Raw Cleveland Review

With Raw about 40 minutes from me, I was planning on going but went to NXT instead. Let's see if I would come to regret that. Seth Rollins opened things to thank himself for his success and brag about beating Dean Ambrose. This obviously led to Dean coming out and a brawl. Seth escaped but Dean staged a sit down strike. This went through three segments and led to Sheamus coming out with his Money in the Bank briefcase. We're literally 30 minutes and nothing has really happened. Sheamus and Ambrose had a match, through yet another commercial break. I feel like there were so many of those tonight. Randy Orton appeared to distract Sheamus and allow Dean to win. So our Money in the Bank winner can't beat a man with one leg and we may be getting an Orton/Sheamus program. That sounds terrible and I want no part of it.

After some backstage shenanigans between Seth and J&J, King What's Up comes out. He's wearing an aluminum foil crown and a bed sheet. He gets on commentary before being told he's in the match. For the second time in 24 hours, Truth goes over King Barrett. This one took 22 seconds. Barrett attacked him after but it's still bad booking. We reach the end of a dull hour one, but it's Kevin Owens time! He cuts a promo on John Cena and their match at Money in the Bank. Owens felt disrespected when Cena shook his hand. His heel level is like 1000. He issues an open challenge,which Dolph Ziggler answers. Owens says it's non-title and they work a good 15 minute match. Owens survived whatever was thrown at him and won with the popup powerbomb. Easily the best thing so far.

Our next segment begins with Paige holding a meeting for the rest of the Divas backstage. She wants them to band together against the Bellas but none of them listen. We move to Kane vs. Randy Orton. I literally could not have cared less about this. Then Sheamus showed up and I cared less. Kane won because of the Sheamus distraction. Blah. Big Show takes on Miz next in a dull match that Miz won via countout. Ryback attacked after the match and this is all leading to a Triple Threat match that I don't care for. The best thing about this was Ryback on commentary. Next, we get a promo from Roman Reigns, which he was fine in because he kept it short and simple. Bray appeared on the tron and cut one of his usual promos. This seemed like it was going nowhere until Bray pulls out a photo of Roman and his daughter. That instantly made this more personal and, for now at least, more interesting than most Bray feuds.

Paige took on the Bellas in a handicap match next. They've been building towards Paige getting help against them and this seemed set up for that, but it never happened. The main roster didn't help and I assumed it was time for Charlotte or an NXT girl to debut with the save but the Bellas just won. Disappointing to say the least. Next, Cleveland's own Machine Gun Kelly came out to perform. As usual with him and performances on Raw, it sucked. However, Kevin Owens appeared on stage to sarcastically clap for him. They trade words and MGK shoves him. Bad move dude. Owens kicks him and powerbombs him off the stage. That instantly makes this a must see Raw despite the rest of the show being lackluster. That's what MGK gets for being John Cena's boy.

A six man tag would end up being the main event of the night before a closing segment. The Prime Time Players teamed up with Neville to defeat the New Day. This was fine stuff. We get some backstage stuff where Dean Ambrose tells Kane that he should be the monster again. Yea, we've been through this and we know it's coming. To close the show, Triple H and Stephanie come out to announce who Seth Rollins' opponent will be at Battleground. Out comes Seth and Triple H does his trademark "let's draw out this promo for longer than it needs to be with extra unneeded words. He finally revealed that Brock Lesnar will be his opponent. The crowd popped for this as Brock showed up with a Suplex City Cleveland shirt. It was pretty great. Seth sold being scared perfectly. I'm surprised this will be at Battleground and not SummerSlam but I'm okay with it. In the end, this wasn't the best of Raws. The first hour was pretty bland and uneventful but it picked up after. Brock showing up, Owens/Ziggler and Owens killing MGK was all good stuff. However, it's hard to give it a good score all things considered. 5/10.