They should have just left AJ laying there for the rest of the show after that knee. Have everyone else just work around his corpse.

Good RAW so far

God damn it, its a tag title match Rey, match your gear for fucks sake.

Embarassing.

Watching Raw... h8 the Usos

Does this commentator always say "the WWE"

First time watching raw in a while.

The USA channel really doesnt want me to vape.

Triple A hating on good tag teams

WHAT ELSE IS NEW

Usos win with a 3D.... feel like this is a shot at having to face the Dudleyz in Spilchuk's tournament....

Now Rhea Ripley wrapping her legs around Dominik's head post-match...... Edge in for the save but Dominik just like "nah, I'm into this"

GOOD SHIT HAITCH

I'm picturing the video for "Land of Confusion", but instead of Ronald Reagan, the puppet is of Vince. He's still doing all the tossing and turning in his sleep and sweating enough to make an ocean of the bedroom, but he mutters "... but he's just so TINYYYYY!!!" about all the guys that will get the nod in his absence.

I remember when Rhea Ripley debuted in the Mae Young Classic and looked so "wholesome"..... I did think I saw tons of potential in her at that time even...

To be fair, does that really warrant a save?

Good RAW, HHH starting to change course quicker than expected

Gonna leave this here too:

https://i.imgur.com/Os2Mnnh.jpg

Ugh, that is such AEW shit. Why would Mustafa Ali get himself into position like that? I get that they want to show off their wrestling, but do it better than the shit-the-bed promotion.

Show sounds good. Feels like there’s creative vision. Obvious stories being generated. We’re building to matches that I think people will want to see. You could almost break Clash at the Castle into two nights worth, with Raw offering:

* Edge vs. Finn Balor
* Seth Rollins vs. Matt Riddle
* Bobby Lashley vs. Ciampa for the US Title
* Bianca Belair vs. Bayley for the Raw Women’s Title
* Asuka vs. Iyo Sky
* Alexa Bliss vs. Dakota Kai
* Montez Ford vs. Angelo Dawkins
* The Usos vs. AJ Styles & Dolph Ziggler for the Tag Team Titles
* The Miz vs. Mustafa Ali
* Chad Gable vs. Rey Mysterio because Chad Gable should be on every show

Would be a tremendous fucking show. Realistically, the top four or five matches have a chance of happening. My prediction is that Edge vs. Balor, Lashley vs. Ciampa, Riddle vs. Rollins, a six-woman tag and The Usos defending against AJ & Dolph makes the show.

What I saw on Raw was good, not spectacular or truly compelling but good, especially considering its WWE and they have had such a rough run the past few years creatively. My bottom line will always be it's 3 hours long, plus two hours of Smackdown, which do I watch? I can't watch it all and when I do I never enjoy it. It's really really hard for me to enjoy a full 2 or 3 or 4 or more hours of WWE. I enjoyed Wrestlemania for the most part, but when I watch anything else it's really hard to get into it.

With AEW I can sometimes still feel like a wrestling fan, quite simply. WWE feels like a chore. But there is so much potential. My biggest hope is that Triple H can convince Nick to get an even bigger deal for two hours of Raw than three, so that they can justify cutting back. I don't know how they'd do it, but I'd guess if anyone can it's Nick Kahn.

There is cogency to the idea that a 2-hour show is more prestigious, so tightening up Raw can lead to more popularity and invigorate the product. I don’t think it’s likely though. The most fans can hope for is for Raw to get “better,” even if 3 hours of greatness every week is too much to expect.

They seemed to reduce some of the old tropes; less on-the-fly matches, less singles turning into tag matches (don’t think there was any of that this week tbf).

It felt like a show has already been planned before they went live with the 2 Triple Theats and winners facing off, and the ladies matches. They booked two DQs for the womens matches but they're establishing a new group so I’ll give them a pass. No Theory, which was strange given he’s been everywhere recently.

The only thing I wasn’t really a fan of was going back to Judgment Day vs Mysterios. Not sure how much juice is left in that story. Maybe Dom finally turns and Edge/Rey have to find a third man (Styles) to go against them?

A much tighter show.

Momentum. RVD would sometimes pop up the same way after a frog splash.

A little suspension of disbeleif required, but I'm okay with that.

In theory, I can get behind that. But the execution of that was out of Ali’s control.

PLEASE don’t let them turn him into the Rated-PC Superstar...

Dunno, but one of the dumbasses, probably that new guy, forgot his name at the moment, called Edge “The Edge” during a graphic promoting him on RAW...🤦

From the clips I’ve heard, Jimmy Smith isn’t horrible. Without Vince there hopefully he gets even better.

So I decided to give the Triple H era of Raw a chance. Here are my thoughts:

Becky Lynch can cut a promo. She’s confident. I like her wardrobe. I like the logic behind her face turn. It felt a little “performative” and went on too long, but I buy the respect between her and Bianca Belair.

I hate Belair skipping down like an idiot twirling her hair. She also twirled it running to the back! She’s nowhere near as polished as Becky, but I like that they are at two different levels when it comes to confidence.

I like Bayley’s group. Bayley is a good heel. Dakota Kai is hamming it up and looks alive. I am looking forward to Iyo vs. Asuka. I hope the group gets a proper faction name. Have we we had a genuine, serious faction of girls yet?

Liked the Logan Paul interview snippet. Him calling it a “sport” was a nice touch. I like that it went from that to Miz in the ring for the US Title match. I’m not sure this is exclusive to The Paul Elite Era, but I noticed a lot of the segments thematically tied into other things.

LOVE the video for the US Title history. JBL doing it is a nice touch. The Triple Threat kicked a lot of ass. AJ Styles still really fucking good. Mustafa Ali’s tornado DDT was insane. The Miz played his part well. I like that a guy who didn’t get an entrance won the match. Good little decoy there.

Good promo from The Usos. Having them bump into the Bayley faction was a nice nod. That’s a little Paul Heyman trick.

Seth Rollins knows what he is doing. I hate that fake laugh. I like that they were very clear to have him mention he wants the WWE Title. Very clear lines about who is a main r enter and who is in that US Division. For now.

The Street Profits have both got something. Dawkins seems to have more charisma than I remember, and Ford did tremendous in the ring and looks great. Really good match between Rollins and Ford.

I liked the Triple Threat between Ziggler, Ciampa and Gable. It was a little much at times. An Avalanche Emerald Frosion? Get the fuck out of here. I get drowning out the “workrate” of AEW and making them irrelevant, but come on.

Is there an edict for guys to wear more vivid gear? I like it. For a while the wrestlers were looking DRAB. Like brighter colors sometimes.

Gable’s Ankle Lock is a thing of beauty. Ciampa winning is okay. I like the guy and he’s a good representative of a “Triple H era.” I like how the graphic earlier in the show promoted Dolph heaviest. A good little subversion for people paying attention.

Iyo Shirai didn’t really impress me…until the match with Bianca got going. Her strikes are a little pithy. But she does some cool stuff, and I’m not sure how familiar she is with Belair. It got pretty good and led to an angle to further the story.

Someone needs to cut the head off Alexa’s doll. Or steal the leg off her action figure.

Looking forward to Asuka and Iyo Shirai tearing it the fuck up on Raw one week.

Changing Alexa Bliss out the doll gimmick would be good. But now that she’s got this group, I think Bayley can move away from the Karen cut.

I’m not finished the show and there’s already a pretty clear potential card for next week:

* Bobby Lashley vs. Ciampa for the US Title
* Bayley, Dakota Kai & Iyo Sky vs. Bianca Belair, Asuka & Alexa Bliss
* Seth Rollins vs. Angelo Dawkins
* AJ Styles vs. Mustafa Ali
* Dolph Ziggler vs. Chad Gable

I'm on board for that card

The injury bug continues its rampage: Carmella believed to have a concussion after taking a botched back flip from Bianca that knocked her head first into the post.

Yeah I don't know if it was nerves or what, but Io was not good at the start of the match. She bounced back though, and it ended up being a pretty good match.

I've noticed that all the japanese women who come in to american promotions have weak looking strikes, but you look at their strikes in japan and it looks like it could kill a panther. Maybe they're just going too easy because they know the girls here aren't used to working as stiff, I dunno. Even Asuka, who lays her shit in a little more than her peers has never shown me anything as hard hitting as some of her work in japan. The match against Meiko being a prime example.

They’ve got Rey vs Balor planned. Which should be nice.

Ooh, that’ll be good.

Yeah, the Japanese girls working lighter makes sense. I hope if Asuka and Iyo work together, they can cut loose a bit. I also think I’m going to go and check out that Kana/Meiko match.

Forewarning, theres like a 40 minute entrance sequence and the whole match is under blue lights for some reason.

But its worth enduring, cause the match is fire.