-The first show of the year going up against Monday Night Football started with a wild Street Fight between the Wyatt Sicks and American Made factions. This was a fun brawl. It didn’t have any cinder blocks or needles, but it had intensity and a narrative that the audience was firmly invested in. Wyatt Sicks getting the win was obvious and needed, but the question now is where do they go? Final Testament? Are they too low on the card? What happens next for Uncle Howdy and who the Wyatt Sicks work with next will be a strong indicator as to how much they’ll mean to WWE moving forward.
Commercial free …. really?
-WWE promoted Raw this week as commercial free for the first hour. Well, IT DOESN’T COUNT IF YOU AIR COMMERCIALS FOR YOUR MERCHANDISE AND UPCOMING EVENTS! WWE … liars! :)
-Finn Balor had a bright light shined on him throughout this week’s episode of Raw. He cut a more than serviceable promo on Damian Priest and challenged him to a match at Bad Blood. Balor was really intense and also summed up his reason for hating Priest so much. Thumbs up.
-Priest took it on the chin this week thanks to the Judgment Day, but he is supremely comfortable in this babyface role. He’s got a long way to run now — especially with Rhea Ripley at his side.
Make them credible
-Speaking of Ripley, another huge pop for her this week and her match with Liv Morgan for the WWE Women’s World Championship is also official for Bad Blood. Liv got Ripley this week, but that Bad Blood match will be hot because WWE has taken the time to try and make her credible.
-WWE did an excellent job with Bron Breakker this week with the finals of the Intercontinental Championship tournament wrapping up in the main event. Breakker had face to face encounters with each of the participants and each one was successful. Breakker spoke differently with each one — particular Braun Strowman — but it worked to present him as a dominant and confident champion. Breakker has a smooth, but deeply strong delivery that works for him. He had the best chemistry with Jey Uso, but more on that in a little bit.
-Another good match for the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships between Jade Cargill & Bianca Belair and Alba Fyre & Isla Dawn. Straight forward, but good nonetheless. Based on the backstage interaction with Damage CNTRL, it looks like they are up next as contenders for the titles.
You still got it!
-Bret Hart still has it. Hart owned his appearance on the show this week. The Calgary crowd very much loved him and he was excellent delivering his lines and coming across as extremely likable. Gunther reaped the benefit of that as he was out there to talk down to Bret. The audience hated that and jumped on him with strong boos. Gunther’s demeanor is incredibly dismissive and it works so well to draw a line in the sand between him and his babyface opponents. Zayn as the Bret Hart savior worked to build the rivalry with Gunther and while they didn’t actually get to the match being made official, the heat is on and it’s likely to get added to Bad Blood. Sometimes the legends segments in WWE can fall flat due to a lack of investment on the part of the talent coming in or the lack of a good antagonist to go against. WWE didn’t have that issue here. Everyone played their part well and it boosted the business of Gunther.
-Poor Dragon Lee. Can’t even get a win over Dominik Mysterio. He isn’t the priority, though, Dom is and Dom very much needed the win with the help of Morgan. Again, this week was about establishing credibility for the new Judgment Day and a win like this helped that effort.
Classy
-WWE did a wonderful job paying tribute to Johnny Gaudreau. The video was touching, Jackie Redmond was excellent, and it was devastating to watch.
-As soon as Natalya walked out as the mystery partner with Lyra Valkyria and Zelina Vega, you knew they were beating Pure Fusion Collective. The match was fine and the finish with the entire babyface team locking in Sharpshooters on PFC popped the audience. As a low card filler feud on the show, this is truly fine content that has a spot on the show.
What a pro
-Ok, everyone pull up a second screen and watch Drew McIntyre react to the announcement of Hell in a Cell with him and CM Punk at Bad Blood. He sold it perfectly — without question the best sell job for Hell in a Cell in years. McIntyre first cut a promo about Punk and was arrogant, obnoxious, a little maniacal, scary, and over confident. As soon as HIAC was uttered by Adam Pearce, Drew dropped that entire schtick. His facial expressions changed and his demeanor pivoted to fear, worry, and concern. It was great and a true pro at work. Not over the top, but just right. I’m looking forward to this match and we know Punk will be on the show next week to address the match. He needs a home run promo. It’s time and this match needs it.
-Wait, is Miz going to join The Final Testament? That would be an odd, odd pairing. Even odder than Xavier Woods joining.
-In addition to having a promo segment, Finn Balor also had a match with Rey Mysterio. The match was fine, but Balor got the physical upper hand on Mysterio after the bout to secure even more heat. WWE had a clear goal secure credibility for Judgment Day this week and this angle helped accomplish it.
The right match
-A helluva main event. Braun Strowman vs. Ilja Dragunov vs. Pete Dunne vs. Jey Uso was the finals of the WWE Intercontinental Championship tournament and the match was action packed with madness. Each of the competitors got time with the other in the match and Bronson Reed returned to take out Strowman in a very dramatic table spot. The Dragunov vs. Dunne stuff in the match was very well done, but it was Jey Uso that the audience was firmly behind throughout. When he won the match, the roof blew off the building, confirming that he’s the right opponent now for Bron Breakker. Unfortunately, the feed on the USA Network cut out due to time before we got a true stare down between Breakker and Jey. It would have been good to have that last longer in the moment to hype the match, but WWE has three weeks before Bad Blood to give the match the heat it needs. Jey and can give Breakker a lot with this. It will be very interesting to see if Breakker can shed some of the cheers he’s getting now to play a full-on heel opposite Jey.
What did you think of this week’s episode of WWE Raw? Let us know in the comments!
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I concur with your comment on Drew McIntrye's facial reaction to the announcement of his Bad Blood match. It's his facial expressions in general that really bring me in as a viewer every time. He's masterful at it and it adds so much to the messaging they are trying to get across with the subtle nuisances he delivers every time when in non-wrestling segments. Who do you predict his next feud will be with once he wraps up with CM Punk?