Rate Raw 07/04/2016

[Jacob Fox]

Rate Raw on a scale of 0 to 10 and give your thoughts below!

Spoiler: Raw Results

Opening

The show opened with the whole roster having a fourth of July feast which devolved into a food fight when the Miz was making a speech. Throughout the fight, Kevin Owens was hiding under a table and didn't get hit with any food until after he came out from under the table. Then Lilian Garcia sang the National Anthem.

Titus O'Neil vs Rusev for the US Championship

Rusev retained the US Championship when he forced Titus O'Neil to tap out to the accolade.

Enzo and Cass vs the Social Outcasts

The Outcasts came out dressed in Revolutionary War outfits and Enzo responded by naming all the presidents in history. Enzo and Cass won by pinfall.

Charlotte Promo

Charlotte came to the ring with Dana Brooke to put down Sasha Banks. Banks then came to the ring and explained why they call her the Boss. Then Dana tried to attack Sasha, but Sasha took her down easily. She then took down Charlotte but when Dana distracted Sasha, Charlotte finally got a hit on her. However, Banks reversed a move by Charlotte and had her in the bank statement until she was rescued by Dana Brooke.

Dean Ambrose vs the Miz

Dean Ambrose defeated the Miz by pinfall after hitting him with Dirty Deeds. After the match, Seth Rollins came to the ring and passed by Ambrose, with Ambrose giving him a good game pat on the butt. When Rollins was in the ring, Ambrose came back and slid in the ring as if to attack Rollins. Instead, he slipped out of the ring and went to do commentary for Rollins match. Ambrose then proceeded to give Spanish commentary.

Seth Rollins vs Dolph Ziggler

Seth Rollins defeated Dolph Ziggler following a pedigree. Afterwards, he and Dean Ambrose stood on the announce tales and talked to each other. Ambrose then threw the belt at Rollins and the two brawled around the ring.

Vickie Guerrero

Vickie Guerrero returned to make her case to return as GM of Smackdown. Two security guards removed her from the stage. She tried to get Dolph Ziggler to vouch for her but he swore he had never seen her before in his life.

The Vaudvillains vs Golden Truth

The Golden Truth beat the Vaudvillains by pinfall.

Making Darren Young Great Again

Bob Backlund gave Darren Young the crossface chicken wing as a finisher.

John Cena Promo

John Cena came out and talked about the Club. The Club came out and told Cena they could attack him whenever they wanted and no one would help. They then attacked Cena. Enzo and Cass came out and helped Cena take out the Club.

Becky Lynch vs Summer Rae

Becky defeated Summer by submission.

The New Day Promo

The New cut a promo in the ring on the Wyatts, including saying the Wyatts invited them to their 'compound.' Xavier Woods got upset and emphasized how dangerous the Wyatts were and then left the ring. JBL commented that it may be the end of the New Day.

16 Man Elimination Match

In order of elimination:

Sin Cara eliminated by pinfall by the Dudleyz

Bubba Ray Dudley eliminated by pinfall by Kallisto

Devon Dudley eliminated by submission to Cesaro

Jack Swagger eliminated by pinfall by Chris Jericho

Kallisto eliminated by pinfall by Mark Henry

Mark Henry eliminated by pinall by Kevin Owens

Kevin Owens was disqualified for hitting Sami Zayn with a chair

Kane was eliminated for hitting Kevin Owens with a chair

Sami Zayn was eliminated by pinfall from Apollo Crews

Apollo Crews was eliminated by pinfall from Sheamus

Cesaro turned on his team after Jericho pushed him a few times and he took down his whole team before he was eliminated by pinfall by Zach Ryder

Chris Jericho was eliminated by pinfall from the Big Show

Alberto Del Rio was eliminated by pinfall from the Big Show

Sheamus was eliminated by pinfall by Zach Ryder

The winners are Team USA Zach Ryder and Big Show

 

[Jacob Fox]

I'm giving this episode a 7. Is it a 7 worthy episode? Probably not but I enjoyed it anyway.

I liked

The Opening food fight. KO hiding under the table was pretty awesome.

Enzo and Cass vs the Social Outcasts ** Pretty much a squash but I love Enzo and Cass

Sasha Banks in the Charlotte promo

Dean Ambrose vs the Miz **1/2 This wasn't that great of a match but I enjoyed it

Seth Rollins vs Dolph Ziggler *** Easily match of the night

Vickie Guerrero. I love Vickie and I love how Ziggler pretended not to know her

Making Darren Young Great Again. First time I liked one of these segments since Backlund gave Darren Young the crossface chicken wing as his finisher.

Becky Lynch vs Summer Rae **1/2 Best woman's match on Raw in a while.

The New Day Promo. It was nice to see something new from the New Day

16 Man Elimination Match. ** This was not a very good match but it was an enjoyable match and that matters


I either didn't like or was indifferent to:

Titus O'Neil vs Rusev **

Charlotte in the Charlotte Promo

The Vaudvillains vs Golden Truth *1/2 I was a bit surprised Golden Truth squashed the Vaudvillains

John Cena Promo. This was just typical Cena fare

 

[¡Tranquilo!]

The Good:

Club/Cena Segment (minus Enzo and Cass)= Gold. So much gold that I'm gonna post my thoughts, take a shower, brush my teeth and then beat up John Cena before bed.

Rusev retained the US championship THANK THE GODS! I really thought they were going to give it to Titus here for some cheap pop but it wasn't the case and I'm glad.

Rollins/Ziggler was an alright match. Wouldn't expect any less from those two guys.

Becky lowkey my wife.

The Meh:

New Day/Wyatts is interesting because of the very stark contrast between the two teams but I don't want the New Day to split just yet. I hope this is Woods' way of playing mind games.

Sasha Banks did alright on the mic tonight.

The Bad:

Why is it that Dean Ambrose is still be booked like a midcard guy when he is the WWE champion? Miz/Ambrose should've been the main event tonight with Rollins/Ziggler being the match before. It makes no sense. Its almost like Ambrose is a transitional champ just babysitting the belt until papa Reigns gets back from suspension.

The Vaudevillans jobbing out to GoldenTruth nearly killed me...like my heart stopped for a moment.They should be feuding with Enzo and Cass right now but nooooo WWE wants to job them out to the GoldenTruth!? Someone kill me now...pls.

JUST (RE)DEBUT DARREN YOUNG ALREADY. Tired of these fucking vignettes...

That elimination match, the American side at least, was booty and not the good kind. Why the fuck was Kane there? Isn't he billed from parts unknown or hell or something? Whatever. The match wasn't supposed to make sense I guess...

EXCUSE ME...never wanted to hear that shit again.


5/10

 

[Roadster]

Sounds like an interesting show. Main event seemed really good. Lol'd at the way the Vickie return was described.

Not watching, but definitely seems good.

 

[C.M. Shaddix]

7/10

+1 Zack Ryder getting another moment with 2 pinfalls and being a sole survivor with Big Show
+1 New Day starting to end but for a good cause
+1 The matches
+1 The Club
+1 Rusev winning clean
+1 A Darren Young vignette meaning something this week
+1 Kevin Owens being a great heel with that chair
-1 Typical USA John Cena promo
-1 Ambrose and Rollins not being in the main event, it's like WWE is trying to lower their status because they only trust Reigns to carry the championship in the main event
-1 Vaudevillains and Golden Truth

 

[alexb]

So here I am, waking up this morning, getting ready for work thinking to myself "boy, can't wait to finish up with work, come back home, enjoy my meal and watch Monday Night RAW over a nice cold coffee; 4th of July edition, two weeks before the draft and three before Battleground, it ought to be good". Well, silly me and so much for my hopes. Granted, it wasn't the most terrible show nor will I go as far as calling it a clusterfuck. I guess there's only one word to decribe it and I won't spell it out for ya, dissaaapointinggg...

I mean, the show started off with a food fight. A fucking food fight. I get the entertainment aspect of things but...food fight? Given that by the end of the night there was no sign whatsoever of either Shane or Stephanie (unless I really missed something from skipping some parts while watching), it almost felt like the employees taking advantage of the boss being out of town on some business trip and decided to throw a party at the office or teenagers throwing a big ass party at the house with the parents on vacation for the weekend...

Speaking of Stephanie and Shane, how is it that both went missing? I get the continuity of the parade of former general managers and Vicky Guerrero was the obvious one to make the appearance but isn't the draft just two weeks away? Shouldn't we get at least a tiny bit of progress in regards to who may take over those positions as general managers on each brand respectively? Will it be Shane and Stephanie after all? Will it be both for both? What does HHH have to say about it? Where the fuck is HHH anyway? Idk, it almost feels like WWE haven't even made up their minds yet, otherwise I don't see why we haven't got any type of build for this situation, other than the random appearances of former GM's.

Are we done with Rusev vs Titus or is this thing going to drag till, Idk, Survivor Series or something? It defintely feels that long....

Another squash match for Enzo and Cass? And who's bright idea was it to dress up the Social Outcasts like that?

The women's promo was the first really good thing of the show. Both Charlotte and Sasha did very well and I just hope they keep the build going till Summerslam rather then blowing it off quicky at Battleground. On another note, how many more fuck ups till we get rid of the "protege"???

Dean Ambrose vs Miz was a fine match and it was certainly a cool idea to have a champions vs champions match however I'd be a lot more interested and invested if the actual titles were on the line.

Seth Rollins vs Dolph Ziggler was also a fine match but again, what was the purpose? I think Dean on commentary was a lot more interesting at the time but the icing of the cake was certainly the promo that followed with Seth and I couldn't agree with him more. Quite frankly, he said the exact same thing I noted last week and the same thing I'm sure most of us will agree upon: Roman Reigns has no business being in the main event at BattleGround.

Even though it got to a point of sillyness with the mentioning of the Bushwalkers and Beefcake, the AJ/Cena feud is still one of the hottest things going on these days....

The Wyatt Family promos are probably the most epic ones done these days; if only the booking was just as good...In all fairness though, I am certainly intrigued to see where this is going with New Day...

16-man Elimination match: who gives a shit?

Rating: 4/10

 

[SWAGSUKE]

Raw's been super solid, but that was definitely a throwaway show last night. 2 out of 5 Yeaohs~~~....

Good promos though, that's for sure.

 

[alexb]

So here I am, waking up this morning, getting ready for work thinking to myself "boy, can't wait to finish up with work, come back home, enjoy my meal and watch Monday Night RAW over a nice cold coffee; 4th of July edition, two weeks before the draft and three before Battleground, it ought to be good". Well, silly me and so much for my hopes. Granted, it wasn't the most terrible show nor will I go as far as calling it a clusterfuck. I guess there's only one word to decribe it and I won't spell it out for ya, dissaaapointinggg...

I mean, the show started off with a food fight. A fucking food fight. I get the entertainment aspect of things but...food fight? Given that by the end of the night there was no sign whatsoever of either Shane or Stephanie (unless I really missed something from skipping some parts while watching), it almost felt like the employees taking advantage of the boss being out of town on some business trip and decided to throw a party at the office or teenagers throwing a big ass party at the house with the parents on vacation for the weekend...

Speaking of Stephanie and Shane, how is it that both went missing? I get the continuity of the parade of former general managers and Vicky Guerrero was the obvious one to make the appearance but isn't the draft just two weeks away? Shouldn't we get at least a tiny bit of progress in regards to who may take over those positions as general managers on each brand respectively? Will it be Shane and Stephanie after all? Will it be both for both? What does HHH have to say about it? Where the fuck is HHH anyway? Idk, it almost feels like WWE haven't even made up their minds yet, otherwise I don't see why we haven't got any type of build for this situation, other than the random appearances of former GM's.

Are we done with Rusev vs Titus or is this thing going to drag till, Idk, Survivor Series or something? It defintely feels that long....

Another squash match for Enzo and Cass? And who's bright idea was it to dress up the Social Outcasts like that?

The women's promo was the first really good thing of the show. Both Charlotte and Sasha did very well and I just hope they keep the build going till Summerslam rather then blowing it off quicky at Battleground. On another note, how many more fuck ups till we get rid of the "protege"???

Dean Ambrose vs Miz was a fine match and it was certainly a cool idea to have a champions vs champions match however I'd be a lot more interested and invested if the actual titles were on the line.

Seth Rollins vs Dolph Ziggler was also a fine match but again, what was the purpose? I think Dean on commentary was a lot more interesting at the time but the icing of the cake was certainly the promo that followed with Seth and I couldn't agree with him more. Quite frankly, he said the exact same thing I noted last week and the same thing I'm sure most of us will agree upon: Roman Reigns has no business being in the main event at BattleGround.

Even though it got to a point of sillyness with the mentioning of the Bushwalkers and Beefcake, the AJ/Cena feud is still one of the hottest things going on these days....

The Wyatt Family promos are probably the most epic ones done these days; if only the booking was just as good...In all fairness though, I am certainly intrigued to see where this is going with New Day...

16-man Elimination match: who gives a shit?

Rating: 4/10

One more side note that I neglected to mention earlier: so Brock Lesnar's opponent for Summerslam will be announced on Smackdown? Did I get that right? They're just "announcing" Lesnar's opponent on a taped show that nobody watches? Don't get me wrong, I'm all for the concept of Smackdown becoming a can't miss show however we haven't really reached there yet, have we? And who on earth came up with this idea anyway? Why not just wait till after the PPV, have Brock appear on RAW, cut a promo and build something up until the point that whomever he is to face just comes out, whether it's a surprise returning superstar or anyone on the current roster. What ever happened to the element of surprise?

P.S.: My dream match is Brock Lesnar vs Cesaro but I doubt we would see this anytime soon. Frankly, the more I think about it, the more Wrestlemania feels like the appropriate place to do it....

 

[Prince Bálor]

Decent show. 6/10

Positives:
- The show opening segment with food fight was wacky, I liked it. KO hiding under the table and Cesaro/Crews arm-wrestling the entire time was great, in particular.

- RuRu suplexing Titus over the tope rope was dope.

- Enzo & Cass vs Social Outcasts was a'ight. LOL'd at Slater selling his food fight injuries while playing a flute.

- Sasha's promo.

- Ambrose vs The Miz was the same as their SmackDown bout from last week - solid. Two cons: Ambrose's lackadaisical selling of the leg and the IC champ losing clean two weeks in a row.

- Rollins vs Ziggler was MOTN. The post-match stuff was fine.

- The Wyatt Family video package was nicely done.

- Seeing Vickie Guerrero was nice. Her slapping the security geek was nice, too. I also liked the part where DZ pretended not to know Vickie.

- Wow, that was the first "We're Gonna Make Darren Young Great Again" vignette that wasn't horrible.

- The Club/Cena segment was good. Loved the "Beat up John Cena" theme they got going.

- The New Day/Wyatts promo was good stuff.

- The ME was wacky. It was far from a good match, but it was fun for what it was.

Negatives:
- Everything else.

 

[Prince Bálor]

So, now that Enzo and Cass are Cena's friends during this feud with The Club... It's best advised that Enzo and Cass watch the Network and realize Cena is actually a shitty friend...

 

[Messiah1]

Good RAW besides the boring women segments.. 7/10 easily, would give it a higher rating if these boring ass women weren't on the show.

 

[Snowman1]

 

[Kill Steen Kill]

4. Show had some really good points but most of the show was terrible and that terrible sides were so much terrible. Maybe the show was so bad to me because I watched it live with all those commercials... Awful.

 

[SWAGSUKE]

4. Show had some really good points but most of the show was terrible and that terrible sides were so much terrible. Maybe the show was so bad to me because I watched it live with all those commercials... Awful.

That's always brutal. I DVR it for about 30-40 minutes while I play video games or whatever and then turn it on.