While most of the matches on the card were just there without any major consequence, a few good steps were taken towards Summerslam, which mainly includes a match between Cesaro and Sheamus. But this was also a night where a couple of moments that could have been reserved for the PPV were played out in some odd fashion on Raw.
Understood, that this is the go-home show and they needed something big, and introducing the Demon King was sort of understandable, but the match between Rusev and Reigns was a tad bit too forced.
Here are the 5 points to note from this weeks’ episode of Monday Night Raw-
The Feud Begins
Last week in a great move representative of the new era, Raw General Manager Mick Foley took to social media to recount his thoughts on the Cesaro vs Sheamus match. He admitted that he did not really pay much attention to it Live than he did later on.
He applauded the effort that went into making the match a thing of beauty. So this week, the feud took one giant leap towards being significant. These two men loathe each other. So, Foley saw the mutual hate and introduced the best of 7 series beginning Summerslam. It is quite a simple feud which has been accentuated by this stipulation. It’s simple yet effective.
The Demon King
One would have thought that The Demon King’s debut is a money maker and should be saved for Summerslam when Finn Balor gets his alter-ego to grace the main roster for the first time, but it came a week too early. For the past two weeks, the company has made a big deal out of what this Demon can do.
The entire night saw the build up towards setting up the aura of this fictional freak of the WWE universe, including Rollins coming across Neville backstage with the latter making the former champion aware of how screwed he can get with the Demon King opposite him in the ring.
The Demon King was on Raw. But it didn’t stop at that, they actually began a brawl with Rollins eventually retreating.
Guess who’s back?
As Summerslam heads back to Brooklyn, there is one more guy who will make another appearance in the 3rd PPV of the Big 4. Jon Stewart, one of the best celebrity guests in WWE, is set to return, yet it is not clear what role he is set to play. If he’s not hosting, we may see him cross paths with Seth Rollins with whom he shared some really entertaining moments last year.
He may not help him win the match against Balor though, that’s not even a long shot. But he’s back and that ought to get some more engagement on social media for Summerslam.
Main Event
This week’s main event featured Roman Reigns taking on his Summerslam opponent Rusev in a non-title match since the title is on the line on Sunday. This was a match they had to fight for ‘Lana’s honour’ after what had ensued last week.
Rusev is a delightful character, but it was ridiculous having this match before it could happen at Summerslam. It was ridiculous how the match was as long as it was. Some things are worth the wait and it would have been a bit better if these two had their match at Summerslam than on the main event of the Raw.
Hottest Free Agent
The character that is Heath Slater is a legend in his own right. One of the most endearing jobbers ever in the WWE is now a self- proclaimed “ hottest free agent” in the company right now. He came out tonight to interrupt Brock Lesnar’s promo to beg for a match against Lesnar to get a Raw contract. He begs and pleads and talks about feeding his kids to which Lesnar replies that doesn’t give two cents about his kids.
Afterwards, pretending to walk away from it all, Slater tried to attack Lesnar only to enter Suplex City in all its painful glory. A statement was made – Lesnar is not eating into the Orton hype and he’s walking into Summerslam to take that hype straight to Suplex City.
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