Raw 8/18: New Logo, New Title, Ambrose and Rollins are Gods

So, if you’ve been following these Raw Recaps, you’ll know that I do, indeed, love wrestling, but that I’m honest about it. When WWE is good it is great, when WWE is bad it is awful. Last night’s Summerslam was an incredible event and somehow tonight’s episode of Raw was able to not only keep that momentum up, but maybe even improve upon it. I know, I know, that sounds crazy, but it’s incredible!

For the first time in a long time there was minimal groaning involved in watching a three hour Raw. In fact, it felt perfect. Perhaps the summer of malcontent for the WWE is over and we are into a new golden era? Let’s hope so.

Let’s look at the highlights.

Dean Ambrose Redefines the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge

Look, we get it, alright? The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge is for a good cause and it’s sweeping the nation, but it’s also getting to that saturation point where we don’t want to hear about it anymore. Who else could make something that was quickly becoming uncool cool again? Dean Ambrose, that’s who.

“What? It’s for charity?” Followed by the bucket to the face has made me crack up every time that I’ve seen it. EVERY. TIME. My god.

Brock Gets a New Belt, Heyman is STILL Awesome

SUPLEX, REPEAT, SUPLEX, REPEAT.

My wife walked into the room, looked at me and said, “don’t you get sick of that guy just saying the same thing over and over again?” I looked at up at her, confused, “no!?” Brilliant.

The new title looks like the old WWE Title that the Rock debuted, only with the new logo. Fair enough, I guess. It’ll never replace the incredible late-90’s WWF title, though.

Nikki Bella: The Better Bella

Look, uh, I’m just gonna say it; Nikki Bella is the better Bellat twin. She cuts better promos, she acts better, she doesn’t do that weird, awkward shouting thing. That makes her the better Bella. We’ll also take as much Stephanie McMahon on TV as we can get without complaint. She had not one but TWO costumes for tonight, the first to troll the audience, the second to remind them all that she’s a classy lady.

Swagger Just Needs to BOLIEVE

I’m in no way a fan of Jack Swagger, nor are many other people, but when he’s doing alright he’s doing alright. Jack Swagger jobbing for Cesaro after a tremendous eye poke, then Bo Dallas coming out and telling him that he just needs to Bo Lieve?! This Raw is incredible! It’s almost like an entirely different crew is writing it!

Is this not the PERFECT use for Bo Dallas if you aren’t going to have him on an inspirational winning streak? Telling loser superstars to BO LIEVE?!

The Wyatts Get Their Wigs Split

While I’m wildly indifferent to the Big Show, MARK HENRY! Mark Henry is criminally underused and has been one of the better big men for ages. So put him in the ring with the best big men tag team of the Wyatts? My god, this was great.

Then, guess what?

Rusev Gets HIS Wig Split

That’s right, Mark Henry then takes it to Rusev who was rubbing in the win over Swagger. Mark Henry is not the hero that we deserve, he’s the hero that we need.

Back to the Six-Man Tags, Roman Reigns

Okay, okay, we get it. Roman Reigns is the next mega star in WWE. The problem is that he’s not ready yet. He’s just not ready. So what better way to deal with that than to put him back into six-man tags on television? Sheamus and RVD aren’t as good as Rollins and Ambrose, but they’ll do. Time for Reigns to do some serious work on the house shows to get up to speed, because it’s clear that he can be great, just needs some seasoning.

Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins Bring the House Down

Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose put on an incredible Lumberjack Match last night at Summerslam. In fact, it was perhaps the best Lumberjack Match that any of us had ever seen. So when we found out that we were getting a rematch on Raw, with fans allowed to vote on the stipulations? God damn. Of course the stipulations were all pretty much the same; Falls Count Anywhere, No Holds Barred, No DQ. I mean, those are all the same match in the WWE. Falls Count Anywhere won out and what we got was just another amazing match from these two.

Dean Ambrose is just a god among men when it comes to professional wrestling. His facial expressions, selling, the things that he spits out in the heat of the moment, the dude just has it all together. What’s better is; SO DOES SETH ROLLINS. This was one of those matches that reminds you why you watch wrestling; it was fun, it made sense, it had tension, it had release. There was emotional investment and there was a conclusion.

People love to get all, “wrestling fans are negative” all of the time, which is part of the reason why I kept my distance from the wrestling community for years. The truth is, wrestling fans aren’t idiots. They know what’s good and what’s bad. They know what they like. This is the kind of stuff that wrestling fans want. This is the kind of stuff that fans will gush over and want more of, this is the kind of stuff that gets long lost fans to tune in because their jaded-ass friend is going crazy over how good it is.

Raw, as a whole, was a worthy investment of three hours. I implore you to track it down because I only put up the very best of the best, the rest was absolutely worth watching.

Published on August 19, 2014 at 3:44 am
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