By Jason Powell
WWE Raw Hits
Roman Reigns: As much as I accused WWE of fear booking Reigns by overly protecting him in the weeks and even months leading up to WrestleMania 32, they at least had the balls to put him in front of the rowdiest crowd he’s likely to see all year. I loved the line: “I’m not a bad guy. I’m not a good guy. I’m the guy.” It brought back memories of Curt Hennig once saying something similar in an AWA promo. He said people asked him if he was a good guy or a bad guy. “I’m a helluva guy!” Hennig said. In Roman’s case, I hope this is the way they intend to play the character going forward and not just a stopgap for the night after WrestleMania crowd. Roman can be effective with the “you’re either we me or against me” routine if it has more of an edge to it than John Cena’s successful model. Roman is capable of bringing a cool factor to his act that will win over some fans. And I really believe it works to his advantage to play it this way considering that his real money matches will be against fellow babyfaces given the current shortage of main event heels.
AJ Styles vs. Cesaro vs. Chris Jericho vs. Kevin Owens: A strong main event with a nice surprise in the form of Cesaro’s return. I’m happy to see Styles win the match and get his post WrestleMania run off to a good start. He avenged his WrestleMania loss and came out of this looking good heading into his match with Roman Reigns. Unfortunately, I’m having a hard time getting excited about Styles being put into a position where he’s so likely to lose. I just can’t see WWE taking the title away from Roman so quickly once again. However, it sure beats the idea of Reigns feuding with Ryback or Kane just as new champions have done coming out of WrestleMania in the past. By the way, what does it say about Cesaro’s standing in WWE that he didn’t win in his big return match?
Enzo Amore and Big Cass: The most impactful debut of the wrestlers coming up from NXT, including Baron Corbin winning The Dre on Sunday. Some people have the gift of gab while Enzo has the spoiled rich kid’s gift of gab. I don’t know how far Enzo and Cass will go as a tag team in WWE, but Enzo’s mic routine always makes a strong first impression.
Vince McMahon and Shane McMahon: Let’s start with the obvious that it was ridiculous for Shane to show up one night after the insane bump he took off the Hell in a Cell structure. I’m not surprised that Super Shane was there, but it was silly. That said, the segment was well received. Vince in front of the WrestleMania crowd was priceless, and the same crowd was thrilled to see Shane and roared when Vince gave him control of the show for the night. It was disappointing that they didn’t really establish what Shane with his power aside from shake some hands, book the main event, and name Cesaro as Sami Zayn’s replacement. The broadcast team made it impossible for viewers to suspend disbelief by crediting Shane with booking the tables match, which was announced by WWE prior to the show.
New Day vs. Sheamus and King Barrett: The night after WrestleMania crowd adored New Day’s pre-match schtick. They adoration isn’t as enthusiastic during their matches, but it’s not like they were working with a hot team. League of Nations dropping King Barrett is fine. However, the idea of the trio being stronger was washed away immediately when the Wyatt Family beat the hell out of the remaining members. How about Sheamus repeats the same line next week and Rusev takes out Alberto Del Rio? And then Sheamus repeats that same line the following week and takes out Rusev? Can you tell I want this terrible faction to end so the talented singles wrestlers that make up the group have a chance to do something better? As for the Wyatt Family, I assume they are babyfaces now, but Bray Wyatt’s next promo should tell the story.
Sasha Banks vs. Summer Rae: An effective showcase win for Sasha. Summer made the most of her limited mic time by managing to stand out in a positive way. I am anxious to see WWE do a better job of telling Sasha’s story and defining her character than they did prior to WrestleMania.
Apollo Crews vs. Tyler Breeze: A very nice debut for Crews with the match giving him a chance to showcase his key moves and athleticism. I also loved the big superkick from Breeze, who continues to be grossly underutilized. If they really want him to be an enhancement wrestler, then I’d suggest letting him win matches to give him credibility so that it means a little something when a newcomer like Crews beats him. I was legitimately surprised that Crews was called up if only because they haven’t been doing much at the NXT level with him. I thought we’d see some bigger NXT names called up, which would lead to Crews sliding into a top spot at the NXT level.
WWE Raw Misses
Disclaimer for the WrestleMania crowd: I laughed out loud over the broadcast team delivering their public service announcement to viewers regarding those crazy kids that make up the night after WrestleMania crowd. It’s one thing to acknowledge it during the course of conversation, but to actually show them with the sole purpose of warning the viewers at home was hysterical for all the wrong reasons. It was truly embarrassing to hear JBL tell viewers that these fans boo the wrestlers who are normally cheered and cheer the wrestlers who are normally booed. No, they cheer the wrestlers they like regardless of whether they are heels or babyfaces or how poorly they have been booked by WWE.
The Miz vs. Zack Ryder: I like The Miz and I’m happy to see Maryse apparently added to his act. However, the idea of Miz winning the Intercontinental Title from Zack Ryder in 2016 just set the belt back again. I was open to the idea of WWE doing something fresh with Ryder, but clearly this was about giving fans a surprise moment at WrestleMania. The alternative is that Miz and Ryder play hot potato with the IC Title, and we’ve already seen how damaging that can be to a secondary title via the Alberto Del Rio and Kalisto feud.
Baron Corbin vs. Dolph Ziggler: Corbin got off to a nice start with his Dre win on Sunday. However, I hated the way that WWE cut to commercial early in his Raw debut match. As I noted in my live review, it takes away the “must see” vibe and the element of danger by heading to a break during a big heel debut. I’m also down on him not winning a showcase match and instead having a double count-out with Ziggler. The End of Days is a badass finisher. It looks impressive when it’s hit in the ring. They jumped ahead by having him hit the move on the floor instead, which would have been a bigger deal if they had established on the main roster for several weeks as a vicious move and then had him perform it on the floor at a later date and really put it over.
The Dudleys vs. The Usos: I realize this was a setup for Enzo and Cass to make their debut, but I must say that the Dudleys vs. Usos feud was a drag. I was excited about the idea of the Dudleys turning heel and the Usos finally getting a real program, but nothing special came from it. We heard more from the Usos on the WWE Hall of Fame red carpet special than we ever hear from them on Raw. It really surprises me that WWE isn’t doing more with them given the connection to Roman Reigns.
I will have a lot more to say about this Raw and the NXT call ups in today’s bonus Raw thoughts as part of the All Access Daily Podcast.
Thank you! Yeah the crowd was very rude… I know a few people attended WM32 and last night Raw…the crowd is different yet the same. Its just more hardcore crowd…and grown man have been rude to a kid just because he had a Roman sign. This is upseting to hear. The casual fan cannot enjoy something cause a grown man is not a fan of he’s. They were playing a beach ball during baron vs Tyler breeze match and complain if the wwe don’t push them.
Do you remember last monday when sami zayn, ziggler, and ryder was in the main event 6 man tag and got “boring” chant. Kevin Owen wrote on his twitter about how they didnt like everyone but Owens…and that was Brooklyn… before that week, they chant boring during a Ambrose match. JBL have a point.
The were bored by that six-man tag for good reason. It served no purpose other than to fill time. And Kevin Owens is wisely a heel on his Twitter page.
This post-Mania crowd felt like the worst and most disrespectful out of the 3 or 4 most recent ones. I feel like they missed some quality parts of the show, or took away from some more than in the past. The interruption of the women when it was even something that they were happy about annoyed me. Kind of disagree on Miz being a mistake, in that his reaction to winning the title makes it feel important. He was SO happy to get it back. Hopefully he gets booked well and they give him a meaningful mid card title run… except those almost never happen.
This post-Mania crowd felt like the worst and most disrespectful out of the 3 or 4 most recent ones. I feel like they missed some quality parts of the show, or took away from some more than in the past. The interruption of the women when it was even something that they were happy about annoyed me. Kind of disagree on Miz being a mistake, in that his reaction to winning the title makes it feel important. He was SO happy to get it back. Hopefully he gets booked well and they give him a meaningful mid card title run… except those almost never happen.
Regardless of whether you like Miz or not, the guy is easily one of the best heels on the roster and instantly gets any guy he feuds with over as a face. I think he would be a good foil for someone like Apollo Crews, who has had no character since he debuted in NXT.