WWE Raw – July 13, 2020 (Review)

WWE Raw – July 13, 2020 (Review)

It was a “Night of Grudge Matches” on Raw, as competitors squared off in a series of contests designed to settle scores dating all the way back to last week.

Sure, one might expect most feuds to be premised on some sort of difference of opinion, be it over a title, a contendership or a Japanese shampoo commercial. But that antiquated way of thinking misses the point entirely and speaks to why WWE doesn’t get the appreciation it deserves. This was week-long booking at its finest. This wasn’t just an arbitrary tagline designed to artificially engender excitement for a card that largely meant absolutely nothing. This was genius. It was good bleep. This was a Night of Grudge Matches!

Now, admittedly, not all of the rivalries have a long-standing, layered history behind them. But those that lacked pedigree more than made up for it in pure heinousness. Like The Viking Raiders and Andrade & Garza… who had a match three weeks ago and are now having another one. Or consider Randy Orton and R-Truth… who had a friendly chat backstage and then Orton misdirected a bunch of ninjas to save Truth.

Um… a Night of Grudge Matches!

Elsewhere, Kevin Owens and Seth Rollins were set for a WrestleMania rematch. And The Kabuki Warriors challenged Banks and Bayley for the Women’s Tag Team Titles, in what would – jokes aside – undoubtedly be the match of the night.

So prepare yourself for a night like none before. Because this wasn’t just about petty rivalries and championships. This was a Night of Grudge Matches! On with the review.


The Best of Raw

Garza and Andrade Succeed by Coming Together

As abysmal as the feud has been up to this point, it’s impossible not to admire the abilities of Andrade & Garza and The Viking Raiders. Sure, at it’s core this is a battle over… actually, what are they fighting over? Charly Caruso? I’m confused.

A fast-paced opening flurry ended with Andrade hitting the Hammerlock DDT on Erik to secure the pinfall. This being an elimination tag match however, the contest rolled on after the break.

There were teases of dissension between the Mexican pair, but on each occasion they were able to smooth things over with the help of Zelina Vega. Ivar fought valiantly and was able to even the odds after Andrade sacrificed himself to protect Garza from a Spinning Kick.

Ivar appeared to have the match won, but Andrade lifted his partner’s foot onto the bottom rope. Seconds later, Garza nailed a powerbomb on the hefty viking and won the match for his team. This was exactly what the the Vegaboys needed – a string of victories to hype them up before the inevitable fall.

Ruby Riott Finds a Friend

The IIconics once again encountered Ruby Riott backstage. They were particularly shrill, obnoxious and utterly fantastic this week. In their usual fashion, the Aussies pointed out that Riott was still friendless and thus unable to challenge them in a tag match.

This is where things went ever so slightly off the rails. To no-one in particular, Riott announced “that sounds like your cue”, before Bianca Belair materialised out of thin air. At least, I can only assume that she magically apperated because the alternative is that she was standing slightly out of frame the entire time and The IIconics somehow failed to notice her. That would be silly.

The Aussies were less than thrilled by these events but were now bound to face the new pairing in a tag match. With the aforesaid exception, I loved this segment. How great is it to see Belair again?

After a quick-fire contest, the babyface pairing won, in the process avenging Riott’s recent losses to Kay and Royce. Hopefully this leads to a sustained push for Ruby and Belair, with the latter in particular exhibiting star power here.

Truth’s Comedy Troupe

R-Truth had a pretty funny conversation with Ricochet and Cedric Alexander upon arrival at the Performance Center. Should Ric and Alexander be relegated to comedic counterweights? Probably not, but it was amusing nonetheless.

Truth believed that Ricochet had been named MVP last week – an award he didn’t even know existed. He also thought that he would be fighting Ric Flair later on Raw. Both assumptions were of course wrong, which Alexander and Ricochet pointed out.

Rather distraught, R-Truth strolled away and walked into Akira Tozawa. Spotting an opportunity, Truth asked Tozawa to turn him into a blackbelt in 10 minutes. Tozawa declined and instead attacked R-Truth. Fortunately, Ricochet and Alexander came to the 24/7 Champion’s aid. Truth defiantly challenged Tozawa and his ninjas to meet him the ring to settle this GRUDGE.

A Violent Return

Truth was set to face Tozawa, when Shayna Baszler’s music hit. God it’s the best wrestling theme.

Unless you’ve been watching Main Event, we haven’t seen Baszler in months. Many (myself included) started to fear the worst, that maybe she had been forgotten just a few months after debuting. But last night she returned with a vengeance.

Baszler mercilessly took out Tozawa’s ninjas before turning to Tozawa himself. Having dispatched of him, Shayna focused on Truth, who wisely announced that he “would see himself out” and escaped.

Baszler grabbed a mic and formally put the Raw women’s division on notice. She was back and she was ready to conquer everyone in her path. Much like with Belair, one hopes that the company will follow through in this excellent segment. Suddenly the Raw women’s division looks even more stacked than it already was.

Bobby In Another Squash

Bobby Lashley quickly squashed Ricochet and then demolished Cedric Alexander for good measure. This was of course just a direct repeat of what we saw last week, but it was nevertheless fun and continued Lashley’s upward trajectory. Sort of.

I really wish Ricochet was treated better. I take some small comfort in knowing there’s a parallel universe somewhere in which Ricochet is WWE Champion and he’s feuding with Drew McIntyre and Tommaso Ciampa.

The Heroes We Need

I’m starting to feel like there’s a massive conspiracy afoot… and it goes all the way to the top!

Hear me out – is it possible that Raw is purposefully terrible so that Bayley and Sasha Banks feel even better by contrast? It sounds crazy, I know. But so crazy that it just might work!

Whatever the case – whether intentional or not – after two and a half poor hours of Raw, I was immediately excited by Sasha’s music. Their tag title defence against the Kabuki Warriors felt like the only match of any consequence on the show.

Unfortunately even this needed a pointless video recap, presented under the guise of being a tribute to Bayley and Sasha’s greatness. I don’t know why we couldn’t just get to the match. The highlights package really added nothing. If there was one possible takeaway, it was that the package included Banks praising Bayley but no mention by Bayley of how great her partner was. Still not enough to merit the prelude though.

The champions jumped The Kabuki Warriors before the bell and we immediately cut to a commercial. Couldn’t this have been done after the entrances? It seemed especially incomprehensible once we returned from break and both teams were just in their corners waiting for the bell.

Regardless, things quickly ramped up from there. The heels isolated Asuka, slowly wearing her down with quick tags and steady offence. Kairi Sane eventually got the hot tag and cleared the ring with some incredible moves. She’ll be such a loss if she does indeed leave WWE.

Sane looked set to dive off the top rope, but Bayley pulled Asuka off the apron and Sasha capitalised on the distraction to dislodge Kairi with a swift kick. Sane remained in peril until the final stages, when a hot tag brought the Raw and SmackDown Women’s Champions face-to-face.

Asuka ran wild brother, but was unable to put Bayley away. In a moment of desperation, Bayley hung Asuka up on the ropes. Banks attempted a flying crossbody, only to find herself in the Asuka Lock. She managed to drape a toe on the bottom rope, but seconds later was the victim of an Insane Elbow.

Bayley dragged Sane off the pin to save her partner and their title reign. Sane returned to the ring but an attempted forearm strike was reversed into the Banks Statement. Despite her awesome showing, Sane had little choice but to tap. The closing shots of Raw were The Kabuki Warriors looking dejected while Banks and Bayley held their titles aloft on the ramp.


The Worst of Raw

The WWE Title Picture

So the MVP Lounge is still a thing then. You know what they say, you can put the grudge in Raw but you can’t take the lounge… out of Raw. Hmm not the snappiest phrase.

His guest this week was Dolph Ziggler and they spent several minutes flapping their gums about how Dolph knew all of Drew McIntyre’s weaknesses and was going to defeat him at The Horror Show at Extreme Rules. Dolph was still seeking a “thank you” from Drew for – I have absolutely no idea. I don’t understand this feud whatsoever.

Anyway, McIntyre came out to spoil the party. He acknowledged the pair’s forgettable history in the mid-card, but ominously warned that this Sunday’s match would be a destruction. He would maim Dolph to the point that Ziggler begged him to stop. At this point, there’s literally nothing Raw can do to inspire excitement in this battle for the WWE Title. Dolph simply isn’t the right challenger, regardless of whatever stipulation he ultimately picks.

Caruso’s Fickle Heart

The Vegaboys were being interviewed by Charly Caruso ahead of the grudge match against The Viking Raiders. Zelina Vega took offence at the suggestion that her team was prone to disagreement and infighting. I’m not sure why Caruso would think that… you know, if you discount the fact that Garza and Andrade invariably bicker amongst themselves EVERY WEEK.

As if on cue, the pair started sniping at one another over who would beat The Viking Raiders singlehandedly. I don’t know why this should be considered captivating viewing. If I wanted to watch a dysfunctional relationship involving little success, I’d sit in on a Tottenham Hotspur team meeting. Soccer slam!

Erik and Ivar interrupted proceedings, yelled a few things angrily and then sexy Ivar handed a blushing Caruso a rose. This was woeful.

We haven’t seen teams possessing such tremendous talent and so little spark since the Bundesliga in the mid-2000s. I’ve been watching a lot of soccer lately.

Nonsense About Losing Eyes Etc.

Seth graced us with his presence on Raw to address his ludicrous ‘Eye for an Eye’ match against Rey Mysterio this Sunday. He promised to ease Murphy’s fears, but then just repeated the phrase “an eye for an eye” about ten times. He followed up that wisdom by angrily repeating “you know what that means!” over and over.

All Seth wanted was to lead Raw towards the light (or some such nonsense), yet he was unjustly subjected to this brutality. Rollins did his best to communicate the violence of this match, but even he couldn’t make it sound any less cartoonish.

He never wanted to hurt anyone, but Rey had left him with no alternative. So he would blind him at Extreme Rules. And then he waffled a while longer to pad out the rest of the promo until Kevin Owens interrupted.

KO was staggered that Rey chose this particular stipulation but empathised with the desperation of wanting to shut Rollins up. He then presented Seth with an eyepatch, which he could use once his ocular capacity was halved. He also made a Jean-Pierre LaFitte / pirate reference, which I appreciated.

Rollins summoned Murphy to attack KO, but he was intercepted by Aleister Black. GRUDGE!

I hate this feud and everything associated with it.

More Mysterio Madness

Aleister Black and Murphy had a short, uneventful match. Black looked to have the contest won after connecting with a Black Mass, but Seth pulled Black out of the ring to cause the disqualification. It wouldn’t be a Monday night without at least one DQ.

Then, for little narrative reason, Rey Mysterio’s music hit. Seth found himself cornered and we found ourselves heading into a commercial break. I guess vengeance will just have to wait 3-5 minutes.

Rey and Domink’s appearance was simply to add more spice to the ensuing match between KO and Seth. Every time Rollins tried to escape, he was greeted by a force comprising Black and the Mysterios. It’s like they always say: more cooks improve the broth. No, hang on, that’s not it.

Regardless, KO won and it was boring.

A Hollywood Star on Raw

Ric Flair and Big Show had a friendly chat backstage, completely undercutting the heated feelings of recent weeks.

Flair called Big Show the greatest natural athlete of all the big men he had ever worked with. Without disrespecting Show’s admirable ability in his younger years, that was blatantly preposterous.

With that said however, Flair cautioned Show against continuing on this collision course with Randy Orton. Not just because Orton was dangerous, but because apparently it’s hard to transition from Hollywood back to wrestling. And nothing screams “Hollywood” like the Big Show Show on Netflix. Christ, was every word in this segment absolute gibberish?

Apparently so, because Big Show remained unfettered and strolled off. What a waste of time this was.

If there was one saving grace, it was that Randy later delivered a straight-to-camera promo in which he teased turning on Flair on account of the ‘Nature Boy’ doing something to jeopardise their relationship. I appreciated this acknowledgement of events elsewhere. Flair shouldn’t be buddying up to Big Show, and Viper’s gonna Viper.

Randy Conquers Another Legend

R-Truth made his second entrance of the night, with every bit as much vigour as he had the first time round. Before Orton came out, Flair took to the stage to celebrate Truth’s two decades in the business. Apparently Randy Orton shared Flair’s admiration for Truth’s work and so wouldn’t “punt him across the arena”. He would just RKO him instead. Good to know.

True to his word, Randy delivered the RKO ten seconds into the match and won. Then Big Show came out. Randy proposed they have an unsanctioned match on Raw next week, to which Show agreed.

I assume this was meant to be a bombshell announcement, but I greeted it with a disinterested shrug. So much time and attention has been devoted to a feud that has never caught fire, largely because Big Show is at least ten years past his prime.


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

Building an entire show upon the framework of it being a “Night of Grudges” turned out to be nothing more than a poor excuse to rehash a lot of familiar territory. With the exception of the main event, the matches were largely familiar affairs, with the some stars squaring off for yet another week.

It says something that on a night branded on settling grudges, it was the surprise returns that created the most buzz. I couldn’t care less about Dolph demanding gratitude from Drew McIntyre, or Big Show clashing with Randy Orton. Give me more Bianca Belair and Shayna Baszler!

Once again, Raw was carried by the women this week. From The IIconics to the Kabuki Warriors, they were simultaneously the funniest, most convincing and best wrestlers on display. R-Truth deserves special mention for his particular brand of goofiness. I must admit it made me laugh.

As for the rest of the show though, it can go kick rocks. I can’t wait for Extreme Rules, so that we can move on from all this. Raw this week was – once again – Poor.

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4 years ago by Nicholas Holicki

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