RAW Tied Together Its Loose Ends Last Night, And Now There's Only One More Stop Before SummerSlam
Welcome to everyone’s favorite feature (now that the Office Power Rankings just don’t exist), the Tuesday afternoon RAW recap! Before I recap the graps, I just gotta give you guys a heads up that Carrabis and I interviewed the Bella Twins for From The Top Rope tomorrow, and it’s a great listen. Make sure you check that out. Alright, now we’ve got a ton to talk about on RAW so let’s get right into it.
This opening segment set the bar for the night VERY high. Almost too high, in fact, because I don’t believe any other part of this show made me quite as excited for SummerSlam, and that says a lot from a guy who doesn’t like Seth Rollins and said a Shield reunion should wait years to happen. I still stand by both of those statements, but this is clicking, and when something gets as over as everything in the opening 20 minutes of RAW got, you ride that wave out. Plus, I think Seth works really well when he’s in a tag with someone, so maybe this is his shot to bring me back to Team Burn It Down (lol cringe)! I think this match is a serious match of the night contender for SummerSlam and the crowd will be RED HOT for it.
Sasha beat Nia and is now the #1 contender for Alexa Bliss’ title. This match was EXACTLY what I anticipated, and by that I mean Nia Jax beat the shit out of Sasha recklessly while she bumped her ass off and played dead.
Alexa was on a lifeguard chair watching the whole thing, leading me to make this classic 2000s WCW Nitro reference that 2 people got, but hey, I appreciate those who did.
The finish was also sweet.
I think Alexa vs Sasha at Summerslam could be really good so long as Sasha doesn’t try to do something ridiculous and injure herself.
Big Cass came out to NUCLEAR heat that stuck with him through his promo. He handled it fine and this gave me hope at the very least that SOMEONE will be better off after this feud. Enzo’s dead for sure, but maybe Cass can be the next monster heel in the company. He even blurred the kayfabe line when referencing Enzo having backstage heat all the time, which makes me think it’s been blown out of proportion by dirtsheets, but hey, who knows.
Enzo and Show came out to interrupt, but were flanked by The Club. I had never thought of it before, but I hope Cass and The Club stick together for a while. Cass’ rivals having to go through Gallows and Anderson to get to the final boss would be great. Big Show’s hand might be broken or whatever for now, so the SummerSlam match is in question.
Oh and I think we’re siding with Cass in this feud. Homeboy loves us.
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After 197 dominant days as Cruiserweight Champion, Neville’s reign has come to an end. I started to worry about the possibility of Tozawa winning when I realized this match was booted off the SummerSlam card, and while the moment was cool, the crowd was hot, and people cared, I can’t help but think this was a bad decision. Carrabis and I have been huge fans of Neville and this aggressive heel run on RAW, and both felt nobody in the division was quite ready to end it. Jack Gallagher was months ago, Austin Aries was months ago, but Akira Tozawa, as much as I love him (I really do) just doesn’t feel ready. It feels like they’re trying to use the belt to make the man, while Neville worked hard to do the opposite.
Aw man, this rivalry was going so well! Why’d we have to get acid ketchup involved?! Just to bring “THE DEMON” out?! Come on guys, we can do better. This match was unnecessary, and the personal intensity between these two feels too rushed for Bálor to turn into The Demon on Sunday. Still stoked for that entrance though…
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I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t just a little bit disappointed in the main event segment. I think Brock Lesnar vs Braun Strowman vs Samoa Joe vs Roman Reigns is one of the biggest (literally) feeling matches the company has put on in a really long time. Paul Heyman started the final scene before SummerSlam with a promo that just didn’t connect with me, probably because it was all old material, and there was a brawl that started when everyone was out there that never really escalated.
One cool part for me is that all of the “security” keeping the wrestlers apart were my boys from Jersey. They all wrestle for WrestlePro, a company I used to help out at. Damian Gibbs even took an absurd bump out of the ring:
Locker room clearing brawls are my favorite thing in wrestling, but last night showed if you’re even one bit gun shy with how much you’re willing to do, they have no luster. I’ll talk to you fine folks tomorrow for our SmackDown recap!