-Triple H really has to rear his head into everything cool, doesn’t he? His John Cena intro was fine — even good — but it reeked of “hey look at me, I said Cena is the GOAT and he really is!”
John Cena did John Cena things
-As for Cena, he was great. I wish he would talk less about being a performer and that on December 13 is his last “performance,” but I’ve always said that about him. When it came time to do business out there, he fired up and was serious opposite Dominik Mysterio.
-Dom? What a stud. Dominik Mysterio shined next to Cena. He was smug, arrogant, and you just wanted to smack the little grin off his face. Cena was the draw in all of this, but Dom the star. He’s come such a long way.
-And after all of that, John Cena became the new WWE Intercontinental Champion and completed the WWE Grand Slam of championships this week. Cena doesn’t need to hold this championship for his final run. This was such a cool moment, though. Cena getting the W in his hometown made for a huge crowd pop and a memorable night on his retirement tour. It’s ok to deliver that to fans every now and again.
From The Takedown on SI YouTube Channel
-Good to see Rusev advance in the “Last Time Is Now” tournament over Damian Priest. Rusev surely isn’t going to be Cena’s final opponent, but he has history with Cena and if booked right in the tournament, can be a world title challenger for CM Punk down the road. The match was fine, but the booking … *chefs kiss.*
Thank you god
-If you take one thing away from the column this week, I hope it’s this … thank god they aren’t calling AJ Styles and Dragon Lee, Dragons With Style.
-Yay … Maxxine Dupri and Becky Lynch are wrestling again next week. See last week’s column for analysis. Lynch is multiple levels above this match and isn’t getting used like it.
-Another strong babyface promo from CM Punk this week. It was nice to see Punk actually use the storyline with Logan Paul in his entrance and look as pissed off as he said he was, rather than just slap hands with fans because of … reasons. Punk was fired up, edgy, and made me want to see a Paul vs. Punk match soon.
-As for the War Games development, it makes sense for Punk, Jey Uso, and Cody Rhodes to take on The Vision. There are a few names that make sense for Team Punk to add — Roman Reigns, Jimmy Uso, LA Knight? All have beef with The Vision. Same thing with The Vision team. Drew McIntyre, Rusev, and Gunther all makes sense to join down the road. The bottom line? WWE has plenty of “let’s fill the teams up” storylines for television in the lead up to Survivor Series.
Stephanie and the story
-The Stephanie Vaquer vs. Raquel Rodriguez match was fine, but tough to buy. With Vaquer becoming champion not too long ago and Rodriguez just not positioned as championship material, everyone knew the outcome before the match started. As for Vaquer vs. Nikki Bella. Look, that isn’t a marquee match, but it’s important for Vaquer to have an actual storyline to work within and not just have great matches. If she’s going to win as a centerpiece act of the women’s division, she has to be able to bring it in regular WWE-style feuds and that is what this is.
-I continue to love Sheamus matches on Raw each week. He’s not a guy that I want to see in top main events on ESPN or anything, but when kicking back and watching Raw on Monday he always delivers. Like Rusev, it’s smart to book him to advance in the “Las Time Is Now” tournament. Cena and Sheamus have history. Why not take advantage of that?
-Huh. I guess I probably should have seen the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship title change coming given the push that The Kabuki Warriors have gotten in the last month. Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss still had plenty to do as champs, though. Obviously, they can get the belts back at some point, but this was a bit of a whimpering way to end what has been a surprisingly entertaining run for them.
A rocky women’s War Games match
-They got to a women’s War Games match, but it wasn’t smooth. War Games — like Blood and Guts — is an all-time violent affair. It can’t feel like we’re stumbling into a match like that, but that’s what this is at the moment. There is time, but WWE needs to do a lot of work to get this match ready for those cages.
What did you think of this week’s episode of WWE Raw? Let us know in the comments!
