Reviews

The John Report: The WWE Raw Deal 07/02/18 Review

TJR Wrestling

Welcome to another edition of the Raw Deal. There’s some interesting news going into the show because WWE announced Dolph Ziggler will defend the Intercontinental Title against Seth Rollins at Extreme Rules on July 15. It won’t be a regular match, though. It’s going to be special because it will be a 30-minute Ironman Match. That should be awesome.

I also want to wish a belated Canada Day to my fellow Canadians (it was July 1) and a Happy Independence Day on July 4th for those of you in the United States. Summer is here.

Live from Sioux Falls, South Dakota, this is the Raw Deal for episode #1310 of Monday Night Raw. Follow me on Twitter @johnreport. Thanks to Melo Man for the banner up top, which is a repeat that fits this week.

Raw began with highlights from last week showing The Revival with the upset win over Reigns & Lashley while Dolph Ziggler vs. Seth Rollins was a disqualification finish due to Drew McIntyre. Reigns made the save for his buddy Rollins.

Analysis: There was no graphic for Matt Cappotelli to start the show. He died last week from brain cancer and he worked for WWE. I thought they would show a picture of him to begin Raw, but it didn’t happen.

Roman Reigns made his entrance to the usual mixed reaction that he always gets. The announcers talked about all the key things going on with him.

Reigns said that never in his career did he think he would say he lost to The Revival, but he did give them credit as a good team. Reigns called Bobby Lashley the worst tag team partner of all time, then he said he wants to fight “Bob” and he wants to fight him at Extreme Rules. Reigns pointed out that Lashley isn’t the guy because ten years ago he couldn’t handle the role and Reigns called himself the guy that runs the yard.

Dolph Ziggler, the Intercontinental Champion, walked out with his buddy Drew McIntyre with both of them in their ring gear. Ziggler ripped on Reigns for walking around thinking everything in the world revolves around him. McIntyre mentioned Reigns trying to save his buddy Seth Rollins last week and Ziggler mentioned Rollins is the former IC Champion. Ziggler said if Reigns wants to make everything about him it’s fine with them. McIntyre said since Reigns stuck his nose in their business, they want to return the favor.

Reigns nailed McIntyre with a punch, but Ziggler stomped away on Reigns. It was a two on one attack until Rollins ran down to the ring for the predictable save. Rollins cleared house with McIntyre pulling Ziggler out of the ring. Rollins’ music played to end it.

Analysis: It was a very basic opening segment. Reigns did the opening promo, Ziggler and McIntyre started a fight like the heels they are and Rollins made the save. I thought Kurt Angle may interrupt to set up the obvious tag team match, but it didn’t happen. They just went to commercial. It was as if WWE mailed in this opening segment with the most basic thing they could do.

(Commercial)

Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns were backstage where they went up to Raw GM Kurt Angle. They complained to Angle about Ziggler and McIntyre. Angle told them they had a match next week, but Reigns wanted it tonight. Angle pointed out that Reigns is already in a tag team match, but Reigns didn’t care and Angle told them they can have the tag match later.

Analysis: The Teddy Long tag match special strikes again. It should be a very good tag team match.

Matt Hardy made his entrance alone. Bray Wyatt wasn’t there because injuries he suffered over the weekend, which Cole mentioned. What Cole didn’t mention is that Wyatt got into a car accident, which we covered on Monday afternoon.

The B Team duo of Curtis Axel and Bo Dallas did their promo mocking Matt and Bray with their imitations. They sang “he’s got the whole world in his hands” with Axel holding a mini globe.

The Raw Tag Team Title match is still on for Extreme Rules, so Wyatt’s injuries appear to be minor.

Matt Hardy vs. Curtis Axel (w/Bo Dallas)

Hardy got a rollup early for two. Hardy slapped on an armbar followed by an elbow drop for two. Running back elbow by Axel. On the back of Bo’s “B Team” shirt it says “The B stands for best.” Hardy tried to hit the Twist of Fate, but Axel bailed to the floor and they went to break two minutes into it.

(Commercial)

Back from break, Axel was in control stomping on Hardy. Axel with a backbreaker that got a two count followed by the perfect necksnap that got a two count. They battled on the apron with Hardy hitting a Side Effect on the apron. Hardy sent Axel into the turnbuckles ten times. Hardy with a corner clothesline along with a Side Effect for a two count. Hardy to the middle rope and he jumped off with an elbow to the back of the neck followed by an elbow drop off the ropes for two. Hardy wanted the Twist of Fate, Dallas distraction and Axel sent Hardy face first into the steel post. Axel hit a neckbreaker variation for the pinfall win after about eight minutes.

Winner by pinfall: Curtis Axel

Analysis: *3/4 It was a decent match. The pacing of the match was so slow that it was hard to get into it. The finish wasn’t as cheap as I would have expected. There was a slight distraction by Dallas, but it wasn’t that big. The crowd didn’t react to Axel’s neckbreaker finish because he rarely wins matches.

Post match, Axel and Dallas did an over the top celebration as usual.

There were graphics that advertised the two tag team matches that Roman Reigns is involved in.

Up next: Bayley and Sasha Banks go to counseling.

(Commercial)

Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns were in the locker room talking about their situations. Bobby Lashley showed up, Rollins left and Lashley told Reigns that other than Seth, nobody likes Reigns. Lashley told Reigns he doesn’t like him either. Lashley told Reigns to focus on their match. Reigns told him to shut up, let Reigns start the match and finish the match while Lashley stands on the apron. Lashley fired back with a threat and they had a staredown to end it.

Analysis: I like the way they are building to the Reigns vs. Lashley confrontation with the trash talk between them. Better than Lashley vs. Zayn was that’s for sure.

There were videos of Bayley and Sasha Banks getting into a fight last week leading to Angle sending them to counseling.

Bayley and Sasha were in the same place for counseling with Dr. Shelby back on WWE TV as the counselor. They were in the office with Shelby having cue cards. The scene cut away, so we’ll get more of it later.

Analysis: Good to see Dr. Shelby back on WWE television.

Titus O’Neil and Apollo Crews entered with Dana Brooke for a tag team match.

(Commercial)

The Authors of Pain made their entrance.

Titus O’Neil and Apollo Crews (w/Dana Brooke) vs. Authors of Pain (Akam and Rezar)

Crews showed off his athleticism early with a dropkick. Rezar tagged in with a Dominator slam on Crews. Rezar tossed Crews across the ring. Akam tagged in and they hit a double team neckbreaker Powerbomb with O’Neil breaking up the pin. The AOP guys whipped O’Neil into the ring post. Crews got a rollup on Akam for two. Akam with a side slam on Crews. Rezar tagged in and they hit the Last Chapter double team move for the win after about two minutes.

Winners by pinfall: Authors of Pain

Analysis: * Easy win as usual for Authors of Pain.

Rollins was backstage. Reigns walked up to him, Rollins asked how things went with Bob and Reigns said he didn’t listen to him. They walked off for their match after the break.

(Commercial)

Kevin Owens was shown in his car backing into the parking lot. The valet said that Owens can’t park there. Owens refused to give him his keys and got into the building.

Seth Rollins made his entrance to a good ovation. They showed trash talking tweets from Rollins and Ziggler. Roman Reigns entered to join his partner Rollins for the match.

Dolph Ziggler and Drew McIntyre made their entrance together. This should be a very good match.

Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns vs. Dolph Ziggler and Drew McIntyre

Ziggler got a rollup for a two count. Rollins came back with a dropkick to the face. McIntyre tagged in with Rollins facing off with him briefly and then Reigns got in there to face off with McIntyre as the power guys for their teams. Reigns worked over McIntyre with punches against the turnbuckle. McIntyre charged in, Reigns punched him, Ziggler distraction and McIntyre hit a running forearm. Lashley was shown watching the television backstage. McIntyre with a headbutt. Ziggler with a superkick that got a two count on Reigns. McIntyre worked over Reigns with a chop followed by a neckbreaker that got a two count. Ziggler back in, he charged at Reigns in the corner and Reigns hit an uppercut punch with Ziggler selling it great. Rollins got the hot tag, he was on fire with a boot to Ziggler, Slingblade, dropkick on McIntyre and a suicide dive. Reigns hit a Drive By dropkick on Ziggler. Rollins up top and he hit a Frog Splash for a two count, but McIntyre broke it up at two. McIntyre hit a clothesline that sent Reigns out of the ring. Rollins and Ziggler got nearfalls on eachother. Rollins with a catapult that sent Ziggler over the top to the floor. Rollins went up top, Rollins jumped off and took out Ziggler and McIntyre with a cross body block as the show went to break.

(Commercial)

The match returned with Ziggler grounding Rollins in a sleeper. The fans were split in their chants for Reigns. Rollins broke free, Ziggler hit a Fameasser and got a two count with it. McIntyre talked in with a hard chop, Rollins broke free and sent McIntyre out of the ring. McIntyre pulled Reigns off the apron leading to the heels continuing to control the match by working over Rollins. Ziggler and McIntyre kept preventing a tag from Rollins, but Rollins decked McIntyre with a superkick. Rollins with a Buckle Bomb that sent Ziggler into the turnbuckle. Reigns nearly got the hot tag, but The Revival showed up and pulled Reigns off the apron. The ref called for the bell for the disqualification after 16 minutes.

Winners by disqualification: Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns

Analysis: *** Good action in that match with a finish that is going to anger people, but it fit in with the story of the night as far as Reigns goes. The crowd was hot for the spot leading to the Reigns hot tag although he never got the tag due to The Revival. This was well on its way to being an epic tag team match, but the finish prevented it from getting to that next level where it could be considered memorable.

Post match, The Revival double teamed Reigns on the floor. Ziggler and McIntyre isolated Rollins in the center of the ring. Ziggler and McIntyre hit their Zig Zag/Claymore Kick combo on Rollins. The Revival tossed Reigns into the ring. The Revival hit their Shatter Machine double team finisher on Reigns. The referee made them leave with Rollins and Reigns out in the ring.

Analysis: It was effective in terms of making Reigns and Rollins look sympathetic. Rollins got beat up by his rival Ziggler with McIntyre while the Reigns attack by The Revival set up the tag team match later on Raw. It was fine in terms of a storyline, but the whole thing isn’t that interesting really.

The announce team of Michael Cole, Corey Graves and Jonathon Coachman set up a video from last week. The video aired showing Braun Strowman tipping over Kevin Owens’ rental car last week on Raw.

Kevin Owens showed up in the office to complain to Kurt Angle about Braun Strowman. Angle said it sounds like you want a match. Owens didn’t like that. Owens told him to send Strowman to counseling or do something with him. Angle said he’s going to put Owens in a match with Strowman, which Owens didn’t like.

Analysis: Owens complained about not wanting a match, so Angle put him in a match. That’s why it’s good to have a face GM like Angle to keep the heels in line.

Baron Corbin made his entrance in his Constable Corbin outfit.

(Commercial)

Let’s Hear from Baron Corbin

“Constable” Baron Corbin was in the ring for a promo. Corbin told announcer Mike Rome to get it right and he called Corbin Stephanie McMahon’s personally appointed constable of Raw, which drew heat.

Corbin talked about how people in your life are trying to help like a boss, teacher or police officer. Corbin said that Stephanie gave her the Constable job to make Angle better at his job an for Corbin to make Raw better. Corbin said every once in a while a superstar doesn’t appreciate the help. A clip aired from last week where Corbin and Balor got into a fight when they were tag team partners. Corbin invited Finn Balor to the ring to offer Corbin an apology.

Balor went into the ring. Corbin wanted him to admit he was wrong and tell him he’ll never do it again. Corbin said that last week he just wanted to talk, but sometimes he forgets he’s bigger, stronger and tougher. Corbin let Balor talk, so Balor said he’s sorry. Balor said he’s sorry that his comments about Corbin’s vest got him fired from TGI Fridays. Corbin said he gets that Balor is mad that Corbin beat him two weeks ago. Balor said that Corbin did deserve an apology from whoever gave him that haircut. The fans cheered.

Corbin told Balor he’s trying to help him out. Corbin spoke about how guys like him get more opportunities and more money while referencing that he’s taller than Balor. Corbin talked about how Stephanie McMahon picked him for a reason to be the Constable of Raw and told Balor to apologize. Balor said that Corbin stopped deserving the respect the day he became Stephanie’s stooge. Corbin decked Balor with a punch that knocked down Balor. Balor ran the ropes, hit Slingblade and Corbin bailed, so Balor hit him with a dropkick. Balor wanted to attack again, but Corbin left up the aisle.

Analysis: It was decent at best. This is probably setting up a match at Extreme Rules. The booking is fine with Balor getting pinned by Corbin two weeks ago, they got into a brawl last week and it escalated this week. The story is fine, but like everything else on this show there’s nothing that exciting about it.

Elias was shown backstage playing the guitar. Liv Morgan and Sarah Logan walked up to him. Elias said he’s not performing for the fans, but he has something for them. Elias played some song, the girls shoved over a trash can and they left.

(Commercial)

Ember Moon entered for a singles match. Liv Morgan and Sarah Logan entered to the Riott Squad song. No Ruby Riott because she suffered a knee injury at a live event and she’s getting checked out by WWE’s doctors this week. We should know more soon.

Ember Moon vs. Liv Morgan (w/Sarah Logan)

Morgan took control early with a punch. Cole said Liv called herself juvenile. Graves questioned somebody calling themselves that as an adult. Weird convo. Moon hit a springboard cross body block. Morgan bailed to the floor as the show went to break two minutes into it.

(Commercial)

Back from break, Moon avoided a weak submission of Morgan and Morgan sent Moon into the ropes. Morgan with a step up enziguri for a two count. That looked good. Morgan grounded Moon with a full nelson on the mat. Cole: “I miss Elias.” He was just on a few minutes ago. Moon tried to come back, but Morgan decked her with forearms. Moon sent Morgan face first into the turnbuckle followed by a double stomp. Moon up top and she jumped off with the Eclipse for the pinfall win after eight minutes.

Winner by pinfall: Ember Moon

Analysis: ** It was an average match with Morgan on offense for about 90% of it, Moon sold everything well and had a nice comeback for the win. The crowd got into Moon’s offense. The Eclipse Stunner off the top is one of the best looking finishers in WWE.

Post match, Logan tried to attack, but Moon got out of there to celebrate the win.

Analysis: I’d like to see Moon in a legit storyline. She hasn’t had anything to do for three months on the main roster.

It was back to counseling with Banks saying that they have been there for hours and she wanted to go. Shelby said he had a game for them to talk about their feelings with each woman imitating the other woman. It’s called “Honesty Theater.” Banks did an imitation as Bayley saying she is everybody’s best friends and loves hugs. Bayley imitated Banks saying that if you don’t call her the Legit Boss, Banks is going to stab you in the back. Bayley mentioned Snoop Dogg, who is Banks’ cousin. The women got in eachother’s face arguing. Shelby tried to break them up, they said shut up and he yelled “Enough.” There’s more to come.

Analysis: It was just more bickering. It wasn’t funny at all except a bit at the end with Shelby getting tired of the arguing. Overall, this idea was a big waste of time.

The Revival entered for their tag team match.

The commercial aired for Total Bellas. It looked terrible as usual.

(Commercial)

The end of Roman Reigns’ intro was shown because this was the third time he was out there. Bobby Lashley got a decent response. The announcers pushed the story that Reigns may not be 100% since he was attacked by The Revival less than one hour ago.

Bobby Lashley and Roman Reigns vs. The Revival (Scott Dawson and Dash Wilder)

This is the third straight week for this match.

Reigns started this match even though he was banged up. Reigns overpowered Dawson with punches that knocked Dawson out of the ring. Lashley wanted a tag, but Reigns told him he’s got this. The Revival distracted Reigns leading to Dawson punching Reigns in the ribs. Reigns dumped Dawson out of the ring and Wilder was the legal man with a dropkick. Dawson tagged in with a leg scissors on the ribs of Reigns. Reigns broke free, but Dawson decked him with a clothesline. Wilder tagged in with Dawson slamming Wilder into a leg drop for a two count. Reigns with punches to the face of Dawson, who kicked Reigns in the ribs. Reigns with a hard whip into the turnbuckle that led to Dawson doing a sternum bump into the turnbuckle. Wilder tagged in, Reigns with a clothesline and a leg drop. Wilder got a rollup on Reigns for two. Reigns with a Superman Punch on Wilder that the camera missed. Lashley back into the ring with two spinebusters and he dumped Wilder out of the ring. Lashley wanted a tag, but Reigns said no. Dawson and Wilder double teamed Reigns with punches. The referee called for the bell. Lashley walked away. It went about seven minutes.

Winners by disqualification: Bobby Lashley and Roman Reigns

Analysis: ** It felt like more of an angle than an actual match with Reigns refusing to tag out. Lashley didn’t tag in the entire time, so it continued the problems for Reigns and Lashley.

Lashley walked up the ramp. The Revival hit the Shatter Machine on Reigns. Wilder was on the top rope and Dawson launched him off the top with Wilder hitting a splash on Reigns. The Revival left while Reigns was left in the ring to sell the rib injury.

Analysis: The story continued with Lashley refusing to help Reigns since Reigns wouldn’t tag him in.

Kevin Owens was in the office with Kurt Angle. Owens sucked up to Angle saying he’ll get Angle tickets to Shania Twain since she is KO’s friend and Owens will even watch Angle’s kids. Angle told him he’s not getting out of the match. Owens left angrily saying that Angle didn’t deserve Shania Twain tickets. Angle just laughed about it to end it.

Analysis: The Shania Twain line was great because Owens went to her concert last week and there’s a 7-minute video with Owens on stage with her that was pretty good.

Reigns was shown in the ring slowly getting back to his feet after getting beat up.

(Commercial)

The commercial for Smackdown pushed the return of Team Hell No for the first time in five years.

The replays aired of Reigns getting beat up by The Revival.

Reigns showed up in the office to complain about Lashley. Angle said Lashley was just there. Angle said they are going to get what they want, so it’s on for Extreme Rules.

Analysis: I assume Reigns will beat Lashley at Extreme Rules, but at least it’s a fresh match that could be good for both of them. It felt like Reigns was shown about 15 times in this show. It was less than that, but he was all over this Raw.

No Way Jose was in the ring with his conga line at ringside.

Mojo Rawley made his entrance. Rawley grabbed the microphone. Rawley complained about how what Jose is doing with his opportunity in WWE by dancing. Rawley said “no way…Jose” to the thought of a match. Rawley picked up a guy from the conga line and tossed him on the floor. Rawley hit a running shoulder tackle to deck the guy into the barricade. Jose went after Rawley, he got in a bit of offense, but Rawley gave him a spinebuster that sent Jose back first into the side of the ring apron. Rawley left.

Analysis: It was another week of Rawley refusing to wrestle Jose and kicking his ass again. Raw needs heels, so hopefully Mojo can have some success with this push.

The Ronda Rousey suspension video aired, which seems like a weekly thing. Rousey was suspended for 30 days two weeks ago.

An earlier today clip aired with Rousey saying she’s going to appear at Extreme Rules in the crowd. She said she’s sitting in the front row because she’s suspended for Raw, but not suspended from Extreme Rules.

Analysis: Rousey gets a lot of airtime for a suspended wrestler. Shocking.

The lovely duo of Raw Women’s Champion Alexa Bliss and Mickie James entered for a James match against Nia Jax.

(Commercial)

Nia Jax, the woman that is not like most girls, did a promo on the stage. Jax talked about how she beat Bliss at WrestleMania, then she beat her at Backlash and she thought it was all over. Jax noted that due to Bliss with the MITB contract, they are back to wrestling again. Jax informed Bliss that she learned from Kurt Angle it’s going to be an Extreme Rules match at Extreme Rules.

Jax introduced Natalya to watch her back for this match.

Analysis: It’s nice to have a stipulation for their match to make it different from their other matches. It will probably help the match. They will probably find a way to involve Rousey since she’s at ringside as well.

Nia Jax (w/Natalya) vs. Mickie James (w/Alexa Bliss)

James attacked early with punches. Jax drove James back first into the turnbuckle. When James charged in, Jax ran her over wit ha running body attack. They battled on the floor with Jax going for a Samoan Drop, but Bliss saved James and the show went to break three minutes into it.

(Commercial)

The match returned with James in control with a baseball slide dropkick into the knee. James kicked Jax repeatedly on the knee. James continued to work on Jax’s knee with kicks to the leg and a running dropkick. Cole said it would be a major upset if James won because Jax has been so dominant in WWE. James punched the knee of Jax and Jax punched her in the back to break free. James with punches. Jax with a leg scissors around the waist of James and James got to the ropes to break the hold. Jax with a headbutt, back elbow, two clotheslines, Jax sent James into the corner and James kicked her in the head. James with a kick to the knee, she went for the Mick Kick, Jax caught her and Jax picked up James with a sitout Powerbomb. Jax wasn’t selling the knee at all after hitting that. Bliss on the apron to distract, Natalya pulled off Bliss off the apron and Jax, who stopped selling the knee injury, hit a Samoan Drop for the pinfall win. It went about 10 minutes.

Winner by pinfall: Nia Jax

Analysis: **1/2 Good match with James working over the knee for most of it. Jax sold it well for most of the match, but you could tell Jax stopped selling it towards the end. It’s important to sell even after offensive moves because you can’t just ignore it after somebody has worked on the left leg for five minutes. The outcome was no surprise with Natalya there to neutralize Bliss leading to Jax winning clean. I think we all knew that ending was coming. I’d love to see James get a serious push because as she showed here, she can have a good match with anybody and her experience helps any match she is in. I’m very tired of Nia Jax matches.

Kevin Owens was backstage talking with Jinder Mahal, who tried to help Owens with breathing techniques to calm him down. Charly Caruso showed up to interview Owens, so Owens said he’s ready to fight Strowman because he knows his every move. Owens said he’s going to show the world how you destroy a monster. Owens went back to his breathing techniques with Mahal.

A commercial aired for Ride Along on WWE Network with a new episode this week. One car has Peyton Royce and Billie Kay while another car is Rusev, Lana and Aiden English. No offense to the guys, but those women are lovely.

(Commercial)

This Wednesday on NXT it’s EC3 vs. Johnny Gargano. That should be great. NXT is the best weekly WWE TV show.

The announce team was shown on camera talking about Roman Reigns again. They replayed the Reigns story that dominated this show.

Bobby Lashley did a brief interview with Renee Young backstage. Lashley said it was only Reigns’ yard because he wasn’t there. Lashley was happy about his match with Reigns at Extreme Rules.

The announcers shilled the Extreme Rules lineup. I have it at the bottom of the post.

Kevin Owens made his entrance for the main event. Another replay aired from last week when Braun Strowman destroyed KO’s car in the parking lot.

(Commercial)

Braun Strowman made his entrance to a big ovation. It was nearly 11pmET, so they don’t have much time for a match.

Braun Strowman vs. Kevin Owens

The bell rang, Owens left the ring and ran to the back to lose the match. The referee counted Owens out. It was less than 20 seconds.

Winner by countout: Braun Strowman

Analysis: I’m not going to rate it since it was an angle more than a match.

Owens ran out to the parking lot for his car. Owens forgot his keys. Owens hid in the Porta Potty that was there. Strowman chased after Owens wondering where he was. The valet left. Strowman looked around, then he almost left and stopped to look at the Porta Potty. Strowman asked in a funny voice if anybody was in there. Owens said “go away.” Strowman took the electrical tape that was there, so he taped the door shut. Strowman yelled saying he told Owens he would find him.

Strowman had some cables that he used to drag the port-a-potty into the arena. Strowman yelled at some dude backstage to get out of his way. Strowman dragged Owens all the way out to the arena.

Owens dragged a Porta Potty all the way onto the Raw stage. Strowman set up the Porta Potty on the side of the stage. Strowman looked like he was leaving. Fans chanted “yes” for him. Strowman charged at the Porta Potty and shoved it off the side of the stage. The fall was maybe three feet, so it was not a lot. Fans chanted “holy shit” for it, which is funny due to Owens being locked into a portable toilet.

After Owens was pushed off the edge, referees and EMTs checked on Owens. There was some blue paint or something on Owens. Apparently, that’s a deodorizer to help the smell. I’m not going to try to make sense of it. Strowman was announced as the winner by countout. I barely remember that it was supposed to be a match and I watched the damn thing.

Strowman posed to end Raw. It ended at around 11:10pmET this week.

Analysis: It was another case of Strowman making KO’s life hell even though Owens really did nothing to provoke him. If this was an angle where Owens deserved to get his ass kicked by Strowman then I would understand. The way it’s been presented makes it tough for me to side with Strowman because I don’t think Owens has done anything to really deserve it. Strowman comes off as more of a jerk than anything. I know it is WWE’s way of making him the Stone Cold of the show where he has no buddies and he finds a way to torment people. It just isn’t that interesting to me.

Three Stars of the Show

  1. Seth Rollins
  2. Kevin Owens
  3. Dolph Ziggler

The Scoreboard

4 out of 10

Last week: 7

2018 Average: 5.83

Last 5 Weeks: 7, 5.5, 5.5, 4, 5

2018 High: 8 (February 19)

2018 Low: 4 (June 4, July 2)

Final Thoughts

I give it a 4 out of 10.

It was a boring show with way too much Roman Reigns. I understand WWE wants him to be the biggest star, but he was on the opening promo, plus two tag matches and it felt like he wasn’t on television, the announcers kept talking about him so much.

The counseling stuff with Bayley and Banks was a waste of time. I don’t get why it was so short either. This show is three hours. Please progress this angle faster because it was good last week, but it was so boring this week.

It was one of those weeks where match finishes meant nothing. Two disqualifications in the Reigns tag matches and the countout finish in the main event that wasn’t really a match. Why should fans invest in matches when the creative team doesn’t seem to give a shit? I get that some of those finishes were done to advance a storyline, but it’s not fun to watch.

The build for Extreme Rules is okay. I don’t think it’s the worst PPV of the year since Backlash was so bad, but I think this show is going to be just average at best.

The next WWE PPV is Extreme Rules on July 15. Here’s what we know so far.

WWE Championship: AJ Styles vs. Rusev

Intercontinental Championship 30-Minute Ironman Match: Dolph Ziggler vs. Seth Rollins

Roman Reigns vs. Bobby Lashley

Raw Women’s Championship Extreme Rules Match: Alexa Bliss vs. Nia Jax

Smackdown Tag Team Championships: The Bludgeon Brothers (Harper and Rowan) vs. Team Hell No (Kane and Daniel Bryan)

Smackdown Women’s Championship: Carmella vs. Asuka

Raw Tag Team Championships: Matt Hardy and Bray Wyatt vs. The B Team (Curtis Axel and Bo Dallas)

I think we can pencil in Baron Corbin vs. Finn Balor and Braun Strowman vs. Kevin Owens as well.

You can contact me using any of the methods below. See ya next time for the Smackdown review. Go Los Angeles Rams. Thanks for reading.

John Canton

Email: mrjohncanton@gmail.com

Twitter: @johnreport

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