New intro, new intro song, new logo - that’s how Raw looks and for the first episode of the new era it looked pretty Finn-tastic. Balor finally made his long awaited debut and this show was more about many NXT stars stealing the show in their own way and legitimately shocking the crowd.
The announce team weren’t at ringside, like the days of the past. They were perched besides the entrance ramp. The first episode of the new era featured two fatal four way matches, a women’s title match and two squashes.
Here are the 5 points to note from this week’s episode of Monday Night Raw
New Champion of the new era
Yes, Balor debuted but we’ll get to that later. The most important moment of the night was the crowning of a new champion for the new era and that happens to be The Boss, Sasha Banks.
One of the most newsworthy moments from last night was Bayley’s first appearance on the main roster. It helped banks even the odds and finally making Charlotte tap out. That led to their match for the Women’s Championship tonight.
The match was stellar and the women tried to tear each other apart. Banks’ admiration for Eddie Guerrero is well documented and she did embody his gimmick a bit when she made the referee believe that Dana Brooke at ringside was about to attack and hence Charlotte’s ally was immediately ejected. The match instantly became something special and soon we had a new queen of the Women’s Division.
The crowd was eating it all up.
Balor debuts
Balor competed in two matches on his first night on Raw and won both of them and is headed towards Summerslam to face Seth Rollins for the newly introduced WWE Universal Championship. Isn’t that just Finn-tastic?
From the moment Mick Foley was beginning to announce his name for the fatal four way match, Finn Balor had everyone’s attention. He stealthily emerged through the Raw roster to make his presence felt for the first time ever on the main roster. He got a longer entrance than any other competitor in the first fatal four way match while the announcers boasted most of his entire career accomplishments.
He began his first match on Raw by attacking his NXT rival Kevin Owens. He got to show off his flurry of painstaking kicks and he eventually, much predictably, won to face the winner of the second fatal four way match in the main event.
Reigns wins only to lose
The SummerSlam main event has long been speculated to have Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns fighting over the biggest prize in WWE. But since that prize is on SmackDown, they get to face each other for the WWE Universal Championship.
Reigns won his fatal four way match,predictably, to face Balor in the main event. Never thought Balor would be given such a huge opportunity on his first night on Raw. He was shown as an incredible threat and a main event player, which was quite well done.
And he got to pin Roman Reigns in the main event. Don’t know if plans have changed and Reigns’ days of being “THE Guy” are over.
Nia Jax debuts
Jax came out to face Britt Baker in a total squash. Jax got to show everything that the announcers described her to be - a hybrid of speed, power and agility. Also, her lineage was highlighted too as she is a member of the Samoan dynasty.
She was there for only 3 minutes but the company made her look like an utterly dominant, future monster heel for the women’s division - the likes of which the division hasn’t seen in years. Though we don’t know how long we get to see her take on local talent and squash them until she gets a worthwhile feud. But the superstar has consistently improved since her debut in NXT.
In other news
Brock Lesnar will be back on next week's Raw. Braun Strowman made his appearance sans The Wyatt family. He now has a new theme song and a new hairstyle and he, like Nia Jax, faced a local talent James Ellsworth in a literal squash. Ellsworth was great at showing fear for his impending doom at the hands of the former Wyatt Family member.
New day celebrated their 337th day as WWE Tag Team Champions. They’re booty-ful celebration was interrupted by the Club and they beat up New day! Also, the Cruiserweight Division is soon coming to Raw after almost 10 years.
