Almost Live, Definitely Half Assed Review of WWE Raw – 20 Aug. ’18

Whitney Museum saved from whitney.org.

The WWE starts us off with Roman Reigns. He gets to brag above delivering on his word and winning the Universal Championship. He says he wants to defend the Championship. He names Finn Balor. He comes out as a person and not a demon. Balor thanks Reigns for opportunity. Constable Corbin interrupts the making of this match. Kurt Angle comes out and makes the Balor vs Reigns match. He also puts Corbin in a match against Bobby Lashley. The leap frog, cold cock combo by Lashley was impressive but it seems Brooklyn maybe wrestling fatigued. Corbin getting plenty of offense after getting squashed last night. Bad news for Corbin though. He still lost to Lashley.

Paul Heyman comes into Kurt Angle’s office. He’s requesting a rematch. Angle tells him that Lesnar is going to wait. Heyman “agrees” that Brock should wait and requests a match at Hell In A Cell. Angle tells him no and walks out.

Angle is busy tonight. Constable Corbin is bitching to him now.

HHH narrates a video package about his match with Undertaker in Australia.

Sasha Banks, Bayley & Ember Moon are set to take on Ruby Riott, Liv Morgan and Sarah Logan aka The Riott Squad. Moon looks to put away Logan early. Three dives by the faces leads to a commercial. STO by Riott on Bayley to turn things towards the heels. Banks ends up getting the hot tag. She unloads on Riott. Morgan breaks up a pin attempt. Ember Moon tosses her from the ring then suplexes her on the outside. Logan grabs Sasha’s leg. Bayley gets clothes lined for trying to help. Meteora on Logan. Riott catches Banks coming back in. Riott Kick for the win.

HHH comes to the ring. I’ve already seen a lot of Twitter praise for this promo because of my normal late start. I feel like he’s had promos similar to this recently. He talks about being strapped into the suit but needs to get out of it. He wants to bring back the great Era that him and Taker were part of for one night was the big twist to this one. Very impassioned promo.

Dean Ambrose comes out with Seth Rollins. Dolph Ziggler comes out with Drew McIntyre. Coach smart enough to read between the lines about Ambrose’s vague changes and points out Ambrose’s obvious size upgrade and how that should change your offense. McIntyre grabs a leg. Ambrose goes after him. Rollins stops him. Ziggler gets the jump on Ambrose any way. Ambrose has shown off a nearly completely new offense. Ambrose runs himself into the post. McIntyre stalks him when Rollins shows up. McIntyre challenges him so Rollins accepts. Ziggler jumps in so that the heels can take out Rollins. Ziggler goes for a number of moves but Ambrose has the answer. Rollins runs through the ring and dives onto McIntyre. One last counter goes into a Dirty Deeds DDT for the win.

Braun Strowman wishes Finn Balor “good luck” after warning him about his impending cash in.

Elias has his performance. He does his normal thing – “Walk With Elias” then of course making fun of the location he is in. Curt Hawkins is the man to interrupt him this week. He wants a match with Elias because this is his hometown. Elias blows him off. Hawkins starts to leave but marches back to the ring and challenges Elias. Hawkins gets in offense but Drift Away wins it in fairly short order.

Are they implying that Dana Brooke & Apollo Crews have some side business going on within Titus Worldwide? Brooke says she found a hole in AOP‘s game. The information is not helping early in the match. Crews is getting man handled. Crews finally gets to flash some offense. Titus O’Neil dispatches of Akam. Rezar dispatches of O’Neil. Rezar tosses Crews halfway across the ring. Last Chapter for the win.

When The Bellas popped up last night, I assumed they were going to stop her chance at becoming champion. Now I just assume they’ll come back for matches against her. I don’t blame them or the WWE. Stephanie McMahon tells us of how she molded Ronda Rousey. She then introduces Rousey. Ronda wants all of the ladies in the ring because this ceremony is about the Women’s Evolution, not just her championship victory. Stephanie tries to warn all of the ladies roster that Ronda is only there to break their arms. Ronda says that she’s only there to do that to those who are deserving. She “breaks” Stephanie’s arm again.

The B Team take on The Revival again. Oh, it’s just Bo Dallas vs Scott Dawson. Cradle DDT for a fairly quick win by Dawson. Will the Curtis Axel vs Dash Wilder match last longer? Not really. Wilder wins with a Cop Killer turned into a flap jack for the win. Graves called it a modified Gory Bomb. That works too.

Roman Reigns doesn’t want to hide in the locker room and thinks Finn Balor deserves the chance.

Ugh, bad GM talk makes me want to change the channel. Constable Corbin is appointed the Interim GM. Even worse news, Heel GM alert. Ugh.

Reigns and Balor have their match. Reigns hulks up on Balor who still manages to gain the upper hand. The Flip Dive to the outside is the big move to get things rolling. Reigns is in control after the break. Balor creates an opening with an overhead kick. Balor stomps Reigns. One armed power bomb only gets two for Reigns. Balor catches Reigns going for a Superman Punch. Balor goes up top but comes down only to give Reigns a Sling Blade. Balor goes for the corner drop kick and Reigns catches him with a Superman Punch. Balor kicks out at two. Balor catches Reigns going for a Spear. Balor lets him up and gets Superman Punched again. Braun Strowman comes out. Balor gives Reigns a Sling Blade. Reigns gets up before a Coup De Grace can be delivered. Spear for the victory. Strowman steps into the ring. He kicks Reigns in the chest when he is facing him. Braun tells the ref to Cash in the Briefcase. Before the bell rings, Seth Rollins & Dean Ambrose show up to foil the plan. It ends with Strowman being Triple Power Bombed thru the announce desk. Heck of a way to finish a long weekend in Brooklyn. – Kevin DiFrango

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