I have to hand it to WWE. I’ve been kinda hard on Raw for the past little while – *cough* six months *cough* – but the red brand may have accidentally stumbled onto an intriguing storyline.
When the Shield reformed just over a month ago, I was entirely ambivalent. There’s only so many times that a legendary team can break up and get back together before their magic starts to wear a little thin. Just ask D-Generation X. Or Oasis.
But credit to the WWE: this reunion, unlike the last, doesn’t appear to exist purely for purposes of pushing Roman. Instead, they’ve re-purposed the stable to launch Dean Ambrose as a complex, multifaceted singles star. Maybe.
You might say that Dean was acting slightly heelish on last night’s Raw, and I wouldn’t argue with you. But you could also say that he was acting HUMAN. Too proud to admit that he was in real trouble against Braun Strowman and too envious of Seth’s and Roman’s success to accept their help, Dean acted like a petulant, agitated, selfish man last night… who could’ve been either Intercontinental or Universal Champion right now.
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There’s a reason why pride and envy are known as two of the seven deadly sins. At worst, they lead to Brad Pitt finding his wife’s head in a box. At best, it tears brothers apart.
That is, if WWE decides to see this narrative through. The Shield are one of the most popular groups in company history and together sell a ton of merchandise each month. The disintegration of the faction, prompted by Dean turning on his partners, would undoubtedly effect that, resulting in less revenue for the promotion.
So, the only question then is: would WWE really sacrifice good storytelling for financial gain? And to that I say: have we told you about Crown Jewel yet?
#BigRedMachine @KaneWWE in one corner, @ShawnMichaels in the other…
It's #Undertaker vs. @TripleH for the LAST TIME EVER this Saturday at #WWESSD! #RAW pic.twitter.com/LFlJMv3tMu
— WWE (@WWE) October 2, 2018
What did our WrestleTalk writers think of Raw last night though? In our weekly Roundtable, we debate the good and the bad from the show, before giving it an overall rating. Did they enjoy Konnor’s second consecutive win? Was Shawn Michaels’ appearance everything we had ever dreamed it would be? What are their thoughts on whether Seattle deserves a basketball team?
Also, Alexa Bliss is great. Don’t @ me.
Roll on with the good!
What was your favorite moment from Raw?
Eric Stites
My favorite moment last night was by far the Elias & Kevin Owens segment. Both the men in the ring and the Seattle crowd made this moment so entertaining. I loved that all it took for the crowd to turn on Kevin and Elias was mentioning the fact that Seattle no longer has a basketball team, as their former NBA team (the Seattle Supersonics) moved to Oklahoma City in 2008.
The crowd didn’t just let out a quick boo, they booed for minutes on end while Kevin and Elias continued to talk trash about John Cena and Bobby Lashley – their opponents this Saturday at Super Show-Down – as well as the crowd. This was absolutely fantastic, though I did have one complaint with how this all ended, but I’ll get to that next.
Dylan Kapisky
Dean Ambrose opens the show. While the stuff that followed was simply plain, albeit effective, Dean’s in-ring interview with Charly Caruso was fantastic.
While it was hard to follow – with Dean flipping between pledging allegiance to the Shield, only to then questioning why he was doing so – that uncertainty only added to the intrigue. Was Dean really echoing what the fans are asking, or is he asking himself those same questions? Very simple, very obvious, very effective storytelling. Not to mention his delivery was on point.
I believed that he believed everything he said, and it didn’t feel like the scripted mumbo-jumbo we often get from the rest of the roster. Gone too was the shred of ‘Whacky Dean’, as even when he uttered comedic lines, he kept a serious tone that made you feel scared to laugh, because he might jump through the screen and rip your head off. Okay, I may be exaggerating, but Dean’s performance was absolutely incredible.
JP Wood
Originally, I was going to go with the Seth Rollins / Drew McIntyre match. It was excellent, not that we’d have expected any less from those two guys. But then I witnessed the glowing, glorious, slow motion car crash that was Elias & Kevin Owens vs. Seattle.
Mediocre trashing of a local sports team doesn’t usually result in the crowd booing so much they start to sound like an angry hornet’s nest. Tonight was different. Owens and Elias tried to tamp it down by acknowledging it, but that only made it worse. The crowd was absolutely ruthless, defending their defunct sports team while Lio Rush tried to turn them around. All the while, Elias and Owens were pulling their best Jimmy Fallon trying not to break on camera.
Pure, live television gold. Highlight of the night, right there.
Shane Love
The opening segment and match between Dean Ambrose and Braun Strowman were absolutely brilliant.
The show opened with Dean being interviewed, which I especially enjoyed because of how it effectively teased the idea of Dean’s bond to The Shield slowly withering away, while ostensibly proclaiming his loyalty to his brothers.
As a follow-up we got a great match between Strowman and Ambrose. The match told a good story between the two men with Braun showcasing why he truly is the ‘Monster among Men’. This was a great match on its own merits, but when the Shield showed up to save their brother, it became all the more entertaining to watch as it further demonstrated a growing rift in the relationship between the members of the Shield.
I absolutely loved it as it left me eager to see how it plays out, even if for the most part it kind of seems obvious. Still entertaining to watch.
What was the worst part of last night’s episode?
Eric Stites
So as I mentioned above, I had one complaint with the Kevin Owens & Elias segment. I thought WWE missed a huge opportunity here for a massive pop if they had John Cena come out. We haven’t seen John on WWE TV since the Greatest Royal Rumble event in April, so it’d be nice to see him before he just shows up in Australia for the tag match and then goes right back to Hollywood.
This segment was just asking for something like that to happen with the deafening boos. If Cena had come out, I think the roof would have blown off the building. Instead, we got Lio Rush and Bobby Lashley. It’s pretty obvious that no one outside of Denver cares about Lashley at the moment, so this definitely killed the momentum of the segment.
I understand that John may still be busy until Saturday with his movie career, but it definitely would have been exciting to see him tonight.
Dylan Kapisky
B-Team defeats The Revival. Need I say more? Oh, I do? I mean, it’s pretty self-explanatory, but having a joke tag team, such as the B-Team, quickly defeating a team who just took the tag team champions to their limit only a week ago, is frustrating to watch.
I get that the B-Team were the most recent champs, but The Revival were beating them week after week in singles matches. So yeah, they were a joke. Poor Dash and Dawson. Please go back to NXT where there’s actually a booker who appreciates your talent.
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JP Wood
Do you ever wonder if WWE sometimes just slips in old footage of a meaningless match so they can all go for a smoke or something? I do. There was nothing less interesting and lacking in any kind of consequence than that Bayley vs. Alicia Fox match. Why? Why did we have to see a match that, if we haven’t already seen a thousand times before, it certainly felt that way. Yawn.
Special mention goes to three old men and an old mayor doing a remake of the movie, Red. Come on guys, let us remember you as you were, not as pale shadows.
Shane Love
Bobby Roode vs Konner.
Now before I upset some people with my opinion, let me first say the only reason this match is on my list is because I felt it would have been better served without all the outside antics.
So when I say this match wasn’t my favorite it’s because well, I kind of wanted to see more of Roode and Konnor. I like what they are doing with The Ascension as they’re becoming more recognized and this is a wonderful thing. Even so, the way the match played out, it felt lacklustre and didn’t showcase either performer’s talents for me. For this reason, I would say this match was my least favorite – even though I still did enjoy watching it.
How would you rate the show overall? (From best to worst: In Awe, Cor, AvRAWge, Poor and Bore)
Eric Stites
I didn’t mind this episode. It was a decent go-home show, without anything too special happening. So I’m gonna give it an upper AvRAWge. It was overall pretty decent with not many bad segments but only a few segments that were great, in my opinion. Solid episode but it definitely could’ve been better.
Dylan Kapisky
Cor. The show lagged a lot in the middle, but was anchored by a very strong first hour, and had another show-long narrative running through it. It also had Elias and Kevin Owens which, thanks to the crowd, was almost enough to take my top spot.
JP Wood
AvRawge – Boilerplate, run-of-the-mill episode of Monday Night Raw tonight. Seth Rollins put on a great match, there was a crappy thrown together women’s match of no consequence and the B-Team are still inexplicably together having lost the charm of their ‘flukey win’ gimmick. Remember everyone, this was a go-home show to sell you a pay-per-view during Saturday morning cartoons.
Shane Love
I would rate this show In Awe. The show for me was entertaining with a good narrative being told around the dynamics of The Shield. The focus as to whether Dean will eventually turn on his brothers really made for a compelling watch.
Add to this, the show also used this opportunity to highlight the strength of Braun, Drew and Dolph as a team. I can’t help but feel invested in the story because it creates the need for The Shield to stand as one as opposed to being apart.
Other matches were great as well with a good focus being on the matches themselves rather than promo segments. Furthermore what really made the show enjoyable was the way the show closed. Seeing the Brothers of Destruction against DX closed the show off strongly by feeding us a glimpse of a fantasy booking match that’s long overdue.
Uh-oh…#RAW @KaneWWE pic.twitter.com/KzUmpOZohV
— WWE (@WWE) October 2, 2018
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