RAW Review – 04/18/2016
Welcome to my, Kareem’s (@HomeOfWWE on IG), very first RAW review on thewrestlingclassic.com, that will have short summaries of all moments, with pros and cons about each, also including the crowd engagement, and as well as my opinionated ratings out of 10.
RAW REVIEW 04/18/2016
(1/11) Ambrose Asylum:
I will begin with the opener, which was the “Ambrose Asylum”. Ambrose came out, cracking a few jokes, then invited Shane, who is also running this RAW, to come down to the ring. Before Shane could say much, he was interrupted by Owens. Sami Zayn came down afterwards as well, as Jericho followed too. It was announced by Shane that Zayn would be facing Owens at Payback, and that Jericho would be battling Ambrose at Payback as well. He then announced that Kevin would be facing Dean, and that Sami would be going at it with Jericho tonight.
Pros and Cons (3-0):
Pros:
- The segment was effective, making its point, taking the time that it needs, was fun, humorous, and a good opening treat.
- Solid way of starting the show.
- The segment clicked with the viewers, and hyped up tonight’s show.
Cons: N/A
Crowd Engagement:
The crowd overall for this segment were fun, loud, and electric, which is a typical thing for a British crowd to be like. British crowds are my personal favourites; especially with their unique chants.
Dean Ambrose: Got a loud, impressive pop, and some “Deano” chants.
Shane McMahon: got a loud pop as well, and some “Shane-O” chants.
Kevin Owens: arguably got the biggest pop of the night, which I enjoyed hearing, since KO is one of my favourites in the business.
Sami Zayn: Good pop; the crowd were singing his theme song and were singing the Olé chant as well.
Chris Jericho: Received a huge pop, and some Y2J chants.
Rating: 9.6/10
(2/11) Sami Zayn VS Chris Jericho:
Next up was Sami Zayn VS Chris Jericho in what was an enjoyable match to watch. Towards the end, Sami hit the Blue Thunder Bomb, and when he did I thought it was over, but I was certainly wrong because Jericho kicked out right before 3. Jericho then proceeded to hit the Codebreaker; 1, 2, 3, and there you have it.
Pros and Cons (3-0):
Pros:
- It was a really good match, entertaining the viewers.
- Cool spots like Sami’s signature DDT were featured in this match.
- The fact that Jericho won, making him actually look even stronger, the way he should be looked as. Props to the bookers for having Jericho beat AJ Styles at Mania, because that also tremendously helped in not making Jericho look quite weak.
Cons: N/A
Crowd Engagement:
The crowd were still noisy, adding extra excitement to the match. “Lets go Sami/Y2J” chants were going on throughout the match.
Rating: 9.25/10
(3/11) Enzo & Cass VS The Dudley Boyz – Semi Final Match:
Next, we had a match of the tag team tournament; Enzo & Cass VS The Dudley Boyz.
Enzo & Cass came out before the match to entertain the people and exchange some words with the Dudley Boyz.
The Dudleyz then came out; the match then begun.
Enzo & Cass defeated the Dudleyz in what was a pretty decent match.
Pros and Cons (2-1):
Pros:
- The fact that Enzo & Cass were out there to hype it up before the match started.
- That their match had a couple buildups before it, in order to get it to be more hyped up.
Cons:
- The match wasn’t really an excellent one, and we all knew that Enzo and Cass would win it anyway, but it wasn’t a bad match, so that is not much of a problem.
Crowd Engagement:
Loud throughout the match.
Very one-sided for Enzo and Cass, and as well as beautiful chants going on of “Oh, Enzo Amore!”- with the Seven Nation Army rhythm, and as well as “Na Na, Na Na, Big Cass!”.
Rating: 7.5/10
(4/11) Roman Reigns Attacked:
(AJ Styles and his buds, Luke and Karl had a segment earlier backstage, as they were all happy to see each other here in the WWE.)
Afterwards, we had Roman Reigns come out to talk about the title that he holds and how he is not a good guy nor a bad guy, but *the guy* once again. He got booed like hell, also once again.
AJ Styles then came out, giving Roman a few props, and stating how he would have the match of his life to beat him. But having the match of his life is what the does all the time, Styles said too. AJ then put an end to the conversation, his music hit, and he walked out of the ring.
Roman, still in the ring, got attacked by Gallows and Anderson. AJ did not look amused, but the crowd for sure did.
Many say that Styles is not so good on the mic, but tonight, I say that he proved otherwise.
Pros and Cons (3-1):
Pros:
- it was very entertaining to watch.
- The attack on Roman for sure hyped up their Payback match a lot more than it originally was.
- Because of this segment, there is an interesting twist now in their feud, leaving us, the viewers, wanting to know more about this.
Cons:
- Roman yet again repeated his “the guy” shtick, which lead to an even louder, negative crowd reaction than he was originally getting.
Crowd Engagement:
Loud. It’s in London, what else would you expect?
AJ Styles: got cheered like crazy.
Roman Reigns: got booed like crazy.
Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson: loud pop as they attacked Roman.
Rating: 9.85/10
(5/11) Baron Corbin VS Fandango:
Baron Corbin VS Fandango.
Surprisingly, Fandango picked up the win.
Nah, just kidding, that would never happen. Baron destroyed him.
Ziggler was out there in commentary as well and had enough of Corbin, so Ziggler tried to attack Corbin after the match but his plan backfired and once again, Baron was the one who stood tall out of the two.
Not a fan of this rivalry at all; this rivalry is not having me emotionally invest myself into it, and I guess I speak for almost everyone here.
Pros and Cons (1-2):
Pros:
- Continued the feud putting Baron over again, which is good, because he had a strong start in the main roster and is continuing strongly, but probably will start to drop afterwards like Rusev did not long ago.
Cons:
- Nothing in this rivalry screams interesting.
- lack of storytelling; basically, they are trying to get us into this rivalry simply because Baron beat up Ziggler? Needs more emotional, story telling material here.
Crowd Engagement:
The crowd were not into it as much as they were into the previous segments. However they were Fandangoing a bit.
Rating: 7/10
(6/11) Cesaro Interrupts Miz TV:
Miz TV time.
Miz did what he did best, generating heat from the crowd, with the help of lovely Maryse.
This time, we had Cesaro interrupt.
Cesaro was pretty badass on the mic, quoting Roddy Piper’s bubble gum line, calling Miz a royal pain in the ass, and as well as mocking Miz, saying that when his hand goes up, your mouth goes shut to the Miz. Cesaro’s suit attire with those shades are sick by the way.
Miz told Cesaro that Cesaro would be facing Rusev, and when the League of Nations came out, Cesaro stated the actual plan, which was a 4 on 4 match between Cesaro and the New Day VS the League of Nations and Miz.
Pros and Cons (4-0):
Pros:
- The fact that Miz, Maryse and Cesaro were all on Miz TV together as a segment.
- Miz’s heel work.
- Cesaro’s comebacks to the Miz.
- Fairly entertaining.
Cons: N/A
Crowd Engagement:
Mixed reactions for Miz, but the majority were boos.
Cesaro got loud cheers.
Fans chanted “Boring” at Miz while he was purposely annoying the fans and Cesaro.
New Day were very over with the London crowd.
Rating: 9/10
(7/11) Cesaro & The New Day VS The Miz & The League of Nations:
Better than expected, and Cesaro was very energetic, uppercutting the hell out of his opponents.
The faces beat the heels.
Pros and Cons (2-1):
Pros:
- the match was exciting.
- Cesaro was the star of the match with all of his cool, charisma packed uppercuts and other sorts of moves.
Cons:
- The League of Nations are in a really bad position right now with all of their continues losses.
Crowd Engagement:
The face team were over.
Rating: 8.75/10
(8/11) 4 On 4 Women Tag Team Match:
Stupid idea by having yet another tag match right after the other. Even more stupid, it’s also another 4 on 4! This time, women.
Natalya, Sasha, Becky, and Paige VS Charlotte, Naomi, Tamina, and Summer Rae.
I was not interested at all, but luckily since it was in England, the crowd were actually respectful and did seem quite interested in this match, for most of the time, however they were pretty quiet during some parts of the match, but I don’t blame them.
Natalya’s team were victorious.
Pros and Cons (1-2):
Pros:
- Having Natalya look strong going into her match with Charlotte at Payback.
Cons:
- It was very dumb having another 4 on 4 tag match.
- This match was unnecessary, considering that at the moment it’s just Natalya who’s feuding with Charlotte.
Crowd Engagement:
Half of the time were engaged.
Paige was the hometown hero, getting lots of love from the fans.
Rating: 5.5/10
(9/11) Vaudevillians VS The Usos – Semi Final Match:
Next up was the other semi final of the tag team tournament. 3 tag team matches in a row without even 1 segment in between definitely did have this hour of RAW have a downfall.
Vaudevillians VS Usos.
Result: Vaudevillians defeated the Usos.
Not a bad match.
Pros and Cons (1-1):
Pros:
Cons:
- Should not have been placed on this time slot.
Crowd Engagement:
The Vaudevillians were actually quite over with the London crowd and thankfully on their debut, it was in an exciting place with exciting people. If this was somewhere else, there most likely wouldn’t be a reaction for them.
Rating: 6.9/10
(10/11) Apollo Crews VS Heath Slater:
Apollo Crews goes up against Heath Slater in what was expected to be a squash match.
I’m surprised that WWE were that dumb having Slater roll Crews up for the win.
Sike. Did I get you again? You probably didn’t fall for it this time; yup, Crews did squash Slater in this Squash match,
and apparently if Crews lost he’d have to join the Outcasts. Why was this stipulation added? Who the hell knows.
Pros and Cons (1-2):
Pros:
- Crews impressing once again.
Cons:
- Uninteresting match as we all knew what the outcome would be anyway.
- The fact that the stupid stipulation was booked.
Crowd Engagement:
They were barely into it, and unfortunately when Crews came out he barely got a reaction.
Rating: 7/10
(11/11) Main Event – Kevin Owens VS Dean Ambrose:
Main event time;
Kevin Owens VS Dean Ambrose.
Fun match.
Ambrose won, but in my opinion, Owens should’ve won because Owens has been on a losing streak and it’s slowly killing his momentum. Plus, with both Jericho and Ambrose winning their matches, and with both Zayn and Owens losing theirs, it’s proving how the feud between Ambrose and Jericho is quite more important than the feud of Sami and Owens, which is false. Both are good feuds, but I mean come on, the feud of KO VS Sami is being compared here.
PS: Jericho hit a codebreaker on Dean after the match to end the show.
PPS: I feel that WWE should find a way to make the KO and Sami feud even more interesting, like having a twist in the feud for example, rather than having it just based on betrayal.
Pros and Cons (1-2):
Pros:
Cons:
- Not a really strong show-ending match.
- Having KO lose once again.
Crowd Engagement:
Engaged.
Rating: 8/10
RAW Overall rating: 8/10.
WWE are on a roll so far, and hopefully they keep their momentum and not drop soon. 3 solid shows in a row, but the thing is, each show is getting worse than the other. Let’s hope that next week, that RAW will be much better. This sums up my very first review, and if you enjoyed, thank you, stick around for next week as I will be reviewing that RAW and every single RAW yet to come too. If you don’t know who I am, you can check me out on Instagram; @HomeOfWWE.
Ayy Kareem nice review legend!