We’re one week away from Crown Jewel, which is still a thing. What did Raw have in store for us? Read below the fold to find out. Oh, but first, read Claire’s blog because she’s dope and the blog is magic. Not Daddy Magic, but more like David Copperfield.
Let’s talk Raw!
You Know Her Name
Shoutout to the fan with the “Eddie is your real father” sign. I see you, sir, and salute your disrespect. The second MVP of Raw’s opening segment was Rhea Ripley. She owned everything the second the Judgment Day hit the ring. Whether it was the looks, her body language, or her side comments (emphatically backing up Dom’s comment about being built differently), she killed it. That continued during Finn Balor’s match with Karl Anderson. Even with this story about Finn feeling betrayed by the club that he started, Rhea steals the show. Even with a good match between Karl and Finn, Rhea is the star. Which happens when she power slams Luke Gallows. Not only did she power slam a man that large, but she talked her ish when he hit the ground.
Rhea’s kept the pain train going when she hit the ring and hit Anderson harder where the sun doesn’t shine when the ref turned his back. That painful blow was just enough for Finn to get the W.
I don’t like this story as much as the one with Rey Mysterio, and I do hope this detour is purely for Crown Royal Jewel reasons. But it’s still entertaining mostly because of everything Rhea does or doesn’t do.
Extracurriculars
For the Love of Mac and Cheese
Miz wrestled R-Truth based on a dispute about North Carolina macaroni and cheese. I can’t speak on their mac and cheese but my grandmother from South Carolina makes the absolute best macaroni and cheese. The Carolinas are close enough where I may side with Truth on this one.
But I digress. Miz initially hit the ring for some Dexter Lumis updates. Johnny Wrestling says Miz isn’t telling the truth about his beef with Dexter or what happened to Ciampa. Saying “truth” that many times in a WWE ring is like saying Candyman five times in a mirror. Except you get R-Truth and not Tony Todd. Hence the match over Carolina food.
I was not entertained even though I agree with Truth’s motivation. Hopefully we get some resolution to this Dexter/Miz thing next week.
Nikki No Longer a Superhero
Bayley on one side of the ring. Bianca Belair on the other side of the ring. No title on the line, no nothing on the line really. Sure, Damage CNTRL beat up Candice LeRae earlier but there was nothing on the line here for either woman, which feels like a miss after their last encounter. But it’s indicative of a show where a bunch of things happened that didn’t really add up to much. Bianca and Bayley are great wrestlers. Of course they put on a technically sound match. The problem is the lack of stakes. We did this already: Damage CNTRL beats up someone, Bianca comes to the rescue, a match ensues. At a certain point, this angle needs another gear.
Is Nikki Cross that gear?
Nikki, sans superhero gear, appeared in the third act. The ref tossed out Dakota & IYO. But before he got the chance to be extra exaggerated with his motions, Nikki jumped from the top rope and took out the ref along with Dakota & IYO. She turned her attention to Bianca, which allowed Bayley to get the W, and then beat up Bayley as well. Nikki stood tall as the show finished.
Seeing this version of Nikki on Raw is cool. Not sure that’s the big angle to end the show though. Especially this show, which was underwhelming at best.
Peace Up…
Seth Rollins fears Mustafa Ali. That’s the bottomline for anyone following this story. The United States champion interjected himself in a match between Ali and Austin Theory. He coached Theory from commentary, while Theory simply wanted a piece of Ali because he’s a bully who beats up on people who don’t have the glide path he does. So all of this fits pretty neatly together.
This was a good match though! Ali is a natural babyface and Theory makes good guys look great. Without Seth distracting the referee, Ali wins this match. But, yeah, that happened. So Theory goes home with the win, while Ali gets beat up after the match because Seth believes he’s not on his level. Desperate heel move that I love and I hope their match delivers on this promise.
But what’s going on with Theory? One week he’s not on Raw but shows up on NXT teasing a cash-in for the NXT championship. Then that doesn’t happen and he shows up on Raw. I’m confused and, as always, need someone to make it make sense.
ELIAS!
I’m a huge Elias fan. I admit that and feel no shame. So I’m thrilled whenever he picks up a W. After last week, I figured the United States championship was in his future. Maybe it is, but as of this week, he’s entering something with Riddle at his side. Possibly. Alpha Academy rudely interrupted Elias and Riddle, resulting in a match between Gable and Elias. The best moment of the match came when Gable went for a beautiful moonsault and caught an Elias knee lift right in his jaw. It was timed perfectly and a thing of beauty.
More importantly, Elias picked up the win. Otis attacked him after the match and Riddle ran down for the assist. Okay match with one really cool moment.
Guess What?
Omos beat up some jobbers…which is supposed to scare Braun Strowman? Okay, sure, Jan.
Wrestling…God?
Baron Corbin wrestled Johnny Gargano because the latter pissed off JBL. How? His mere existence and the fact he spent a decade in single A. Definitely a JBL thing to say and do so I’m not mad at that. But Corbin, at least in the ring, doesn’t scream “wrestling god.” In fact, he barely screams at all. Corbin is a bit boring as a wrestler. The most entertaining part of this match was Johnny Wrestling taking JBL’s hat and mocking the Texan.
Of course, he loss the match as a result of all that mocking since he let himself get way too distracted. But I just wasn’t digging the match as a whole. I love what JBL is doing but I don’t think he and Corbin are a good fit. JBL is a larger than life personality and Corbin barely has a personality.
Someone asked Baron if he’s a good and he said yes when he should’ve said no.
This was not a great show. In fact, it might be the worst Raw in a long time. The show had a spark when it started but quickly flamed out.
Grade: C-
That’s my grade and I’m sticking to it. Your turn.