We kickoff Raw with the Miz and Miztourage and he’s a bit cranky tonight because Jason Jordan suplexed him last week. Miz calls out Jason Jordan, which may be the first time Miz has ever called anyone out and out comes Papa Angle. Papa Angle makes a match for tonight for Jason Jordan and Bo Dallas. He announces that he has setup a guest for Miz TV and it’s Brock Lesner. Lesner is out and Miz does the “my hand goes up” bit with Heyman and begins mocking him. Miz is killing this promo tonight and says he’s putting his money on everyone but Lesner as he stands behind Bo Dallas and Curtis Axel. Heyman get’s his turn and gets a little personal with Miz asking if he role plays with Maryse. Heyman assigns the Reigns persona to Miz, Samoa Joe to Bo Dallas and Strowman to Axel. Lesner destroys the entire Miztourage and I’m cool with it just wish Miz put up a hint of a fight as IC champion. Really good opening segment and for all this hate I see for Brock that crowd is FIRE for him.
BURN IT DOWN!!! We get Seth Rollins down to the ring and we look back at last week’s edition of the buddy cop movie. This feud is helping Rollins find that next level of being a face without just having to be cool college guy who hangs out with high schoolers Rollins. I don’t remember if we ever got a proper Sheamus and Rollins world title feud but if these two had fifteen minutes on a network special it would steal the show. Sheamus pulling himself up to the top rope is crazy impressive and Rollins shows off more baby face crowd hyping offense. Apparently trending on twitter now is “Burn It Down” I wonder if we can see what some of those tweets say… Cesaro distracts Rollins and we get the Divas pre revolution finisher of choice for the win. The Bar beat down Rollins and the crowd chants LOUDLY “we want Ambrose”. No help from Ambrose and I wonder if the Revival injury has changed Tag Title plans. Maybe we now get a triple threat for the title and Rollins/Ambrose feud hot shotted at Summerslam?
Here comes Jason Jordan equipped with his Mario Paint music and Curtis Axel is unable to compete due to a certain beast incarnate. Jean-Pierre Gulliet now comes out and the crowd is behind the local talent that the fans sound like they know. Not sure if that’s the way to go if you want to get Jordan cheered. This guy is going to get a James Ellsworth like contract if he keeps it up. The crowd just DIED when Jordan went into his baby face comes back and I don’t think I would have done the same thing. I rarely EVER challenge booking decisions but if you want this guy cheered you DON’T do THAT.
Everybody’s favorite Huggable women’s superstar is out in a sling and I’m not sure she can wrestle with that. Bayley wearing her hair down and cutting a not so good promo is getting booed in Toronto. We get our first “Bizzaro World” comment. I tweeted this out and I don’t mean this in a bad way but Bayley should consider taking some acting classes to improve her promo’s while out with the injury.
We then get the entrance of THE BOSS Sasha banks as she will face off against Alicia Fox and Emma with the winner going to a number one contender match. We have little Miss Bliss out for commentary and Emma with a sick belly to back to Sasha onto the apron. We get some really good non stop action and Alicia FOOOOOOOX hits her northern lights suplex which is an absolute thing of beauty. All three women getting some good spots in already in this match. Banks has the Bank Statement locked in and Emma attempts to steal the win however Banks reverses and taps out Emma.
Enzo is out and incredibly over with the Toronto crowd more than he is with the locker room. He introduces Big Show and they attempt to go full Enzo/Cass 2.0. It looks like they may be putting Big Show and Enzo together as they are interrupted by The Good Brothers. Looks like we maybe getting the EnzoShow tag team which is needed with The Revival going out and Enzo/Cass breaking up. This Big Show thing works out right? Big Show is someone that can help Enzo backstage and you can put him with Enzo until you figure out if you have anything with Cass. Everyone stares at Big Cass as he makes his way down to the ring and Anderson pins Enzo. Big Cass puts the boots to Big Show after the match and Enzo gets a few shots in before Cass throws him around everywhere. Cass chases Enzo around the ring and gets lured right into a KO punch from Big Show.
I’m actually probably in the minority about how much I’m excited by this Balor and Wyatt feud. Finn Balor is so over it’s insane, he may be the most over guy on the roster week in and week out. Wyatt does his spooky light stuff and Balor is sitting on the turnbuckle. Finn Balor sets up for the big drop kick and Wyatt does his spooky light thing again and Wyatt is gone. He shows back up on the titan tron and that exactly entertained me probably more than it did you.
Now we get another match that could be a network special main event. Ambrose vs. Cesaro in the battle of superstars the crowds love however are missing SOMETHING to shoot them into superstardom. These two guys have pretty good chemistry and we get some interference from Sheamus which leads to a flying european uppercut on the outside that looked brutal. We come back from break and Cesaro is standing on the ring post and Ambrose is standing on the second rope, this leads to Ambrose reversing Cesaro into a superplex. That gut wrench deadlift from Cesaro is impressive…every…single….time. I notice they have used that same corner for both top rope maneuvers I wonder if it’s coincidence. Crowd goes crazy for a Sharpshooter you now because Canada. I like that Dean did the elbow off the top to the outside instead of going for the “flying lunatic” spot as he always does. Sheamus interferes much like Cesaro did earlier however its Ambrose who does the divas pre revolution finisher for the win. Rollins charges the ring after “The Bar” jump Ambrose after the match. The anticipation grows with the crowd as Rollins and ambrose stand in the middle of the ring (I’m waiting to type on the edge of my seat) and Ambrose goes for the Shield fist and Rollins walks away.
We get Titus doing what only Titus can do backstage and that’s entertain me with Tozawa and Apollo Crews. Neville interrupts and Titus puts over Tozawa as the next Cruiserweight champion. Did Davari just cut a promo in his native language to his Iranian people? Titus O’Neil is the best thing to happen to Tozawa EVER! Lots of mat wrestling in this match and Davari working on the shoulder in this match. Tozawa wins this match pretty easily and I love his finisher. I still think Titus should add a lower woman to his stable and maybe a tag team or someone to team with Apollo. I’d even be all for him floating on both shows and managing Apollo and Tozawa on Raw and then like Naomi and the Ascension on Smackdown.
Nia Jax with a french braid is taking on Mickie James and Dana Brooke and I have a feeling this won’t go well for the non samoans. Nia Jax just about took Dana Brooke’s head off with a clothesline before Dana could actually hit the rope. Nia Jax pins Dana and then she stares down Alexa Bliss on stage. That leads us to next week Sasha Banks vs. Nia Jax in a number one contenders match. Any chance that ends in a draw? Are there any other two people on the roster miscast more than Nia Jax as a heel and Sasha Banks as a face?
Our Main Event is finally here. Yes I’m intentionally ignoring the announcement of the Shark Cage match. You know what the best part of this main event is? Roman Reigns is really good at getting his ass kicked and Braun Strowman is really good at kicking ass. Two commercial breaks relatively early for the main event and I’m assuming we are getting some interference to end this show right? This is a hoss fight and Reigns finally gets the upper hand and starts beating on Strowman with steel steps. Reigns signals for the Punch Of Ghosts and the fans show admiration by booing him. There is a guy with a “Roman Sucks” shirt in the crowd and next to him is a “Toronto 3:16” and all I can think is what does that mean? I know what Owen 3:16 means or Austin 3:16 but what does Toronto 3:16 mean? Braun doing a drop kick is almost as much fun to watch as him trying to qualify for human throwing in the next big man competition. Awesome table spot from these two and that table didn’t have much give. Have you ever seen a chair used like that in the WWE? Michael Cole is bordering Tony Schiavone levels of hyperbole tonight. This has been a GREAT main event for Raw. Reigns hits an amazing looking spear on the outside and as Reigns starts to stand up Samoa Joe locks in the coquina clutch from the audience. Reigns gets choked out by Joe and Strowman stands up at eight and wins the match. This Raw started and ended very well and we are one more Raw away from Summerslam, are you excited? Until tomorrow night be awesome.