Raw was LIVE from the Coliseum Complex in Greensboro, NC on 5/16/16
A very short and abbreviated Raw summary tonight my friends, as I enjoyed Raw while also watching both the OKC Thunder against Golden State, and the Lightning/Penguins game. It was a great night for sports and for sports entertainment, but nevertheless, the final show heading into Extreme Rules!
AJ Styles and Roman Reigns furthered their program for Extreme rules with a promo segment. Styles mocked Reigns “The Guy” line and both men announced that they would be in the corners of their respective teams later in the evening. Styles with “The Club”, and Reigns with “The Bloodline” as his tandem with the Usos is now being called.
Sami Zayn vs. Cesaro ends abruptly as both The Miz with Maryse, and Kevin Owens were on commentary. Shane McMahon comes out onto the ramp and initially makes it Zayn and Cesaro vs. Miz and Owens, but Stephanie McMahon raises the ante and instead we get Owens and Zayn against Miz and Cesaro. Steph says that if Owens dips out, he doesn’t even need to show up for the match at Extreme Rules. Neither team gets along, but in the end Zayn puts away The Miz with a Helluva kick for the victory before Owens leaves him laying after they are declared the victors. That match is going to be terrific.
There is a backstage segment where Renee Young has words with Chris Jericho. Young says Ambrose is going to bring a proposal to Jericho, but Jericho says all he wants is an apology for the destruction of his high priced litebrite jacket.
The debut of “The Shining Stars” was up next. The music was cool and the pre-match promo was a little hokey, but these two are tremendous hands. Epico looked fantastic with a beautiful front suplex into a codebreaker and they won against two local talents, Scott Jackson and Brian Kennedy, with “The Shining Star”, which was a variation of the age old “Total Elimination” made famous in ECW by Perry Saturn and John Kronus, The Eliminators. Pull back on the hokiness and let these men work and you’re gonna have another sensational tag team in a very hot division on the rise.
Dean Ambrose cuts a promo next about not being too keen on being put in a straitjacket last week on Smackdown by Chris Jericho. Jericho shows up and the two both refer to themselves as “lunatics”, ultimately leading to a concept match at Extreme Rules called an “Asylum Match”. It’s a basically a cage with weapons up top that can be pulled down and used. There was a barbed wire two by four and instruments of destruction, but there were also mops, buckets and a cousin of “Mitch”, the potted plant that belonged to Ambrose. Should be a competitive match and hopefully one of the two men will get to “juice” in this PG-Era, as a little bit of blood can go a long way in this enjoyable program between the two. Extreme Rules looking really good on paper so far.
Becky Lynch and Dana Brooke was up next and Dana Brooke scored a victory after reversing a sunset flip attempt. Initially, Dana and Emma were to confront Becky and a partner to be named, but the injury bug struck again and it looks like Emma is out with back issues that will require surgery. A dang shame too as Emma was on fire since her return to the main roster. I like Dana a great deal, but she still needs a good deal of work in the ring. This wasn’t a bad match at all, and hopefully working with the right hands will see Dana blossom as a heel and be ready when the time comes to team with Emma after he return. I assume the partner was to be Paige or Sasha Banks, but it’ll remain a mystery.
Another promo with Darren Young and Bob Backlund followed and furthered that story.
Backstage, Shane and Stephanie had words with the Dudley Boyz who wanted to be fed two local jabronies from the Carolina’s. They aren’t hip to that idea and instead, Big Cass will see singles action later against a member of the Dudley Boyz. They aren’t happy.
A video package FINALLY leads us to the debut of “Golden Truth”. Sadly, they lost their debut match to Tyler Breeze and Fandango, known as BREEZ-ANGO. Yes, that was a thing. A misstep by R-Truth allowed Breeze to get the victory and I’m happy for he and Fandango as both men are quite talented. Backstage, R-Truth and Goldust agree to “work out the kinks” and focus up to become the team they are destined to become.
The New Day had a brilliant segment that followed where they entered into a time machine called the “New Day-lorean” that took them back to a “bygone era”, so that they might understand The Vaudevillains better. We actually got to hear “SOS” and Kofi Kingston bring back the Jamaican accent before he was dragged back into the machine while clamoring that “2009 was his best year”. Ultimately, the segment ended with Gotch and English laying a classic butt whoopin’ on the champions furthering their program and we saw the heels standing tall before their tag team title match this coming Sunday.
The Usos defeated Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows in a tag team match. The Usos needed the victory, but hopefully the 50/50 booking is leading to a great payoff at Extreme Rules because it was a head-scratcher because it was a clean victory. The aftermath was the payoff though as Styles and Reigns came to blows and ultimately Styles grounded the champ with a steel folding chair and Reigns actually ate a Styles Clash on the before-mentioned chair. Mad props to him for taking that because he’s a big guy and you have to take that finish properly. Very cool to see and I’m stoked for that match at Extreme Rules. I’ll do some predictions for the PPV for the Scrum Sports later in the week as there are a multitude of options as to how that can end.
Big Cass defeated Devon Dudley with the East River Crossing despite Bubba Ray Dudley teasing a table spot. Big Cass is over like rover right now. When Enzo returns, you are going to have some great stories to develop with a developing tag team division.
Alberto Del Rio defeated Kalisto in a non-title match with a Backstabber. Kalisto was distracted by his opponent for the US Title, Rusev, at ringside, as Rusev worked Sin Cara over big time. Kalisto wasn’t pleased with his partner being manhandled and the distraction allowed Del Rio to take a trip to the pay window.
The show ended with a contract signing between Charlotte and Natalya for their submission match. Ric Flair was very “Flair-esque” in the Carolina’s and ultimately, he got slapped by Steph and the show ended with Natalya putting Charlotte in the Sharpshooter. Extreme Rules takes place on Sunday and should be a very good program to sit back and enjoy with a good cup of coffee.
