Overall
Less than a week out from the Extreme Rules Pay Per View, Monday Night Raw turned in an incredibly enjoyable episode that is already looking past “The Horror Show” and setting up the stories that could carry us into SummerSlam in August. Seems like Randy Orton and Big Show will be one of the major feuds and that potentially Ruby Riott and Bianca Belair could be the next big thing in the women’s tag division if they continue to let them tag together.
I’ll likely put up an Extreme Rules predictions post this weekend but it is worth noting who stood tall this week prior to their match. Rey Mysterio promised Seth Rollins that the messiah would leave Extreme Rules missing an eye, as Seth Crawled up the ramp, Sasha Banks and Bayley gloated as they retained their tag titles (although there is still time for Asuka to surprise Sasha on SmackDown this Friday so no guarantee who is really standing tall yet.), Drew seemed to have the upper hand on Dolph Ziggler in their backstage brawl but it is really hard to determine who stood tall there, and MVP with Bobby Lashley stood tall over Cedric Alexander and Ricochet while Apollo Crews was not on tv this week. The WWE doesn’t always stick to traditional match math, but it is safe to bet against anyone who stood tall on Raw (other than maybe Drew).
All that being said, let’s look at the good, the bad, and the ugly of Monday Night Raw 7/13/20!
The Good
- Drew interrupting MVP and Dolph in the VIP lounge. Bringing back elements of the Scottish Psychopath persona was a nice touch as well!
- Angel Garza and Andrade have gotten pretty decent on the mic. They were doing just as well as the Viking Raiders during this backstage segment.
- I liked Charly making Angel jealous by taking the rose from Ivar. (Also if the keep going with Charly and Angel how long before someone on commentary calls him Charly’s Angel? Place your bets now!)
- Tag Team elimination match was a fun stipulation to have something other than just a standard tag match made this episode slightly more enjoyable.
- Ivar’s tope into Andrade and Garza as they did a fist bump on the outside.
- Garza and Andrade getting another win as a united front. Zelina’s faction can still be saved and that’s a good thing!
- Hey! That’s Bianca Belair! I missed her!
- They finally changed Bianca’s tron so it doesn’t still say NXT. This is a good sign that they are actually gonna let her stick around!
- R-Truth is still calling Ricochet “Richard” and I just giggle every time.
- Honestly, Seth has totally figured out how to cut a promo with the same cadence as a pastor. It’s an impressive subtle tweak but it adds a lot to the character.
- It’s fun having Seth stuck in the ring because Rey, Dominic, and Aleister are surrounding the outside.
- Kevin Owens’ audible trash talk to Seth.
- The Rollins Owens match was a lot of fun.
- Randy Orton is still killing it!
- I really liked Dolph making use of the ring backstage to jump up on while attacking Drew.
- Ricochet is endlessly fun to watch in the ring and Bobby Lashley has great chemistry with him.
- Kairi Sane is severely underrated!
- The main event match was fire! Bayley, Sasha, and Asuka continue to be the MVPs of this era.
The Bad
- You could definitely tell that crowd noise was being piped in for this episode, particularly during the elimination tag match.
- The Riott, Belair, and The IIconics match was far too short. I really hope we see more of Ruby and Bianca teaming together because they had a surprising amount of chemistry as a tag team.
- The Tozawa ninja gimmick is still bad.
- 24/7 title match when you could’ve had 5 more minutes of the previous women’s tag match!
- I don’t get why Aleister Black is still a part of this Seth and Rey feud. In kayfabe he has no reason to be there anymore!
- If you had told me even 6 months ago that I wouldn’t be excited for an Aleister Black and Buddy Murphy match, well I probably would’ve believed you but still this is getting old.
- This might not be that bad, but can there even be a non title match with the 24/7 champion? Did commentary explain that the belt wasn’t on the line and I just missed it? Is Randy Orton the new 24/7 Champion? If so, congrats to Randy!
- I shouldn’t say this is for sure bad because pandemic has people staying home which is good, but where the hell is Apollo Crews????
The Ugly
- Shayna Baszler’s return to apparently the 24/7 title scene is not good at all. Maybe she isn’t going for the green belt, but if it is what it looks like this just sucks.
- I have to keep mentioning it but get Ric Flair the hell away from people during the pandemic! I know he said in an interview that he’s fine, but I can’t keep watching him stand so close to people and touch them. Hopefully he is being bathed in purell after each segment.
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