In the Raw 8/5/19
- Sean Covington
- Aug 5, 2019
- 3 min read
These are Cliffsnotes for those that may want to be primed before they watch Raw or skip it altogether.
A bell salute was the way Raw started honoring the victims of the weekend’s mass shootings. Vince was noticably absent on stage, in his stead was HHH front and center with Trish Stratus in ring gear behind him.
Followed by Samoa Joe standing on the commentary table addressing the Roman Reigns incident. Very very very different from anything we’ve ever seen on Raw and the way it starts.
Becky Lynch just came out in the middle of the nonsense was talking so there is no need to take him seriously ever again.
At least Nattie getting disqualified and pushing Trish got her some heel heat and gives Becky an injury angle to go with during the match. Hell of a match from Charlotte Nattie and Becky; didn’t get to see what Trish may have in the tank. Great promo from Becky and Nattie post match, Nattie was already getting boos.
Andrade and Rey was great as always and got that crowd pumped even more. Andrade got the win over Rey with some help from Zelina Vega, let’s see what happens at SummerSlam, I’m hoping Andrade wins again and gains some significant momentum.
Two 24/7 title changes at the OBGYN office and very cleverly and tastefully done.
Brock got a big pop. Seth came out to confront Brock but he looked absolutely pathetic, if he loses he’s gotta come back heel because he is too damaged as a face after the beat downs and losses to Brock. Seth looked entirely too pathetic and it backfired a bit.
The Viking Raiders have been bitches, they come out, wrestle nobodys and leave with absolutely no reaction, week in and week out.
Harley race got a hall of fame video, the only way WWE knows how to do it.
“Mark” Kanelis is on the minds of the Street Profits.
Hometown hero Kurt Angle was special ref for a match between Cinder Alexander and Drew McIntyre. Cinder is attacked before the bell during his weak ass theme music. Luckily there was a hidden surprise, the Fiend attacked Kurt Angle with the mandible claw.
The OC beat down the new day so the match turns into a 6 man tag when Ricochet saves the day. OC wins and look strong going into a big show.
Samoa Joe “occupied Raw”, which is something he said he’d do 2 hours ago. Someone tried to hit Roman with a car which was weird because the camera cut right before it happened but it was real, if Roman had not jumped back in that car he would be out of action indefinitely. Samoa Joe seemed very concerned and tended to Roman after the attempt on his life. HHH was also seen tending to the Big Dog.
Fatal 4way elimination match for the women’s tag team titles. The IIconics looked great…the same way they should have been booked every single week! The IIconics cleaned house but were the first team eliminated. A nice change of pace but terrible for the IIconics. Alexa Bliss’ fans are out in force after Nikki Cross and Alexa Bliss capture tag team gold. “Haters gonna hate hashtags just mean that people who say that Alexa Bliss can’t wrestle are telling the truth and the truth hurts and as someone who likes her in-ring style pre concussions it does hurt because she is significantly worse now.
To close the show we get to see the commercial for 2K20 and Roman Reigns has one line that he can’t possibly screw up and he absolutely nails it; that’s the best I’ve ever seen him. For the final segment however, Miz and Dolph Ziggler give it all they got to hype their match and I think it’s fantastic that a mid card feud gets the mainevent spot on Raw on the go home show for SummerSlam…Shawn Michaels was there too…you know why because the big twist is that, GOLDBERG IS COMING OUT OF RETIREMENT TO FACE DOLPH ZIGGLER, what am absolutely beautiful twist.
Some new and interesting camera work, really like the things they tweaked on the production side of things. Michael Cole seemed to be more at ease. The matches were gimmicked and different. Paul Heyman is definitely using more than Vince was. A heavy dose of HHH was definitely a very purposeful thing, signalling that he will eventually be the man when it’s all said and done. I didn’t expect anything special from this episode and I was very wrong. This Raw was very important and an extremely newsworthy show. The wrestling was great, even from the IIconics who had a strong showing before dropping the titles. Paul Heyman is steering the flagship show back on course.
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