RAW In A Nutshell: Setting Up For One Hell Of A Season Premiere

Well, according to WWE and USA advertising, next week’s RAW is the season premiere. By that measure, tonight’s RAW would be it’s season finale. With that in mind, we’ve got a fatal five way match, with the winner getting a title match against Universal Champion Seth Rollins next week. In other words, things are setting up for one hell of a season premier, just under a week ahead of Hell In A Cell. There’s a lot to digest in three hour, so let’s crack open this Nutshell!

Best Match of the night:

A few really good matches. Not sure I’d put any of them above the other, but how about these three to choose from:

Nikki Cross and Sasha Banks. Nice match, and I’d say my favorite part about it was that WWE gave them a nice chunk of time to work with. I’ve long been a Nikki Cross fan, since I first saw her in NXT.

Chad Gable and Baron Corbin was similarly entertaining for the most part. As with the ladies, these guys got themselves a solid chunk of time to show off. My only gripe here is that the flip kicks that Gable did (I think at one point he did three in succession), it’s some of the lamer offense out there.

Then, of course, the fatal five way. Strong match, could have been the main event if not for The Fiend angle that closed the show. Nice surprise ending, I expected Roode to go over, based on the news from Monday morning.

Worst match of the night:

EC3 and Rusev. Good for Rusev to get a win and continue a push.

Star of the Night

Rey Mysterio deserves some love, becoming an unlikely #1 contender.

The Fiend stole the show, I think. Given the amount of time he’s being given, it’s really hard to imagine him not winning the title a week from Sunday.

Jobber of the Night:

EC3. Losing to Rusev in a couple minutes will do that.

Upset of the Night:

In some small way, Mysterio winning was an upset.

Holy Sh** Moment of the Night:

WWE must really want us to feel like next week is a big deal. Part of this is, no doubt, so that RAW still feels some love with the SmackDown debut and all. That said, we are getting an announced Brock Lesnar appearance along with a MizTV episode featuring Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair. The Hogan part of the announcement went over badly, as fans actually booed. That will be interesting to see how or what those two are used for, or if it’s just a waste of time.

Of course, if they fed Hogan to The Fiend….but then the fans would really love Bray, wouldn’t they?

Speaking of The Fiend…he put down Braun Strowman in a notable scalp for him.

Botch of the night:

Man, I hate calling AJ Styles out on it, but he went for a phenomenal forearm on Roode, while Nakamura held Robert. Except Roode escaped so Shinsuke ate it…except that AJ was a bit too high (I think). They made it look OK…but it was not the best move in the world.

Noteworthy Moment:

In a surprise of a finish, Rey Mysterio defeated Robert Roode to win the #1 Contendership and a Universal Championship bout next Monday. Will this set up something between Rey and his son? Does WWE plan on giving Mysterio one last token run before feeding him to The Fiend?

Also, Carmella got sneaky and won herself the 24/7 Championship.

Overall lowlights:

I honestly don’t have much to complain about on this show.

Overall highlights:

We got some good segments, several good matches and plenty that builds toward Hell In A Cell. Also, plenty of set up ahead of next week’s “season premiere”.

After the final bell:

Could just be me, but this show seems to be a step in the right direction. Felt like we got more good quality matches in a three hour RAW than usual. Still plenty of room for improvement, mind you, but I enjoyed this show for the most part.