Following the recent tragedy that struck Orlando this past week, WWE Monday Night Raw began with a touching tribute to the victims of the massacre and remembered them in the right way with a moment of silence.
Advantage: The Club
In the huge positive for the company overall, the tag-team division is finally interesting once more! The New Day made their way to the ring with a huge pop from the New Orleans crowd and they were continuously cheered as Xavier Woods and Big E mocked the footwear of their partner Kofi Kingston.
Enzo and Cass would join them in the ring also with a huge cheer ensuing but in an interesting turn of events they had a conversation with Woods that was rather disturbing. The man who is 'seven-foot-tall' suggested that Woods' trombone was 'unfaithful' to him the previous night as it was being 'blown' by his The Smack-talker Sky-walker. Baffling.
However despite the two teams almost coming to blows, out came The Vaudevillians with an array of jeers in pursuit, they dismissed the previous segment and reminded the WWE Universe of their aim in this Sunday's four-way tag-team match as they plan to leave with the gold.
The final party then entered the conversation as Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson made their ominous presence known and said it would be them leaving Las Vegas with the tag-team titles.
A fairly strong opening was furthered, as an eight-man tag team match followed with Enzo, Cass, Kofi and Big E taking on Aiden English, Simon Gotch and The Club in a extremely well worked man that saw the later pick up the victory as they delivered that patented Magic Killer to one-third of the Tag-team Champions to gain the momentum heading into Sin City.
The Shield Montage
The main feature of tonight's programming was, of course, the announcement that The Shield would be reuniting on the Ambrose Asylum. In promotion of this, several vignettes were aired featuring clips of the best and most important parts of the trio's domination.
They all worked well to highlight just how much of a powerful stable all three men were as a team, with their decimation of Ryback, the first, rather than speak in detail about them all, they simply helped build up to a climatic main feature between Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns.
Darren Young- Great or hate?
With backstage seemingly intent on making Darren Young great again, you could be forgiven for believing that airing the same vignette that aired on SmackDown screams of laziness because a superstar that is going to be 'great, again' means this is a good thing - right?
Wrong, D-Young has not wrestled a memorable match since the battle royal to find the new number one contender for the United States Championship and he was a bit-part player then, having him paired with Bob Backlund with the odd duo not even in the same building is ridiculous and there is yet to be positive feedback from the WWE Universe - how long can they continue?
Kane- SmackDown General manager?
Sporting a smart suit, reminiscent of his days with The Authority, Kane put his name into the hat as a potential suitor for the seemingly open position of SmackDown general manager as Stephanie McMahon quickly rejected the idea.Shane McMahon was willing to hear him out and he was presented with a Curriculum Vitae (resume) with a recommendation letter from the Undertaker attached.
Ryding Sheamus
Zack Ryder possibly made the foolish mistake of mocking the Celtic Warrior openly backstage only for the Irishman to make his presence known. He confronted the former Intercontinental Champion to remind him of their match later on in the night to which Ryder managed to get one over on the former League of Nations as he said "Hey Apollo" prompting an awkward reaction from Sheamus, as Ryder escaped quickly.
Rusev sends a message
As Titus O'Neil made his way to the ring ahead of a scheduled match, he was blind sided by The Bulgarian Brute Rusev who beat down The Gator until he was left in a heap, then he applied his The Accolade as officials fought to remove his powerful grip. The United States Champion sent a strong message ahead of their bout this Sunday.
The Shield reunite
The most high profile part of the night promised much and for the most part did its job, the trio talked fondly in the ring about times gone by until Rollins reminded Ambrose and Reigns of his 'favorite' when he betrayed them. The two 'brothers' reacted calmly but despite the tension between the two main eventers ahead of this Sunday's clash, an unlikely turn of events happened.
Ambrose reminded his former partners of the opportunity facing him in Las Vegas where if he manages to grab the briefcase he could very well cash in that same night to make the bout a triple threat match.
Rollins looks like he is leaving the ring but pushes Ambrose into Reigns as both men go down, The Lunatic Fringe attacks The Man, and as he arises he is dealt with a Superman punch from The Champion, while the two 'brothers' stand over their fallen ex-partner, Ambrose shocks the world as he delivers a Dirty Deeds to The Guy, seemingly ending their 'brotherhood'.
Paige 2-0 Charlotte
The two former PCB members met in the ring with Dana Brooke ringside and Becky Lynch and Natalya on commentary, following a relatively strong start, the two competitors felt each-other out with Paige on top for much of the bout. As Charlotte rolled out of the ring, Brooke decided to roll her back in, setting The English-woman up to kick her square in the head and deliver the Ram-Paige to get a 'clean' victory over the Women's Champion, marking her second in only a matter of months.
Sheamus' revenge
Following an attack from Apollo Crews the previous week and hearing Ryder's comments on the subject the Irishman was not happy and decided it was time to deliver his own style of justice to The Ultimate Broski, after a quick victory Sheamus continued his assault and beat down of Ryder.
Crews came out to save the day as he dominated the veteran and forced him to retreat to the safety of the crowd as he jumped over the barriers to escape the former NXT star. A huge positive to see the youngster progress with his character and finally, do something meaningful on the main roster.
Sami Zayn proves Cesaro wrong
An earlier segment saw Cesaro claim that Sami Zayn has accomplished nothing and stated that The Swiss Superman's four-year-tenure earned him higher ranking compared to Zayn's four months. Fresh with intent on his mind, the former NXT Champion set out to prove his Money in the Bank opponent wrong.
A highly interesting and well-planned match between two very capable superstars which was the match of the night, despite the match being fairly short, both men created a lot within the small time frame and with Zayn picking up a much-needed win it creates an even playing field a head of this Sunday's ladder match.
Cena and Styles leave their mark
Onto the most interesting and entertaining part of the show as we witnessed the contract signing between two of the most popular superstars on the roster AJ Styles and John Cena.
Cena gave his opponent a choice of either; facing him alone or with The Club. Styles opted for the solo route and the two went at it on the mic with The Face that Runs the Place delivering numerous stinging promos to The Phenomenal One as he labeled him a 'baby' and an 'entitled indy dude'.
Styles said that Cena would never have accomplished what he has in WWE if he was here fifteen years ago and says that this Sunday "Your time is up, but my time is now."
With subtle references of The Bullet Club, the intense heat from both men created a sense of realism that has been missing for months from the product and is making this rivalry one of the most must-see over the past decade and it will all come to a head at Money in the Bank.
Owens and Del Rio have much to Lucha Lose
Following a petty backstage segment in which Kevin Owens decides to suck up to Shane O'Mac by revealing that Alberto Del Rio was late to work led to a surprise match announcement by the Big Red Monster Kane who said that K.O. will team up with Mexico's Greatest Export to do battle with the Lucha Dragon's with their places in the MITB ladder match at stake, should they lose.
Despite failing to see eye-to-eye and The Prizefighter almost walking out on his partner, he returned to just about see off Kalisto and Sin Cara but not before controversy struck as Owens took control, got the sly tag from Del Rio to deliver the Pop-up Powerbomb to Sin Cara to pick up the win.
Following the tag-team action, the former MITB winner, super-kicked the former NXT Champion in the head to add that extra spark ahead of this Sunday.
The Whining continues
After their victory, Owens confronts Stephanie and says that Shane went behind her back to give Zayn a spot on commentary, Steph decided to 'one-up' her brother by putting K.O. also alongside Zayn as well as having Del Rio as the special guest time-keeper.
When Shane found out, his annoyance got the better of him as he decided to make Cesaro The special guest ring-announcer much to the delight of the New Orleans crowd. Ambrose and Chris Jericho put on a fairly decent match overall, as you would expect with a couple of good spots and The Lunatic Fringe countered a code-breaker and turned it into Dirty Deeds to get the win.
The match itself was fine but lacked a certain spark and fire to it as we have already seen it many times previous. However, it was what followed that was the true action as following his victory, Ambrose was attacked by Owens and all six men brawled until it was just Jericho left standing, well sitting on top of the ladder as he reached up and unhooked the MITB briefcase as he signaled his intentions a head of this Sunday.
Author's Points
While this Raw was not necessarily bad, it was however far from the best in recent weeks, it seemed bland and less important but this may be due to the lack of high profile matches that have taken place which given their 'WrestleMania Caliber' ahead of MITB - is understandable.
It was nice to see Apollo Crews do something, and hand a real beat down to Sheamus which is a great way to go with his character, a surefire babyface which could be a heroic one considering the Irishman is something of a 'supervillain' in the latest Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie.
What is lacking in the Women's Division is a secondary title as with all the women not involved in the title picture they have nothing to do - or fight for. The title is not even being defended at MITB and has lost its meaning over the past few months with Charlotte winning thanks to shenanigans. Bring a women's version of the Intercontinental Championship into the fold or even a tag-team title and the division will finally see the revolution it has been screaming for.