WrestleRant
  • Home
  • Columnist Corner
  • Reviews
  • Interviews
  • Audio
  • Videos
  • Store
  • About
  • Contact
Picture

Monday Night Raw Review - June 26, 2017

6/26/2017

0 Comments

 
Picture
By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Braun strowman Attacked Roman Reigns

I've rarely found Ambulance matches to be all that entertaining, but Reigns vs. Strowman at Great Balls of Fire looks promising on paper because their whole rivalry has centered around it, hence why Strowman's latest ambush on Reigns here worked. It's abundantly clear Reigns is having a blast in getting under the skin of the fans, while the fans continue to go nuts for Reigns getting his ass handed to him.

Finn Balor and The Hardy Boyz def. Elias Samson and Raw Tag Team Champions Sheamus & Cesaro

I was looking forward to this match once it was announced because it featured an interesting clash of styles, and while it was a fun little six-man tag team matchup, that actor from the new Transformers movie totally took away from it. I know WWE wants him to promote whatever the hell he'll be involved in coming up, but he would have best been relegated to a backstage segment and not doing commentary during what should have been a meaningful match. That said, this bout furthered two feuds and the crowd was solidly behind the babyfaces throughout.
Picture

Goldust vs. R-Truth Went to a No Contest

I realize he's in the twilight of his career, but Goldust is capable of creating gold (no pun intended, of course) with this new... er, old gimmick of his. He plays the part to perfection and he could be an excellent asset to the midcard with this character. Basically, he's above the undercard, and I really hope this feud with R-Truth ends as soon as possible. I assume the match never getting started here was meant to hold off on their encounter until Great Balls of Fire, likely on the Kickoff show.

Intercontinental Champion The Miz Hosted Miz TV with The Ball Family

For the record, I have zero clue who the Ball family is outside of what I've read about them on Twitter and their accomplishments in basketball. I just know they're hot commodities at the moment and thus WWE wasted no time in snatching them up for their show in Los Angeles. I don't know if LaVar Ball is always this crazy, but he was completely off-the-rails here, and WWE probably got the mainstream attention they were looking for as a result. By the way, was Dean Ambrose only there to point out the obvious similarities between the Balls and Great Balls of Fire? This was such a train wreck and I'm sure there will be plenty of mixed opinions on it.

Intercontinental Champion The Miz, Bo Dallas and Curtis Axel def. Dean Ambrose, Heath Slater and rhyno

From a storyline standpoint, this match made sense given Dallas and Axel recently joined forces with Miz and Slater and Rhyno own a victory over Miz from a few weeks ago. Although this was a well-wrestled matchup, it wasn't nearly as exciting as the six-man tag team match from earlier in the evening and the crowd wasn't as hot for it. I think that's largely because the Miz vs. Ambrose feud has long overstayed its welcome. Fingers crossed they have a blow-off match at Great Balls of Fire and move on from there.

Big Cass HoodWinked Enzo Amore

WWE invested so much time into the saga between Enzo and Cass leading up to their "shocking" split last week that you had to know they wouldn't reunite them so soon. I will give them crediting for dragging this out for as long as they did and giving a handful of fans the impression their bad blood had been resolved, but Cass predictably laid out Enzo, exposing him as an idiot in the process. I'm not too thrilled about this pending program, nor do I think either guy will be better off on their own right now.

Seth Rollins def. Curt Hawkins

Hawkins is the quintessential jobber yet he never ceases to make his opponent look good. Granted, Rollins is already an established star, but Hawkins generates decent heat for someone that never wins. All in all, this was a straightforward showcase for Rollins. Sadly, Bray Wyatt's post-match promo toward Rollins did nothing to pique my interest in their rivalry, which has lacked substance so far.

Samoa Joe Attacked Universal Champion Brock Lesnar

Once again, Paul Heyman, Lesnar and Joe knocked it out of the park. They keep finding new ways to catch viewers by surprise and I loved how Heyman's promo set up Lesnar coming out only to be attacked by Joe from behind. I assumed Lesnar would break out of the Coquina Clutch, but instead he locked it in fully and Lesnar sold it like a million bucks with his face turning beat red. The story is that if Joe locks it in again during their match, we will have a new champion, and the move has been protected in a huge way where fans think he has a chance of slaying the beast. This was brilliant booking.

WWE Cruiserweight Champion Neville def. Lince Dorado (Non-title)

While watching the show with me, my girlfriend (who has seen every episode of Raw since August) had no clue who Dorado was when he made his entrance, and it's hard to blame her considering he's hardly on TV. Hell, most of the Cruiserweights never show up on Raw due to being given the short-lived slot the women once occupied. This match was nothing but a brief display of dominance from Neville and an official confirmation that Neville will meet Akira Tozawa for the Cruiserweight Championship at Great Balls of Fire.

Sasha Banks def. Nia Jax, Emma, Dana Brooke, Mickie James and Bayley in a Raw Women's Championship No. 1 Contender's Gauntlet Match

I couldn't believe it when they said this was the first-ever women's Gauntlet match in WWE history. Nevertheless, despite the women receiving the short end of the stick on Raw as of late, I was glad to see them go on last on this show and they made the most of the opportunity. A majority of the match saw Jax make quick work of her opponents, but the final stretch with her and Banks was well done and had the crowd invested in each of the nearfalls. Banks' victory came across like a big deal with Kurt Angle endorsing her afterward and her vs. Alexa Bliss for the title should be great.

Overall Show

The first hour of this edition of Raw was off to a strong start, but then things took a turn for the worst with Miz TV and everything up until the third hour before the Lesnar and Joe segment. The night was capped off with a refreshing women's main event and a cool moment, so on the whole, I'd say this was a mixed bag of a show, though the positives outweighed the negatives. Meanwhile, the card for Great Balls of Fire is coming together nicely, and it shouldn't be too difficult for it to be better than the underwhelming Extreme Rules event.
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.


    Categories

    All
    #AskGSM
    Battle Of The Belts
    Cruiserweight Classic
    Halftime Heat
    Hidden Gems
    Interviews
    Lists/Rankings
    Mae Young Classic
    Mixed Match Challenge
    News
    NJPW
    NWA Shockwave
    NXT PLEs
    Opinion
    Previews
    Retro Reviews
    Reviews
    RJ's Two Cents
    Satire
    Slammy Awards
    SNME
    SummerSlam Recall
    The Deadly Draw
    The World Is A Vampire
    Tribute To The Troops
    Women's Eliminator
    Worlds Collide
    WrestleMania Recall
    WWE Draft
    WWE Network Specials
    WWE PLEs
    WWE Starrcade


    Archives

    May 2025
    April 2025
    March 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010

    RSS Feed

©2025 WrestleRant. All Rights Reserved.
  • Home
  • Columnist Corner
  • Reviews
  • Interviews
  • Audio
  • Videos
  • Store
  • About
  • Contact