PWP Nation’s Zack Heydorn discusses the top five things we learned from the 7/17/17 edition of Monday Night Raw.
5. The WWE needs to find something significant for Enzo Amore
If you thought Enzo Amore was a one trick pony as a WWE superstar, think again. Since his break-up with Big Cass, Enzo has proven week in and week out that his character has depth and is more than just a shine producing sidekick in a babyface tag team. Because of that depth, Enzo has become one of the most over characters that appears on Monday Night Raw. Pay attention, Vince. Enzo single handedly is making the heel Big Cass pet project a success. Enzo needs something significant after his program with Cass concludes. He deserves it, the WWE Universe wants it, and it will serve the WWE well to see just how high the Enzo Amore ceiling goes.
4. It’s too soon for Sasha Banks vs. Bayley
It was revealed tonight on Raw that next week Sasha Banks will go one on one with Bayley to determine the number one contender to Alexa Bliss’s Raw Women’s Championship at Summerslam. Hang on a second while I pick my jaw up off the floor. The WWE’s itchy trigger finger is at it again because it is way to soon for this match to take place. A match of this magnitude needs a main event level kickoff, not a small backstage bickering session in the GM office. This program needs a slow burn with multiple layers for it to be as successful as its been in the past. This will take time and patience that WWE sometimes doesn’t think they have. They have it now. Sasha is still heating up as a babyface and Bayley is still trying to find her footing after dismal booking on the main roster. Hitting on this feud now is selling way low on a premium product. Let both characters grow and then strike while the iron is as hot as possible.
3. Sheamus and Cesaro should not be the Raw Tag Team Champions
Especially if they aren’t going to be on TV! Sheamus and Cesaro cleanly won their feud against the Hardy’s and since have been ghosts on television. In the meantime, the Hardy’s and The Revival have a four star match on Monday Night Raw tonight. Go figure? If the Hardy/Revival feud was going to get the main position in the Raw tag team division, why not have it be for the Raw Tag Team Championships? Its nonsensical to have the champions not featured while other top teams are competing without even a slight mention of the titles.
2. The mini Shield reunions are watering down the eventual real Shield reunion
Everyone is thinking it, I’m just saying it. A real reunion of The Shield is being watered down by these mini get togethers between the three members. Since the break-up, we’ve seen each member team with each other at one point or another except for Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose. That team we will see next week as the pair takes on The Miz and his Miztourage. Because of these mini get togethers, the real reunion is marginalized. Instead of Rollins and Ambrose hashing out their differences and the payoff being a full Shield return, we see the story take place but the payoff isn’t as big as it could be. The WWE is wasting their mini Shield stories on pointless non-drawing feuds. It’s short-sighted and isn’t smart.
1. Make Braun Strowman vs. Brock Lesnar for the WWE Universal Championship the main event of WrestleMania 34
Braun Strowman is on his way to becoming WWE’s biggest star. As a heel, he is getting pops that Vince McMahon dreams about Roman Reigns getting. The time is now to capitalize on them. The world wants to see Braun Strowman vs. Brock Lesnar. Give the world this match at WrestleMania 34 and it will be an iconic moment that will create wrestling’s next big thing.
The match with the Hardy’s was not 4-star. And can someone please explain to Michael Cole, who has been calling Hardy’s matches for years, the difference between Poetry in Motion, and Whisper in the Wind. So stupid.