Gotta be honest, I wasn't looking forward to Stomping Ground this coming Sunday but this episode actually did its job to build a bit of excitement for this PPV. I mean, I'm gonna watch that PPV regardless but it's really a good feeling when you get a pretty good RAW episode going into a PPV that I don't care for all that much.
Elias Concert.
As you can tell from reading the title, this show started off with an Elias concert. The quote "greatest musical act in history" was crapping on Los Angeles and revealed that he's the special guest referee for the Universal Championship at Stomping Ground.
Seth Rollins came out and hits Elias with a steel chair. Rollins ended the segment by cutting a promo saying that he's warning anybody that wants to be a special guest referee that he's gonna get a steel chair shot on the back. This was okay. Short but decent.
The Miz vs Bobby Lashley vs Ricochet vs Cesaro vs Braun Strowman. Winner Faces Samoa Joe for the United States championship at Stomping Ground.
Pretty much every participant in that match delivers their respective finishers on Elias and I'm sitting on my couch like "Elias, GET THE F OUT OF THE RING!" So, in this match, Braun Strowman eliminated Lashley and Cesaro with the running powerslam until both Lashley and Cesaro helped Ricochet eliminate Braun Strowman with the 630 splash.
Obviously, that made Braun pissed off and he pretty much destroyed Cesaro and Bobby Lashley. The match is down to two men in Ricochet and The Miz and they had a good encounter with each other.
The match ended with Miz hitting a springboard double axe handle but Ricochet reversed that into a code breaker and delivers Miz with the 630 splash. After the match, Samoa Joe nailed Ricochet with straight rights which then Ricochet came back strong with a suicide dive.
Honestly, I thought that Miz was gonna win this just because of his short interaction with Samoa Joe on Miz tv last week but I'm completely wrong in this instance. Should be a good match at Stomping Ground.
Becky Lynch and Lacey Evans. Face to face confrontation before Stomping Ground.
Let's break this down. Becky Lynch wanted to fight Evans like immediately. Out came the Sassy Southern Bell and she basically put herself over about how the women's division needs somebody classy like a Lacey Evans. Becky wasted no time to beat up Lacey.
Other than the way Becky pronounces "Los Angeles", this was okay. Didn't do anything for me. We shall see how Lacey performs this time given that she's been botching a bit as of late but I'm not gonna poo poo on her just yet.
Backstage Interview.
Charly Caruso interviewed Baron Corbin about who's his special guest referee? Baron answered saying that he already has something in mind and he's gonna reveal it on the Kevin and Sami Show.
Seth then hits Corbin with a steel chair on Corbin's back. I really like this intense version of Seth and it sort of makes sense considering that he's been manhandled by Brock Lesnar and he's tired of being manhandled like that.
Daniel Bryan And Rowan Came Back to RAW To Say What?
Daniel Bryan cut a short promo about Los Angeles being a horrible city and his hate for Monday Night RAW which anybody that hates RAW would relate to what he said. This was decent but I would love for the promo to go a bit longer.
The Viking Raiders vs Local jobbers.
After The Viking Raiders won their match, R Truth and Carmella did a bad disguise as Santa and Charlie Chaplin and the entire rest of the RAW roster came out to chase them.
Truth went under the ring for obvious reasons and the rest of the roster pulled somebody that they thought was Truth but it was Titus O'Neil which had me crack a smile. Then, R Truth escaped and Truth and Carmella ran like crazy to which the rest of the roster started to chase them. That was entertaining mainly because of Titus and a running Santa Claus. 20 stars.
Kevin and Sami Show. Special Guest, Baron Corbin.
Sami Zayn's air guitar is #goals for me. After a great guitar performance by Sami Zayn, Heath Slater came to Shane McMahon's VIP Party and Slater asked for a raise.
Shane said no and Drew walked out to check on his former buddy in 3MB. What seemed to be a kind gesture for supporting his friend turned to a mugging on Heath Slater to which The Revival and Shane stopped him. Drew's support for Shane has to be more than just money right?
Coming back to the Kevin and Sami Show, Kevin Owens and Sami told Baron Corbin that they're withdrawing on being a referee. Baron Corbin told the world that EC3 is the special guest referee to which Seth came out and immediately hits him with a steel chair.
The New Day came out very randomly and they made a 6 man tag match between the heel team and babyface team by "asking EC3" which was funny yet pretty sad considering what happened to the guy. This segment really dragged on and on and the addition of the New Day while I really enjoy them, is completely unnecessary.
The New Day vs Baron Corbin, Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn.
This was aight. Kevin Owens superkicked Baron Corbin because Baron Clotheslined Sami accidentally and Kofi Kingston hit a trouble in paradise to Corbin and won the match.
Baron losing like that even though he has a title match coming up is not good. Swiping him with an Owens or a Zayn is a much better substitution.
Paul Heyman Promo Time.
Paul Heyman in his promo, made a basketball reference and says that Seth Rollins has no balls because he has a steel chair in hand. He also mentioned that Seth is going to be a former champion and Brock could be anywhere. Great promo by the best talker in the industry.
After that, Baron Corbin asked Eric Young to be the special guest referee and Young said that he's gonna think about it.
Seth came out and Young said that he's not going to take the job. Seth said that he's not gonna do anything to him but he did with a series of vicious chair shots.
The Usos vs Anderson and Gallows.
The commentary team puts Anderson and Gallows over than their actual booking which like EC3's run so far, is really sad. The Usos won the match with double superkicks to Luke Gallows.
Roman Reigns Live To Address His Loss To Shane McMahon at Super Showdown.
Roman Reigns' look in this segment is me watching a 20-minute heel Shane McMahon promo. Anyways, he said that Shane McMahon should do something himself and Shane appeared on the Titantron.
The "best in the world" said that Roman shouldn't be ashamed of losing to the best in the world. Roman left the ring and quickly went to Shane's VIP room. Reigns beat up The Revival and put Drew McIntyre through a table. Shane ran to the ring and Reigns immediately speared him.
This is the first time Roman actually looked good in his feud with Shane and his buddies in weeks now? As for the match between Roman and Drew, don't care.
Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross vs The IIconics for the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship.
This was a take it or leave it type of match for me. The IIconics won the match with a roll up to Cross via a push from Bayley to Alexa Bliss.
From a SmackDown Live women's championship feud to the latest episode of the firefly fun house. In this segment, Bray Wyatt talked about environment and Bray Wyatt basically said to join them. Then, some scary stuff happened with different types of music played and Bray came with his dark attire. This is some good shit as a "genius" would say.
Seth Rollins vs Daniel Bryan.
The match actually ended in a DQ because of Rowan and The New Day, Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, The Revival and The Usos were brawling with each other because The New Day came out to save Seth Rollins. So, the match restarted because of that (damn, that's a lot of because).
This was a decent main event. Seth Rollins hits Daniel with the superplex into a falcon arrow but Bryan reversed the falcon arrow into a rebel lock. The match ended with a stomp from Seth and won the match.
After a gruelling match, Seth got his payback from Baron Corbin with a steel chair shot and an end of days. Ending made sense. Made a lot of sense in fact and I’m glad it happened considering that he got pinned clean an hour before this.
So, to recap for all of you slow mofos:
Like: Seth's intensity, The opening match, Sami's air guitars, Paul Heyman promo, the 24/7 segment, firefly fun house.
Didn't like: Elias getting his backside kicked and not leaving the ring made no sense.
What do you guys think about RAW yesterday? Sound off in the comments below. Follow me on the tweets @omartheplayaguy and follow this very blog for honest pro wrestling opinions. Anyway, stay safe smarks.
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