Enzo and Big Cass’ mystery attacker is revealed, Miz gets an entourage, and Braun Strowman
returns - BRAAAAAAAAAAAUN.
I’m Oli Davis, and this is the 19th June 2017 edition of Monday Night Raw...in about
4 minutes.
Roman Reigns Big Announcement Roman Reigns opened Raw with his big Summerslam
announcement - or, as Michael Cole put it, his big hashtag Summerslam announcement - him
declaring himself No. 1 contender for the Universal Title.
His well-thought out reason?
Because this is his yard, obviously.
Samoa Joe rightfully thought this was bollocks, so came down and headbutted Roman right in
the chest.
God, Joe’s great.
Reigns stood tall in the ensuing scuffle, and a match was made between them for later
that night.
Hardy Boyz beat Galanderson Matt was back to overtly leading DELETE chants
in the Hardy Boyz victory over Galanderson, hinting talks are back on with Impact Wrestling
over the Broken Universe gimmick rights.
Shattered Truth In his latest pretaped promo, Goldust invited
his former tag team partner R-Truth to the premiere of his new masterpiece - the Shattered
Truth - next week.
Goldust vs R-Truth is one of the lowkey brilliant feuds on Raw, the pot kept bubbling by very
well-produced promo segments...which means it’s probably all building to a throwaway
5 minute match.
Finn Balor beat Bo Dallas Finn Balor interrupted a performance from
Elias Samson to start his match against Bo Dallas, which was five very good minutes full
of aggression.
It’s almost like Dallas is a former NXT champion too, right?
Even though he lost, Bo looked great here, wildly having grown out his hair and beard,
and showing a vicious streak.
But he’s directionless, lost.
He needs someone to show him the way.
Someone like his real-life brother cult-leader Bray Wyatt!
Not The Miz, whose entourage added Dallas later in the show.
Samson attacked Balor afterwards, setting up a feud between them.
Seth Rollins & Bray Wyatt Seth Rollins cut a good babyface promo about
becoming the cover star for WWE 2K18 when Bray Wyatt interrupted with his usual BLEUGH
on the Titantron!
The two did their usual back and forth words, until Wyatt made his slow entrance to the
ring - where Rollins hit him with a great crossbody off the top turnbuckle.
Akira Tozawa beat TJP Titus O’Neil, acting as Akira Tozawa’s
manager, actually made a Cruiserweight match feel important - doing the ring announcing
and hyping the crowd from ringside.
Tozawa beat TJP, with Neville watching on from the commentary desk.
Samoa Joe beat Roman Reigns In the second hour’s main event a Samoan
called Joe called Roman Reigns took on another Samoan called Joe called Samoa Joe.
Yeah, that’s right.
The two had an excellent TV match, which the Samoan Joe called Samoa Joe won thanks to
a distraction on the TitanTron.
Usually that would be a disappointing finish, and often in the form of Bray Wyatt turning
off all the lights.
But this one had Braun Strowman bursting out the back of an ambulance.
And, you guessed it, he’s still not finished with Roman.
They’ll have an ambulance match at Great Balls of Fire.
Miz TV With Maryse After accidentally upsetting his wife for
the last two weeks, Maryse was the guest on Miz TV to make it up to her.
But when Dean Ambrose interrupted, Miz spilled champagne over her and accidentally destroyed
her grandfather clock gift he’d repaired.
Miz was one step ahead this week, though - the two men dressed up as cuddly bears turned
out to be Curtis Axel and Bo Dallas.
Miz’s new entourage beat up Dean Ambrose to close the segment, looking like a kid’s
birthday party gone very, very wrong.
Sheamaro beat The Titus Brand Despite The Titus Brand’s success in the
Cruiserweight division earlier, Raw tag team champions Sheamus and Cesaro beat O’Neil
and Apollo Crews comfortably in a five minute match.
Nia Jax beat Sasha Banks The only women’s segment on the show was
an angle rather than an actual match, with Alexa Bliss and Emma’s brawl giving Nia
Jax the DQ win.
Mickie James, Dana Brooke and Bayley somehow also got involved, and the entire women’s
division had a short, meaningless brawl.
Who Attacked Enzo & Big Cass?
For the main event segment, television’s worst detective Kurt Angle invited the prime
suspects in the ‘Who Attacked Enzo & Big Cass?’
mystery down to the ring.
It took Corey Graves revealing some security footage - that really should’ve been looked
at much sooner - to expose the real attacker: it was Big Cass who beat up Enzo Amore!
The live crowd didn’t seem to care that much, though, chanting ‘what’ through
most of Cass’ very well delivered promo.
Unfortunately, I’m sad to say I somewhat agree.
To use a wrestling comparison, the story of Enzo and Big Cass’ break-up has been like
a match where nothing much happens for ages, and then a big high spot gets a loud reaction.
So a Cruiserweight match on Raw.
Big Cass’ turn on Enzo is most definitely sad, but I haven’t cared about their relationship
for a very long time.
WWE have given us no reason to.
They only debuted on the main roster 14 months ago as an act initially one of the hottest
in the company.
But they’ve slowly been worn out by inconsistent booking, poor storylines and bad character
work.
So while this was a shocking angle, the larger story has nowhere near the level of emotional
connection it should do.
So that was this week’s Raw in about four minutes.
Here’s the usual ratings recap, from top to bottom - In Awe, Cor, AVRAWGE, Poor and
Bore.
I’ll reveal my rating very shortly, but first, vote in the poll above my head to give
yours.
I’ll announce the results in tomorrow’s WrestleTalk News.
This was a very newsworthy episode - the return of Braun Strowman, his Great Balls of Fire
match against Roman Reigns being announced and the Big Cass heel turn.
The actual wrestling was very good too, particularly with Reigns and Samoa Joe.
And the Big Cass reveal certainly was a moment, even if both men will likely come off worse
for it in the long run.
This week’s Raw is Cor.
An ex-WWE star has been contacted for a return!
And two ex-TNA stars have debuted for Smackdown.
Click the videos to the left to find out more, press subscribe and support WrestleTalk on
Patreon.
I’ve been Oli Davis and that was wrestling.