Rate Raw 07/18/2016

[Jacob Fox]

Rate tonight's Raw on a scale from 0 to 10 and leave your thoughts below! And don't forget, Smackdown live starts tomorrow with the brand extension draft!

Spoiler: Raw Results

Opening

First Stephanie and Shane came to the ring and basically argued and insulting each other. Steph announced that the WWE would be reintroducing the cruiserweight division and that it would be exclusively on RAW. Stephanie then introduced the new GM of Monday Night Raw and it was Mick Foley. Foley harkened Raw back to the Attitude Era. Shane then tried to outdo Stephanie and announced Daniel Bryan as his GM. Daniel Bryan painted Smackdown as the underdog and that is why he needed to come back to manage it. Shane and Daniel Bryan started a Yes chant in reference to whether they can make Smackdown the superior brand.

Sami Zayn and Cesaro vs Kevin Owens and Chris Jericho

Sami Zayn and Cesaro defeated Kevin Owens and Chris Jericho when Sami Zayn pinned Chris Jericho following a rollup.

Afterwards, there was a backstage promo in which the Golden Truth, Titus O'Neil and Jack Swagger made overtures to Daniel Bryan. Then Stephanie approached Daniel Bryan and compared him to Chucky, saying he always comes back and only says one word. Daniel Bryan congratulated her on ruining Monday Night Raw and left.

Alberto Del Rio vs Darren Young

Miz did commentary during this match and Young was accompanied to the ring by Bob Backlund. Miz distracted the referee, who missed a count when Del Rio had rolled up Young. Then Young defeated Del Rio by pinfall.

New Day, Enzo, Cass and John Cena vs The Wyatt family and the Club in an 12 Man Tag match.

This match began with each faction coming out individually and giving very long promos.

The Wyatt Family and the Club defeated New Day, Enzo, Cass and John Cena when AJ Styles pinned Enzo following a Styles clash.

Seth Rollins Promo

Seth Rollins walked around in an empty arena and talked about how the Shield was just a group to forward his own ambitions. He said he kept Ambrose around to take the beatings and Reigns around to give the beatings. He then talked about the match at Battleground and that he would be going into the match as champion when he wins the title from Ambrose tonight.

Backstage

Shane McMahon talked to Mick Foley backstage to ponder why he agreed to work for Stephanie. Shane suggested that she only wanted to control and manipulate Mick. Foley said that he was quite aware of what he was getting into and went off to scout talent.

Baron Corbin vs Sin Cara

Baron Corbin defeated Sin Car very quickly by pinfall after hitting the end of days. Baron Corbin then proceeded to beat down on Sin Cara until Kalisto came in to make the save. Corbin then left the ring but the moment Kalisto turned his back, Corbin dragged him out of the ring and beat him down.

Charlotte and Dana Brooke vs Sasha Banks and Becky Lynch

Charlotte and Dana Brooke defeated Sasha Banks and Becky Lynch by pinfall.

Dean Ambrose Promo

A Dean Ambrose promo aired in which Ambrose praised Reigns and put down Rollins, but assured both men he would remain champion.

Rusev and Sheamus vs Dolph Ziggler and Zach Ryder

Rusev and Sheamus defeated Dolph Ziggler and Zach Ryder by submission when Dolph Ziggler tapped out to the Accolade.

Foley and Bryan Promo

Mick Foley and Daniel Bryan cut a promo where at first they seemed like they wanted a completely complimentary relationship. This however broke down into a stated competition.

Dean Ambrose vs Seth Rollins for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship

The match ended in what appeared to be a double pin although Seth Rollins was announced as the winner by Stephanie McMahon. The show ended ambiguously though. Shane appeared to be unclear as to who has won and they advertised Smackdown Live as the show went off.

 

[Jacob Fox]

I gave this a 9 actually. The first two hours were pretty strong and that 12 man tag match was pretty fun. It slowed down a bit and I can't say I was totally happy about the ambiguous ending, but all in all this was one of the more entertaining Raws I have watched in a very long time.

I'd go into more detail about the good and bad but I am pretty wiped out.

 

[Rogue]

Pulled the double pin before BG? That works, I guess. Dean remains WWE champion and Seth heads SD as WH champion. But uhh, how would that affect BG?

 

[Jacob Fox]

Pulled the double pin before BG? That works, I guess. Dean remains WWE champion and Seth heads SD as WH champion. But uhh, how would that affect BG?

I guess that's the hook to get people to tun into Smackdown... not letting us know exactly what happened....

Kinda silly because I honestly think the draft is strong enough on its own to get us to tune into Smackdown.

 

[Rogue]

I guess that's the hook to get people to tun into Smackdown... not letting us know exactly what happened....

Kinda silly because I honestly think the draft is strong enough on its own to get us to tune into Smackdown.

Didn't watch the end.

Also, worked through it in the chat. Seth the face champ on SD, Roman the heel champ on Raw. Rollins v Trips for the WHC at SS seems nice.

 

[Jacob Fox]

Didn't watch the end.

Also, worked through it in the chat. Seth the face champ on SD, Roman the heel champ on Raw. Rollins v Trips for the WHC at SS seems nice.

Makes sense and it pretty much explains the Ambrose title reign since they like to feed him to the lions, they basically give him the belt to set up two separate championships. I assume you are right.

 

[Rogue]

Makes sense and it pretty much explains the Ambrose title reign since they like to feed him to the lions, they basically give him the belt to set up two separate championships. I assume you are right.

Has the title to set up two, and doesn't even get one. Well, for more than five days. :dawg:

 

[¡Tranquilo!]

Overall tonight was a good show and if it weren't for the ending I wouldn't have anything to complain about. Everything from the opening segment, to the 12-man tag, to the main event was decent-to-good and I was very much sports entertained. Even with tonight being a go home show WWE managed their time well and, in my opinion, were successful in creating hype for both tomorrow night and Sunday.

RAW's ending honestly left me confused as fuck...but then I just took some time to process and after thinking about it I should've expected it. I knew Ambrose probably wasn't going to be champ long term but I thought they'd have the decency to at least have him drop it at battleground, but oh well. This will probably lead into the whole two belt thing but I'm not sure how.

8/10

 

[Just Kevin]

I give it a 9/10.. entertaining throughout...

Here's the video clearing up what happened at the end and the decision on who is champ.

Spoiler: Watch

 

[Ring Rust]

Not very memorable for me.
The first promo didn't go on for too long, Daniel Bryan as GM was predictable. As was Foley. Very excited for the Cruiserweight Division, hope it doesn't flop though. That'll give RAW an advantage in the supposed war between them and Smackdown. People like their 5"10 people who can do flips and shit.

The same tag match yet again. It was good, Kevin Owens is entertaining as always, Cesaro and Zayn did well. Jericho seems to be getting a bit of a tub tub on him. Like the goatee though.

I really liked the ending for Darren Young v Del Rio. Simple yet effective. Good storytelling.

Now the Enzo, Cass, Cena, New Day, Club promo went on for way too long. It didn't seem like they knew what they were doing. Just an improv gone awry.
The match after that was alright. I expected 50 hot tags. Club winning is surprising. I like AJ's new titantron.

Seth delivered a good promo. Very natural. All I have to say about it tbh.

Now I'm not too keen on a promo following a promo. It was a bit meh.

Honestly didn't remember this match. Might've been so quick that it ended when I went to get refreshments.

Didn't it end in disqualification? Pretty sure it did. I can't give an opinion on this. Apart from I think it was a botch free women's match.

Dean promo was meh.

Rusev and Sheamus v Ziggler and Ryder was okay. Not too much but alright.

Backstage segment was meh.

The end in for main event was pretty cool.

I'll give it a seven in the poll but it's really a 6.5 . Too many promos for my taste.

 

[Prince Bálor]

Decent show. 6/10

Positives:
- Marked for DB, not so much about Foley. But hey, at least they didn't go with the most predictable choice - HHH.

- Cesaro & Zayn vs KO & Y2J was a good show opener.

- Enzo & Cass making Cena funny. That was some good pre-match comedy.

- The Club & The Wyatt Family vs The New Day, Cena, Enzo & Big Cass was rock solid, the homestretch was pretty fun.

- Rollins' promo.

- Orton's video package.

- Lana's camo attire.

- Ambrose vs Rollins was a good ME. The last couple of minutes were so good, I was on the edge of my seat. Now, about the "controversial ending", the ref bump was stupid and unnecessary considering a double pin happened. The rematch has been announced for tonight's SmackDown LIVE, so I guess Rollins will be #1 draft pick for RAW and will be anointed as Steph's personal champion. Looking forward to SmackDown.

Negatives:
- Everything else.

 

[alexb]

The final edition for this era of Monday Night RAW went officially in the books last night and while it wasn’t the best show, I really can’t call it a bad show either. I feel “interesting” is the best and most appropriate word so with several things worth talking about, I’ll just get right into it:

So the show opened with the big announcement of the new GM’s for each show and, well, as far as Smackdown is concerned, WWE made sure they fuck up their surprise with the accidental leak early last week while mentioning the return of the yes movement on their app. Either way, it really didn’t take a genius to figure this one out and I for one called it within minutes after the end of the show last week (and way before the leak) in the “Rate RAW” thread and indeed Daniel Bryan was introduced as the new general manager of Smackdown. Like I said, if they were to start off Smackdown live with a bang, it had to be either Daniel Bryan or Kurt Angle so a wise decision after all with one of the most beloved and popular guys around.

As for RAW, I was quite persistent and repetitive in my personal opinion as to why Triple H was NOT the guy Stephanie would choose for the GM position (as obvious of achoice as it may seemed) and as it turned out, WWE did indeed make another wise choice not going down a road we all went by for the past three years. On that note, I must admit, Mick Foley is not what I was expecting and in all honesty, it was a choice that both got my interest but baffled me at the same time. I mean, DB on Smackdown you can see how the chemistry is all there in every aspect but Mick Foley on RAW, working with Stephanie? You see where I’m going with this, right?

Either way, for now both choices work just fine and I also liked their interaction later on in a back stage promo they did so for the time being, once again, interesting…

On a somewhat off topic note, keep Triple H off TV for as long as possible. It's not like he's really needed right now and, quite frankly, whenever he returns, it'll feel all that more special and important. He already made Dean look like a million bucks at Roadblock, he already went out of his way to put Roman Reigns over, what else is there for now? Besides, he ain't going to be gone for ever. Mania season, the latest, he'll be around and I could already picture him and the Rock in Orlando...

Stephanie also announced the return of the cruiserweight division as an exclusive for RAW which we all knew was bound to happen and it only made sense that it ended up on RAW, since it will provide tons of help in order to fill out those damn three hours.

Speaking of cruiserweights, it’s funny how just yesterday morning I mention the possible split up of the Lucha Dragons and come RAW, they simply…announced it, not even waiting for the draft itself to make it perhaps a bit more dramatic. Nevertheless, it was another one of those things that really was quite easy to figure out given the circumstances, whether the team itself apparently going nowhere or the opening of the cruiserweight division opening new doors and possibilities for both Kalisto and Sincara.

The 12-man tag felt like it lasted for ever, between the match itself and all the promos that we got prior but overall, it was quite entertaining in every way so no harm done. For what it’s worth, I feel that after tonight I think we know our winners for Sunday at Battleground but I’ll leave that for my predictions post that day.

The women’s tag I found hard to get invested into and to be honest, I thanked Nattie for cutting it short. As for Sunday and Sasha’s mystery partner talk, I already commented in the respective thread the other day, especially with whatever has to do with Bayley and why I feel this wouldn’t be the right time to do so. After today, and having given it a bit more thought, I’ll just throw something out there that think no one has mentioned elsewhere (at least not to my knowledge): anyone thinks Sasha might go…Brie Mode?

Last but not least, the much anticipated main event with a clusterfuck (not to mention sloppy) of a finish. You know, at first, I thought to myself “well, finally, RAW going off the air with a cliffhanger”. I mean, when was the last time RAW went off the air with such a cliffhanger? But noooo, tune in to the network a few minutes later, and they just cleared out whatever controversy they planned because…WWE. Was it really that difficult to just leave us hanging for a few hours, till Smackdown?

Overall, I’m giving the show a 6/10…

P.S.: As for the draft, I won't go into any predictions as in who goes where cause, quite frankly, for the most part we kind of know already. What I will say is look out for at least one more tag team to split up (my top favorite, the Dudleyz)...