By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
WWE Raw Hits
Jey Uso and Gunther: Gunther’s announcement that he will face the winner of Jey vs. Logan Paul on the first Raw after Money in the Bank was an interesting development. But the creative team has to know that this left fans even more confident that Jey will retain the World Heavyweight Championship when he faces Paul on Saturday Night’s Main Event. A simple solution is to air the clips of the confrontation that Gunther and Paul had at WWE Headquarters during the WrestleMania 41 press conference, and to create new friction between the two. On a side note, Pat McAfee did a nice job of verbally selling the soreness that came from being in the ring with Gunther at Backlash. I just wish he had done more physically to sell his storyline injuries.
Becky Lynch promo: Why is Lynch still coming out to her upbeat babyface entrance theme? Lynch is doing her best to make the fans dislike her, but it feels like that song is making her job harder. Lynch’s line about how fans could no longer relate to her once she won a championship, because all they know is failure, was a gem. And her talk of being selfish, greedy, and cutthroat while holding back others in the locker room was compelling.
CM Punk promo segment: Punk’s promo about blaming himself for allowing Paul Heyman to turn on him again worked. The remainder of the segment effectively set up Punk and Sami Zayn vs. Seth Rollins and Bron Breakker on Saturday Night’s Main Event.
AJ Styles vs. Finn Balor: A soft Hit for the expected quality ring work. Michael Cole hyped this as a dream match when it was announced last week. There was a time when that description would have felt accurate. These days, Styles and Balor are two very good wrestlers who are pushed as mid-card acts more often than not. That’s not a complaint as much as it’s simply the reality of the situation, as the company is loaded with high-level talent who are simply being pushed more aggressively. So while Styles and Balor can always be counted on to have a good match, their match outcomes often feel trivial, as was the case here.
Penta vs. Chad Gable: A soft Hit for Penta beating Gable in the opener. Sadly, beating Gable means very little these days, but the charismatic Penta had the live crowd with him, and the match quality was solid. Let me guess, one-note joke El Grande Americano will avenge Gable’s loss?
WWE Raw Misses
Iyo Sky and Rhea Ripley vs. Roxanne Perez and Giulia: A well-worked match. The babyface team provided the star power, but the heel team is floundering. What happened to Paul Levesque’s edict that he wanted six months of storyline ideas for NXT wrestlers once they arrive on the main roster? Perez is moving back and forth between NXT and the main roster with no storyline direction. Giulia’s arrival in NXT was positioned as a big deal, but she abruptly turned heel, apparently so that she could be fed to Jordynne Grace on last week’s NXT television show, and now to Sky and Ripley on Raw. As good as Perez and Giulia are in the ring, their main roster presentation has been so weak that this match didn’t feel main event worthy, regardless of match quality. There may be light at the end of the tunnel for Perez. The backstage background shots of her talking with Finn Balor over the last two weeks are intriguing.
Julius Creed and Brutus Creed vs. “The War Raiders” Erik and Ivar: New Day’s interference led to the finish, meaning the Creeds gained nothing from beating the War Raiders. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if the company is setting up a Triple Threat between these three teams for the World Tag Team Titles, and the Creeds actually end up taking the pin during that match.
It looks like they already broke up the team of Roxanne and Giulia.
I don’t know if I myself would give the Lynch promo a complete hit, although I liked parts of it. She is in a way is doing a John Cena by blaming a fan base that has always supported her, so when she trys to rationalize and blame them it comes off as being untrue and lame .
Becky is over as a star (and should be) so inherently she probably should be cheered. If they are going to book wrestlers to get over to a certain level and in a certain way then they should be received in that way.( just as an example everyone loves the new Heyman faction, and they’re over so in reality why would anyone boo them? they would have to be in the ring with opponents that are so over in their own right that the fans would cheer them more0.
Getting the fans to treat Becky as a heel is easy just put her in the ring with Tiffany stratton ( it’s really that simple.) I’ll stick with use subtlety instead of over dramatics when it comes to creating that personna. Her and Lyra had a great match the other night(sans the turnbuckle spot) but the fact that she was a heel and Lyra was a face didn’t really add anything to it or give it anymore purpose…just my thoughts.