At the moment I type this sentence, it is 1:56pm, Pacific Standard Time, on Monday, July 25th. Monday Night Raw is three hours away from coming on the air. It is the “go-home” episode of Raw before SummerSlam, but there are two extra things about the show that are getting buzz.
One, this episode will be taking place at Madison Square Garden in New York City. It marks the first time Raw has taken place at MSG since September 9th, 2019, a show main evented by a ten-man tag that saw Braun Strowman, Seth Rollins, Cedric Alexander, and The Viking Raiders taking on AJ Styles, Karl Anderson, Luke Gallows, Dolph Ziggler, and Bobby Roode.
More importantly, though, this is the first show that will see Triple H as the new Head Of Creative (not to be confused with your mother, who has the title of Creative Head) in the post-Vince McMahon Era for WWE. There is a lot of talk and discussion taking place about this show already. I’ve personally seen a handful of people who claim that they haven’t watched WWE television in a long time say that they’ll be tuning in tonight to see what will happen.
I completely understand that. It isn’t exactly a stretch of the imagination to say that Vince McMahon has been holding WWE back, creatively, over the last several years, at minimum, and couple decades, at most. With Vince out of the picture, there is the potential for a lot of changes and flourishment with the product that WWE puts out.
I’m not expecting a ton from tonight’s show. As I mentioned, this is the go-home show for SummerSlam. You’re not going to shake things up too wildly on the go-home show for any pay-per-view, let alone one that is supposed to be the second biggest event of your calendar year. Even if this wasn’t the final show before a pay-per-view, though, widespread changes take time to implement. It doesn’t matter how powerful and creative Triple H is… there just hasn’t been enough time for him to put forth any major, groundbreaking ideas. All of the titles that are held by Raw superstars are on the line at SummerSlam, so what’s the use of doing something newsworthy like having any of those titles change hands five days away from the show? Can you imagine Bianca Belair dropping the Raw Women’s Title tonight to, say, Asuka, instead of heading to SummerSlam to face Becky Lynch? What would happen if Bobby Lashley dropped the United States Title tonight to Omos, just as an example, five days away from what was supposed to be his defense against Theory?
I’m going to cut this part of my column short for now. After watching tonight’s episode of Raw, I’ll be back to finish it up and discuss more about Triple H, Vince McMahon, and the WWE Creative Team.
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I’m back. Raw just went off the air, and I watched every single moment of it.
My thoughts?
It was one of the most coherent, competent episodes of WWE television in a long time. I’m not saying it was SHOW OF THE YEAR or anything like that, but everything that happened made sense. Everything flowed nicely, and things all helped to set up SummerSlam and the immediate aftermath.
Early rumors say that the show was “largely penned” by Vince before he retired, but how much do you folks believe that? Years and years and years of Vince doing things one way, and then, all of a sudden, on his way out the door, he decides that’s the time to try a renewed focus? Huh?
The show started with a unique angle, as The Miz and Logan Paul were already brawling. That was a cool way to start, instead of the usual options of “match” or “promo” like we always get.
Moving on to a promo segment with The Bloodline was fine. It wasn’t anything earth-shattering, but it didn’t have to be. The Madison Square Garden crowd had the opportunity to see Roman Reigns, and not every city gets to say that these days. The added intrigue of Theory once again showing his face, although not giving people confidence that he SHOULD be the person to defeat Roman Reigns, is at least someone that COULD be that person.
The Drew McIntyre vs Theory match was fun, but the McIntyre & Bobby Lashley vs Theory & Sheamus match that it became was even more fun.
Rey Mysterio gave a nice speech, thanking the fans and the wrestlers who have helped him to get to where he is today. This led to Rey teaming with his son to take on Finn Balor and Damian Priest. It was another match that was fun. Not a Match Of The Year classic, but again, it didn’t have to be because it got the crowd into it nonetheless. Even though The Judgment Day lost the match, they still looked strong throughout the night, first by attacking Rey during his backstage afterparty and putting him through a table, and then by attacking him again later in the night.
Bianca Belair and Becky Lynch got into a nice brawl after a bit of a clunker of a promo segment that saw the champion, a face, come across more like an annoying heel. Either way, it helped to add some more fuel to their SummerSlam match.
Alexa Bliss declared that she was coming after the Raw Women’s Champion, whether it was Bianca or Becky, after SummerSlam. She then went out and picked up a quick win over Doudrop to give her more momentum. It doesn’t take a genius to figure stuff like that out, and yet, Vince McMahon has failed to do it CONSTANTLY AND CONSISTENTLY through the years.
If you’re looking for the lone “thumbs down” for the show, it would easily be ImPaulsive TV with Logan Paul. His promo was a “meh” one, but it was followed by Maryse doing a Porky Pig impression as she fumble rambled through a promo about The Miz’s little mizanins. It got “heat” on The Miz because he was able, with the help of Ciampa, to take Paul down with a Skull Crushing Finale, but what kind of “heat” was it? It’s SUPPOSED to be heel heat, but nobody has been booing him because of how much they dislike Logan Paul.
AJ Styles teaming with Dolph Ziggler to take on Alpha Academy was a little random, but hey, it’s giving AJ and Dolph something to do. There are worse things that could happen.
The main event saw Riddle teaming up with The Street Profits to take on The Bloodline in a six-man tag. A really good, 20-minute close to the show. Yet another match that was a success, even if it wasn’t something that wasn’t going to shake the wrestling world to its core with the result.
Every match, promo, and segment worked. Even the ImPaulsive TV wreck was still able to add heat to a SummerSlam match. To get an episode of WWE programming these days without any head-scratching moments that seem to come out of nowhere is less likely than winning the lottery.
Does that mean Triple H is going to be the savior of the company? Obviously, it’s too early to tell. As I said, this was never going to be an all-time classic episode of Raw. We need to get SummerSlam out of the way first, and we also need the dust to settle a bit when it comes to all the movement within WWE management.
What should we expect from a Triple H-led creative direction?
Of course, the easy comments/jokes to make are that we’re going to get a full-fledged “black and gold” NXT rehash. You know the deal… Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa feuding over the Universal Title, all three members of Undisputed Era returning once their AEW contracts are expired, Sasha Banks returning and being happy, Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn becoming big-time main event players, Pete Dunne becoming Pete Dunne again, and so on. While I’m sure many of you would be thrilled with all of those things happening, I wouldn’t get too excited about it.
There’s a big difference between Triple H being the “final say” guy for WWE’s developmental brand, even one as red-hot as NXT was for a couple years, and Triple H being the “final say” guy for Raw and Smackdown. I’m as big of a fan of that era of NXT as you’re going to find, but I also understand the reality of the situation. You could only get so big booking the roster that NXT had, and that’s what they did. They reached their “peak” and had nowhere else to go but down, especially once talent after talent found their way to Raw and Smackdown. There’s only so much you can do in that situation.
Do I think some of the “Triple H Guys” and “Triple H Girls” on the main roster are about to see their stock rise? Absolutely. I just don’t think people should get too crazy with their fantasy booking of Ricochet vs Finn Balor in the main event of WrestleMania just yet.
Even though Triple H is now in the Vince McMahon role as far as creative is concerned, early reports are that people like Bruce Prichard and Ed Koskey are still going to be heavily involved in the writing process. Koskey has moved his way up the ladder, starting as a Production Assistant with the company in 2001 before moving to a Writer in 2002, a Senior Writer in 2008, a Lead Writer in 2009, and then Vice President Of Creative Writing in 2015. Prichard, of course, has had his fingers in the mix just about everywhere they can be when it comes to the backstage world of WWE. Those two are, without a doubt, “Vince Guys” through and through. With them still around, I wouldn’t expect a night and day difference in what WWE has been and what WWE will be.
If we’re going to be real about it, the main problem with WWE’s creative direction has been less about who is pushed and more about the overall package. Pushing Kevin Owens to the main event is fine and all, but if he’s involved in nothing but horrendous nonsense while he’s there, how much are we, the fans, gaining? Instead of a focus on “push this person more” and “push this person less” right now, there needs to be a major focus on getting away from a lot (most? all?) of the typical Vince McMahon styles of putting shows together.
In my opinion, one of the biggest issues with Vince’s ideas is that he wasn’t able to put focus on more than a couple people at a time. The proof of that is pretty clear in the fact that the three members of The Bloodline are all dual champions, even though it doesn’t hurt them whatsoever if they only had one championship. On top of that, WWE can only seem to have one real feud going on in a division at any time. Even after releasing approximately 93% of the active roster due to “budget cuts” in the last couple years, there still isn’t enough focus on more than a few people. It isn’t enough to only have defined characters and feuds for people that are competing for titles. Look back at the WWF roster during the Attitude Era, for example. Say whatever the fuck you want about Vince Russo and the way he puts shows together, but it sure as hell seemed like everyone, up and down the roster, had a clearly defined character that you could cheer for or boo. It didn’t matter if they were in the main event, the opening match, or somewhere in between… you knew who they were and there was a focus on them in one way or another.
If you’ve read any of my Running Diary columns, you’ll know that I’m very big on pacing. WWE needs to speed theirs up, and AEW needs to slow theirs down. If Triple H is going to help put these shows together, there needs to be better pacing to them. Create matches, promos, and segments that allow for better flow of the programming. One of the worst things about WWE television recently has been those times where Wrestler A will make their entrance for a match, then the show will go to a commercial break. When the break ends, we don’t return to the ring, but instead, to a video package of some sort. Then, after the video package, we get a backstage promo or a segment. After that’s done, we finally go back to the ring, where Wrestler A is still standing there, several minutes later, as their music plays. We’ve even seen it where we get ANOTHER commercial break thrown in there, making Wrestler A’s wait even longer. No more of that. Pace the show better. Like I said, you’re in control of things. You can make sure Doudrop isn’t standing in the middle of the ring from 8:32pm to 8:48pm while she waits for Bianca Belair to make her entrance. Set one domino to topple over, and everything else will fall into place.
When it comes to the actual writing of characters and pushing certain people to certain places, one thing that a lot of people aren’t thinking about is what the USA Network and Fox want. Triple H can write it so that Tyler Bate gets called up to Smackdown and defeats Roman Reigns to become the new top guy in the company. That would make some members of the WWE Universe very happy, sure, but how do you think the Fox executives are going to feel about that? Roman Reigns is a major star. Tyler Bate, as gifted as he is in the ring, is not. Fox isn’t paying WWE a gazillion dollars so that Tyler Bate can be the top guy on the roster. They’re paying it so that guys like Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar can be. That’s just the way it goes. This isn’t really an issue we’ve had to sit back and witness much before. Sure, we’ve seen little things here and there, like Fox executives not necessarily being thrilled that Roman Reigns wasn’t a Smackdown exclusive name anymore and was making appearances on Raw. We really don’t know what it’s like for some higher-up at Fox or the USA Network to look at WWE programming and say “THAT is your top talent?!? Absolutely not!!!”
Honestly, another thing that needs to happen… although this is more of a Stephanie McMahon thing than a Triple H thing… is that we need Captain Bucky O’Hare himself, Kevin Dunn, to get his goofy ass fired. Not just from his job, but from a cannon. Into a brick wall.
As I was typing all this out, a rumor broke that Triple H is looking to make a “creative splash” at SummerSlam, but that he would only do it if it “makes sense” and that he wouldn’t “do something to do it.” By now, you’ve probably seen the SummerSlam card. How many places do you see somewhere that a “creative splash” that “makes sense” would fit? It would certainly be a splash to have Brock Lesnar defeat Roman Reigns, and it would be an even bigger splash to have Theory successfully cash in his Money In The Bank title shot to beat either of those men, but would that count as something that “makes sense” to you? What about Dominik Mysterio turning heel on his father and aligning himself with The Judgment Day? The Street Profits defeating The Usos to become the new Undisputed WWE Tag Team Champions? A heel turn for Ronda Rousey? Double turn for Bianca Belair and Becky Lynch? Even if Trips finds an avenue where it does “make sense” to make a “splash” at SummerSlam, it’s hard to really say the decision was completely his, considering the fact that the show, and all of its possible outcomes, have probably already been floated around between Vince and any number of his cronies. It does make you raise an eyebrow, though, doesn’t it?
Outside of the rumor that I just mentioned, it’s still too early to predict what’s going to happen. We’re not completely sure what Triple H is going to want to do. Hell, we’re not even completely sure of what Triple H is capable of doing, and just how much he’ll be able to do without being handcuffed in some form or fashion.
Words simply cannot truly explain how important this shift is. Vince McMahon has been running the company for about 40 years now. You can do the math. That means a very, very large percentage of the people reading these words have never been alive in a world where Vince wasn’t “The Boss” for this promotion. He has had all the power in every aspect of the product for so long. Think about what we’re about to witness, and what types of ripples will come from it. If Triple H really starts taking over and making more creative decisions, and it leads to higher ratings, more views, and even more money, what does that say? What about if Triple H starts making decisions that sees those ratings, YouTube views, and social media interactions head directly into the toilet?
While it’s obviously on a considerably smaller level, there’s a lot of pressure on wrestling fans like me right now. For a long, long, long, long, LONG time, we’ve been talking about how much better off WWE would be when Vince McMahon was no longer in charge. Well… now is the time for Stephanie McMahon, Triple H, and the rest of those who have survived an unthinkable situation to “put up or shut up” for not only themselves, but for us, as well. As fans, we could be on the verge of looking smart, but we might also be on the verge of looking like morons. Quite the gamble.
Like most people, I thought Vince McMahon would sit upon his throne until the day he died. I never envisioned a scenario, “forced” or otherwise, that he would just walk away from the company. For what seems like the first time in forever, there appears to be light at the end of the tunnel for WWE fans.
Now, the only question is if that light is the end of the tunnel or the headlights of a truck heading in our direction.
Weekly Power Rankings
- FTR vs The Briscoe Brothers: Something tells me this match is going to be featured prominently in my year-end Hussy Awards column.
- Rush vs Dragon Lee: A match that featured a story that evolved multiple times. First, it was older brother Rush trying to get his younger brother on his level. Then, it became about Dragon Lee finally stepping his game up and matching his older brother step-by-step. Finally, it was about Rush taking advantage of his brother’s love and concern, showing that you always have to keep your head on a swivel, as the saying goes.
- Wheeler Yuta vs Daniel Garcia: An RoH Pure Title bout that really didn’t use the many unique rules that the division’s matches have. That was a bit strange, but the match itself was really good. The lack of Pure rule usage just made you wonder why it was even necessary.
- Jonathan Gresham vs Claudio Castagnoli: Watching it live, I was stunned that the match opened the show, and even more stunned when it ended somewhat quickly compared to what was expected. Obviously, we would learn more about those decisions in the aftermath of the show, but I can’t knock Gresham’s professionalism here. Well, professionalism in the ring, at least. He could’ve gone out there and delivered a stinker to prove some sort of point, but he didn’t. Either way, congratulations to Claudio, the brand new Ring Of Honor World Champion. I’m very intrigued to see how his first reign as the top guy in RoH goes.
- Mercedes Martinez vs Serena Deeb: As I said in my Running Diary for Death Before Dishonor, it’s a shame that the live crowd didn’t really respond much to this match. Both women really put in work, delivering a really physical contest.
- Rhea Ripley: She was able to return from what seemed like it could’ve been some type of serious injury. That alone would’ve been enough to have her in consideration for the Power Rankings. What solidified her spot this week is that she returned as an absolute menace, terrorizing the entire Mysterio family in multiple segments. She has really been able to shine in this new role, and more often than not, she actually comes across as the leader of the new Judgment Day lineup. It’s a lot of fun.
- Andre Chase vs Giovanni Vinci: Out. Of. Nowhere. Both men are very good in-ring workers, but you had to assume that this was going to be something of a quick squash. With the new gimmick, it makes sense to give Vinci some conVINCIng wins to give him momentum. Instead, we got a really solid back-and-forth match that saw both men look great, and they were able to really draw the crowd in. Call the Chase University thing silly if you want, but it is OVER with the crowd.
- The Diamond Mine vs The D’Angelo Family: I don’t know about you, but I think The Diamond Mine could shine on the main roster right now. No, they don’t have a strong “talker” to handle that aspect of things, but that’s also something that can be arranged. Their in-ring work has been so good and so smooth, and they’re, as the saying goes, over like rover.
- Riddle & The Street Profits vs The Bloodline: We’ve seen a ton of variations on this match, where Roman Reigns and The Usos team up to face whichever tag team and singles guy that they happen to be feuding with at the time. The matches are always good, even if they aren’t changing the game. I’ve seen some people complain that Roman should at least be able to take losses in matches like this, but I strongly disagree. If you’re trying to build him up as this all-time great unstoppable machine, he can’t be getting pinned in tag matches, either.
- Darby Allin vs Brody King: Darby looking like a superhero that is able to withstand a crazy amount of punishment and continue fighting? Check. Brody getting to look like the monster that he can be, dishing out that crazy amount of punishment? Check. Works for me.
- Bobby Lashley & Drew McIntyre vs Theory & Sheamus: You know it’s going to be physical with the names involved. It’s also going to be something that keeps the live crowd engaged. Crowds sure do love watching Theory get his ass kicked.
- Jungle Boy: Not only is he back, but A Boy got his Dinosaur back, too. It’s going to be fun watching JB get his revenge on Christian Cage, and maybe… just maybe… it’ll be used as the beginning of a big singles push for him. He has earned it.
- Wes Lee vs Grayson Waller: Two of the most exciting overall athletes in all of NXT? Shit, I’ll take that.
- Shinsuke Nakamura vs Ludwig Kaiser: The whole thing with Gunther taking his anger and frustration out on Kaiser is weird to me. I know some people are saying that this could be the start of a face turn for Kaiser, but… why? These guys JUST got to the main roster, and we haven’t been given a single reason to care about Kaiser. If you split him from Gunther, it won’t hurt Gunther at all, but you might as well send Kaiser packing if you pull the trigger on that. It’s way too early for that, in my opinion.
- Samoa Joe vs Jay Lethal: The match was good. It wasn’t what it could’ve, or maybe should’ve, been, but it was good. Some think that’s because Jay Lethal is “boring” or whatever you want to call it, while others think it’s because age and injuries have caught up to Joe. Either way, it barely makes the cut this week.
This Week’s Playlist: “Are You Entertained” by Russ & Ed Sheeran… “Middle Of A Breakup” by Panic! At The Disco… “The Chapeltown Rag” by Slipknot… “The Dying Song (Time To Sing)” by Slipknot… “Brand New 911” by Joey Bada$$ & Westside Gunn… “Wanna Be Loved” by Joey Bada$$ & JID… “Madhouse” by Masked Wolf & Mike Posner… “Red Gold and Green” by Kabaka Pyramid & Damian Marley… “If I Get Caught” by dvsn… “Sci-Fi” by Tainy & Rauw Alejandro… “THE VISION” by Maxo Kream & Anderson .Paak… “Memory Lane” by Wiz Khalifa… “Kill Or Be Killed” by Muse… “Night Stalkers” by Megadeth & Ice-T… “Believe” by Dope… “Tight Rope XX” by Lacuna Coil… “Sleep Explosion” by Norma Jean… “Dedication To Flesh” by Spite… “Everywhere, Everything” by Polar… “Static Abyss” by Nicolas Cage Fighter… “Bad Habit” by Steve Lacy… “My, My, My” by Johnny Gill… “Rub You The Right Way” by Johnny Gill… “Money Can’t Buy You Love” by Ralph Tresvant… “Do What I Gotta Do” by Ralph Tresvant