Rumor has it that WWE’s writing team was given explicit instructions to “think outside the box” when it came to booking Raw last night, in a concerted effort to make the show feel different.
I’m sure I speak for all of us when I say that this is a directive I can fully get behind. Recent weeks have brought heavy sledging on Monday nights, with WWE’s red brand in particular guilty of parading endless rematches, lackluster characters and low-stakes booking. So the promise of an injection of new ideas was more than welcome.
And then the first match was Baron Corbin vs. Braun Strowman.
Uh, hold on a second. I think I’ve got the wrong show. Let me re-check the tape.
“Tonight, all hell is about to break loose!”
Yeah, okay, I thought that’s what Triple H said to open the night.
.@TripleH is HERE on #Raw! pic.twitter.com/rSY2Qf2a6U
— WWE (@WWE) February 19, 2019
Of course, the thirty minutes of Braun and Corbin gradually lulling us into a coma was not the highlight of an otherwise newsworthy Raw. It was undoubtedly the NXT call-ups making their debut on the main brand.
You see, before the dynamic tandem of Corbin and Strowman took centre stage, Triple H had made his way to the ring to announce the first of this year’s Hall of Fame inductees as well as a new influx of developmental talent to revive a flailing product. The brave souls tasked with this monumental challenge also happen to be four of the absolute best talents on the company’s books. Ricochet, Tommaso Ciampa, Aleister Black and Johnny Gargano. All former NXT, North American or Tag Team Champions.
Yet, as exciting as the prospect of them joining the main roster ranks was, reality didn’t quite line up with expectations. It didn’t help either that looming over these promotions was the specter of call-ups past who, I think it’s safe to say, have failed miserably. Heavy Machinery have been turned into lobotomized Bushwhackers, Nikki Cross and EC3 are little more than afterthoughts, and Lacey Evans’ new gimmick appears to be ‘woman who makes wrong turn on her way to the umbrella store’.
Now that's a strut. @OtisWWE @TuckerWWE #Raw pic.twitter.com/uVAc4b03xP
— WWE Universe (@WWEUniverse) February 19, 2019
So it was against this backdrop that WWE’s latest recruits made their big league debuts. While it wasn’t made immediately clear whether these were intended to be full-time call-ups, the context certainly made it seem so.
And so NXT will soon be left without its current champions, as Ciampa and Gargano reunited to face the Revival, Ricochet teamed with Finn Bálor to take on Lashley and an admirably forgiving Lio Rush, and Aleister Black immediately moved into Raw’s lower mid-card in a hard-fought contest with Elias.
Admittedly, each of these new acts claimed victory (as you’d probably expect), Ronda defended her Raw Women’s title against Ruby Riott, and Paul Heyman promised more misery for Seth Rollins. You’d think with all of that going on, Raw would feel like the chaotic free-for-all that Triple H promised at the top of the show.
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Yet, by the end of the night I was left asking myself one simple question: Was that it? It sadly all felt a little underwhelming in truth. Like unfulfilled potential. As much of a cliché as the saying has become, the fact is that you only get one chance to make a first impression on the main brand. And I can’t help but think that this could’ve been handled slightly better. Each of the NXT call ups were legitimate stars in developmental, with a long resumé of incredible matches. Watching Raw last night, did it feel that way?
But with much to get to, let’s tackle it one step at a time. Read on to find out what our WrestleTalk writers considered to be highlights – and lowlights – from last night’s Raw. Before we dwell too long on the negative though, let’s start with the good!
What was your favorite moment from Raw?
Emma Heeley
We Are NXT! I am so excited to see four of NXT’s best – Gargano, Ciampa, Ricochet and Aleister Black – finally get their call up! Ricochet vs Lio Rush is definitely something I want in the near future. DIY vs. The Revival brought back beautiful tag team memories. And Aleister Black is just an absolute Dutch beast with possibly the best entrance theme in the whole WWE.
An honorable mention goes to the Seth and Dean promo, which made me giggle more than it probably should have. It looks like we’re getting more of good ol’ wacky Dean before he makes his way out the door, which makes my inner fangirl very happy indeed.
Kyle Payne
NXT – that was the highlight of this show. The call ups of Ricochet, Aleister Black, Ciampa and Gargano made this show infinitely better than it otherwise would have been. Each member of Triple H’s precious brand stepped up and hit home runs. Fans got a preview of the great wars between DIY and the Revival, they got to see what makes Ricochet such a unique and mesmerizing athlete, and why Aleister Black is a superb striking machine.
When it comes to action, the theme of the night was ‘good tag team wrestling’, with the highlight being DIY vs. The Revival. Paul Heyman was great on the mic and the video package for Lesnar was excellent. The way they are building his match against Seth has me slightly excited, I just hope we get the Brock who cares. Heavy Machinery are absolutely fantastic and – never thought I’d say this – Baron Corbin and Braun Strowman had a pretty good match.
.@JohnnyGargano with the lightning quickness! #Raw pic.twitter.com/wPdOt25enw
— WWE (@WWE) February 19, 2019
Nicholas Holicki
This is a really tough one. Across a three-hour show, I honestly can’t think of anything that I truly enjoyed. There were moments that were okay, and others that were at least inoffensively mediocre. But nothing that stood out as excellent.
At a push though, I’d have to go with the tag match between DIY and the Revival. It wasn’t a phenomenal encounter by any means, and didn’t come close to matching the all-time classics these two teams put on a couple of years ago. But I do enjoy seeing Ciampa and Gargano in the ring together, regardless of the circumstance. And even an average tag bout between these four men will likely outshine even the best from the rest of the roster.
What was the worst part of last night’s episode?
Emma Heeley
While the show had its unusual bits (the odd Heavy Machinery promo, the countless tag team matches to start off the show), the worst part of Raw for me was the live crowd. Lafayette, you had four NXT call ups tonight and you could have heard a pin drop! Shame on you all… SHAME!
It just goes to show how important the crowd really is to a show. You can have the best workers in the world putting on a Meltzer 67-star match, but if the crowd are giving you nothing but crickets then it really hinders the overall experience.
Kyle Payne
Despite Braun and Baron putting on a good bout and Rousey having a longer match with Riott, the issue of this show was the two rematches. Ruby probably should have had this version of her match with Ronda at Elimination Chamber as opposed to the two minute squash she actually received. Another disservice to the Riott Squad, who deserve better.
The Strowman match from Sunday should also have had this finish, so that we could finally move on from this feud with Corbin. Because, like most WWE things, having Braun win here made his loss the night prior make no sense. Lashley and McIntyre didn’t save Corbin this time and… I just want to move on from this feud. Please.
Dean Ambrose’s character still makes no sense and it’s obvious he doesn’t care and simply wants to leave. Maybe he should go to SmackDown, it’s better over there. I’m not sure if he’s a face or a heel or something in between. His segment backstage with Rollins encapsulates his entire return: pointless and nonsensical.
Nicholas Holicki
Paul Heyman’s audio rendition of Brock Lesnar’s Wikipedia page. Lesnar’s biography was a message that Heyman could quite easily have delivered in person (he was, after all, already in the ring). But like a substitute teacher phoning it in for the last few days before the school holiday, he chose to play a little tape instead.
The video package glossed over all of Lesnar’s accomplishments in the most superficial, un-engaging way possible. When you’re building towards a Universal Title match at WrestleMania 35, ideally you’d hope for some tense in-ring action. Instead we got a bad home video.
Equally atrocious was WWE erasing two years of story between Gargano and Ciampa. These two are responsible for putting on the feud of the past two years, thanks primarily to a complicated, layered, dramatic story between the pair. Friendship, betrayal, greed, vengeance, obsession, corruption… this rivalry has had it all. Then Raw just decided to make them a tag team again. I genuinely feel bad for those fans who never got to witness Gargano and Ciampa’s brilliance in NXT. Because it doesn’t seem that any of it will carry over to Raw.
How would you rate the show overall? (From best to worst: RawSome, Cor, AvRAWge, Poor and RawFul)
Emma Heeley
While the crowd did hinder the overall show, it wasn’t an awful episode. The NXT call ups made the show feel a little fresher than it has done in weeks, but the repetitive match ups were unimaginative and pretty lazy. (With two matches being exact Ctrl+C/Ctrl+V from Elimination Chamber less than 24 hours previous).
This week’s Raw was AvRAWge.
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Kyle Payne
I’ll give the show a Cor rating. Tag team wrestling is the best kind of wrestling when it’s done correctly, and tonight it was. This week’s Raw showed everyone that they probably should be watching NXT instead because Triple H’s stars shined the brightest.
The only real blemishes on an otherwise good show were the rematches from Elimination Chamber and Dean Ambrose. Despite that though, Strowman and Corbin have had worse matches. Yeah, I think I’ll stick with Cor.
An impressive #Raw debut for @WWEAleister who walks away with the win! pic.twitter.com/8Vp9Nbsaeh
— WWE (@WWE) February 19, 2019
Nicholas Holicki
On paper, this night promised greatness. I mean, a show that featured title defenses, table matches, the reunion of DIY and the debuts of Ricochet and Aleister Black should at a bare minimum be very good.
But somehow Raw managed to find a way to make it all feel quite derivative and uninspired. None of the debutants were made to feel special and none of the matches truly served to put them over. DIY were simply presented as being another generic tag team, Ricochet was absorbed into the charisma void that exists between Finn Bálor and Bobby Lashley, and Aleister Black labored to beat a fairly unimpressive Elias.
To that end, when a largely catatonic WWE audience only finds its voice long enough to chant for heel Elias over a debuting Black, you know you’ve done something horribly wrong. This show was RawFul.
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