WNS Column: Kevs Raw Review 18/08

Raw opened with the theme of Daniel Bryan to a massive pop. But of course, it's Stephanie McMahon with her variation of the "Yes! Yes! Yes!" shirt. Man, she can draw heat. She thanks her husband, plugs the network, recaps SummerSlam and introduces NIkki in this promo. She brings out Nikki, who is wearing black because she's a heel now. Nikki doesn't mention the specifics that Brie quit the WWE for her husband and left her alone but she does mention that Brie has always been the selfish sister and that while Brie is married, she married the goat faced Bryan. Brie comes out with a black eye that rivals Nikki's boobs in how fake it is. Brie is sad and would forgive her sister, but Nikki slaps her down. Not the best opening segment in the world. Stephanie starting the show is good but the Bellas are both pretty terrible actresses.

Because it's the WWE, we have to get an IMMEDIATE recap of what he literally just saw. Luke Harper and Erick Rowan would be facing Big Show and Mark Henry next. This was a solid tag team match that would be won by Henry and Show. I know I said that I wanted the Usos to retain at Battleground against Harper and Rowan, but not if it means that they start losing to teams like Show and Henry that nobody wants to see or care about. The Wyatt Family should be carefully booked and handled but the WWE doesn't seem to know what to do with them at all. Show and Henry are soon to be in line for a shot I guess. Ho hum.

Backstage, Ric Flair is getting something he wants as he's talking to Dolph Ziggler about the roll he's been on. The Miz comes up because he's still upset. Flair "woos", Dolph calls the Miz an A-Hole and not an A-Lister and there will be a rematch tonight. What happened to Flair being cool with the Miz? Anyway, cutting to another segment, Renee Young is interviewing Seth Rollins. While she stands there looking beautiful, Seth Rollins suddenly gets a bucket of ice water poured on him! ALSICEBUCKETCHALLENGE! He turns around to find Dean Ambrose poured it and Ambrose nails him with the bucket. He shrugs and says "What? It's for charity." Fun stuff.

Natalya is in the ring when the Divas Champion arrives to face her. Paige still loves AJ and dedicates the match to her "little AJ". A short and decent Divas match follows and Paige comes close to victory until AJ's theme hits. The former champion skips around the ring, distracting Paige and allowing Nattie to roll her up and win. AJ gets on the microphone to give Paige a dose of her own medicine by saying that she loves her, respects her and wants to shake her hands. AJ's crazy eyes cause Paige to leave the ring to avoid this. Ambrose and Rollins will have a match tonight and the fans can choose the stipulation. It's either No DQ, No Holds Barred or Falls Count Anywhere. So basically, it's the same match three times.

Next, it's time to present the new WWE Title, which has the new logo, to Brock Lesnar. This is a segment that is pretty basic so I won't get too into it. Paul Heyman puts over how John Cena's run at the top has lasted longer than it has for Rock, Austin and others. He calls this basic Brockenomics and that it was "Eat, Sleep, Suplex, Repeat." Heyman's delivery is perfect. The Intercontinental Title match follows and part of me was worried that Dolph Ziggler was going to get a 24 hour title reign but Miz ends up winning via disqualification. It was a good match and the crowd was totally into it. I guess this is going to continue.

Jack Swagger is out next to try and avenge his loss last night. He's facing his former partner Cesaro, in a match that has happened twice in the past month and one that nobody would've expected Swagger to win a few months ago. Surprisingly, Cesaro does win this with the Neutralizer as maybe Swagger's push is over. I still don't believe that Cesaro's is going to start again. Bo Dallas comes out after the match and says that 318 million Americans were let down by Swagger. Zeb Colter isn't there for some reason and Bo says that Jack can get Zeb back and turn things around if he just Bolieves.

Time for an interesting six man tag team match. Randy Orton teamed with Rybaxel against Roman Reigns, Sheamus and Rob Van Dam. Ah, the tag team match, where Reigns shines the most. This got a lot of time and was a lot of fun. The Las Vegas crowd seemed to LOVE Ryback. The FEED ME MORE chant was louder than anything that Roman Reigns got. Despite Ryback being insanely over, a Spear followed by a Five Star Frog Splash was enough to put down Randy Orton. I'm surprised that Orton would eat the pin here when he's partnered with a team who loses very often. After the match, we also get a Bray Wyatt promo. It's too intricate for me to really go into here but it's some of the usual stuff from him.

The Usos were out to face the Dust Brothers. It's about damn time we get this and I need Stardust and Goldust on television much more often. They put on a fun little match where Cody Rhodes again rocked that Stardust character like it's nobody's business. The Dust Brothers would actually win with a rollup so maybe they will be next in line for a title shot. Rusev and Lana arrive after a commercial break and unfortunately, Lana is not sporting the white suit that she wore at SummerSlam. They are interrupted by Mark Henry of all people. He gets right in Rusev's face as the "USA" chants are loud. Henry ends up hitting Rusev with the World's Strongest Slam and splashes him while Lana looks on worried. I guess the Henry/Show team isn't going far.

It looks like we're going to get a long main event and it's Falls Count Anywhere between Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose. Let me just say that last night's Lumberjack Match was the best Lumberjack Match in history. However, it was nothing compared to this. This was two guys who hate each other going balls to the wall and it showed. Ambrose and Rollins are the absolute future. They use kendo sticks and other weapons. Ambrose throws like eight chairs into the ring and wants to superplex Seth onto them but it gets countered and Rollins hits a power bomb onto them! And only gets two. Seriously, I'm not even going to try and mention every awesome spot in this match as you need to go out and watch it. Like now. Kane gets involved and chokeslams Ambrose on a table that doesn't break. Seth follows with the Blackout on the table before Kane reveals a bunch of cinder blocks. Seth does the Blackout again but onto the cinder blocks. The referee stops the match because Dean Ambrose might be dead.

Much better than the go home show for SummerSlam. The Ambrose/Rollins match honestly gives this show an entire extra point or so. That was insane and can be up there for Raw match of the year. The opening segment was rough, but everything on the show seemingly built to something except for the opening tag match. So basically, after the first two segments, the show was pretty badass. 7.5/10.