This week's episode of Monday Night Raw gave us the equivalent of a post-credits scene that acted as a Men in Black style neuralyzer for the rest of the episode. Everything that came before it hardly mattered, because it was all simply a prelude for the very moment it was all so obviously building towards.
There's hardly a coherent story here. Roman Reigns is wrestling The Miz for the Intercontinental title, for some reason, and Cesaro & Sheamus are interfering, for some reason, and Braun Strowman is beating up Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins for some reason, and Curtis Axel and Bo Dallas still don't matter for some reason.
They're all just things that are happening because they need to happen in order for the ultimate thing to happen.
That ultimate thing being the long awaited official reunion of The Shield.
Which, yeah, I loved seeing a beat up Roman Reigns, who has been getting beat up for a couple weeks now, silently look up to see his old friend, Dean Ambrose, approach him. No words were exchanged. None were needed. The same went for their other old friend, Seth Rollins, when he approached just moments later. This time, he nodded his head, the affirmation that they were on the same page and maybe it's time to get the band back together to fight off the numerous forces they clearly can't handle on their own.
The collective of Braun Strowman, The Miz, Cesaro, Sheamus, Curtis Axel, and Bo Dallas are too much for any one of those three to handle individually, or even in pairs. But as a trio?
Believe in The Shield.
I still have my issues with how this is being done. It's clear they rushed it, never bothered to lay it out ahead of time, don't care much about telling an actual story, and are banking on the big reunion to render all of that moot. But you know what? That's exactly what's going to happen.
This is pro wrestling, after all.
No.
This is WWE, after all.
We'll take our victories where we can get them.
All the best to all the rest
Actually, the rest of this show was a big fat nothing burger. Enzo Amore tearing down the entirety of the cruiserweight division was entertaining but it's always going to lead to anticlimactic moments like Kalisto being introduced as the newest member of the division or, the latest guy charged with getting a decent match out of the only draw the purple brand has. Nia Jax is back as Alexa Bliss' gatekeeper, for whatever reason, and all they can think to use Mickie James for is to call her old and act way too excited in Kurt Angle's face. Elias is still fun. Jason Jordan is now running with Matt Hardy because they don't have anything for either right now and at least this way Jordan isn't getting turned on. The women's division outside the title picture is still just "Bayley and Sasha Banks are real good friends, didn't you know" and "Emma is all about herself in the most annoying way imaginable." Also, Bray Wyatt may actually be Sister Abigail himself.
This was not a good show, but the post-credits scene definitely means you're coming back for more.
Grade: D
Your turn.