Hello again my faithful readers! It’s time once again for our weekly RAW Nutshell, and this one has us ticking toward TLC. That’s right, the final PPV of the year is just a couple weeks away. The card is shaping up rather well, with a major storyline being whether Baron Corbin will manage to secure full time General Manager duties. In the meantime, the “GM-elect” continues to run RAW as he sees fit-with interesting results. What does RAW have in store for us tonight? Let’s crack open this Nutshell and find out!
Best Match of the night:
I have to give this to Drew McIntyre versus Dolph Ziggler. Tonight these two were on point and delivered a very, very entertaining match.
Honorable mention to our main event. Ronda had a good beginning and great end for the evening.
Worst match of the night:
Lucha House Party against Scott Dawson. Like, you think the trio would be a babyface team, but coming in with their own rules, allowing all three to work the match and such…certainly doesn’t seem like overly babyface. Are they entertaining? Yes, to a point. Beyond that, this has a shelf life.
Crowd Chants of the Night:
you suck
let’s go Ziggler
Star of the Night
We have a few choices-Dean, Seth, Ronda would all be good. But tonight, I do feel as though Drew McIntyre began to really emerge. He could be huge, finally.
Spot of the Night:
Sure, it basically opened the show, but when it was all said and done, the violence in the opening segment, culminating in Natalya going through the table, takes my spot of the evening.
Jobber of the Night:
The SWAT guys that were around the ring with Dean Ambrose. They had to take some licks from Seth Rollins.
Lio Rush deserves some love here too.
Upset of the Night:
Nothing jumps out at me. Everything went about as you’d expect.
Holy Sh** Moment of the Night:
Hot opening segment, with the RAW women getting the open. Riott Squad putting Natalya through a table was an impressive way to kick things off. The one issue here? Nia Jax is supposed to be the monster women’s heel, yet she did not put Natalya through the table. Nothing wrong with getting heat on Riott Squad, but when you have them share a segment with Nia, the heat belongs on the top heel.
Botch of the night:
Nothing to report
LOL Moment of the night:
Poor Rhyno loses a match to Heath Slater, with the winner getting to stay. Except that Slater isn’t staying as a Superstar. Corbin told Slater he’s now a referee.
Noteworthy Moment:
We finally have on air mention of the women’s tag titles. Now, that does not mean anything for sure, because it was “only” Sasha and Bayley mentioning them, but we can read beyond that. The reality is WWE wouldn’t allow them to say anything on air without planning it (at least, most of the time). So by having Alexa Bliss ask them what they wanted, and having them say they wanted to become the first ever women’s tag team title holders, then I think we can get excited.
Also, worth noting that Alexa Bliss actually briefly appeared to play impartial-which could be something considering the rumors that she might slide into Baron Corbin’s role at some point.
With his faction falling apart, it has been looking more and more possible ove recent weeks that Ziggler could have turned babyface. Tonight we wait no longer, as the Showoff did indeed turn face by going off on Drew McIntyre.
Overall lowlights:
Honestly, the show was run so much better than last week. It had a good flow. It hooked us in from the opening segment and made us wait for the main event for the payoff. We had a great segment with Dean and Seth, and lots of good things in between. I have no complaints this evening.
Overall highlights:
I am a huge fan of when WWE does a ten bell salute (really, any wrestling group). It’s one of those time honored memorials that never fails to give me goosebumps. In light of the show being in Houston, and former President George H.W. Bush passing away over the weekend, WWE saw fit to honor the late President in the best way they could.
Love that the women opened and closed the show.
Ronda looks good.
The women’s tag title tease is promising.
Dean and Seth pushed all the right buttons tonight.
Drew McIntyre. Enough said.
After the final bell:
All said, this was a vast improvement from last week. As good as this show was, I hope that next week’s go-home show improves upon tonight’s effort. If they keep the momentum going, we should be in good shape for TLC.
