RAW 8/28/23 - *Insert JD vs Cody/Sami/KO Main Event Here*
Aug 28, 2023 22:22:08 GMT -5
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Post by hbkid718 on Aug 28, 2023 22:22:08 GMT -5
Here are my RAW Thoughts:
Sorry, I had a bad cold this weekend so I didn't do my Weekly Column, so it will be a 2-week column next week after Payback. But, I did do facts for all of tonight's matches.
Wow. Raw is starting with action right away. I thought we would get another 10-Bell Salute for Terry Funk & Bray Wyatt, but they will be more on them later.
Cool. Payback will have a Tag Team Championship Match between Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn & The Judgment Day, though we have seen it twice. The Judgment Day beat Owens & Zayn both times, so they should get a title match.
Sami Zayn VS Damian Priest was an excellent match & good way to start off Raw instead of a 20-minute promo. I like what happened afterwards with JD McDonagh. FACT: This was the 2nd 1-on-1 Match between them after Priest def Zayn on Raw on 11/21/21.
Wow, so much pettiness on both WWE & Tony Khan, with the NFL Legacy Championship Belts that they don't have a Jacksonville Jaguars Championship.
Funny segment with Akira Tozawa, Drew McIntyre, & Matt Riddle. McIntyre & Riddle are awesome together.
Excellent video package to get people invested in the Battle of the Double Rs, Raquel Rodriguez VS Rhea Ripley.
I wish they televised The Superstar Spectacular from India. It would be different.
Awesome (No Pun Intended) Segment with The Miz as LA Knight. He was great. His promo was great & their match will be good at Payback.
Good promo by Shinsuke Nakamura. Why was Seth Rollins talking to Ricochet? BTW, I love Rollins wearing the Windham Armband, & also The New Day & Viking Raiders wearing Bray Armbands.
The New Day VS The Viking Raiders was a fun match. Drew McIntyre & Matt Riddle were good at ringside. I like the chaos at the end of the match. I wouldn't mind a Triple Threat. FACT: This was the 4th match between them, as The Viking Raiders won on Smackdown on 7/29/22 & 8/26/22 & The New Day won on Raw on 8/7.
Uh oh, the dissension continues between Finn Balor & Damian Priest but Rhea Ripley is acting like Mami and telling them who's boss.
Thank you WWE for that amazing Bray Wyatt Tribute. I am crying like a baby again especially after reading exactly how he died. It's so heartbreaking. I was never a fan of him as a wrestler, but I can't deny that his character was one of the greatest in WWE History.
Interesting segment with Kofi Kingston, Matt Riddle, & Drew McIntyre. A Tag Team Tornado Match next week with The Viking Raiders will be fun.
Excellent promo by GUNTHER. I love that they're going to do Chad Gable VS GUNTHER next week, but they're not going to make GUNTHER lose the Intercontinental Title 10 days before breaking the Record. Just realized they're in Memphis. They should have brought Honky Tonk Man in so GUNTHER could beat him.
Chad Gable VS Ludwig Kaiser was incredible & of course it has to end in a DQ. Why can't Gable pin Kaiser first & then do the attack afterwards? DQs are so stupid. FACT: Gable is the 1st wrestler in WWE History to wrestle all 3 members of Imperium in 3 straight weeks & only the 2nd wrsetler after Matt Riddle to wrestle all 3 in Singles Matches. This was the 1st time since he defeated Shelton Benjamin (8/27/19), Andrade (9/3/19), & Shane McMahon (9/10/19) on Smackdown that Chad Gable won 3 singles matches in a row in 3 consecutive weeks.
Awesome tribute to Bob Barker.
Incredible promo by Seth Rollins. I love him saying "Yowie Wowie" in honor of Bray Wyatt & The Fiend was on his sideplate on his Championship. Cool video feature on Shinsuke Nakamura. What an attack by Nakamura. They have built this feud quickly for Payback. FACT: BTW, Rollins will continue his streak of being the only wrestler to wrestle on every PPV in 2023.
Amazing promo by Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn. I love the idea of a Steel City Street Fight with them & The Judgment Day. Also, I love Owens with the Windham Armband.
Tommaso Ciampa VS Bronson Reed was a short but hard-hitting match. Love Ciampa honoring both Terry Funk & Bray Wyatt. Also, I notice the refs also are wearing the armbands. I like them brawling before the match. FACT: This was the 2nd match between them after Reed defeated Ciampa on 7/24.
Very good promo by Becky Lynch.
OK promo by Rhea Ripley & brawl between her & Raquel Rodriguez. Their match should be great though. I like Tiffany Stratton being in the crowd to tease her possible match with Becky Lynch. Trish Stratus & Zoey Stark's promo was short & sweet.
RIP Terry Funk. I was going to watch his old matches this weekend, but didn't have a chance. Also, Peacock sucks, as the old WWE Network had a great search feature where you can just type a wrestler's name & everything came up.
Just seeing a clip of Killing It or even 5 minutes of it after Raw, I can see that it looks stupid so I won't have to waste my time by watching the entire season on Peacock which I was going to do one day.
Becky Lynch VS Zoey Stark was a fun Falls Count Anywhere Match. I like when a Falls Count Anywhere Match actually ends away from the ring. I love the emotion in Becky's face when she showed the Bray Armband. FACT: This was both Becky Lynch & Zoey Stark's 1st Falls Count Anywhere Match in their Career & was the 3rd match between them after Stark won on 7/10/23 & Lynch won on 7/24.
Here are my RAW Match Rankings:
1) Chad Gable VS Ludwig Kaiser
2) Sami Zayn VS Damian Priest
3) Becky Lynch VS Zoey Stark
4) The New Day VS The Viking Raiders
5) Tommaso Ciampa VS Bronson Reed
Overall a fun Raw that made me forget about life & kept me awake while I have a bad cold. Nice build to Payback with a lot of excellent wrestling & promos. The only thing missing was Cody Rhodes. Payback will be another solid PPV.
Sorry, I had a bad cold this weekend so I didn't do my Weekly Column, so it will be a 2-week column next week after Payback. But, I did do facts for all of tonight's matches.
Wow. Raw is starting with action right away. I thought we would get another 10-Bell Salute for Terry Funk & Bray Wyatt, but they will be more on them later.
Cool. Payback will have a Tag Team Championship Match between Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn & The Judgment Day, though we have seen it twice. The Judgment Day beat Owens & Zayn both times, so they should get a title match.
Sami Zayn VS Damian Priest was an excellent match & good way to start off Raw instead of a 20-minute promo. I like what happened afterwards with JD McDonagh. FACT: This was the 2nd 1-on-1 Match between them after Priest def Zayn on Raw on 11/21/21.
Wow, so much pettiness on both WWE & Tony Khan, with the NFL Legacy Championship Belts that they don't have a Jacksonville Jaguars Championship.
Funny segment with Akira Tozawa, Drew McIntyre, & Matt Riddle. McIntyre & Riddle are awesome together.
Excellent video package to get people invested in the Battle of the Double Rs, Raquel Rodriguez VS Rhea Ripley.
I wish they televised The Superstar Spectacular from India. It would be different.
Awesome (No Pun Intended) Segment with The Miz as LA Knight. He was great. His promo was great & their match will be good at Payback.
Good promo by Shinsuke Nakamura. Why was Seth Rollins talking to Ricochet? BTW, I love Rollins wearing the Windham Armband, & also The New Day & Viking Raiders wearing Bray Armbands.
The New Day VS The Viking Raiders was a fun match. Drew McIntyre & Matt Riddle were good at ringside. I like the chaos at the end of the match. I wouldn't mind a Triple Threat. FACT: This was the 4th match between them, as The Viking Raiders won on Smackdown on 7/29/22 & 8/26/22 & The New Day won on Raw on 8/7.
Uh oh, the dissension continues between Finn Balor & Damian Priest but Rhea Ripley is acting like Mami and telling them who's boss.
Thank you WWE for that amazing Bray Wyatt Tribute. I am crying like a baby again especially after reading exactly how he died. It's so heartbreaking. I was never a fan of him as a wrestler, but I can't deny that his character was one of the greatest in WWE History.
Interesting segment with Kofi Kingston, Matt Riddle, & Drew McIntyre. A Tag Team Tornado Match next week with The Viking Raiders will be fun.
Excellent promo by GUNTHER. I love that they're going to do Chad Gable VS GUNTHER next week, but they're not going to make GUNTHER lose the Intercontinental Title 10 days before breaking the Record. Just realized they're in Memphis. They should have brought Honky Tonk Man in so GUNTHER could beat him.
Chad Gable VS Ludwig Kaiser was incredible & of course it has to end in a DQ. Why can't Gable pin Kaiser first & then do the attack afterwards? DQs are so stupid. FACT: Gable is the 1st wrestler in WWE History to wrestle all 3 members of Imperium in 3 straight weeks & only the 2nd wrsetler after Matt Riddle to wrestle all 3 in Singles Matches. This was the 1st time since he defeated Shelton Benjamin (8/27/19), Andrade (9/3/19), & Shane McMahon (9/10/19) on Smackdown that Chad Gable won 3 singles matches in a row in 3 consecutive weeks.
Awesome tribute to Bob Barker.
Incredible promo by Seth Rollins. I love him saying "Yowie Wowie" in honor of Bray Wyatt & The Fiend was on his sideplate on his Championship. Cool video feature on Shinsuke Nakamura. What an attack by Nakamura. They have built this feud quickly for Payback. FACT: BTW, Rollins will continue his streak of being the only wrestler to wrestle on every PPV in 2023.
Amazing promo by Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn. I love the idea of a Steel City Street Fight with them & The Judgment Day. Also, I love Owens with the Windham Armband.
Tommaso Ciampa VS Bronson Reed was a short but hard-hitting match. Love Ciampa honoring both Terry Funk & Bray Wyatt. Also, I notice the refs also are wearing the armbands. I like them brawling before the match. FACT: This was the 2nd match between them after Reed defeated Ciampa on 7/24.
Very good promo by Becky Lynch.
OK promo by Rhea Ripley & brawl between her & Raquel Rodriguez. Their match should be great though. I like Tiffany Stratton being in the crowd to tease her possible match with Becky Lynch. Trish Stratus & Zoey Stark's promo was short & sweet.
RIP Terry Funk. I was going to watch his old matches this weekend, but didn't have a chance. Also, Peacock sucks, as the old WWE Network had a great search feature where you can just type a wrestler's name & everything came up.
Just seeing a clip of Killing It or even 5 minutes of it after Raw, I can see that it looks stupid so I won't have to waste my time by watching the entire season on Peacock which I was going to do one day.
Becky Lynch VS Zoey Stark was a fun Falls Count Anywhere Match. I like when a Falls Count Anywhere Match actually ends away from the ring. I love the emotion in Becky's face when she showed the Bray Armband. FACT: This was both Becky Lynch & Zoey Stark's 1st Falls Count Anywhere Match in their Career & was the 3rd match between them after Stark won on 7/10/23 & Lynch won on 7/24.
Here are my RAW Match Rankings:
1) Chad Gable VS Ludwig Kaiser
2) Sami Zayn VS Damian Priest
3) Becky Lynch VS Zoey Stark
4) The New Day VS The Viking Raiders
5) Tommaso Ciampa VS Bronson Reed
Overall a fun Raw that made me forget about life & kept me awake while I have a bad cold. Nice build to Payback with a lot of excellent wrestling & promos. The only thing missing was Cody Rhodes. Payback will be another solid PPV.