My posts on this blog have been long…and time consuming. As much as I love talking about wrestling, I feel my current method for covering both Raw and Smackdown is just too much given how much else I have to do this semester. From now on I will be solely focusing on the opening, closing, and a middle segment of each show in comparing the two programs. I hope that this will not only prevent me from having to write 2500+ words ever week in order to cover each show, but allow me to cover what are arguably the most important segments in a more in-depth manner. I will also begin grading segments on a 10 point scale as to hopefully gain more nuance in the face of a lack quantity

Now, on with the first post of this new format!

Goldberg Continues to Prove His Worth

Raw began this week in a rather retro fashion as Goldberg entered with all of the buildup and chants that Green Bay could muster. With a mic in his hand, Ol’ Bill controlled the Resch Center with a level of calmness and confidence that few Superstars can muster, let alone Bill himself back in the 90s. Goldberg asserted that he never breaks his promises and by promising to win the Universal title from Owens, sealed KO’s fate.

Hearing his name, Owens immediately comes out and after a rare verbal stumble, delivers a great promo where he reminds everyone that he has beat John Cena, the entirety of the Shield in 1 on 1 contests, and even Chris Jericho (although he won’t give him more than a passive mention). The most important part of this promo was possibly what KO said next as he stated Goldberg is the next person who will feed into the “evolution of KO”. Evolution is obviously the keyword here as it is again a callback to Triple H, this time referencing his previous stable. As much as a second version of this stable with Triple H stepping into Ric Flair’s role has been rumored, this almost seals the deal on this actually happening with Samoa Joe being another obvious member.

After hearing all of this , Goldberg asks to fight Kevin Owens in Green Bay rather than wait till Sunday and momentarily Kevin Owens seems to accept his challenge as he ups the ante by offering a “Green Bay Street Fight”. KO quickly remembers he is in Green Bay though and he believes they don’t believe they need to see that and begins to make his exit. While the fact that this was in Green Bay was rather arbitrary, KO upping the ante and then going back on his offer is a great heel move that only does more to make him hated by the crowd.

The segment ends with Owens stating that “At Fastlane, the Goldberg chant dies!” and although this will obviously not be the case, it was a strong way to end the segment and overall this was a great way to open the show. When Raw begins on a strong note, the rest of the show feels like much less of a drag as a result as you aren’t waiting for something of consequence to happen.

In addition, while this wasn’t the best go-home segment for a title match, it was a good way of hyping up the match further and utilizing Goldberg’s massively improved mic skills by pitting him against someone who is equally strong.

Overall Score: 8/10

Samoa Joe: Magician?

A little less than midway through the show, Corey Graves welcomed the audience back from commercial break and prepared to interview Seth Rollins about his status at WrestleMania. Rollins came down on a single crutch and as Graves began to ask simple questions about how everything is going, Rollins seemed genuinely emotional regarding it all before revealing that is doesn’t look like he will be cleared by doctors to compete. It is still unclear whether or not this is a shoot or a work (not the injury itself, but the clearance) but Rollins promo made it seem so.

Given how heartfelt and intense this promo was, it’s a shame that some assholes decided it would be a good idea to chant “CM Punk” during this segment and although they were quickly shut down by the rest of the audience, it essentially ruined what was a fantastic segment otherwise. There is a time and place for that chant and this was not it.

Just as this segment was reaching an emotional crescendo, a smug HHH made his way to the ring and talks down to Rollins by essentially reinforcing the idea that he introduced in that Rollins is getting what he deserved. This led to HHH bringing up that Rollins “remembers Samoa Joe, right?” before cutting to a shot of Joe all of sudden standing behind Rollins, outside the ring. This was shot really well and served to create a great visual of HHH literally surrounding him but I genuinely have no idea how Joe got there.

HHH continued and Samoa Joe stepped up onto the apron of the ring and as Rollins turned to look, Triple H demanded that Rollins look at him and not Joe. Not only was this moment a great reinforcement of HHH’s role as a paternal figure to Rollins by having him treat Rollins like a petulant child, but also helped to up the intensity as the camerawork hid Joe from view even though the audience knew he was there. This created a great amount of tension as you didn’t know if Joe was going to attack at any given moment.

HHH continued to demand that Rollins not show up at WrestleMania and demand a match as if he does, it will be the last thing he ever does in a WWE ring. As HHH and Joe attempt to leave, Rollins finally speaks up by calling Triple H “Hunter” (the kayfabe equivalent of calling your father by his first name), and says that because he has nothing to lose he will be at Mania in some capacity as “…if it’s the last thing I ever do, it will be the last thing you ever do!”

Overall Score: 9/10

Who Will Stop Strowman?

Earlier in the night, Braun Strowman demanded a contract signing for his match at Fastlane with Roman Reigns as to prevent Reigns from running away. Surprisingly, this segment main evented the show and began with Foley and Strowman out in the ring. This first part largely served to advance Foley’s storyline as General Manager by having Strowman assert that he no longer respects Foley for the athlete he used to be but the “worn-out” old man he is now. After taking enough verbal abuse, Foley finally snaps and gets in Strowman’s face as he demands respect based on the fact that he is a legend.

Before this can escalate further, Reigns comes out to sign his half of the contract and this quickly devolves into a brawl between the two competitors. This spills into the crowd as cool spot after cool spot follows. This highlight of this was Reigns spearing Strowman and an unfortunate security guard through a barrier which led to Reigns finally looking to sign the contract for real. In a great moment, just as Reigns was about to sign, Strowman stood up and the brawl continued as Reigns looked to finish the job. This backfired and Strowman pushed Reigns into a turnbuckle to make it literally explode outwards in what was an incredibly violent and visually stunning moment as Reigns looked genuinely broken afterwards. He eventually lifted his upper body enough to sign the contract in what was a really fantastic visual to end Raw on.

Although the idea of a contract signing is rather boring at this point, the fact that Strowman demanded this only to attack Reigns added some depth to his character if this is to be interpreted as Strowman setting this up only to attack his opponent. Additionally, this segment really made the odds seem stacked against Reigns, giving him his first genuine challenge in ages.

Overall Score: 10/10

Average Total Score: 9/10

Raw this week opened and closed on blockbuster segments that built great interest towards Fastlane with an amazing segment in the middle that built up an amazing feud going into WrestleMania. It is rare that Raw seems to be looking past the closest PPV and this mix of immediate and long-term hype-building was very welcome and I hope this will continue in the future.

Till next time,

Lucas