This week’s Monday Night Raw was the go home show before this Sunday’s Money In The Bank Pay-Per-View, the greatest Money In The Bank PPV in history if you believe Michael Cole.
So, could the WWE deliver a show that gets everybody hyped for this huge PPV and it’s so-called ‘WrestleMania worthy’ matches, or did they continue to fall short of their promise?
#1 Bad - More Smackdown GM Applicants
After last week’s return of Teddy Long, it was Kane’s turn to put himself in contention for the role of Smackdown General Manager for when it goes live on July 19th
Yet again these segments were all tongue in cheek and didn’t really present the Smackdown GM role in high regard. Stephanie McMahon threw Teddy Long out the building last week and shown him very little respect, which is consistent with her heel boss persona, however this week Shane McMahon got in on the act and despite saying he ‘bonded’ with Kane during the night, he dismissed his application with little consideration and the sent him on his way.
It’s a shame to see someone with Kane’s pedigree used as comedy fodder for the McMahons in backstage segments and I doubt he’ll be the last GM applicant to be treated like this, who’s got Vickie Guerrero to return next week?
#2 Bad - It Just Isn’t Working
Another Raw, another pointless vignette from The Shining Stars.
Primo & Epico are two talented performers but have failed to find the right on-screen personas to get themselves over in WWE. And this most recent gimmick might be their worst yet, but who’d have thought it could get worse than Los Matadores?
Then again, they’re not the only ones stuck with a gimmick going nowhere, Darren Young and his baffling ‘life coach’ segments with Bob Backlund have failed to capture the fan’s imagination and he looks to have hit a dead-end before he’s even made his re-debut.
You’d think the WWE could see that they’ve tried something that hasn’t worked and would pull the plug on both these ideas, however, we all know about the WWE’s stubbornness and I’d expect to see these ineffectual vignettes air for a few more weeks at least.
#3 Bad – The Shield Disappoint
Now this wasn’t a terrible segment by any means and maybe it’s harsh to put it in the ‘bad’ list, but I do feel it fell short of expectations.
When the return of The Ambrose Asylum was announced last week with the guests being Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns people were looking forward to this and were expecting an explosive confrontation between the former Shield members.
However, this never really materialised and although the segment had some good moments, overall it was quite flat. It began slowly with some goofy moments, which wasn’t what the fans were wanting to get from this encounter, but when Seth did turn it up a notch and talked about him destroying The Shield, the segment seemed to get some direction and he and Reigns had some decent back and forth between each other.
It was also interesting to see Dean Ambrose standing tall at the end and teasing a potential cash-in on Sunday should The Lunatic Fringe win his Money In The Bank match.
Like I said, this was a decent segment but didn’t live up to the hype and didn’t fulfil the potential it seemed to have, considering the history between the three superstars.
For that reason, it makes the ‘bad’ list this week.
#4 Bad - High Ryder to Low Ryder
Poor, Zack Ryder. Whenever he seems set for a push, he has the rug pulled out from underneath him before he even really gets a chance to showcase himself in a meaningful role.
Just over two months since his triumphant WrestleMania victory and Ryder is back playing an extra in someone else’s rivalry. His Intercontinental Title victory was surprising but was deserved and well received by the fans as he has been a hard working, long time employee of the company and seemed to finally getting some reward for his dedication.
The title reign, however, lasted 24 hours and he has now seemingly resumed his jobber role.
Hopefully, Ryder will get more involved in the Apollo Crews/Sheamus program and will play more than a supporting role, he certainly deserves more than that, but if this week’s Raw match is anything to go by then WWE do not see him as any more than an enhancement talent.
#5 Bad - What Revolution?
What happened to Women’s wrestling being the future of WWE?
After the Women’s Championship was introduced at WrestleMania, the female talent looked set to be featured strongly on WWE programming, however, the Women’s revolution has steadily declined since then and was this week restricted to a quick match that saw the Champion losing clean.
The booking of the Women’s division and Charlotte in particular, has been questionable for the last couple of months and looks to be getting worse.
One segment on this week’s Raw and no title match at the upcoming pay-per-view doesn’t make the future look promising.
The upcoming brand split has the potential to fix this issue as you’d assume that they will be forced to showcase more of the female talents on the roster, such as Sasha Banks, but they need to be put in meaningful feuds and be booked strongly in order for the revolution to get back on track.
#1 Good - Fresh Start
An opening segment without an authority figure in sight was a rare and refreshing way to kick-off this week’s Raw. And giving plenty of mic time to The New Day and Enzo & Cass made for an entertaining start to the show.
The banter between the two teams was immature and silly but that didn’t stop it being funny, from making fun of Kofi’s ‘old man shoes’ to learning that Francesca II had spent the night with Enzo out in New Orleans, there were plenty of gags thrown around by all the men involved in this exchange, with Xavier Woods exclaiming that he’s “the only one who blows his girl!”, being a particular highlight.
They were interrupted by The Vaudevillians and then The Club which led to an 8-man tag match, in which Gallows & Anderson were victorious. This was a fun segment that did a decent job in setting up the match for this Sunday and made The Club look like legitimate threats to New Day’s titles.
#2 Good - A Bit Of Character
Hallelujah! After two months on the main roster Apollo Crews is finally showing some character.
Following the aforementioned Zack Ryder squash match, Sheamus continued his attack on the former Intercontinental Champion which led to a run-in from Apollo Crews who showed some aggression and looked strong, sending The Celtic Warrior running with his tail between his legs through the crowd.
This was great to see as Apollo looked for a brief time to be going the way of previous NXT call-ups such as The Ascension and Tyler Breeze in failing to connect with the main roster audience, however after this week’s Raw he looks like he finally has some direction in his character and has the chance to establish himself with this feud.
#3 Good - Zayn gains momentum
There was a strong showing from Sami Zayn on Raw this week both in and out of the ring.
First of all, he interrupted Cesaro’s backstage interview prior to their match and the two of them had some verbal sparring in which the pair of them impressed. Then, unsurprisingly, the Cesaro vs Zayn match had some great action and was arguably, the match of the night even if it was a bit short.
Sami picked up the clean win and is heading into his first Money In The Bank with plenty of momentum behind him.
Although I personally think it’s a bit too soon for Zayn to win the briefcase, he has made a great start to his WWE career and is proving himself against some of the main roster’s biggest stars which can only stand him in good stead for the future.
# 4 Good - The Stage Is Set
All the Money In The Bank participants had a decent showing this week, not just Zayn vs Cesaro but Jericho vs Ambrose and the Kevin Owens and Alberto Del Rio segments.
Other than the predictable six man brawl and the “look, I can climb a ladder” spot that happens every year, there were some layers added to this match that make it more intriguing than past ladder matches.
One such layer was the Kevin Owens and Del Rio confrontation that led to them having to team up against the Lucha Dragons with the stipulation that if they lost, then Sin Cara & Kalisto would take their spots in the match this Sunday.
This was a different way to build to the match and gave it more meaning than just having two of the participants compete in singles action.
Even the Ambrose vs Jericho match was more enjoyable than it appeared on paper and had plenty of shenanigans surrounding it with Owens & Zayn on commentary, Cesaro as guest ring announcer and Del Rio as guest timekeeper.
The match itself this Sunday is unpredictable as all participants have looked strong going into it and there isn’t a clear favourite to win, that should hopefully lead to an exciting contest.
# 5 Good - “My Time Is Now”
The John Cena/AJ Styles segment on Raw was arguably the highlight of the show again, for the third week running.
The contract signing itself was unique in the way that Styles was presented with the choice of facing Cena one-on-one or choosing to have The Club at ringside with him during the match.
It wasn’t the predictable brawl to end a contract signing and left the physical confrontation between the two men until this Sunday which will make the match that bit more special. The build to their match has been well executed and AJ Styles has shown that he can hang with Cena verbally.
Cena had some great lines this week such as telling Styles to catch the “bullet train back to Japan” if he can’t compete at this level by himself, but the ‘Phenomanal One’ had great comebacks and told Cena that “You’re time is up, my time is now”.
I hope that Styles is right and his time is now, as Cena has been excellent over the last year in working with some of the new talents coming to the main roster, but if the WWE is to build new stars then they need to have them beat Cena cleanly in the big matches.
AJ Styles has shown his worth to the company since his debut at the Royal Rumble but he is still in need of a big win to establish himself as a top-tier talent in WWE, and hopefully this Sunday could provide that opportunity.
