WWE RAW was live from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and Kurt Angle kicked things off. He talks about what to expect in tonight’s show and then out comes Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman. Heyman cuts a scathing promo on the odds stacked against Lesnar, going to the fullest in teasing a potential Ultimate leave if he loses at SummerSlam. Brock and Paul leave and their impact is made.
I would have still given Brock Lesnar another segment, potentially attacking all the men in the ring after their Triple Threat Match later in the night. Each week should be a game of “who does it better” until their encounter at SummerSlam. The stipulation of Brock Lesnar leaving WWE RAW if he loses is very intriguing. All of the rumors and hype of him leaving WWE to fight Jon Jones suddenly became real and that is always a good way to get intrigue in a match with Brock Lesnar. (If he ever needed more intrigue) There are two more weeks left to make us feel the importance of this match and tonight was a surprising twist, but one that helps build suspense.
The Hardy Boyz, The Club, The Revival and The Shield
Matt and Jeff defeated Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson in a really good 10-13 minute match. The end of the match came when Matt hit a Twist of Fate and then Jeff connected with a Swanton Bomb to pin Gallows. After the match, they go up and get into the face of Dash and Dawson and begin to brawl. Anderson and Gallows come from behind and all hell breaks loose. Whisper in the wind from the stage to the floor ends a very exciting and eventful few segments with the boys from Cameron, North Carolina standing tall.
An extremely eventful first 35 minutes of the show and the match was solid, as well as the attacks after. You have so much talent and depth in the tag team division, with all three teams eager to get an opportunity to fight Sheamus and Cesaro. All three have gotten wins over the other and tonight was another prime example of how successful all three teams would be. Who do they choose? Can they get away with putting all of the teams in a championship match at SummerSlam? You also have another team that looks to be feuding with Sheamus and Cesaro.
Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose are teasing a reunion of The Shield and are getting into the faces of Sheamus and Cesaro. Seth took on Sheamus in competition on WWE RAW, picking up a roll-up victory over him. I thought, again, the match was really solid and WWE RAW is doing a fantastic job at building more than one team up at a time. With The New Day, all you had was every team seemingly get buried further and further down. That does not seem to be the case.
Do you want Seth and Dean to be involved in this tag team championship feud? I actually think it could benefit Dean as a heel if he turns on Seth Rollins and FINALLY does something fresh with his character. He is well overdue for that and WWE RAW has plenty of faces to make up for an Ambrose heel turn. Hell, do it at SummerSlam and do it to cost Seth Rollins a chance at championships. All in all, WWE RAW tonight focused strong on these teams/stories and I really enjoyed the multiple dynamics they are giving us on a weekly basis.
