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Survivor Series is slowing creeping upon us, and if you were able to avoid spoilers for this Manchester edition of Raw, you were in for a few surprises. Not only was there a title change in what was a fairly solid main event, but there was also a debut from the current WWE U.K. Champion. There was certainly much to like about this show but like on every Monday Night, there were plenty of mishaps as well. After three long hours, it's inevitable.
On this Raw, Bayley almost had to fight an inflatable monster, Kurt Angle walked out to The Bruiserweight's music, and there's now a new mystery regarding a SmackDown Live infiltration on the production team. After all, who agreed to play New Day's entrance music? Shouldn't that bother Kurt Angle, who just last week flipped out over the medically fragile Daniel Bryan?
Perhaps that mystery will be solved in due time, but it's best not to get your hopes up. Some moments are simply botches that get swept underneath the rug forever.
#5 Look out, Bayley!
As Bayley made her way to the ring, she almost got attacked by one of her very own inflatable, arm-flailing tube men. What might have happened was that Shane McMahon paid the inflatable off on behalf of team blue. However, thanks to Bayley's quick wit, the assailant was foiled. She noticed the imminent danger and put herself en garde.
Bayley not only won this encounter but she was also a part of the victorious tag team in the match that followed. Both she and Sasha Banks defeated Nia Jax and Alicia Fox. However, only Banks was named as a member of the Raw Women's Survivor Series team. One has to wonder why The Hugger was snubbed.
#4 Taking shots at Neville
Enzo Amore had quite a lot on his mind when he came out to speak in front of the British audience. Manchester was more than willing to give it back to him. The most standout exchange of banter between The Cruiserweight Champion and the crowd wasn't over Kalisto or even the man that was about to debut, but rather Neville.
As Enzo continued to drone on and on about a little kid that recently stopped him, the audience badgered him with "We Want Neville" chants. Amore took verbal jabs back at them, saying he ran him out of town. While he was down on one knee pretending to talk to the youngster, he also threw in a jab about the kid being the same size as Neville.
If CM Punk is the standard for how WWE employees are to handle crowd heckling using the names of past employees, then the Smacktalker Skywalker probably handling the crowd all wrong. Ignoring the noise is best to make it go away. But then again, Neville isn't technically a "past" employee just yet.
#3 Angle's new entrance
It might be presumptuous to label this debut as a botch, but something seemed way off about the timing. Enzo Amore first watched as Kalisto interrupted his longwinded promo just to take a seat at ringside. Then, Pete Dunne's music hit as the commentary team acted shocked at the arrival of the U.K. Champion. The crowd erupted uproariously as well.
As the Raw GM instead walked out to The Bruiserweight's music and entrance graphic, Corey Graves confusedly remarked, "Well that's not... that's Kurt Angle!" The Wrestling Machine then cut off Amore, who clearly was about to ask why Kurt was out there. Didn't Dunne's name and music not make it obvious why he was out there? Then, Angle finally hyped up the man who walked out next as if it was a huge reveal. Once again, the guy's name was plastered right above Angle's head for the entire arena to see, so it wasn't a surprise by the time he said his name.
It's logical to assume that the Olympic Gold Medalist was supposed to walk out to his own music and not to Pete Dunne's. If Angle's music had played instead, then all the dialogue that followed over the next minute would've made far more sense.
#2 Who played New Day's music?
New Day interrupted the Raw Tag Team Championship main event match, coming through the crowd Shield-style with a microphone. The match abruptly halted while Corey Graves asked what happened to the heightened security.
Michael Cole acted shocked that the trio just walked in and was flabbergasted the rest of SmackDown could be in the arena somewhere. Maybe the first place to check should be wherever the employee is located that plays the entrance music?
Why would this rival brand's tag team get their graphics and music? Also, why did they have working mics? Are some of the backstage employees defecting to Tuesday nights?
The first "under siege" did a decent enough job of making the blue on red violence feel like a wild invasion, yet the New Day theme song on this night made it all feel like a simple, overplayed distraction finish.
#1 Flat finish
The main event match, before the New Day interruption, was top notch. Both Seth Rollins & Dean Ambrose, as well as Sheamus & Cesaro, are highly skilled duos. Really, there's no wrong matchup between The Shield or The Bar against The Usos at Survivor Series so the outcomes itself isn't bad. The problem here is with the fairly lame finish.
Almost four minutes passed between the first eruption of Big E's voice, compelling the audience to "Feel the power," and the Sheamus Brogue Kick to Seth Rollins. Cesaro grabbed Dean Ambrose from breaking up the fall, and that was all it took. It was all done in a way to make the great match these four guys were previously having to be an afterthought.
Hopefully, the Survivor Series matches that this night created are given proper finishes because both The Bar vs. The Usos, as well as The Shield vs. New Day, should be amazing.
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