WWE Raw – August 10, 2020 (Review)

Raw has a weird way of luring you back in with the promise of more absurd nonsense each week. It’s not strictly enjoyable – that would be a stretch even Zack Sabre Jr. would be proud of. No, it’s more morbid fascination. The wonder of where the train could careen off the tracks next.

To the point: Raw Underground. The red brand’s latest blatant attempt at a ratings grab saw the introduction of an illicit, subterranean fight club of sorts, hosted by Shane McMahon and protected by the man formerly known simply as “the Big Ninja”.

#MustBeMonday, 'cause we're ready for a 🔥🔥🔥 night on #WWERaw!

🔴 #RAWUnderground 🕙 10 PM ET

🔴 @WWEAsuka vs. #SmackDown #WomensChampion @itsBayleyWWE

🔴 @FightOwensFight vs. @RandyOrton pic.twitter.com/NjqnnT7cTq

— WWE (@WWE) August 11, 2020

Supposedly the experiment drew a split reaction from viewers. Which I can only assume means that fans were split on whether it was merely bad or whether it was the dumbest thing they’ve ever watched. Last week I might’ve fallen into the latter camp… but something happened over the weekend. Something inexplicable that left we eager to find out what lay in store for the fight pit (and its new management in the form of The Hurt Business).

There was also the small matter of seeing whether Asuka could overcome Bayley to earn another crack at Sasha Banks. Plus a contract signing between Seth Rollins and Dominik Mysterio, the return of Mickie James and more box-tipping adventures involving RETRIBUTION.

So, with that and much more, let’s get to the review.

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The Best of Raw

The Greater Good Calls for More Weapons

Raw got things underway with a contract signing, bringing some validity to a feud which started with a man losing an eye. With Seth Rollins and Dominik set to clash at SummerSlam, Samoa Joe was there to preside over the formalities.

I don’t really understand what the idea was here, but it couldn’t possibly be this. Seth threatened Dom, and before the young Mysterio could say a word, Joe cut an awesome promo slamming Rollins as an entitled douche who couldn’t handle a few people booing him. As cool as it was, it rendered Dom a bit of a mute presence.

The Kendo stick is surely safe in the hands of @SamoaJoe … right?#WWERaw #SummerSlam @WWERollins @35_Dominik pic.twitter.com/7PjbtIaayA

— WWE Universe (@WWEUniverse) August 11, 2020

When Dom finally did speak though, it was a vast upgrade over what we’ve seen from him previously. Sure, all he said was that Seth wrecked lives and that his constant refrain of “the greater good” was just a smokescreen allowing Seth to do what’s best for himself. But it was a massive improvement over Dominik’s previous tepid, monotone promos.

An irate Rollins made their SummerSlam encounter a No Holds Barred match, which is certainly a coronation of fire for the young rookie. Despite the weird involvement of Samoa Joe, this segment should nevertheless be classified a success.

Rocky Road for the Riott Squad

I have to be honest, I was grasping at straws as Raw closed its second hour. So when the newly reunited Ruby Riott and Liv Morgan were followed by The IIconics, my spirits lifted ever so slightly.

The IIconics lobbed a few insults at Liv and Ruby, leading into a match between Royce and Morgan. There were a lot of shenanigans around ringside in this two-minute encounter. But a tiny miscommunication between Liv and Ruby allowed Peyton to hit the AWESOME Déjà Vu to seal the win.

Great minds think alike?#WWERaw @PeytonRoyceWWE @YaOnlyLivvOnce pic.twitter.com/bqmilDfqfp

— WWE Universe (@WWEUniverse) August 11, 2020

The IIconics danced up the ramp, while Riott and Morgan looked less than pleased in the ring. So their relationship isn’t yet cemented and remains somewhat murky.

Asuka’s Gauntlet to the Title

Asuka faced Bayley, knowing that if she beat the SmackDown Women’s Champion, she would get a shot at the Raw Women’s titleholder at SummerSlam. As an interested party (and Bayley’s tag team partner), Sasha Banks was at ringside to keep a keen eye over proceedings.

There were more annoying technical glitches, which undermined the match and presented all kinds of questions. Are RETRIBUTION some kind of technical wizards in addition to being violent anarchists? Or is this the hacker’s doing? Plus, it’s rather bizarre to see the lights flash and random sounds be triggered, yet have the commentators completely ignore them. It made me wonder if I had accidentally eaten a dodgy mushroom.

Too soon, @itsBayleyWWE.#WWERaw pic.twitter.com/c7Z1qAQUOX

— WWE Universe (@WWEUniverse) August 11, 2020

Those major concerns aside, this was easily the match of the night. Both Bayley and Asuka were on top of their games, with Sasha adding plenty of personality from ringside.

It seemed a given that Asuka would win, considering the stipulation. But every time she looked to lock in a submission, Bayley would execute an innovative counter to escape and reverse the tide.

But Bayley got cocky and imitated Kairi Sane in premature celebration. She turned into the Asuka Lock, had no option but to tap, and Asuka is moving on to face Sasha Banks at SummerSlam.

The Sound of the Underground

Finally the final hour ticked around and we got to Raw Underground, which suddenly seems much more exciting than the rest of the red brand’s mediocre output. Although no reason was given as to why Shane McMahon was back running things after The Hurt Business usurped control last week.

It does however seem to be forming a bit of an identity now, as Riddick Moss and Cal Bloom had a more “shoot” feeling fight to kick things off. This was followed by Arturo Ruas knocking some poor kid out with a spinning kick. Dabba-Kato wrecked another lad’s dreams and then Shayna Baszler showed up unexpectedly.

Baszler benefitted from more time being devoted to Raw Underground, as she took out three women simultaneously. For perhaps the first time since her shift to the main roster, Baszler looked like a legitimate force.

Orton Keeps Rolling

Randy Orton and Kevin Owens had a solid match, bereft of any real build. Bear in mind that this contest came about because Ric Flair and KO had a friendly disagreement backstage. Flair is Orton’s manager (kind of?) and so the match was set.

But even without any real storyline motivation, this was alright. Randy was his slow, methodical self, which some will appreciate more than others. So he set about gradually dismantling Owens.

There was a bit of a flurry, Owens went for the Stunner but Orton reversed into the RKO and picked up the pin. After the match, he asked Ric Flair to hang around because they had something to discuss.

"I don't respect you anymore, and I don't love you anymore."@RicFlairNatrBoy needs to get out of there as soon as possible. #WWERaw pic.twitter.com/lgf6fT0hzQ

— WWE (@WWE) August 11, 2020

Randy was annoyed that Flair had gotten him into the match unnecessarily. But he couldn’t be mad at the man who guided his early career – drawing interesting parallels with Drew’s criticism of Orton last week.

But Randy no longer respected the ‘Nature Boy’, saying he had become a liability. Orton had also realised that Flair only took him under his wing because he saw Randy as the son he wished he had… very unnecessary reference to Flair’s family tragedy. Orton continued to berate Flair, calling him old, washed up and desperate for the spotlight.

It was a weird character shift so close to challenging McIntyre at SummerSlam, but it resulted in one of the best promos WWE has seen in a long time. Ric Flair was on fire in his response and I implore you to watch it, as it simply covered too much ground for me to capture here. He spoke about how much he craved the spotlight and how unlikely it was that he was still alive, let alone appearing on Raw at age 71.

WHAT has @RandyOrton DONE to @RicFlairNatrBoy?! #WWERaw pic.twitter.com/z30mdlApQc

— WWE (@WWE) August 11, 2020

Orton seemed contrite having heard the heartfelt speech from Flair and hugged his mentor. But as Ric turned around, Randy delivered a low blow and then punted him in the head as the lights went out. McIntyre came to Flair’s aid but it was too late. This really made Orton look like an evil, heartless coward.

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The Worst of Raw

A Brutal Attack, With No-one to Make the Save

I’ve long decried the fact that the feud between Seth Rollins and Rey Mysterio has steadily grown to ensnare about eight different people (the latest of which being Samoa Joe). It’s just a tedious, unfocused way of building a rivalry that, at its heart, is really between Seth and the two Mysterios.

This week continued that lacklustre trend as Seth squared off with Humberto Carrillo, the Mexican seemingly fluttering in and out of the picture. Worse still, after a long stretch of losses, Carrillo desperately needs a win to get his Raw run back on track. But that was never going to happen here. And after a few decent minutes, Seth pinned Carrillo.

LEAVE @35_Dominik ALONE!#WWERaw @WWERollins @WWE_Murphy pic.twitter.com/u60RH9H2MC

— WWE (@WWE) August 11, 2020

Then, after the bell, Seth and Murphy jumped Dominik in a reversal of events from last week. They battered him with a kendo stick for AGES, without anyone coming to Dominik’s aid. Where’s security, the referees or any number of babyfaces? Even Humberto just disappeared after losing.

Also, after weeks of seeming reluctance to side with Rollins’ brutality, Murphy was loving this assault. This was overlong, weak and ignored previous character beats.

Belair Hunts Her Husband’s Poisoner

To quickly contextualise the match between Angelo Dawkins and Andrade (and later Zelina Vega and Bianca Belair), Montez Ford was apparently poisoned ahead of his match with Andrade last week and Belair believed Vega was behind it. This feud is already on sketchy ground with me.

"I HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH @MontezFordWWE's POISONING."

@Zelina_VegaWWE on repeat. #WWERaw pic.twitter.com/SF38GQsNxX

— WWE (@WWE) August 11, 2020

This week Vega came out with her lads and claimed innocence in the reported poisoning. Her reasoning was somewhat wonky though. Vega asked what motive she would have to poison Ford, before immediately providing exactly that. She claimed that she wouldn’t do anything to jeopardise her clients’ shot at the tag team titles – apparently overlooking the fact that a weakened Ford would only aid her boys.

Be that as it may, Dawkins came out alone for his match against Andrade. He quickly despatched of the former NXT Champion. In the immediate fallout, Belair came sprinting out and shoved Vega, leading into their match.

Belair dominated proceedings, with Vega being forced to resort to cheap shots and distractions to stay in it. As much as I love both women, this wasn’t the best outing for them. There were several unrefined spots, where the competitors looked to be moving in slow motion. You could see the intended moves coming a mile off, which made everything feel a bit rehearsed.

strongEST.#WWERaw @BiancaBelairWWE pic.twitter.com/9UyRLZxzbt

— WWE Universe (@WWEUniverse) August 11, 2020

Eventually Belair hit the KOD to win. It was a minor mercy. In a post-match promo, Angelo Dawkins revealed that Ford would be back for SummerSlam and they would defend the Raw Tag Team Titles against the Vegaboys. Sounds like they’re playing right into the heels’ poison-covered hands.

Also, could this be the most obvious mystery ever? Ford got poisoned, everyone immediately suspected the Vegaboys and then it turned out it was them. Surely there must be more to this story?

Mid-Card Mediocrity

MVP had ready-made excuses for his loss to Apollo Crews last week. He blamed the flickering lights, which the announcers were all too pleased to chalk up to “production issues”. Were we not supposed to think it was RETRIBUTION blowing up the transformer that caused the issues?

Confusing narrative aside, Crews interrupted to make some lame joke about how he was going to shut off MVP’s lights. He then had a match against Shelton Benjamin, which the United States Champion LOST, with MVP and Lashley looking on from ringside.

Victory goes to @Sheltyb803, but the LAST LAUGH belongs to the #USChampion @WWEApollo! #WWERaw pic.twitter.com/EnpHjNBJPi

— WWE (@WWE) August 11, 2020

Bobby was about to lock Crews in the Full Nelson for good measure, but MVP waved him off, not wanting to injure his opponent before SummerSlam. Crews took the respite to superkick MVP, before running away.

This was a terrible way to build Crews as a formidable champion and again exposed MVP has the worst choice to lead the Hurt Business. It should clearly be Bobby Lashley, with MVP acting only as a mouthpiece. The entire dynamic is backwards.

Low-scale Misdemeanours

RETRIBUTION threw a cinder block through an office window, cheered and then scampered away with no-one chasing them. Wow, what a powerful group of renegades. Good God.

Later in the show, they tipped over a car ‘Braun Strowman style’. What a bunch of dorks.

#BOAT

Sarah Schreiber introduced a returning Mickie James, who was rudely interrupted by Lana and Natalya – dressed in matching outfits like middle-school twins. Lana questioned how Mickie could be a force in the women’s division when she didn’t even have a TikTok. And then the two heels cackled in unison while prattling off a bunch of hashtags and other social media jargon.

"How are you going to lead the Women's locker room if you don't even have a @tiktok_us?" – @LanaWWE to @MickieJames #WWERaw pic.twitter.com/ERwCUPjIw4

— WWE Universe (@WWEUniverse) August 11, 2020

Casual reminder that Natalya is 38 years old and Lana is 35. I know Raw is trying to attract an audience younger than their 50+ wheelhouse… but this isn’t the way to do it.

Ninjas Turning on Ninjas

Before they took on Akira Tozawa and his ninjas, Ricochet, Cedric Alexander and Erik had to find Ivar. They found him hanging out with a blonde lady (who might’ve been the same Bachelor contestant from last week). She followed the usual script of calling Ivar cute and Erik “not so much”, which made Ricochet and Alexander chuckle. And me roll my eyes. How much longer do we have to do this?

Heading to the ring, the four men squared off against a group of ninjas. One ninja decided that he wasn’t about this life and left. Tozawa soon followed him, leaving a lone ninja to get pinned by Erik.

SURPRISE!#WWERaw @RonKillings pic.twitter.com/daWnD8STh3

— WWE Universe (@WWEUniverse) August 11, 2020

On the ramp, the first ninja to escape betrayed Tozawa, rolling him up to claim the 24/7 Championship. He removed his cowl to reveal that it was R-Truth. Of course.

I’m not sure how The Viking Raiders or Ricochet & Alexander benefit from being wrapped up in this “comedy”. It seems a long path to get to title contention from the depths of Raw middle hour humour.

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Overall Rating for the Show (From best to worst: RAWsome, Cor, AvRAWge, Poor and RAWful)

This was another of those Raw’s that are hard to evaluate. The truth is that for almost two hours, this was an unbearable, lazy, boring mess of a show, lacking any form of intrigue or solid entertainment.

It’s simply impossible to care about Montez Ford’s poisoning or the resulting “investigation”. The feud between Seth Rollins and Dominik feels like it’s been stumbling along since WrestleMania and has now truly run its course. And everything involving ninjas, mildly annoying anarchist groups and women in their mid-30s using hashtags is tedious, if not a little depressing.

However – and I can’t believe I’m saying this – in stepped Raw Underground to inject some vibrancy into the third hour. Add to that an excellent match between Bayley and Asuka, as well as a dynamite segment between Randy Orton and Ric Flair, and the show certainly ended on a high.

So, for that reason, Raw scores an AvRAWge this week. But make no mistake, that last hour was outstanding.

Share your thoughts on Raw with us on Twitter and stay tuned to Wrestletalk to keep up-to-date on all the latest wrestling news.

• review
• RAW
• August 10 2020
• wwe

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