With Survivor Series in the rear view, would the “A” brand roll steam ahead into the latter part of November, establishing new feuds and fresh stories?
Monday Night Raw was LIVE tonight and brought to us from the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas! Would we see new faces and fresh feuds after last night’s Survivor Series Pay Per View, returning faces and grand pops, or more of the same?
The Highs:
Grand-Slam
The main event was impressive. Whether you love or you hate Roman Reigns, “The Big Dog” always seems to deliver in high caliber matches. Tonight was no different as Reigns completed the grand-slam performance, capturing the Intercontinental Title for the first time.
The shining star here however, was the Miz. Even in a losing performance, this was another case of the now former champ showing that he can bring out the big guns to deliver a quality main event, and with a dance partner like Reigns, he was able to do so.
The Shield evened the odds and fought off “The Bar” after disposing of the Miztourage earlier in the show.
This Is My House!
The return of Paige was incredibly well done, and she brought some friends. This was the highlight of Raw.
It was great to see Paige back on Monday Night’s, and to see Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville debuting alongside her as a throwback to their “Tough Enough” days was incredible.
They took their liberties with the women’s division, ruining a fatal fourway match for the number one contendor’s spot.
Later in the broadcast, they ran into the current champion, Alexa Bliss, and they beat the holy heck out of her. This was highlighted by “Little Miss Bliss” getting run headfirst into a stack of crates that collapsed from the impact. Ouch.
Old Feuds Done New
Samoa Joe and Finn Balor gave the fans something to sink their teeth into as they continued the start of a feud that developed last night.
Joe came away with the victory after he slapped the Coquina Clutch on Balor, earning a trip to the pay window with a big victory over the leader of the “Balor” Club.
The Empress Dominates
Asuka was dominant yet again after being the sole survivor last night. She easily disposed of Dana Brooke, and the fans took to her. This was certainly a hot crowd tonight and they had fun with the broadcast.
The Lows:
Long-Winded
The return of the fifteen minute introductory promo did no favors for the “A” team after coming off a hot Survivor Series broadcast. As much as I adore Stephanie McMahon and Triple H, I can do without seeing them on my screen every week to begin the broadcast.
A Father’s Approval
Jason Jordan and Braun Strowman barely got out of the blocks before “The Demon” Kane made his presence known to continue his story with “The Monster Among Men”.
Kane used a steel chair to inflict damage to the throat of Strowman.
That wasn’t “the low” per say, it was the fact that we get “baby-face” Jordan vying for a father’s love for yet another week instead of turning heel or at least entertaining us with a shocking win or something of the sort.
Absent Eaters
Bray Wyatt not being on the broadcast is puzzling. He lost a match to Jordan last week and he wasn’t even there tonight. Get this man back on TV quickly and get him into a feud where he can shine. He’s incredibly talented and deserves it.
Bah Humbug
Instead of having Gallows and Anderson shilling holiday merchandise, how about we team them up with Balor to get another stable in the thick of things?
The “Meh”:
Still Drifting
We drifted into a meaningless interaction between Elias Samson and Matt Hardy after “The Broken One” took a loss last night. Elias needs a solid feud to get things going or they need to regroup altogether.
Matt Hardy needs to either move forward with the “broken” angle or hope for a quick return from Jeff to get back into the tag feud.
More Of The Same
Enzo Amore and The “Zo Train” came up short against the 205 faces as the heels fell victim to the faces after Mustafa Ali took to the skies and executed his inverted 450 splash.
It’s truly a thing of beauty and it’s nice to see the Cruiserweights getting time, but this seemed ripe for a Neville return or a Hideo Itami debut. Perhaps that might happen as early as next week or tomorrow night. Perhaps we’ll see?
Dean Ambrose and Sheamus had a solid match, but it seems to be more of the same as “The Bar” and Shield feud continues.
