-The Jey Uso WWE Intercontinental Championship celebration promo to start the show this week was damn near perfect. First, the recap vignette on the win last week was tremendous. It captured the drama of the moment and made the IC title feel like a very big deal. As for Jey, the audience is so into what he does on a weekly basis that real, authentic promos like the one he cut in the ring about his mother hit home and resonated deeply this week. You could hear a pin drop in the arena as Jey replayed that conversation and it was emotional. Just superb follow-up on last week’s main event and Jey came across as big a star as he ever has before.
Babyface Breakker
-Now, let’s talk Bron Breakker. He was equally as effective out there and we saw a definitive babyface turn. Not only did Breakker shake Jey’s hand, but you had Jey himself attempt to get over the Breakker dog bark chant stuff. Add into that Breakker’s confrontation with Gunther backstage and it’s pretty clear what they have in mind for him moving forward. I’m sure it’s a mixture of experience, Paul Levesque, and working with other top stars, but Breakker has developed a good sense of self on the microphone. Dog barking aside, he can articulate much better now than when he burst onto the scene three years ago.
-Xavier Woods vs. Rey Mysterio happened, but the entire thing existed to start getting heat on Woods. Woods accidentally removing Rey’s mask, but winning the match anyway was heelish in nature and continues the spiral down to the dark side for Woods. More on him a little later.
-My how the mighty have fallen, but that’s what happens when you head to the main roster without a gimmick or character. Lyra Valkyria losing to Zoey Stark isn’t the end of the world, but it’s a total 180 pivot from where Valkyria was when she made her debut and was advancing to the Queen of the Ring Finals on a PLE. Valkyria even played second fiddle to the returning Kayden Carter & Katana Chance this week. That’s a trio that’s already misguided and being the third wheel in it doesn’t bode well.
-Now we know why Katana Chance doesn’t get much promo time. Chance was obnoxious, overbearing, and utterly fake when talking about getting revenge on Pure Fusion Collective. It was as if someone told her “quick, cut a stereotypical pro wrestling promo now!" Not a great outing for her, especially given the fact that her mic time is already limited at best.
Give em hell
-Speaking of mic time, man, Drew McIntyre and CM Punk made the most of theirs. In their final face to face encounter before entering Hell in a Cell on Saturday night, both Punk and Drew cut deep on the other when talking about what the upcoming match meant to them. In doing so, they put over the feud and also the stakes of the Hell in a Cell stipulation. That’s been a theme of the last few weeks with these guys and they continued it here. The feud needed this final exclamation point in terms of a last chapter. It started in a serious place and got lost a bit with bracelets, but it landed back in a serious spot in the end. This feels like a premiere blood feud grudge match going into Bad Blood. Thumbs way up.
-I can’t believe WWE is selling toilet paper with Dominik Mysterio’s face on it. Well, I take that back. I can believe it — they will sell anything — I just can’t believe there is a market for it. Shame on us!!!
-The final hype for Finn Balor vs. Damian Priest and Liv Morgan vs. Rhea Ripley at Bad Blood was wrapped up together and why wouldn’t it have been. All of these acts have been attached at the hip for months. They leaned into chaos as the final sales pitch for the matches and it worked nicely. Rhea Ripley continues to get huge pops. Damian Priest too. The brawl articulated well just how much these four hate one another. Once again, they teased a lot with Rhea and Dom, but didn’t deliver fully. Based on the story progression, it seems as if both Rhea and Priest will pick up victories this weekend.
Downward spiral
-I told you we’d get back to Xavier Woods. Woods essentially cheating to win his match and then costing Kofi Kingston his match has him firmly on the path to being a heel. Kingston confronting Woods after the mask incident and then gifting him an IC title match was smart as it made Kofi a very likable figure in the story. They didn’t do too much with Kofi and Woods after Woods messed up the match. A weird miss as that was a perfect opportunity to build up dissension between the guys. I like this story a lot. It has nuance and gives two strong talents something fresh to do.
-Gunther and Sami Zayn were tremendous. Just wonderful. We know what Zayn can do as the fighting underdog challenger, but Gunther shined as the heel champion. He is the best at conveying dominance, but also selling for his babyfaces at the same time. That’s a skill that even the most seasoned stars don’t always have. The match is on between these two and will main event next week’s episode of Raw — another heavily built TV main event on display.
-Did Miz turn heel or solidify himself as a babyface when he decked R-Truth this week? Kidding! Clearly it was a heel turn and that’s good for Miz. He’s been stuck for over a year now and this gives him the chance to get unstuck. Plus, he’s always been better as a heel anyway.
Monster madness
-WWE promised a monster war between Braun Strowman and Bronson Reed in the Raw main event this week. They delivered. The match was a blast. WWE did a great job building it up across multiple weeks and then it was spot after spot of pure monster madness action that the audience ate up. WWE has done the ring falling apart spot a lot at this point, but it’s still a sight each time they do it. Seth Rollins costing Reed the match protects Reed quite a bit as he was clearly going to beat the 10 count before Rollins got involved. That adds a personal layer to their feud.
What did you think of this week’s episode of WWE Raw? Let us know in the comments!
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