Joe Does Not Back Down
The best part, by far, on WWE RAW was the beginning 10 minutes. Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman came out, with Heyman cutting a promo on Samoa Joe. He begins to question if Joe is man enough to face the beast. This prompts Joe to come out and get into the ring, face to face with Lesnar. He headbutts him and all hell breaks loose. Referees cannot contain them, so the locker comes out to separate the two men. Joe lands a kick to the face of Lesnar and they try to fight out of being restrained.
It sounds so simple and worked so well. Samoa Joe cannot be a heel that is afraid. That is not what he is about and would make him look weak if he backed down from Lesnar. Going against the usual, the writers let him get into Lesnar’s face and take him down. I loved it and loved how they gave Lesnar a guy that looks and feel like he could legit beat him. Nobody really can, but suspending some belief is more than booking something that is completely ridiculous. Great action from Joe tonight and two straight weeks where he has shown that he deserves to be in this spot on Monday nights.
Trying To Connect the Cruiserweights
The Cruiserweight Division on WWE RAW had some really poor moments and one good one. First off, Akira Tozawa has moved on from Brian Kendrick and now trying to be brought into the “Titus Brand.” What? I have never heard Tozawa speak or have ever thought he should be paired with these two guys. It has no backstory or any sense connected.
Cedric Alexander beat Noam Dar after one move, thanks to Dar being distracted when Facetiming Alicia Fox from home. You could hear her yell in the arena and then backstage as well. Both of these segments were pretty bad and have no real meaning behind them. If you want us to care about Tozawa, why would you pair him with Apollo and Titus? Why would a face try to be paired with a heel in a storyline so lazy and boring?
At least we got to see Neville beat the hell out of someone. I think Neville’s promo was excellent, as he plays off a heel better than 90 percent of the roster. Even his excellent promo skills cannot help more segments that reminded me of WWE Sunday Night Heat instead of their flagship show.
