Opening Segment - Monday Night Raw has started with an opening promo from the Authority for quite some time now, and last night’s episode was the same story. Triple H, Stephanie McMahon, and the WWE champion Seth Rollins all come out to the ring. Triple H started talking about how tonight is the Raw of firsts. For the first time ever, Paige will face the NXT champion Sasha Banks. For the first time ever Kevin Owens will square off against Randy Orton. Then Seth Rollins grabs the mic and tells the WWE universe how he is the greatest WWE champion of all time. In the middle of Rollins’ promo, out comes John Cena. Cena tells Rollins how it is disrespectful to all the legends in the WWE who have held the world title for Seth to proclaim he is the best, and wants to face Rollins for the WWE title tonight.

Stephanie then polls the WWE universe if they would like to see Rollins - Cena for the world title tonight. Of course the WWE broke out the “yes” chant and Stephanie even got in on the fun imitating the famous Daniel Bryan taunt. Then Stephanie and the great heel that she is, told the WWE universe that the main event will not be Rollins - Cena for the WWE title, but instead the main event will be Cena - Rollins for the United States championship. The segment only lasted about 15 minutes which is shorter than what the opening segments usually are, and it was a pretty good opener to Raw. They announced all the matches on the card, and showed the Authority is still in control of the WWE.

Overall grade: 7 out of 10

Big Show - Dean Ambrose - The first match of the night featured the Big Show - Dean Ambrose with The Miz on commentary. Ambrose dominated the match early and got in a heavy dose of offense. The matched started to pick up when Big Show went for his patented chokeslam that was reversed into a DDT by Ambrose. After both superstars struggled to get to their feet and a few punches from Ambrose, Big Show lands a chokeslam and goes for a pin. Ambrose kicks out at 2, and Big Show delivers another chokeslam, causing Ambrose to fall out of the ring and on to the floor. Ambrose struggles back into the ring avoiding a countout. Show proceeds to deliver a very awkward super kick and then a spear on the outside. Ambrose once again struggling to even stand, rolls into the ring at the count of 9.

Ambrose sparks some offense and goes for a middle rope dive, that leads to a KO punch from Big Show on the outside. This time Ambrose can’t get back in the ring and loses to the Big Show via countout. After the match Ambrose uses the barricade to help himself up, and dodges a spear from Show that launches Big Show into the barricade and knocks him out. The match overall was okay. Big Show comes out looking like the dominant monster he once was, and Ambrose showed resilience with the inability to give up. Ambrose also outsmarted Show after the match, avoiding the spear. It was an okay match for an opener, and the match itself wasn’t very enjoyable because at points it seemed as if Ambrose was getting squashed. It’s sad to see that Ambrose has fallen from battling for the WWE title, to be dominating by the Big Show.

Overall grade: 6 out of 10.

Fandango - Neville: There isn’t much to say about this match. It was your typical squash match. Neville hit all of his major moves, and the match was over in about 3 minutes. The important thing to takeaway from all of this is the promo from Stardust after the match. Stardust  interrupted Neville’s celebration and told Neville that the world believes it needs heros. Heros like Neville and Green Arrow. Stardust then tells the WWE universe that he can save people from the overprotective heros, and there is nothing Neville can do to stop Stardust. The match itself wasn’t anything to ride home about, but the promo afterwards by Stardust was great. The promo continued the build for the Neville - Stardust, while also bridging Justin Hartley, (the actor of green arrow) into the feud.

Overall Grade: 7 out of 10.

Paige - Sasha Banks: This match once again proved how much better the Divas division is with the NXT girls finally making the roster. This match was very enjoyable to watch. The thing that made this match so great was the storytelling. Sasha and Paige showed they know each other so well and that it would take something innovative to beat the other. Sasha won the match on her finishing move the Bank Statement, once again making Paige tap. The match lasted about 14 minutes which is pretty long for Diva’s standards. The match was great, enjoyable to watch, and Sasha continues to look strong.

Overall grade: 9 out of 10.

Rusev and Summer Rae promo: Rusev comes out with Summer Rae and states that men should give beautiful women gifts, and that he has brought presents for Summer Rae. The first gift is a little dog that so scared it is shaking in Summer Rae’s arms. Rusev wants to name the dog and says the dog should be named Dog Ziggler because it pees on itself in fear and the dog is neutered. The next gift for Summer is a fish. Rusev names the fish Lana because he thinks Lana is a very cold fish. Lana comes out and tells Rusev that she can not be humiliated despite his attempts. Summer Rae states that Rusev has gone from a fish to a beautiful woman like Summer Rae. Lana smeers Summer’s face into the face into the fish and then smacks Rusev. The segment was funny and very enjoyable to watch.

Overall grade: 7 out of 10.

Los Matadores - The Lucha Dragons - This was your typical high volume spot fest match. The 2 tag teams faced off with the Prime Time Players on commentary. The match was filled with a plethora of high flying moves and ridiculous reversals. The match didn’t pick up until New Day came out with a sign that said, “Real Mega Dad of the Year,” taking a shot at Titus O'Neil who won the Dad of the Year award. The match overall was cool to see because of the spots in the match, but the takeaway from all of this is the continued feud between the PTP and New Day.

Overall grade: 5.75 out of 10.

Bray Wyatt Promo: Bray Wyatt and Luke Harper came out to reintroduce Luke Harper back into the Wyatt Family. Bray starts the promo by asking the WWE universe how many of them have families that they love? Then tells all the children that their parents have been lying to them and don’t actually love them. Bray talks about this pet that he used to own. The pet was very loyal to Bray, but was curious to see what the outside world contained. So one day, Bray let the pet loose, knowing it would return. When the pet returned, it was changed. The pet had a scar on it’s eye, and never left Bray again. He then compares the pet to Luke Harper.

How Bray had to fix Luke Harper knowing he would leave one day, but eventually return to the Wyatt Family. Luke Harper then grabs the mic. Luke talks about how the WWE universe created Harper and they are the reason he was broken. Bray Wyatt saved Luke Harper and he now devotes his life to Wyatt. Bray then talks about how Luke would go through hell for Bray, but Ambrose won’t do the same for Roman. This promo was excellent, and it was great to finally see Luke Harper talk on the mic. The promo built up the Wyatt Family - Ambrose/Reigns feud and it was enjoyable to listen to.

Overall grade: 9.25 out of 10.

Charlotte/Becky Lynch - Nikki Bella/Alicia Fox: 2nd Divas match of the night. The match was dominated by Alicia and Nikki. Most of the Team Bella offense was done to Charlotte. Once Charlotte was able to tag in Becky Lynch, the match started to turn up. Becky Lynch hit Alicia Fox with a flurry of moves and went for the pin, but to have it broken up by Nikki Bella. Charlotte took Nikki out of the equation with a spear, and Becky Lynch picked up the win with her finisher, the Disarm-Her. The match overall was pretty good. It would have been to nice see more offense from Charlotte but it was fun to watch.

Overall grade: 6.75 out of 10

Randy Orton - Kevin Owens: This could have very well been the main event. Owens and Orton had a very physical match. The match spilled to the outside and Orton threw Owens against the barricade, and was met with a Brogue Kick by Sheamus which ended the match via disqualification. Sheamus threw Randy Orton into the ring and before facing further damage, Orton was saved by Cesaro. Cesaro seemed to save Orton from Owens and Sheamus, but ended up catching a pop-up powerbomb. This was a great match that ended with a great brawl post match. Everyone came out of this looking strong, and Cesaro - Kevin Owens should be a great feud.

Overall grade: 8.25 out of 10.

John Cena - Seth Rollins - Wrestling fans were treated to a great main event. Seth Rollins and John Cena once again put on a very good match. You can tell these two have developed a great chemistry in the ring together. Rollins dominated most of the match, and the match really picked up when Seth botched a knee to the face, and actually broke John Cena’s nose. Blood actually spilled in a WWE ring for the first time in a while. There was a very nice spot where Seth Rollins hit a superplex off of the top rope, rolled through and hit another suplex on Cena. The match ended with Rollins tapping out to the STF and Cena retained the US title. The match was very enjoyable to watch. 

Overall grade: 8.5 out of 10.


Raw as a whole -  Overall Raw was very enjoyable to watch. There was very good wrestling throughout the entire night. The fact that there was 2 good Divas matches was a nice sight to see. They built up storylines heading towards Summerslam and the low points were minimal.

Overall Grade 8 out of 10.