Written by Brian McNamara
It’s WWE Draft Night Two as Monday Night RAW in Denver begins with a pre-credits “Previously on Firefly Funhouse” recapping The Fiend and Seth Rollins rivalry over the past few months. The recap fades out on the Fiend’s maniacal laugh and the show begins with PYRO!
Becky Lynch is out to open show, extolling her position as the overall first draft pick. She briefly talks about wanting to kick Sasha Banks all over the state of Colorado, but not getting the chance now. She then talks about how she “can’t seem to get rid of Charlotte,” but that she’s ready for a war and ready to rip somebody’s arm off.
Charlotte arrives, resplendent in a light pink and blue robe. The promo takes an odd tack as Charlotte quips that maybe “the nightmare will never end” and they’re doomed to fight forever. They banter back and forth with Charlotte ultimately saying she just wants to be friends again. Becky looks away and Charlotte plants an elbow in her face. As we all know, in wrestling friendship is stupid and is always a pretense to a smackdown. They then attack each other in a pretty good tussle that spills to the outside and they need to be separated by four referees. Despite some good action, the opening seemed a little dull and they didn’t really setup stakes for the match Becky and Charlotte match.
Becky Lynch vs. Charlotte Flair: Winner’s Brand Gets Top Pick on Night 2
Commentary seem as confused by the stakes for this match as I did. It’s a bit muddled, at first they seemed to imply the winner became the top overall draft pick? But it seems this got straightened out over the course of the match. Becky and Charlotte put on a technically solid match but it felt low gear for the majority of the match; just something off in the energy of the match. That said, Charlotte seemed particularly on point, her head-scissors-face-slam and he refined Natural Selection both looked amazing and vicious. The match picked up in the final moments and Becky scores the win for RAW’s top draft spot with a crucifix pin.
Winner: Becky Lynch
Rollins cuts a somewhat tepid backstage promo where he tries to out over his actions at Hell In A Cell, but it feels very much like retconning and counteracting the strong reactions to that ending. He says he’s out on a Fiend Hunt as we set up for Draft Night Round 2.
The draft begins with some amazing vignettes from the USA and FOX executive war rooms. The USA room is full of aggressive over-actors. FOX is somewhat better, but the FOX SPORTS Robot is there! Helping in the draft and commentary no sells it. Jim Cramer provides some general “stock tips,” two of which appear to be pretty prescient.
ROUND 1 DRAFT
RAW DRAFTS SMACKDOWN DRAFTS
Seth Rollins Brock Lesnar
Charlotte Flair The New Day
Andrade & Zelina
Some solid picks but some of these feel like confirming rosters and less about surprising turns.
Andrade and Zelina come out, declaring themselves part of the RAW brand. Zelina hypes Andrade and says that his placement in the draft not only puts him on part with the Champions Seth and Brock, but they must strive to be on the same show as El Idolo. Zelina throws shade at the Four Horse Faces – err, Horse Women – before saying “I’m sorry” to Andrade.
Andrade vs. Ali
Unfortunately this match began during the break. A really good contest between two of the best performers in the WWE today. The highlight of the match is Andrade flying over Zelina on the apron and flipping into Andrade on the floor. Zelina whips out her wicked hurricarana on Ali off the apron and shoves him into the ring where Andrade picks up the win.
Winner: Andrade
ROUND 2 DRAFT
RAW DRAFTS SMACKDOWN DRAFTS
Kabuki Warriors Daniel Bryan
Rusev Bayley
Aleister Black
An interesting set of picks. Surprised the Kabuki Warriors rated so highly, hopefully this means a larger emphasis on them. Evil Bayley getting more emphasis, hopefully into a prominent spot on Smackdown, which always seemed to elude her post-NXT.
Viking Raiders vs. Robert Roode and & Dolph Ziggler: RAW Tag Team Champions
Eric and Ivar come out strong in the match, with Ivar flying through the air within minutes. The tempo turns and Roode and Ziggler dominate a while. The match felt a little workaday, like something from a house show, but Ivar’s athleticism really makes the match. The crowd clearly was behind the Viking Raiders and their ultimate victory here seemed cathartic. Ziggler and Roode are capable wrestlers who made the raiders look good, but there was just something missing in the chemistry here. Happy for the Raiders to get a push here.
Winners and new Champions: Viking Raiders
Back stage Ivar and Eric cut a promo with their new titles. The raiders talk about their undefeated streak and then mention the IWGP and ROH Tag Titles ON WWE.
ROUND 3 DRAFT
RAW DRAFTS SMACKDOWN DRAFTS
Cedric Alexander Shinsuke Nakamura
Umberto Carrillo Ali
Eric Rowan
205 Live standouts getting major attention on RAW which is a great sign for mixing up the styles in WWE away from a “house style” that has become common.
Aleister Black vs. Eric Young
Strikes, strikes, strikes. A good pairing in what is ultimately a too short match to establish Aleister has a force to be reckoned with after his draft placement. He taps out Young in short order and basks in all his goth glory.
Winner: Aleister Black
ROUND 4 DRAFT
RAW DRAFTS SMACKDOWN DRAFTS
Buddy Murphy Dolph Ziggler & Robert Roode
Jinder Mahal Carmella
R-Truth
A somewhat more mixed bag of draftees, but Murphy’s placement and Carmella being split from Truth give us some hints at new directions for RAW and ‘Mella respectively.
The O.C. drop in on the Street Profits promo, declaring themselves the official hosts of Monday Night, and then the Good Brothers beat up the Profits before.
Ricochet vs. Shelton Benjamin
Surprisingly good pairing off the bat. Some good chemistry and great interplay of flippy dude versus powerhouse. Ricochet landed on his feet from a belly-to-belly suplex off the top rope and picked up the win over Benjamin. These two could have a much longer program and I would like to see it.
Winner: Ricochet
The very creepy massage vignettes of Lana and Bobby Lashley lead in to Jerry Lawler hosting the “contract signing” for Tyson Fury and Braun’s match at Crown Jewel. Braun gives one of those promos that puts over Fury by pretending to be negative. They take the odd pathway of claiming Fury is stealing Braun’s spotlight because he’s got such a big ego and then Fury says he was there because he’s a fan of Braun’s. The segment ends with Braun smashing the table and Fury taunting him by failing to break a pen in half a few times. Strange energy.
ROUND 5 DRAFT
RAW DRAFTS SMACKDOWN DRAFTS
Samoa Joe The Miz
Akira Tozawa King Corbin
Shelton Benjamin
Interesting that Monday Night RAW in Denver is taking on something similar to the early 205 live days when RAW would have a cruiserweight segment.
Buddy Murphy vs. Cedric Alexander
A good start to the match, two electric performers. Buddy’s strikes look and sound especially vicious and the crowd reacted to them in kind. The match was a bit of a onesided affair with brief pockets of offense from Cedric. A showcase for Buddy Murphy, the hidden secret, more than a real match.
Winner: Buddy Murphy
During a promo for Crown Jewel, the Seth Rollins and Fiend match is announced to be a Falls Count Anywhere match. Feels like that should have come as the result of a segment or promo featuring the Fiend or Rollins and not just randomly announced.
ROUND 6 DRAFT
RAW DRAFTS SMACKDOWN DRAFTS
Rey Mysterio Shorty Gable
Titus O’Neil Elias
Liv Morgan
Lowerkey picks here. Although happy that Jersey Girl Liv Morgan was able to secure a full position on the RAW roster. Booker T and Renee discuss a potential “hot trade” to be talked about on FS1’s WWE Backstage tomorrow night on their panel interview.
Kabuki Warriors vs. Natayla & Lacey Evans
Asuka out here with a great makeup look. Lacey in as Natty’s surprise partner. The match began during the ad break. A very slow and methodical match with a number of rest holds and submissions. A somewhat strange use of all these talents. There didn’t seem to be much story as to why Lacey was Natty’s partner or any real conflict between. Oddly, Lacey eats the pin in this one after delivering the Women’s Right to Kairi who she mistakenly thought was the legal opponent. Asuka gets a surprise rollup win. A very strange use of all these talents.
Winner: Kabuki Warriors
After the Kabuki Warriors make their exit, we cut to the Firefly Funhouse. Bray begins to cut a promo talking about how much he wants to be friends with Seth Rollins before he is attacked out of nowhere by Seth. Seth has invaded the Funhouse and he makes short work of Bray and the portraits on his wall. The one-sided beatdown of the be-sweatered Bray strikes an odd tone. His plaintive cries to be helped by Seth and to be friends seem also face-ish. Seth then slams Bray through the cardboard set and then sets fire to it all. As The Fiend’s laugh echoes, and Monday Night RAW in Denver ends.
Draft episodes of RAW and SmackDown have always suffered. They are full of filler matches without much story and tonight was no exception. There were some good moments and ways to make draftees shine, but ultimately it feels somewhat light. In speeding up the draft segments, they feel superfluous and there’s no real consequences to them. There were few links between segments and you could skip the two Seth segments, hours apart, and not miss anything.
Monday Night RAW in Denver wasn’t a bad show. But it was somewhat boring. As SmackDown rises in prominence, RAW has increasingly taken on an Also Ran status. There are good names drafted on the show. But don’t be surprised if turns into two hours of RAW and a secret hour of 205 LIVE. That’s not a bad fate, but something has to give and reinvigorate the show. That may be the key.
The media cross promotion for the Draft was superfluous and outside of synergy, felt like it was taking time away from matches. Add in some oddly timed ad breaks and the lack of throughline for the night and you’re left with just okay. And in this age of More Wrestling Than Ever, they’re going to have to try harder.
After Raw went off the air There was a dark match for the universal championship! Rollins vs The Fiend, bray attacked the rest getting a DQ.. But it was still an awesome suprise!
Reff**