WWE Raw – August 27th 2018: Results & Review
Welcome to this week’s Raw review, right here on Nerdly. I’m Nathan Favel and we have a big match with Seth Rollins and Kevin Owens to get to, so screw every-thing else. Well, maybe we’ll talk about… oh, never mind.
Match #1: Acting General Manager Baron Corbin def. Finn Bálor
The following is courtesy if WWE.com:
If nothing else, Baron Corbin can now claim that the scales have been balanced against Finn Bálor, whose surprise transformation into The Demon at SummerSlam handed The Lone Wolf a trouncing he’s spent the last two weeks stewing over. Now, however, the Acting General Manager has used his own superpower — managerial oversight — to hand The Extraordinary Man a lopsided loss of his own, though he had to pull quite a bit of corporate chicanery to do it. Corbin had to pull rank, ultimately, because even the last-minute match announcement wasn’t enough to stop the former Universal Champion. Finn rallied down the stretch to such a degree that Corbin had to whack him with a chair, announcing after the fact that he had “forgotten” the match was under No Disqualification rules. Corbin didn’t hesitate to exploit the rule change, hitting Bálor again with the chair before executing a textbook End of Days for the 1-2-3.
My Take: This was another dull match that made use of the ol’ “I forgot I booked this thing to be No Disqualification”. Corbin attacked Finn with a chair after he realized he was going to lose. As the temporary General Manager, Corbin used his powers to cheat. Also, did you know that dogs have tails? It’s freakin’ incredible! I hope this is all leading to some-thing great for Balor, because this feud is about as exciting as watching dried paint crack.
Match #2: Sasha Banks def. Dana Brooke
The following is courtesy of WWE.com:
WWE Evolution is coming up, and Dana Brooke wants a match despite a long gap between singles bouts. That means she needed a “tune-up match” to help make her case, though any expectations that she’d be facing some starry-eyed local were quickly dashed when Titus O’Neil revealed he’d finagled a match between Brooke and Sasha Banks. As Apollo Crews pointed out, a four-time Women’s Champion ain’t exactly a warm-up opponent, but Titus insisted he believed in his statistician’s skills. To her credit, Brooke didn’t wither in the face of The Boss, even going so far as to put Sasha on her heels. But once Dana got Sasha’s attention, The Boss turned on the jets, and it was a short walk to the inevitable Bank Statement that forced Dana to submit.
My Take: There wasn’t much here, but Brookes is getting better. Both Banks and Bayley feel like they’re stuck in a rut. Why not have them declare their intentions to challenge for the Women’s Title? I think they both might want to be champion, at some point, right?
Match #3: Intercontinental Champion Seth Rollins def. Kevin Owens; Owens quit in frustration
The following is courtesy of WWE.com:
It’s been a terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad summer for Kevin Owens, but it appears the former Universal Champion’s woes may be over. Not because he made good on his promise to leave Toronto with a title, mind you, but because KO’s fiercely contested bid for the Intercontinental Championship ended in a loss that left him so demoralized he up and quit on the spot. The match came about in the first place because Seth Rollins had reinstituted his Intercontinental Title Open Challenge policy when it became clear former champion Dolph Ziggler was otherwise occupied. That brought out Owens, who was hungry for redemption after a Raw return that has not gone quite as he’d hoped. He gave a great fight, too, brutalizing The Architect’s arm and forcing him to fly on a clipped wing. When an agonizing submission and surprise Stunner failed to get the job done, however, KO got desperate with a last-ditch moonsault. Rollins dodged, hit the Stomp, and that was that. Rather than accept his outstanding performance as a moral victory — to say nothing of Rollins’ post-match nod of respect and a “Kevin Owens” chant from the audience — Owens opted for a knee-jerk reaction of the highest order: After stewing in the ring for the entire commercial break, KO grabbed hold of a microphone and declared, “I quit.”
My Take: This was the best match of the card and the first candidate for the best match of the week. This was great from the sound of the bell and kept the excitement going the whole time. This match transitioned from hold to lock like clock-work. I enjoyed how Owens and Rollins felt like they could skip the formalities, so to speak, and go right for the jugular in terms of the aggression and passion. This felt like a real title match and the crowd was invested in this title bout, all the way through.
Match #4: The Revival def. Raw Tag Team Champions The B-Team
The following is courtesy of WWE.com:
How long can The B-Team hold off The Revival? For all the unlucky breaks that have kept the “Top Guys” from the mountaintop, Dash & Dawson might well be closing in on another opportunity after sweeping Dallas & Axel in singles victory and handing The B-Team the first outright (albeit non-title) loss they’ve suffered since their rebirth in the wake of the Superstar Shake-up. And, as they made clear, they don’t intend to let their next opportunity go unfulfilled. Of course, The B-Team have defied the odds before, but on this particular night, the champs looked truly vulnerable for the first time in a long time. After pinning Curtis Axel with a Shatter Machine (and hitting Bo Dallas with an another one out of spite after the match), Dash & Dawson laid hands on The B-Team’s titles and deemed the champs an insult to the lineage of the Tag Team Titles and the great champions of yesteryear. Claiming that they can take the titles whenever they want, Dash & Dawson clinked The B-Team’s championships as if they were their own and departed the ring, leaving it looking as though Dallas & Axel’s time as champions may be a B-word they haven’t considered: Borrowed.
My Take: There wasn’t much for wrestling here, which is a shame considering the pedigree of The Revival.
Match #5: Natalya def. Alicia Fox
The following is courtesy of WWE.com:
As Alexa Bliss heads toward her clash with Trish Stratus at WWE Evolution, The Goddess is looking to shore up her ranks. Little Miss Bliss sent her lieutenant Alicia Fox into action against Natalya and had a few choice words for The Queen of Harts’ own equalizers: Not only did Bliss evoke her Raw Women’s Title rematch clause against Rousey for WWE Hell in a Cell, she went so far as to deem Trish “irrelevant” and claim she replaced the WWE Hall of Famer. She may be overplaying her hand. Riding high on a wave of emotion, The Queen of Harts didn’t miss a beat against Fox, and once Rousey and Trish chased away Alexa and Mickie James (who Alexa brought back into the fold after a brief absence) from ringside, Natalya pounced with a discus clothesline and Sharpshooter to force the former Divas Champion to tap. In an emotional post-match moment, the former SmackDown Women’s Champion used her victory to pay homage to her late father Jim “The Anvil” Neidhart, holding back tears as she pointed skyward in tribute.
My Take: This was a quick match that was booked to give Natalya a chance to look good before she cut a promo on her dead father, wrestling icon Jim “The Anvil” Neidhart.
Match #6: Bobby Lashley def. The Ascension (Handicap Match)
The following is courtesy of WWE.com:
Baron Corbin is a man with many enemies, and now, thanks to his promotion to Acting General Manager, he has the tool to make them all pay. Of course, some of those same foes simply powered through their punishment by force of will — case in point, Bobby Lashley, who outlasted The Ascension in a spontaneous Handicap Match that maybe, just maybe, was designed as payback for Lashley’s humiliation of The Lone Wolf the previous week. Lashley’s match proved to be a demonstration of the former NXT Tag Team Champions’ power and, more crucially, the resilience of the former ECW Champion. Despite a series of quick tags by The Ascension, Lashley took out Konnor — who he’d correctly identified as a potential match, power-wise — with a clothesline over the ropes, leaving Viktor vulnerable to a big slam to end the match.
My Take: The Ascension must be stuck in The Twilight Zone, because they keep losing in the most bizarre ways. At least Lashley got to win the match.
Match #7: Dean Ambrose def. Jinder Mahal
The following is courtesy of WWE.com:
In Jinder Mahal’s defense, he’s probably right that Dean Ambrose could benefit from a meditation technique or two. That said, The Modern Day Maharaja clearly didn’t read the room when he attempted to pass his mantra onto The Lunatic Fringe, as Ambrose challenged Mahal to a match and ultimately upended the former WWE Champion in yet another impressive showcase of his new, power-based style. Mahal is no slouch in the aggression and strength departments either, and he didn’t hesitate to use those attributes when it became clear that Ambrose had no intention of taking it easy. Sunil Singh provided a distraction to give The Maharaja an opening, and Mahal pounced, even going as far as to cue up the Khallas. But Ambrose writhed free of Mahal’s clutches and administered a whip-fast Dirty Deeds, putting his opponent down for three.
My Take: It’s apparent that Dean is still injured, as he was wearing the tape on his arm. I feel bad for calling him the worst wrestler of the week, last time, but fair is fair, whether I like it or not. Why would they bring him back early? Let Dean finish his rehabilitation. Try pushing Heath Slater in Dean’s absence. Zach Ryder is still a big deal. What about Rhyno? There are plenty of people on Raw who can fill the void while Dean heals. Also, Jinder didn’t look to much better than usual here, which makes me feel like a prick when I criticize him. Maybe, Jinder should adopt a different battle stance when he wrestles? I think Jinder would do better if he has a lower center of gravity, which would help him to not exert himself so much when he attempts to grapple. Any-way, this was another dull match that did neither man any favors.
Match #8: Main Event – Universal Champion Roman Reigns & Braun Strowman def. Dolph Ziggler & Drew McIntyre via Disqualification
The following is courtesy of WWE.com:
Last week, Braun Strowman felt the wrath of The Shield. This week, he got even. During a main event that saw The Monster Among Men team with Universal Champion Roman Reigns against Dolph Ziggler & Drew McIntyre, Strowman accepted a crucial tag from a battered Reigns but refused to enter the ring. Instead, The Gift of Destruction gave The Showoff and The Scottish Psychopath free reign to decimate The Big Dog, ending the bout in a disqualification and opening the door for Strowman to exact his payback. The extended three-on-one beatdown of Reigns first brought out Dean Ambrose and eventually the one-armed Seth Rollins, but the two other Hounds of Justice were no match for the makeshift trio. The Lunatic Fringe suffered the Claymore-Zig Zag combo, Rollins caught a Zig Zag of his own, and all three were subjected to Running Powerslams from The Monster Among Men. Ziggler & McIntyre couldn’t have been more right when they opined that Strowman and Reigns couldn’t get along as partners and that they were teaming only as a matter of pride. What they didn’t realize was how far that pride would motivate Braun Strowman to go.
My Take: This was a decent match that had no real inspiration to it. This is the part when you need to Chicago to show up and start singing to some-body on how they’re the inspiration. Also, did you know that massaging your feet can reduce your blood pressure, because you might need that when you watch parts of this episode of Raw. The main event started at 11:00 pm, which is five minutes before Raw goes off the air. If they had ditched the Braun/Roman/Baron promo at the beginning of the card, then you could have put the main event on ten minutes earlier. The action was the basic principles of the WWE house style, which is a clothes-line followed by a drop-kick followed by a rest-hold. The psychology of the WWE main roster is a wet blanket tossed in a trash can. At the end of the day, these tag matches that do nothing but make Teddy Long nostalgic are not enough to make people tune in.
News Of The Night:
- Kevin Owens quit after losing his title match.
- Trish Stratus made her return to smack Elias and support Natalya.
- The Bella Twins return next week to fight The Riott Squad.
- Braun Strowman will fight Roman Reigns for the Universal Title at “Hell in a Cell” in a Hell in a Cell Match.
- Braun Strowman has made a new faction with Drew McIntyre and Dolph Ziggler, which debuted by attacking The Shield after the main event.
Final Verdict: 2.5 out of 5 – A great Intercontinental Title match saved a decent show that had a few great surprises.