Raw Review (11/07/2017)

Going ahead from an explosive Great Balls of Fire PPV, Monday-night Raw kept the momentum alive. Considerable story-lines, magnified intensity and juicy scoops lay in the wake of a successful Raw-exclusive PPV. Revolving around three major angles, Raw went one-up than its less-appreciated shows. Here's looking into what went down.

Credits: WWE.com

Big Cass (Kickoff):

Fresh off the demolition of his former brother-turned-obstacle, Enzo Amore, Big Cass was welcome with resonating boos all around the arena. He has clearly delved much deeper into his heel persona and the heat he is receiving due to his betrayal of Enzo Amore is the legitimization of his character. As he began to address the WWE Universe, he gloated in the glory of cementing his transition into a singles career. He also stated that now he wants to focus on the main-event scene and become a threat for the Universal Championship. He claimed that there is not one wrestler in the roster who can touch his 7-foot frame and that would fuel his desire to headline the 'Grandest Stage of Them All', Wrestlemania. He talked about how he would represent the company without the universe on his side and warned against people who catch his train.

Amidst all this, Big Show's music hit as he charged onto Big Cass and showed him his place among the 'Giants'. As the segment ended, Cass retreated as Big Show held the ring. 

It was an interesting segment, however, a tease between Big Show and Big Cass doesn't seem quite appealing for the newbie. Although it cannot be rubbished that Big Show is an established superstar with his own following, he just doesn't have the appeal like he used to. We might get to see Big Cass in a feud with Big Show later on, just to put Cass over and establish him as the dominant giant on WWE.

Credits: youtube.com

Finn Balor vs. Elias Samson:

It may look like whining repeatedly, but what is WWE doing with Finn Balor? That man is a main-event draw, the first ever Universal Champion! He is literally a treasure-chest of oozing talent and yet he is relegated to fighting a wrestler like Samson. Taking nothing away from Samson's talent, Finn Balor deserves much better things.

Another interruption to Samson's incessant strumming, the best entrance theme in WWE hit, and the arena was set into a frenzy, yet again. It was a well wrestled match with both wrestlers showing the talent to carry a match on their shoulders. They went back-and-forth till Samson targeted the shoulder of Balor, after sweeping his feet off from the edge of the ring. Samson dominated for a bit, but Balor dug deep and eventually hit a 'Coupe de Grace' to seal the victory. 

What WWE is doing with Finn Balor is absolutely unacceptable. That guy has the talent to move merchandise better than Roman Reigns and is an absolutely untouchable technical wrestler. It is high time WWE realize that depriving him of an opportunity at the Universal Title is just pushing him down Irrelevance Lane. High time!

Credits: skysports.com

The Hardy Boyz vs. Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson:

Coming out to congratulate Finn Balor after his victory may have teased a future stable formation, but that is something better left to ponder upon later. 

Fresh off a defeat by the hands of Cesaro and Sheamus for the Tag Team Championship, The Hardy Boyz addressed the WWE Universe. There were several teases to their Broken gimmick, but that is a far-fetched idea as WWE haven't yet procured the rights. Matt Hardy vowed to bring more magic into the division only to be interrupted by Gallows and Anderson who promised to end their magic.

Quite obviously, a match took place as the worn out Jeff Hardy started things off. He absorbed a lot of punishment before tagging onto his brother, Matt, only to welcome a series of 'Delete' chants by the WWE Universe as he punished Karl Anderson. As soon as the battle-weary brothers started gaining momentum, Luke Gallows kicked Matt at the back of his head for a cheap shot which led to a Magic Killer by Anderson and Gallows. Sealing a victory, 'the good brothers' started walking back as The Revival's music hit and out came the newest addition to the Raw Tag Team division. Just to make a statement, The Revival picked on the bones left by Gallows and Anderson, and left The Hardy Boyz lying in the ring.

Gallows and Anderson are supposedly back in contention for the Titles, as The Hardyz will keep busy with The Revival, only to return to contention with their 'Broken' gimmick.

Credits: sltdwrestling.com

The Mizzies:

Miz TV conducted its first-ever award ceremony, The Mizzies. Flanked by The Miztourage (Bo Dallas and Curtis Axel) and Maryse, The Miz welcomed the WWE Universe into a one-of-a-kind award ceremony that witnessed Maryse, Miztourage and The Miz himself being awarded for the 'reputable' categories. 

He gloated in his greatness at being the best superstar in the WWE roster and how the crowd supported loser baby-faces like Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins, who each were defeated in their matches after vowing to win them. Dean interrupted the proceedings as he was in no mood to talk. He barged upon Miz and the others before being outnumbered, yet again. The crowd popped as Seth Rollins came running down to his former brother's rescue. Rollins destroyed the entire setup of the 'prestigious' award ceremony and sent the heels back into the locker room. 

In a tease of what could be a possible Shield reunion, Dean walked up to Seth and cleared all notions of the reunion never being a reality.

Miz vs. Rollins calls for a fresh feud as the storyline between Dean and Miz have fallen stale. Although, Rollins had been ruling the main-event scene in the Red-Brand, it is an exciting prospect of him working with Miz that will eventually remove the dilemma of him being a true baby-face.

Credits: speedwealthy.com

Sasha Banks and Bayley vs. Nia Jax and Alexa Bliss:

Picking up from their feud last week on Raw, Sasha and Bayley took on Nia and Bliss for a tag team match. The baby-faces outclassed their opponents right from the beginning, however, Nia Jax, being the juggernaut she is, changed the entire complexion of the match in no time. Catching glimpses from last week, Nia was back to clinically punishing Bayley again, looking to repeat what she did last week. Bayley looked desperate to make a tag. Alexa was tagged in as she wanted to pick the ruins left by Nia Jax and pick up the win. However, things changed again as Jax missed a shoulder tackle onto Sasha Banks and hurt herself instead. Distracted by the proceedings outside the ring due to her attention on Sasha Banks, Alexa Bliss was rolled over for a pin by Bayley, who picked up the victory.

Bayley's victory here signifies a multi-contender match at Summerslam for the Women's title. WWE have been blessed to have such talent at their disposal and the division on Raw is surely turning heads with each passing week. WWE would not want to waste this opportunity and turning Jax on Alexa Bliss would be the obvious move in the coming weeks, This would lay the foundation for a probable triple-threat or even a fatal-fourway match come Summerslam.

Credits: wrestlingobserver.com

Goldust vs. R-Truth:

A filler of every sort, this match had an intriguing story-line which would have justified had the unannounced match at Great Balls of Fire been this. Nevertheless, both 'veterans' showed that they still have it in them to pull off a par match. 

Goldust dominated the proceedings which was halted by a gruesome power-bomb by R-Truth, due to Goldust flaunting his showmanship. Moments later, Goldust gathered back lost momentum as he targeted Truth's knee and eventually hit a Curtain-Call to pick up the victory.

The loss does nothing to R-Truth but make him more irrelevant than he already is. Goldust, however, may be looked into for a booking with the like of Elias Samson, should WWE finally move Balor into a relevant picture.

Credits: WWE.com

Kurt Angle, Brock Lesnar, Paul Heyman, Samoa Joe take the mic:

Raw General Manager Kurt Angle opened the segment addressing the hellacious match between Roman Reigns and Braun Strowman at Great Balls of Fire. He stated that Braun had refused medical attention even after they went off-camera and wished for his speedy recovery and that "the show must go on". Welcoming Brock Lesnar along with Paul Heyman, he congratulated Lesnar on his first Title defense of the Universal Championship and quickly moved forward to scheduling a match at Summerlsam. Paul Heyman refused to brainstorm ideas in public and bid him farewell to leave the ring before Roman Reigns' music hit and the Big Dog walked out. He came up to the ring only to be told that "You have a lot of nerve coming out here after what you pulled last night",to which the Big Dog stated that in the Attitude Era, this wouldn't have been a big deal. He urged Angle to thank him because he couldn't handle Braun Strowman, and Roman did just that telling Angle that he owed him one. Roman quickly jumped in to say that he wants a match at Summerslam for the Universal Title as Brock intervened to say, "You don't deserve shit!"

Samoa Joe came out to address the issue which led to an intensely heated segment involving all three superstars. The segment ended with Angle announcing a #1 Contender's match next week for a shot at Lesnar's title at Summerslam.

The segment reeked intensity the moment Joe came in. He is a naturally appealing superstar and in such a short time, he has mustered up the guts to go toe-to-toe with the Beast and The Big Dog. This is as good as it gets considering all the other promos being cut. Brock Lesnar should get more mic-time because he really brings it out. Surprisingly, Roman's backing by the WWE was quite evident given the fact that the whole issue of him literally pulling a homicide on Strowman was not directly dealt with.

Credits: WWE.com

Akira Tozawa and Cedric Alexander vs. Neville and Noam Dar:

Akira Tozawa is really turning up the heat against Neville, claiming his contention for the title. 

The match started with Alexander smacking Noam Dar's head almost apart from his body as he held the early advantage. Tagged in, Tozawa went to work on Dar before his momentum was cut off and he was left reeling at the hands of Neville and his partner. Neville cut him off every time he tried to get back into the match before finally he tagged Alexander in. Neville squared off with the exciting prospect before Tozawa was again tagged in. Alexander went on to pick up a fight with his opponent for 205 Live, while Tozawa replicated a scene form Great Balls of Fire, kicking the ropes into Neville's groin. A Senton from the top rope later, Tozawa pinned Neville to be back in contention for the championship. 

Alexander is a brute force awaiting to be tapped into, and he should soon be elevated into the title picture.

Credits: WWE.com

Seth Rollins vs. Bray Wyatt:

Similar to Finn Balor, Seth Rollins is not being correctly utilized. His feud with Bray Wyatt is not stirring any reactions. In this rematch from Great Balls of Fire, Bray Wyatt again dominated the proceedings as Seth failed to gain momentum due to an injured eye. Rollins pulled of his big moves, but even after a consequent segment of Clothesline form the top rope, a Blockbuster and a Falcon Arrow, he couldn't seen to keep Wyatt down. The Kingslayer was soon dominated again and The Eater of Worlds re-injured Rollins' eye before delivering a Sister Abigail to seal a second clean victory over him.

Reeling from the loss, The Miz flanked by his Miztourage came to feat on the ruins left by Bray Wyatt as they surrounded Rollins. Courageously Rollins tried to take the fight to them, but he was too exhausted to actually matter and was outnumbered by the heels. Ambrose ran in to the rescue just like Rollins did earlier on and beat the heels up with a steel chair before almost breaking Miz's back.

Miz-Rollins provide afresh feud, but the way the proceedings are evolving, a Shield reunion is not too far away. Hopefully, WWE Creative would know better than to waste the hyped reunion of the most dominant faction in WWE history over a mid-card scene.

Credits: WWE.com

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