Monday Night Raw Review - July 18, 2016

Daniel Bryan and Mick Foley return!

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Stephanie McMahon Named Mick Foley the Raw General Manager; Shane McMahon Named Daniel Bryan the SmackDown General Manager

I figured Foley would be a prime candidate to be running either show given his "Holy Foley" show is set to debut soon on the WWE Network, not to mention he was hilarious as WWE Commissioner back in 2000. It was weird Stephanie chose as a babyface as her GM, but given I was expecting her to appoint Triple H to the role, I'm not complaining. Bryan's name was leaked out as SmackDown GM last week and he should be a great GM as he was high on SmackDown when he was still wrestling. Buried beneath all of this was the announcement the Cruiserweight division will be brought back to Raw. Very exciting news! I had been pitching that as a potential idea for the first hour of Raw for years and it's certainly essential with the show being three hours long.


Sami Zayn and Cesaro def. Chris Jericho and Kevin Owens

I knew it was only inevitable, but it made me hearing Michael Cole say that this was likely the last time these four would be involved in the same match. They have had an awesome series of matches in recent months, but then again, two of the four are bound to cross paths again on either Raw or SmackDown. This was a fun final clash from them as they put together a very good tag team match that gave Zayn a big win heading into Sunday.

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Cesaro taunts Chris Jericho.

​Darren Young def. Alberto Del Rio

I honestly expected this to be a bore fest given who was involved, and while I enjoy Young and am happy for him during this renewed push, I wasn't sure how fans would respond. The match was too short to be anything of note, but at least it concluded with Young scoring a win over a former world champion as he prepares to contend for the Intercontinental Championship, even though I wish it was a bit more decisive.

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The Club and The Wyatt Family def. John Cena, Enzo Amore, Big Cass and WWE Tag Team Champions The New Day

The pre-match promos from everyone (except for The Wyatt Family, thankfully) dragged on a little long, but other than that, it was thoroughly entertaining. Who knew the mention of Pokemon would draw a strong reaction in 2016? You can clearly tell Cena is enjoying himself alongside Enzo and Cass, and contrary to what AJ Styles said, they do have quite the chemistry together. As for the match itself, it ate up a chunk of television time as expected yet the pace didn't pick up until after the last commercial break. Everyone hit their signature spots in typical multi-man match fashion and Enzo accidentally hitting Cena was interesting. I doubt it was done to tease tension but rather to show they don't have the same cohesiveness as The Club. I wouldn't be shocked if this will be the last 12-man tag team match we see for a while to come with the Brand Extension going into effect on Tuesday.


Baron Corbin def. Sin Cara
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Any regular viewers of Main Event have seen this match several times before, so this was nothing new. It was a pretty standard, short-lived squash that was successful in showcasing Corbin's dominance, but I am beyond ready for him to start receiving some real direction. I understand Kalisto and Sin Cara remain friends, but it was weird for Kalisto to come to his aid despite them announcing their amicable split earlier in the day.


Sasha Banks and Becky Lynch def. WWE Women's Champion Charlotte and Dana Brooke by Disqualification

I was looking forward to this match for its excellent in-ring action, but it was basically over before it even began. I liked Natalya coming down to ringside to attack Lynch and further their feud, but it would have been better if she did it behind the referee's back. That said, they wanted to protect Banks, so I was fine with the non-finish, and it was also imperative Charlotte and Dana were the last ones standing before the Battleground tag team match.


United States Champion Rusev and Sheamus def. Dolph Ziggler and Zack Ryder

Remember when League of Nations went their separate ways? Wait, you're telling me that was only two months ago? Oh, right. Sheamus and Alberto Del Rio hated each other when they teamed up last month, so I'm not sure why the same tension wouldn't have been there with Sheamus and Rusev. At any rate, this was a decent tag match where I assumed Ryder would have avenged his loss from last week, but apparently not. I'm holding out hope this means Ryder wins at Battleground, but it's a long-shot for sure.


WWE Champion Dean Ambrose vs. Seth Rollins Ended in a Draw

To correct Michael Cole (and I'm well-aware I come across as a total nerd here), Ambrose has beaten Rollins in one-on-one action before, and I'm not just talking about at Money in the Bank. As for this match, it was excellent and the hype for it throughout the night via the Shield-esque promos from Rollins and Ambrose only added to the excitement of it. They have such stellar chemistry together that all of their matches are never anything less than great. For those who didn't catch the aftermath on the WWE Network afterward, the referee deemed the match a draw. I was completely content with that as it keeps the belt on Ambrose going into the Triple Threat match and might lead to the return of the World Heavyweight Championship if Rollins gets his way.


Overall Show

All eyes are on the WWE Draft on Tuesday night, but WWE still did a solid job of promoting all of the matches on tap for Battleground, which has plenty of potential to be an exceptional event. The revealing of the new general managers for Raw and SmackDown lived up to the hype in my opinion and in addition to the awesome title main event, this was an above-average episode. Sure, there were a handful of filler matches, but I assumed they would be holding off on starting anything new until after the Draft tomorrow.

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