The Warriors
The Kabuki Warriors were the most interesting
part on this Monday night. This week further established them as a danger to every woman in the territory, regardless of brand.
They’re also the perfect team to end the Charlotte Flair & Alexa Bliss fairy tale.
It started with Asuka & Kairi Sane getting very upset that Lyra Valkyria & Bayley got a Tag Team Championship match instead of them. Asuka is excellent as this domineering jerk who yells at the top of her lungs and tells people what they do and don’t deserve. Kairi is seemingly all on board, despite the verbal abuse, and she’s nice comic relief. Their work with the umbrellas this week made me chuckle quite a bit. They got in Lyra’s face and showed no issue stepping to the champs as well.
Take nothing away from the challengers or the champs. They put on a fantastic main event that ended with a pair of Natural Selections. The match also juxtaposed these two rocky relationships as Charlotte & Alexa are where Lyra & Bayley want to be one day. Retaining their titles the way they did showed how in sync they are now while Lyra & Bayley are still figuring it out.
But then the match ended and it went back to the Kabuki Warriors. They showed up and wrecked everyone in the ring, then left the arena smiling. I know the champs are a few matches away from setting a record for title defenses in their division, so give them that then let the Kabuki Warriors start their reign. There’s such an interesting dynamic with these two, along with the fact they’re an organic team with plenty of history.
Whether this happens comes down to the question I always ask before any match: Whose story is this? If it’s about Alexa & Charlotte becoming better friends and changing one another, then yeah, no new champs. But if it’s about the Kabuki Warriors finding some balance within their new dynamic and doing more than just wrecking IYO SKY’s life, then make the change.
Seriously, make the change.
Album Cuts
- Finn Balor & JD McDonnagh rightly left Dirty Dom hanging this week. The Intercontinental Champion shook in his cowboy boots at the thought of facing either Penta or Rusev, so he thought his “friends” might interfere in that match and stop everything. They said nah on the count of Dom causing them to lose their tag titles. Who was Dom going to call?! No, not Ghostbusters, you silly goose. The Dirty one called El Grande Americano, who promptly assembled El Grande Dos y El Grande Tres. The three men interrupted an awesome match between two guys who clearly have fun in the ring together. It looked like the night might end with no contender for Dom’s title. BUT WAIT! Adam Pearce is a petty man, meaning he did what someone petty might do in this situation: schedule a triple threat match at Saturday Night’s Main Event with Dom at the center. Despite his best efforts, Rey Mysterio’s son will defend his championship against Penta and Rusev. I like this storytelling. They found a rather seamless way to set up a triple threat match and give Dom his comeuppance.
- Stephanie Vaquer has a problem with Judgment Day. Nikki Bella is Stephanie’s friend, therefore Nikki has a problem with Judgment Day. The former Diva’s Champion battled Roxanne Perez just to have Stephanie’s back. Nikki fought her butt off but it was still kinda two on one. I say kinda because Raquel Rodriguez didn’t lay a pinky on Nikki, but she did get in her face at the opportune time and served as a literal shield for Roxanne early in the match. All of that led to a Roxanne W courtesy of the former NXT Women’s Champ nailing a Pop Rox from the top turnbuckle. Props to Nikki for taking it and certainly to Roxanne for executing. But all this led to Roxy & Raquel giving Nikki a critical beatdown, only for La Primera to make the save. I do wish Roxy’s win was a bit dirtier. If they’re jumping Nikki after the match, why not give Roxy the cheap W or just go with a DQ finish? I still question if Stephanie can trust Nikki. Odds are high I’ll get my answer when the champ teams with Nikki and takes on Roxy & Raquel.
- Remember when I called Adam petty? He showed it again when he punished JD & Finn for illegally eliminating Sheamus in the Battle Royal. Raw’s GM told them to decide who gets to fight the king of fight night. I loved the look of fear on Finn’s face that turned to glee when second JD accepted the challenge. Finn’s facial expressions the past few months deserve their own Oscar ceremony.
- Then we got to the match, which certainly delivered on Sheamus’ promise to deliver bangers. Ultimately, it came down to Sheamus’s toughness. No matter what JD dished out, Sheamus’ shoulders never stayed down for three seconds. That segued to Finn making his presence known. He put JD’s foot on the ropes after Sheamus gave him a High Cross, and then smashed the shillelagh across Sheamus’ back. That last part led to JD getting the win, which gave he and Finn enough hutzpah to go to the GM again. But this time, AJ Styles & Dragon Lee were present. The territory made sure to keep some consistency here when GM Adam didn’t want to grant the former tag champs a rematch based on how JD defeated Sheamus, but AJ & Dragon Lee were more than happy to make the match. And it’s happening next week.
- I’m not sure what’s happening with LA Knight after this week. He shot his shot and took claim to a World Heavyweight Championship match against either CM Punk or Jey Uso. But then he lost fair and square to Bron Breakker this week in a very dope match with a wild finish that felt like something only Bron could do. After a match filled with back and forth, and even a little Bronson Reed (is a little Bronson possible?), LA left Bron lying flat on his back thanks to an inverted DDT, then scaled the top rope. Bron shot up with a backhand stand right before LA took flight off the top. LA rolled over through to the other side of the ring only for Bron to nail him with a spear. Incredible finish befitting the entire match. Back to my earlier point though: Bron also wants the World Heavyweight Championship. And he just got a W over LA, which should make him next in line. What of LA?
- Jey & Punk’s face-to-face did less for me than the overall story about Jey that ran through the episode. Punk and Jey are friends, Punk is happy that Jey isn’t concerned with listening to Roman Reigns or Jimmy Uso anymore, and Punk has no problem with Jey tossing his brother out of the ring to earn this shot because that’s what it takes to be champion. The respectful convo between pals simply established how much they both need this championship, which I don’t think we needed a segment to establish given everything that’s happened with these two cats most of this year.
- Like I said, what caught my attention and made me to do the Leonardo Dicaprio gif from Django Unchained was everything between Jey and Jimmy backstage. They argued about Jey diverting from the original plan that saw them both duking it out one-on-one in the end of the battle royal. Jimmy said his little brother is not only selfish but scared to find out how it goes down if it’s Uso vs. Uso. It got heated but ended on a mellow, sweeter moment when Jey reminded Jimmy that his love for him never changes. The one part that threw me, and I’m sure it’s a me thing since it’s been a long Monday, is what did Jey mean when he told Jimmy that with everything happening in his life right now, he doesn’t have real estate for anyone else? Does that mean he’s so focused on the championship and Punk that he’s got tunnel vision? Or does that mean he can’t handle anymore drama and is calling a truce with his big bruv? Either way, Jimmy understood it and they seemingly made nice. But I’m still waiting for the other Air Force 1 to drop.
A conundrum Raw in that the matches hit but everything felt predicable. Is that a factor of solid storytelling or tired cliches? I’m not sure but I know for at least one week, it felt like the latter.
What say you, Cage Siders? Should the Kabuki Warriors dethrone the current tag champs?
