Welcome to this week’s RAW results guys! First up, let me apologise for last week’s lack of a review as I was under a weather and let me further apologise for the tardiness of this week’s post as today England were playing in the World Cup and your truly had to show some support for the home team! (Come on England, it’s coming home!) Anyway, from one sport to another, let’s get to this week’s action. Extreme Rules is next up on the ‘sports entertainment’ calendar and our women superstars are ready to take it to the extreme!
Ahead of RAW, Ronda Rousey reveals that despite being suspended from RAW, she doesn’t regret any of her actions and states that she will be in attendance at Extreme Rules in the front row to keep an eye out for Alexa Bliss.
It’s also revealed that NXT Women’s Champion Shayna Baszler is backstage at RAW. When questioned about her attendance, she doesn’t reveal much, but she does hint that she may have her eyes open backstage to help out ‘a friend who can’t be around for 30 days that needs eyes…’.
Meanwhile, following the explosive developments of last week with Bayley beating the sh*t out of Sasha Banks, it is revealed that Dr. Shelby is back to help these two resolve their friendship through counselling! (This is the same therapist that AJ Lee appointed to help Kane and Daniel Bryan become friends).
Throughout these segments darted through the show, the former Boss ‘n’ Hug Connection squabble and bicker. Eventually, it gets to a point where Dr. Shelby has to raise his voice, so it looks like these two have a long road to go down if they’ll get to a resolution!
It's RIOTT TIME on #RAW as The #RiottSquad's @YaOnlyLivvOnce battles @WWEEmberMoon NEXT! pic.twitter.com/Qiwuet8grk
— WWE (@WWE) July 3, 2018
Liv Morgan and Sarah Logan are seen backstage, causing havoc incited by Elias. It’s revealed that Riott Squad leader, Ruby Riott is out with an injury, but Logan is on hand to keep Morgan company as she faces Ember Moon.
In a fresh match combination, Morgan holds her own against Moon and is predominantly on the offence – obviously with help from Logan. However, after getting too cocky, Moon is able to throw Morgan into the turnbuckle and give herself enough time to go for her Eclipse. Moon gets the pinfall victory and manages to dodge a jumping from Logan as she celebrates her victory.
Backstage, Ember Moon has the most pointless interview saying that her victory over Liv Morgan didn’t mean anything to her… well that was a great use of our time.
Next up, we are treated to Mickie James, accompanied by RAW Women’s Champion Alexa Bliss, taking on Nia Jax. Before the match begins, Nia Jax reveals that at Extreme Rules, her rematch for the RAW Women’s Championship will be an Extreme Rules match! Jax warns that this will be the end of the their saga… and I mean I’m ready for that tbh. To even up the sides, Jax brings out Natalya to make sure that the heel duo can’t pull any tricks.
The James vs. Jax match isn’t a memorable one. I mean, a good couple of minutes of James kicking Jax in her legs to keep her grounded. James does enough damage that she goes to end it with her Mick Kick, but instead gets hoisted by her leg and dropped into a powerbomb. Just as Jax goes for the pin, Bliss tries to distract the referee, but gets yanked off the apron by Natalya. This gives enough time for a Samoan Drop to ground James for the pinfall, allowing her to celebrate in the ring with Natalya.
Post-match, we have our third basic interview of the night, with Renee Young asking Alexa Bliss if she’s nervous about her upcoming Extreme Rules match. Bliss plays her usual mind games and tries to dodge the question, making it clear that she’s not so confident this time around!
Thoughts:: If I said this booking was interesting me, I’d be completely joking – but this goes across all the brands in WWE at the moment. We have all this new fresh talent, yet they still have the same women at the forefront who are just not getting me excited. You could argue that we have nice big built angles, with long-term development and rewarding pay-offs… but are they really though?
As Nia said in her promo, we all thought she was done with Bliss after WrestleMania or at least Backlash. Instead, we now have to see these two in another match… and we know that these two aren’t going to put on a Wrestling Observer Newsletter classic. They’ve chucked a stipulation in there now, but that’s only made it more predictable that Bliss is going to do something dodgy to make use of the stipulation to win the match. My problem with this feud is the complete inconsistency. It went from a feud about bullying, to some weird feud with Mickie James, Natalya and Ronda Rousey all getting involved and just some really mediocre matches.
Now on the flip side, we have Sasha and Bayley who we know can put on an amazing match, but are in a really cringe feud that is really exposing their weak acting skills and on the verge of becoming really corny. When these two feuded in NXT, it was a groundbreaking feud that really amped up the seriousness and elevated their presence. This on the other hand… still feels like a cheap soap opera. I do like how they are doing something different, as we can’t have a repeat of NXT, but there is a very fine line that they could easily cross which could easily make this feud go down in Wrestlecrap history.
Finally, we have all that new talent who are doing nothing. The Riott Squad are now Ember Moon and Natalya’s bitches, Ember Moon still doesn’t really have much going on, Natalya is still there, Mickie James is the jobber for the faces and after her brief return last week… Alicia Fox was nowhere to be seen.
I hate to be such a Debbie-downer, but this RAW was a dud from me. It’s not like SmackDown is doing much better with another mediocre title match set for Extreme Rules and even more new talent being squashed. After WrestleMania, we were all expecting things to change and progress, but right now I have a waning interest.
Did you enjoy this week’s RAW? What did you think of the counselling sessions? What should they do with Alicia Fox? Do you think England could win the World Cup? Send in thise comments!
