Category Archives: Wrestling
WWE RAW Review (8/14/17): Fist Bump City
Photo: WWE
RAW was live from Boston last night for the final show before Summerslam. Tonight we got a mini Shield reunion, a new number one contender for Alexa Bliss’s Women’s title & a new Cruiserweight champion.
Average Nobodies note: make sure to follow us on Twitter – @averagenobodies and like us on Facebook – Facebook.com/AverageNobodies. We love talking pro wrestling, so you can comment on this post or reach out to us on social media if you want to join the discussion. You can also find all of our wrestling content by clicking the ‘wrestling’ tab under the banner on our home page.
And now, the Raw review for August 14th, 2017.
Fist Bump City
Raw opened with Dean Ambrose, followed by Seth Rollins, reminiscing on their shared friendship/brotherhood and a whole lot of fist bump teases. Ambrose doesn’t trust Rollins, Rollins doesn’t trust himself, and both guys definitely seem more comfortable being alone than they do linking back up and being forced to trust each other again. They’ve been teasing this reunion for weeks, so I could go without the constant fist bump teasing, but I do like that the story is that they’re teaming up out of necessity.
Cesaro & Sheamus will not stop running down to the ring and beating the shit out of Rollins & Ambrose, and it’s clear that neither of them are going to win that battle two on one. They might not be cohesive enough to beat the tag champs as a team either, but they definitely stand a better chance when they join forces. Also, that visual of them finally touching fists was pretty badass, and it’s clear the crowd has been ready for some type of Shield reunion for the last four years. Cool opening segment, and the tag title match has a very good chance of stealing the show at Summerslam.
WOOOO!
Thoughts and prayers are going out to @RicFlairNatrBoy and his family tonight after undergoing surgery earlier today. pic.twitter.com/5a0cx9VYAr
— WWE (@WWE) August 15, 2017
WWE provided a somewhat hopeful update on Ric Flair after the opening segment. Flair had been hospitalized over the weekend due to heart issues, and it looks like he still has a long road ahead of him. Thoughts and prayers with the Nature Boy & his family.
#1 Contender’s Match
The #1 contenders match between Sasha Banks and Nia Jax was exactly what it should’ve been. Nia should dominate every match she’s in, and that’s what happened here. Nia squashed Sasha from the opening bell, swinging her into the barricade and overpowering her at every turn. Sasha knows there’s a slim chance that she’ll be able to keep Nia down for a three count, so her best bet is to lock in the Banks Statement and pray Nia can’t take the pain. After taking a beating the entire match, Sasha finally locked it in. Nia almost got to the ropes, but Sasha did a great job kicking Nia’s hand away.
Nia almost powered out of it, but Sasha turned that into a sweet DDT, locked the Banks Statement in again and Nia was forced to tap out. Sasha vs. Alexa is the better matchup for Sunday, especially when you remember that Bliss had promised Nia a future title shot. Will Nia interfere to help Alexa keep the title & secure her future title shot? An interesting factor to consider for what should be a great title match.
Also, I love Alexa Bliss’s lifeguard throne. She should just sit there silently judging every Raw match until the end of time.
Elias vs. Beantown
Elias (no known last name) was conspicuous by his absence last week, and he either loves Toronto and couldn’t bear to come up with a diss song or WWE couldn’t come up with something interesting for him. Considering they had R-Truth come out to get beat up tonight, I’m going to go with option 2. Elias’s Boston song was interrupted by Truth’s rambling, and having Truth follow Elias would be like having Freddie Mercury open for William Hung. I like to keep an open mind when it comes to Raw, but Elias vs. R-Truth is not high on the list of matches I want to see.
Big Cass, Actual Smart Wrestler
After weeks and weeks and weeks of Enzo, Cass & Big Show yelling and fighting each other, we’re going to get Cass vs. Show with Enzo suspended in a shark cage above the ring at Summerslam. The whole feud is based around Cass being fed up with Enzo, who keeps running his mouth and not being able to back it up. Cass would always be left cleaning up Enzo’s messes, and now that Cass has broke off on his own, Big Show has taken his spot. Cass (who was not well received by the Boston crowd) cut a promo about how he’s going to beat Big Show Sunday and prove that he’s the best big man in wrestling today.
It was one of his better promos, and naturally he was interrupted by Enzo, who ran his mouth, brought out the Big Show and got kicked in the face multiple times while Big Show got attacked by Cass, Gallows & Anderson. Once again, Enzo runs his mouth and was nowhere to be found when his bigger friend was getting beat up. It’s always more fun watching smart wrestlers, which is why I enjoyed this segment so much. 99% of Big Show’s offense is his right hand, so why wouldn’t Cass slam his hand into the shark cage? If Big Show isn’t able to choke slam or knock out Cass, he’ll be at a huge disadvantage. Adding Gallows & Anderson into the mix is interesting, especially if it turns Cass into their leader. Will Enzo & Show find someone to even the odds? We’ll find out Sunday.
Cruiserweight Title Match
WWE has 6 hours worth of programming blocked off for Summerslam, so it was confusing to see Neville vs. Tozawa for the Cruiserweight title and Finn Balor vs. Bray Wyatt tonight. The first of those was Neville vs. Tozawa, and while it was a good match, Neville deserved a better end to his reign as champion. He’s been the high point of the division for this entire year, and while Neville will get his rematch at Summerslam, I would’ve preferred to just see this match on Sunday. Pay per views should be different than Raw’s & Smackdown’s, not literally the exact same match card.
Between this match and the match at GBOF, it’s clear that Tozawa & Neville work well together. At the very least, their match Sunday should be fun to watch.
Demon Hunter
While I appreciate WWE giving us a reason for Finn to bring out The Demon this Sunday, I don’t think it had to be at the expense of a Balor/Wyatt match. Wyatt won the match clean, which I will always love because he needs to win more matches, but again, why would the average fan tune into to watch this match again at Summerslam? Finn bringing The Demon out is always cool, but he doesn’t really wrestle any different as The Demon. It’s really just a cooler entrance and some sweet face & body paint.
It would have been more effective if Balor fought someone else tonight, won clean & then Wyatt attacked post match with a Sister Abigail and his oddly, readily available bucket of blood. That way both guys look good heading into Summerslam, we don’t waste a pay per view match on Raw and Finn still has a reason to bring out The Demon. A man can dream.
Give Emma A Chance
Here are my thoughts on Emma vs. Mickie James:
Emma has been asking for more opportunities on social media lately, and she’s been rewarded for that by losing quickly and cleanly to Nia Jax, tapping out to Sasha Banks and losing quickly and cleanly to Mickie James. I guess the lesson here is don’t ask for an opportunity?
Team USA Extreme
Jason Jordan took on The Miz and had the match won when Axel & Bo Dallas interfered and started a 3 on 1 attack on JJ. That brought out the Hardy’s, and if the Revival didn’t get hurt, we probably would’ve gotten a badass Revival/Hardy’s match at Summerslam. Instead the Hardy’s have been added to the Miz-Tourage/Jordan feud, and the 6 man tonight was actually pretty fun. Jason Jordan continued to look great in the ring, and while his theme song is still the shits and the crowd isn’t into him yet, there’s only so many times you can watch him suplex guys out of their shoes and zip across the ring to spear guys before you start rooting for him.
The last couple minutes of this match were super fun, and my only issue with this is that The Miz continues to look awful. It’s one thing to get eaten alive by Brock Lesnar, but it’s another to get your ass handed to you by Jason Jordan. I understand wanting Jordan to look strong, but doing it at the expense of your only mid card champion is not the right call. They should be building up The Miz & JJ simultaneously, so if/when JJ wins the title, he’s beating someone worthy.
The Main Event
Brock Lesnar will defend his Universal title against Braun Strowman, Samoa Joe & Roman Reigns at Summerslam. As a preview for that main event, the main event of Raw was a face off of sorts between the four men. Heyman & Lesnar opened up the segment and sold the match like only they could. The stipulation of Lesnar leaving the WWE if he loses mixed with the real life story of Lesnar heading back to the UFC as soon as he legally can make this match one of the more unpredictable main events WWE have put on this year. Lesnar can lose the title without being pinned or submitted, which is always ideal, and I can picture scenarios where Strowman, Reigns & Joe win. Lesnar could always pull out a win too, but I don’t think that’s going to happen. After Joe & Strowman came out to talk some trash, Reigns joined the party and decided to spear Samoa Joe instead of talking on the microphone. No nonsense Roman is always the best kind of Roman, and Raw went off the air with the locker room trying to separate Braun and Brock.
Besides showing their hand with two matches that will be on the Summerslam card, this was a solid go home show for the WWE. Make sure to check back here Friday morning for our official Summerslam preview.
-Ryan
The Updated #WWE #Summerslam Card & Previews For Every Match
Photo: WWE
Summerslam is only 10 days away, and things are heating up as we inch closer towards WWE’s Biggest Party of the Summer. While the match card hasn’t been finalized yet, there are 10 bouts already on the show, so let’s take a look at the confirmed matches and speculate on what else could be added.
Make sure to check back on the site next Friday for our official preview & predictions post for both Summerslam and TakeOver Brooklyn III.
Confirmed Matches
Randy Orton vs. Rusev
Photo: WWE
I’m not as well versed on Smackdown feuds as I am with Raw, but WWE aren’t exactly the Coen Brothers when it comes to telling stories so I’m pretty sure I can figure things out. 2017 has been a frustrating year for Rusev. He missed WrestleMania due to a shoulder injury, got separated from Lana and when he finally debuted on Smackdown, he got thrown into a USA themed feud with John Cena that he obviously lost.
You’d think that’d be enough awfulness for one year, but now he’s slotted against Randy Orton, the man with less momentum than a nailed down piece of wood. Orton started the year off strong with a Royal Rumble win and a World title win at WrestleMania, but everything post Mania has been awful. He was in the House of Horrors match & has lost to Jinder Mahal three pay per views in a row. Even though he inexplicably got a clean non title win over Mahal on Tuesday, he’s still tanking.
In a perfect world, this would be a spot to give Rusev a win at a major pay per view over someone with name value, but we do not live in a perfect world. RKO out of somewhere will win it for Orton.
Finn Balor vs. Bray Wyatt
If you’ve been following the story of Bray Wyatt, you know all his storylines have three acts. Act 1. Start a feud by teleporting in and costing someone a match. Act 2. build up that feud with teleportation/spooky dark room promos. Act 3. Lose the match at a pay per view. We’re all the way though act 1 and almost through act 2, so the only thing left for Wyatt to do is lose to Balor at Summerslam. I really hope I’m wrong, but Balor hasn’t done much since returning from injury, and he wasn’t even on the GBOF card. Wyatt beat Rollins at that show, which was nice, but his track record causes me to believe he’s going to lose to Balor at the more important PPV.
This one could go either way, but I’m leaning towards Balor.
Big Cass vs. Big Show (Enzo Amore will be suspended in a shark cage above the ring)
Dear lord please let this be the blow off match. The Enzo & Cass feud has been going in circles for what feels like forever, and adding Big Show into the mix hasn’t exactly been refreshing. I’ve read a few articles that think this has been a long con between Enzo & Cass and they’ll turn on the Big Show, but that’d be a hell of a lot of work for a mediocre result. I wouldn’t mind Enzo/Cass teaming back up as heels to add some depth to the tag division, but there’s no way WWE is doing that. Enzo in a shark cage means there’s a 1,000% chance he’s dropping something into the ring that’s meant for Big Show, but will end up Big Cass’s hands when the referee is knocked out or sleeping or trying to hang himself from boredom.
Big Cass by default.
John Cena vs. Baron Corbin
With Cena presumably fading into the Hollywood sunset this fall, this should be a spotlight win for Baron Corbin. I know this argument comes up every time Cena fights a younger guy in a big match, but John literally gains nothing with a win here, while Corbin could gain so much. He already has the MITB briefcase, and assuming Nakamura wins the title (which I’ll get to later) giving Corbin a win over Cena would make him that much more dangerous as he chases Nak.
It doesn’t even need to be a clean win. Have him kick Cena in the dick, set him on fire, whatever. WWE baby faces will never be as popular as they want them to be unless they have a legitimate heel to oppose them. If Corbin beats Cena at Summerslam, he’ll be on his way to being a true threat to whoever is holding the title.
Baron Corbin, NO RAGRETS
Cruiserweight Championship Match: Neville (C) vs. Akira Tozawa
In my Raw review’s I’ve said that I’d be interested in pretty much anyone else challenging Neville for the Cruiserweight title. I don’t understand the appeal of having guys like Rich Swann, Cedric Alexander, Gran Metalik & Mustafa Ali waste away on 205 Live & Main Event while Tozawa is given a title shot. At the least this should be a multi man match, but since it’s one on one, all I want is for Neville to rip Tozawa’s arm off and beat Titus O’Neil with it.
Neville should win convincingly.
Smackdown Tag Team Championship Match: New Day (C) vs. The Uso’s
New Day & The Uso’s have been having a very under the radar feud on Smackdown, and this is one of the matches I’m most excited for. As solid as Xavier Woods was at Battleground, the best wrestling version of New Day is always Big E & Kofi, so I’m glad to see they’ll be defending the straps. The Uso’s picked up a decisive win on Tuesday over Sami Zayn & Tye Dillinger, and New Day also showed some much needed aggression in their post match attack. You get the sense that these two teams really dislike each other, which is an element that’s missing from a lot of modern day feuds. If they’re given as much time as they were at Battleground, this could turn into a classic.
This is a toss up for me, but if I HAD to choose, I’m going Uso’s.
Smackdown Women’s Championship Match: Naomi (C) vs. Natalya
It’s refreshing to see the Women’s title defended in a one on one match at a major pay per view. I understand the mindset of wanting to get as much people on the card as possible, but the title feels more important when there’s a standout challenger. It’s also nice to see Natalya given a title match at a major pay per view, and as the senior member of the Women’s division I think she and Naomi are going to put on a hell of a match. Summerslam is slated for 4 hours (plus a 2 hour pre show) so there’s no reason to not give each match the time it needs to tell a story. Similar to Mahal/Nakamura, the result of this match may not matter as Carmella should be lurking in the background with her MITB briefcase.
Naomi retains after a hard fought match, and Carmella capitalizes and cashes in.
WWE United States Championship Match: AJ Styles (C) vs. Kevin Owens (Shane McMahon as special guest referee)
Whenever you put AJ Styles and Kevin Owens together they have a chance to do something special, so my only request for this match is to let them do what they do best, which is wrestle and tell a story. I know that’s a lot to ask when Shane McMahon is the special guest referee, but this is a different Shane O Mac than the one we saw ref matches in the late 90s & early 2000s.
The general consensus is that this will lead to KO vs. Shane somewhere down the line (since we’ve already seen Shane vs. AJ) but again, all I want is for these two to wrestle their asses off. Leave the shenanigans for another day. This match doesn’t need AJ getting his foot stuck in the announce table or a confusing ending based on shoulder placement. You have two of the best wrestlers in the world in a title match at your second biggest pay per view. Let them work their magic.
I’m very into workhorse mid card champion AJ Styles, so I’m going with AJ.
WWE Championship Match: Jinder Mahal (C) vs. Shinsuke Nakamura
This is the match I’m most nervous about. While it’s great to see a fresh face as champion, Jinder Mahal’s title reign hasn’t been great. While a lot of that has to do with him only fighting Randy Orton, you also have to remember who Jinder Mahal was before this run. He was the third best member in 3MB during his former run and his most noteworthy moment during his last run on Raw was hitting Finn Balor too hard in the head. Just because he’s champion doesn’t mean he’s magically going to turn into AJ Styles in the ring.
Nakamura has also had some growing pains since debuting on the main roster. He’s had subpar matches with Ziggler, KO & Corbin, all of whom are capable of much more, especially against Nak. If Nakamura can’t have good to great matches with those three, is he capable of doing it with Jinder Mahal? Are we in for another bad match with Singh Brother interference? I always skew positive when it comes to pro wrestling, but this match doesn’t have a lot going for it.
Nakamura should win this match. Even if you have the Singh Brothers interfere, Nakamura is clearly the star of this match, and he should be able to overcome the odds and Kinshasa Jinder to win the belt. While Corbin could always cash in his MITB briefcase post match, don’t forget about John Cena. I can picture a scenario where Corbin beats Cena, and then Cena stops a possible cash in on new champion Nakamura, someone who Cena has already shown has earned his respect.
Fatal 4 Way Universal Championship Match: Brock Lesnar (C) vs. Roman Reigns vs. Braun Strowman vs. Samoa Joe
The biggest compliment I can give this match is that no result would surprise me. If Lesnar wins and retains the title somehow, it would make sense because he’s Brock Lesnar. If Samoa Joe or Strowman win, you’re giving them their first major title win at your second biggest pay per view. If Rollins & Ambrose win the tag titles earlier in the night and help Reigns win the Universal title in the main event I’ll probably lose consciousness.
The biggest stipulation is the announcement that if Lesnar loses, he’ll leave WWE. It’s no secret that he wants back in the UFC, and it’s tough to train for that and appear for WWE at the same time. As awesome as Brock is, he’s always better in small doses, and he doesn’t need the title. He can show up and murder everyone every 6 months or so until he’s 60. If his heart is set on returning to the UFC, let him do it and then welcome him back with open arms if he wants to return.
My heart is set on Samoa Joe winning here, so that’s who I’m going with. Lesnar leaves temporarily, Strowman & Reigns become de facto number one contenders and Joe gets a title he almost over deserves.
Additional Matches
There are already 10 confirmed matches, but that will immediately change to 12 after Monday’s Raw. Alexa Bliss will defend her Women’s title against the winner of Sasha Banks/Nia Jax & I’d expect Rollins & Ambrose vs. Cesaro & Sheamus for the Raw tag belts to be announced as well. Goldust teased ‘an unveiling’ last Monday, so he should be on the card in some capacity. Miz vs. Jason Jordan? Hardy’s vs. The Club? Fashion Files? The sky is the limit for a 6 hour wrestling show, so make sure to check back next week for our official preview post.
-Ryan
Braun Strowman Reading Dialogue From ‘Juno’ Is Pretty Fantastic
.@BraunStrowman: "I'M NOT READY TO BE A MOM!" pic.twitter.com/DjG5W5BWNu
— The Ringer (@ringer) August 9, 2017
Apparently when Braun Strowman isn’t busy threatening to break people’s bones, rolling them off loading docks or flipping ambulances, he’s reading movie speeches for The Ringer. This is such an odd combination that I wasn’t sure what to make of it at first, but I’d have to be a cold hearted son of a bitch to not enjoy Braun Strowman reciting a speech from Juno (sneaky good movie). As fun as this was to watch, it’s still only the second best thing Braun did this week:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pd4VC2Zgt_8
-Ryan
WWE RAW Review (8/7/17): Presented By Mercury Insurance
Photo: WWE
Happy Tuesday everybody. Last night’s Raw was live from Toronto, and was the second to last episode before Summerslam on August 20th. Brock Lesnar showed up, but The Revival are hurt again, The Hardy’s & Elias Samson were MIA and Goldust is still stuck in a dark room somewhere. If you want to read last week’s review, you can find it here.
Average Nobodies note: make sure to follow us on Twitter – @averagenobodies and like us on Facebook – Facebook.com/AverageNobodies. We love talking pro wrestling, so you can comment on this post or reach out to us on social media if you want to join the discussion. You can also find all of our wrestling content by clicking the ‘wrestling’ tab under the banner on our home page.
And now, the review of the August 7, 2017 WWE RAW.
Paul Heyman Likes To Role Play
Now that The Miz has seemingly moved away from Dean Ambrose, I can fully appreciate him again. He’s the best guy Raw has on the microphone, and his small posse of cronies has given him even more confidence than normal, which is a delight. Miz opened last night’s show demanding Jason Jordan get in the ring and face the consequences for suplexing Miz into Dallas & Axel last week. Instead of JJ, Kurt Angle came out to announce Curtis Axel vs. JJ for the later in the night, and also announced that Miz had two very special guests: Paul Heyman & Brock Lesnar.
Miz, Axel & Dallas sold the arrival of Lesnar perfectly, who always brings with him the sense of impending doom. Miz did his ‘when my hand goes up your mouth goes shut’ bit before Heyman could introduce his Beast, which was timed perfectly & also unexpected. Remember that mega confidence I was talking about earlier? Miz had it here, as he foolishly ran down Heyman & Lesnar, proclaiming Brock will lose at Summerslam & leave the WWE. Heyman’s response was to tell everyone watching that he loves to role play, and thankfully he meant in the wrestling ring & not the bedroom. Lesnar proceeded to murder Miz and his -tourage, and I’m always going to enjoy a segment where Brock throws guys around rather than standing/bouncing in place, so this opening segment worked for me.
Groundhog Day Part 1
Seth Rollins took on Sheamus last week because Cesaro & Sheamus rightfully pointed out that Rollins had zero friends. When you break up The Shield, it’s going to take a long time before people want to be your friend again, Seth. Rollins won via rollup but got annihilated post match by The Bar, and since Raw is just one big, continuous loop, we got Seth Rollins vs. Sheamus again last night. Sheamus won this match via a rollup, Rollins tried to take them both out post match but ended up getting annihilated again instead. Rollins confronted Ambrose backstage because Dean didn’t make the save, and please remember that confrontation later on when Ambrose takes on Cesaro.
“Let’s Go Jobber”
Jason Jordan was supposed to take on Curtis Axel, but Brock Lesnar beat him up so badly in the opening segment that he wasn’t cleared to wrestle. That’s probably the most realistic thing that’s happened on Raw in months. Since Axel couldn’t compete, we were able to get a peek inside of Kurt Angle’s mind and see how he books matches, which we now know is him frantically looking around until he sees someone in wrestling gear. Axel’s replacement is Jean-Pierre Goulet, and if you didn’t watch the match last night or don’t’ feel like watching the video above, just picture a grizzly bear fighting your elderly neighbor. Jordan beats him quickly, and if you want to know how much the Toronto crowd was into JJ, they chanted ‘let’s go jobber’ during the match. Jordan is still a can’t miss athlete, but they need to switch up his theme and give him one of Kurt Angle’s finishers ASAP. If he’s supposed to be Angle’s son, at least give him something of Angle’s that the crowd would recognize. As far as his theme goes, he could come out to a recording of people screaming in pain and it would be an improvement.
The Tragedy of Bayley
Bayley faced Nia Jax last week and took a nasty bump on her shoulder that looked more like an injury than a wrestler selling something for a match, and it turns out it was a legit injury. She’s out of the Women’s title match at Summerslam, and there were two triple threat matches to determine who would fight in a one on one number one contender match next week. Before the first triple threat, Bayley came out to thank the WWE Universe for their well wishes, and it turned out that none of those well wishes came from Toronto. The crowd booed her pretty consistently, and people online who got upset at that need to remember that the crowd is booing the character, not the person. Booing Bayley’s character is probably the nicest thing you can do at this point, because she’s been a pile of garbage for pretty much the entire year. You never want to see anyone get hurt, but Bayley needs some time to make a lot of adjustments if she’s going to be successful on Raw.
The first triple threat featuring Sasha, Emma & Alicia Fox is the better of the two, but neither match was that impressive. I know Alicia Fox is more lanky than your average human, but it baffles me that she can’t keep her shoulders on the mat when someone is trying to pin her. The referees are taught to treat each match like a shoot fight, so they’re only counting pins if both shoulders are down. Alicia flails around so much that she almost never has two shoulders on the mat, and it causes the ref to awkwardly pause before he starts counting. The finishing sequence was pretty slick, as Sasha had Alicia in the Banks Statement, but Emma ran in to roll up Sasha. After a two count, Sasha countered the pin fall into another Banks Statement on Emma to pick up the win.
Groundhog Day Parts 2 & 3
I’m going to link these two segments together because they’re the same thing we saw last week in the case of Wyatt & Balor, and in the case of Big Show, Cass & Enzo, it’s the same thing we’ve seen since the late 60’s. I don’t know about anyone else, but I’m firmly on team Cass. Enzo came out last night to introduce the Big Show/cut a promo on The Club and then proceeded to have the Big Show basically fight a handicap match against Gallows & Anderson.
Show does good until Big Cass shows up to cause a distraction which allows Gallows & Anderson to take out Show. Since Enzo can’t do anything on his own, he immediately gets laid out and loses the match. So Cass’s big speech last month about Enzo running his mouth and not being able to back it up continues to be true, and Big Show has replaced Cass as the guy who has to continually fend off 2 on 1 attacks because his smaller, louder friend won’t shut up.
In case you thought this feud couldn’t get any worse, it’s announced later in the night that Big Cass will take on Big Show at Summerslam with Enzo Amore suspended above the ring in a shark cage. The only way that match would interest me is if there were actual sharks in the cage with Enzo.
Finn Balor and Bray Wyatt play a game of teleportation musical chairs, and the only thing of note during this segment was Balor’s fixation on popping his collar after every movement. I was hoping we’d see Demon Finn at Summerslam, but at this point there’s no reason to bring back the Demon unless Wyatt does something that warrants it.
Presented by Mercury Insurance
The best match of the night by a mile is Cesaro vs. Dean Ambrose, which was oddly presented by Mercury insurance:
Photo: Twtter
It’s one thing to have a brand sponsor a segment, but it’s another to have an obscure insurance company sponsor a segment. Tune in next week when Twin’s Pizza presents Seth Rollins vs. Cesaro (little Rhode Island joke). The match itself was very good, and whenever Cesaro is given 15 minutes or more of ring time, it always makes me wonder why he isn’t ALWAYS given 15 minutes or more of ring time. If he can get a good, engaging match out of Dean Ambrose then he’s a modern day miracle worker, and even though the finish was lame the match itself was good enough to make up for it.
Since Sheamus beat Rollins with a roll up earlier, it would only make sense for Ambrose to beat Cesaro via a roll up after a botched distraction from Sheamus. The Bar proceed to beat up Ambrose again until The Man Who Has No Friends™ Seth Rollins comes out for the save. Remember that backstage segment where Rollins yelled at Ambrose for not helping him and telling him to get over the fact that he beat up his two best friends with steel chairs to join The Authority? Well Dean decided he’s over it, and extended his fist for an old fashioned Shield fist bump, only for Rollins to refuse it and walk away. WHAT IS HAPPENING.
Cruiserweights
Ariya Daivari & Akira Tozawa fought each other again, and it was another meaningless, two minute Cruiserweight match. I’ll never understand how WWE has 3 hours every Monday night yet can’t give us an exciting 10-12 minute Cruiserweight match. Or why they’ll pick Daivari & Tozawa to fight each other when Rich Swann, Cedric Alexander, Neville, Gran Metalik & Mustafa Ali are all on the roster.
Nia Jax, All Day Everyday
Once Sasha won her match earlier in the night and you saw that Nia Jax was facing Mickie James & Dana Brooke in the second triple threat match, it was pretty clear who would be facing Sasha next week. You could’ve thrown Jean-Pierre Goulet back out there and Nia still would’ve wrecked everybody. The match is short and sweet, which it should be when these three are involved, and although Nia vs. Sasha was extremely predictable, it’ll end up being a good #1 contender’s match next week. Will there be a clean winner, or are we headed towards a triple threat title match at Summerslam?
Golden Surprise
Goldust is still stuck in a dark room somewhere talking to a camera, and while I’d rather watch him feuding with somebody in the ring, at least it looks like we’re going to get some type of debut at Summerslam. Goldust teased the unveiling of his latest masterpiece and that it could be a man or a woman. Are we getting a debut? Repackaging of someone already on Raw? You’ve got my attention, Golden One.
Last Monster Standing
We’ve seen Strowman vs. Reigns a lot this summer, and it’s always good to great. Last night’s Last Man Standing match started off slow but picked up the pace when they got outside the ring, and the highlight of the match (and night) was Strowman’s chair throw:
https://twitter.com/totaldivaseps/status/894756333903269889
You knew Joe was going to interfere because he’s also in the Fatal 4 Way and we hadn’t seem him all night, but it didn’t really make sense to have interference in this match. Nobody came out looking that good: Joe sneak attacked and choked out Reigns; Reigns loses the match; Strowman should have lost the match, but only won because someone else took out Reigns and he stood up before the 10 count. Speaking of standing up before the 10 count – why did the referee stop the count on Strowman when Joe attacked Reigns? It’s a no DQ match, so Joe attacking Reigns shouldn’t have stopped the count on Strowman, and the ref was already at 8 before Joe started to choke out Reigns. Strowman was down for another 10 seconds or more after the Joe attack, so the match should’ve ended there. If WWE is going to book these stipulation heavy matches, they should at least come up with an ending that make sense. Give me more chair throwing and less guys winning because they stood up faster.
-Ryan
Bayley Is Out Of Her Women’s Title Match At Summerslam Due To A Shoulder Injury
While this seemed like an inevitability, you never want to see someone get injured, especially before a big title match at a major pay per view. Unfortunately that’s exactly what happened to Bayley last week, as she separated her shoulder in her match against Nia Jax and will not be able to compete against Alexa Bliss for the Raw Women’s title at Summerslam. The good news (for WWE) is that there are still two Raw’s before Summerslam, so we’ll get two triple threat matches tonight, with the winners facing each other for a shot at Bliss’s title at Summerslam. It’s going to be weird seeing six women competing on one Raw, since the only women we’ve seen lately are Nia Jax, Alexa Bliss, Bayley or Sasha Banks (I’m not counting that Emma/Nia squash). I have to imagine Sasha and Nia advance tonight to face each other next week, but I wouldn’t be mad if Emma squeaks out a win tonight either.
Make sure to check back on the site tomorrow morning, as we’ll have a full review of tonight’s Raw from Toronto!
-Ryan
It Turns Out Bayley Did Suffer An Injury Against Nia Jax On #RAW #WWE
During her match with Nia Jax on the July 31 edition of Raw, Bayley suffered an injury to her right shoulder.
The former Raw Women’s Champion was evaluated by medical personnel, but the official diagnosis was inconclusive due to the amount of swelling involved. Bayley has been told to rest the shoulder until next week, at which point doctors are hopeful that the swelling will have sufficiently gone down so that she may be reevaluated and a firm verdict can be reached.
“Everything just tensed up around it,” Bayley told WWE.com shortly after her match on Monday night. “I’ve never had an injury like this before, so I can’t really know what it is. I guess we’re gonna see.”
Dr. Chris Amann told WWE.com, “We’ve determined the injury is shoulder-related, and she will be going under further diagnostic testing later this week to determine the extent of the injury and also establish a timetable for recovery.” – WWE
If you scroll to the 45 second mark in the above video, you can see Nia attempt to throw Bayley out of the ring. Bayley stopped short and landed awkwardly on her shoulder, and I wrote in my Raw review that Bayley either got really good at selling or she was legitimately hurt, and that my money would be on the latter. Turns out it was the latter, although the extent of the injury is unknown. Summerslam is still two and a half weeks away, so if the injury isn’t serious she could still face Alexa Bliss for the Women’s title. If it is serious, Nia Jax or Sasha Banks would be the likely secondary options.
-Ryan
WWE RAW Review (7/31/17): Beast Of Burden
Photo: WWE
Happy Tuesday, everybody. WWE invaded Pittsburgh, PA last night for the final Raw of July, and I’m here to provide you with a beautifully crafted, written word review.
Average Nobodies note: make sure to follow us on Twitter – @averagenobodies and like us on Facebook – Facebook.com/AverageNobodies. We love talking pro wrestling, so you can comment on this post or reach out to us on social media if you want to join the discussion. You can also find all of our wrestling content by clicking the ‘wrestling’ tab under the banner on our home page.
And now, the July 31st, 2017 edition of WWE RAW.
Goodbye Beast?
It’s no secret that Brock Lesnar wants to fight in the UFC again, and after Jon Jones called him out after his victory at UFC 214, it seems like it’s only a matter of time before Lesnar is back in the octagon. After proud Pittsburghonian (?) Kurt Angle came out to welcome the crowd to Raw and announce a couple of matches for the night, he was rudely interrupted by the Universal champion and his advocate Paul Heyman.
Heyman & Lesnar are not pleased that the title match at Summerslam is a Fatal 4 Way, and it’s tough to blame them. Even someone as overpowering as Brock has to see that match as a disadvantage, because he can lose his title without ever being pinned or submitted. The biggest news of the segment (and the entire show) is that IF Lesnar loses his title at Summerslam, he and Heyman will be leaving the WWE. Brock’s contract isn’t up until April 2018 and he can’t fight in the UFC until he re-enters the drug testing pool, but it certainly looks like his current WWE run is coming to an end. If that’s the case, who takes the title at Summerslam? Hint: he’s a big dog and this is his yard.
The Club is Broken
This was a really odd match for me. The Hardy’s absolutely dominated the entire thing and picked up a clean win, which is strange when you only have four tag teams in your division. This would’ve been perfect spot for a jobber team composed of local talent, because I understand the need to get the Hardy’s back on track, but it shouldn’t be at the expense of one of your other four teams. The highlight of the match for me, outside of the fun albeit quick post match brawl, was Graves throwing a Ricky Bobby reference at Booker T. Just because you say with all due respect doesn’t mean you can say whatever you feel like, Book. It almost defies logic how bad Booker T is at commentating. He’s as bad at commentating as he is good at actual wrestling.
The match itself was eh, but the post match brawl was at least a little exciting. The Hardy’s came out on top, and I’m into the Hardy’s/Revival as the 1b storyline in the tag division. Just get The Club as far away from them as possible.
Cruiserweights
We didn’t get any Neville this week, but we did get a preview of what the Cruiserweight division SHOULD be. My biggest complaint with the presentation of the Raw version of the cruiserweights is that they wrestle the same style of match as everyone else on the roster. It’s the one division where you can get away with minimal psychology and storytelling because the guys are insanely athletic and talented, yet they have them wrestle matches like they’re 400 pound monsters.
The six man tag was fun, but all I could think of was why aren’t Cedric Alexander and Rich Swann in a #1 contender’s match for Neville’s title? They were far and away the most exciting part of the match, and are consistently the best part of every match they’re in. As fun as it is watching Titus O’Neil and Tozawa argue about whether Titus should throw in the towel for every Tozawa is in, I’d much rather be watching Swann & Alexander duke it out.
An Actual Heel vs. Face Feud
If WWE is going to push Jason Jordan as a face, then there is no better wrestler on the roster to pair him with than The Miz. He’s one of the rare guys on the roster who doesn’t care about being cool and he’s a heat magnet on the microphone, which he proved again last night. Miz tried to get Jordon to join the Miz-Tourage but Jordan declined, so Miz decided he would run down Jordan’s father Kurt Angle.
Miz is great at blurring pro wrestling storylines and reality in his promos, and he brought up some real life points on Angle, including the very real fact that he threw away the best years of his career because of his personal problems. Jordan doesn’t mind getting ridiculed, but he’s not going to stand for Miz talking trash about his dad, especially in his dad’s hometown, so he suplexes Miz into Axel & Bo Dallas and smartly slides out of the ring to avoid the 3 on 1 beat down. When WWE switches guys up it always feels so refreshing because we’re so used to seeing the same two guys fight each other (I’m looking your way, Ambrose & Miz) and that’s how I felt watching this segment. Plus, Jordan is a game changer in the ring, so if you can put him up against Miz who excels at making guys look like stars, it’s a perfect combo.
I do have two negatives for this segment: 1. Bo Dallas is starting to dress normal again. If he loses the one black glove I’ll be inconsolable. 2. Jason Jordan’s theme song is TERRIBLE. It sounds like Kurt Angle’s theme song if it was remixed to be played at a funeral. Give me a song that gets me hyped to watch Jason Jordan suplex people out of their shoes.
Lovers & Friends
Earlier in the night Dean Ambrose & Seth Rollins had a backstage interaction centered around them ‘getting back together’, and this storyline is starting to sound like a lovers quarrel instead of the resurrection of 2/3 of one of the greatest factions ever. Lovers quarrel aside, I enjoyed the Rollins/Sheamus match, even if it felt like it ended just as things were picking up. The match was obviously secondary to the post match attack, which simultaneously reminded us how dangerous and vicious the tag champs can be and inserted Ambrose & Rollins into the tag team scene.
I’m OK with Rollins beating Sheamus too, because Rollins is a guy used to fighting 1 on 1 while Sheamus should be used to relying on his partner in matches. We haven’t seen The Bar in action in almost a month, so I’m glad they were featured last night. Rollins & Ambrose vs. The Bar in the title scene while the Hardy’s & Revival fight in a secondary feud is as good as the tag division has been in a long time.
Prophet vs. Demon
Welp, looks like I’m talking myself into a Bray Wyatt feud again. I’ve never been as down on Wyatt as a lot of people are, because he’s such a good character that he can break out of his funk at any minute. The biggest issue is the way his feuds end, as he usually has the upper hand throughout the build, sounds dangerous and intimidating during his promos and then loses all his momentum when he loses the blow off match.
That could certainly happen here with Finn Balor, but I’d have to be a real piece of shit to not get excited for Bray Wyatt vs. The Demon Finn Balor. Wyatt is still a little too wordy with his promos, especially for someone with a history of not being able to back it up, but if they keep it simple storytelling wise and avoid anything resembling the house of horrors or bugs projected on the ring mat, this could be a special feud. Remind me I said this when Wyatt loses clean as a whistle at Summerslam.
Triple Threat
When it was announced last week that Braun Strowman, Roman Reigns & Samoa Joe would be facing each other in a triple threat match, I automatically assumed that would be the main event for tonight’s show. For some reason it wasn’t, and this is the second straight Raw with a peculiar main event. Last week’s show ended with Rollins/Ambrose vs. Miz & the Miz-Tourage, while Bayley vs. Sasha Banks for the #1 contendership was slotted in the middle of the show. This week’s show ends with another Big Cass/Big Show fight, while the triple threat got thrown into the middle of the show.
The match is very physical and a good preview for the Fatal 4 Way at Summerslam, and it’s exciting to picture the triple threat last night, only longer, with the title on the line and with Brock Lesnar included. The star of the match was Reigns, and if this was the final Raw before Summerslam I’d be a little nervous that Reigns was going to win the title with minimal effort. Since we still have two Raw’s to go, I’d like to see Strowman and Joe get the same treatment going forward, so each man in the match enters with a legitimate chance to win.
Elias, No Known Last Name
Vince McMahon’s fascination with wrestlers only having one name continued last night, as Elias Samson is now known as Elias. He did the same thing with Big E Langston (now Big E), Antonio Cesaro (now Cesaro) & Adrian Neville (now Neville) and it makes me wonder what other wrestlers had two names before they even debuted. Was Sheamus originally Peter Sheamus? The world may never know.
Elias, who is actually from Pittsburgh, wrote and performed a nice little song about how horrible the city is before he’s interrupted by Kalisto, and I sincerely want to know how long Elias would play if he was uninterrupted. Would it be hours? Days? Similar to Peter Sheamus, we may never know. What we do know is that Elias continues to impress, and that crossroads-esque finisher looked brutal last night. Elias’s journey from my least favorite NXT wrestler to one of the best parts of Raw continues to befuddle me.
Bayley vs. Nia Jax, Part 20
The Women’s division got the short end of the stick last night, as they got only one segment, and it was a match that ended on a count-out. Bayley took on Nia Jax for what seems like the 20th time, and Nia dominated pretty much the entire way. There was an awkward spot where Bayley landed on her shoulder, and Bayley is either better at selling than I thought or she legitimately hurt her shoulder. I’m leaning towards the latter because the match after that spot was really clunky and sloppy, and ended in a count-out win for Bayley after Alexa Bliss came down to interfere. The interference made no sense, because Nia was dominating the entire match, but ‘making no sense’ and ‘women’s division’ go together like peanut butter & jelly.
Battle of the Bigs
The main event saw Big Cass take on Big Show with Enzo Amore at ringside, and if you’re wondering what Big Cass is going to do after he’s done fighting Enzo & Show, you may never find out because it seems like this feud is going to last forever. The match is the same thing we’ve seen for the past month, with Show & Cass trading blows and knock downs. Enzo eventually interferes and gets his head kicked off, as does Big Show. Big Show recovers to knock out Cass, and we got 50/50 booking within the same segment, which is usually something the WWE reserves for a multi week feud. Why this was the main event, we may never know.
The show peaked at the triple threat match, and is another shining example that Raw would be a million times better as a two hour show.
-Ryan
Mark Your Calendars: Ric Flair’s 30 For 30 ‘Nature Boy’ Will Debut November 7th
WOOOOOO!!! Our #30for30, #NatureBoy, on @RicFlairNatrBoy will premiere November 7th on ESPN.
Details: https://t.co/xRepS0jTGC pic.twitter.com/9pOBPaxUFx
— 30 for 30 (@30for30) July 27, 2017
Few people in this world have lived a more interesting, fascinating & heartbreaking life than Ric Flair. He’s inarguably one of the greatest pro wrestlers of all time, but when you spend 40+ years in the spotlight, the bad times can start to outweigh the good times. Judging from this trailer, director Rory Karpf (who’s also directed the Tim Richmond & Christian Laettner 30 for 30s) doesn’t shy away from the dark side of Flair’s fame, and I’m glad he didn’t because that darkness has helped shape the Ric Flair you see today. We’ll also Ric Flair is all his glory from the 80s where he was THE MAN in professional wrestling, including comments from his peers Shawn Michaels, HHH & Hulk Hogan. I hope they show his resurrection in mid 2000s WWE as well, because he could still wrestle with the best of them during that era. Diamonds are forever, and so is Ric Flair.
-Ryan
