I’m confused. No, much like Minoru Suzuki, I’m no-selling that. More accurately, I’m befuddled, perplexed and bordering on dumbfounded.
Last week’s Raw left us on a real high, with the mouthwatering prospect of a pulsating contest between Finn Bálor and Brock Lesnar on the cards for the Royal Rumble. Finally, a fresh matchup that also hands a much-deserved opportunity to a fan favourite to compete for the company’s top title. There was (and still is) every reason to be excited.
The late replacement of Finn in the match however – coming at the expense of a misbehaving Braun Strowman – came with its own set of complications. It meant that Raw had just two weeks and one broadcast to hype the match while building Bálor as a credible challenger to Brock’s Universal Title, positioning him as a legitimate threat to the Minnesotan behemoth.
And that’s exactly what I was expecting Paul Heyman to do as he made his way to the ring to kick off last night’s broadcast. He has, after all, pulled off similar feats in presenting Daniel Bryan and AJ Styles as worthy opponents when they had their respective bouts with ‘The Beast Incarnate’. So it only made sense for Heyman to do something similar for Bálor, a man widely considered to be one of the most talented performers in WWE today.
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It came as a bit of a surprise then that he instead chose to spend most of his promo complaining about a lack of preparation time for his client before painting a portrait of biblical-type martyrdom.
In hindsight, it was probably around this point that WWE started to lose me a little bit.
Sure, we all know that the chiselled Irishman is bound to come up short in six days time. All sense of logic and coherent storytelling point to that outcome. But the magic of professional wrestling is tricking us into believing that maybe he won’t. Convincing us that despite our better judgement, there’s a chance – just the slightest possibility – that Finn might overcome the odds.
But not only did Heyman quickly dismiss Finn Bálor, so too did Vince McMahon, who claimed that this time ‘David’ had no chance of toppling ‘Goliath’. First of all, what’s will all the biblical themes this week? Second though, Vince, you made the match! Why did you put Bálor in a position to become the number one contender if he never stood a hope of winning the title? As a matter of fact, why was Baron Corbin in that match? WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?
Of course, all of this would’ve amounted to little more than window dressing had we actually seen Finn get one over the big, broad mountain man in the ring. But despite some brief moments of hope, the segment ended with Bálor getting F-5’d and Brock standing above his limp carcass.
Cinderella man pic.twitter.com/ombcZnnRh3
— Finn Bálor (@FinnBalor) January 22, 2019
That was it. There was no follow-up, as this angle was never revisited again. It was just left to stew in the ether until this pair meet again on Sunday. Will Bálor walk out with the title? No. Did we see anything to make us believe that he has even the slimmest chance of doing so? Sadly, also no. It was a disheartening beginning to a chaotic Raw. So chaotic in fact that Dean Ambrose needed to take a break and hang out in the dark corner of the school grounds where all the cool kids go to smoke their funny cigarettes.
As pointed out, this was the go-home edition of Monday Night Raw, leading into the Royal Rumble this Sunday. So it would be fair to expect a lot of exciting angles, hot matches and general Rumble intrigue. So which moments soared like an Otis Dozovic caterpillar and which floundered like a Bobby Lashley butt pose? Read on to find out more about the best and worst of last night’s Raw.
What was your favourite moment from Raw?
Eric Stites
My favorite part of the show last night was Alexa Bliss announcing that she’ll be competing in the Royal Rumble Match. Although I don’t like that they’re ruining the surprise of her return, I still loved this announcement because Alexa sounded so genuinely happy and that just warmed my heart a bit. I’m really happy for her and it’s gonna be nice to see her in the ring again.
Kyle Payne
Drew McIntyre vs Seth Rollins and Apollo Crews vs Bobby Lashley were two great matches that really showed how fun wrestling can be. With McIntyre and Rollins, you had two of the best professional wrestlers in the company having a competitive match with the hope of gaining momentum for the Royal Rumble.
Rollins needed this win after his rough rivalry with Ambrose and after losing title. His promo before the match really put himself over because of how raw, emotional, and passionate it was. The Crews and Lashley match was a nice showcase for Apollo, who has been criminally under-utilised for far too long. It was also a fresh match-up, and Lio Rush is so talented that it’s breathtaking at times. I’m hoping this potential feud can continue and elevate both men to be featured more.
The opening segment and the closing one were great and pushed the narrative for the upcoming Royal Rumble. The story about how weak and incompetent Finn Bálor is (because he’s small) actually elevated him instead of tearing him down, because of the display Bálor has been putting on for the past couple of weeks. Tonight was no exception as he showed just how talented he is and the company needs to make him their star. I didn’t like how it dragged at first with Strowman but them having a match, which was a nice tease for the next feud, and the small glimpses of interactions between Lesnar and Bálor really has me hyped for the Rumble.
Emma Heeley
I enjoyed the Revival vs Roode and Gable. I liked that Dash and Wilder were the main focus of the match, making it feel like they might actually win. (And at one point I fell into the idea that they might.)
While the cynic in me says the match and the pre/post-match angles were only a part of the show as a ‘please don’t leave us’ from management, I still enjoyed it all the same. And if this means we get Ryder and Hawkins vs The Revival down the road for the tag belts, I wouldn’t be disappointed.
Plus, an honourable mention goes to Otis Dozovic’s ‘Catterpillar’ move … superb!
Nicholas Holicki
It’s a fairly minor point overall but seeing Ronda behave like a caged animal, chomping at the bit to get at Sasha Banks, provided us with a glimpse of everything her character should be. She was angry, violent and barely containable. I loved it, and I hope we get to see more of that version of Ronda going forward.
What was the worst part of last night’s episode?
Eric Stites
My least favorite part was EC3’s cameo. Why the hell wasn’t he allowed to talk? It just made it so awkward to watch when they show him being spoken to but he didn’t say anything back. He has a voice doesn’t he?
Kyle Payne
Other than the long opening and some weird lines throughout the show, I didn’t see anything that really bothered me about the show other than the Alexa Bliss segment. Her new talk show has not been a positive addition to the show and, let’s be honest, she is way too talented to be doing what she’s been doing and it’s great she’s making her wrestling return at the Rumble. The women that were there were also poorly utilized and broke into a brawl which really served no purpose.
Also, I still don’t know what’s going on with Ambrose.
Emma Heeley
Bobby Lashley doing his usual “look how freakishly large I am” skit. I was fully expecting Ambrose to get some retaliation after his loss last week, but instead we got Apollo Crews (?). It was obviously set up to be a comedy skit but I just don’t think it came across very well. It was clunky, not funny and just a little bit awkward.
Yet again, the Moment of Bliss segment was just bad. So bad. Bliss deserves better. Just another poor attempt at showcasing all the women of Raw. On the bright side, at least it wasn’t a multi-women tag match. Plus we got more from Lacey Evans that wasn’t just her loitering in the background of a camera shot. And Bliss entered herself into the Rumble, so silver linings I guess.
Hit 'em with those POSES, @WWEApollo! #RAW pic.twitter.com/PnRaUrT40x
— WWE Universe (@WWEUniverse) January 22, 2019
Nicholas Holicki
I hate to be a contrarian (that’s not true, I love it), but I found Seth Rollins’ promo incredibly underwhelming.
You want to run a tribute to Martin Luther King Jr? Fine. You want to build excitement in Seth’s entrance into the Royal Rumble? Fine. But don’t try to awkwardly merge them. Like pineapple and pizza, those two ingredients just don’t mix!
So ultimately what we got was an uninspired, half-hearted attempt by Rollins to convince us that he was a career underdog, never meant to be a star in the company. Yip, that’s right. The guy handpicked by The Authority to be WWE Champion. The man anointed “the future of the company” at various times by both Triple H and Stephanie McMahon. He could just as easily have been an Average Joe Nobody farming beets in Ohio.
Give me a break. On a night when Raw seemed intent on positioning each of its babyfaces as biblical Davids, I wasn’t buying any of this schlock.
How would you rate the show overall? (From best to worst: In Awe, Cor, AvRAWge, Poor and Bore)
Eric Stites
I thought this was a good go-home show. I thought the women’s go-home angle was good, I think the wrestling throughout the night was solid. There were some nice funny bits throughout the show like Heavy Machinery being Heavy Machinery and Bobby & Apollo’s pose-off.
However I don’t think there was all that much to talk about from the show aside from Alexa’s return announcement, so I’m giving the show a low Cor.
LOOK AT THE CATERPILLAR.#RAW @WWEDozovic pic.twitter.com/FviRGqkxwE
— WWE (@WWE) January 22, 2019
Kyle Payne
AvRAWge is the best rating for me. It wasn’t a bad show but it wasn’t a spectacular one either. The matches that were on show were great, the main event was excellent and it was nice to see ‘The Boss’ get some love. Finn Bálor looked like a star, McIntyre / Rollins was great, and Apollo Crews needs to be featured more. The Revival are still the best tag team around with a fun match with Roode and Gable. The save from Ryder and the tease of him teaming with Hawkins again shows that they might finally do something of value with them.
Despite all of this though, the show dragged and nothing really spectacular or special happened. SmackDown is still the A show.
Emma Heeley
This was the go-home show for the Rumble, and not at any point during those three hours did it feel like it. The Rumble in many fans’ eyes is the best show of the year, but the run-up to this year’s show has felt nothing but flat. I hope Sunday’s show delivers because this week Raw certainly didn’t. This week’s Raw was Bore.
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Nicholas Holicki
This week’s Raw did nothing for me. Like a 70s rock band on its farewell tour, we got to see all the hits… except those hits weren’t great forty years ago and have completely lost their lustre since. Case in point, we saw Bobby Lashley’s backside again, Elias and Baron Corbin butting heads again, and an awful Moment of Bliss segment… again (although I am thrilled by the news that Alexa is returning to the ring).
With no great matches to speak of and little in the way of intrigue built for the Royal Rumble this weekend, last night’s Raw was unfortunately Poor.
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