Kevin Owens: Shakespearean Actor

Raw opened this week in a unique fashion as Kevin Owens was in the center of the ring with a spotlight on him literally and figuratively. His suit brought to mind Samoa Joe and Triple H and his promo did the same. Declaring that he has never believed the hype behind Goldberg and plans to simply outsmart him, it is clear that this Kevin Owens is no longer the comedy act of the past year and back to the ruthless fighter that he was in NXT. This segment may end up being one that defines Owens’ career in the future as it was both intense and captivating while seeming grounded in reality as Goldberg’s inability to last long in matches was surprisingly brought up.

The whole segment had a very stage play monologue vibe to it and perhaps the most interesting line of it all was: “I know how to play the game better than anyone else!” However unsubtle it was, this nod to Triple H was far more understated than WWE usually is and creates incredibly interest going forward as to what role HHH is playing behind the scenes.

Overall Score: 5/5

Where next for Shesaro?

A tag match followed as the culmination of the dull feud Enzo/Cass and Cesaro/Sheamus feud to decide the number one contendership for the tag belts at Fastlane. Despite how disinterested I have been in these teams fighting verbally, this physical confrontation was really enjoyable with plenty of good spots. It’s really nice to see Enzo and Cass in the title hunt again after being aimless for months and I was shocked to see them go over here given how over Cesaro and Sheamus have been and how much Enzo and Cass don’t need belts to be popular. I doubt they’ll win at Fastlane as the Club needs to remain strong but it at least gives them some legitimacy back that they have lost in the past few months

My only complaints about the match have less to do with the actual ring work but with the storytelling. At this point the tension between Cesaro and Sheamus that built at the Royal Rumble seems all but forgotten despite being a very interesting concept. In addition, Enzo is clearly beginning to get on the nerves of some fans and the chants of “Thank you Sheamus” after the Celtic Warrior’s post match attack is an example of this. Enzo really needs to be reeled back on promos or he is gonna end up falling off with the fans real quick in my estimation.

Overall Score: 4/5

The Fast Track to the Cruiserweight Mid-Card

Akira Tozawa’s problems with Brian Kendrick came to blows earlier than I anticipated this week as the two were set for a match that ended up not happening. There isn’t much to say here than Kendrick ended up slapping Tozawa for not accepting his pre-match handshake. While this would typically be a heel action for Tozawa in the context of the cruiserweight division, it was a nice character moment for him as it allowed him to stand up to the heel Kendrick. While Tozawa was left reeling after this, a future match will hopefully see Tozawa go over and hopefully move up from the Cruiserweight mid-card that he is currently in after only 3 weeks.

Overall Score: 4/5

Killing Time

Both Roman Reigns and The Club have big things coming up at Fastlane. Both Roman Reigns and The Club had their opponents at Fastlane busy elsewhere on Monday. What do you do to solve this? The typical WWE approach where all the leftover pieces of a puzzle are thrown into a match with each other and nothing of consequence happens. Great.

In the end, The Club went over via Reigns hitting them with a chair and although Reign’s outburst was badass and reminiscent of his short run as a ruthless hero in late 2015 that got him over, it’s hard to not feel that The Club were being buried as one man beats two men who are considered the top of the division in kayfabe

Overall Score: 2/5

Clash of the Utility Talent

The New Day took on Rusev and Jinder Mahal in another inconsequential match next, but with the added context of involving talent that isn’t doing anything else. With that context, this segment was just dumb fun as the New Day learned that Lana had secured their plans for an Ice Cream machine and had to get them back. This resulted in a cartoonishly hilarious spot where Xavier Woods scared the iPad with the plans on it out of Lana’s hands by playing his trombone behind her. This spot surrounded a fun, well booked match where no one really gets buried and everyone gets more over with the crowd. Given that the New Day will be the “hosts” of WrestleMania, it’s easy to see that they are essentially utility talent that can make any segment entertaining and given all they’ve accomplished in ring, I don’t mind this at all.

Overall Score: 5/5

From Irrelevant to Captivating

Given how little I cared about the Cruiserweight title match at Fastlane in terms of story up until this point, this contract signing did wonders for the narrative between Jack Gallagher and Neville. Despite the segment beginning with a dead crowd, as these two went off on each other on the mic (a particular highlight being Gallagher suggesting they eat tea and biscuits during the signing, garnering a chant of “Tea and Biscuits” from the crowd) the crowd got more and more behind them. As the segment progressed, it became clear the feud is going to be over how each man represents their home country of England as Gallagher believes he is more than a stereotype and a genuine gentleman and Neville believes he is the true face of the UK and its grime and ugliness. Both men killed it here on the mic and Gallagher particularly made himself a believable contender, especially as he drove away Neville.

Overall Score: 5/5

Blink and You’ll Miss It

Nia Jax fell back on squash matches this week in a match that I literally fast forwarded through on accident. She also continued to be unconvincing on the mic after the match and threw her hat in the ring for the women’s title.

I really didn’t care.

Overall Score: 1/5

Gone Too Soon

Bayley addressed the WWE Universe next as she commented on the controversy of last week’s stellar women’s title match and soon enough Stephanie McMahon came out asking her to relinquish the title due to Sasha Banks interference. Soon enough, Banks herself come out and tries to persuade Bayley to keep it, acting like the angel on Bayley’s shoulder to Stephanie’s devil. Eventually Bayley decides she won’t relinquish it  and Charlotte comes out to announce she doesn’t even want the title handed back, but wants to win it back at Fastlane. Every women here does an absolutely stellar job fulfilling their roles with special credit going to Bayley for conveying both earnest happiness and internal conflict with ease.

In the end, Charlotte ended up taking on Sasha Banks in a rematch that reminded everyone of how great their feud was last year with another stellar match that was at worst over pretty quick as Sasha went over. While I assume that this indicates Charlotte will get her heat back at Fastlane, at the moment it’s nice to just enjoy great women’s wrestling.

Overall Score: 5/5

The Destroyer Does Just That

As Sami Zayn was approaching the ring to face Kevin Owens once again I was really not excited to see these two face off again despite that they are incredible workers. Luckily, expectations were subverted as Samoa Joe attacked Zayn before he could even enter the squared circle. Zayn was brutalized by Joe (who was suspiciously in dress clothes) and was then thrown in the ring with Kevin Owens to start the match at Zayn’s request. Owens made quick work of Zayn and won but not before an obvious link between Owens and Joe was created. Clearly this is meant to bring to mind Triple H again and possibly hint at a new faction between the three. Again this was much more subtle than Raw usually is and I appreciated it. Zayn insisting he should go on even after being destroyed by Joe was another nice touch of character building.

Overall Score: 5/5

A Massive Main Event in Every Way

The much hyped match between Braun Strowman and Big Show closed Raw this week and felt huge in every way possible. Besides the obvious size of the competitors, this match with no story buildup somehow was built up as a match of great significance with constant mention of the similarities between these two on commentary, a “tale of the tape” and a big fight “feel” that is hard to articulate. I honestly wish WWE would do this more and just have special attraction matches for the sake of the attraction as it makes the show feel more important.

These two men put on a hell of a match and both came across as genuine spectacles in their attempts to out power each other. The suplex contest between the two was probably the best example of this but there were plenty of other fun spots taking advantage of these men’s strength. It’s great to see big superstars still getting a chance to shine and put on great matches that take advantage of their skills and I hope this starts a trend as the crowd themselves seemed to be really into it as well.

Strowman put away Big Show with two powerslams and soon enough Roman Reigns came out to build up his match with Strowman at Fastlane. Reigns thankfully knocked out by Strowman quickly and the show ended with the monster among men standing tall.

Overall Score: 5/5

Average Score: 4/5

While not hitting the highs of last week, Raw was still a very capable show again this week and a lot of this had to do with the pages Raw took out of Smackdown’s book by being more subtle, more focused, more artistic, and by building matches to be huge events throughout the night.

Till Next Time,

Lucas