Wammy’s RAW Review 07/25/2016

Here we are! The Wrestling Classic’s world famous Smackdown reviewers! Reviewing the first edition of Monday Night Raw after the Brand Split!
It’s time for a New Era in WWE. Dean Ambrose is our WWE World Heavyweight Champion, we finally have 2 separate Brand with exclusive roster for each one.

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WWE Raw comes to you live on the USA Network from the Consol Energy Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Raw opens up with a video package recapping the events of Battleground followed by a Brand opening video with a new theme song playing. We see Michael Cole, Byron Saxton and Corey Graves in their new broadcast position near the entrance ramp and we see the new set for Raw which definitely reminded some of us to the Summerslam 2012 and 2013 set.

Mick Foley and Stephanie McMahon are standing in the ring to welcome everyone to the show. After introducing Raw to the New Era, Foley introduces the entire Raw roster and all the wrestler, except Brock Lesnar, come out to the ramp. Stephanie says Foley will have the authority to make everything happen every single show, and then starts insulting Roman Reigns for costing Raw the World Title by calling him a loser. Stephanie says that after the 1200 episodes of Monday Night Raw, there have always been a world champion and that wasn’t going to change.

After a cheap pop, Foley announces two fatal four way matches in tonight’s show to determine the Main Event of tonight’s Raw. Stephanie says the winner of that main event will face Seth Rollins at Summerslam for Raw’s World Title.

Foley says the title will be called the Universal Title in honor of the WWE Universe. He also announces that the eight men in the fatal four way matches would be: Sami Zayn, Sheamus, Chris Jericho, Cesaro, Roman Reigns, Rusev, Kevin Owens and Finn Balor, that’s right, the first NXT Pick from the WWE Draft, who walked to the front to a huge pop.

Stephanie then says that the WWE Women’s championship stayed on Raw thanks to Charlotte. Foley tells her that because she tapped yesterday to Sasha Banks, so Sasha would get a title shot, tonight!

This segment was a great opener, although I think those direct insults to Roman weren’t necessary, great things will come with this brand split to RAW.

1) Cesaro vs Rusev vs Kevin Owens vs Finn Balor.
In great 20 minute match, Finn Balor won the Fatal four by pinfall when he pinned Rusev with the Coup de Grace. This a great match, a PPV quality match and a great way to debut Balor on the main roster. He fit so well with Rusev and Cesaro and obviously with Kevin Owens thanks to their rivalry last year. Owens, Cesaro and Rusev looked pretty solid as well. We are just waiting here for Owens to get a big match for Summerslam, maybe a US Title Shot against Rusev.

A WWE Cruiserweight Classic video is played (Go Johnny Gargano!) that at it the end of it, showed a graphic anouncing the Cruiserweight Division would be exclusive for Raw.

A video announcing Nia Jax debut is played.

2) Nia Jax vs Britt Baker.
In a complete domination from Nia Jax, Nia Jax defeated Britt Baker in 1:20 by pinfall with her leg drop. During the match, Nia had Britt beat in several occasions but continued to punish her. This match was exactly what it should have been and what Nia needed for a debut, she has a great future in front of her. Poor local competitor btw.

Sasha Banks is stretching backstage when Goldust and R-Truth show up playing Pokemon Go, Sasha thought hey were taking picture of her and they just left. Tom Phillips showed up and asked Sasha if she was feeling any pressure, and she replied that she will make her dream come true tonight. Sasha also stated that the WWE Universe better get ready because she is going to become WWE Women’s Champion tonight.

A video plays announcing Brock Lesnar’s return to Monday Night Raw next week!

3) Roman Reigns vs Chris Jericho vs Sami Zayn vs Sheamus.
In a great match, a little bit worse than the first one, Roman Reigns won the Fatal four by pinfall when he pinned Chris Jericho with a Spear. It is unfair to say this match was worse than the first one but the thing is, the first one, I felt like it was focused on wrestling masterclass and this one was entertaining as hell, but maybe with not that much awesome technical wrestling.

The New Day come out to celebrate their record-breaking tag title reign. The New Day are standing in the ring as they start talking about what they went trough as champions. They also say that the Booty O’s started just like a dream, but now, it is a real cereal! So to celebrate, they show a really cool video package showcasing their 337 day title reign.
After the video, they say they will name an honorary New Day member from the crowd tonight. They pull a man from the front row. They ask for his name and he says his name is “Sunny Boy”. After some questions, jokes and even chants, Karl Anderson & Luke Gallows destroy the New Day, even ripping their shirts off. The segment ends with Anderson & Gallows threatening Sunny Boy and throwing him the shirts.

I really like when the wrestler interact with people like this, I mean, he clearly was a plant but the New Day made it entertaining and it is just awesome the idea of the Club taking the belts from the New Day.

A video plays hyping the return of Neville which is…Next!

A graphic is shown announcing the Stone Cold Podcast with Dean Ambrose as a special guests in 2 weeks time.

Jojo is in the ring and announces Curtis Axel as “Mr. Irrelevant”. The commentators explain she did this because Axel was the last overall pick in last week’s draft. Curtis Axel picks up a mic and says that he was last because Raw and Smackdown where saving the best for last.

4) Neville vs Curtis Axel.
In about 4 minutes, Neville defeated Curtis Axel by pinfall with the Red Arrow. A pretty simple match that served its purpose by having Neville pick up a victory in his return and have Axel lose in this new “Mr. Irrelevant” gimmick. As a few interesting notes, this was the same venue where Neville got injured 4 months ago and Corey Graves, Neville’s former tag team partner called the match.

Charlotte and Dana Brooke are interviewed backstage by Tom Phillips. Charlotte talked about the pressure that is on Sasha’s shoulders tonight and that Sasha is not the one leading the women’s division, it’s been Charlotte, she claims Sasha will bow down to the queen and “she can bank on that”.

Sasha Bank’s makes her way to the ring.

5) Charlotte w/ Dana Brooke vs Sasha Banks. WWE Women’s Championship Match.
In an exceptional match, Sasha Banks defeated Charlotte by submission with the Bank Statement. What can I say about this match? Sasha almost broke her neck in a suicide dive, Charlotte took some crazy bumps on the outside and even did a moonsault from the top rope to the outside. This match was storytelling at its best. There were moments such as Sasha cheating and lying in Eddie Guerrero fashion (which was freaking awesome) causing Dana Brooke getting ejected from ringside, that added more to the story of this match. I mean, this match was 17 minutes long, that’s crazy for a women’s match. Even though we’ve known this for a very long time, women’s wrestling matters and it’s simply amazing to see the evolution of the division. These two are without a doubt, the modern day Trish Stratus and Lita, only probably better. Plus, it was awesome to see Sasha finally win the tile, it really should have been at Summerslam but it was awesome nonetheless to see her finally realize her childhood dream (yes, Wrestlemania XII reference). Charlotte was an awesome champion btw.

After the match, Byron Saxton entered the ring to congratulate Sasha. The arena was overflowed with “you deserve it” chants. A “Yes” chant also broke out. Sasha only said “I did it!” in what clearly was a really emotional moment for her. Banks said that she told everybody she was the best, she now has the title to prove it. Sasha goes on and also says that this is indeed a New Era in the WWE, a new era for women’s wrestling and the era of The Boss. Finally, she promises that she will show everybody why she is the champion now and there that there is only one Boss in WWE.

Braun Strowman makes his way to the ring with brand new entrance music and new hair style. Meanwhile Byron Saxton is in the ring asking Strowman’s opponent James Ellsworth what he was thinking, Ellsworth said that getting a match on RAW was a dream come true and he didn’t know he would compete against Braun.

6) Braun Strowman vs James Ellsworth.
In a match that everybody knew was going to be a squash, Braun Strowman defeated James Ellsworth in a minute and ten seconds by pinfall.

R-Truth and Goldust are backstage still playing Pokemon Go!

Enzo Amore and Colin Cassady make their way to the ring cutting one of their usual promos, this time about their favorite things about RAW and Enzo singing “Oh baby, I like it Raw” until they were interrupted by The Shining Stars by talking something about Puerto Rico, Big Cass (You guessed it!) called them “SAWFT”.

7) Enzo Amore & Big Cass vs The Shining Stars.
Yes, another squash match. In a minute and 50 seconds, Enzo Amore and Colin Cassady defeated The Shining Stars by pinfall when Big Cass pinned Primo with a Big Boot. During the match, R-Truth entered the ring playing Pokemon Go only watching his cellphone and Goldust behind, him trying to stop him. Personally, I like The Shining Stars but I get that majority of the people don’t so they wil a part of these squash matches for the big tag teams for some more time. A real shame in my opinion.

Roman Reigns and Finn Balor find each other in backstage, Roman wished Balor good luck, Balor said that he was Irish, they invented luck, Roman responds “Well, I’m Samoan, enough said”. A bit f a useless segment in my opinion.

8) Roman Reigns vs Finn Balor.
In yet another great match, Finn Balor defeated Roman Reigns clean by pinfall with a Coup de Grace in 13 minutes and 55 seconds. That’s right, the women’s match was longer. I don’t know if this was just me but I felt like Balor was wrestling much quicker tan he usually does and Roman was wrestling a bit more tougher, like a legit big guy in wrestling, so these two complemented each other perfectly. Balor would do a Pele Kick or just some fast paced moves and Roman would counter with a powerbomb or some strong move like that. I’m glad they put Balor over Reigns and Rollins vs Balor for the Universal Championship has “Match of the Year” written all over it.
It was Balor’s birthday btw.

After the match, Balor kept celebrating as Tom Phillips asked Roman at ringside if he has anything to say. Roman said he hopes Finn defeats Rollins at Summerslam because he wants him again.

The show closes out with Balor celebrating.

That is it guys, a brand new Monday Night Raw. A new Raw with a new roster, a new set, a new logo, new announcers, I mean, this really feels like something changed big time. As for the show itself, I would rate it a 9 out of 10. With some well executed squashes, effective debuts, anticpated returns, very few useless segments, Graves on commentary, 4 PPV quality matches, and I could go on and on with the highs of the show that earned this episode that rating. As for the future, I’m optimistic yet worried, as I felt like it was a great show but they can’t do crazy announcements or debuts every single week, so I think WWE is going to struggle a bit with RAW being three hours.

To cap it all off, the 7/25/2016 edition of Monday Night Raw was almost flawless, it truly felt like an entirely different show and hopefully WWE can keep this momentum going.

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