RAW In A Nutshell: Miami Is For Tag Team Turmoil!

It’s a Labor Day edition of RAW In A Nutshell. This week, Miami is for tag team turmoil!

As in, that is our focal point for the week. Tag team turmoil is the key for this week’s RAW, and thus, this week’s Nutshell too.

That is not all that we get on RAW, of course. This week, we can expect a few other matches.

Charlotte Flair will defend her title against Nia Jax. We will also get to see who next fights Damian Priest for the US title.

But, it all goes back to the headline, right? Miami is for tag team turmoil.

WWE needs a new #1 contender to face RK-Bro, and tonight that is the time to set it up.

There are a number of talented teams in tag team turmoil…and a number of “teams” made up of talent. So…this could be interesting.

Why don’t we dive in and find out? That means it is of course time for…

RAW In A Nutshell: Miami Is For Tag Team Turmoil!

Let’s crack open this Nutshell and see how things unfold!

Best Match of the night:

Tag team turmoil.

Well, the second portion of it, anyways.

Honestly, the first part had some nice spots and all too. My beef is…it just felt…weird.

I can’t describe it…however, I have a spot for it too.

Worst match of the night:

Tag team turmoil.

Well, the first part, sort of.

Collectively, the “match”, in two parts, gave us some good action.

When you calculate the time invested? That is where my problem kind of crops up.

Well, problems, really.

I love good tag team wrestling. In that sense, I am talking about those “tag specialists” primarily.

Teams like the Viking Raiders, who I have a hard time imagining as solo acts.

Or New Day, who can and have gone solo…but have done exceptionally well as a tag team.

But…tonight…a night after a major challenge to WWE truly emerged…we got basically half of RAW dedicated to tag team wrestling.

All to set up a couple things. A challenger for RK-Bro next week…but more likely, the next challenger for Lashley.

But…we spent a lot of time, and it was only a couple long-term, actual tag teams.

Then we had short-term ones in AJ Styles and Omos. Or thrown together ones like Lashley and MVP.

And the also-rans and jobbers-T-Bar and Mace, Jinder Mahal and Shanky…even Mansoor and Ali.

I know this was announced and all…but it felt like someone looked at RAW and said “I don’t have three hours of stuff…let’s kill half the show with a single, lengthy tag match”

The match would have been fine if we had limited it to that final four…even if I dislike the team that one, knowing it’s purely a means to an end.

The pause was what really did it. Sure, it was “fair” and all.

But I will say this. Unless they actually make Mace and T-Bar into a new monster heel tag team…what was the actual point?

I have zero confidence in that happening, considering how the pair, and their former faction, were booked.

Crowd Chants of the Night:

Love the hometown crowd chanting MVP.

Also notably, they showed support for Bobby Lashley. Always curious to see how things go when two heel teams square off.

Star of the Night

This show lacked a singular star.

I will say this about that…

Orton was clearly front and center, as WWE does what it must to line him up for Lashley at Extreme Rules.

And, it was unmistakable, WWE pushing Omos up against Lashley.

This one felt similar to other moves from past years…like say, a slightly green Braun Strowman getting chances to challenge top draws, teasing what is yet to come.

Spot of the Night:

There were a few to choose from.

While I wasn’t overly fond of the first chunk of the tag team turmoil, simply because it was the first hour and how it got paused…it gave us some spots.

Like, Viking Raiders catching Kofi as he did his fall-away leap from the top rope to the floor…and then using Kingston as a weapon against Woods.

How about Karrion Kross, suplexing Morrison over the top turnbuckle, onto the post and down to the floor?

Lucha House Party just freshened things up in the early going too. Innovative in general.

Jobber of the Night:

Kind of feel like this goes to John Morrison.

I mean…how it started…

How it finished…

Upset of the Night:

No real upset, in terms of match finishes.

I’d bet Nia Jax is upset with Shayna Baszler, however.

Perhaps now, after several teases along the way, this odd couple will finally be split.

Holy Sh** Moment of the Night:

I’d go with the Mace and T-Bar meltdown, I think.

The duo snapped after losing to New Day. Mansoor, being the good soul, as part of the next team in, jumped in to help out Woods and Kingston.

It didn’t go well, and while he protested, Ali joined in and got beat down too.

Mace and T-Bar demolished the two teams, leading Sonya Deville to declare that tag team turmoil was paused, to be concluded later in the show.

So…we got close to an hour of tag team wrestling to open…and then about a half hour as our main event.

All because Mace and T-Bar had a temper tantrum.

Botch of the night:

One wrestling, one non.

First, the non-wrestling one. All I can say is someone cut to this angle a hair too soon.

On the wrestling one…perhaps this is the way it’s taught now, it’s been a long time since I was trained.

However, I see it often enough and it bugs me…so if it’s not a true botch…let’s just say it bothers me.

Jinder Mahal was in the air, halfway into his bump, before he ever got hit with this cross-body.

LOL Moment of the night:

I leave this here. If you saw the exchange, you know why.

Noteworthy Moment:

So, a night after that “other” wrestling company delivered a few big surprises that we all saw coming…RAW gave us…one.

Raise your hand if you expected a return of…Drake Maverick?!

Also, I didn’t notice any other women having a tribute…but it was nice to see that Nikki had DAFF on her tape, honoring the late Daffney Unger.

Overall lowlights:

Maybe it’s just the timing of things. Perhaps I am being overly harsh..but that’s this show in a nutshell.

But, I feel that I kind of have to be. A night after All Out, it’s still fresh in mind.

Yes, it’s a PPV versus a weekly show. However, it’s fresh in the minds of many fans…so it’s still relevant.

Even if I do account for the different expectations of a PPV versus a weekly show…seeing WWE sink half of the show into tag team action is a bit puzzling.

Again, I am a fan of tag team action. But WWE, especially in the recent past, has not done tag team wrestling a solid.

And while some of the action was good…having the single match wind up opening and closing the show just felt…uninspired.

Maybe it’s harsh. It just didn’t sit right with me.

Overall highlights:

I didn’t even give them a mention for best match…but Drew and Sheamus was a brawl. Meaning that in a good way, in a nutshell.

Sheamus, of course, now gets to fight Damien Priest for the United States Championship.

We quickly got rid of Nia Jax as a challenger to Charlotte…and have now moved on to Alexa Bliss. Expecting that at Extreme Rules.

Lashley and MVP are the next #1 contenders, facing RK-Bro next week.

Karrion Kross is on a tear. Imagine if Vince McMahon wasn’t a petulant child trapped in a 70-year old body, and hadn’t made Kross lose as he debuted?

After the final bell:

There was a lot going on for this week’s RAW in a Nutshell.

Clearly, there was a lot…of tag team wrestling.

As much as I griped about the booking of that whole thing…I will say this. Upside of the rest of the show, they got a lot accomplished.

Extreme Rules is shaping up, and I can see some future possibilities (Omos) being laid out. So, I admit I am probably being a tad harsh.

Though, with changes afoot in NXT, and some surprise always nice…I was hoping a surprise call-up team from NXT would have been a surprise addition. Silly me…

That’s it for a longer RAW in a Nutshell!