Monday Night Raw Review - August 22, 2022

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Riddle and Seth "Freakin" Rollins Brawled; Bayley, Dakota Kai and IYO SKY Confronted Trish Stratus

Kicking off the show with chaos is always a fun way to switch up the stagnant formula Raw and SmackDown usually follow and I thought the brawl between Riddle and Rollins accomplished that. The subsequent talking segment was solid and it was cool to see Bayley interact with Stratus. I don't think it's leading to one more match for Stratus (and I don't think it necessarily needs to), but either way, this tied into nicely to the tag team tournament match that took place immediately afterward.

Dakota Kai and IYO SKY def. Alexa Bliss and Asuka in a WWE Women's Tag Team Championship Tournament Semifinal Match

This was a very good match that received plenty of time. I wouldn't have minded if it was a few minutes shorter, but I like how they're making the tournament matches feel important as well as the tag titles themselves, which is more than what I can say for those belts since they were introduced three years ago. Unfortunately, WWE announced Gigi Dolin is hurt and Toxic Attraction has to be removed from the SmackDown side of the bracket. A Last Chance Fatal 4-Way tag team match will take place on Friday's SmackDown to determine who faces Raquel Rodriguez and Aliyah in the semifinals.

Finn Balor def. Dolph Ziggler

It appears Ziggler's short-lived push is officially over, but I do think it's smart to continuing using him in a glorified enhancement role by taking up-and-coming names to the limit like with Theory last week and with Balor here. He probably can't lose every competitive match he has, but it worked in this instance and it was very well wrestled Unfortunately, the finish didn't come off well with Ziggler foreshadowing Rhea Ripley's interference before it happened.

Kevin Owens def. Chad Gable

This was an Alpha Academy open challenge. I thought it might've been a tag team match, but it ended up being a singles outing instead. Owens received a major reaction since he's from Canada and he was in total babyface mode throughout. Him bringing back his old NXT Titantron video along with his NXT shirt were tremendous touches. This was a very enjoyable affair that also went a while. I love for Owens or Sami Zayn to come to the other's aid one of these weeks and start a feud with The Usos, but that may not be anytime soon.

Bayley def. Aliyah

This match was not advertised in advance and was made official by Trish Stratus a little earlier in the show. I wish Bayley's first match back in over a year was made out to be a bigger deal, but considering her opponent was Aliyah, I'm not complaining. All due respect to Aliyah, but not even her hometown of Toronto cared about her, causing the crowd to sit on their hands as a result. This could been a few minutes shorter and no one would have minded.

The Miz and Ciampa def. United States Champion Bobby Lashley and AJ Styles by Disqualification

This was a logical match to do after all the interactions these four have had in recent weeks. The action was as entertaining as you'd expect given the talent involved, but I'm not a big fan of devoting almost 15 minutes to the matchup and then having it end on a non-finish. Dexter Lumis kidnapping Miz seems to indicate he'll indeed be a babyface on the main roster. I'd prefer to see what he can do as a heel, but those segments with Miz do have the potential to be comedy gold.

Johnny Gargano Returned and Attacked Theory

Well, this came completely out of nowhere, but it's really cool to have a genuine surprise in wrestling for once and not be expecting it ahead of time. Gargano has been gone from WWE since departing NXT last December and there's been a ton of speculation about what was next for him. However, he would have been a fool to go anywhere else but WWE once Triple H took control of Creative given their longstanding relationship from NXT. He received a strong reaction and cut an excellent promo introducing himself to anyone who may not have been familiar with his NXT accolades. Theory is the perfect person to pair him with at the moment given their history from NXT. The matches should be terrific, too. Gargano's return was handled wonderfully.

Edge def. Damian Priest

This had a big fight feel to it and the crowd treated Edge like the mega star he is. This was given an ample amount of time and although it started slow, they picked up the pace nicely and had great chemistry. I have no issue with Edge going over in his hometown and the post-match angle with Beth Phoenix coming to his aid to fend off The Judgment Day was brilliantly executed. Now it becomes a question of whether we get Edge vs. Balor one-on-one at Clash at the Castle or Edge and Phoenix vs. Balor and Rhea Ripley. I'd be down for either one.

Overall Show

This was a rare case of Raw's third hour being the best of the three. I was looking forward to this show coming in because it emanating from Toronto, and while they weren't as consistently hot as the Montreal crowd was on Friday's SmackDown, they added to my enjoyment of the episode and there was a lot to like about it. Gargano's return was obviously the highlight of the night, but there were plenty of above-average wrestling over the course of the show as well as intriguing storyline developments. It's amazing how much better of a show Raw has been since Triple H took over and that was once again evident with this edition.

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