-Well, Seth Rollins, you owe Paul Heyman a significant commission this week because he may have saved the entire Rollins Faction storyline with that opening promo against Jey Uso. Heyman was putting in work out there this week. Goodness. In this one promo, Heyman connected storyline dots across multiple plots including why he did what he did to Roman Reigns and CM Punk at WrestleMania, the new Rollins quest for the world title and what it means, and a small rift between Heyman and Jey himself. He did all of that, while also positioning himself and Rollins to get booed and the audience was there for it. They engaged. They acted on all of Heyman’s cues. Ate right out of the palm of his hand. Great stuff from a masterclass worker on the microphone exactly when the company needed him most.
Unexpected, but predictable twist
-The opening promo ending with a world championship match between Rollins and Uso was a nice surprise. That surprise would have been better if the WWE audience wasn’t conditioned to expect non-finishes in these huge matches. It didn’t seem like the buzz after the match announcement was about whether or not Jey or Seth would win, but rather about how WWE was going to book themselves out of having to do a real finish.
-Penta vs. JD McDonagh was a strong opening match. It didn’t overstay it’s welcome, but featured Penta in a way that made him look like a star. We now know he’s going to face Dominik Mysterio for the WWE Intercontinental Championship at Backlash and it’s a match that makes perfect sense given where both guys are at the moment. Should be a good match, too.
-There isn’t any reporting out there as to where Sheamus keeps going, but he’s back in WWE again. The verdict here is the same as it usually is regarding his upside. The ceiling isn’t very high, but he offers the show he’s on nice depth and can be elevated up and down the card as needed.
-A pretty good go-home segment between Lyra Valkyria and Becky Lynch this week. Valkyria picked up some momentum and continued to show personality. As for Lynch, she’s working really hard to get booed and it’s kind of working. I say kind of, because there are pockets in the audience that are cheering her still. That said, it’s much quieter than week one of the turn, so Lynch is making headway. Lyra needs to have a tremendous match on Saturday at Backlash.
Clean Finish?
-Because the finish of the main event was what it was — more on that later — it was nice to see Roxanne Perez vs. Iyo Sky end in a clean way. Sky is the champion, so pinning Perez shouldn’t have been a big deal from a booking perspective. The rollup exchange to get the victory was solid and leaves a smidge of doubt as to who of the two is truly better. Perez and Guilia attacking Sky wasn’t surprising to see after Perez shook Sky’s hand. Seems like they are heading to a tag team showdown before moving to Perez vs. Sky for the title later this summer.
-Rusev beating Otis was obvious, but the way he did it was important. That was a squash and he needed it. Rusev is going to be like Sheamus. Upside that can move up and down, but he’s not wrestling in the main event of WrestleMania anytime soon.
Hey Pat!
-Hi Pat McAfee! Whoa. McAfee cut a promo last week that I thought was good, but over indulgent. This week was much better. McAfee spoke like a real babyface that was looking for the fans to join him on his journey against Gunther. He set the perfect dichotomy between himself and Gunther and the audience very much responded to it.
-As for Gunther, where has that exact Gunther been the last two months? He was vicious, dark, twisted, confident, and menacing. The build to Gunther vs. Jey was fine, but seeing THIS Gunther then would have helped things by leaps and bounds.
-A tremendous main event between Seth Rollins and Jey Uso for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. As I mentioned earlier, the challenge here was navigating the reality that the audience knew the championship wasn’t changing hands. Both men navigated those waters extremely well with smart near falls. Those drove wonder in the crowd, which made the inevitable interference and non-finish strategic rather than a cop out.
Punk and chair
-CM Punk returning to WWE and costing Seth Rollins the championship was logical in theory and perfect in execution. The match crescendoed to the moment Punk’s music hit and the audience popped huge for the moment. Punk vs. Rollins isn’t over.
What did you think of this week’s episode of WWE Raw? Let us know in the comments!
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