Simple theme for this RAW In A Nutshell : 1 more night for big fights before the roster hops on a plane for Jeddah.
See? Didn’t I tell you it was simple?
The blue brand crew already wrapped things up, filming a double dose of SmackDown last week.
Monday is the RAW go-home effort and then they too can fly.
So, 1 more night for big fights stateside, then its all eyes on Night of Champions.
But, for now, it’s slated to be a sweet night in Hershey (yeah I did).
We know Brock Lesnar and Cody Rhodes will be there.
Imperium, Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn and more will be too.
It’s a good thing we have…
1 More Night For Big Fights : RAW In A Nutshell
Let’s crack open this Nutshell and enjoy!
Best Match of the night:
Sneaky good, this one was…
Otherwise, several good choices, but the six man main event tag match lands these honors.
But seriously, I liked Reed and Ricochet, I enjoyed Alpha Academy and Viking Raiders. Nakamura and Balor was good too…you get the idea.
Worst match of the night:
Calling it worst seems unfair, because it had it’s moments…but I suppose I disliked LeRae/Stark.
Crowd Chants of the Night:
No chants, but the Hershey crowd was happy to see the caterpillar back in action, that is for certain.
Star of the Night
Lots of good performances, but this one was all Cody and Brock.
Worked across the entire three hour show-or at least Cody did-and that mountain he has to climb just gets tougher and tougher.
As big as the pop would have been in LA…whenever he DOES reach the summit, it might be the biggest pop in recorded WWE history. Maybe.
Spot of the Night:
Jobber of the Night:
Kinda felt like Candice LeRae, no? I mean, all signs are pointing to WWE wanting to build up Zoey Stark, so you can’t have Candice beating her there.
Upset of the Night:
Semi-surprised that Finn Balor got a clean win over Shinsuke Nakamura.
A win isn’t a shock, but I half expected some protection there.
Holy Sh** Moment of the Night:
Talking about 1 more night of big fights, we kicked things off with a bang, didn’t we?
I guess it’s that time of year where we have to see Cody work with one arm, right?
Last year, of course, was a hard core legit pec injury. This one, as best I can tell, is pure story driven.
Some fans were not so sure.
But we started the show with Lesnar attacking Rhodes in the back, using a beer keg on his left arm.
Later in the show, Lesnar came out to issue an open challenge for a new opponent at Night of Champions, but Rhodes answered and got the arm targeted again.
Definitely buying into the idea of WWE putting Rhodes through Hell in the form of Lesnar before he truly can finish the story.
Botch of the night:
Not much, and I mention this later too…but the tease of a QR code does it for me.
Were we supposed to see it and scan it and it was not positioned right? Considering how well things went with Wyatt’s teasers…a misplaced one seems hard to fathom.
Yet, we absolutely saw one on the lower right of the screen, obscured by something in the arena and also the WWE logo for the broadcast.
Try as I may, I couldn’t scan it.
LOL Moment of the night:
Loving Otis and Chad Gable with Maxxine Dupri. Instead of turning Otis into a model…they’ve made Maxxine into a face.
Noteworthy Moment:
Was confirmed on RAW, Liv Morgan’s injury is indeed her shoulder, which is expected to need surgery.
1 Tough Break For Liv Morgan
The crazier thing about that whole match?
Word is that Dakota Kai suffered her ACL tear later in that same match, working against the already-injured Liv, and hurt herself trying to protect Morgan.
Dakota Kai Suffers 1 Big Injury
Raquel’s new tag partner was officially revealed as Shotzi, though if you’d hunted down spoilers from Friday…you already knew.
Overall lowlights:
The placement of the QR code during Adam Pearce’s phone call segment.
I presume we weren’t meant to scan it, or it was a botch.
Overall highlights:
I know I’ve neglected this in past Nutshells…but the video packages done to hype Seth Rollins and AJ Styles? Beyond top notch.
Great way to let Rollins be off shooting his film, too.
Lesnar/Rhodes was great throughout the show. Kinda figured it was Triple H whom Adam Pearce had to talk to…nice cameo.
Even if i was so sure we’d end the show with a “you aren’t going”. But…we didn’t.
The six man…you knew with all involved it would be good.
After the final bell:
Well, 1 more night for big fights certainly became an eventful one, didn’t it?
Raquel has her newest partner, hoping she can regain the tag titles next week.
Good build for the World Heavyweight Championship bout.
One of the better contract signings.
Brock and Cody continues to keep things interesting. Opened the show, closed the show, with a nice cameo from Hunter.
Not sure how that will play out, but it was effectively like, no one wanted to clear Cody, but he insists on fighting.
Will Rhodes “pass out from the pain” and lose, without really losing? Would seem to set up a rubber match for Detroit…
I do think Jeddah might be the best Saudi show yet. Maybe.
