I loved this week's episode of Monday Night Raw.
It was just fun.
Let's quick hit all the ways that it was fun:
- WWE often forgets that a big part of getting stories over is building characters up within that story. We already know that Samoa Joe is a killer but they used this show to make us confront that in a very intimate way. The way he got up close to Paul Heyman, softly told him how he was going to hurt him while basically caressing him, was brilliantly done. It's also great for what you can read into it, namely that there are very few who can compete with Brock Lesnar physically but Joe can still (at least attempt to) get to him mentally. This would be the perfect way to do that.
- Paul Heyman, meanwhile, is absolute money at times like these, when he's not delivering a riff on the same promo putting his guy over. Instead, he put Joe over by his piss scared reaction to everything Joe said and did. They were the perfect combination.
- Holy hell, what a fun interaction they had! Joe was also great later when Seth Rollins showed up puffing his chest out and the response he got was a shake of the head while saying "the mistakes we make, Seth, the mistakes we make" before walking off as calm as can be. THAT'S A KILLER GOING TO KILL YOU. He's the perfect opponent for Lesnar, an even bigger killer going to kill you.
- Also, Heyman has Lesnar saved in his phone simply as "BROCK." Perfect.
- Hey, they remembered Nia Jax getting a title shot against Alexa Bliss and went back to it. They even booked Bliss as a smarter heel who will use her brain to keep her title when her vicious streak can't help overcome her lack of size. This was well done, even if it required Mickie James and Dana Brooke to be dumb.
- The reaction to Roman Reigns is a living, breathing thing and I will always have fun with it, even if it takes away from it somewhat when he calls attention to it in a meta way. I don't need him telling me he's over because they react that way. Just use it and go forward. Still, he and Bray Wyatt have fun matches and Bray plays off it well.
- This time Big Cass is laid out, The Revival were again spotted backstage, and now Big Show is strangely around and we KNOW he isn't trustworthy. Hmmm ... But Cass had what looked like Enzo's chain near the scene. There's also Gallows and Anderson to consider here. I don't know what the hell is going on and I like it that way.
- Also, Kurt Angle is still freaking the hell out over someone having information that he can't stop looking at on his phone. I am again clueless and I, again, love that.
- They did a great job playing the usual stereotypes in The Miz's Intercontinental championship celebration, with Miz suspicious of an innocent guy in a costume, then literally attacking a big ass box by chair shotting it, tackling, and elbow dropping it. This led to Maryse getting pissed because, well actually, she got him a grandfather clock because it's timeless like he is. Dean Ambrose, who was kicked out of the building earlier in the night, managed to get back in and disguise himself as a cameraman, laying Miz out. So, in a segment where they showed how smart they could be by getting away from all the usual swerves, they ended it with a usual swerve. It was beautifully done, and great fun.
- Elias Samson lives to sing poorly, get beat up, come back like a chump to do some beating up, and repeat the process. I live for said process.
- Cesaro & Sheamus are the bar, and it's kind of lame, but also it's fine.
- TJP is an unbearable idiot and it's actually really great watching Neville just savagely take him apart. I know I'm not supposed to feel that way but I do and I'm making it work for me, like you should make it work for you.
- Titus O'Neil's brand sucks and Apollo Crews has taken to just laughing at him while he loses to Kalisto. This is tremendous stuff, if only because they clearly aren't taking it seriously so we don't have to either.
Any show that features a wrestler viciously attacking an inanimate object is tops in my book.
Grade: A
Your turn.