WWE Raw: The War Raiders plunder the tag titles

Thomas Starr

The War Raiders win the tag titles
The War Raiders win the tag titles

The first hour was good, but the second hour was dull until a good main event. In general, WWE’s YouTube recap of Raw is better than the full show and I recommend you check that out instead of wasting your time with this episode.

Must-see moments:

Punk-Rollins confrontation

This was another of those hot openings that the WWE main event guys pump out every week. Punk was enough of a jerk here that you understood why Rollins hates him. Rollins came out to no entrance theme and no gawdy outfit. His intensity was at another level here, which Punk seems to bring out in his opponents. WWE has done an excellent job of drawing parallels between this feud and the one Punk had with Drew. Good stuff.

The Final Testament Promo

This was not a blow away promo, but it did come out of nowhere. Karrion has been speaking more in recent weeks, but the rest of this group has been given almost no promo time. This began to distinguish their different characters, so it gets highlighted here. It is too little too late if you ask me, but hey at least they are finally telling the audience something about this faction.

Judgement Day vs. The War Raiders

This was a good main event and worth checking out.

Chronological recap:

CM Punk was out to open the show. Punk mocked Seth Rollins’s wardrobe. He compared him to Liberace and Elton John. Punk said, “Just because you wear Elton John’s sunglasses doesn’t make you Elton John.”

Punk teased Seth interrupting him, even comparing Seth to Drew. He returned to the idea several times, even stumbling over his own words a few times.

Seth finally showed up in the audience. They exchanged unpleasantries before finally brawling in and around the ringside and the barricades. The brawl continued out into the crowd. Seth hit Punk with at least one “potato” as they call it. A nasty looking left hook. Great start.

The Judgement Day was very passive aggressive with each other backstage. The tension between Finn and Liv was especially high.

McIntyre spoke with Rollins backstage. He mentioned they have a common purpose. Seth pointed out that he already took out Reigns and he is going to take out Punk too. “Something you couldn’t do.” Yikes.

Ludwig Kaiser vs. Bron Breakker – Intercontinental Title

The crowd was quiet during this match. I love Ludwig, but it would help if he got TV victories before getting this match. It just seemed unlikely he was going to win.

Ludwig began working over Bron’s shoulder. He worked on it long enough that the crowd began to get behind Bron’s comebacks. Bron hit a one-armed super spear for the win.

Winners: Bron Breakker

The New Day tried to enter the locker room. Rey Mysterio met them at the door and said they were not welcome. He said, “I think it is in your best interest to dress somewhere else.” Kofi and Xavier left to dress under a gondola.

WWE aired a recap of the main event angle at Saturday Night’s Main Event. After showing Owens injure their world champion with a “banned” move, they touted the videos of the incident generated forty-five million views. Can you imagine the NFL showing a gruesome replay of an injury and then saying hey we got tens of millions of views out of it?

Top of the hour

WWE managed to be in a commercial break at the top of the hour. Tony Khan must have done a run-in in their production truck.

Adam Pearce announced Punk vs. Rollins for the Netflix debut. Roman Reigns vs. Solo Sikoa was announced for the show as well, so they are loading up that Netflix debut.

Liv has a megaphone gimmick now, which is hilarious (and irritating) since the crowd drowns out her Dom Dom. She not only used it to speak over the crowd, but Dom put the microphone in front of the megaphone. I laughed.

Out came Rhea. She announced she was the number one contender. Why? What has suddenly changed? Please let that end this endless feud, though.

Backstage, Sami Zayn intercepted McIntyre sneaking up on Rollins. A brawl ensued.

In one of the most shocking moments in weeks, The Final Testament all spoke. All of them. Even Tokkha and Rahzer spoke, which I do not remember ever happening. They all told Miz he had to face Dexter Lumis next week.

Raquel Rodriguez vs. Zoey Stark vs. Kayden Carter – Intercontinental Tournament

I would love to know who books their women’s division and ask them why they thought this was a promising idea.

Here are some adjectives for this match: Awkward. Clumsy. Off putting. Tiresome.

Zoey messed up her finish for the win. Yes, she won on a botch.

Winners: Zoey Stark

We had a meeting of jobbers in the back. Truth is still trying to make Butch a thing. Pete said this was his last warning, to stop calling him Butch. Did he not just say the same thing last week?

Alpha Academy are now feuding with American Made. Again. Did we not finish this months ago? This was nightmare fuel.

Jackie Redmond caught up with The New Day who were standing around with their luggage. Why are they here? Suddenly, there was screaming. Zoey shut Kairi Sane’s hand in a trunk. So why did she attack Kairi and not Dakota? She faces Dakota next week.

The War Raiders vs. The Judgement Day – Tag Team Titles

Much like the Breakker match, the crowd was not into this match early on. These two teams were able to draw them in and had the crowd on edge through the second half of the match. JD and Finn made the two Raiders look like monsters.

Late in the match, Finn went for a chair and was stopped by Damien Priest. This cleared the way for the Raiders to get the win. The crowd popped huge on the finish.

Winners: The War Raiders

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