The ‘Kevin Owens’ era officially began this week on Monday Night Raw and there were many questions that needed answering.
Who will Owens face in his first Universal Title defence?
How will Rollins & Reigns react to being screwed out of the Championship?
And why did Triple H turn on Seth Rollins?
Last week’s ending certainly created a lot of buzz and everyone was eagerly waiting all week to see what would happen next. So, let’s look at what this week’s Raw had in store for the WWE Universe…
#1 The Kevin Owens show
The show started with a celebration for the brand new WWE Universal Champion, Kevin Owens. Balloons, confetti and fireworks were all used to greet Owens as Stephanie and Foley promised to over deliver on the celebrations for the new Champ. However, things didn’t go exactly to plan and Seth Rollins soon interrupted proceedings to demand answers for last week.
Tensions quickly heated up between not just Owens and Rollins but Steph and Foley too and there were good points well made and convincingly delivered by all involved which eventually lead to Seth being granted a chance at the title at the upcoming Clash of the Champions PPV.
#2 Bayley beats Charlotte
It was another strong showing for Bayely this week as she earned herself a victory against Women’s Champion, Charlotte.
The two women put on a good match which further established Bayley as a credible main roster talent and also continued the Dana Brooke/Charlotte storyline when Brooke unintentionally cost Charlotte the mach.
It will interesting to see whether or not this leads to a future Women’s Title shot for Bayley but either way, she has certainly hit the ground running since her main roster debut.
#3 Bo-ring
Bo Dallas made an appearance on this week’s Raw which was unexpected for a couple of reasons.
Firstly, Dallas was thought to be in the doghouse with WWE officials after recently being kicked off a flight for being drunk and disorderly and later arrested by police for public intoxication, so for him to even make an appearance on TV was surprising.
Secondly, he has resorted back to his ‘Bo-lieve’ gimmick after the Social Outcasts disbanded and won a quick squash match. There was also a clear and deliberate change to the Bo Dallas that we’ve become familiar with as he acted more serious and a lot more aggressive than he has in the past. The crowd was pretty much dead for his albeit brief match and it remains to be seen whether or not this new incarnation of Bo Dallas will get over with the audience.
#4 Good Guy Rollins
‘Good guy’ might not be the best way to describe Seth Rollins but he certainly appears to be in the process of a face turn if this week’s Raw is anything to go by.
After confronting Stephanie McMahon and attacking Kevin Owens earlier in the night, Rollins was put in a match against Owens’ best buddy, Chris Jericho. Jericho and Seth had a great match, match of the night in my opinion, and there was a slight tweak in Rollins’ in-ring work which got the crowd firmly behind him.
It seems WWE have finally stopped going against the crowd and are letting them cheer for a guy they like, if only they’d do something similar with another former Shield member.
#5 Sheamus goes 3-0
Match 3 of 7 in the Sheamus vs Cesaro series took place this week and Sheamus yet again won to put him 3-0 up and give the ’Swiss Superman’ a steep hill to climb if he is to win an opportunity at an undetermined Title.
While I am more invested in this angle now than I was when it was first announced, I still feel the series needs a clearer direction and announcing which Title the winner will challenge for would be a start, if it’s going to be for the U.S. Title then interaction between Rusev and the would-be challengers would also add some depth to this story.
As for the next match, we eagerly await to see whether or not Sheamus will get a clean sweep and win the series 4-0…who are we kidding? Cesaro’s going to win the next three matches.
#6 Enzo goes into labour
Yes, you read that correctly.
Enzo Amore gave birth to an imaginary baby in the middle of the ring and that wasn’t the only seemingly impossible thing that happened in this segment, the Shining Stars also won a match!
This certainly wasn’t Enzo & Cass’ greatest moment in WWE after the shock loss to Primo & Epico and a somewhat lacklustre promo by the duo prior to the match.
However, this wasn’t the most cringeworthy segment on this week’s Raw…
#7 Same old schtick
Another week, another immature and pointless promo from The Club.
It pains me to see a tag team who were so successful and dominant in New Japan come to WWE and act like a couple of clowns, though I can’t say I’m surprised as WWE do have previous in doing this. This week saw The Club bring out the New Day from the future, the Old Day, and make a series of old people jokes which seemed to go on forever.
A bit of comedic relief is fine in a Title feud but when that makes up the majority of the program, it devalues the belts and hurts the legitimacy of the people competing over them.
Hopefully, things will start to get serious in the lead up to Clash of the Champions but I’m not holding my breath.
#8 Fox vs Jax & Sin Cara vs Strowman
After weeks of squash matches, both Nia Jax and Braun Strowman appear to be heading into their first proper feuds. Nia against Alicia Fox and Strowman against Sin Cara.
While neither of these feuds are likely to excite the fans, it will hopefully add a bit of depth to both of their characters and they will come out the other side with more defined personas.
#9 Sasha’s got some bad news
Throughout Monday Night Raw, WWE teased an announcement from Sasha Banks on her future and teased that it was ‘bad news’.
This got the fans guessing as to what her announcement would be with many speculating that Banks would be out injured for a while or maybe even be forced to retire. It certainly garnered a lot of interest and people tuned in wishing that the speculation was off the mark.
Thankfully it was and after what was an awkward promo from ‘The Boss’ and a run-in from Dana Brooke, Sasha would announce that the bad news was for Charlotte as she would be defending her Women’s Championship against her at Clash of the Champions.
It will be interesting to see how Bayley is utilised in the build-up to this match.
#10 Reigns vs Owens set for next week
Raw’s main event saw Sami Zayn go one-on-one with his long-term rival Kevin Owens, the longest reigning WWE Universal Champion in history.
It was far from the greatest match between these two foes and did come at the end of a final hour that did drag. That’s not to say it was a bad match and did give Zayn some exposure after weeks of insignificance although it was Owens who ultimately got the win.
After the match, Owens would be confronted by Roman Reigns. But before he could get to Owens he was cut-off by Chris Jericho who still has Owens’ back. This led to Mick Foley coming out and making Reigns vs Owens for next week with the stipulation that if Reigns wins he will be added to the Universal Title Match at Clash of the Champions.
This week’s show fell some way short of matching last week’s excitement levels, but with a few weeks left until the next PPV and many questions still remaining unanswered, things could be about to pick-up on the road to Raw’s first brand-exclusive PPV of the new era
