If I enjoy doing this enough I may make this a more "official" thing where I have graphics. I liked doing the Pay Per View review. We'll see where things go. Hopefully I get some replies.




Raw started with a Seth Rollins promo. Not the right thing to start a television show in front of the smarky Baltimore crowd, but it's their idea of what WWE TV should be, so yanno, they did it anyway. Seth goes on and on about his opponents and says how it was troubling until the reality of the situation hit him like a thunderbolt. He's SETH FREAKING ROLLINS. He's the man!

Sting appears on the titantron and tells Seth that he IS THE MAN! "The man without the statue!" He asks Seth to come find him and the statue backstage. Sheamus hit the ring to remind Seth Rollins that two matches at Night of Champions is only the start of his problems if he decides to cash in.

There was a funny back-and-forth here that I wanted to highlight. I'm paraphrasing...

Sheamus: "If you think your two title matches at Night of Champions are the only thing you should be concerned with, I think you're stupid!"

Rollins: "You look stupid! You look like Ronald McDonald with a bad haircut."

Sheamus: "Don't bring my family into this!"

That's the kind of comedy that's perfect for wrestling.

[My thoughts: This was a weak opening promo by WWE's standards. Debating the concept isn't worthwhile because it's what they're going to do. I think if Seth Rollins is going to do the big face turn and become the guy they wanted Roman Reigns to be, they're going to need Kevin Owens to do this long-winded promos. Outside of the old-guard guys like Cena and Triple H, Owens is the only guy really capable of doing these WWE-open-the-show promos. Take that, Jim Cornette, you fuck. You gave him two minutes and he went on for eight and it turned out to give him a skill that's incredibly useful.]



Seth finds Stephanie backstage and asks for Triple H to talk about a plan. Stephanie says she has a plan. Seth kind of indirectly suggests Triple H is more suited for a plan. Stephanie subtly expresses disappointment with Seth. Triple H shows up. He tells Seth in order to plan for two title matches at Night of Champions, he has to work two matches tonight. Seth eventually accepts the plan. Stephanie says her plan would have been to go get Sting, but Triple H is right! Rollins says he's the man over and over again and leaves.

[My thoughts: It's really hard to give credit for "ground floor" stuff like this when plans in WWE change week to week. In three weeks we could look at this and assume nothing was in the works, but it sure seems like this was a layer in the on-going Rollins/Triple H angle that's been in the works for months. By the end of the show, fans watching carefully were left wondering how much Stephanie knew, when she knew it, and why Triple H preoccupied Seth instead of helping him deal with Sting. My theory that Sting is another test from "The Authority" still stands.]



Sasha and Paige had a fairly good wrestling match. The most notable spot aside from the finish was Sasha hitting her double knee spot. The crowd really got into the match after that. Sasha counted the RamPaige in a kind-of-but-not-really false finish that gave the match a little more run. Sasha botched the finish, reaching for Paige's hair too early, but probably almost no one noticed. Naomi dived into the ring to distract Paige and the referee, and Sasha got the pin with a cradle. It appears to some people that Sasha's shoulders were also down but I don't know if I agree with that. It wasn't the best camera angle for judging such things.

[My Thoughts: The first thing I have to mention here is that Sasha Banks came out to her own theme (as she should) and was presented like an equal in her group. That's a nice step up from the start of the "Divas Revolution." It was really smart of them to lead with Sasha and Paige as the first match in front of this crowd. They'd have cheered anything and in order to get the angle over, it's important to protect them in that regard. They really are hurting Paige by making her do the babyface smiling act. She just comes off as so phony. It was the same thing that was really hurting Roman Reigns. Maybe WWE could use Vince Russo to remind Vince McMahon that not everyone smiles like that all the time and sometimes forcing people into those mannerisms hurts their ability to connect with the fans.]



The Ascension was out first and got a somewhat negative reaction. The Baltimore crowd booed the start of Roman Reigns' The Shield's theme song before they realized Dean Ambrose was coming out with Roman. Immediate cheers. Dean starts and controls early. He tags in Roman and The Ascension get a bit of control, but Roman fights them off. They transition into chaos outside. Awesome finish spot where Reigns does a running push-out-of-the-way to Dean Ambrose before nailing one of the Ascension nerds with a Spear. Dean hits Dirty Deeds for the win.

[My thoughts: Holy cow did they do this right. First of all, I've been saying for months that bringing Dean out with Roman was the right move. It's their entrance and at least when they're together bringing them out separately feels like an insult to Dean and leads fans to react to Roman negatively. It's just not smart. They let The Ascension get a little bit of offense on Roman and it helped them come off as not completely incompetent. It's a strong, strong move forward for Roman and Dean both to be presented like this. I am not predicting this to happen as it's just one week and doesn't hardly count as evidence, but if this were the start of the Dean and Roman double-elimination-finish at Royal Rumble leading to a Shield Triple Threat match, I wouldn't be that surprised.]



Braun says it's "okay to be afraid" Bray Wyatt says something about Night of Champions.

[My Thoughts: As Edge and Christian said on the Steve Austin podcast, Luke Harper is money. I don't know what WWE is doing with Braun Stroman, but I just can't imagine this working. I'll have more thoughts on Bray later.]



Ryback talks about his upcoming match with Seth Rollins and says he has a plan for tonight. The fans chant "Feed me more!" for him as he does the arm motion for the clothesline. "Meathook Clothesline. Shellshock. Pinfall."

Kevin Owens appears and agrees that Ryback looks hungry, but warns him not to bite off more than he can chew.

[My Thoughts: I talked about the potential for the Owens and Ryback feud to do good things for both guys and I think it will. Ryback is a REALLY good talker and Kevin Owens has a special presence about him. I think there is a ton of material for these guys to go through in the ring and out. I am excited.]



I don't know how long this match went, but if a single second of it gets cut out of the Hulu shortened version, I would be pissed off. The most notable singular moment was Seth Rollins leaped over the top rope from a cross-body on Ryback on the floor but his body was a bit off center making it harder for him to be caught. Ryback went into full Michael Elgin mode and caught this guy anyway. That's definitely earning him points backstage. A bunch of false finish sequences but no finish prostitution. In the end, neither guy hit their finish, and Sting appeared on the titantron costing Rollins the match as Ryback rolls him up.

[My Thoughts: This was the best match of the night and almost definitely the best match of Ryback's career. It's impossible to over-state just how good Seth Rollins is at wrestling. If you were worried about him with Sting at Night of Champions, you probably aren't after seeing that match. If you haven't seen the match, find a way.]



Seth Rollins runs into The New Day backstage. The New Day are obnoxious and it's not so funny when you're in Seth Rollins' situation. Edge and Christian show up and Edge goes face to face with Seth Rollins, reminding him that Seth Rollins once threatened to kill him. Seth remembers and figures The Ultimate Opportunist would understand. Edge understands, but challenges him to try it now. Seth storms off because he has a lot of stuff on his mind.

The New Day challenge Edge and Christian to a "Battle!" and Xavier plays his trombone and claims victory. Christian pulls out a kazoo and they recreate their magical segment from fifteen years ago to the beat of the New Day sucks chant. The Dudleyz show up and tell The New Day they have a title defense next week on Raw against The Primetime Players. They go on to sing their new song "Get. The Tables" to the beat of the New Day sucks chant.  

[My Thoughts: Great use of Edge and Christian and a good way to promote the Steve Austin podcast. The New Day are the best thing. The Dudleyz are probably going to hit over-exposure pretty soon. Most of their appeal at this point is their nostalgia and if they're there every week it could get old fast.]



Sting, still on the titantron, puts a Sting mask on the Rollins statue. Rollins freaks out.

[My Thoughts: It was a little corny and without the depth of Rollins' on screen ego already so deeply explored it wouldn't have worked. The statue with the mask on looked pretty creepy.]



WWE created a pretty cool reality TV style video montage of the four-person saga but played it one too many times. Afterwards, Summer Rae expands on her accusations from Smackdown where she says that she's been cheating on Rusev with Dolph Ziggler and that they've had an on and off fling says she left Fandango last year. She called Rusev and begged for his forgiveness. Rusev comes out and says that it's not Summer's fault and it's not Lana's fault either, it's all Dolph Ziggler and his American lies. There was a lot of over-the-top heel verbiage from both heels to describe what was going on. Ziggler hits the ring and says no one believes them and says he has a message from Lana. He throws Rusev his microphone and superkicks him in the face.

[My Thoughts: I like that they're putting forth a bit of extra effort with this otherwise ordinary angle. I suspect Lana could end up turning on Dolph in the very near future, but her supposed real life wrist fracture might endanger that possibility. The script for this promo was really cringe-worthy.]



[My Thoughts: If Orton is truly the pick to be the third man, I think more than likely they'll end up with a rotating third partner. Orton can't be the pay off here.]


MATCH | Randy Orton vs Sheamus

Solid back and forth match and they did a lot of false spots and counters. The crowd just wasn't buying it. It seemed to really bother Randy that he wasn't getting the kinds of reactions he's used to. Orton picked up the win with an RKO.

[My Thoughts: I think this program has gone on a month too long. No one wants to see Orton and Sheamus anymore and it should be obvious after this. I'm disappointed but not necessarily surprised Sheamus lost a feud to Randy Orton in his first program after winning Money in the Bank.]



[My Thoughts: Remember when Bray Wyatt said "Follow the Buzzards" and it felt like he was saying "Follow the clues, there is more to everything than what meets the eye?" Well it sure doesn't feel like that anymore. WWE has turned it into a meaningless and trivial catchphrase. If Randy Orton is Dean and Roman's third partner at Night of Champions, this sure doesn't make those guys look good. Why didn't they come down to save Randy even if he isn't the third partner. Seems like an oversight on WWE's part.]



Short match. Nothing really to it. Finish was a 3D after one of the Matadores slapped El Torito.

[My Thoughts: I guess they needed to do the post-match stuff, but bell-to-bell this match was just not important to the show at all.]



The Matadore attacked El Torito post match and those damn Dudleyz took exception, probably because the little guy reminds them of Spike. They came down and put him through a table with Bubba's powerbomb from the top.

[My Thoughts: Heading into the summer the plan was for El Torito to ditch Los Matadores and join Lucha Dragons and that Hornswoggle would join Los Matadores. It looks like that might be back on. Don't be surprised if that's a six man TLC match down the road.]



Not much happens. The end up on the outside and Miz throws Cesaro into the barricade by the ramp and he sells his ribs. Big Show comes out and Miz runs away... for a long time. Miz was probably outside for thirty seconds before he finally got counted out. Big Show never caught him. People online are saying Cesaro won via countout, but that's bullshit. He never got back into the ring. It was no-contest through DQ.

[My Thoughts: It was a nothing TV match that helped to move along two storylines: Miz and Big Show don't like each other and Cesaro is the biggest loser since Zack Ryder]



Miz leaps over the barricade and exits through the crowd. Cesaro is still selling his ribs from a spot thirty seconds ago where he ran into a barricade twice. Big Show punches him ~RIGHT IN THE FACE!~ with his WMD Punch and leaves.

[My Thoughts: Why didn't Cesaro roll back into the ring? It would have took almost no effort at all for basically a free win. Oh right. He's a big fucking loser. That was the big take away from this Raw and the biggest problem. Cesaro is a fucking loser. Vince McMahon sees every "Cesaro Section"  sign as a challenge of his expert opinion and responds by making Cesaro the biggest loser he could. Give up now and spare this poor fucker a wheelchair ride off the stage.]



Alicia Fox and Brie Bella put over Nikki. Nikki says she's throwing a party next week to celebrate beating AJ Lee's record. Charlotte interrupts and says she's been granted a title match next week on Raw. Eventually the two teams brawl and Charlotte puts Nikki in the Figure Eight and Nikki taps. Charlotte tries to woo and it's really bad. Paige successfully woos. Th

[My Thoughts: Charlotte should have won the title right away upon being called up. That would be a "revolution." It's still better for her to do it next week than to wait for Night of Champions, although I'm not sure they go through with this either. I still have the feeling that Paige is the star of this angle and that she'll be turning on Charlotte either shortly after she wins the title or next week. We'll see where they go. Nikki really is a comfortable and coherent speaker and Charlotte read her lines very well. This angle is moving forward nicely.]



It was a TV match and nothing of real value happened. Seth Rollins was protected and didn't work the majority of the match. They were obviously conserving him for his big night in Houston. John Cena picked up the win with an AA on Kofi Kingston.

[My Thoughts: I was pretty relieved to see WWE not go through with putting Seth through another grueling match after the magic he worked with Ryback earlier. The New Day are the Young Bucks of the WWE. They understand the social media age and they're very understanding of how to fit The Young Bucks "Everything has to be Gifable" mindset into the WWE machine without become a carbon copy. They're all stars. I have to imagine Big E is a big part of this based on his Twitter page. Whoever is most responsible for it all should have a job for life.]



Sting asks Seth why he never came to get his statue. Sting then pushes it into a trash compactor of sorts and it's crunched into pieces. Recall what I said earlier about how this all ties in with the segment with Seth Rollins, Stephanie McMahon, and Triple H. There is layers to this shit.

[My Thoughts: I'm tentatively really excited for the Rollins/McMahon/HHH angle long-term and I'm really excited to see where Sting fits into everything and what that means.]



-Seth Rollins has two matches at Night of Champions, but he also has to worry about Sheamus possibly cashing in. Sting stole Seth Rollins' statue because he's a dick.

-Sasha Banks d. Paige with a distraction craddle (Naomi). Good match.

-Roman Reigns & Dean Ambrose d. The Ascension when Dean hit the Dirty Deeds. Dean Ambrose is no longer being presented like a loser and it immediately helped Roman.

-The Wyatts are no longer targeting just Roman and address Roman and Dean as equal targets. See? Dean isn't a loser this week.

-Ryback is very good with promos and connects with the fans and gets strong reactions. When you put him with a really good worker, Ryback is very capable of connecting with the fans in the ring too.

-Ryback d. Seth Rollins with a distraction roll up (Sting). Great match.

-Summer Rae cheated on Rusev with Dolph but Rusev blames Dolph. Dolph calls bullshit and kicks him in the face.

-Randy Orton d. Sheamus with an RKO. The crowd didn't care about this match at all.

-Randy Orton might or might not be The Shield Bro's third partner at Night of Champions, so The Wyatts killed him. Dean & Romie didn't save him. What dicks.

-The Dudleyz d. Los Matadores in about 90 seconds with a 3D.

-Fernando, henceforth known as "Los Matadick" turned on El Torito. Dudleyz put Los Matadick through a table.

-Miz vs Cesaro went to a no-contest when Big Show showed up. Miz and Big Show are still feuding and Cesaro might get wrangled in. Also Cesaro is a loser.

-Nikki vs Charlotte is announced for next week. Screw your celebration, Nikki!

-John Cena & The Primetime Players d. Seth Rollins & The New Day when Cena hit Kofi with an AA. OK TV Main Event.

-Sting destroys Seth's statue, yanno, because he's a dick.



1. Seth Rollins - The 2nd Coming of Shawn Michaels. Boy is he good.
2. Ryback - Connects with the fans verbally and had the match of his career.
3. Vince McMahon & Writers - This was the best Raw in a while. Almost no low points.
4. The New Day - A goldmine of material. They continue to be a bright spot.
5. Charlotte - Presented as a star and played her part well.

3583 words. What is this, E-Fedding?

u should write on bleacherreport

If they pay me, I'd write whatever they want.

I would really appreciate feedback of any kind. Really just a "I read this" or "I read some parts" would be helpful.

This was an awesome report. If you don't get enough comments on here, you should submit them to r/sc. But post em here too as I enjoy them.

I didnt get to watch RAW today but I'm gonna watch the full show tomorrow now.

I think this is a good thing to do. I skimmed over it. I think it's helpful to those who didn't get to see Raw or who only see certain parts. For example, I watched all of it, so I didn't feel the need to read the entire thing, just parts I was curious as to how you felt about. But if I missed the last hour for example, which I sometimes do, I would definitely read the entire portion of what I missed.

Great job

I read it. It was good.

Great review!

^ So good he had to repeat himself.

Inhaleminati wrote:

I think this is a good thing to do. I skimmed over it. I think it's helpful to those who didn't get to see Raw or who only see certain parts. For example, I watched all of it, so I didn't feel the need to read the entire thing, just parts I was curious as to how you felt about. But if I missed the last hour for example, which I sometimes do, I would definitely read the entire portion of what I missed.

Great job

I read through most of the thoughts parts. I agree it was a really good Raw. Although I like a lot of the Raw episodes recently (last week before this felt really lackluster) but this one beats most, if not all of them.