-Now THAT was the promo segment a heel Seth Rollins desperately needed. First off, Paul Heyman — as usual — was brilliant to start the show. He set a tone and foundation that heat could be built upon and then Rollins built right on it. Without Heyman lining it all up by heelishly talking about the group, Bron Breakker, and Bronson Reed, the promo by Rollins doesn’t land. Finally, it seemed like Rollins wanted to be hated out there. He didn’t cue the crowd regarding singing his music, but instead ridiculed them for booing him, yet singing that song on their own. A heel move. On top of that, he drove home a heel mission statement of power at all cost, winning at all cost, and dominance at all cost, while positioning the world championship — which should be the most important part of the show — as the thing needed most to achieve it all. Tremendous work. Now the job is to keep it up and not slip back into old bad habits.
Why Bronson, why?
-All that positivity aside, we didn’t get enough of Reed’s and Rollins’ thought process on joining up together. They have a violent history together and it was all glossed over.
-Wow. What a triple threat match between Chad Gable, Dragon Lee, and Penta this week. There were some dangerous spots in it, but it captivated the audience with it’s insane pace. Gable messing with Vikingo and then losing the match because of it was the right call to protect him while building the Worlds Collide match between the two men. Penta was the obvious choice to win this and he did.
-Glad to see Liv Morgan back on Raw. She gives the women’s division some character and The Judgment Day a big boost of star power. Based on how Morgan’s match finished against Kairi Sane — she lost thanks to being distracted — it looks as if she’s being positioned against both Raquel Rodriguez and Roxanne Perez. Drama is brewing.
Roxanne pros and cons
-Now, as for Roxanne Perez, she looks awkward being in Judgment Day all of a sudden. Big picture, being involved with Judgment Day is a good thing for an up and coming talent like her because the faction gets so much television time. That said, her involvement paints her as a background figure instead of a standout star.
-Rusev vs. Akira Tozawa was the massacre it needed to be with Rusev getting the victory. Sheamus running out to save Tozawa from a post-match attack sets up a match with Rusev. That’s great television right there. Thumbs up.
-Bert Kreischer and Tom Segura … what the hell are you doing? That sucked.
-My god The Creed Brothers looked awful in the tag team championship triple threat with The Viking Raiders and New Day. The entire match was about them being used by the New Day to help New Day win and it played exactly like that. This was WWE doing the least amount possible for their tag team championships and it showed. Flat as flat can be.
More of the same
-The Jey Uso and Gunther promo this week wasn’t bad, but it’s just that we’ve heard it all before from both guys. Not much new there at all, which tells you all you need to know about this rivalry at the moment. It’s been there, done that. Their June 9 match on Raw will be must-see not because of them, but because of the Money in the Bank factor. Surely WWE has something in mind there and I don’t think it’s just to get Jey another win over Gunther or Gunther another win over Jey.
-Lyra Valkyria took a step backward this week. After really strong promo performances in the lead up to her match against Becky Lynch at Backlash, this one lacked the depth, personality, and authenticity that the other ones had. It seemed like the goal was to write a script that had points in it of Valkyria burning Becky on some stuff, but Valkyria didn’t appear comfortable delivering them, so they didn’t land well. Those types of one liners need the proper setup and Valkyria just didn’t set them up right with tone. I like the stipulation added to the Money in the Bank match between these two women. It keeps the outcome of the match up in the air and hidden.
All Seth
-Seth Rollins absolutely had to win the main event and qualify for Money in the Bank. He did. The match was good, but suffered because the outcome was so certain. With the June 9 championship match being promoted as such a big deal, I’m looking at a Rollins MITB win and then a cash-in on that night. It just seems like they are working hard to tell the audience “watch the show on June 9” and a cash-in is the reason to do that — not Jey vs. Gunther for the 11th time.
What did you think of this week’s episode of WWE Raw? Let us know in the comments!
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