Just some thoughts on Raw tonight because there was some good stuff.
They ran a hot opener, unfortunately for me it was between Reigns and Wyatt, and those are two wrestlers that I just can't care about. Wyatt's booking since he got here has been poorly done, Reigns is just over pushed for me, why watch a match that we know who's going to win. After the inevitable Matt Hardy comes out and plants Wyatt. Two problems, it just further books Wyatt into jobberville, and really the Woken Matt Hardy thing isn't working here. Part of the problem is that they can't top the stupidity and randomness of the TNA Broken Matt so its as if they're not even trying.
Finn Balor and Anderson vs the Revival.
Again I like Balor a lot and he's extremely talented, and I like Anderson and Gallows because they're extremely talented workers, and if you watch SouthPaw there's a lot of charisma with these two that could be used, but Finn and Anderson didn't really need a win here, but the Revival really does because of the destruction they faced at the anniversary Raw.
The backstage stuff between Sasha and Bayley was all about hidden messages and who's going to turn. But Sasha has really slid down the card recently and she's kind of boring now. I like Bayley but they positioned her as a female John Cena, and it doesn't work because fans can't stand people like John Cena. So while the segment might have created questions, it wasn't interesting.
Don't care about the 205 live stuff.
The segment between Alexa and Kurt didn't work because Kurt dodgered around like a confused grandfather and Alexa really ripped him a new one and the audience turned to her side for the most part. The funny thing is she's right, she's fighting in a elimination chamber match and then a potential 2 on 1, this is evil Eric NWO screwing the Champion over WCW booking 1 on 1. They're actually making Alexa sympathetic. Right now there are really only two stars on the womans side of the ledger and that Asuka and Alexa. Asuka is flat out awesome in the ring, but Alexa has improved leaps and bounds in the ring and she's the strongest promo person in the woman's division, but you have a feeling that no matter what, she's going to be done as a champion soon and I don't know where she goes from there.
Kurt was just awful tonight.
The Asuka vs Bayley match was really good and the two showed the chemistry that they had in NXT. I loved Bayley's back suplex, that was beautiful. But that was a really well done match, but you get a sense that the story between the two is closed with the respect handshake. Bayley needs a change to her character, whether its heel or just more edge and less pep.
The Miz versus Apollo, I'm going to say it here, the Miz is the WWE MVP for the last couple of years, there's nobody that can build a match like him, and once he got an understanding of his in ring style the whole package just works.
Reigns and Rollins vs the Bar - How can you make things worse, have Reigns jammed down your throat twice in one night. This was a good match with two performers with bad necks. I keep hearing that Sheamus is done after Wrestlemania. To be honest, for the longest time I thought that Sheamus just sucked and was boring, but putting him with Cesaro was a brilliant move. Clearly this is how we're getting rid of Jason for a while as he screwed his team mate over and was booted out of the building. Its a shame, its clear that Jordan has worked hard on his craft and his character and it works. Here's wishing him a quick recovery.
Nia Jax vs some chick - aw hell who cares. Jax is terrible in the ring. While Braun Strowman works as a big man destroying everyone because of his charisma, Jax has no charisma, her promo's are wooden, and her ring work is boring. Its clear that her family name is keeping her in the title picture because nothing else with her works.
Sonya versus Mickie James - You know what I thought in this match, that I felt so bad for Paige who can't really do much but stand at the side of the ring and bark orders. The rest of the match was nothing except Alexa coming out and saving a confused Mickie. Clearly Alexa is looking for allies in the Elimination Chamber match, but I'd love to see her form her own anti-establishment mean girls group.
Cena vs Elias vs Strowman - Its clear that the end is coming for Cena and I respect that he kind of see's his role as elevating and putting people over. Its clear that the WWE and Cena realize that he doesn't need a belt to standout, but this is a good way to use Cena who's still a solid performer. Giving the win to Elias was great and having Strowman crushing everyone. I did notice that on the way up the ramp that he was bumping fists with the fans. He's going to eventually end up as the leading face in the company.
Not a bad Raw, not a huge amount of mis-steps, but Sasha and Nia were not good. Alexa was awesome as was the Miz promo. The Asuka Bayley match was just solid as was the main event.
