not only told the story of the feud that’s going on, but both were very much in character and entertaining.
-The match? That was good too. The match of the night. Morgan and Lynch had a handful of strong near falls and smooth action, but you knew it was all going to get messed up because of outside interference thanks to The Judgment Day. Yeah, it happened. The match was fully derailed because of interference and it was yet another WWE television main event marred by shenanigans.
Context saves Vaquer
-Worse than that, if you’ve been watching Raw regularly, you saw this exact finish coming from a mile away. Stephanie Vaquer vs. Liv Morgan vs. Becky Lynch in a triple threat match has been forecasted for weeks. Vaquer outright attacking Morgan and Lynch during the match without any context or explanation from her would’ve been a nightmare finish. Instead, WWE went the extra distance and had Vaquer herself demand the triple threat after having enough of both opponents. It’s an important detail that keeps Vaquer likable as a babyface even when ruining match outcomes. Evans needed this kind of context to protect his finish this week with the brass knuckles.
What was your match of the night on this week’s episode of WWE Raw? Let us know in the comments!
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It's appalling that Roman asked the Usos about Jacob, he clearly doesn't watch the product considering last week's attempted vehicular manslaughter. He's beyond self-absorbed. It's even worse that contenders opposing him (LA Knight) Roman pours cold water on their heat. I'm even less interested because predictability is WWE's best card to play to get their final destination (Oba FemI).
What's wrong with taking a detour?
About Je'von for a minute...there's nothing wrong with a babyface giving a heel a taste of their own medicine.
Lastly, I hope Steph V retains on Saturday. I'm not going back to more Judgment Day navel-gazing horseshit.