Well, this is weird. The overarching storyline features how Shane and Stephanie McMahon have to coexist, while champions and former champions have many scores to settle.
Stephanie attempts to kick off RAW, but is interrupted by her more popular brother, Shane. I won’t bore with the details, but they have some sort of reconciliation, until we finally get somewhere with the arrival of Mr. KO, Kevin Owens. In entertaining fashion, he demands a match against the Miz for the Intercontinental Championship.
I love Owens and his insane logic. Since he never got pinned in a Ladder match, he should get a match against Miz. Awesome. Cesaro then enters the ring, and we get our first match of the night. It’s a fantastic bout, and I really wish Jim Ross was still working to call matches like these. I am so sick of Cole going on a tangent about the McMahons when Owens and Cesaro are putting on a championship quality match. Miz and Zayn wind up interfering, so my guess is a possible Fatal Four Way in the near future.
Backstage: Dean Ambrose is not sold on Stephanie’s change of heart. Neither are we. She is the guest on the Ambrose Asylum tonight.
A Fatal Four between Sami Zayn, The Miz, Kevin Owens, and Cesaro? Yes please. These are the guys we want to watch. Please give us more. But no more Ryback, OK?
Backstage: Roman Reigns and The Usos have a face off with AJ Styles, Karl Anderson, and Luke Gallows. Reigns has a few lines simple enough for him not to botch, and I am really sick of “I’m the Guy.” Really am.
Tyler Breeze and R-Truth continue their quest for attention against Goldust and Fandango. I cannot believe this horrific angle is progressing as far as it is. This will likely result in one unified stable of insanity worse than The Oddities. Really, why? Tyler Breeze probably wants to go back to NXT while everyone else wants to debut on NXT.
The New Day comes out to discuss the Tag Team Tournament, and shout out to Enzo Amore. The Vaudevillians return and bash Enzo, earning huge heel heat. The Dudley Boyz are back and they demand a shot at the Tag Team Championships. Just then, Big Cass comes out and delivers a verbal symphony of his own, and this turns into an awesome eight-man tag match. Wow. Big Cass and The New Day vs. The Dudley Boyz and The Vaudevillians. Excellent match. The Big Cass earns the MVP spot tonight, mauling D-Von with the East River Crossing for the victory.
These are the matches I want. WWE has the right idea, just needs to stick with it and the summer will see some great moments, I believe.
Oh. It’s The Rock’s birthday. I don’t care.
Recap of the stupidity from last night during the Women’s Championship Match. I really do mean stupidity. Every time a Hart is involve, they just go and have to pull a Montreal Screwjob bit, this time explaining that Charles Robinson was once dubbed “Little Naitch” so therefore he must have been in cahoots. Oh please.
Emma defeats Becky Lynch. Decent match, crappy finish.
Another promo featuring Primo and Epico enjoying the fine cuisine of Puerto Rico. Yay!
We get a funny one. Dean Ambrose hosts his segment with Stephanie McMahon as guest. He shows the still of Roman Reigns spearing the hell out of her at WrestleMania, to which Steph apologizes for getting involved. Not believing her sincerity, he brings up Shane McMahon. Stephanie slowly gets mad, and tells Ambrose his talk segment is now canceled.
In case you didn’t know, Chris Jericho once again has departed WWE, as evidenced by a Twitter post earlier today.
Thanks @wwe….its been real. See you next time.
— Chris Jericho (@IAmJericho) May 2, 2016
Except Stephanie announces she is bringing back another talk show segment, The Highlight Reel with Chris Jericho! Y2J comes to the ring, and brawls with Ambrose. Guess this feud is far from over, and the internet fans have crapped themselves for being fooled by a Twitter post.
Kalisto joins the announce team as we get a Battle Royal to determine the #1 Contender to the United States Championship. Damien Sandow is in the ring! Hooray! He is thrown out early. Boo. Titus O’Neal is in there for a while, until Sheamus chucks him. Apollo Crews gets some time until he is eliminated. This gets a bit whacky as Sheamus, Rusev, and Alberto del Rio are among the Final Four, with Zack Ryder. Sheamus and Del Rio are eliminated, and fans all over think Ryder might earn yet another upset, but it doesn’t happen. Rusev wins, and will face Kalisto for the U.S. Championship at Extreme Rules.
Bacon Rorbin (Baron Corbin) was eliminated by Dolph Ziggler. He beats him up.
Charlotte and Ric Flair address the controversy, bringing out Charles Robinson in a cartoonish segment with more accidental verbal slips than a episode of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Natalya comes out, and winds up locking Ric Flair in the Sharpshooter, then steals his Rolex and Hall of Fame Ring. Weird. Backstage, Stephanie books Charlotte against Natalya in a Submission match for Extreme Rules, and bans Ric from ringside.
The main event pits The Usos and WWE Champion Roman Reigns against AJ Styles, Luke Gallows, and Karl Anderson. Decent match, which sees AJ Styles get a clean pinfall over one of the Usos. Post-match is where things get nuts, when Karl and Luke want AJ to bash Reigns with a chair, but doesn’t do it. The Usos come in and clobber Styles with a chair, setting off a string of events where Reigns is angry and decks Styles with a Superman Punch. End of show. Meh.
Despite a lackluster finish, tonight’s RAW was a good show. The McMahon angle did not take up as much air time as I thought they would. With Extreme Rules just weeks away, WWE needs to set up all the matches, and somehow they are pulling it off without it looking like a thrown together mess.
