Rate Raw 6/5/2017

[Jacob Fox]

Rate this week's episode of Raw and leave a comment to let us know what you thought of the show!

Spoiler: Raw Results

Bray Wyatt vs Roman Reigns

Roman Reigns won by pinfall

Backstage

Alexa Bliss was bragging to Kurt Angle about defeating Bayley and Angle reminded her he promised Nia Jax a title shot, which Nia will be getting tonight.

Dean Ambrose vs Elias Samson

This match never happened as Ambrose attacked Samson and demanded a rematch with Miz, which Miz denied. Samson then attacked Ambrose after.

Samoa Joe Promo

Samoa Joe made it clear he was not scared of Brock Lesnar. He was interrupted by Paul Heyman. Heyman played up Joe as a credible opponent to Lesnar. They shake hands and Heyman means to leave but Joe stops him to talk to him. Joe tells Heyman he is disappointed about Lesnar not being there tonight. Joe attacks Heyman, putting him in the rear naked choke. He eventually breaks it and leaves.

After the break Angle and Joe have words. Joe said he would go through anyone who stands in his way to Lesnar and asks Angle if he is trying to stand in Joe's way. Seth Rollins showed up and got between the two. Angle made a match tonight between the two.

Heath Slater and Rhyno vs Sheamus and Cesaro

Sheamus and Cesaro won by pin fall.

TJP vs Mustafa Ali

TJP won by pin fall.

Kalisto vs Titus O'Neil

Kalisto won by pin fall

Enzo Amore and Big Show vs Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson

The match was originally with Cass but he was attacked. Enzo and Big Show defeated Gallows and Anderson by pin fall.

Raw Women's Championship Match: Champion Alexa Bliss vs Nia Jax

Dana Brooke and Mickie James attacked Alexa Bliss, giving her the win by DQ. Alexa beat both women down after the match.

Seth Rollins vs Samoa Joe

At the end of the match, Bray Wyatt made the room go dark and when Seth Rollins was looking for him, Samoa Joe locked Rollins in the rear naked choke and won.

 

[¡Tranquilo!]

Samoa Joe's segment sold me on the idea of him taking the belt off Lesnar. It probably won't happen though...

 

[Jacob Fox]

Samoa Joe's segment sold me on the idea of him taking the belt off Lesnar. It probably won't happen though...

They did a good job making Joe look threatening, but yeah, it won't happen. Too bad too because Joe is so much a better pro wrestler than Brock in my view.

 

[Jacob Fox]

I didn't catch the entire show but what I saw was all right. I'm going to be fair and give it a 6. I was a bit pissed about the Nia Jax match. Yet another step backward for the women's division. I haven't watched Shine in a while and might have to go back to it for good women wrestling.

 

[Solid Snake]

Sounded like a mediocre Raw once again.

*sighs*

 

[Jacob Fox]

Sounded like a mediocre Raw once again.

*sighs*

A once great American institution is continually being flushed down the toilet.

It's funny. So many earlier episodes of Raw are rewatchable. But the most recent stuff, I wouldn't rewatch it unless you paid me and it would have to be a significant paycheck.

 

[Solid Snake]

A once great American institution is continually being flushed down the toilet.

It's funny. So many earlier episodes of Raw are rewatchable. But the most recent stuff, I wouldn't rewatch it unless you paid me and it would have to be a significant paycheck.

Comparing a lot of the recent stuff they have done on Raw to a turd seems quite accurate.

They are either too predictable, too repetitive, or too quick to shoot down a good thing/keep a bad thing going too long.

 

[¡Tranquilo!]

They did a good job making Joe look threatening, but yeah, it won't happen. Too bad too because Joe is so much a better pro wrestler than Brock in my view.

All we can hope for is that Brock likes working with Joe and he attempts to put on a decent match at the very least.

 

[Grievous 3D]

Tonight we witnessed the Death of Bayley's Career...its finally over...and its really sad.

Its clear that someone on the RAW creative team never wanted her as Champion...so they gave her
the title in the worst possible way...booked her as the weakest women's champion in years, had
Alexa Bliss show up and destroy what was left of her credibility and then tonight...they have her
take the night off because she's resting up from the Extreme Rules match.

A 5 minute match and a few kendo stick shots was enough for Bayley to miss RAW...

This is the same Bayley who took part in a 30 minute Ironwoman match...
This is the same Bayley who took part in one of the greatest ever women's wrestling matches...
This is the same Bayley who fought Asuka...twice...

And the WWE is telling me a 5 minute match with Alexa "Polly Pocket" Bliss and a few Kendo
stick shots has put Bayley out for the night.

And if you think I'm exaggerating about the creative team ruining her...I just went back and checked
this years matches on RAW and the RAW Pay Per Views.

Bayley has not won a televised singles match clean this year.

If you take out tag matches, multi women matches and the matches Sasha helped her win...
she has not won a televised singles match clean this year.

I know I've been harsh on Bayley...but it isn't her fault...its the creative team.

They killed her...

 

[SWL]

• Reigns vs Bray was cool and once again, people start booing him at the start of the segment yet they cheer and stand on their feet after he won. I see these people are really loyal to the idea of dethroning him as the face of the company
• I liked Dean Ambrose tonight, including the Miz. Their segment tonight was well done but to be real I didn't expect anything less. If they're able to have good matches like they did on Sunday this could be a great feud
• didn't people tell me the Big Show retired against Strowman? Oh well, I guess HE WILL NEVER RETIRE :woo1:
• Raw women are all done for me, I'm just waiting for Sasha to rise from the ashes and be the face of this division again
• and the Samoa Joe/Heyman promo was the best part of the night by far and should have honestly closed the show. Heyman made this dude look like a million bucks saying that he might actually be concerned for Brock and that Finn would have been the best case scenario whilst Joe is the world case scenario for Lesnar's title (poor Finn btw) and Joe putting Heyman to sleep is exactly what Samoa Joe's character should do and he did it. Nothing to complain about, I'm loving this program so far

 

[alexb]

Aside the sillyness we can never avoid on this show, there are at least a few story lines that are actually very intruiging, such as the Kurt Angle situation or the mystery attacker of Enzo and/or Cass so it's actually refreshing for a change that after quite some time they have us guessing, thinking and anticipating what's next.

All this, however, I feel was overshadowed last night by the Samoe Joe/Paul Heymann interaction and promo, which was by far the best segment so far on RAW this year and perhaps one of the best of all time. Epic stuff really and well worth checking out if you haven't already...

 

[Snowman1]

Tonight we witnessed the Death of Bayley's Career...its finally over...and its really sad.

Its clear that someone on the RAW creative team never wanted her as Champion...so they gave her
the title in the worst possible way...booked her as the weakest women's champion in years, has
Alexa Bliss show up and destroy what was left of her credibility and then tonight...they have her
take the night off because she's resting up from the Extreme Rules match.

A 5 minute match and a few kendo stick shots was enough for Bayley to miss RAW...

This is the same Bayley who took part in a 30 minute Ironwoman match...
This is the same Bayley who took part in one of the greatest ever women's wrestling matches...
This is the same Bayley who fought Asuka...twice...

And the WWE is telling me a 5 minute match with Alexa "Polly Pocket" Bliss and a few Kendo
stick shots has put Bayley out for the night.

And if you think I'm exaggerating about the creative team ruining her...I just went back and checked
this years matches on RAW and the RAW Pay Per Views.

Bayley has not won a televised singles match clean this year.

If you take out tag matches, multi women matches and the matches Sasha helped her win...
she has not won a televised singles match clean this year.

I know I've been harsh on Bayley...but it isn't her fault...its the creative team.

They killed her...

I was looking at an old NXT review on here from back in the day, but... honestly, I googled an article from Uproxx that explained it better than any of us ever could.
From the Takeover: Brooklyn go-home show:

The show opens with the contract signing for the NXT Women’s Championship at TakeOver. I’m not emotionally prepared for this, I’ll be honest.

If you’ve been reading the columns since the beginning, you know that for as good as the women’s division has been, it’s always been about Sasha and Bayley. When Paige and Emma were crawling out of the primordial ooze of Diva expectations to take the first steps in making WWE women’s wrestling a thing again, Sasha and Bayley were the Young Girls. They were the nobodies. They had talent, but they didn’t just naturally ease into a position of power like Charlotte. They had independent wrestling backgrounds, but they didn’t have the street cred or notoriety of Becky Lynch. They grew from boring nobodies into two of the most talented and emotionally complex characters in the company. Sasha chose the dark side. The NXT Oculus changed her into The Boss, and she drifted behind Summer Rae and Charlotte until she could build up enough confidence to pass them. Her career has been about being underestimated, and faking it until you make it. Bayley, on the other hand, chose the light. When she lost, she picked herself up again. When her friends and tag team partners turned on her and used her as a stepping stone, she turned the other cheek. When people showed up telling her she had to be meaner, she adjusted her pony and persevered.

When it was time for the NXT Women’s Division to rise up and fill spots on Raw, Bayley was the one who got left behind. It was an injury, I guess, but it was thematically appropriate. Sasha Banks ostensibly main-evented Raw this week and tapped out the Divas Champion. She faked it, but now it’s real. She made it. Nobody’s gonna take it. A girl’s gonna push ’em all out the way. Meanwhile, Bayley’s still down at Full Sail trying to prove herself. Emma and Dana Brooke deride her for being a joke. She not only has to defeat Charlotte and Becky to prove she deserves a title shot, she has to do it now, because they won’t be around much longer.

And now here we are, only a few days out from Bayley challenging Sasha for the NXT Women’s Championship in front of 13,000 people in Brooklyn. Bayley showed up with shaky confidence, ready to fight. She’s seen contract signings before, and knows what Sasha did to Becky Lynch. She stood on her face, if you’ve forgotten. Here’s the thing, though: to Sasha, Bayley’s a memory. She’s in the rearview. She’s such a non-issue that there’s no reason to jump her or stand on her face. She’s the Young Girl who didn’t adapt, and didn’t change, and didn’t harden and thicken her skin to survive. Why bother? She even throws Bayley superfan Izzy under the bus, explaining that it’s The Boss’s job to explain to little girls that fairytales don’t have happy endings.

“You think you’re a role model for all these little girls … I mean look at this one, dressed just like you. How sad.”

That’s why I’m not emotionally ready. If Bayley wins, it’s nearly two years of emotional release. It’s the nice girl who didn’t let her heart turn black proving that being “stuck” in NXT isn’t punishment, and that she’s legitimately as good as the critically acclaimed peers of her generation. She turned the cheek and made little girls cry when she won matches and never forgot how great a hug can feel, and she won. If she doesn’t? If she doesn’t, Sasha’s right. Fairytales don’t have happy endings. You have to turn your heart black (or at least gray) to succeed. You have to look in the mirror and change yourself. You have to become everyone else’s idea of “good” and “correct.” You can’t believe in a dream, because eventually you’re gonna wake up.

If WWE isn’t flying Izzy to New York and giving her a front row seat to this, win or lose, they’re the worst.

...There's a lot of talk now about how wins and losses don't matter, and how much they mean, but... Wins and losses DO matter. You could argue about how a guy like the Rock took 10000000 losses but stayed over, and how Roman Reigns has taken more losses than Cena already, or... No. Wins and losses matter because there's a story told with each one. if you don't bother telling stories - hi, Raw - and someone loses a lot, then that's the natural story of being a worthless little nobody who can't beat anybody.

If you get abandoned by your former friend and beaten down and lose because of it, that's heartbreaking and makes me want to cheer for you. If you're outclassed against Charlotte and fight from underneath the whole time and lose because Charlotte countered a big move into a beautiful neckbreaker, flipping in midair in a way it feels like 10 women in the world could do, then someday you'll be able to overcome her and I'll be overjoyed for you. If you fight from underneath until your former friend who turns on you slams you into the barricade and leaves you injured and looking on as the title changes hands in the middle of the ring, that breaks my heart.

We'll often come across as so jaded and so cynical, but we still watch wrestling because it can do so many things. You can use the wrestling format to entertain us in so many ways. Warm our hearts as we cheer Bayley on through her struggles. Excite us as Prince Puma flies off top ropes onto dudes laying on tables. Amuse us the way Miz loved to do on Smackdown Live. Scream along and raise your hands against the system in your CM Punk shirt. Make us feel bitter, hopeful, angry, joyous. Wrestling can bring us so many emotions that we can't just let it go...

It's just a shame that the standard-bearing show for the whole industry is this one that usually accomplishes none of that.

 

[Prince Bálor]

The show was OK. 5/10

Reigns vs Wyatt was rock solid, Joe/Heyman segment was great, The Miz segment was good, the unknown attackers of Enzo & Cass is an interesting angle, as well as what "dirt" Graves has on Angle (hopefully it's not a way to bring Stephanie back on TV). And Joe vs Rollins was a good ME. Didn't care for anything else.