It was yet another go-home show before a PPV this week in WWE, as Monday Night Raw hosted their final show before this Sunday’s Roadblock: End Of The Line.
This Sunday’s show feels more like a detour before the Royal Rumble rather than a roadblock. This is down to a couple of reasons, one is due to the fact that there have been far too many pay-per-views over the last few months, so much so that none of them really feel special.
Also, the focus of recent editions of Raw has been more on the Kevin Owens and Chris Jericho falling out and Rollins’ pursuit of Triple H, rather than any of Roadblock’s main event matches.
Regardless, WWE may have been holding an ace up its sleeve to play this week. What would Raw have in store for the fans before the final pay-per-view of the year?
#1 Where was Emmalina?
Emmalina was set to debut her new gimmick on this week’s Raw, or at least that’s what we were told. Yet, this previously announced segment did not happen, and we instead got another vignette saying that Emmalina was ‘coming soon’.
This is a pet peeve of mine. I’m not annoyed about the Emmalina debut in particular, but if WWE were able to plan their shows weeks in advance and stick to it, then the product as a whole would improve.
Chopping and changing their plans on a whim is not beneficial to them or the talent on the roster.
She took to twitter to reveal the reason why she didn’t appear on RAW. By the looks of it, It seems WWE is planning on pushing her as a possible contender for the WWE RAW Women’s Championship after Roadblock, which explanins why WWE is saving her return for the falout episode of RAW for the PPV.
#2 New Day make history
The opening match of the night saw The New Day defend their WWE Tag Team Titles against two teams in Cesaro & Sheamus and Gallows & Anderson in a triple threat tag team match.
If New Day were to hold on to their Titles this Monday, then they would equal Demolition’s record title reign and all but cement their place as the longest reigning tag team champions in WWE history, and they did just that.
In a decent opening bout, Cesaro looked to have set up the victory for his team when he performed an impressive sequence of moves, which saw him take out all of his opponents in quick succession.
However, New Day stole the victory after Kofi hit the ‘Trouble in Paradise’ on Sheamus for the pin. Therefore, New Day broke the record and are the longest reigning tag team champions in WWE history…or are they?
#3 Premature celebrations
When New Day arrived at their celebration party that was taking place backstage, they were greeted and toasted by Raw Commissioner, Stephanie McMahon. Things took a turn for the worse for the champions, however, when Xavier Woods inadvertently soaked Stephanie with champagne.
In retaliation to this, Stephanie would force New Day to defend their Tag Team Titles again, later in the night in another triple threat tag team match. Their opponents on this occasion would be the teams of Kevin Owens & Chris Jericho and Seth Rollins & Roman Reigns.
Could New Day retain again to keep their record in tact? Or would Rollins & Reigns roll back the years to their Shield days and once again become Tag Team Champions?
#4 Gentlemanly Gallagher
‘The Extraordinary Gentleman’, Jack Gallagher, made a very respectful run-in during his rival Ariya Daivari’s match this week, by announcing the intention of his forthcoming attack to pre-warn Daivari, what a lovely young man he is.
While this was entertaining and a unique way of interfering in a match, the coverage of the Cruiserweight division was once again quite poor this week. The fans were not invested in Daivari’s match or the TJ Perkins vs. Brian Kendrick match that took place later in the night.
It makes you wonder why WWE didn’t have the division switch over to SmackDown Live at Survivor Series, as it is dire need of a revamp.
#5 Sami to Smackdown?
Sami Zayn’s lobbying for a match against Braun Strowman continued this week, and Raw General Manager Mick Foley was still reluctant to grant Sami this wish.
When Foley once again denied to sanction this match, Sami suggested that maybe he needs to leave Monday Night Raw in order to fulfil his potential as a wrestler. Rather surprisingly, Mick Foley agreed and told Sami he would contact SmackDown’s Daniel Bryan to try and arrange a trade.
Could Sami Zayn really be on his way out of Raw?
#6 WWE logic
Following on from the previous slide, this whole storyline concerning Sami Zayn and Mick Foley is based on Foley protecting Zayn from Strowman, as he doesn’t feel that he can survive in a match with Braun.
So why on Earth does Foley book a match for Curtis Axel against Braun Strowman? Does he believe that Axel has more chance of defeating him than Sami does?
Plus, what about all the jobbers that Strowman faced a few months ago? How is Foley happy to see the likes of James Ellsworth fight Strowman but not a former NXT Champion?
The only answer is ‘WWE logic’ I guess.
#7 No appearance from Sasha or Charlotte
The go-home show to a pay-per-view that will see the history-making Women’s Ironman match did not feature either of the competitors involved.
Granted, there was a video package that recapped Sasha and Charlotte’s feud and previewed their upcoming match, but was this really the best WWE could come up with for this week’s show?
While I still have faith that the two ladies will put on a tremendous match at Roadblock, this week’s Raw did nothing to sell that match to me. A contract signing, sit-down interview or anything like that would have been far more beneficial than what we got. This is meant to be a historical match after all, yet it was nothing more than an after thought this Monday.
#8 Rusev vs. Big Cass at Roadblock
After last week’s hotel shenanigans with Enzo Amore, Rusev and Lana promised to show everyone what they get up to ‘behind closed doors’.
Obviously, this didn’t happen and while the last few weeks in this feud have been edgier than WWE’s usual product, the segment this week felt desperate. The tease of seeing Lana and Rusev enjoying some ‘personal time’ together, did nothing to further this feud and seemed to be teased purely for shock value.
Big Cass would eventually interrupt the Bulgarian and his wife, seeking revenge for Enzo’s brutal beating last week. Rusev and Big Cass are now set to face each other at this Sunday’s Roadblock PPV.
#9 Sami passes the test
So it turns out that Mick Foley has been testing Sami Zayn for the last few weeks to see if he has the fight and desire to face someone like Braun Strowman.
The answer to Foley’s question was apparently a resounding ‘yes’, although not resounding enough to grant Zayn a normal match with Strowman. Instead the match will have a 10-minute time limit as Zayn couldn’t possibly last any longer than that.
The whole story felt odd this week, as Sami didn’t do anything drastically different to what he has in previous weeks to change Foley’s mind.
Has this storyline hurt Sami’s legitimacy as a wrestler who should be taken seriously, or has it further established his ‘underdog’ persona? Let us know what you think in the comments below.
#10 New Day retain again
Raw’s overall product over recent weeks may have been quite poor but they have consistently put on great main event matches, and that continued this week.
With New Day having to defend their tag team titles for the second time in one night and doing it against high calibre opponents, there was genuine doubt as to whether they would be able to retain their championships for the second time on this week’s Raw.
Add to that the continued disdain between Chris Jericho and Kevin Owens, and you had plenty of drama surrounding this main event match; not to mention plenty of great in-ring action.
Ultimately, New Day would once again retain the tag team titles and make history by becoming the longest reigning champions in WWE history.
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