Behind the Lyrics: Propinquity (Instrumental)

Monday Night Chaos

Analysis written by Zac Vanderley (Thunder Z)

The word "chaos" was used by commentator Michael Cole in describing parts of Monday Night Raw's most recent episode.  The show was packed with many surprises, twists and turns, and left many fans disheartened at the conclusion.  Who knew that an episode of wrestling could be so entertaining with so few wrestling matches and hardly a pay per view worthy match to boot.  We as fans have started to become spoiled by the quality of these weekly shows compared to twenty years ago, but that makes it more interesting to watch and especially analyze.

Raw was kicked off by the newest pack in the yard trotting out to the ring and claiming their dominance.  I will now refer to them as The Monster Pack.  It seems appropriate.  Drew Mcintyre and Dolph Ziggler joined forces with Braun Stroman last week in beating up the shield and nothing changed at the start of Raw.  Stroman furthered his heel turn by claiming he doesn't care about the fans and is only interested in demolishing Roman Reigns.  Ziggler and Mcintyre chipped in by stating they were here to take control of Raw.  Right on cue, the Shield theme music started to play and Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose made their signature Shield entrance by climbing out of the stands and down to the ring.  As they made their way down they were confronted by superstars from the locker room, but made quick work of them.  The brawl then began between the Shield and Monster Pack, until more superstars ran down from the locker room and restrained Stroman, Ziggler, Mcintyre and the Shield.  They dragged the Shield backstage where the Shield members were handcuffed and put into a police truck that supposedly took them to prison.  The interesting part of this was the difference in the treatment of the Shield and The Monster Pack.  It clearly was showing the influence of the authority and Constable Corbin.  This furthered the heel turn of Strowman and showed what happens in the absence of general manager Kurt Angle.  It foreshadowed the fact that the control of Raw is swinging to the heels. 

The first match after the chaos was subdued, was The Bellas versus the Riot Squad.  This was The Bellas first in ring action on Raw in some time but it did not have the satisfying effect that it should have had.  The match was back and forth with working holds and underwhelming moves.  The biggest take away from this match was that Brie Bella should never attempt suicide dives again as the match saw her muff two of the said move.  She basically face planted on her second attempt, not even coming close to hitting Sarah Logan, which drew the classic commentating response "She didn't get all of that one."  Nikki Bella finished off Liv Morgan with a Rack Attack 2.0 and the easily predictable match ended with the Bellas being victorious.  It is great to see the Bellas back to WWE as they are both decent wrestlers but it is hard to know how much wrestling they will actually be doing.  Maybe they can be instrumental in creating a women's tag division that is being foreshadowed.  The Bellas later in the show came up to Ronda Rousey and tried to woo her away from Natalya in a sly sort of way.  Rousey is now faced with a choice in her friendships that could lead to a feud with either Natalya or a heel turn in the Bellas.

A new tag team was formed on Raw as Chad Gable and Bobby Roode came together and defeated the Ascension.  These first matches for new tag teams are always predictable, in that the new tag team always wins.  The Ascension had some moments, but the match was about Bobby Roode's ridiculous entrance and Gable's ability to suplex people.  The match ended with Gable completing a Cannonball on the apron to Konnor and then delivering a German Suplex and bridge to Victor for the 3 count.  Roode and Gable do work well in the ring together and could be an interesting tag team option going forward.  Hopefully their schtick is not obnoxious and is well thought out, unlike Bobby Roode's "Glorious" theme.  Both are solid wrestlers and could potentially compete for the tag titles if the WWE Universe gets behind them, which is a large IF.

Elias strode out to the ring and landed some jokes on Columbus Ohio.  Elias has been throwing more jokes than fists as of late.  He stated that "if Christopher Columbus knew that this city would have been named after him, he would have turned around and sailed back to Europe," which provoked the audience into an uproar.  He then made fun of the Buckeyes, calling them "the least intimidating mascot of all time," and stating that "he could get behind a Wolverine though."  Elias has provided the comedy that Raw was at one point missing when Chris Jericho moved on to different things.  Elias has a very repetitive gimmick, but he is still funny which makes it a gimmick that the WWE should stay with.  Elias was interrupted by another woman wrestler, this time it being Alexa Bliss.  Bliss is from Ohio and proceeded to mock it, calling everyone a "zombie" and agreeing with Elias on everything he had said earlier.  She then started to flirt with Elias and told him that she wanted to "Walk With Elias."  This could be a one time thing or Bliss and Elias could develop a WWE romantic relationship of sorts. They are both fantastic on the mic which makes this a good idea that WWE should role with.   

Ronda Rousey and Natalya interrupted Elias for the second time, which led to a match between Bliss and Natty.  Mickie James and Alicia Fox interfered which allowed Alexa to land a DDT and then Bliss mocking Rousey put Natalya into an armbar which caused Natty to tap out.  Rousey then came into the ring and made quick work of Fox until Bliss blindsided Rousey and threw her into the steel steps.  Ultimately Rousey fended off Bliss and Bliss retreated to the locker room with James and Fox.  I expect there to be some interference of sorts at Hell in a Cell when Rousey and Bliss have their woman's title rematch.  Nothing too eye opening about this match or the aftermath.  Pretty predicable storyline but Bliss and Rousey are both tremendous wrestlers, so don't expect another Rousey squash match at Hell in a Cell.

The B-team were supposed to face the Revival for the tag team titles but Ziggler and Mcintyre beat the Revival up backstage and secured their own title opportunity.  This further proved the heel's control over Raw and was another unfortunate event in the Revival's or Rethighval's (they have really large thighs) WWE career.  The B-team's act had run its course and it was clearly time for a change in the tag team gold.  Curtis Axle landed a perfect plex on Ziggler, but Mcintyre broke up the pinfall.  Ziggler later superkicked Axle and tagged in Mcintyre to land the Claymore into the Zig-Zag.  Giving these guys the tag titles was a brilliant move for the WWE.  It further provided some evidence for how Corbin is favoring the heels and how the heels are basically running loose and doing anything they want.  The B-team will probably demand their rematch at Hell in a Cell, but expect Ziggler and Mcintyre to retain and enter a feud with Ambrose and Rollins.  If Stroman wins at Hell in a Cell, a future match that would be interesting would be a 3 person tag team match where the tag titles and Universal title were put up against the Shield in a winner take all match.  Hard to say if Roman's title reign will end so soon, but it would be an interesting storyline and it feels like the Shield/Monster Pack feud is going to continue in some way, shape or form. 

The Author's of Pain came out with 205 live GM Drake Maverick and made short work of some jobbers.  They should never have gotten rid of their first manager but they had a better finisher this time around  in place of their ridiculous closeline into a Russian leg sweep.  I don't see them as potential champions in the future, but they are finally moving in the right direction.

In one of the most interesting and believable segments in Raw history was Shawn Michaels weighing in on why he believed Triple H would prove victorious over Undertaker.  As he was continuing, the infamous bell tolled and everyone received goosebumps as the Undertaker strode out to the ring.  The Undertaker and Michaels had one of the most realistic and believable promos of late with Michaels stating that he wanted to come out of retirement so bad, but he had stayed retired out of respect for the Taker.  The Dead Man replied by saying it was not out of respect but out of fear.  I think everyone around would love to see HBK and Taker square off in a future PPV, but that would take away from Michaels staying true to his retirement.  The one big take away is that the Undertaker versus Triple H at the Super Showdown PPV in Australia has to be a legendary match.  Both men have to prove they still got it.  It is hard to see Triple H winning because of the supreme legacy of the Taker and the fact that he is the CEO of the business.  Everyone who is a fan of WWE has to be looking forward to this final dream match and it will definitely be one worth watching.  

It is hard to follow the return of the Undertaker to Raw, but using Bayley and Sasha Banks to do so is as bad as it gets.  It was an underwhelming match between Bayley and Banks who fought Ember Moon and Dana Brooke.  The only take away is that Brooke is breaking off from the Titus Brand, but who cares?   Hopefully tag titles will be added to spice up a storyline for Banks and Bayley and keep this part of Raw from continuing to be stagnant.

Bobby Lashley was forced to go to a Jinder Mahal peace meditation which is ironic because everyone can tell Lashley is probably one of the nicest guys in the locker room.  Lashley was acting like his goofy self until Kevin Owens made his return from quitting last week and pummeled Lashley.  I didn't like how they used Owen's return.  There were more possibilities out there for a better plot line and Owens is such a dynamic character that they could have done something really interesting with him.  Owens also appeared later in the show which could prove he is now a full member of the authority or like a Constable Corbin figure, but we will see.  Mahal's theme is ridiculous and stupid.  They should bring back the Maharajah.  That was at least halfway interesting.  I don't know if Lashley and Owens will have a rivalry, but if they do it will be fun to watch Owens take Lashley apart in the promos that could possibly follow.  

In the main event Corbin pulled himself out of his match with Balor claiming that he was too busy, but he gave Balor Braun Stroman as an opponent.  Before the match Corey Graves stated that the Shield had been released from jail, which made fans more eager to see how the Shield would interfere with the match, and less concerned with the outcome.  Stroman and Balor don't have good chemistry in the ring, mainly because it is almost impossible for Finn to actually land a realistic move on the behemoth Stroman.  Balor kept Stroman at bay by clinging to his back in a sleeper hold of sorts, but ultimately Balor received a running powerslam, which resulted in a police siren.  All eyes turned to the police truck that had carried the Shield out of the arena.  Roman Reigns jumped out of the drivers seat and Ambrose and Rollins jumped out of the back.  Everyone was anticipating the fight that would ensue between the Shield and The Monster Pack, but Kevin Owens and a company of heels came out and dismantled the Shield for a second time.  This time the superstars let Strowman, Mcintyre and Ziggler beat the stuffing out of each member of the Shield.  The show ended with the symbolic site of Reigns, Rollins and Ambrose laying on the ground.  They were the dead animal carcasses that Mcintyre has been referring to the past couple of weeks.  It was a switch in power from the faces to the heels.  The authority is at its strongest and looks to rule Raw for the foreseeable future.  This is a good move by the WWE and hopefully will bring some of the punk WWE fans to root for Roman Reigns and the faces rather than CM Punk and Becky Lynch.  

Now Some Ratings:

Matches: D,  I mean when the best match involves the Ascension its a bad show for matches.  It was cool to see Ziggler and Mcintyre win the tag belts, but the match was not that great. Thankfully this show had everything else.

Unpredictability: A, There were some predictable moments to the show but overall people in the audience and watching at home had to be at the edge of their seat.  Whenever the Undertaker shows up this rating will skyrocket.

Storylines: A-, Even with this show being one close to a PPV, it delivered some new storylines for the future and added depth to others that will make Hell in a Cell more entertaining.

Comedy: C, Elias and Bliss had some good moments as well as Lashley's peace meditation, but not too much comedy besides that.

Promos: A+, There was only one, but it was done tremendously.  Shawn Micheals delivered one of the most believable segments about his retirement.  The Undertaker countered well and both superstars proved they still got it when it comes to the promos.

Overall show rating: A,  This show had it all, except big matches.  It is a big step for WWE to put on a premier show without having too many high quality matches.  The superstars delivered in other areas, proving this business is more than just in ring ability.  Any show with the Shield, Undertaker, Shawn Michaels and Constable Corbin is bound for a good rating.

Last Remark:  Constable Corbin was one of the greatest storylines the WWE has done.  He is a perfect member of the authority and is the perfect character to orchestrate the shift in power from the faces to heels. Hope you enjoyed my analysis and leave your comments and feedback in the comments section.