WWE is currently overseas, which means that Monday Night Raw emanated from London, England this week. The Brits only get treated to a WWE show a few times a year, so a major perk for the at-home audience was that the crowd was a little more vocal than normal.
Sadly for them, this wasn’t all that eventful of a show. There really wasn’t a tonne to get worked up over.
The few highlights from this episode that we got included a fun Number One Contender Tag Team Turmoil Match in which Golden Truth tried to have a career revival, a passionate pre-match promo by Goldust turned them into unlikely babyfaces and another highly physical segment between Braun Strowman and Roman Reigns.
Those two love to beat the tar out of each other and it’s great. Apart from those moments, much of the night was good but not great. It might be nice to find the silver lining but that’s not really the point of this article, is it?
A few moments need to be pointed out from Raw and not necessarily for good reasons. A shoulder that wasn’t down during a pinfall, a leg sweep that wasn’t nearly as effective as was hoped and a rare chair shot that connected with the back of a head are among this list that wrestlers probably do not want to chart onto.
Five botchy and outrageous moments lie ahead, so continue on to see what made the cut...
#5 Fox’s shoulder was up
WWE has lately had a bad habit of counting pinfalls when both shoulders are not down. However, unlike the recent bad count with Samoa Joe, this referee slip-up just might be part of a storyline.
Sasha Banks hit Alicia Fox with the double knees off of the corner, staying on top of her for the pinfall. Banks got the victory, although suspicious movement was noticeable even on the first viewing.
Corey Graves pointed out the raised shoulder and was eager to see the replay. We even got multiple angles of it. Perhaps Alicia will end up getting a re-match against Banks. Otherwise, it’s odd for an announcer to harp on a bad call like this so much.
#4 “No more kids!”
The London crowd is always good for some rowdiness and they did not disappoint on this night on Raw. The funniest chant came during the Tag Team Turmoil Match when Sheamus & Cesaro were battling it out against Heath Slater & Rhyno.
“He’s got kids,” the slogan plastered on the back of Heath Slater’s shirt, was heard throughout the O2 Arena. The Swiss Superman had Heath on his back while holding his legs, and planted a couple of strong strikes against his mid-section.
Cesaro is by no means a doctor, so the placement of those kicks might land him in hot water with some medical governing body due to the performance of an unlicensed vasectomy.
Hilariously, the English crowd then started a “No More Kids” chant in the same cadence as their previous one.
#3 Awkward leg sweep
Samoa Joe vs. Seth Rollins is a main event anywhere in the world. The two faced off in front of this London crowd in a perfectly fine affair, barring just one slight misstep.
Before going to a commercial break, Joe performed this leg sweep on Seth while they were on opposite sides of the ropes. Rollins, while on the apron, got tripped up and stumbled to the floor.
It appeared that Rollins might not have expected this move. The way Joe’s legs were positioned in relation to Seth’s, implied that he should’ve fallen forward, but that didn’t happen. The Kingslayer fell backwards, and in a rather awkward fashion.
#2 Not taking it easy on Braun
It was common knowledge before the start of Raw that Braun Strowman was going to be written off of TV. He needed a storyline reason for a 4-8 week absence for the purpose of undergoing a medical procedure. That reason came in the form of an attack by The Big Dog.
The reason this attack is being labelled an outrageous moment was because of how physical of a beat down this actually was. Braun’s arm is legitimately going to be out of commission and they held nothing back in making sure that the storyline reason for his absence matched up nicely with reality.
Strowman was battered against the ring post and even ate some strikes from a steel chair to his shoulder. He took the attack like a champ, that’s for sure.
About that chair...
#1 Chair to the head
Braun Strowman is really going away for a bit and Roman Reigns is going to be the storyline reason for it, which we just covered. Roman interrupted Braun’s one-armed match against Kalisto, assaulting him all around the ring. The pinnacle of the fight came in the form of a few chair strikes, but one of them got more than only his shoulder.
Roman was definitely aiming for Braun’s appendage but as can be seen in the highlight above, the back of the chair was too high up on the intended target and landed right on the back of his head.
Considering WWE’s ongoing legal battles over concussions, it’s a wonder that any foreign object strikes that might possibly come anywhere near the head are given approval.
Roman’s chair shot that grazed the back of Braun’s head was the top botch this week, but did you notice any others? Let us know about them in the comments below. Also, if you see any future Raw or SmackDown botches, let us know by sending them to Mitch on Twitter @MitchNickelson!
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