-No crown on Gunther’s head? No cape? No scepter? Is this some kind of bizarre King of the Ring fever dream? Thank goodness. Seeing Gunther walk out to the ring as King of the Ring only holding the crown made me smile. He cut a strong promo that not only put over the King of the Ring tournament, but himself as a challenger to the world title too. Gunther is smack dab in the middle of the booking plans at the top of the card on Raw after this week and that’s exactly where he should be.
Priest still finding the right footing
-Damian Priest still is trying to find his footing as champion, but he sported a good babyface attitude opposite Gunther. They had a strong interaction together and though both are new faces, they both feel like they can carry a title match on a big show together.
-Drew McIntyre was also in the mix to start the show. He’s got Priest first at Clash at the Castle, after all. Drew was the alpha of the pack. He exudes charisma, but also confidence and is one of the most over acts on the show.
-It’s incredibly smart for Damian Priest to have so much going on around him. He’s got issues with Drew, issues with Judgement Day, and the looming match with Gunther. By having a lot on his plate, it hides the booking effectively and makes Priest’s summer and the world title’s summer unpredictable.
One trick giant
-After all these years, Braun Strowman still only has one note to him. He’s a one trick pony and a match like the one he had this week with JD McDonagh doesn’t help him develop another trick. Strowman needs to fine his stride as a monster giant like Nia Jax did. Until then, he’ll get stuck in his regular mid-card spot on the roster.
-Liv Morgan didn’t get a lot of promo time this week, but it was important she got some and she did. Morgan has so much more meat on the bone to her as a character as a heel. This is a good spot and she has a very big mach brewing with Rhea Ripley. Thumbs up.
-Ricochet vs. Ilja Dragunov 2 was a good match while it lasted by only a background to the eventual appearance by Bron Breakker. Breakker destroyed both guys with spears and then again had a face-to-face encounter with Raw General Manager, Adam Pearce. Again, this was a brilliant use of Breakker. Short, sweet, intense. That’s the lane to drive in with him. The question is, will people cheer when Breakker spears Pearce? At this point, I’d surmise that, yes, they would. To that end, it’s good to not have him fully positioned as a heel or babyface.
The truth is, Truth’s not for me
-The Awesome Truth nonsense continues to be just that … nonsense. That said, last week they got the pop of the night from the audience. As long as that’s happening they’ll have a place on the show each week, but it’s certainly not an act that is for me.
-So, The Creed Brothers lose in minutes to AOP? Chad Gable to the rescue. Mark my words, this loss will cause The Creed’s to consider the “offer” Gable made to them last week and that’s how we’ll get to a new and improved Alpha Academy.
-Sheamus vs. Ludwig Kaiser is going to be excellent next week. I like how WWE puts meaning behind mid-card Raw matches like this with angles. It turns what is otherwise a meaningless match into something that has a lot more heat behind it.
-Lyra Valkyria got back to winning, defeating Kairi Sane, but she’s still missing something. Valkyria needs promo time in the ring to tell the audience who she is. Why does the bird stuff matter? What does it mean? Who is she? None of that has happened for her yet and though the big push is obviously important, she needs to show a character that can capture the audience’s interest.
Rey’s back
-Good to see get a win. Yes, it was over Carlito, but for Rey to be effective he needs to get some W’s and this was the perfect spot to give him one. That said, the long term outlook is what? That’s tough to see. Who is the big opponent they are building to? Santos Escobar? Perhaps. This isn’t clear and the crowd would likely invest more if that revenge storyline for him was clear.
-The in-ring Alpha Academy segment was excellent this week. You don’t see mid-card stories get this kind of time usually, but Gable, Otis, and Sami Zayn were given time to work and they did. Gable looked like a supreme jerk, thus making Otis an ultra-sympathetic babyface. Otis didn’t fully turn on Gable, but he teased it enough to make fans want to see, achieving one of the many goals of the segment. The other goal was to position Sami Zayn as the conduit to Otis leaving Gable. If Otis just turns on Gable himself and leaves, he gets the pop for that moment, but then it fizzles. With Zayn at the forefront, Otis can capitalize more on the eventual turn due to being around the story longer. You can pencil in Chad Gable vs. Sami Zayn for Clash at the Castle.
A little too cute
-Overall, the Liv Morgan vs. Becky Lynch world championship cage match main event was good, but the finish was cringey. Obviously, the point was to further the story of Dom “accidentally” helping Liv Morgan retain her title. That’s easy to see. It’s one thing to do that story with a deliberate toss of a chair in the ring like they did at the PLE on Saturday. It’s another thing for it all to happen on accident. Braun Strowman knocking Dom into the steel cage door, which then causes the door to slam into Becky leading to Liv’s win is much too convenient. Plus, if it turns out that Dom is helping Liv on purpose, this angle doesn’t work because it wall was an accident. If he is helping Liv on accident, why should Rhea Ripley really get angry at him?
-WWE, you have been producing episodes of Raw for 30 years. You can’t mess up and have the feed cut before you shoot the biggest angle of the entire show. The big go-home moment on Raw this week was Liv Morgan kissing Dominik Mysterio. The thing is, nobody saw it. Not much else to say aside from mistakes like this can’t happen.
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