And now it’s time for my review of Monday Night Raw - aka nostalgia did a lot of heavy
lifting but hot damn The Bloodline rule episode of Monday Night Raw… in about 5 minutes.
The show opened with Hulk Hogan coming out to blow his lines, have mic issues, say absoultely
nothing and leave.
What a pointless bit of nostalgia that served no purpose.
But, thankfully, it was the only truly bad bit of nostalgia on the show, which had an
awesome video package to highlight all the great moments from the last 30 years, and
then went straight into the best thing in WWE - and all of wrestling right now - The
Bloodline.
The plans were changed here as has been previously reported.
This was supposed to be all generations of The Bloodline in the ring to acknowledge Roman
Reigns, but Afa, Sika and Rikishi were not able to travel, and so was switched to The
Trial of Sami Zayn - which actually ended up being a blessing in disguise as it made
this segment rule so much ass.
Paul Heyman - admist a sea of ECW chants - told his Tribal Chief that Extreme Championship
Wrestling was dead, and he wishes the same for Sami.
He showed video evidence of Sami’s Judas behaviour within this family - running away
from Drew McIntyre and Sheamus attacking the Usos, refusing to hit Kevin Owens with a chair,
doing a secret hand gesture at the end of War Games, and finally - most disrespectfully
of all - bumping into Roman to step ahead of him on the Christmas Eve episode of Smackdown.
Heyman called Sami a rat bastard, and said he should be guilty as charged - a clever
line as that used to be the name of an ECW PPV.
Sami Zayn, had no defense.
He was just sad.
He had a big defense planned, but this has all just hurt his feeling.
His defense is that… he has no defense.
Very upset by this, Roman Reigns announced that Zayn was being kicked off the Island
of Relevancy, and ordered Solo Sioka to take him out.
Solo went to give Zayn the Samoan Spike, but was stopped by none other than Jey Uso.
Jey pleaded with Roman to change his mind, and while Sami has no defense, Jey does.
He showed video proof of Sami’s loyalty to the family; playing Roman’s music to
distract Matt Riddle, taking a Claymore from Drew to protect Reigns, taking a chair shot
to protect Jey, stopping Sheamus getting in the ring in a tag title match, and finally
- and most impactfully - turning on Kevin Owens at War Games.
Jey said that he loves Sami like a brother, and the crowd agreed with Jey’s assessment
as they all threw their ones to the sky in solidarity with Sami Uso.
Roman’s final judgement was that Zayn was not guilty… for now.
He has one final test for Zayn this Saturday, and he doesn’t want to see him before then.
This was… magical television.
Simply breathtakingly brilliant.
Every performance was great, every line of dialogue served a purpose, the crowd were
rabid for it, and it furthered this storyline to an exciting level going into this weekend’s
Royal Rumble.
It was a perfect segment.
And it only got better.
Because The Usos defended their Raw tag titles against Judgement Day, and Jimmy Uso got hurt.
After a threat from Adam Pearce that they’d have to forfeit the match, Sami Zayn stepped
in to tag with Jey - the man who just saved him from being kicked out the group.
And with Zayn’s help - hitting the 3D with Jey - The Usos are still the Undisputed Tag
Team Champions.
Backstage, Roman, watching backstage, reminded Heyman that he doesn’t want to see Sami
before Saturday.
But with Heyman being the one leading the charge against Zayn, will he adhear to his
Tribal Cheif’s wishes?
Yeah, I loved this.
I loved, loved, loved all of this.
I’m not saying the rest of the episode was downhill from here, but nothing - and I mean
nothing - came close to touching this in terms of quality.
I’ll say it again, this was perfect.
And much like this review of the segment, it went long which impacted some of the rest
of the show.
We got a series of backstage skits with Baron Corbin playing poker with legends, and it
wasn’t particuarly funny.
But I’m sure everyone had a nice time.
LA Knight invited one of those legends to have a fight with him, which was answered
by The Undertaker who - for the first time in nearly 20 years according to commentary
- came out as The American Badass.
Knight tried to leave, but ran into Bray Wyatt who forced him back into the ring.
Taker set up Knight for a Chokeslam, but threw him to Wyatt to hit a Sister Abigail.
It was a true passing of the torch moment, and exactly how Legends should be used - to
put over the new talent.
Was it an effective segment to build up their Pitch Black match?
No, but it had a bigger idea behind it - Wyatt is finally the new Undertaker of WWE.
And with that, Taker whispered in Bray’s ear the true magic of Taker, the reason he
stayed on top for so long, the secret to his immortality as The Dead Man.
The biggest impact from The Bloodline segment going long was that the heavily promoted Becky
Lynch vs. Bayley steel cage match never happened, as Damange CTRL laid out Becks before the
match.
This absoultely, 100%, sucked.
Why did this of all things have to be cut?
Oh, because DX need to come out and do some comedy with Kurt Angle for an extended period
of time and set up a six man tag between Seth Rollins, Street Profits and Imperium.
To give the segment credit, it was actually funny this time, and DX served more of a purpose
here in getting over the new talent - which is a better use of them than the DX celebration
episode or - heaven forbid - the FTR segment on Raw 25.
Teddy Long made the match official, and the good guys with Kurt Angle as the special guest
referee.
A lot of this could have been cut.
Bobby Lashley cut a promo saying he only lost the US title in the first place because of
Brock Lesnar.
Gee, I wonder who is interfeering in the main event.
Ric Flair brought out Charlotte Flair, who did a babyface segment with Bianca Belair,
who then beat Sonya Deville in a match that didn’t need
to happen.
This could have been cut.
Belair then cut a promo on Alexa Bliss, who answered backstage looking in a mirror.
This was rightly not cut.
We got a video package for Cody Rhodes - really the only build for the Royal Rumble this weekend
so yeah he’s basically winning it - and Miz got Stunned by Kevin Owens who then cut
a brief promo on Roman Reigns.
This could also have been cut.
Which brought us to the main event, where Bobby Lashley challenged Austin Theory in
a No DQ match for the United States Championship.
And sure enough, Brock Lesnar came out and gave Lashley an F5, before F5ing Austin Theory
on top of Bobbles so he can retain.
The name drop earlier ruined this surprise somewhat, but it does set up a good Mania
program for Lashley.
Not only that, but it furthered the Hurt Business storyline, as Lashley told MVP that he didn’t
need backup for tonight - when it turns out he actually did.
Look, even with my grievences, this was a really fun episode of Raw.
The Bloodline
segment was tremendous and
really got
me pumped for the title match this Saturday, and key for me, the Legends were used to put
over the new talent.
My only real gripe, and this does leave a bad taste in my mouth, was Becky vs. Bayley
getting cut when there was so much other stuff on this show that could have been trimmed
or totally cut.
It’s unfair on Becky and Bayley, and the fans who paid to see that match.
And to quote Shirleigh here on Twitter, “nothing seems more appropriate for a tribute to the
history of women on Raw quite like scrapping the women’s match because the men went long.”
But even with that said, this week’s Raw is undoutabtly a 5 out
of 5 show.