whos ready for clash

We begin this wrestling week as we do most others-with another RAW In A Nutshell. This one, on the last day of summer, poses this question: who’s ready for a big Clash?

Now, this has a double meaning this time around.

Sunday, of course, is Clash of Champions. That means that this is the go-home RAW for that PPV.

However, we’ve also been promised at least one big clash on this week’s show.

Last week, we saw Braun Strowman crash RAW Underground, and that went off air as Dabba-Kato stared down The Monster Among Men.

That train wreck was delayed to this week, thanks to the logic of Shane McMahon. 

So, we have some hype for the PPV to look forward to, as you’d expect. We also see RAW Underground getting a major confrontation to build us up, which is intriguing.

All that and much more. Will we have a big return or two tonight, as we’ve heard rumored?

Will Retribution insert themselves yet again, and still remain unknown?

Should be a busy RAW…

So. who’s ready for a big Clash?

Let’s crack open this Nutshell and find out!

whos ready for clash

Best Match of the night:

Nothing here.

Seriously, we had a bunch of matches that went really short, and wouldn’t likely have been interesting if they had gone longer.

The matches that we did get that went longer? Non-finishes, looking at the Drew/Keith Lee match and the Retribution/Hurt Business main events as prime examples.

Now, everything did seem to serve a purpose, so I can’t completely complain there. Just that, as far as wrestling action was concerned, tonight wasn’t the best.

Worst match of the night:

How about Braun Strowman and Dabba-Kato?

We were told last week that we had to wait. It was the biggest RAW Underground match thus far, actually getting hyped for a week.

It was a complete and utter bust.

Honorable mention to Zelina Vega and Mickie James. It was short and uninteresting, and was almost as bad as Mickie’s match last week.

Star of the Night

Not much to go with here. Drew McIntyre was sort of painted as the conquering hero, coming down to run off the evil horde of Retribution at the end of the show…right up until he got taken out by an RKO.

Spot of the Night:

I guess the second table spot, with Lana going through at the hands of Nia Jax once again.

Hope she’s happy with her husband in AEW…

Jobber of the Night:

You cannot tell me that Lana isn’t getting destroyed because Vince enjoys being petty.

Had her husband not signed with, and shown up on , AEW programming, I doubt Lana gets put through the announce table twice in two weeks.

Maybe I am wrong, maybe she would have taken those bumps anyways…but if WWE wanted to give Nia Jax two big table bumps two weeks in a row, they COULD have used Natalya at least once.

They didn’t.

Dabba-Kato gets an honorable mention.

Upset of the Night:

They treated Zelina over Mickie like an upset…but, I guess that’s all we’ve got.

Holy Sh** Moment of the Night:

Well, Retribution officially signed WWE contracts, which we already knew they had.

They also now have masks that pretty much reveal who we are dealing with. At least, the core 5 do.

Botch of the night:

Look, as a long time wrestling fan…I get it. We are going to have to ignore logic and suspend disbelief and all that from time to time.

As far as the Retribution angle goes, however, this one is just stretching things. So, in the idea of the whole angle, having us not know who they are, yet having “the core five” sign WWE contracts?

It makes very little sense.

Like, OK, if they were signed, shouldn’t WWE then tell us who they are? Names are on contracts, right? (I believe we had them named Slapjack, T-Bar and Mace, for the main event).

And then there’s the whole “why sign them, why not arrest them”, given what they’ve been doing (again, I get the suspension of disbelief…just pointing out how silly it comes off).

I think the angle did not need them signing contracts. If anything, it works better if they don’t.

Of course, the next question will be…when do we start seeing the other two dozen get revealed?

Commentary of the night:

Nothing to note, except we have an appearance from Jerry Lawler. He was filling in for Samoa Joe, while Tom Phillips returned to the desk too.

LOL Moment of the night:

R-Truth and the 24/7 Championship = comedy gold.

Either someone knew that when the belt was created, or they didn’t…but it’s been entertaining.

Also…I’ve said this before, but how bad does it look that the NXT call-ups are so worried about hiding their identities that, in mid-brawl, they sit there adjusting their masks.

Noteworthy Moment:

The big one: Retribution gets signed (the core 5), and wrestled their first match. T-Bar, Mace and Slapjack (aka Dijakovic, Dio Maddin and presumably Shane Thorne) were in the RAW main event.

WWE is keeping the Mysterio/Rollins program going, now having Seth insinuate that Aaliyah isn’t Rey’s daughter. They took that further by having Rey say she was naive, and Aaliyah getting upset by that

Overall lowlights:

How the whole Retribution thing has and is playing out leaves me-and many-disappointed.

Maybe it ends up being really good, but we’ve heard how WWE doesn’t quite know what they are doing with the group…and it shows.

A group named Retribution would have ideally had at least one or two from the batch of April released talent.

Otherwise, well…having the core five be a bunch of NXT call-ups and one marginal mid-card guy? What are they seeking retribution for?

Hopefully we get a bigger reveal, a la the original nWo…where Hall and Nash were plenty big, but the Hogan reveal shocked the world.

Sadly, I do not think we have that coming for us with this one.

Also, the constantly shaking cameras, between Retribution and RAW Underground? Hard pass.

This one summed things up kinda well, I think…

Also, perhaps lost in the shuffle is that we no longer seem to have Keith Lee lined up to take part in the Clash. He still hasn’t been pinned, but that’s little consolation.

Overall highlights:

Um…I don’t know, to be honest.

I am struggling here, because so much of the show was just not good.

Like, it’s the go home show before a major PPV (or, at least, A PPV), and yet we saw a lot from Retribution…which isn’t booked on the show.

I mean, I am sure they will be involved now (right?), but they aren’t booked in a match.

After the final bell:

Kind of still trying to grasp this one. It felt like a very scatter-brained RAW, if that was even the right word.

Disorganized and chaotic may be better. If that was what Vince was going for, then mission accomplished.

If that wasn’t what he was going for…well…not good.

Based solely on THIS show, I have concerns about Sunday.

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