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Did WWE flip a switch or something?
It certainly seemed that way this week on Monday Night RAW, as fans were treated to some of the most action-packed and bizarre content the company has come up.
It was also a huge departure from their usual storytelling methods and honestly had fans enthralled from beginning to end.
Was it perfect? Absolutely not!
The WWE Universe should try to understand that everything can't go right, but they were treated to a pretty spectacular edition of the Red Brand nonetheless. The argument could probably be made that this was the best Monday Night RAW of the year.
With that being said and this week's edition of The RAW brand in the books, here are five brilliant moves WWE made this week on the show.
As always, let us know your thoughts in the comments below and tell us what brilliant moves you think WWE made this week.
#5 Fast-paced
WWE did something they haven't done in a while on Monday Night Raw and that was to focus on the wrestling.
Sure, there was a promo here and there to balance things out when needed, but the show ran at a frenetic pace from beginning to end and a lot of that time was taken up by some great action in the ring.
From the Mosh Pit tag team match for The 24/7 championship to the Gauntlet match to determine the new No.1 contender for AJ Styles at SummerSlam, WWE packed the show with a lot of great wrestling and a very fast pace as well.
If nothing else, this is a major step forward for the company and could set the stage for that style of booking going forward.
In the end, WWE going back to its roots and spending more time wrestling than talking was a brilliant move.
Not only did it allow for the Superstars to tell their story inside the squared circle, but it also paved the way to some of the best booking the company has had in months.
This is what change looks like.
#4 Ricochet winning the gauntlet
What a match!
Serious though, from the opening bell to Ricochet surviving a very game Andrade and ultimately winning, this match had everything. Beyond all that, the match raised the profiles of everyone involved.
In all honesty, the Superstars in this match told a perfect story in the ring and had the crowd enthralled the whole time.
Of course, Sami Zayn's early exit was a little disappointing to see, especially with WWE underutilizing him right now. Andrade did get a lot of heel heat for ripping off Rey Mysterio's mask.
Again, this match just had everything to it and the spots the Superstars were able to pull off were insane. Some of the counters even boarded on outright mind-blowing, thus creating an even more chaotic effect to the match.
#3 Having Maria Kanellis win the 24/7 Championship
WWE is attempting to entice audiences with more mature content during their weekly programming and for the most part, it has paid off in spades.
It has also led to some of the most jaw-dropping segments the company has attempted in a while, which should give fans hope that this is only the beginning.
With that being said, and Maria Kanellis now the new 24/7 champion after pinning her husband, it looks like fans are going to be in for something interesting.
In fact, between Maria using her pregnancy to stay champion, Drake Maverick and R-Truth staying in the title picture, we could be in for an insane storyline.
#2 Brock Lesnar destroying Seth Rollins
Can you believe it?
Brock Lesnar made his presence felt when he stormed to the ring and proceeded to lay a beatdown on his SummerSlam opponent.
When all was said and done, Rollins suffered, getting thrown into the ring post, F5'd several times onto a sitting chair, and another one onto a stretcher in the parking lot.
Unfortunately for Seth Rollins, he looked pretty beaten up and was even seen bleeding from his mouth.
The beating was so bad that it even has people speculating that Seth Rollins was injured during the beatdown.
Whether this is a storyline injury or not remains to be seen, but one has to admit this was a pretty gruesome Attitude Era style beatdown.
It was also the start of some of the most chaotic programming WWE has ever put together, which only helped to make the evening all the more special.
#1 Main event brawl
As much as The WWE Universe likes to give the company flack for formulaic openings, they seem to have no problem with that being used for the main event.
Interestingly enough, WWE never announced a main event for the night and the show ended after a brawl that included Reigns, McIntyre, Joe, The OC, The Usos' and Cedric Alexander!
Beyond having a star-studded list of Superstars to close out the show, WWE also crafted what has to be one of the best ending sequences fans had seen in some time.
In fact, between WWE getting the fans behind Reigns, and Cedric Alexander jumping off the titantron, it was one of the best endings to a show this year.
If nothing else, WWE did something different for their main event this week and while that doesn't always work out for them, it did this time.
