The Women on WWE RAW
First match on WWE RAW featuring the women saw Dana Brooke pick up a quick win over Alicia Fox. Dana has the look and the strength, but she still needs to learn a lot in the ring to be put into main event status. Alicia Fox has, and will always be, one of the most underrated women on the roster. Emma comes out and hugs Dana Brooke. Boy, does this segment have no reaction from the crowd. Emma just doesn’t connect.
Later in the night, we see Alexa Bliss talk about Bayley and Bayley makes her way to the ring. She talks about being in her hometown on Sunday and Alexa laughs at her. She makes fun of her being the child, the kid in the ring and will be happy to beat her in front of her family and friends on Sunday.
Sasha Banks tries to save her friend, but a match takes place. After Alexa hits some kicks and Sasha tries to lock in the Bank Statement, Alexa walks out and gets counted out. She ends up hitting Bayley from behind and runs off. It is crazy to me how natural and believable Alexa is as a character. Banks and Bayley are great wrestlers who should not use a microphone. Both are unbearable to listen to and they have been telling the same story for the past year. Please, give them more creative lines to use. It is bad and very hard to sit through and try to focus your attention on their gimmicks when they are just so poor right now.
What The Hell Are They Doing With Finn?
As Enzo Amore gets beaten up before a six man tag team match, Finn Balor is announced as his replacement. He teams with Cass and Seth Rollins to defeat Anderson, Gallows and Samoa Joe. Seth Rollins debuts his new finisher, a running knee of sorts and picks up the win. Seth vs. Samoa Joe will be good to see on Sunday. Finn Balor will be on the Kickoff Show as a guest on MizTV.
WWE Payback is hurting the direction of many guys. You have an ENTIRE WWE RAW focusing around The Miz, but he is not even on the WWE Payback card. You do not have an Intercontinental Championship or WWE Universal Championship match on the card. This is supposed to be a “RAW only” Pay-Per-View, but the Superstar Shakeup messed that up. After much bickering, I will add a few more things.
Finn Balor doesn’t feel important to me anymore. I love the guy and love almost everything about him, but his return over the past 3-4 weeks makes me feel like he is just another normal superstar. WWE Payback should have featured a Number One Contender’s Fatal Four Way. Have Finn vs. Seth Rollins vs. Samoa Joe vs. The Miz. You can let Roman Reigns and Braun Strowman finish their feud or include them in an epic six pack challenge. With Brock as champion, the mid card title is not being utilized and there is no set plans for finding the next guy to face Brock Lesnar. That is the glaring issue here and it is not a good one. WWE RAW just does not feel important right now.
Apollo Crews defeated Curt Hawkins
Poor Crews. The best athlete in the game and he is relegated to a low card involvement with Titus O’Neil. They try and try, but nothing ever works with the University of Florida star.
