RAW Review – 26/06/17
This weeks RAW was a build up show to the PPV. It had some exciting matches including a Woman’s Gauntlet Match, which was the Main Event. And Lesnar turns up to find Joe! Read on for the rest of the review.
The Big Dog
We open RAW with Roman Reigns heading down to the ring and the announcers recapping what happened last week with a returning Braun Strowman.
Reigns gets on the mic, crowd immediately get on him with the “Boo’s”. Reigns basically says that while he was down last week, Braun took advantage and that he accepts the challenge of an Ambulance match! So it’s officially on at Great Balls of Fire!
An ambulance appears to back out into the arena, getting Reigns to go and check it out. No Strowman inside but he did appear from no where and start chucking Reigns around again! It ended with Strowman throwing a dazed Reigns into the ambulance and it drives away with Reigns inside. Shades of things to come!
6 man Tag match!
Next up we have a 6 man tag match with the Hardy boys and Finn Balor vs Samson, Cesaro and Sheamus. Good match! Some decent bumps as you would expect from these guys. Finn Balor was amazing in this match! The ending with was brilliant. Shows just how good Balor really is! He needs to be back in the Universal title picture asap!!
Goooolllldussstt…
Another Goldust promo video. He does his freaky thing and says is his own weird way that the Golden Age is back! And is about to begin… TONIGHT!
We go from that into Goldust vs R-Truth. Goldust is wearing his old white and gold ring attire. Going some what retro! He even has his bleach blonde hair back! The match didn’t even get started as Goldust attacked R-Truth before the bell rang and R-Truth can’t continue.
My name is Paul Heyman
Backstage, we start an interview with Paul Heyman. Basically he says.. My client Brock Lesnar… Brock Lesnar, Lesnar, Brock Lesnar… you get the picture! Suddenly Samoan Joe appears and scares the crap out Heyman! He wants Lesnar!
Woman’s Gauntlet Match!
Next there’s a promo about how Angle has made a woman’s gauntlet match after last weeks brawl in the ring. The winner of the gauntlet match will face Alexa Bliss for the Woman’s Championship at Great Balls of Fire!
Miz TV
So… Miz TV has special guests on his show this week. The Ball Family? To be honest, I have no idea who they are haha! Probably because I’m not American and they are clearly a big thing in the USA.
I have no idea what the hell was going on with these “Ball” guys… the whole thing was a mess. And the big Ball daddy guy was very weird? Not really sure what they wanted to do… but all I could see was a very bad promotion of merchandise attempt.
Another 6 man tag?
Not sure why… but they do another 6 man tag match? Not sure if its WWE trying to get all their talent on TV at once or what… but it’s a bit strange. This time, it’s Miz, Axel and Dallas vs Ambrose, Slater and Rhyno. Not a bad match to be fair. Pretty good wrestling, a few good spots! In the end though it was the Miz-tourage picking up the win after a sneaky punch and roll up from Axel and Dallas!
Waiting for the Beast…
They show Heyman backstage waiting for Brock Lesnar. Then they go on to show the Enzo and Cass story.
Enzo and Cass… this is the end of an era…
Enzo comes to ring ALONE for the first time ever to talk about Cass. Enzo talks about how him and Cass are family and how he refuses to let Cass put an end to it. Cass seemed to make up with Enzo and the two celebrated a reunion. Which was then cut promptly short but Cass hitting Enzo with a clothsline at the top of the ramp and then throwing Enzo down the ramp. It’s safe to say, Cass is done with Enzo.
Rollins vs Hawkins
Next we have a fairly quick match between Hawkins and Rollins. Hawkins made a big come back during the past year but has quickly become the biggest jobber on RAW. Hawkins did some damage at first but Rollins bounced back and took care of Hawkins for the 3 count.
Immediately following the match Bray Wyatt appeared on the titantron. Wyatt delivers one his cryptic promos about how he’s coming for Rollins. And at Great Balls of Fire he’s going to be facing him.
The Beast is here!
Brock Lesnar arrives backstage in a jeep. It’s just a short backstage video showing him arriving. They show some of the females wrestlers from the gauntlet match drawing numbers before we go to ringside, where Heyman is in the ring.
After Heyman talks for a bit, Lesnar comes out but as he goes to walk down the ramp, Joe appears and starts to choke him out!! They have a bit of a brawl on the stage before being broken up by referees and other wrestlers. Brock looked shaken up after the fight, Joe however looked impressive taking on Lesnar. I think Joe has a real chance at beating the beast at Great Balls of Fire!
Cruiser weight match
Neville vs Lince Dorado. Tozawa is at ringside in a Titus Brand VIP area, watching the match. Average match, fairly with Neville just wanting to prove a point. Tozawa and Neville seem to want to go at it but Titus O’Neil comes out and announces he’s confirmed that the two will fight at the Great Balls of Fire for the Crusierweight Title!
Heyman promo
We go to Heyman backstage giving an interview. He does a brilliant promo regarding Lesnar vs Joe at Great Balls of Fire.
Woman’s Gauntlet Match
After a quick promo backstage between Bliss and Jax we go straight to the ring for the Gauntlet match. Nia and Bayley start off. Nia pins Bayley to advance, Mickey James comes out. Nia again pins Mickey and advances. Next up is Dana Brooke. Nia makes quick work of Dana… pin fall again. Next up Emma. Emma gives a top effort but Nia again takes out her opponent for the pin fall. Last but not least, Sasha Banks! Banks gives the best effort of the night vs Nia and we have a half decent wrestling match. In the end though, Banks beats Nia with the Bank Statement!
She definitely chose the right number in the gauntlet match. She 100% capitalized on Nia being tired from the previous opponents. Well done Sasha Banks though! Were going to have Banks vs Bliss at Great Balls of Fire!
The ending
Kurt Angle comes out and congratulates Banks by raising her hand. Bliss then comes down and gets in Banks’s face. Banks dropkicks her and holds up the title, sending a message to a cocky Bliss.
Final thoughts
Not a bad RAW at all. Good overall show. I thought Joe looked impressive and strong taking on Lesnar. Not sure why they had two 6-Man tag matches… but they were still pretty good. Next week will be show before the PPV, which is usually isn’t the best but we shall see! Peace out peeps!
