BRM Reviews the 7/20/2020 Raw

[Big Red Machine]

OPENING SEGMENT- dull
Rollins tells us that Rey will be able to make a full recovery. He blames the fans for making him do what he did. Typical cliché heel crap written by people who aren’t creative enough to come up with a character with real depth.
Aleister Black came out and said he was going to “rectify the situation.” Wouldn’t rectifying the situation here be putting Rey’s eye back in? Anyway, Black wants to fight Seth. Murphy went to fight on Seth’s behalf but got taken out like a total chump. When we returned from a commercial break, we were in the middle of…

ALEISTER BLACK vs. SETH ROLLINS (w/Buddy Murphy)- 7/10
Seth worked over Black’s arm. Black managed to get the advantage right before the break but Murphy ran in to get easily dispatched a second time so that Seth could escape. Rollins wound up getting the win. When this angle with Rey Mysterio and Seth Rollins started, I was hopeful that Aleister Black and Humberto Carrillo’s involvement would lead to them rising up the card, but Black feels like a jobber to the stars at the moment (in a mostly equivalent spot to Murphy) and Carrillo wrestled on f*cking Main Event last week.

POST-MATCH SEGMENT- meh
Rollins and Murphy beat on Aleister Black. No babyfaces came out to save Aleister, even as Rollins made it clear that his intention was to severely injure Aleister’s arm.

TOM PHILLIPS FINALLY CARLIFIES THE US TITLE SITUATON- no, MVP is not the official champion off of winning the title by forfeit.

MVP, BOBBY LASHLEY, & RON SIMMONS BACKSTAGE- Apparently, we’ve just missed Simmons giving Lashley and MVP a lecture about how “there is a better way” to go about things. He tells them to think about this. They all fist-bump, and Simmons leaves. I have a bad feeling that all this will result in is the legendary Ron Simmons being made to look like an idiot for thinking these guys are actually going to take him to heart. I mean… it’s not like these are young dudes, or even someone you can portray as younger than they are because they haven’t been on the main roster for so long like Cedric Alexander. These guys are both in their mid-forties!
Speaking of black men in their mid-forties, R-Truth showed up and we got…

MVP, BOBBY LASHLEY, & R-TRUTH BACKSTAGE-
Truth tells MVP that Apollo Crews is the rightful US Champion. MVP invites Truth to join them in the ring. Truth sees a trap coming and declines. Lashley said that MVP actually wanted the new 24/7 Champion to come to the ring right them, at which point Lashley pulled a referee out from behind himself, and Shelton Benjamin came from the other direction and superkicked Truth, then pinned him to win the title. Boy, that sure was fortunate for the heels that they had this trap for R-Truth set up even though they didn’t know he was going to walk by. Is it really that hard to have MVP say something when he first sees Truth about Truth having accepted his invitation to parley? You can even turn it into a “Truth is dumb” joke if you want by having Truth ask where parfait is or something like that. Just give me a reason why the heels knew Truth would be here so this isn’t the world’s most ridiculous coincidence. That’s all I ask!

PROMO SEGMENT WITH ALMOST ALL OF THE BLACK GUYS- fine
MVP cut a promo on Ricochet and Cedric Alexander, who someone apparently has a match against. Cedric and Ricochet came out and barbs were exchanged. MVP was tremendous, but Cedric and Ricochet were fine as well. It turns out the match is a six-man tag, and the Ricochet & Cedric’s new partner is… MUSTAFA ALI! Thank G-d. I was worried they were going to have one of the Street Profits pull double-duty. I’m shocked they didn’t find a black referee to make the count on R-Truth in the previous segment.

RICOCHET, CEDRIC ALEXANDER, & MUSTAFA ALI vs. THE HURT BUSINESS (Bobby Lashley, MVP, & Shelton Benjamin)- 6.75/10
Apparently “the Hurt Business” the name of MVP’s group.
This match is definitely a point in favor of the “every wrestling show will be greatly improved by putting a six-man tag on the undercard” argument. I was worried that they were going to pin Ali to keep MVP strong, but they did the opposite, setting up Ali as a challenger for MVP’s fake US Title (which is how MVP should frame it next week), which could then lead to something between Ali and Apollo Crews when Crews is healthy.

RANDY ORTON PROMO- GREAT!

RON SIMMONS & THE VIKING RAIDERS BACKSTAGE- This happened during a commercial bumper, so there was no sound.

BIG SHOW VIDEO PACKAGE- good

CHRISTIAN INTERVIEW WITH THE ANNOUNCERS, LIVE VIA SATELLITE- decent build for Orton vs. Big Show and good set-up for an Orton vs. Christian match in the future (presumably at SummerSlam).

SARAH SCHREIBER INTERVIEWS BIANCA BELAIR- bad
Bianca using the superlatives got old very quickly, to the point where I was almost happy to see Peyton Royce interrupt her. Ruby Riott showed up to back Bianca up verbally. Peyton insulted Liv Morgan and Ruby got offended. This was bad. No one came off as likable. I’m also worried about Bianca. They definitely seem to be letting her at least put her promos into her own words, but she didn’t come off like the NXT Bianca. NXT Bianca would have had a much more aggressive zinger to throw at Peyton.

PEYTON ROYCE vs. RUBY RIOTT-0.75/10
Billie Kay is apparently “off dealing with other business.” At least make up a f*cking injury. Her job is to be a professional wrestler for Monday Night Raw. What other business could she have to attend to at 9:00 pm on a Monday?
Ruby won a bad match cleanly. That Riott Kick is a really weak finisher.

CHARLY CARUSO INTERVIEWS ZELINA VEGA, ANDRADE “CIEN” ALMAS, & ANGEL GARZA- backwards!
The heels cut good promos. Then the babyfaces attacked them from behind for no discernable reason. WHAT THE F*CK?!

THE STREET PROFITS vs. ANDRADE “CIEN” ALMAS & ANGEL GARZA (w/Zelina Vega)- 6/10
The Street Profits won completely cleanly, without the heels even have a miscue, completely killing the heels as potential challengers in a division that REALLY f*cking needs some. Bad booking.

ZELINA YELLS AT HER CREW BACKSTAGE- I don’t like where this is headed
Zelina yelled at them for losing due to their “stupid arguments,” but I didn’t see that at all. They seemed to be getting along fine before she showed up. They told her they were on the same page and she told them to “prove it.” I’m getting VERY worried that they’re going to come out and fire her, and breaking Zelina and Andrade up would be one of the stupidest mistakes WWE could make.

WOMEN’S TITLE SEGMENT-
Sasha has been walking around with the belt all day and no one in the company has made her give it back, so does that mean she’s actually the real, recognized champion?
Asuka, who had her title stolen from her, let the heels finish their whole big bullsh*t speech instead of just coming to the ring and trying to get her stolen property back. Asuka cut a promo and then she and Kairi started down the ramp to get the belt back… but Stephanie McMahon appeared on the TitanTron to tell everyone to hold their horses for a moment.
She says that Sasha didn’t really win last night’s match. Good. Now explain to me why it took you TWENTY-FOUR HOURS to issue this ruling!
Steph also says that Asuka didn’t win, so we’re going to have “a championship match next week to determine the Raw Women’s Title-holder,” in which Sasha can be disqualified if Bayley gets involved.
1. Yes, she really said we’re going to have a “championship match” to determine the “Raw Women’s Title-holder.” You know… because she already said “champion” once in this sentence, so you need to come up with a synonym, because that’s good writing. And that is, in fact, a principle for good writing (although part of good writing also knowing that the laws are made to be broken sometimes). But you’d think that someone in the course of getting her degree in communications, Steph would have learned that the laws of writing prose don’t apply to writing dialogue! Dialogue should be natural human speech, and thus the most natural wording should be used.
2. While this tells us how we’re going to rectify last night’s non-finish, it doesn’t actually tell us who the legally rightful current champion is. Is Asuka the champ? Is the belt being held in abeyance? We don’t know.

KAIRI SANE (w/Asuka) vs. BAYLEY (w/Sasha Banks)- 6.75/10
The announcers elaborated on Steph’s announcement, listing pinfall, submission, count-out, DQ, or “outside interference” as way the competitors can lose the match. Isn’t that already covered with disqualification?
In the middle of the match, they cut to Shayna Baszler watching the match backstage to that Charly could interview her. Shayna is annoyed that she isn’t booked. Knowing that Kairi is on her way out, I was astounded that they let her beat Bayley cleanly.

SARAH SCHREIBER INTERVIEWS DREW MCINTYRE- meh
She asked him how he was feeling after last night’s match. He didn’t say anything interesting or important.

DREW MCINTYRE & DOLPH ZIGGLER SEGMENT- bad
Drew won cleanly and retained his title even though Dolph was allowed to pick the stipulations. That’s about as decisive an end to a feud as we can get. Why the f*ck is this feud continuing?
And no, it doesn’t help that Drew voiced this same concern because the end result is still the feud continuing when it should be over.
Dolph tried to attack Drew but was floored with a headbutt. Drew went to leave but Dolph kept begging… and once again Drew just gives someone a title match when he hasn’t earned it. In this case, Dolph offered to let Drew pick the stipulations. Drew says he’ll reveal them right before the match, just like Dolph did. If the stipulation is not that Dolph has to retire, I don’t want to see this.

BIG SHOW PROMO- good

UNSANCTIONED MATCH: Randy Orton vs. Big Show- 5.75/10
Zelina’s crew came out to help Orton. If Orton is such a terrible person for the things he’s done to Edge and Christian, why isn’t someone else coming out to help the guy fighting him?
This was…probably the best I’d expect from these two together at this point. Randy punted Big Show after the match, just to be mean.


This started off as a decent show, but went downhill in the second half. The big problem for me is the way the men’s and women’s title matches were handled. Essentially, it’s like nothing was solved at the PPV, even in the men’s match, where something clearly should have been solved. It makes me feel like I wasted my time watching last night’s PPV, and now we’ve got a WWE World Heavyweight Title match next week that I don’t give a sh*t about and don’t understand how anyone else could, either.

[cero2k]

KAIRI SANE (w/Asuka) vs. BAYLEY (w/Sasha Banks)- 6.75/10
In the middle of the match, they cut to Shayna Baszler watching the match backstage to that Charly could interview her. Shayna is annoyed that she isn’t booked. Knowing that Kairi is on her way out, I was astounded that they let her beat Bayley cleanly.

They taped next week's RAW today, so i'm guessing she gets a title shot next monday and either the HugnBoss kill her, or Bazsler does

[Big Red Machine]

KAIRI SANE (w/Asuka) vs. BAYLEY (w/Sasha Banks)- 6.75/10
In the middle of the match, they cut to Shayna Baszler watching the match backstage to that Charly could interview her. Shayna is annoyed that she isn’t booked. Knowing that Kairi is on her way out, I was astounded that they let her beat Bayley cleanly.

They taped next week's RAW today, so i'm guessing she gets a title shot next monday and either the HugnBoss kill her, or Bazsler does

I can't imagine it's not Baszler. Bayley was even working over Kairi's arm in this match, and they wouldn't cut to the interview in the middle of this match if Baszler wasn't going to wind up involved with someone. Also, Baszler vs. Asuka should rock.

[cero2k]

I can't imagine it's not Baszler. Bayley was even working over Kairi's arm in this match, and they wouldn't cut to the interview in the middle of this match if Baszler wasn't going to wind up involved with someone. Also, Baszler vs. Asuka should rock.

So Asuka pretty much HAS to win the title on Smackdown or whenever the Banks rematch is

[Big Red Machine]

I can't imagine it's not Baszler. Bayley was even working over Kairi's arm in this match, and they wouldn't cut to the interview in the middle of this match if Baszler wasn't going to wind up involved with someone. Also, Baszler vs. Asuka should rock.

So Asuka pretty much HAS to win the title on Smackdown or whenever the Banks rematch is

Raw. But we already knew that because Banks is on SD and she and Bayley need to remain on the same show once they lose the tag titles in order to be able to feud.