WWE Raw – October 28, 2019 (Review)

WWE Raw – October 28, 2019 (Review)

Just three days before WWE’s biannual trip to Saudi Arabia and it feels like the world’s attention is firmly locked on everything other than the problematic pay-per-view.

Because when confronted with plummeting ratings, damning charges from disgruntled talent and more negative PR, suddenly Mansoor vs. Cesaro doesn’t seem that compelling.

Starting with the least serious of those concerns, WWE’s now-customary trip to the Middle-East is wrought with well-publicised criticisms. Without re-litigating the various diplomatic transgressions levelled at Saudi Arabia, it’s become increasingly untenable for any company to maintain a relationship with the Kingdom. The fact that WWE has not only continued the business arrangement with the country, but has also been seen to run promotional material for it has generated widespread condemnation.

As if that wasn’t enough, SmackDown recorded a nigh disastrous viewership of just 888,000. That’s more than two million fewer than it’s FOX debut just two weeks earlier and – perhaps more troublingly – almost 100,000 below AEW’s viewership. Admittedly, the brand’s bump to FS1 as a result of the World Series contributed significantly to that reduced audience. But even still, it should (and reportedly has) come as a massive disappointment.

Finally, and most sensitively, is the public grievance by Jordan Myles. The highly-regarded NXT prospect took to Twitter of the weekend, taking aim at his employer for what he perceives to be racial biases and systemic mistreatment of African-American wrestlers. Now, as a white kid who’s never worked in WWE, I am wholly unqualified to proffer an opinion on this issue. But chances are that if Myles feels so maligned as to take to social media, then he’s likely raised the issue with his coworkers too. Also likely, given his assuredness in speaking about the issue, is that at least some of them have agreed with him.

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With reports emerging of a possible “uprising” in the NXT ranks over WWE’s failure to honour promised pay increases, this issue could only foster more resentment amongst an already dissatisfied talent base. All is not well in the wrestling juggernaught.

I realise in all of this I haven’t said one word about Raw. And that’s because for a go-home episode to an out-of-continuity pay-per-view, it offered very little to get excited about. But with three hours of content, there was certainly a lot to get through.

So, without further rambling, let’s get to the review.


The Best of Raw

A Worthy Repeat

It’s a little strange that we would see Ricochet take on Drew McIntyre a week after the pair went at it on last Monday’s Raw. With five members comprising each of Team Hogan and Team Flair, there were infinite other combinations available.

But despite the unimaginative booking, this match was really solid. I always enjoy Ricochet’s breathtaking acrobatics, and McIntyre’s brand of beefy goodness is impressive. The Scotsman looks like one of the Stonehenge tablets, yet is remarkably athletic in his own right.

So we got a fun matchup, which largely followed the template laid out the week before. Drew spent large periods battering Ricochet, while the highflier desperately attempted to turn the tide.

There was a great moment where McIntyre got in Hogan’s face at ringside, emphasising just how physically domineering he is.

Once Ricochet was able to string together some offence, he got absolutely blindsided by an RKO from Randy Orton. If I had to guess where that RKO came from, I’d have to say “nowhere”.

Then Ric Flair celebrated alongside Drew and Orton.

Humberto is Still a Thing!

Humberto Carrillo came face-to-face with The OC backstage. AJ Styles claimed to be a fan of the young Mexican’s work last week and challenged him to a match later in the night.

After an impressive Raw debut against Seth Rollins last week, it was great to see Carrillo remain in the main event fray. WWE too often abandons pushes prematurely, resulting in talent struggling to build momentum. Hopefully that doesn’t happen here.

Falls Count Anywhere

Seth tackled ‘Big Red’ Erick Rowan in a Falls Count Anywhere match, mirroring the encounter he’ll have with The Fiend at Crown Jewel.

This was a welcome change of pace for Raw, as the two men brawled all over the arena. Of course, the buildup had heavily leaned on the notion that the fight could spill into the suburbs of St Louis, and I’d prefer WWE to stop advertising events that it has no intention of following through on.

But this match was nevertheless far from a disappointment, as the fight led through the crowd to the concession stands and back to the ring. Eventually Rowan carried Seth up the ramp to the announcers table.

Rollins hit a Curb Stomp on the table, but Rowan kicked out. They carried on backstage, clobbering one another with different pieces of equipment. Seth struck Rowan with a ladder, before hitting a Stomp directly on the steel.

He then ordered a conveniently-placed forklift driver to trap Rowan under the vehicles tongs, allowing the easy pin.

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While Seth celebrated on the announce table, I fully expected to see The Fiend. But no such luck, as Seth’s challenger was conspicuous by his absence. So our final moments before the Universal Championship match on Thursday bizarrely lacked one of the competitors.

Rookie vs. Veteran

Carrillo continues to build his profile on Raw. And to that end, it’s a stroke of genius to pair him with the brand’s most experienced stars. Seth Rollins last week and AJ Styles on this episode so effectively counteract any inexperience the exciting Monday Night rookie may suffer.

AJ was the perfect foil here as Humberto flew across the ring, engaged in a series of remarkable athletic feats. There were moonsaults, tornado DDTs, and picturesque cross-bodies.

Eventually AJ was able to secure victory with the Calf Crusher, but not before Carrillo had impressed more viewers.

In the aftermath, Styles seemed to offer Humberto a hand before slapping him in the face. This set off the Mexican superstar and a brawl ensued. AJ floored Carrillo with a Styles Clash and looked set to inflict more damage, when the Street Profits ran out to make the save.


The Worst of Raw

The Rebranded Kabuki Warriors

Raw started by introducing the Kabuki Warriors, accompanied by Paige for the first time in months. At first I was wondering why Paige had suddenly resurfaced, this time supposedly in an “advisory” capacity.

But that question was quickly pushed aside when I glimpsed Kairi Sane, not in her usual ‘Pirate Princess’ attire, but instead in a kimono and twirling a small, ornate umbrella. So I guess they’re just going full stereotypical Japanese gimmick now… although I shouldn’t be entirely surprised given that the team is called the Kabuki Warriors.

Paige ran through each woman’s accolades, doing her best to sing the team’s praises. They responded by grabbing the mic away from the Brit and rather obnoxiously spouting off a few lines in Japanese. Paige looked somewhat irritated and then got coated in Green Mist by Asuka. Her reaction was the perfect mix of shock, followed by immediate panic at being blinded. Despite everything, Paige is still great.

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The problem here is that Asuka and Sane never had a true heel turn. They sort of just suddenly were heels. And now Raw is in the position were they need to retroactively give fans a reason to boo the Japanese duo. It all feels rather rushed and unearned.

Becky No Plan

In the immediate aftermath of Paige getting a face full of mist, Becky Lynch came storming down to attack the Women’s Tag Team Champions. Becky, of course, not only had a match scheduled with Kairi Sane, but had also suffered the ignominy of getting ‘misted’ by Asuka two weeks ago.

The issue was that Lynch came out seemingly without a plan. She had no weapon and no backup, yet thought it was a good idea to take on two of the company’s top talents. She was sort of successful, as both Kairi and Asuka eventually regrouped on the outside. But if Raw was bound by the normal rules of logic, Becky would’ve rightly suffered a beatdown at the hands of the Tag Team champs.

She instead had a match with Kairi Sane, with ‘The Man’ running out the easy victor. This entire opening segment did very little for Lynch and made the Kabuki Warriors look largely impotent.

He Isn’t R-Truth’s Buddy

R-Truth came down to the ring to face Buddy Murphy. Before he did though, Truth delivered a tired promo about needing an extra set of eyes to reclaim the 24/7 Title from the Singh Brothers. So he put on a pair of prescription glasses.

Is this really the calibre of opponent Buddy Murphy should be associating himself with?

Things only got worse when Truth proceeded to take the ENTIRE match. He was on the offence from the opening bell and only relented once the rest of the 24/7 goofs ran down to the ring.

They started to run circles around ringside. R-Truth soon joined the procession, because apparently Buddy Murphy just isn’t worth his time.

 

When Truth eventually slid back into the ring, Murphy clocked him with a knee and secured the pinfall. This god awful match made the Australian look like a complete afterthought, unable to compete with R-Truth, who only won because his opponent got distracted by shinier things.

This was comparable to the Bayley “This Is Your Life” segment and is easily the worst thing I’ve seen on Raw this year.

That’s All You Get to Know about AOP This Week

The Authors of Pain delivered their usual promo about being big, dangerous men who enjoy being big and dangerous.

After two months of this, I’m bored.

The same holds true for Aleister Black’s Room of Incoherent Rambling, which we took a trip to later in the night.

Viking Squashes

The Viking Raiders quickly killed two guys dressed like baseball players from the rival Chicago Cubs.

While fans in St Louis might have gotten a kick out of this, it remains a very local reference that can’t possibly resonate with the rest of the world.

More Rematches?

I enjoyed the bout between Andrade and Sin Cara last, but not enough to deem it worthy of an immediate rematch. I didn’t even like that McIntyre and Ricochet were squaring off again.

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Similarly befuddling was that Sin Cara was accompanied to the ring by the ultimate equaliser… Catalina? Who was this mysterious masked woman? And was she related to La Luchadora?

Apparently I was the only one confused about the origins of Sin Cara’s new manager and whether she was here to stay, as commentary offered little in the way of explanation.

But she did prove useful. When Zelina Vega hopped up on the apron to interfere, Catalina lifted her and slammed Vega into the barricade. Ironically however, this was enough to distract Sin Cara, leaving him helpless to Andrade’s devastating School Boy roll up. (He had his feet on the ropes for good measure.)

Raw is for the Stars

For no apparent reason other than Charlotte Flair needed to get on TV, she tagged with Natalya to take on The IIconics. This despite Charlotte having no previous alliance with Natalya or acrimony with the Aussie duo.

And so it was that the IIconics beat down Natalya for ages, before Charlotte came in to save the day, allowing Nattie to lock in the Sharpshooter on Peyton Royce for the win.

What was the point of this?

Seth Rollins Isn’t an Idiot

In a rushed interview with Charley Caruso, Seth Rollins spoke about his upcoming match at Crown Jewel. He  claimed that The Fiend would take him to another level, because Seth had taken it to another level by burning down the Firefly Fun House.

Cue raucous boos from those in attendance.

Rollins said that he wasn’t an idiot, he knew that the Fun House would come back. And now that it was, Bray Wyatt had only become more dangerous.

SO THEN WHY BURN IT DOWN IN THE FIRST PLACE, SETH?

If he knew that Wyatt’s creation would be back in a matter of weeks and that its destruction would only make his foe more powerful, then why do it? For someone claiming not to be an idiot, he sure does a lot of dumb things.

Divorce Court

Tastelessly rebranded “Divorce Court”, Jerry Lawler invited Rusev and Lana to appear on his talk show. This was the pinnacle of garbage and yet somehow also the main event of the night.

First Rusev came out, smiling and cheerily greeting the remaining fans at ringside. He was followed by a sultry-looking Lana, who appeared to have something on her mind.

She started by making the inexplicable claim that she had no intention of airing the couple’s dirty laundry or embarrassing Rusev. Have I been living in a parallel, somehow more infuriating universe the past month?

However, she had to clear the air. Apparently Rusev is a sex addict who was obsessed with putting a baby in Lana. Where did this come from? What happened to her issues about his money management?

Before we could even question that though, Lana changed her mind. Her real issue with Rusev was that he was cheating on her… according to Bobby Lashley. This understandably enraged Rusev, as Lashley made his entrance.

The two men brawled. Rusev floored Lashley, removed his wedding ring and shoved it in Lashley’s mouth. But as the beatdown continued, Lana struck her husband with a kendo stick.

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A broken-hearted Rusev wheeled around and began professing his love for Lana. And Lashley, from behind, crushed Rusev’s little Bulgarians! Lana slapped the ‘Bulgarian Brute’ and Lashley punted him square in the junk for the second time.

Then the adulterous couple made out passionately over Rusev’s prone – and likely anguished – body.

This segment managed to deliver a staggering amount of information while yet somehow still leaving us none the wiser. What on Earth is happening in this storyline?


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

I must admit, I’m starting to lose patience with Raw. Not because it’s irredeemably bad, but because it’s so painfully inconsistent.

It follows good with bad, great with abysmally poor. It’s enough to make your head spin and results in a frustrating watch.

This week in particular featured some real gems.

Sure Humberto Carrillo had another excellent outing. And Seth Rollins and Erick Rowan injected some energy just when the show started to lag. But interspersed among those good segments were pointless squashes, bad promos and meaningless matches.

Worst of all though was Raw’s insistence on undermining potential stars. Rusev is wrapped up in one of the most incoherently awful storylines of the year, while Buddy Murphy found himself on the periphery of the 24/7 Title picture. The 24/7 Title picture for goodness sake! Murphy’s treatment in particular is unforgivable.

All of that culminated in a tepid Raw this week. One that’s fortunate to even earn a Poor rating.

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4 years ago by Nicholas Holicki

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