On The Go-Home Show To Extreme Rules, There Were Lots Of Highs And One Big Low

Welcome to this week’s RAW recap! Last night was our final show before Extreme Rules on Sunday, and while it featured one of the worst segments in months and a few botched finishes, it also featured some fantastic matches and intriguing storylines. There’s a lot to talk about, so let’s get right into it!

RAW kicked off with a little Miz TV featuring Sheamus and Cesaro, and it quickly turned into a six man tag setup when Dean Ambrose had heard enough slander and had the Hardy Boyz to back him up. It was a pretty cookie cutter way to set up a cookie cutter match, but I took no issue with it. The Miz’s promo was pretty good, and the Dean Ambrose/Hardy Boyz tag team was interesting to say the least.

This match was a great TV sprint for a while, and Cesaro took some crazy bumps, and then Dean Ambrose messed up a hot tag and caused a domino effect of botches. None of them were catastrophic, but they were pretty funny.

1. Dean Ambrose tries to tag in Matt Hardy for Jeff Hardy’s hot tag.

2. The Miz forgets to sit up for the dropkick, Jeff Hardy does it anyway

3. Matt Hardy and The Miz see each other, don’t remember what the next move is

4. The Miz thinks he’s taking a neckbreaker but it’s actually a Twist Of Fate

So obviously none of those were turned out to be some horrible botch where somebody got hurt, but it was a hilarious trainwreck to end the match.

Corey Graves got a text message calling Kurt Angle an embarrassment, and thought it was important enough to leave the commentary table to show him. The mystery of who sent the text will be played up for a few weeks I assume, and I’m guessing this is a Stephanie McMahon return angle to set up Triple H vs Kurt Angle at Summerslam. If it’s not, though, this could be very well be the big Summer angle. Well, even if it is it might be the big Summer angle. Maybe it’s Dixie Carter. Maybe it’s not. We’ll see.

Samoa Joe, Finn Bálor, and Bray Wyatt had a really good triple threat that unfortunately ended kinda awkwardly when Bray was out of place.

BUT it was good otherwise, and Bálor losing but not taking the pin makes me think he’ll win at Extreme Rules! So that’s awesome!

Noam Dar and Rich Swann had a pretty good match with the focus being on Sasha Banks and Alicia Fox, so much so that they missed the finish!

My friend @Jobberton mentioned this to me during the broadcast, and it’s COMPLETELY true…Alicia Fox and Noam Dar have the chemistry of a brother and sister. It’s very strange but they’re not interested in even acting like a couple.

Alexa Bliss did a “This Is Your Life” segment on Bayley that was one of the worst segments in years. She wasn’t the issue at all, it was the material and extras, who were apparently “actors”, but my god were they bad. They seem to be playing up the fact that Bayley has never kissed a boy, which is obviously not true (in kayfabe) and just bad. The main thing she’s been attacked for in her feuds is that she’s wanted to be a wrestler since she was little, and that she used to watch wrestling when she was little. Knowing the entire writing staff is Hollywood rejects and not actually wrestling fans, it makes you wonder if Vince McMahon hates wrestling.

The Revival returned to television to address the rumor that they attacked Enzo Amore, and of course, denied it. Enzo was then attacked again, and Big Cass played his role flawlessly as the guido pissed that his boy got jumped. Going up to Corey Graves and yelling at him for suggesting he could have been involved, and basically threatening to whack him was amazing. I think this whole angle has been introduced and handled really well, down to Revival being in the background of a shot last week.

We got another heel Goldust promo, this one even better than the first. For the second week in a row, it might be my favorite part of the entire show. He’s such a veteran, and his face comedy role has made many forget how great a heel promo he is. He came off like a Batman villain here! R-Truth’s promo was decent, but after that Goldust promo it had a lot to live up to.

Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins worked an AWESOME match to get the crowd back from the “This Is Your Life” segment, and kind of proved my Seth Rollins theory correct once again. If Seth is wrestling someone MUCH, MUCH, better than him, he’s able to have really good matches. If not, people file out of his main event with Bray Wyatt. I know the internet will hate me for that take, but truly look back at all of Seth’s matches. Now look back at Roman’s. One of the two is a consistent in-ring deliverer. The other is the internet darling. Roman went over strong with a spear, and that fade to black leads up into Extreme Rules.

I’ll of course have my full preview on Friday, but I think it’ll be a good show. The main event in particular has my interest because I think it’ll be complete and utter chaos in the best way possible.