Monday Night RAW Updates/Discussion/Spoilers

[Cory]

This is one of the reasons I don't follow NXT! I would be gutted if my wrestling show lost this many people!

Its starting to get cluttered....and honestly I would have expected this sooner. Corbin is gone as the monster heel, but I assume this will let Austin Aries move to his natural heel role. Crews is gone so there's more time for a babyface so room for Itami when he returns, Zayn gone -> Nakamura in. Assuming Balor Club goes to NXT First, Bobby Roode, Cruiserweight Tournament guys getting signed, I think they'll be more than fine with recent losses. The signed two new tag teams too to replenish what they lost with the Vauldvilans/Enzo+Cass

When the injury bug hit I'm not sure with 5-6 main roster ready guys they didn't bring them up....shouldn't that be WWE's luxury? They have a talent pool they can draw from so we get Balor/Joe/Zayn/Corbin instead of League of Nations or Zack Ryder nonsense? So that time has passed....

....But Crews is a rush, I saw on Breaking Ground of whatever that Crews still is awful on the mic and is one of the few dudes who would benefit from being in developmental, but he's clearly there to fill Nevilles void. I'm not sure why the Vauldevilans either....I'm a fan of the champs dropping the belt then going up....rather all the random ones. Enzo and Cass we're more than ready.

[BamBamBunglow]

Well, I'm shocked...

Two better than average... dare I say it? Even "good" RAW's in a row?!?!?

- Two good matches in Cesaro/Owens and Styles/Zayn.

- one decent match in Charlotte/Natalya

- Another Crews Squash Match, making him look pretty strong,

- Gallows & Andreson debut - wasn't as "impactful" as I was hoping, but it made them look like a pair of real killers.

- Tag Team division getting some love. Is seems to be a running theme that they work on something in NXT, then bring it up to the main roster (First the Women, then the Tag... what's next?).

- Enzo & Cass appearing just makes things better from the word go.

- Wyatt face turn seems to be on... I think... Or is it? I'm not sure.

The Wyatt's situation is actually intriguing me at the moment. I'm not sure where it's going, with him tagging with Reigns of all people. It's making the forward booking plans unclear which, to me, is a good thing. It gets people guessing, second guessing and discussing it. It may end up flopping, but I'm cautiously optimistic about this now.

Overall.... yeah, one of the most watchable shows in ages. Felt fresher, less obvious, less... stupid.

[Cory]

Well, I'm shocked...

Two better than average... dare I say it? Even "good" RAW's in a row?!?!?

- Two good matches in Cesaro/Owens and Styles/Zayn.

- one decent match in Charlotte/Natalya

- Another Crews Squash Match, making him look pretty strong,

- Gallows & Andreson debut - wasn't as "impactful" as I was hoping, but it made them look like a pair of real killers.

- Tag Team division getting some love. Is seems to be a running theme that they work on something in NXT, then bring it up to the main roster (First the Women, then the Tag... what's next?).

- Enzo & Cass appearing just makes things better from the word go.

- Wyatt face turn seems to be on... I think... Or is it? I'm not sure.

The Wyatt's situation is actually intriguing me at the moment. I'm not sure where it's going, with him tagging with Reigns of all people. It's making the forward booking plans unclear which, to me, is a good thing. It gets people guessing, second guessing and discussing it. It may end up flopping, but I'm cautiously optimistic about this now.

Overall.... yeah, one of the most watchable shows in ages. Felt fresher, less obvious, less... stupid.

This. Enjoyed it a lot.

[Drama Queen]

I did not see it this week, but judging from the bit I saw last week, the time seems perfect to make Roman Reigns a heel... and I mean a legitimate heel... not one of these guys we enjoy as a heel so we cheer him anyway, but a guy we really want to boo.

This occurred to me as they are no doubt feeding AJ to him at the next PPV... and it's perfect. Look at the line of really over fan favorites they have at the moment that they can feed to him... AJ, Zayn, Cesaro, and apparently now Bray Wyatt, and of course Ambrose.... then Rollins could come back as a face. You could have him going through them all, some of them being bigger feuds than others (Ambrose, Rollins because of the history).

I realize the people I mentioned above might only appeal to the smarks or whatever (although they seem to be pretty over in general these days? but you can also throw in guys like Ryder, Ziggler, Kalisto etc.)

And most of those guys would make him look like a million dollars in the process.

[T-Bonizzle]

The wrench in the heel Reigns plan comes from the debut of the bullet club...it's the WWE thing to do to take a hot group like that and turn AJ heel to run it...

[Duckman]

I enjoyed RAW a lot this week.  I think the babyface authority figure is a breath of fresh air.  It's nice to watch a wrestling show and not be told for 20 minutes every week that we suck, our favourite wrestlers suck and nothing else matters apart for two members of upper management of the company.  Truth be told, I'd much prefer no authority figure because they've been using that same storyline for nearly 20 years now and it's beyond stale.

I thought the matches with Zayn v Styles and Owens v Cesaro were great.  I like the fact they're doing a tournament for the tag title no 1 contendership.  I like Enzo and Cass getting more mic time.  I even enjoyed the main event and liked the tease of Bray going face and his interactions with Roman.  It's all new and feels much fresher.

Nice impactful debut by Gallows and Anderson too.  I know this sounds dumb, but there's something great about the way Anderson moves.  The way he jumped through the ropes to the floor - I don't know, it just seemed better than the way other guys move.  More intense and focused on beating someone up.  His line to the refs when they were backing off about "you guys have got a nice place here" was really good too.

The in-ring talent depth is good in WWE at the moment and all the babyface characters looked good, didn't get made to look like fools and didn't have to back down or be verbally torn apart by Steph for a change.  Do this more.

The women's match was also good and the crowd were really into it.  Like a lot of people on the roster, Nattie is much more over than her push.

Even the bit with Owens getting booted was good, it made sense to kick him out and when it's a heel backing down from a babyface in charge it just works so much better.  Plus you know Owens is coming for revenge in the next week or two.

All in all, while 3 hours is still an hour and a half too long for a wrestling show, this one had me fast forwarding a lot less than normal and overall I enjoyed the show much more than I have done in a long, long time.

Long may this focus on newer characters, faces not looking like dopes and longer well worked matches continue.

That said, the whole Shane being in charge thing makes no sense and totally undermines the whole point of the biggest match at WM this year.  Plus it's kind of rich to have him telling Owens he can't have a IC title match because he LOST at WM!  It was some delicious irony for sure.

Just hope they keep Steph and Hunter off TV for a few more weeks before their inevitable return.

[Cory]

Nice impactful debut by Gallows and Anderson too.  I know this sounds dumb, but there's something great about the way Anderson moves.  The way he jumped through the ropes to the floor - I don't know, it just seemed better than the way other guys move.  More intense and focused on beating someone up.  His line to the refs when they were backing off about "you guys have got a nice place here" was really good too.

I noticed this too.....just looked like a killer in there.


Also, Dr. Phil didnt suck IMO. I saw the guest host kinda thing and thought oh great here we go again with this lame ass shit, but his interaction with Flair was great (woo-off) and he actually advanced the storyline between Charlotte and Ric.

[BamBamBunglow]

POTENTIAL SPOILER

[spoiler]Some of you guys already know about the Falcon Arrow reddit account - the dude who's either a legit WWE insider or the wrestling equivalent of Nostradamus. Numerous twitter's have popped up over the last few months, but one has just been created (FalconArrowWWE), saying Finn Balor is debuting tonight and there'll be a segment with him and AJ Styles. Whether it's true or not is a different story, but with yet another injury (Wyatt), and the fact that London Crowds are usually white hot for anything cool, this is very much a possibility. Also, he says that Gallows/Anderson will attack Enzo & Cass, that he'll reveal his identity and "It won't affect his future in any way shape or form"

I'm dubious this is legit, but we'll find out tonight, I guess.[/spoiler]

[Jon]

POTENTIAL SPOILER

[spoiler]Some of you guys already know about the Falcon Arrow reddit account - the dude who's either a legit WWE insider or the wrestling equivalent of Nostradamus. Numerous twitter's have popped up over the last few months, but one has just been created (FalconArrowWWE), saying Finn Balor is debuting tonight and there'll be a segment with him and AJ Styles. Whether it's true or not is a different story, but with yet another injury (Wyatt), and the fact that London Crowds are usually white hot for anything cool, this is very much a possibility. Also, he says that Gallows/Anderson will attack Enzo & Cass, that he'll reveal his identity and "It won't affect his future in any way shape or form"

I'm dubious this is legit, but we'll find out tonight, I guess.[/spoiler]

God, I hope so.

[Fnord]

Tonight's WWE RAW will take place from London, England with more hype for the May 1st WWE Payback pay-per-view. As a reminder, we will have live spoiler coverage today around 2:30pm EST.

Superstars advertised include WWE World Heavyweight Champion Roman Reigns, Dean Ambrose, AJ Styles, Chris Jericho, WWE Women's Champion Charlotte and more. Matches confirmed include The Usos vs. The Vaudevillains and The Dudley Boyz vs. Enzo Amore and Colin Cassady.

WWE is focusing on the following points for tonight:

* Will rivalries with Jericho, Zayn, Owens and Ambrose reach a boiling point?

* Can Reigns continue to silence his critics as "the guy" in WWE?

* Might Shane McMahon run his third consecutive Raw?

* Is Emma in for an Irish Lass Kicking?

* Who will advance in the No. 1 Contenders' Tag Team Tournament?

[BamBamBunglow]

Well, not quite as good as the last two weeks, but very watchable all the same. Three watchable RAW's in a row...  I'm keeping an eye on the skies for the arrival of the four horsemen (no, not Flair and Arn )

[T-Bonizzle]

Two NXT teams in the finals, that's good!

Trying to turn AJ heel over Reigns though...

[BamBamBunglow]

Two NXT teams in the finals, that's good!

Trying to turn AJ heel over Reigns though...

I actually quite like the way they're playing it. Uso's out, Reigns out, friendly friendly with a reluctant AJ. It gives multiple outs and makes it very hard to predict. Granted, I can't see either AJ winning nor Reigns heel turning (SWERVE!), but I like the idea of maybe even Anderson/Gallows turning on AJ and costing him the match, with Balor being the overall string pulling mastermind.

Also, Jesus take the wheel, Gallows is a scary mo'fo. His arms were wider than AJ's head. I wouldn't spill his pint.

[J-Reb]

I actually quite like the way they're playing it. Uso's out, Reigns out, friendly friendly with a reluctant AJ. It gives multiple outs and makes it very hard to predict. Granted, I can't see either AJ winning nor Reigns heel turning (SWERVE!), but I like the idea of maybe even Anderson/Gallows turning on AJ and costing him the match, with Balor being the overall string pulling mastermind.

Also, Jesus take the wheel, Gallows is a scary mo'fo. His arms were wider than AJ's head. I wouldn't spill his pint.

That's the kind of unpredictable booking that's been lacking... and it actually, you know, makes sense.

You give Reigns a spot-monkey to throw around and make him look good in his first defense. You give Styles a chance to show the rest of the WWE universe that doesn't really know anything about him to shine at a major event. His losing doesn't hurt him a bit. You use Anderson/Gallows to cause him to lose the championship, and then you introduce Balor to the main roster, and you've immediately created a feud that could potential last through SummerSlam in Balor/Styles.

It's like someone who knows wrestling is booking.

[Fnord]

Tonight's WWE RAW will take place from the XL Center in Hartford, CT with the final hype for Sunday's WWE Payback pay-per-view. Superstars advertised include WWE World Heavyweight Champion Roman Reigns, Chris Jericho, Dean Ambrose, AJ Styles, Kevin Owens, Sheamus and WWE Women's Champion Charlotte. It's believed that one or more of the McMahon family members will be appearing but that's not confirmed.

The only match announced for tonight is Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson in their debuts vs. The Usos. WWE is focusing on the following points for tonight:

* Styles' longtime friends Gallows & Anderson to make Raw debut

* How will Dean Ambrose retaliate against Chris Jericho?

* Has Baron Corbin stolen Dolph Ziggler's spotlight?

* Will old-school fisticuffs trump new-school smacktalk with The Vaudevillains and Enzo & Cass?

* Is Shane McMahon's tenure as Raw showrunner coming to an end?