Even The New Day couldn't stop the rot!
WWE Raw Review
Two weeks away from Extreme Rules and a strange night on WWE Raw as three reigning champs lost in non-title matches.
First up Charlotte lost to Paige courtesy of a distraction from ‘Wooooooooo’ Ric Flair. Flair was banned from ringside for the match by Shane McMahon, and Charlotte’s Extreme Rules opponent Natalya was on commentary – so the odds were stacked against her from the start.
Natalya played the classic babyface role here, and only got involved in the match as Charlotte attempted to cheat to win by using the ropes to pin Paige. That caused Ric Flair to strut down to ringside and start informing Natalya where to go. Cue Shane O’Mac and, incredibly considering that Flair is a 67-year-old man, four referees. To be honest lads, a quick shot to Flair and he’ll pop his hip out. Having five men struggle to restrain him is mental.
Anyway, during the distraction Paige rolled up Charlotte for the win, and now everyone’s thoughts turn to how Charlotte will cope without her old man when she faces Natalya at Extreme Rules…
Our second losing champ of the night was The Miz. Sami Zayn was told by Shane and Stephanie that if he could beat the Intercontinental Champ then he would get his shot at Extreme Rules. The Miz scored with a DDT for a near fall and looked to put Sami away with the Figure Four Leg Lock. Sami got to the ropes though, and as The Miz and the referee had a minor disagreement, Sami planted the champ with the corner Xploder and a Helluva Kick for the 1-2-3.
As he celebrated, Kevin Owens and Cesaro looked on, setting up a mouth-watering fatal-fourway at Extreme Rules.
Our final losing champs of the night were our beloved New Day (sad face). The most entertaining trio in WWE gave us another delightful in-ring performance and discussed the power of the Extreme Booty-O. They also pointed out that their Extreme Rules opponents The Vaudevillians were from a by-gone era, and of course, New Day Rock.
In their bout with The Dudley Boyz however, it was The Vaudevillians interference that cost the champs. As The New Day worked the Unicorn Stampede, The Vaudevillians attacked Xavier Woods and that allowed D-von to plant Kofi Kingston with a devastating clothesline for the win. It was a very ‘JBL’ clothesline and we bloody loved it. The Vaudevillians then hit Kofi with the Whirling Dervish after the match and talked some trash.
Elsewhere we got to see AJ Styles, Anderson and Gallows take on Roman Reigns and The Usos yet again… For the third time in seven days…
This time it was an elimination match. Unsurprisingly we were left with AJ and Reigns as the other four men were eliminated as the match wore on. Styles set up the announce table to dish out some revenge for Roman’s attack last week – because everyone in WWE knows that revenge is a dish best served through a table – but Reigns had other ideas and started throwing chairs around the gaff. Anderson and Gallows caused a DQ and then there was a big ol’ brawl. We were left with AJ and Reigns, and things finally got interesting.
As they faced off Roman handed AJ the chair and told him to use it. Styles kicked the chair to Reigns and told him to use it instead. As Reigns went to pick up the chair, AJ attempted the Phenomanal Forearm but Roman clocked it and AJ rolled to the outside. Everyone really got into this face-off and the two men are building up to their title bout nicely.
The main event of the night was meant to be Chris Jericho vs Big Cass, which was a bit of a surprise, but came about after the opening Highlight Reel. Y2J took the piss out of Mitch (the potted plant) that he broke last week, while Big Cass informed Jericho that this was a new era and he’s looking to fight. Jericho ate a big boot and that teed up what was meant to be the main event.
However, on his way to the ring Jericho was attacked by Dean Ambrose who pinched his light-up Christmas tree jacket. That sparked a brawl and as Jericho tried to bail, Big Cass arrived and threw Y2J back into the lion’s den. Ambrose hit Jericho with Dirty Deeds and destroying Jericho’s jacket. All in all, very strange. Big Cass didn’t get his main event, and rather than the match we had Ambrose cut up a jacket as some kind of retribution for Jericho breaking a potted plant.
Hmmm…
Elsewhere Kevin Owens had to put his Intercontinental Title shot on the line after talking t0o much crap to Shane O’Mac. Zack Ryder would be entered into the Extreme Rules fatal four-way if he could beat Owens. However a Pop-up Powerbomb put end to those notions. Sin Cara defeated Rusev courtesy of an assist from the United States Champ Kalisto, while Baron Corbin picked up a win over Dolph Ziggler to continue their mediocre feud. Also, in a two minute match R-Truth beat Fandango while Tyler Breeze and Goldust dicked around on the outside.