The latest episode of Monday Night Raw emanated from Oklahoma City and they kicked off the show with all six participants of the Money In The Bank (MITB) ladder match.
Stephanie McMahon early on informed us that Shane McMahon wasn’t in attanedance as he was ‘on vacation’. So, here we are on a Raw run by Stephanie McMahon and featuring the fallout of the attack on John Cena by The Club. Styles vowed to answer why he did what he did.
Also, the show featured a surprise return, not that of a former great superstar but something more in tandem with the build to the brand split happening in July.
Here are the 5 points to note from this show:
#1 The Explanation
AJ Styles made it clear- attacking Cena was his plan all along. Cena made it clear- he is the face that runs this place and if Styles couldn’t beat Reigns what chances does he have against the man named John Cena.
Styles says the same things Cena has heard a million times before and maybe Styles will be amongst the few who’ve shown Cena that he is not invincible, but for the time being Styles was just too wary of how much Cena buries people.
The hardcore fans were going to agree.
He says that if he loses to Cena, he’ll be buried for life and hence got insurance in the form of The Club.
This night was about The Club beating New Day and Cena joining in the brawl and the heels being outnumbered by the faces. Not really a great night in terms of excitement but I guess we should give it more time.
#2 The Champ Don’t Care
Here’s the thing; Charlotte kicking her father out of her career that way was rude and heartbreaking but Charlotte kicking out Ric Flair- the dirtiest guy in the game- was something fans wanted since Flair interfered in almost all of the her matches.
Flair was still omnipresent in this feud between Charlotte/ Dana Brooke and Natalya/ Lynch, but then Lynch shifted her attention to Brooke and told her that the champ doesn’t care about who she allies herself with.
She just cares about herself and the same thing that happened to Flair will happen to Brooke herself. It wasn’t a monumental moment but it was a remarkable one in shifting the spotlight back to the women and getting Flair out of the equation.
We’ll have to wait and see what happens to this alliance.
#3 No Frills attached
Last week’s segment between Reigns and Rollins dragged on for so long that this week they did not even have the two face off. They had two brilliant video packages that reminded us about their history together in The Shield and after Rollins sold out/ bought in with the idea of his evolution.
The two videos were two versions of a story; one from Reigns’ vantage point and one from Rollins’
This was a good idea to build up their much awaited, much hyped clash eventually. This is a feud that has some tremendous long term potential too.
But you know what’ll make this feud even better in the future? The introduction of Dean Ambrose.
#4 The Realest of Bros
The Vaudevillians took on Enzo and Cass today on Raw. Enzo was again made to slide down the bottom rope in the exact way that led to his injury. Amore sold the bump pretty well. That led to Cass unleashing all his anger at the other team and decimating them.
This shows a lot about their team and their friendship. We’ve heard Cass tell us before about how scared he was when Enzo got injured.
This also makes the team look so strong because everyone loves a great bromance. These two guys are the most brotherly team ever since The Shield.
Well, 2 years since that breakup and it still hurts!
#5 Tag Team match, playa!
When the show kicked off with all the MITB participants, one could have guessed that there will be a tag team automatically made, until we heard the familiar music of a guy who become synonymous with announcing tag team matches.
Teddy Long, former general manager of Smackdown, made his way out and jumbled up his entire promo. That led Stephanie McMahon to come out and he told her that he wants to run Smackdown.
Of course, that won’t happen, but this was one step towards announcing to the world that the brand split is inching closer.
And Teddy Long did get to make a tag team match later on when Breezango took on Golden Truth. But that did not really turn out the way he intended it to.
Instead, in a backstage segment with Stephanie McMahon, he suggested a fatal fourway tag team title match with Enzo/Cass, The Club, The Vaudevillians and The New Day.
To borrow a quote from Michael Cole, vintage Teddy Long much?
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