Creator, Destroyer – A Raw Recap for 1/30/17
Tonight’s Raw comes to us from Laredo, TX. Those lucky bastards.
A Jolt to our Escapism
I don’t know about you, but I watch wrestling for escapism. Over the last year or so, it’s been useful for drowning out all the noise. But tonight, we get a sobering reminder that wrestling does, in fact, exist in the real world.
On Sunday, white supremacists attacked and killed 5 people in a mosque in Quebec. Sami and Kevin, native Quebecois, wore an arm band with the Fleur-de-lis to support their native province.
To paraphrase Owens in his tweet, “Take care of each other.”
The 61-minute man Vs. The Underdog from the Underground.
This match was decent, hampered a bit by the rumor that Jericho tweaked his ankle in the Rumble. Sami Zayn won this match, which is nice.
I try to stay positive, but why wasn’t this a Championship match? I really don’t understand the trend of having someone challenge the champion to a match…for a chance to get a championship match.
Is the roster that shallow? Perhaps it is? Come to think of it, the mid-card seems completely non-existent. That’s a problem that they should work on.
A lot of Braun
Seems like Braun has a much better memory than most other wrestlers, creative, and most fans, me included. Seems like Kevin promised Braun a title shot after he disposed of Reigns.
Kevin, visibly beaten up from his match with Reigns, tries to weasel out of it. And when that doesn’t work, he tries to reschedule. But Mick is there, and he schedules the match to happen that night.
Jericho doesn’t really want to be there, but comes out to support his best friend from the safety of the commentary desk. That didn’t work though. Braun made an immediate bee-line for Jericho, kicked him in the chest, and powerbombed him through the table.
Kevin’s offense and defense in the match was solid. As you can expect, it wasn’t quite enough.
Let’s just take a moment and talk about how good Braun has gotten in the last 9 months. He was garbage in that ECW originals match. Complete garbage. Now he’s one of the best things on the roster. One of my favorite things in the Rumble is how they tied together all the storylines involving Zayn, Ellsworth, Jericho, and others. Definitely the most effective storytelling they did in the Rumble.
Just when it seemed like Braun might have it won, Roman came out and Superman Punched Braun for the DQ. Kevin retains the Championship.
It seemed like Roman was setting up a match against the Undertaker at Mania but it also appears that this could be a backup plan. Taker looked bad on Sunday, so I can totally understand why they’d do that. I wouldn’t be the most excited with either plan but I can see the reasoning behind both matches.
Angry Seth Rollins is Angry
I hope you either watched TakeOver or read Matt’s recap (or both!). If you did, you know that Seth crashed TakeOver, demanded to see Triple H, got kicked out of the building and banned from attending the Rumble the next night.
Triple H, in a Facebook Live interview, warned Seth that he challenged the Creator but the Destroyer isn’t that far behind.
After confronting Steph and weirdly threatening the Levesque children, it was announced that Triple H was on his way. The Destroyer was coming.
And in the last segment in the night, Triple H came out and proved why he’s one of the best promo men of all time.
And we always assumed that Triple H was the Destroyer, but he’s not…
I’m beyond excited. It’s totally worth not having him in the Rumble.
Everything Else
- Tony Nese defeats Mustafa Ali. Good match. I really like Tony Nese’s music, so it was good to actually hear it on Raw.
- After the match, Austin Aries interviews Tony Nese and basically trolls him for his lack of personality. That tackles the problem I have with Nese. I think, if he gets a good story behind him, he’ll be an excellent asset. He’s too physically gifted not to find something more meaningful for him.
- Sheamus and Cesaro are predictably having trouble after losing the titles Sunday and almost eliminating each other in the Rumble. It’s time to hug it out. Bayley to the Rescue! But hey…here’s The Club and The Queen. Time for a mixed tag. Overall it was a fun match with the losers from the Rumble picking up the win.
- Brock Lesnar challenges Goldberg for a final match at Wrestlemania.
- For some reason Sasha Banks has a rematch against Nia. Her character is insane. She’s hurt, and yet, she’s in a hurry to have the exact same match. She has no patience. One thing I’ll say is that The Boss is consistent. She was like this in her entire program with Charlotte. Is it some sort of Napoleon complex because she’s so small?
Slow down, you’re only 24. You have a lot more time in your career. - Neville shows up for his coronation as King of the Cruiserweights and to berate WWE fans. Rich Swann attacks Neville in our defense. It sucks for the WWE crew to have to do the ropes just for this segment.
- Tornado Tag Team Match: Enzo & Cass Vs. Jinder & Rusev
A solid and fun match. Ends with an Air Enzo to Rusev for the pin.
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