Well folks, this is it. It’s time for the RAW Go-home show as the red brand heads to Pittsburgh as the crew gets ready to heat up The North. That’s right ladies and gentlemen, tonight is the final RAW ahead of SummerSlam. Expect plenty of follow up from last week, like how is Seth Rollins following the amazing beating he got at the hands of Brock Lesnar. Beyond that, WWE is dealing with a whodunnit surrounding Roman Reigns from SmackDown, and there’s still plenty of SummerSlam’s card yet to be firmed up. It should be a busy RAW, and one with perhaps a surprise or two along the way. Let’s crack open this Nutshell and find out!
Best Match of the night:
Option 1A: Rey Mysterio versus Andrade. Good match, could have been even better with a bigger stage and more time.
Option 1B: Women’s Tag Team Fatal Four Way. I suppose the only gripes here? The former champs were the first ones eliminated (so, no suspense), and the ending wasn’t as solid as the rest of the match.
Worst match of the night:
Cedric Alexander and Drew McIntyre, but not because it sucked. It’s because this one was pretty much a throw away, setting up special ref Kurt Angle to get destroyed by The Fiend.
Also, not a fan of that absurd 24/7 Championship sequence. Happy to get the belt off of Maria Kanellis, but yikes.
Crowd Chants of the Night:
Burn it down
Joe
CM Punk
HBK
Star of the Night
Congrats to Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross, new womens’ tag team champions.
Also, HBK, The Miz and Goldberg all made the closing segment worthwhile.
Spot of the Night:
Just when you think the show is heading to black, with Ziggler running up the ramp, he walks into Sweet Chin Music. Talk about ending on a high note!
Jobber of the Night:
That poor team fed to The Viking Experience.
Also, Kurt Angle did one tonight too…
Holy Sh** Moment of the Night:
I think WWE would have been better off not sending Rollins out for that segment with Lesnar. I mean, sure it makes Brock look like a heavy favorite and all…but we’ve seen that before have we not? I mean, Lesnar-Rollins at WrestleMania was kind of the same idea. Rollins was a long shot, but dispatched The Beast. Unless we are about to get a Cena-level squash in Toronto?
Also, while the Goldberg change had been revealed earlier, I came in with low expectations, only six days to build and all that. The Pittsburgh crowd popped for him as best I could tell (I presume it was not piped in), and with just a few words, the match was set.
Botch of the night:
Pretty sure Roman dropped an expletive as the car came at him.
Mandy Rose had issues (at least it looked like that) when she was holding up Asuka for the double underhook move right before she ended up getting locked into Asuka’s submission.
Wasn’t digging the ending for the tag title change. Just seemed like it was rushed or sloppy.
Noteworthy Moment:
So, is Samoa Joe going to go from a nasty heel to a sympathetic babyface in the span of a few minutes? First he’s angry at Roman Reigns. Confronting him in the back, however, Reigns was nearly hit by a car and suddenly Joe was tending to Reigns and actually appearing to care. Not what you’d expect from a mean and nasty heel.
Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross are your new Women’s Tag Team Champions.
Overall lowlights:
I accept that I am in the minority here…but wasn’t feeling the attack by The Fiend. I don’t know exactly how to explain it, other than it just seems too produced and unrealistic. Once was OK I suppose, but now with the lights and noises and all…it’s just not something we should or would expect night in and night out. I think if it were face paint, I wouldn’t feel quite the same. I guess maybe I miss the facial expressions, which Bray did so well.
Also, not a huge fan of the use of vehicles, crashes and backstage accidents. Same as with Braun manhandling cars, trucks and stages. It’s so over the top, it just is not needed (in my opinion).
Having the women’s tag titles change hands on RAW ahead of a major show was a bummer…even though the match itself was good for the most part (the finish wasn’t the best).
Overall highlights:
The women’s Tag Team Championship match was pretty good-although it deserved to be on SummerSlam.
Big fan of the closing segment. Happy to see that fans had a short memory (or didn’t watch Goldberg’s last outing).
After the final bell:
All in all, a solid go-home show.
I do have some concerns about the Universal Championship bout, as Rollins is heading in looking both incredibly weak and incredibly injured.
The Reigns/Bryan match is still building up. The hit and run tonight furthers things along, but the reveal will have to come tomorrow. Guess that’s one hook to keep fans tuning in to the blue brand.
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