pu7pl3:
RAW recap, review and reactions

Seth Rollins started us off by saying that he will announce Rey Mysterio’s retirement, because he’s too humble to call himself a legend. Seth appreciates Rey was chosen to be sacrificed for the greater good.
He put over Rey’s career, calling him the greatest Luchador that ever lived. Even called him a first ballot hall of famer, and it would be his honor to induct him! It’s at this point Aleister Black had enough and ran out to attack Seth, and man who wouldn’t after that egregious statement?
Seth took lots of opportunities to make Aleister suffer for it. Multiple kicks and knees to the face, he tried for an enziguri but Aleister knew it was coming. Seth got Aleister on the floor and tried to distract the ref so his Disciples could put the hurting on him, but Humberto Carrillo came out to defend Aleister. Aleister got a beautiful bridged suplex to a close two count, same with Seth with a Falcon Arrow. But as the Disciples were taking care of Humberto, Aleister rolled him up.
The Disciples then attacked Aleister for the evil crime of… winning. They held his head up so he could watch Humberto get a courtesy curb stomp, and Aleister called him a coward. He ate his own curb stomp for that. What was particularly great about this was Seth believing that defeating Aleister was in the name of Rey Mysterio, and that he was tarnishing Rey for even thinking about fighting him. That’s great stuff, man.
Alesiter was phenomenal, because he’s defiant in the face of the Messiah. It fits perfectly with his character, too. He is going to defend a legend like Rey Mysterio to some punk who thinks he’s a God. Rey needs a hero, and Aleister will step up for him, while Seth will impose his wrath for stepping out of line. Humberto, Murphy, and Theory put the rest of the pieces together. Hm, let’s think here. Rollins, Murphy, and Theory are three men. Rey, Aleister, and Humberto are three men. Normally that would lead to a match. With what Rey said in his promo later, maybe not.


Damn you, Seth Rollins
Rey Mysterio said that his eye is still recovering and he doesn’t know the timetable on a return, or if he’ll be able to return to in ring action. Rey’s son Dominic sits down next to him and says that Seth is no messiah, and is barely a human being. Someone from the Mysterio family needs to take care of him.
But Rey interjected to calm him down. He said that as far as a statement goes, he’s not ready to make one yet. But he is directly telling Seth damn him for putting his family through the suffering he had to go through. He’s a man of forgiveness, but he’ll never forgive Seth. Dominic came back after his Dad left and said it’s an eye for an eye.
So, Dominic’s portion of this is interesting. It feels like maybe he’ll be involved, somewhat like how he was during the Brock feud. It‘s clear that Rey isn’t retiring, but having Aleister and Humberto be attacked the way they were tonight, going off of WWE history, would lead to a six man match. If Rey doesn’t do a surprise return to set it up for Backlash, what’s the reasoning for throwing Humberto out every week to be constantly attacked? Rey vs. Seth should be really fun when it happens, though.



Drew McIntyre def. MVP - This one wasn’t really about the match, but more about Lana inserting herself where she didn’t belong. She said that she’d go out for MVP because Bobby didn’t tell her she couldn’t. The distraction got Drew off to a hot start, but then MVP threw Drew into the hockey plexiglass. He thought that would do damage, but Drew kicked out at one. After a dive to the outside, Drew counted down and registered MVP into Claymore country. The show ended abruptly with Drew locked into a full nelson by Lashley.

Be Randy Orton - Randy’s been at home watching the WWE Network. Everyone seems to think Ric Flair is the greatest, but Orton saw Flair last week say he was the greatest to lace up a pair of boots. Two weeks ago, Edge said that Orton didn’t have passion and was complacent and did it for the paycheck. Edge was right. He said Edge can’t stand that he’s phoned it in for as long as he had and accomplished so much. Edge had to scratch and claw, while Randy just had to be Randy Orton.
Another one knocked out of the park. I loved that the history of Randy dragging his feet was brought up. This has been a common criticism over the years and Randy is soaking in it

Apollo Crews vs. Kevin Owens ends in no contest - Apollo chose Kevin Owens as his first title defense. Healthy competition between the two as Kevin being Kevin, just had to tell him that his first title reign will end up being a short one. Babyface vs. babyface is a lot of fun when both men are agile and friendly with each other. Kevin kicked Apollo near the groin and the ref had to get in between to make sure Apollo was okay. He seemed to be in pain but baited Kevin! That’s awesome stuff we’ve not seen from Apollo before. Apollo had a nice sense of urgency in this one. And then a (not so surprising) appearance by Andrade and Angel Garza end it.

Apollo Crews and Kevin Owens def. Andrade and Angel Garza - TAG TEAM MATCH PLAYA PLAYA! Garza and Andrade targeted Owens’ semi injured knee from last week. They kept him away from Apollo for most of the match, and then Garza snuck around and attacked the bad knee again as he was on the apron. It was to be a distraction for Andrade to take advantage, but Apollo pinned Andrade instead.
Kevin and Apollo are a fun pairing. Neither of them needed to be pinned right now, so I didn’t mind the interference here. I think that this loss is going to start a rift between Andrade and Garza.

Charlotte Flair def. Asuka via count out - I had missed the promo Charlotte cut before the match, so I went to look at what was said in our live blog. Rev. Claire didn’t catch it either, but I’ll reiterate what her girlfriend said. Charlotte’s promo was “mostly about how cool she is” and that sounds very accurate. Was it, Cagesiders?
Charlotte hit a nasty boston crab as she was bleeding from her mouth, which looked awesome. But Asuka’s music hit after she was sent to the floor by the ramp. Nia Jax came out with a mask and full Asuka face paint and clotheslined Asuka. I liked this a lot. That stuff I want more of. We don’t need Nia talking. Charlotte kind of just faded away after the bell rang. She will now be classified as obsolete ..

Billie Kay def. Nikki Cross - This started in the back with a shouting match between all four women. When we returned from break, Billie and Nikki were going at it in the ring. Billie became more agitated as the ref kept only counting to two. Nikki has great babyface fire. Unfortunately it wasn’t enough. A non title win on a champion usually leads to something doesn’t it?

Nia speaks - Nia Jax said words, and to be honest I had forgotten why I don’t really like it when she says words. I was reminded tonight. Her delivery sucks. She reminds me more of a spoiled brat than a legitimate wrestler. Now, when she is in the ring, say what you want about her being a botch machine, I don’t necessarily agree with that. I don’t dislike her matches. I just wish that it wasn’t all about her being a bigger woman. Let her shine as a monster who doesn’t talk. Not everyone needs to!

Nia Jax def. Kairi Sane - Now to continue what I dislike, the usage of Kairi Sane! We’ve seen this a lot already. The best thing was a tornado DDT spot. Kairi is a fun wrestler. During taping of this match, it was reported that Kairi suffered an injury and was bleeding, so they had to stop and tend to her. People immediately said it was Nia’s fault because of her history. Well, that didn’t look like anything done maliciously in my opinion.
Now if they cut that footage completely and just re-shot the stair spot so that it looked better, fine. They probably should have done that anyway. Yes, she has faults. She has a history of injuring and botching moves. In this case, I can’t really blame her unless there’s evidence otherwise. If there is, we’ll never see it. Let’s just let this be the last time these two are in the ring together! Seriously, it’s been way too many matches in a short period of time.


R-Truth is the 24/7 champion - R-Truth surprised Rob Gronkowski at his home as he was doing a tik tok video. Some random dude had a ref shirt and counted to three for Truth. I knew that anyone could be 24/7 champion, but I didn’t know anyone could also be the referee!

Raw is bowling - Forget it Dawkins, you’re out of your element. There are apparently turkey legs anywhere if you really look hard for them. Dawkins and Tez sucked until a creepy looking guy behind the counter brought the smoke. It came down to one last move for the Viking Raiders, and Erik threw Ivar down the alley and he released the ball and got a strike to win.
These are… sometimes entertaining but let’s not forget that one of these teams are the tag champs. Can we get… a title defense once in a while? Champions are supposed to do that, right? (Unless you’re Brock Lesnar.) AM I THE ONLY ONE AROUND HERE WHO GIVES A S*** ABOUT THE RULES?

What I’m liking the most about Raw right now is that Drew and Seth have easily transitioned into new feuds that feel right. Drew and Bobby fit well together, with MVP cutting stellar promos and Lana is definitely going to be the one that ruins it for them. I can see that one coming from a mile away. Other than that, we have Apollo and Kevin Owens interchanging with Andrade and Garza. I don’t know if that will lead somewhere or if we get dissension from Zelina’s crew immediately starting next week. None of that really matters though because I just need to hear Garza cut promos for the rest of my life.
Tag champs are being wasted. So are Viking Raiders, to be honest. The skits have got to end. My bet is that the women’s tag champs will be defending at Backlash against IIconics. Also, loving Joe on commentary. He brings such validity to this and I actually enjoy hearing commentary with him on. I’ll miss it if he’s ever back in the ring. The show was pretty good tonight, I thought

dumininu01:
Those iconic ladies are really dangerous... And Kairi sane should stop fighting Nia Jax ... I'm looking forward to Orton edge fight at backlash

Tbh if they are always going to make her lose to Nia they should stop fighting please

pu7pl3:


Tbh if they are always going to make her lose to Nia they should stop fighting please

dumininu01:
Exactly

pu7pl3:


Tbh if they are always going to make her lose to Nia they should stop fighting please

pu7pl3:


You decided to come out of ghost mode today

Qu3sT:

but..but...somebody has to make Nia look strong

They should use other women not every time Kairi please

dumininu01:
Abi

Welcome bro

pu7pl3:


They should use other women not every time Kairi please

Qu3sT:

then who?
ruby, liv, lana, natalya? we all know that nia beating either one of the above those nothing for any of them, so?

pu7pl3:


Natalya, Ruby, even Alexa are all believable threats if they are built up properly..she doesn't have to keep facing just one person to look strong..that's how Drew started when he silently became a baby-face (facing different dudes and winning) till he got to the rumble and exploded

Qu3sT:

Nia is not drew and u cant expect what worked with drew to work with her. one of the few times that nia's character was done justice was when alexa was bullying her which made her sympathetic to the viewers but the turntables and she's the bully who is facing asuka, so it makes sense to target kairi since she's asuka partner........while this does very little for nia, it's building kairi up.

100naira:
Chei they served Kairi to Nia again

The iconics and their tiny loud voices sha.

Looks like Prince Mysterio is ready

In other news....


No spinebuster on this Raw.

Lmaooooooooo you want spine busters on every Raw?

pu7pl3:


I really really fail to see how it's building Kairi up

pu7pl3:


Lmaooooooooo you want spine busters on every Raw?

100naira:
yes

This is the first one I'm hearing this kind of request Pro-wrestling fans shaa

_{I also always want to see the End of days everytime but I almost never do}

pu7pl3:

- A quick word on the crowd. I think at best, they were easy to ignore and at worst, they detracted. I don’t know what it specifically was, but it felt too forced at times. Like they were wrestlers trying to emulate what a crowd would sound like. No crowd of wrestlers will ever be able to fully replicate fans, but something about this sometimes seemed to detract more than enhance. NXT was doing well without a crowd and didn’t need it as much as Raw and SmackDown.

This was a solid show. The Drake Maverick finish left a bit to be desired, but the rest was fun and the main event was excellent.

Kaycee7:
The crowd was seriously annoying me. Even Crown Jewel crowd are better than them. Can NXT just go back to empty arenas, till the real fans can return to the seats.

pu7pl3:



This is the first one I'm hearing this kind of request Pro-wrestling fans shaa

_{I also always want to see the End of days everytime but I almost never do}

96forever:
Thought I was the only one that felt this way.

Come to think of it, have any Wwe superstar kicked out of End of days... or the clamour kick.. saw that none had been able to kick out on YouTube but I don’t know if it’s correct.

100naira:
Jesus Fandango is still a wwe wrestler?

The makeup artists of Rhea Ripley and Charlotte flair deserve gold medals

Tag team division is heating up nicely.


In other news, two spinebusters in this week's NXT by Tyler breeze and Fantasma!! Wunderbar!!

We have to petition the WWE to bring back the OC cos we were guaranteed a spine buster galore whenever they were in the ring

pu7pl3:


We have to petition the WWE to bring back the OC cos we were guaranteed a spine buster galore whenever they were in the ring

pu7pl3:


Roman reigns and Braun and maybe Seth Rollins I think, have kicked out of the Claymore but nobody has ever kicked out of the EOD, it's the most effective move yet

dumininu01:
That EOD na die .. No one has kicked out yet... Rough Ryder and cesaro neutralizer sef na die o

It's true sef, it's been long since I've seen Cesaro pull out the neutraliser

_{Guess he doesn't bother using it since he doesn't win often}

Don't mind me

pu7pl3:


It's true sef, it's been long since I've seen Cesaro pull out the neutraliser

_{Guess he doesn't bother using it since he doesn't win often}

Don't mind me

dumininu01:
Yeah I remembered when he pulled it on great khali ... Which finishing move is your favorite?