The Official Monday Night RAW Thread

[Nash Diesel]

Kross isn’t good, that’s why.

Big fish in the small pond in NXT, then became just another average big man in the bigs.

He is good, he just gets that start and stop push that makes no sense. When he came back and was in the mix with Drew, even Roman Reigns, it was very interesting. Then he gets taken off tv for 6 months for no reason. Big fish/small pond argument doesn't work when in NXT they were giving him the ball and doing well with it, and then the main roster hits and it's like simply booking went out the window. This isn't like Kross showed up and Vince had him lose to Jeff Hardy in a minute. He's up there now with a guy who knows that he can carry the ball because they don't just give the ball down in NXT to anyone.

But then again....Look at Carmello Hayes. They damn near built NXT 2.0 around him and Breakker and Hayes is barely a factor. Is it because he was never that good and Shawn and Triple H got it wrong?

[Badger]

I think part of it is that the roster’s so bloated that there’s just not room to feature everyone every week. Melo will have his time again probably, could be one of LA Knight’s challengers.

Kross is okay but digged his NXT character much more. I mean New Testament is a big step up from the gimp outfit lol but still not the biggest fan of the stable so far tbh. I mean you got one of the best talkers and legends in Ellering and it’s just empty preaching. Not the most captivating.

Wyatts Sicks are captivating. Final Testament not so much.

[virms]

I didn't really know about Kross except for comments on here as i never watched nxt. His vignettes were interesting enough and I liked the 3 way they initially put him in but he never landed for me. Not just his on and off push but he never really interested me while in a match. Plus I wasn't big on scarlett. She's easy on the eyes but damn she makes some of the most annoying facial expressions I've ever seen. I think some of the plastic surgery just makes her face not be able to move a certain way.

[Tyson]

If a heel turn means Xavier Woods can get a singles title run, I’m here for it.

Beyond Breakker/Knight, there’s a pretty long list of athletes who need their first WWE singles title, in no particular order: Uso (x2), Ford, Dawkins, Woods, Gable. That’s not even accounting for any of the Bloodline 2.0 members, who will undoubtedly soon be included in that group. The upper midcard is about to get crazy interesting.

While we’re at it, two midcard women’s titles are long past due…

[casselmm47]

I'd be there for a Gable/Breakker title battle.

[Hero!]

I didn't really know about Kross except for comments on here as i never watched nxt. His vignettes were interesting enough and I liked the 3 way they initially put him in but he never landed for me. Not just his on and off push but he never really interested me while in a match. Plus I wasn't big on scarlett. She's easy on the eyes but damn she makes some of the most annoying facial expressions I've ever seen. I think some of the plastic surgery just makes her face not be able to move a certain way.

I’ve been watching Karrion/Killer Kross since his Lucha Underground days.

he is awesome in character work, but the absolute definition of the phrase “and then the bell rang”.

hes just not good in the ring. Also needs to shave the head again.

[3puppies]

The definition of "then the bell rang" was Jinder Mahal. He had enough moveset to be part of 3MB enhancement talent, then was rocket strapped just as the tour to India was announced. The audience is not dumb enough not to see through that.

But Kross and Jinder have similarities beyond merely being adequate at best in the ring, despite their ability to talk and having good enough look. Both lack the ability to get the crowd to care about anything they're doing in the ring.

And both suffer from the attempt by WWE of forcing them into the role of leading a stable when they haven't showed that its deserved. Jinder was at his best with the Bollywood Boyz, because Veer and Shanky physically overshadowed Jinder's own impressive physique. The Bollywood Boyz clearly understood their role was to help Jinder succeed. It never felt like that for Veer and Shanky.

Meanwhile, Kross' pairing with AOP/Ellering has been a disaster. There's never even been an attempt to talk about why they are together, they completely waste Ellering's ability on the mic. AOP has a history on their own, so this feels completely forced.

Sometimes, putting otherwise wasted talent together can really click - look at the Wyatt Sick6, or going back, the "B Team" worked for a while. The New Day is maybe the best example.

[Nash Diesel]

Well see that's what Kross needs is the Jinder push lol. Have him beat Gunther for the title next month, give him 6 months on top and see what happens.

[VHS]

Karrion is one of the most boring wrestlers on the planet.

[3puppies]

Carmello Hayes should be feuding with Shinsuke Nakamura. Both are doing nothing, and I think their styles would match well together.

[Badger]

Nice tribute for Sid plus battle of the Brons was a great meatslapper and outside brawl. Glad there wasn’t a clean winner so they can run it back.

Also fun main event for Uncle Bowdy. I was hoping for a spider walk but yeah I’m sure that will come in time. I did wonder why Nikki didn’t show up to peel Ivy off Rowan’s back though.

[Alcoholocaust]

Was expecting Nikki but I loved the fact the Rowan just continued on unphased by her on back. The spot has been seen in the past with bigger guys and smaller or female but usually with a pause for emphasis that it's having no affect before throwing or shrugging them off. Rowan just kept going as if it was nothing more than a fly that landed on him.

[Murphy]

Solid start for Joe Tessitore. 'That's Drew McIntyre in a hoody'.

Will miss Cole and McAfee loads though, massive shoes to fill.

Tessitore reminds me of Ranallo and I imagine loads of others will feel the same.

I know nothing of the guy, not aware of him from the sports world. Assume he's well known from how he was presented.

[3puppies]

I enjoyed the Alpha Academy v. American Made six-person match. It was nice to see Tozawa get some offense in for a change, as the guy is so talented at selling. Maxxine's dive off the top corner to the floor was impressive, as was her reverse caterpillar. I didn't mind the result, as Dupri tapping to Nile is certainly fair after the amount of offense Ivy took from her. The Creed Brothers seemed to work much better when they were faces, but from a storyline perspective, I can understand them looking to get advice from a veteran like Gable.

Zelina Vega deserves better. Zoey Stark bores me, and Shayna Baszler feels like she's only there to fill out the roster. I like Sonya DeVille, though, and I will tune in for Lyra. Since next week they're in Calgary, it seems the faces will get much-needed help from the returning Nattie.

Drew knows how to get heat, and making Punk eat the bracelet is the kind of stuff we may talking about years from now. Best part of the show.

I liked Kofi complaining to Pearce that the Judgment Day haven't defended the tag titles for 2 months, but I liked his stare down with GUNTHER even more.

But of course, we will more likely get GUNTHER vs. Zayn since Sami is the last guy to beat GUNTHER. Sami seems to have cooled off quite a bit since then.

Having two triple threat qualifying matches end due to one guy being distracted by someone outside is lazy writing. Plus, I have never been a Butch/Dunne fan, and it seems like his recent push out of nowhere, here on RAW as well as on NXT, is overexposure. He simply doesn't look like he belongs as a credible threat when he's next to guys the size of Sheamus and Strowman.

[3puppies]

Nice Raw this week. Tessitore and Wade Barrett are building some wonderful chemistry. I liked the work they've done with the fans signs.

Punk's opening promo felt like filler to me.

Sheamus is trying valiantly to get Pete "Butch" Dunne over, who gets the cheap win using a cricket bat. Yawn.

Nattie adds to her record for women's WWE wins. She deserves some rebuilding. Stark is not at all smooth in the ring. She may be worse than Maxxine DuPree.

Jey deserves to beat Bron Breakker. Bron can win it back in a few weeks.

I wonder if the New Day dissention will culminate at Mania. Or is it maybe leading to a return of Big E?

Reed v Strowman did nothing but make me want more from these two. Kudos to the "fan" in the audience, in the Yeet tee shirt, who was launched by Reed at Strowman. He went flying by so fast, I couldn't tell if that was Ricky from last week's Smackdown appearance.

Zayn is heating back up after he cooled by losing to Bron. Kaiser did another really nice job with his promo work. I LOVED how Sami got the crowd to wonder if Kaiser will split from GUNTHER.

IYO and Bianca had the match of the night. It makes sense to have IYO get the win so Damage CTRL can challenge for tag belts.

Crowd was hot for the main event. We all want to see Dirty Dom get his comeuppance.

[Nash Diesel]

[QUOTE=3puppies;8346837
Jey deserves to beat Bron Breakker. Bron can win it back in a few weeks.

.[/QUOTE]

Curious why Jey deserves to beat Bron and then lose it back just a couple weeks later.

[Tyson]

Me, eagerly anticipating a heel run for Xavier Woods. That has so much potential.

[3puppies]

Curious why Jey deserves to beat Bron and then lose it back just a couple weeks later.

My thoughts are more about Jey, who deserves to have a singles title, than Bron. He is over with the crowd, and moves a ton of merchandise. Even a short singles title run will add to his resume - which they made a point to repeat how he has never held a singles title.

But Bron needs a title to help establish himself. He has a bright future, but he won't be hurt by having a loss to Jey if its followed up with a win in a rematch. We were spoiled by GUNTHER holding the IC strap for a long long time - my big regret about that run is they didn't even offer Honky Tonk Man a chance to get a brief payday for an appearance/interview to talk about how he was the greatest IC champ of all time, but even he would acknowledge GUNTHER is something special.

I don't see Bron holding it nearly that long. Therefore, I wouldn't mind him dropping it to Jey, then regaining it. A "rubber match" to settle their feud could be fun, and would help Bron much more than hurt Jey.

Bron can then defend it against Miz, Woods, Ilja, etc. until Sheamus is ready, perhaps by then we'll be up to Mania. Sheamus and Bron have a similar style where it looks like they're beating the hell out of their opponents, because they are.

[Nash Diesel]

I think if they give Jey the IC title he should have a longer reign than a few weeks. To simply give it to him to add to his resume disregards the fact you're giving him a hollow reign. I think if he does beat Bron, you give him a couple months and then maybe someone from Bloodline 2.0 costs him the title where Bron regains it on Raw before Survivor Series. Jey then moves back into the Bloodline story which seems inevitable.

[Badger]

Still seems too early for Bron to lose it. Judgment Day will probably fuck Jey over next week. They might get Bron for War Games down the line then you got Damian, Ilja, Jey (if not in Bloodline storyline by then), Rey and somebody else.

[VoidKitten]

I, for one, support our new yeet overlord.

[3puppies]

Yeet!

[Nash Diesel]

It's stuff like this they need to do more often to get people watching. You just had a rising star get beat for the IC title by one of the top guys in the company on Raw in the main event. That's a huge deal. We don't see that very often happen on free tv especially when you had that dominant run from Gunther and Sami's reign was pretty strong as well.

[3puppies]

So happy for Jey. He deserves every bit of it.

Other RAW thoughts -

Dom and Liv opened up RAW, walking from the car through the back, stopping briefly for the Monsters Backstage Brawl to continue from last week. The production work has been terrific the last few months. But they showed a graphic for the Ripley/Liv match at Bad Blood before the in-ring segment, and it told us Dom was in the shark cage, before it had been announced.

Zayn and Ludwig was really good stuff, even if it had a predictable outcome. I loved Wade Barrett calling GUNTHER a comedy genius. I don't love the angle of GUNTHER ducking Sami, as it makes Pearce look like more of a twit.

I am thrilled that the New Day has a solid story in progress, and it's even better because there are several ways they can go with this. And it's the little things like the guy holding the tray of pancakes, behind Woods' back, Kofi signalling him nevermind, make it worth watching.

Sheamus getting attacked again by Pete "Don't call me Butch!" Dunne with the cricket paddle backstage felt repetitive. When RAW goes back to 2 hours stuff like this will likely get cut.

Drew's promo bored me.

I kind of liked Kross talking backstage to Miz before the match that didn't happen. Maybe the angle Kross was going to play with Woods is getting moved onto Miz, who is better as a heel anyway. I wouldn't be surprised if Miz is a contributing reason that the monsters match ends next week. The crowds are really hot for the monster battles. I hope they find a way to match the build.

Damage CTRL was the obvious winner over Alba/Isla. Iyo is fun to watch, while the unholy witches need to improve.

[Fanny Batter]

Sami vs. Gunther finally happening at Survivor Series in Canada would be a bit of a masterstroke. Gonna be a long build if that's the case. I guess it could be in Saudi first, but I'd let it marinate and build Sami more. Unless he's back to being an honorary Uce in War Games, that's the play. Put the belt on him and give him and KO a 'Mania title match.