WWE Raw – September 23, 2019 (Review)

WWE Raw – September 23, 2019 (Review)

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the arbitrarily named – and yet not entirely inconsequential – SEASON FINALE of Raw.

You see, just a few days ago it was decided that this edition of the red brand would mark the end of a yearlong odyssey. Or rather, more significantly, that next week would constitute the beginning of a new season of Raw.

The decision to depart from WWE’s customary post-WrestleMania year-end is clearly thought out. Next week sees the first head-to-head between NXT and AEW and, of similar importance, SmackDown Live’s inaugural Friday night broadcast on FOX.

So, in light of the major changes and to place extra significance on next week, WWE decided to label it the “season premiere“. By extension, making last night’s Raw the season finale. And, like any good season finale, we were promised drama, swerves and cliffhangers.

Pointedly, Seth Rollins had to go to work with the spectre of ‘The Fiend’ possibly lurking around every corner. Just waiting to choke him out or otherwise terrorise his every waking moment. Talk about a hostile work environment.

Also, a Fatal Five-way between some of the company’s top stars would take place to decide the next challenger to the Universal Championship. And Michael Cole sat down with Becky Lynch to chat about her upcoming Hell in the Cell encounter with Sasha Banks.

So it all sounded rather grand. And you just knew that with the placement of the show on the calendar, it was destined to end in a major angle. Which it kind of did.

Let’s get to the review.


The Best of Raw

‘The Fiend’ Takes Hold

Last week I mistakenly believed that the graphics issues afflicting Raw were simply mishaps. I know, silly me.

What they were designed to be instead, were harbingers of ‘The Fiend’ slowly taking over the show’s production. Infiltrating its presentation and spreading like a virus.

The first sign that ‘The Fiend’ had taken ownership of events came with the opening WWE graphic. The customary series of highlights of bygone years, which slowly morph into the WWE logo. This week, that sequence was interrupted by glitches, static, frozen frames and – most disturbingly – a brief glimpse of ‘The Fiend’s terrifying visage.

He’s here. And he’s taking over. Amazing.

The Champion is Rattled

Following the chilling intro, Seth Rollins, as he so often does, came out to open Monday Night Raw. He is the face of the company after all. I just sometimes wish that he wasn’t the voice of it too.

Thankfully, this was not one of those occasions. Seth recounted last week’s events, which saw ‘The Fiend’ take out Kane before lauding over a defeated and cowering Rollins. The Universal Champion seemed truly shaken by that episode, perhaps even harbouring some doubts as to whether he could conquer ‘The Fiend’ at Hell in a Cell.

Unfortunately, this is where the good ended and the Braun began. As Strowman marched out for little reason other than to artificially (and needlessly) add another element of drama to the segment. Haven’t we moved past this feud?

Seth cleanly and decisively pinned Braun at Clash of Champions, and a rematch here just feels like an unearned rehash of what was already a tired formula. Braun squashes some dudes, gets a title shot and then loses. Rinse, repeat.

And that may be what lay in store here. After some unimaginative back-and-forth, Seth threatened to fight Strowman. The ‘Monster Among Men’ told Rollins that he’d “get these hands” later in the night. And it was on.

Something tells me that this match match isn’t going to happen – or at least that we won’t get a clean finish. The threat posed by ‘The Fiend’ just seems too immediate.

The Raid is Halted

After weeks of doing nothing but squashing jobbers, The Viking Raiders finally got a shot at a recognised tag team.

The big, burly brutes were pitted against The O.C. in what was a fun encounter. AJ Styles naturally involved himself heavily from the start. But after one too many tricks, he was ejected from ringside. While protesting his way up the ramp however, he was attacked by a surprisingly-not-dead Cedric Alexander. So apparently that feud is still going on?

Styles’ departure allowed the action to flow uninterrupted. And flow it sure did, as Ivar flipped and cartwheeled like an exceptionally hairy cruiserweight. Eventually Erik launched Karl Anderson into the air, leading Ivar to catch him in a Powerslam for the 1-2-3. A really solid tag match, affording the Viking Raiders some much-needed momentum.

Cole Interviews Becky

Michael Cole had a sit-down interview with Becky Lynch ahead of her match against Sasha Banks inside Hell in a Cell. Becky said exactly what you would expect, while Cole asked some pretty inane questions about the $10,000 fine she incurred for accidentally hitting the referee with a chair at Clash of Champions. What is it with WWE’s obsession with fining their babyfaces?

Regardless, this was an effective if unmemorable segment. Lynch spoke about how she couldn’t wait to get her hands on Banks. And once they were in the cage, there would be nowhere to run. It was fine.

Lacey Evans is Good

I’ve hopped on and off this train more often than a New York commuter, but I think I’m firmly onboard the Lacey Evans bandwagon once again.

The ‘Lady of WWE’ faced off against Ember Moon this week, in a very enjoyable contest. Admittedly Ember – who is herself excellent – did most of the heavy lifting here. But Lacey certainly held her own and demonstrated some incredible athleticism.

Evans eventually clobbered Moon with the Women’s Right, knocking her off the top rope. Lacey then locked in the Sharpshooter to claim the submission, in the latest shot at Natalya.

Nattie had been watching the match backstage, and challenged to Evans to a rematch of a bout from two weeks ago… which itself was a rematch from the previous week. But hey, all classic rivalries come in threes.

“See you in Hell!”

Firefly Funhouse kicked off with Bray Wyatt hanging the newest addition to his Wall of Friends: Kane.

Soon though, he noticed Huskus the Pig-Boy and Rambling Rabbit fighting over a Seth Rollins action figure. Well, not so much fighting as Huskus was just trying to eat it. What a slob.

Bray chastised his friends, saying that if you love something – as much as they love Seth – you open yourself up to disappointment, neglect and loneliness. And he knows what it’s like to feel abandoned by those he loved most. Was that a veiled threat at Seth’s fiancé, Becky? WWE has previously shown a tendency to involve her in Rollins’ storylines.

But regardless, Rambling Rabbit told Bray that they simply didn’t want ‘The Fiend’ to hurt Seth. Bray immediately turned ominous, claiming that perhaps ‘The Fiend’ was simply trying to protect him.

And then he snapped the action figure in half, because sharing is caring!

King of the Ring Rematch

I’m normally opposed to rematches, particularly those that happen in close proximity to one another. But given the quality of the original, this one was rather tantalising.

Baron Corbin unveiled a new entrance befitting his new status as WWE’s resident king, complete with regal music, swanky attire and a rebranding to “King Corbin”. Some may not like the stereotypical approach taken here, but Corbin was already a somewhat comedic heel. So fully embracing the king gimmick isn’t necessarily a bad fit.

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He cracked some jokes about Chad Gable being short, before the action got underway. And again, the match stayed very close to the original. Corbin spent most of the bout on the attack, while Gable heroically fought to stay alive.

And the raucous crowd was massively behind Gable when he eventually turned the table with a moonsault and ankle lock. He appeared set for a big win, when Corbin grabbed his royal sceptre (potential euphemism for his penis?) and started bludgeoning Gable with it.

While this match wasn’t given the feature slot like the King of the Ring finals were last week, it was still a solid outing for Gable and Corbin. One they can hopefully build upon going forward.

AOP Reveal Were They’ve Been

AOP delivered another subtitled promo from an undisclosed dark room. They claimed that no-one was brave enough to fight them, before demonstrating precisely why that was.

They marched out of the room and down a passage, before simply battering Heath Slater and another poor soul. It was awesome. These guys look like extremely well-dressed killers.

The Fatal Five-Way

Not even Ricochet’s horrible, awful, cringeworthy pre-match promo about superheroes could damper my excitement for this match to crown the challenger to Seth Rollins’ Universal Title next week. A match which was apparently converted into an elimination format at some point?

The competitors were Rey Mysterio, Ricochet, AJ Styles, Robert Roode and Shinsuke Nakamura. The proverbial cream of the crop… and Robert Roode. I kid, I kid!

The contest progressed exactly as you’d expect, with competitors being periodically thrown to the outside to allow two or three others to wrestle for a bit. But this formula certainly made it fast and unpredictable. You never knew who would come flying in to change the dynamic. Although usually it was Ricochet.

At least until he turned into a Kinshasa and became the first man eliminated! That did not make the crowd happy.

AJ Styles next eliminated Shinsuke Nakamura with the Phenomenal Forearm, before himself being immediately knocked out by Robert Roode.

A decent singles match then ensued between Mysterio and Roode, although the result seemed like a foregone conclusion after Roode lost to Rollins last week. And, as predicted, Rey soon picked up the win, meaning that he goes on to face Seth next week. Where he’ll presumably lose. But still, exciting!

Monster Meets Beast Slayer

The main event featured a lot of Braun Strowman beating down Seth Rollins. It was much the same as what we saw at Clash of Champions, which is to say it was mostly okay. But uninspired nevertheless.

On its own merits, this formulaic encounter between giant monster and speedy underdog wouldn’t be enough to warrant falling into the “good” category. But once again, ‘The Fiend’ came to rescue a waining segment. So, EXACTLY like Clash of Champions then…

Just as Braun looked about to finish Seth, the lights went out. Strowman’s urgent yells of “where are you?” as darkness descended only added to the panic. He wouldn’t have to wait long to find out, because as the strobe lights illuminated the ring, they revealed Braun trapped in ‘The Fiend’s mandible claw. So presumably Bray’s message during the Firefly Funhouse wasn’t directed at Becky at all, but rather his former stablemate. That’s the loved one who abandoned him!

As Strowman slowly lost consciousness, ‘The Fiend’ screamed, almost savagely. Then, much like last week, he crawled over to a prone Rollins – who genuinely looked terrified!

Raw went off the air to the sound of ‘The Fiend’s maniacal laughter. This was incredible.


The Worst of Raw

Battle of the Forgotten Stars

Rusev took on EC3 in a match of WWE’s overlooked stars. They might as well have covered the ring in the shattered remains of fan’s broken hearts. Because, while there was a time were both of these men were audience favourites, those times are long gone.

It appears that Rusev’s return last week as part of Maria Kanellis’ paternity saga was indeed little more than a red herring. But even that revelation was treated rather heavy-handedly, as Renee Young just blurted out on commentary that Rusev wasn’t the father to Maria’s child. Okay… how would she know?

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Either way, it doesn’t matter. Rusev quickly disposed of EC3, while half the people in attendance used the match as an opportunity to go to the bathroom. In fact, the only time the crowd could be heard at all was when they chanted “We want Lana!

As always: great job, WWE.

Banks Takes On Cross

Considering the talent involved, it’s surprising how boring this match was. The issue was that there was absolutely nothing on the line here, as Sasha Banks went back-and-forth with Nikki Cross in a battle over… the concept of momentum? WWE’s most valuable commodity apparently, as the commentators wouldn’t stop talking about it.

Aside from the lack of stakes, the contest was further hampered by the crippling pace and length. It was just so slow, and it went so painfully long. There wasn’t a single memorable moment in this pedestrian fifteen-minute encounter. Except for the rather gruesome bump that Nikki Cross took on the outside.

And then Sasha Banks won with the Banks Statement. Where was Becky during all of this? Aren’t we meant to be building towards her match with Sasha?

Brock Lesnar on Raw 

Nothing reeks of desperation more than Brock Lesnar’s unique blend of raw masculinity, excessive protein levels and the Canadian wilderness.

And so just a week after his apparent move to SmackDown Live, and with Raw seemingly unable to find a marketable star of its own, Brock Lesnar is called upon to headline next week’s “season premiere” episode of the red brand. Per usual. I’m just so tired of WWE’s over-reliance on a man who clearly doesn’t care anymore.

A 24/7 Double-cross

R-Truth and Carmella found themselves in the ring and surrounded by the usual gaggle of nobodies. Carmella stopped them from attacking Truth, lamenting how tired she is of spending her life on the run from people like Mojo Rawley. I can only imagine how traumatic that must be.

Then she stabbed the 24/7 Champion in the back by rolling him up to become the fourth(?) woman to hold the 24/7 Title. Rather than be enraged though, R-Truth smiled and held up his friend’s hand while all the under-carders just stood on the apron, baffled. Apparently men aren’t allowed to pin women in WWE.

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So, instead, a bunch of women came sprinting out, headlined by Billie Kay, Sarah Logan and Dana Brooke. R-Truth and Carmella quickly made their escape.

I HATED this angle, because it only serves to widen the circle of people that WWE tells us not to care about. How am I ever supposed to take Sarah Logan seriously when she’s chasing Carmella around a carpark and celebrating gender reveal parties backstage?


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

I’m going to say this up front – Raw was good this week.

Aside from my growing frustration with the 24/7 shenanigans, and the talented wrestlers who fall into its crushing vortex, I largely enjoyed what the red brand had to offer.

The repackaging of AOP, Lacey Evans and the Viking Raiders has added depth to what were rather barren divisions. King Corbin and Chad Gable reignited their vaunted rivalry. And an entertaining elimination five-way acted as a pulsating way to crown a new contender to Seth Rollins’ Universal Title.

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But, like most shows these days, it was the presence of ‘The Fiend’ that really bolstered Raw. The perpetual threat posed by Bray Wyatt’s alter-ego is all encompassing. Even when he isn’t on screen, the knowledge that he could strike at any moment creates real tension.

And on this occasion, that fear was realised as he took out Braun Strowman and cackled maniacally to close the show. Despite reports to the contrary, he has to win the belt at Hell in the Cell.

Raw this week was Cor.

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5 years ago by Nicholas Holicki

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