Monday Night Raw Review - August 14, 2017

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins Attacked Raw Tag Team Champions Sheamus and Cesaro

As I've said before, this ongoing angle between Ambrose and Rollins has been excellently executed over the last month or so and I loved that they waited until this moment to have the two reunite and pull the trigger on the fist bump. Their verbal exchange was great as well and it tied perfectly into their Raw Tag Team Championship match with Sheamus and Cesaro at SummerSlam. Once again, the crowd ate all of this up and the moment was made truly memorable.

Sasha Banks def. Nia Jax in a Raw Women's Championship No. 1 Contender's Championship

Yes, we've seen this match seemingly a thousand times before, and no, the outcome was hardly in doubt, but this was a very good match, nonetheless, largely because of the Boston crowd being hot for their hometown girl. I was looking forward to Alexa Bliss vs. Bayley, but Bliss might make more sense as Bliss' SummerSlam opponent given she and Banks had unfinished business from Great Balls of Fire.

Elias vs. R-Truth Went to a No Contest

Elias continues to grow on me with how he bashes on every city they're in that night and just how he's being booked in general. This might as well have been a face turn for Elias because anything that prevents us from having to suffer through watching an R-Truth match is a positive in my book. I really hope this isn't leading to a match between the two on the SummerSlam Kickoff show.

Big Cass, Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows Attacked Big Show and Enzo Amore

Big Cass hasn't generated too much heat as a heel thus far, but he was the most hated person in all of Boston in this segment. He didn't even start his promo because of the boos he was getting, which is a rarity nowadays in WWE. It was interesting he brought up how he would stick up for Amore backstage and how everyone despises him (if only because it's reportedly true). The heels' attack on Show was vicious and gave Cass an extra aggressive edge heading into the SummerSlam match.

Akira Tozawa def. Neville to Win the WWE Cruiserweight Championship

I assumed they would do the title change at SummerSlam when the match was originally slated for the event and it makes no sense to do it on Raw if a rematch will be happening on Sunday. It was an entertaining affair and I'm glad the crowd popped for Tozawa handing Neville his first one-on-one defeat in nearly a year. That said, it should have been saved for SummerSlam where it would have meant more. Tozawa winning the title will freshen things up a bit, but as long as WWE presents the division poorly, fans won't care any more than they did before.

Bray Wyatt def. Finn Balor

I could understand bumping the Cruiserweight Championship match from SummerSlam, but I was surprised this was almost cut from the card as well, if only because Balor is such a big star. Thankfully, that won't be the case with a rematch already announced. At any rate, this was a solid match, but nothing to write home about. Wyatt winning clean shocked the hell out of me, though the feud isn't over, and I assume Balor bringing back his "Demon" persona at SummerSlam will lead to him beating Wyatt.

Emma def. Mickie James

It's been a while since we had our last storyline in the women's division that didn't involve the title, so it was refreshing to see Emma and James receive some television time for a change. Sadly, the crowd sat on their hands for this, and it's hard to blame them. The match was well-wrestled enough, but both women need significant resets at the moment. Emma lost yet another match, but if nothing else, the commentators acknowledged that, so perhaps there's a story there.

Jason Jordan def. Intercontinental Champion The Miz by Disqualification (Non-title)

It was rumored weeks ago that Miz vs. Jordan was never penciled in for SummerSlam due to the show being full, so it was for the better that their match was kept short and sweet. Look for them to clash for the Intercontinental Championship at Raw's No Mercy pay-per-view next month. When The Hardy Boyz made the save, I figured we would get the six-man tag team match on the SummerSlam Kickoff match, but WWE wasted no time in doing it after the commercial break.

Jason Jordan and The Hardy Boyz def. Intercontinental Champion The Miz and The Miztourage

Kurt Angle noted to The Hardy Boyz earlier in the evening that they would have faced The Revival at SummerSlam had Scott Dawson of The Revival not gotten hurt, so they might be off the event all together unless WWE gives them a random Kickoff show match at the last minute. Meanwhile, I thoroughly enjoyed this six-man tag team match and thought everyone played their roles well, making efficient use of the time they were given.

Universal Champion Brock Lesnar, Samoa joe, Braun Strowman and Roman Reigns Confronted Each Other

Paul Heyman cut a decent promo in regards to what fans can expect from the Fatal 4-Way match, but I have no doubt he ran long because Joe and Strowman's promos weren't nearly as long. In fact, Reigns didn't say a single word when he came out, but him hitting Joe with a Spear immediately was even better. I thought we would see an all-out brawl between the four men, but it just came down to Lesnar and Strowman, and even they were held back by the rest of the roster. That was somewhat underwhelming, but I'm highly anticipating their SummerSlam main event, nevertheless.

Overall Show

This was easily one of the strongest go-home shows WWE has produced in some time. I'm not as excited for this SummerSlam as I have been the last two years (then again, I won't be attending this year for the first time since 2014), but the card has potential and I came away more amped up for it than I was going in. Tozawa's title win was a cool surprise, the opening segment was spectacular, and everything else largely held my interest. With an energetic Boston crowd to boot, this was a remarkable effort from Raw that successfully sold me on SummerSlam.