The Drifter Elias Samson makes his in-ring debut!
Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins make two thirds of a Shield reunion and Paul Heyman puts Finn
Balor over strong.
I’m Oli Davis, and this is the 22nd May 2017 edition of Monday Night Raw...in about
4 minutes.
Roman Reigns vs Bray Wyatt Bray Wyatt opened the show with a refreshingly
focused promo rather than the usual impressively delivered mumbo jumbo.
He embodied the cult leader figure better than he has done in months, promising to slay
the Beast once and for all if you - the WWE Universe - believe in him.
It’s a shame we’ve been conditioned to expect nothing to come from all Bray Wyatt’s
talk.
Property Lawyer Roman Reigns came down to remind The Eater of Worlds, “actually, sorry
Bray, this is my yard” so Kurt Angle made a match between the two right now!
Samoa Joe attacked them both about five minutes in.
Cue Seth Rollins running down for the save, and - holla holla - we’ve got ourselves
a main event tag team match, playas.
Akira Tozawa beat Ariya Daivari Akira Tozawa beat Ariya Daivari in under three
minutes - HA!.
Brian Kendrick had a weird backstage talking to the camera thing going on.
Elias Samson beat Dean Ambrose After almost two months of drifting, Elias
Samson made his in-ring debut against Dean Ambrose.
The Drifter got some great heat before the match playing the guitar.
If only his actual matches were as interesting.
After several minutes of various rest holds, The Miz struck Samson to give Ambrose the
DQ loss - building their ‘Championship can change hands on a DQ’, anti-Extreme Rules
Extreme Rules match.
This was a solid debut for the Drifter.
Finn Balor beat Karl Anderson As Brock Lesnar is busy defending his Universal
Championship in an intergalactic gladiatorial tournament on Wundagore II - which will be
broadcast on the WWE Network this Summer - Paul Heyman confronted Finn Balor before his match
against Karl Anderson.
The Beast’s Advocate put smarminess and jokes to one side, and brilliantly channeled
all his orating gifts into getting Balor over - convincingly endorsing Finn as the most
talented wrestler in WWE today, and saying that he looks forward to the eventual Brock
Lesnar showdown.
It’s a far cry from the commentators talking about Finn’s size last week, and strongly
hints a Lesnar match is down the line for Balor.
Which is yet another reason why he should’ve beaten Reigns on last Monday’s Raw.
Balor had a decent enough match with Anderson afterwards.
It’s a shame they weren’t allowed to do more, as for all the bad booking of The Club,
The Machine Gun remains a terrific wrestler.
Sasha Banks beat Alicia Fox It’s the rubber match of Raw’s most heated
blood feud - Alicia Fox vs Sasha Banks...which Sasha won in just over two minutes.
That was worth it.
And just to ensure nobody got over, Fox took out Banks with a Scissor Kick afterwards.
Kalisto beat Apollo Crews In more ineffective booking, Apollo Crews
lost to Kalisto, the story being that he kept getting distracted by Titus O’Neil’s advice
from ringside.
Because losing matches and portraying wrestlers as incompetent are brilliant ways to get characters
and feuds over.
Matt Hardy beat Sheamus Matt Hardy beat Sheamus in a really enjoyable
match, which meant the Hardys could choose their Extreme Rules stipulation.
Which surprisingly wasn’t a ladder match.
Instead, the two teams will fight over the titles in a steel cage, where Jeff Hardy will
most definitely jump off the top.
The Hardys still haven’t lost a singles or tag match since their WWE return.
Austin Aries beat Tony Nese Austin Aries beat Tony Nese in a really nice
five minute Cruiserweight match, built around the Extreme Rules submission stipulation against
Neville.
Alexa Bliss beat Mickie James Alexa Bliss is getting extreme!
That’s the line the commentators kept unconvincingly spewing out, as Bliss delivered one kendo
stick shot to Mickie James.
It’s hardly The Sandman and Tommy Dreamer in ECW.
Bayley ran down for the save to remind people their Kendo Stick on a Pole match is still
a thing.
Bray Wyatt & Samoa Joe vs Roman Reigns & Seth Rollins
Wyatt, Joe, Rollins and Reigns had an OK main event, with Reigns accidentally knocking Rollins
in the finish, and Joe choking Seth out.
Afterwards, backstage, Kurt Angle actually made matches a whole week in advance - Balor
vs Wyatt vs Joe in a triple threat and Reigns vs Rollins.
Bonus General Manager points!
Unfortunately, he made both these matches while watching a monitor from a ridiculous
angle.
Negative General Manager points.
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.
Although the Paul Heyman promo was a fantastic example in getting someone over, and the in-ring
wrestling was mostly fine - what else happened on this episode?
Raw continued its copy and paste, predictable template, and is already managing to make
the Extreme Rules main event boring - a match I was originally very much looking forward
to - by pitting its participants in every conceivable match-up combination before it
happens.
By the time Extreme Rules comes around, we would have seen the main event play out several
times over.
This week’s Raw is Poor.
Is Jinder Mahal as WWE Champion good or bad for Smackdown Live?
And what’s the real reason the Maharaj beat Randy Orton for the title at Backlash?
Find out by clicking the videos to the left, press subscribe and support WrestleTalk on
Patreon.
I’ve been Oli Davis and that was wrestling.