RAW 7/25/16: One of the greatest RAW episodes ever?

This week's WWE Raw was a big deal. It was the first episode of the new era.  They needed to bring something different. They needed a good show to get the brand started off right.  They didn't deliver a good show... They delivered a great show.  To start off the new feel, they had a much improved opening video/song.

They started the show with a talking segment to establish the evening, and then never looked back.  But the question isn't whether or not this show rocked, but why did it work so much better than the last year of RAW?  Well there are quite a few things that worked in this episode's favor, so I am going to break it down a bit.

1.) Making Stars

Holy cow, this has to be the first thing I cover.  They made two stars tonight and also highlighted other talents effectively.  Finn Balor and Sasha Banks came out of this show looking like a trillion dollars.  The crowd was into Finn Balor, but I don't think they believed he would win the fatal four way... then he did.  They certainly didn't think he would beat Roman Reigns.  The truth is I didn't think they would be able to resist putting Roman in another main event, but... WWE truly stuck with the "New Era" idea and went in a different direction. Finn Balor is fighting for the WWE Universal Championship at Summerslam against Seth Rollins. Wow.

Sasha got to wrestle in a PPV caliber matchup against Charlotte, and tell one hell of a story. She gets the big win and finally wins the WWE Women's Championship.  Not only did they give her the big win, but they made it feel special with the emotional post match interview in the ring. This was awesome.

Shout out to the WWE for bringing back enhancement talent for squash matches.  Nia Jax looked strong in her debut. More importantly the jobber interview before the Braun Strowman match was hilariously fresh and made it even more entertaining. This show rocked,,, but alas on to the next reason it was so good.

2.) Pacing

This show was paced really, really well for a 3+ hour show.  They had long matches that were broken up with quick interviews, vignettes and squash matches.  This show was built around featuring superstars.  They used the pacing to make everything connect with this audience.  I cannot express enough how important it is to keep things moving on a 3 hour show.  Kudos to the WWE for keeping this thing moving.

3.) New Look and Feel

Right from the start, this show felt different.  They had a new set, with the announcers on a stage near the stage.  They opened the show with a cool shot of the announcers opening the show, and panning the camera over them towards the ring.  Everything about this show looked different. There were less zooming camera shots by a wide margin. They had cool new shots using a overhead camera on a cable that caught some amazing visuals and made the show feel special.  This felt like a beautiful new coat of paint on a show that desperately needed one.

4.) Focus

This show held focus from beginning to end. When the show started, Mick Foley and Stephanie McMahon set the show up with what matches were being held and what everyone was fighting for.  They made sure you knew that the matches were important. They did a good job of letting you know that the beginning would have consequence to the end with the fatal four way matches leading to the main event.

5.) Commentary

Corey Graves delivered tonight and made this show so much better on commentary. Michael Cole even felt fresh sitting with Corey. Saxton was the same, but it worked with Graves.  This upgrade is crucial.


This show felt unbelievably special, and I hope this is just a sign of things to come.  Keep it coming WWE, we are ready.