Hello, friends! I have decided to recap the professional wrestling event known as Monday Night RAW tonight because, well, I felt like it and had the platform to do so.
When you’re not getting paid to do something, you can do as you please, right?
Of course, please bear with me as I either potentially do or don’t ever do this again, or if the format entirely changes in the future. Just covering my bases.
I really liked RAW tonight! While, frankly, the show hasn’t been my favourite weekly piece of wrasslin’ programming for quite some time, it’s always been capable of delivering great things. Tonight, whether it was the fact that it was The Miz’s first night as champion in over a decade or there was simply something in the Thunderdome water, RAW was, well, neat!
However, there were of course some portions I enjoyed more than others and more than a few thoughts coming out of tonight’s episode than usual. Let’s put pen to proverbial paper and spill ’em to you, the bevy of wrestling fans out there.
Big Bad Bob
Sing Sang Song.
(If you ain’t watching Drag Race UK, there ain’t no helping you, folks.)
Robert Lashley is a baaaaad dude. I sang his praises all over our Elimination Chamber preview show and his nearly year-long streak of perfection continued tonight. Lashley was, simply, really neat tonight whether it be his adjusting of Miz’s suit earlier in the program or in taking out Braun Strowman later in the program. His main event tilt against the Monster Among Men was a glorious, glorious car wreck, and his post-match kerfuffles with both Strowman and the Miz were just neat.
I enjoyed Bobby Lashley tonight, and I wish to congratulate him on a job well done through my personal endeavors in this RAW recap.
Don’t spit in to the wind, and don’t mess around with Bob.
Riddle/Morrison
Man, did these two tear it up.
If there’s a match to go back and watch from this evening’s RAW, then this would be it. Both Riddle and Morrisson hit like bricks throughout the tilt and certainly featured some innovative offense, especially on the U.S Champ’s end.
While Riddle’s efforts certainly shouldn’t be discounted, I want to focus on John Morrisson for a second here. Since returning to WWE, the former Johnny Nitro has been paired with The Miz, and while the pairing has undoubtedly been entertaining – and proven themselves capable of delivering some audio chocolate in the form of “Hey Hey, Ho Ho” – any time that Morrison’s had the opportunity to wrestle as a singles act, he’s more than delivered. Think back to the ladder match at WrestleMania, or even the fatal four-way kickoff match at last Sunday’s Elimination Chamber.
Though he may have lost the title to a Bro-Derek with a little extra oomph on it, Morrisson looked excellent tonight, as most of his in-ring action has throughout his return. I’ve said it about some of his previous matches before so I say this with a grain of salt, but hopefully, this match kick-starts a true singles run for the former Intercontinental Champion here soon.
Tornado Tag
That was wild!
Gary Cassidy said it best on Twitter: this match, in the best possible ways, gave me video-game vibes.
Pro wrestling is all about adaptability. To me, a Tornado Tag match is the perfect environment for a team like Lucha House Party, and the two, along with their opponents in the Hurt Business, more than delivered tonight. The match was cacophony in all of the best ways. Alexander and Benjamin have truly come into their own as a team, with their knee strike/Paydirt combo looking absolutely devastating in putting away their high-flying compatriots. LHP has been sneaky-good over the past six months, and I’ve quite liked their recent feud with the Hurt Business. Would I be mad about them winning the tag straps at some point? Absolutely not!
Coffee Talk
A section in which Spencer kicks around some ideas that made their way into his mind during tonight’s viewing, for your conversational needs.
- What if Ricochet took over Ali’s place as the leader of RETRIBUTION? Makes sense given their previous storyline, and perhaps could be used to do ye ol’ double turn of sorts for Mr. O’Shea and Ali? At the very least, after tonight, it looks as though we aren’t long for the Ali-led faction one way or another.
- Rhea Ripley! Neat! Man, just put her right in the title picture. She’s a star, and she’s already proven she can hang with the best of them in her match with Charlotte last year. The result may not have gone her way, but it was a hell of a tilt and I’m stoked to see what The Nightmare gets up to on the main roster.
- Wish we woulda found out who Angel Garza was wooing. Wish Angel Garza was on TV more. Hey, where’s Andrade? I miss that guy.
- Bad Bunny being on WWE programming inspired me to download some of his music. I quite like it. Bad Bunny being on Saturday Night Live last weekend inspired a few friends to text me that they saw a wrestling thing on TV. This, to me, solidifies this relationship as a win/win.
- I’m admittedly biased as I’m a huge fan of all three performers, but isn’t it about time there was a big development in the Orton/Fiend/Bliss storyline? Tonight’s story wasn’t exactly my thing, but I do hope it starts to lead to *something* bigger and better soon. What that is, I admittedly don’t know, hence its inclusion in the ‘topics for discussion’ portion of this evening’s wrap.
- Who’s turning heel: Charlotte or Asuka? My heart says Asuka, my head says Charlotte. What about you?
- Is Sheamus a WWE Hall of Famer? Methinks yes, yes he is.
- I’m very excited for the day they put a championship on Lana.
Bags o’ Popcorn
🍿🍿🍿🍿.5 /🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿
Please pardon the lack of a half a bag of popcorn to properly represent my rating.
What’d you think? Have you made it this far in the recap? If you did, hooray! Hopefully, it means you’ll tweet me @SpennyLove and give me your thoughts on tonight’s show or anything else in pro wrestling.
Later days!
