SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)…
Opening Segment – HIT: Raw got off to a good start with the reunited Usos coming to the ring. Jimmy Uso got a chance to remind the fans that he was arguably the better performer, but he kept getting hurt at inopportune times during the original Blood Line story, got saddled with bad writing, and missed out on the Yeet Movement even though he was saying it with his brother too at the beginning. He deserves a chance to show his skills on the mic which I believe are superior to his brother’s, and he was good here (along with the backstage segments later in the show). Bronson Reed continues to show that he is far ahead of Bron Breakker on the mic. I greatly enjoy his work. The build to the fight with L.A. Knight getting involved all worked well to set up the theme for this show.
A.J. Styles vs. Americano – HIT: This match was a good follow up on El Grande Americano costing AJ Styles the Intercontinental Championship match last week against Dominik Mysterio. The interference from Dos Americano and the save from Dragon Lee was fine. The ending sequence was particularly strong, with Styles showing off how smooth he is in the ring with the way he rolled up into that Styles Clash for the win.
Americano Story – MISS: There was a story and purpose behind the original El Grande Americano character with Chad Gable. When it was carried on by Ludwig Kaiser, they kept American Made involved with the Creed Brothers upset that someone else was trying to play the role. Now, they are MIA. There doesn’t seem to be a purpose behind the character at this point. He is working with Mysterio and upsetting the rest of Judgment Day, but to what end? Why are there others in the role too? A little mystery is fine, but it feels like they are just dragging their feet and not presenting a real story with a beginning, middle and end. I don’t see any progress.
A.J. Lee Video – HIT: It was smart for WWE to have a video like this to help reintroduce AJ Lee to the audience, especially newer fans who weren’t following her career before she left 10 years ago. It was very well done.
ARTICLE CONTINUED BELOW…
Check out the latest episode of the Wade Keller Pro Wrestling Post-show covering the latest episode of Raw: CLICK HERE to stream (or search “wade Keller” on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or any other iOS or Android app to subscribe free)
Valkyria vs. Rodriguez – HIT: This was a good match with Lyra Valkyria losing to Raquel Rodriguez. With Valkyria taking on Roxanne Perez next week, this is presumably an avenue for the return of Bayley to help (or hurt) Lyra as she needs a partner against the Judgment Day duo.
Lee – Lynch – HIT: This probably went on a little too long, but the segment worked well overall. Lee was definitely over with the fans, and performed well despite the long layoff from performing like this in front of a crowd. Becky Lynch is playing her unhinged heel character very well. Her role along with Seth Rollins’ hypocrisy in how he tried to get in the ring with Lee was strong. I’m not a big fan of Title belts being stollen, but at least this version of the angle was kept short. CM Punk had a nice surprise appearance as well. We got to the expected tag team match for WrestlePalooza.
Bayley Vignettes – MISS: As a general rule, I fall firmly in the camp who don’t want to see these types of fourth wall breaking segments in pro wrestling. I wasn’t a fan of segments in the past where we heard what was going on inside someone’s mind, or we saw a point of view shot. I was ok with these videos from Bayley at first despite them having this issue. The reason I saw these as different than past instances of similar productions is that the announcers initially said that the videos were being made and uploaded by Bayley herself. I took that to mean that Bayley was doing the post-production with the voice overs, and that we weren’t supposed to think we were actually hearing her inner monologue. But, they haven’t had any type of talk about it since that first week. The announcers are not talking about this as something Bayley is making. They aren’t questioning the effects. They are just presenting them like any other pre-made video. It wouldn’t take much effort for an announcer to simply question why Bayley is making these videos and why she wants to present her mind’s eye in this way.
Penta vs. Rusev – HIT: I expected interference, so I wasn’t surprised when New Day distracted Penta to cost him against Rusev. The match before that was good, although nothing special. Rusev needed the win to keep his momentum going after finally beating Sheamus. He had a chance to tell Adam Pearce that he wants to win a Championship which gives him some purpose. Penta is part of a story where he needs some help against New Day, so his part made sense to ad to that story.
Knight vs. Reed – HIT: The main event was good. Reed dominated much of the match, but Knight was able to avoid some of the big moves to set up his own offense throughout with some nice hope spots. Reed and Breakker need to be kept strong, so having Reed get the fairly decisive win was smart. There was only a brief distraction from Breakker which helped him, but that didn’t seem as overt in terms of the interference we typically see in these Raw main events. I also thought it was interesting to see Reed win with his Death Valley Driver variant the Jagged Edge instead of a Tsunami. I have been advocating for years for wrestlers to win more matches with secondary moves. It helps sell near falls the next time Reed hits the Jagged Edge on an opponent. The post-match angle with Jimmy Uso, and then Jey Uso getting involved was well done too. The spear from Jey to Knight with Jimmy’s upset face was a good ending to Raw after all the build to that moment throughout the show.
Jon Mezzera is PWTorch.com’s WWE Raw Hits & Misses Specialist, providing his point of view for Raw each week. Email him at jmezz_torch@yahoo.com. Follow him on BlueSky @jonmezzera.bsky.social
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