Roman Reigns
Raw kicked off with the harrowing announcement from WWE’s top guy, Roman Reigns that he is currently battling Leukaemia – a disease he has had for 11 years, has been in remission from, but has now returned.
This was one of, if not the most heart-breaking things I have ever seen take place in a WWE ring. The 33-year-old Roman Reigns has been one of the most divisive figures in wrestling history but has always delivered for the fans and for the company. He most certainly does not deserve to have to deal with this at such a young age.
Roman says that he has beaten leukaemia before and will do it again and WILL be back. I think I can speak for everyone in saying we cannot wait for the day he returns to full health and comes back home where he belongs.
A Broken Shield
With what happened at the opening of the show I don’t think anyone could have predicted an ending quite like this. Dean and Seth fought against Drew and Dolph, displaying that energy and teamwork we’ve come to love and expect from the Shield. And they actually WON the Tag Titles!
It seemed to be the happy ending to one of the most devastating shows on record…
… But not tonight. The Shield broke down in front of our eyes. Dirty Deeds to Seth on top of the titles and the crowd were audibly shocked.
Ambrose laid into Seth outside the ring, dropping him on the bare concrete with another Dirty Deeds, before exiting through the ferocious crowd, screaming “how could you?” and “why dean why?”
This closing segment was nothing short of fantastic. The heel turn was extremely well done and Michael Cole’s call of “NOT ON THIS NIGHT!” just added something extra to the moment. It would have been easy for WWE to run with the feel-good close of the show, but for once they have taken this in a much more interesting direction. One which I am certainly excited for.
Elias the face!
After quickly dismantling Apollo Elias made his way to the stage perform, where he was interrupted by Corbin who threatened to fire Elias and even used Stephanie as a threat, and for the trouble he got… smashed with a guitar!
Elias has gone from getting some of the greatest heel heat in years to getting great babyface pops in the space of weeks. I don’t hide that I’m a fan of Elias, he’s one of the few top names in the company which has been allowed to grow organically, without feeling like he’s being over-produced.
Ronda being… Ronda
Ronda has gone from strength to strength since her debut, less than a year ago remember!
Her promo against the Bella’s last week has gotten some major attention and rightfully so – it was one of the most raw and non-pc promos they’d had on the show in a long time.
Ronda was cool, calm and collected in this contract signing, simply saying at the end “I will end you”.
Two months ago Ronda v Nicki was not in my mind the match I wanted at Evolution… that has all changed. They’ve hooked me.
Grade: 8/10
This show will certainly go down in the history books for many reasons, Roman’s opener and the Shield shocker are but two. I think there was a nice flow to the majority of the show with threads of the Shield and of Braun and Drew running throughout. There were still some dead matches thrown in which is a shame, but as a whole, this is maybe the most emotional and un-formulaic episodes of Raw I’ve seen in years.
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