AMBROSE ASYLUM
WWE Raw opened in the Ambrose Asylum with Dean interviewing Shane McMahon, who is somehow still in charge of Raw. Don’t question it. If we look for explanations Raw might go bad again.
That thing happened when people involved in feuds come out one by one to interrupt. First Owens, then Zayn, then Jericho. Shane quickly made Owens vs Zayn and Ambrose vs Jericho for WWE Payback – not just ‘Payback’. WWE Payback. Gotta stay on brand – but tonight, those matches are playing WWE Wife Swap.
It’ll be Owens vs Ambrose in the main event, and Zayn vs Jericho right now…
CHRIS JERICHO BEAT SAMI ZAYN
This was a decent match, but paled in comparison to AJ vs Zayn from last week. It did have one edge, however – Maggle’s microphone cutting out midway through.
People are saying Jericho buried Zayn here, but I disagree. Sami looked strong and Jericho very clearly poked Zayn in the eye to steal the victory.
THE BULLET CLUB REUNITE!
In the coolest moment of the whole show, during a backstage interview, AJ Styles met…Mauro Ranallo! He was moonlighting as Renee Young for the night. Hopefully this is a way to get viewers familiar with Ranallo before he replaces all three of the current announce team on commentary.
Oh yeah, and Karl Anderson and “Dah-Dah-Dah, my friend turned up.” Luke Gallows, AJ. His name is Luke now.
They both hugged AJ Styles and Maggle played up their friendship back in New Japan. The Bullet Club was being teased.
The angle continued in a Roman Reigns promo. Not a good promo, and not a bad promo. Just the promo.
Roman and Styles had a mercifully short talking exchange before Gallows and Anderson jumped Reigns from behind. AJ played it up like he didn’t know what was happening, but he’s no DeNiro, and he just ended up looking like he’d guiltily passed wind and was hoping nobody could smell it.
This should have been the show’s closing angle. It was by far the episode’s most intriguing story. Instead, your WWE Title feud was lost somewhere in the middle hour.
Here’s the other stuff that happened…
BARON CORBIN BEAT JOBDANGO
Corbin looked really awesome here. He didn’t acknowledge Dolph Ziggler on commentary…until he threw Jobdango at him.
NEW DAY AND CESARO BEAT MIZ AND LEAGUE OF NATIONS
Miz TV turned into a Cesaro vs Rusev match, which turned into a New Day and Cesaro vs Miz and League of Nations match.
Swiss Superman 007 Nightclub Bouncer Cesaro is still a bit of a confusing gimmick, but at least he’s being booked strong.
NATALYA, PAIGE, BECKY LYNCH AND SASHA BANKS BEAT CHARLOTTE, TEAM BAD AND SUMMER RAE.
Natalya revealed Bret Hart is going to be in her corner at Payback, retreading their NXT Takeover match from almost exactly two years ago, and then we were straight into another eight person tag match – Natalya made Charlotte tap out in the middle of the ring.
It makes sense – a Charlotte loss amongst 8 other bodies means a lot less than a singles match and it makes their feud appear more evenly matched.
Natalya has ditched her S&M outfit to go back to her normal ring gear. It’s OK, though. Maryse is wearing it instead now.
By the way, during the entrances for this match, Maggle announced a competition to win a trip to Universal Studios with WWE Superstar Titus O’Neil and his family. Just don’t cut in front of him when you’re queuing for rides. FREE TITUS!
APOLLO CREWS BEAT HEATH SLATER
Apollo Crews got a promo video before this match to get us to care more about him. He’s got video packages, an impressive moveset and really good ring music…all he needs now is a character.
The stipulation was that if Crews lost, he’d have to join the Social Outcasts. They’re a member short now because someone has been popping too many rosebuds.
ENZO AND CASS BEAT THE DUDLEYS
“We’re A-cups…real whether you like us or not.” Enzo and Cass continue to be ridiculously over – not just with their standard catchphrases, but also with new lines like that.
You hear that Roman? Not just good lines, not bad lines. New lines.
They beat the Dudleys clean to progress to the finals, although this doesn’t feel like the end of their feud.
VAUDEVILLIANS BEAT USOS
The other semi-final of the Tag Team Tournament saw The Vaudevillians beat The Usos, who were still selling their beatdown from Gallows and Anderson last week.
The Vaudevillians have a great entrance. It’s nice to see the spectacle being put into WWE entrances again. That’s half the battle of getting over.
And now, the main event.
DEAN AMBROSE BEAT KEVIN OWENS
If you don’t count Roman Reigns, Kevin Owens is now the company’s top heel. I like that.
Renewing their Intercontinental Title feud from earlier this year, Ambrose ended up beating Owens. The best spot was Owens’ frog splash from the apron to the outside. “Biggest frog I’ve ever seen.” It was funny the first 20 times you said it, JBL. NOW STOP IT.
Again, like Sami/AJ last week and Sami/Jericho on this episode, it shows how you can make both men look strong even with a clean finish.
The show ended with Jericho laying out Ambrose with a codebreaker. A feud based around a potted plant ended Raw rather than a teased Bullet Club reunion. Go figure.
So that was this week’s WWE Raw in about four minutes. Here’s the usual ratings recap, from top to bottom – In Awe, Cor, AVERAWGE, Poor and Bore.
This week’s WWE Raw is ‘AveRAWge’. To paraphrase a Roman Reigns line again – he’s doing to death, so I’m going to as well – it wasn’t a good Raw, it wasn’t a bad Raw. It was a Raw.
It was nowhere near as good as the last two weeks, but with mostly consistent logic, matches that meant something and a very intriguing Bullet Club story, it was still far better than the months before Wrestlemania.
But what did you all think? Let us know in the comments down below.
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Oli Davis is the host of the WrestleTalk News. You can follow him on Twitter @OliDavis.
