The Memorial Day edition of Raw took place live from Green Bay, Wisconsin, under the pressure of heavy expectations to deliver. And it did deliver. Coming fresh off the announcement of Brand Split and the huge expectation of the return of John Cena, this week’s Raw had several noteworthy moments.
The return of Rollins has changed the landscape of WWE suddenly and suddenly we don’t have the riveting feud of AJ Styles and Roman Reigns anymore. And the Women’s division seems to be going in a new direction after Charlotte viciously disowned her father, Ric Flair, last week. Moreover, The break-up of The Club has left fans questioning what is happening with AJ Styles. The final competitor for the MITB match has not been revealed yet either.
With all this in mind, fans were set for a explosive Raw. This week’s Raw did make good on its promise. Here is what went down with this week’s Raw.
Shane and Stephanie address the Brand Split
Shane and Stephanie kickstart Raw with a little bit of upstaging of each other as they inform the world of Brand Split. Before they could go any further, The New Day interrupts them and ask them where the New Day will be going after the Brand Split, to Raw or SmackDown.
The New Day receive a shocker as Stephanie informs them that the New Day may even be split. The New Day express their shock in their usual manner and pose the next question for Shane and Stephanie. Shane informs them that they haven’t decided on who will be running SmackDown yet. Big E proposes a dance off to settle the issue and we see Shane twirking with the New Day.
Before any decision could be made or Stephanie twirk, The Vaudevillains make their way to the ring.
The Club makes their first statement
The New Day and The Vaudevillains face off each other in a re-match of sorts from Extreme Rules. The match was mostly generic and the New Day’s popularity alone made the match interesting. There were no high spots or super cool moments involved.
But this all changed as Gallows and Anderson made their presence felt in the middle of the match. Gallows and Anderson blasted Woods who was cheering New Day from outside and subsequently took out Kofi, who came to the aid of Woods, too. The Vaudevillains left Big E to the mercy of Gallows and Anderson after the match was called off. The Club delivered a Magic Killer and walked off with The New Day laid out.
Backstage Segment: Renee Young interviews Gallows and Anderson
After their attack on New Day, Anderson and Gallows talk to Renee Young about their intentions. They say that this is what they are here to do and state that they don’t need AJ Styles to do that. Gallows and Anderson tell her that they are here to take over and this is just the beginning.
Backstage Segment: Big Show gives advice to Apollo Crews
In a backstage segment the 7 foot giant makes his return to the television. He fires up Apollo Crews against Sheamus and tells that he has seen a lot of eras come and go and it not worried about the current one.
The Usos vs Breezeango
This was a squash match. The Usos took out Breezeango quickly and the duo was left seething with the quick loss. They tried to take out their frustration on the Golden Truth who were sitting at the ringside on commentary. The Golden Truth turn the tables and take them out instead.
Looks like WWE is building a feud with these two teams in mind with long term goals. It is gladdening to see WWE give some storyline for these four Superstars to be in TV. Lot of talents have lost their credibility with the lack of TV time.
Rollins accumulates tremendous heat
Reigns cuts a short promo on his match against Seth Rollins. It was smart for WWE to let Roman start of with a Shield reference and keep the promo short. Rollins was the real star here. He never spoke a word, but accumulated enough heat with his heel antics to even get a pop for Roman. Rollins played with both the audience and Roman alike to gain a tremendous heat.
Seth teases a showdown and goes back to the ramp to cut a promo, but the fans boo him and prevent him from talking. Seth, then teases several showdowns and walks away to generate heat from the crowd. He even teases to cut a promo and backs off. This got the crowd behind Roman for atleast tonight.
Seth Rollins brilliant heel work here saved WWE a lot of embarrassing moments. If this continues, the crowd may even get behind Roman, though it is a long shot. If one remembers right, before Seth got injured the crowd was behind Roman for their showdown. Seth may be able to recreate that magic once more.
Rusev vs Zack Ryder
Even before this match started, everyone knew that Ryder was going to lose. It was clear that a feud between Rusev and Titus is in progress and like always Zack Ryder became the fall guy. But WWE booked this one better. Ryder had some offense in the match, but the match was short and it didn’t have any time for huge spots. Rusev was as dominating as ever.
Titus interrupts Rusev’s promo after the match to progress the rivalry. They play on the significance of Memorial Day and Titus gets a USA chant going before he hits Rusev with a big right hand. Rusev walks away leaving Titus look strong to end the segment.
Enzo and Cass vs The Dudley Boyz
It was an average match with Enzo and Cass gaining the first score in this rivalry. Enzo cuts a promo before the match and picks up the pinfall victory over D-Von to cap off his return to in-ring action.
The main player here was Big Cass. Big Cass was booked ridiculously strong. It is understandable as Vince is high on him, but it undermines the credibility of The Dudley Boyz. And it is sad to see the Dudleys jobbing to a ridiculous level.
John Cena returns and gets attacked by The Club
The much awaited return of John Cena took place to much fan-fare. The crowd was initially partial towards him, but John Cena won them back by cutting a patriotic promo about liberty and freedom. It is easy to see why John Cena is the top attraction, His promo was believable and it induced audience with emotion. John Cena then went to cut a promo on the New Era.
He said he is not going to roll over and let the new blood go ahead. He quoted that they must go through him. AJ Styles made his way to the ring and made the crowd go ballistic. Styles and Cena indulged in the fan adulation for some time before Styles gave Cena props for being the man around here.
Gallows and Anderson, who came out next, had a different opinion than Styles. They called him a kiss-ass and informed him that they were here to kick-ass, including his. Cena and Styles prepared to fight off Gallows and Anderson. But, Styles attacked Cena out of nowhere.
The Club reunited and took out Cena in a 3 on 1 beatdown. Styles looked to be fixated with Cena as he repeatedly came into the ring to pound away at him without any regard. Styles turned heel successfully and generated a large amount of heat. Looks like WWE is back to their original plan of using Styles, Gallows and Anderson as a monster heel stable.
Natalya vs Dana Brooke
The match was set to establish Dana Brooke and it did it. Looks like the rumours of Vince being high on Dana Brooke is true.Dana Brooke defeated Natalya after she was distracted by Charlotte.
Becky ran in to save Nattie from a post match beatdown. The booking of Women’s division is going to dogs to be frank. They failed to capitalize on the save by using Becky. No one wanted Becky to make a save. Looks like another tag team feud is set. Seriously, this is ridiculous!
Dolph Ziggler vs Baron Corbin
Before the match, Dolph Ziggler did a backstage promo about how he knows 1000 and 5 holds. He was repeatedly listing out armbars in his list when he recited it. At that stage it looked like a botch of promo.
Considering how rare it is for Dolph to botch something, it was later revealed to a rib to the fans. Once the match started Dolph went directly low to Corbin and walked away with a smug smile on his face. The booking was good as fans were beginning to lese interest in the feud. Dolph pulled it all back within two minutes. He is really an unbelievable worker.
Six Man Tag Team Match
In the main event of the night, Zayn, Ambrose and Cesaro took on Owens, Jericho and Del Rio. Given the stars present in the match, the crowd was expectedly hot. The match was made with one intention in mind, to establish some tension between the stars. And it looks like it succeeded.
Owens and Jericho had a difference of opinion late in the match. Owens tried to capitalize on Jericho hitting a Codebreaker on Ambrose.Jericho didn’t take Owens stealing his spotlight kindly and they had a few words regarding it before the babyfaces broke up the conversation. Predictably, the babyfaces won the match and closed the show.
