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It’s fair to say that Raw has been unpredictable in recent weeks, an exciting show full of optimism one week followed by an arduous, slog of a show the next. Tonight’s Raw was always going to be unpredictable with over thirty former Superstars scheduled to appear for ‘Raw Reunion.'
WWE advertised ‘A Moment of Bliss’ with Becky Lynch, as well as more build for the Seth Rollins vs. Brock Lesnar Universal Championship match at SummerSlam for tonight’s Raw. However, the main focus was on the reunion and the rare scheduled appearances from the likes of Hulk Hogan and Steve Austin.
These reunion shows can often be hit and miss. The number of legends set to appear does create the potential for some iconic Raw moments, but a lot of the time these sort of shows, such as Raw 25, are nothing more than disjointed segments used for cheap nostalgic pops.
So what did Raw Reunion have in store? Let’s find out as we break down the show and assign each individual match and moment its own grade.
#1 Cena kicks off the show
The show kicked off with John Cena making his way down to the ring to hype up the crowd and talk about all the legends that were there for Raw Reunion.
Cena spoke about how he isn’t around as much anymore but that WWE will always be his home. Ironically, this was very reminiscent of the promos that The Rock used to cut whenever he returned for a one-off appearance from Hollywood.
The Usos came down and had a light-hearted rap battle with Cena before Rikishi came out to join in the fun. The fun was short-lived, however, as The Revival crashed the party, along with D-Von Dudley for some reason, and this led to a tag team match between The Usos and The Revival.
Usos went on to beat the Raw Tag Team Champions, seemingly setting up another title match between the two teams in the future. This was a decent, if unspectacular way, to start the Raw Reunion. Would things get any better from here?
Grade: B-
See WWE RAW REUNION Results, Highlights of event, & more on WWE RAW REUNION Results page
#2 Reigns vs. Joe
After a few tedious backstage promos with the returning legends, such as Kaitlyn and Alicia Fox discussing how big Fox’s hat should be, Samoa Joe came to the ring to cut a promo.
Joe talked about how these reunion shows are a plague to the WWE and only help to feed the fans' addiction to nostalgia. This was supposed to be a heel promo, but I couldn’t help but agree with every word that he said.
Roman Reigns came out to stick up for his family after Joe criticised The Usos and Rikishi’s segment from earlier in the night. This led to a match between the two Samoans.
The match itself was noticeably slow, possibly due to a legitimate injury to Roman’s left shoulder which seemingly occurred when the two were brawling.
It’s a shame if that’s the case but regardless, this was a tiresome match that Roman won after hitting a spear on Joe.
Grade: C-
#3 Miz TV with Seth Rollins
The Miz was out for an edition of Miz TV next and introduced his guest, Seth Rollins.
Unfortunately, this was another bad showing for Rollins. He began by trying some comedy, which really isn’t his forte, before going on to claim that Brock Lesnar is a Seth Rollins wannabe. His basis for this was because Lesnar cashed in his Money in the Bank contract on Seth just like he did at WrestleMania 31…ok, Seth.
Rollins went on to say that he will defeat Lesnar at SummerSlam, before hyping a match against AJ Styles for later in the night.
Grade: C
#4 Mr. Monday Night
There were a number of matches and moments throughout the night that were too short to assign an individual grade, so I will group them all together.
Firstly, Drew McIntyre attacked Cedric Alexander before their scheduled rematch to get back some heat after his loss to him last week and then The Viking Raiders picked up another decisive win, this time over Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder.
Sami Zayn interrupted a backstage party with all the returning Superstars and said he was sick of has-beens coming back for another moment in the spotlight.
Rey Mysterio refused to sit back and watch Sami disrespect such legends as Jillian Hall and confronted Zayn, leading to a match between the two that was set-up by Kurt Angle who seemingly still think he is Raw General Manager.
During the ensuing match, Zayn attempted to leave but was cut off by a string of legends. First of all by Rob Van Dam, who was a genuine surprise considering his recent ties with Impact Wrestling, followed by Sergeant Slaughter, The Hurricane and finally Kurt Angle.
Sami returned to the ring and was quickly defeated by Mysterio after a ‘619’ and a frog splash.
Grade: B-
#5 The Club vs. The Kliq
The aforementioned match between Seth Rollins and AJ Styles was up next.
AJ was accompanied by Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson and it was revealed that the three men will now be known as The O.C. – The official, original and only club that matters. Can’t think what that might be in reference to.
After some back and forth, The O.C. looked to make their numbers advantage count against Rollins, but Shawn Michaels and Triple H of D-Generation X evened up the numbers because apparently Seth and Triple H are friends again now.
This didn’t prevent Gallows and Anderson from getting involved and attacking Rollins, leading to a D.Q. finish.
After the match, the rest of D-X, minus Billy Gunn, along with Scott Hall and Kevin Nash came out to save Rollins and send AJ, Gallows and Anderson scampering to the back. I guess you can’t have a Raw Reunion show without The Kliq standing tall.
Grade: B-
#6 8 Title changes
Once again, the 24-7 Championship was a running thread throughout the show and there were no fewer than eight title changes during Raw.
The title changes were as follows: -
- Drake Maverick pins R-Truth
- Pat Patterson pins Drake Maverick after Maverick is scared by The Boogeyman
- Gerald Brisco pins Pat Patterson
- Kelly Kelly pins Gerald Brisco
- Candice Michelle pins Kelly Kelly, with Melina as referee
- Alundra Blayze defeats Candice Michelle via submission
- Ted DiBiase buys the 24/7 Championship from Alundra Blayze before she throws it in the trash
- Drake Maverick pin Ted DiBiase
- R-Truth pins Drake Maverick and then leaves the arena in a limo with Drake’s wife.
This was a fun use of some of the returning stars and was a decent running gag to have throughout the three-hour show,
Grade: B
#7 Hurt or Heal?
Mick Foley was in the ring to cut a promo and said he had been asked to choose his favourite Raw moment from his career.
Foley pointed up to the titantron and we began to watch Foley’s infamous title win over The Rock before the screen distorted and the lights went out. This signalled the arrival of Bray Wyatt’s Fiend.
Wyatt appeared in the ring and was seemingly listening to his ‘hurt’ and ‘heal’ gloves. Unfortunately for Foley, the ‘hurt’ glove won this argument and Bray choked him out with the mandible claw as the lights flashed and horror music rang out.
Grade: B
#8 A Moment of Bliss with The Man
Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross were out next for ‘A Moment of Bliss’. They introduced their guest Becky Lynch and out came ‘The Man’.
Lynch’s SummerSlam opponent, Natalya, quickly interrupted proceedings and claimed that anything that Becky had to say, she could say to her face.
Becky and Natalya recapped their history together, going way back to when they met in Japan, with Lynch claiming that Natalya had betrayed their friendship by helping train Ronda Rousey for her match against ‘The Man’ at WrestleMania 35.
While we don’t need to see any more “You’re supposed to be my friend” storylines in WWE’s women’s division, this has the potential to be an interesting plot point in their feud and could lead to the return of Ronda.
Grade: B-
#9 Austin toasts to Monday Night Raw
The show closed with ‘A Toast to Monday Night Raw’. Ric Flair led all the legends and past Superstars onto the stage before Hulk Hogan’s music hit.
Hogan cut his typical “Whatcha gonna do?!” and “Eat your vitamins” promo as the legends watched on and this segment didn’t seem to be leading anywhere.
Thankfully, ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin wasn’t far behind and strutted down to the ring to drink a few beers and toast to Monday Night Raw.
And that was pretty much it. No big angle to close the show, Austin just told a couple of stories about hanging out with Flair, Hogan and Ron Simmons and then thanked the WWE family as Raw went off the air.
This wasn’t bad per se, it was just nice and an underwhelming end to the Raw Reunion.
Grade: B
If you get a kick out of nostalgia pops then maybe this show was for you, but if you went into Raw hoping for a star-making angle for someone like Kevin Owens, who was nowhere to be seen on the show, then Raw Reunion was a largely missable event.
Overall Grade: C
