As a very passionate and dedicated wrestling fan, it has been hard to watch the main WWE product for some time now. The writing was sloppy, nothing felt important, and they shoved the same thing down your throat for three hours. Tonight felt different from that norm. Coming off of a lackluster Wrestlemania and a decent RAW the week before, WWE came out swinging this week.
The WWE announced that Shane McMahon was in charge for the second week in a row due to "social media" demands. So in story, it still doesn't make a lot of sense... but no Vince or the Authority has been refreshing. Right away Shane laid out a solid show with a Women's Championship match as well as the start of the Tag Team Championship #1 Contenders tournament. He also announced a match between AJ Styles and Sami Zayn where Sami could add himself to the main event of Payback if he won. This set up Kevin Owens coming out which started a fun confrontation. This led to another good thing which was our opening match, Owens vs. Cesaro with the winner becoming #1 Contender to the Intercontinental Championship.
This half an hour was a hit as was much of the show following. Owens and Cesaro had one hell of a match and it led to Cesaro winning cleanly and being ecstatic to have a shot at the IC title. This is key. They opened the show and gave weight to their secondary title. They made it feel important and that the two men wanted the shot to become Intercontinental Champion. This style of booking works and it baffles me when they make their titles feel meaningless. They did nothing of the sort tonight.
The rest of the show followed suit with most of the matches being quick or well paced and the show was the better for it. The set up of the tag team tournament is cool and has some fun matchups in later rounds including a potential face off between the Dudley Boys and Enzo & Cass. We will get back to tag teams in a bit. But I want to talk about another revived division first; the Women's division.
Tonight we got a very good match between Charlotte and Natalya that had a screwy finish. I was good with the finish because it was a somewhat logical step in the Charlotte heel title run and set up what Dr. Phil said backstage (yes I am aware that sounds stupid, and it was... luckily he wasn't too involved in the show). I think it is clear that this is setting up a clean-ish win for Charlotte at Payback over Nattie. This division still has room to grow and Natalya is a fine first defense with Becky and Sasha right behind her for a Summer of solid wrestling for the Championship.
Now... back to the tag teams. We have two teams that have debuted recently in the previously mentioned Enzo & Cass as well as The Vaudevillains, both of which performed on NXT. We also have been seeing vignettes for the return of Primo and Epico. Another tag team made a debut on this week's episode in new signees Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows, two guys who made some buzz as members of the Bullet Club. They performed a beat down on the Usos after their win.
This was a hot segment and had that anything could happen feel that you used to get with the show over 15 years ago. The influx of stars from New Japan is breathing life into this company. Former IWGP Heavyweight champion, AJ Styles, had one hell of a showing tonight to prove his worth with NXT alum, Sami Zayn. These two absolutely tore the house down and had one of the best RAW matches in ages. There was no interference as Kevin Owens was escorted out of the building and Sami had a great match, falling just short of victory and falling to the Phenomenal Forearm of AJ Styles.
AJ's post Wrestlemania run has been very enjoyable, and he is setting up to main event his first PPV in his WWE tenure. Great opportunity for AJ and great new stories ahead for WWE. Speaking of new stories, we are finally getting a Jericho/Ambrose feud after their segment tonight. Jericho's heel run is finally getting in the right groove and Ambrose had a good chemistry with him tonight. I look forward to their first match and hope this puts Ambrose back on track as a top name in the company.
Roman Reigns was even involved in interesting things tonight as he ended up having to team with Bray Wyatt against the League of Nations. While this section of tonight's story wasn't the strongest part of the show, the main event was fun and the Wyatt tweener run is at least intriguing.
Well, now that the rant is over...
Why did this episode work?
This week's RAW felt more focused than it has in quite a while. Almost everything felt like there was a purpose. There were segments that enhanced newer talent; Apollo Crews beating Adam Rose, a vignette for Baron Corbin, a fun promo for Enzo and Cass. There were segments that showcased the importance of different championships. Tonight was well paced and had very little filler. Most segments were short or had great action that was paced well throughout. Tonight the show shined in a way it hadn't for some time now.
What does the WWE need to take away from this show?
- WWE needs to continue their rehab of the tag division. Tonight was a solid step and this tournament along with the injection of new teams should get this Tag Team division back on it's feet.
- Keep making everything feel like it matters. This episode featured characters with purpose, whether it was making a name for themselves or wanting to climb to the top and become the champion of their division.
- Keep Roman Reigns as a tweener for now as his cockyness has been shining through. This Reigns is way more interesting than the one we have been getting for many months.
- More Shane, less Authority in charge. The Authority act is stale, and Shane doesn't cut 25 minute promos.
Overall, this show was very effective and also very entertaining. Here's hoping that WWE can deliver with this stacked roster.
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