WWE RAW 26/8/19 | My Coherent Review

I got out of this episode with little to no negatives for Monday Night RAW this week and it's really rare that a Monday Night RAW show is actually good overall even though WWE has aired decent episodes. This is also one of the longest RAW reviews I've ever written so there's that. 

Sasha Banks Responded To Becky Lynch's Ultimatum. 

This show got a response about the elephant in the room in a relatively decent promo by The Legit Boss. Sasha said that ever since Wrestlemania, everybody's talking about Sasha Banks and not because of her tag match but rather what supposedly happened backstage. 

She also mentioned that all of the reasoning as to why she left was all true and she's frustrated that Becky got to main event Wrestlemania but not her.

Sasha then basically stated that she's no pun intended, the legit Superstar in the women's division to which Natalya's music hits and the queen of hearts stormed to the ring and give Sasha a legit beating (why the puns bro?).

I thought that the material she was given was pretty weak in all honesty but what saved it was her delivery. It's like when an actor is given some weak lines but the actor somehow pulled it off. I do think that it was a great way to build off a TV match.

If her motivations as to why she beat up Becky and Natalya ala her lines were innovative in a sense plus her performance then I would have really liked it but I wish that it was something different and not the "I'm jealous that you got successful, therefore, I must hate you" that WWE uses. 

The Street Profits were basically running down the match card for Monday Night RAW including the tag team turmoil match. 

I don't want to spoil you guys but they don't have the tag team belts which means that they have a higher chance of losing the NXT tag team championship this coming week's episode of NXT.

Hoping that WWE would do something different with those guys and not run down match cards because it's getting really stale like potato salad. 

Ricochet vs Drew McIntyre. King Of The Ring Tournament Round Of 16. 

This match kicked all kinds of body parts (weird analogy but okay). In other words, this was a very good match. Drew McIntyre beats up Ricochet's back throughout this match pretty much with suplexes and some backbreakers on the outside. 

After that, Drew almost put Ricochet out with a sitout powerbomb to a near fall then Ricochet delivers the recoil (which is basically the codebreaker) and hits McIntyre with the 630 splash and advances to the quarter-finals facing a familiar foe in Samoa Joe (I did not say that line but rather it was Corey Graves so blame Graves for rhyming, not me). 

Like I said earlier, this was an enjoyable match and I don't think that's the last time we're seeing a good match in this tournament (no shit, Omar). Ricochet is still my pick to win the entire though. 

Sethy and Big Braun were interviewed by Sarah Schrieber about the RAW tag team championship but Braun instead mentioned the universal championship and Seth asked him if he wants to challenge him for the red belt?

Braun said of course with a straight face and Rollins accepted the challenge. By the way, I made an error that Braun's win last week was his first title victory which is not true and it was rather his 3rd championship victory if you want to count the green belt for the Saudi show last year. 

The Miz vs Baron Corbin. King of the Ring tournament Round Of 16. 

The match started off with an elbow strike after The Miz declared himself as King Awesome if he wins the whole thing and to quote him, "really? Really? Really? Really?". 

This match like the Ricochet vs Drew McIntyre match was very entertaining and man, I forgot to mention but Baron's in-ring work has gotten a lot better. The Miz actually hits the skull-crushing finale but Baron Corbin kicked out which led to Corbin delivering the end of days and Baron is still in the tournament. Good on both of those guys for that performance. 

What a match. Baron Corbin then cut a promo basically stating that he doesn't care what people think of him and he's the main reason why he's in WWE and he's going to be the reason why he wins that tournament. Promo was aight. 

Kalya Braxton interviewed one of the participants in the tag team turmoil match in The O.C and they said that losing the RAW tag titles was not fair because Seth Rollins and Braun Strowman didn't earn crap to get a championship opportunity (they're not wrong) but The O.C will write those wrongs by winning the turmoil match and the tag team titles. 

Bayley vs Nikki Cross.

 

The match was not offensive, to say the least. Bayley won the match with the elbow drop. 

Tag Team Turmoil Match. The B team vs Heavy Machinery vs The Viking Raiders vs The O.C vs Lucha House Party vs Zack Ryder And Curt Hawkins vs The Revival vs Dolph Ziggler and Robert Roode. 

Yes, you read that right. Dolph Ziggler teams up with his former foe in Robert Roode. So, The B Team and The Viking Raiders started this turmoil match but The B team didn't last long because they ate an elimination with the Viking experience. 

The O.C were next and they wasted no time to beat up the Viking Raiders but both teams were eliminated because they didn't obey the rules of the tag match which is frustrating yet a great way to protect those two teams. 

The odd couple in Roode and Ziggler and The Lucha House Party were up next and Ziggler eliminated The Lucha House Party with a vicious superkick on Gran Metalik's head. It's now The Revival's turn and Robert Roode throws Scott Dawson with a back body drop. An okay back and forth action later and the odd couple advances in this match with the glorious DDT to Dawson. 

After Roode and Ziggler won the second last tag team match against Zack Ryder and Curt Hawkins with a superkick, out came Heavy Machinery and they beat up those guys but Robert paid that back by pushing Tucker Knight on the steel steps. 

The tag team turmoil match ends with another Glorious DDT to Tucker Knight and they won the match. That pairing was really random but you know what? I like this choice. 

Now, I would prefer an established tag team but I do think it's something different that WWE needs for their tag team division as a whole. I'm actually looking forward to the tag team championship match between Rollins, Strowman, Ziggler and Roode and it should be a fun match. 

Sasha Banks vs Natalya. 

During the match, Natalya launches Sasha with a beautiful looking German suplex. Banks then locks Natalya with the bank statement using the injured arm and won the match. 

The only thing I could nitpick about this is that the match is pretty short and I would've lasted this match a lot longer than that. The match was okay but capable of a lot more. 

Cedric Alexander vs Cesaro. 

During the commercial break, Cesaro hits Alexander's leg hard and pushes it on the LED board to which Cesaro locks in the half Boston crab after he delivers the superplex.

Cedric almost puts Cesaro down with the standing Spanish fly and then strikes Cesaro with the lumbar check despite the injured leg and wins the match. 

A decent showcase of what Cedric Alexander might do next week but I'm certainly the only one that believes Corbin would win right? Right? (sarcasm of course). 

Braun Strowman vs AJ Styles for the United States Championship. 

I had a feeling that the match was booked similarly to their match last week and I was wrong other than Braun dominating throughout the first half of the match. Styles catches Strowman's leg and holds Strowman with the calf crusher but Braun barely powers out due to the damaged leg. 

Braun accidentally knocks outs the ref to which Styles strikes Strowman with a series of chair shots but Braun came back with the running powerslam but the ref was knocked out. Gallows and Anderson showed up and Braun hits both of them with chair shots.

Braun tried to hit AJ but the ref somehow woke up and said that he heard chair shots and disqualified the match in the process. Strowman was extremely furious and he delivers each of the members of The O.C with the running powerslam. The match was booked pretty well I must say and the logical step in this storyline is to announce an extreme rules match for the US title. 

So, to recap for all of you slow mofos. 

Like: Ricochet vs Drew McIntyre, The Miz vs Baron Corbin, liked that Ziggler and Roode won the turmoil match, AJ Styles vs Braun Strowman match was executed pretty well.

Didn't like: The Street Profits talking about the match card because it's getting old at this point. 

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.