Monday Night Raw hailed to us from Newark, New Jersey this week, and what a night of big matchups it was. Several of the high-profile singles matches included Roman Reigns vs. Finn Balor, Seth Rollins vs. Bray Wyatt, and an Intercontinental Championship Match between The Miz and Dean Ambrose.
Perhaps, WWE felt the need to go big on this night because of the sad news of six months without Braun Strowman that broke earlier on Monday? Whatever the reason for the card, the in-ring product was solid.
In addition to several above average matches, one thing that we also keep an eye on are the times WWE may have messed up. There were several moments that WWE might wish they could have a mulligan for, but that’s not how it works with this live program.
Moments like the awkward chants during the Cruiserweight tag match, Booker T’s less than perfect geography, and Sheamus not being able to Brogue Kick a Hardy in one try have found a place on this countdown.
Sit back, relax, and enjoy the botchiest and most outrageous moments from Monday Night Raw. Each entry is even accompanied with a gif for your viewing pleasure.
#5 Give Cruiserweights a chance
By far, the loudest message that Newark, New Jersey sent to the world during this night of wrestling was that they do not care one bit about those wrestlers who use the purple ropes. They chanted for CM Punk.
They rang out choruses of how boring they thought the action was. There was even a loud ruckus because a guy got kicked out of the arena for bringing a beach ball. All of these crowd shenanigans happened during the tag team match between TJP & Neville vs. Austin Aries & Jack Gallagher.
Perhaps Newark spent too much time on Rip Rogers’ and Randy Orton’s Twitter timelines this past weekend because this actually looked like a solid effort of cruiserweight action from all four men. There were even a couple of those “dives” that caused such an uproar, so maybe Newark is a secret OVW smark town.
In fact, calling anything that involves both Neville & Austin Aries “boring” is an opinion that’s very hard to get on board with. Those two have been in a fantastic feud over the Cruiserweight Championship as of late, and only pity can be had for those who have missed out.
This tag match wasn’t a match of the year contender but it was absolutely not boring. It’s outrageous that Newark arrived at such a conclusion.
#4 Newark is not New York
Corey Graves and Michael Cole had a friendly chuckle at their announce team partner due to a slight geography faux pas. While Big Cass and Titus o' Neil were readying themselves for their upcoming match, Booker started off a point by proclaiming to be in the neighbouring state of New York.
They were not in New York. Booker’s broadcast colleagues were very quick to correct his mistake, something they all laughed about. Due to his slip up, Booker T never finished his point. Was he about to put over the Titus brand? We will never know.
#3 A modified Twist of Fate?
There was plenty of conjecture from the Raw commentary team as to what exactly Jeff Hardy was going for here, and if he accomplished whatever he had in mind. Michael Cole said that this move was “almost a Stunner.”
Corey Graves speculated that Jeff “was looking for the Twist of Fate,” but added, “whatever it was he caught enough of it.” Even Booker T had thoughts on this spot, calling it “somewhat of a modified Twist of Fate.”
Even though all members of commentary pretty much agreed that Jeff was intending to hit a Twist of Fate here, it was also the consensus that he didn’t connect with it quite like he wanted. The Charismatic Enigma put more of a Texas Rattlesnake form onto this and there’s nothing wrong with that at all.
#2 Two kicks for Matt Hardy
Perhaps Sheamus was still reeling from that Twist of Fate that more resembled a Stone Cold Stunner a few moments prior because he did not get Matt Hardy on the first try here. The Hardy not in this match was standing on the apron because he needed to shoo away Cesaro, who was trying to interfere.
After Sheamus watched Jeff narrowly avoid colliding into Matt just before this, he moved in for the kick. The big Irishman then decided to send Matt flying the hard way.
The first boot attempt came nowhere near Matt. To his credit, he had enough sense not to sell it like it actually connected. That would’ve looked terrible if he did. Instead, he waited until Sheamus to give him a followup boot that was right on the money.
Right after this, Jeff gave Sheamus a Twist of Fate and then hit a Swanton for the win. The Hardyz have the momentum as well as the title belts as Raw creeps closer to Extreme Rules.
#1 The Boss’ clean loss
Did Sasha Banks get into trouble backstage? Did she fail a drug test or commit the cardinal sin of playfully grabbing Vince’s arm as he walked by? There has to be an explanation as to why she lost so decisively to a wrestler that is booked nowhere near the top of her division.
To Alicia Fox’s credit, she’s been doing great work on 205 Live. She’s helped give actual stories to guys like Cedric Alexander and Noam Dar, who are great wrestlers but do need the aid of a crazy girlfriend to get that coveted WWE on-screen time.
But, as can be seen in WWE’s weekly reports of the most watched show on their Network, virtually nobody watches 205 Live. Foxy might be entertaining the very small segment that sees her on Tuesday nights but to the vast majority of Raw viewers, she’s been mostly M.I.A. for a while.
Sasha Banks lost clean to Alicia Fox and for nothing.
This doesn’t even feel like the start of a feud because why should there be a return match when the ending was nothing to be contested in the slightest? Banks really has lost her prominence, a fact that even Booker T reiterated during this very match. He specifically referred to her as a one-time “flavour of the month.” Ouch.
Let's hope that Sasha gains some momentum again because it’s outrageous how much she’s fallen from being one of the most over performers in the entire company when she first debuted on the main roster.
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