Labor Day Raw, was it a labor to get through, or a real holiday? Before we dive in, a reminder Claire’s live blog is always worth your time. Here’s the one for Sept. 7’s WWE show from Birmingham, Alabama.
Different area codes
Much of this week’s 140ish minute episode focused on building up one of two groups on the men’s side.
Still without Paul Heyman, Bron Breakker led The Vision to the ring for Raw’s big opening segment. A pretty standard “heels declare ownership of promotion/show” scene followed, but everyone did well
here — particularly Breakker’s just-returned “best friend”, Bronson Reed. The Big Man isn’t intimidating in the same way he was as a super-heavyweight, but I’d argue he might be even scarier with his leaner, more muscular physique and salt-and-pepper hair. Especially if he keeps dropping verbal bombs like, “Oba, you call yourself The Ruler, but every now and again you come across a man who just doesn’t recognize the crown.”
Even Austin Theory was suitably slimy here, and Maxxine Dupri’s proven to be entertaining while convincing her meathead man he’s not a meathead.
Eventually, Dupri’s old pals Alpha Academy show up to get put down by everyone but the still-not-cleared Logan Paul. The Ruler tried to stop that, and it led to more Spears and Tsunamis for Femi.
Running back a Vision beatdown of the reigning King of the Ring for the second straight night didn’t do Saturday Sunday Night’s Main Event any favors, seeing as the show already struggles to justify a Peacock subscription. But it helped everyone involved in this scene. Other than Akira Tozawa and Otis, but they’ve already proven to have a pretty unsquashable appeal.
I don’t know how much Oba’s success representing the Crimson Tide helped the reaction this got in Alabama, but that was what really sold the whole affair. If they can sustain these kinds of reactions for Femi and Breakker & squad, maybe there is a Bloodline-light future ahead for Raw.
As for Breakker’s next appearance on the show, that came after The Miz and Kit Wilson generated some heat beating up comedian and boudoir photography connoisseur Matt Mathews, who Joe Tessitore told us is “a local celebrity” Birmingham is “so proud of”. It’s interesting that Bron, who’d been pretty uniformly booed early with The Vision, got to take out the heels who beat up the hometown guy. More evidence of pro wrestling’s shift away from characters who are 100% heel or 100% babyface.
Shout outto Mathews for taking some big bumps out there. His sell of Bron’s spear was particularly great.
Bron continued to look like the dog he tells us he is, taking out Ethan Page and pinning Rey Mysterio — no help needed. That put him in next month’s Money in the Bank Ladder Match, which still wasn’t enough to impress Paul Heyman…
Whether or not the mystery caller leads to anything, they’ve done impressive work with The Vision. I’m not sure what Heyman’s up to, but Breakker and his squad are believable as both threats AND overconfident dum-dums. Cast opposite a similarly on-the-come-up star like Femi, The Vision do feel like a long-term threat.
The other faction being built-up on Raw is Royce Keys new alliance with OTM, which they’re calling The 946. Being able to start from scratch (as opposed to a reclamation project like The Vision) helps. Being cast opposite The Bloodline doesn’t. Before we get into that, though, have to say that I didn’t know fka Powerhouse Hobbs had “villainous faction mouthpiece” in his pro wrestler toolkit, but I won’t forget it going forward.
Problem is, having watched A LOT of WWE in my life, I know what fate awaits a recently introduced or turned heel like Keys when they’re built up like this for a showdown with a true superstar like Roman Reigns. It doesn’t mean the ensuing program can’t be fun, but it’s harder for “long-reigning and very-over champ vs. debuting or elevated bad guy” to suck me in than it is “two rising superstars clash”.
Other than Royce’s strong work, not much is working for me in this storyline at the moment. I am still interested in if Jacob Fatu is either working with Keys or counseling The Usos in a way that hurts them. Everything Jimmy, Jey, and Fatu did tonight was just a way to waste time though. Several scenes of them talking about “calling the play”, ignoring the play they agreed to call, and watching Royce and OTM smash up their ride and set it up fire while mocking all you “play calling” talk. I also don’t think throwing a whole can of gas into a vehicle and lighting it would blow or burn like that, but I’d let that slide if anything else felt like a real threat to Roman Reigns.
Outside trouble
For Raw’s women’s division, both its matches were decided because of the actions of people outside the match.
In the main event match of the night, Stephanie Vaquer and Women’s World champ Liv Morgan delivered a really good 15+ minute match. The end came when Becky Lynch decided she’d seen enough of Judgment Day interfering on Morgan’s behalf. When Roxanne Perez slid Liv the belt while Raquel Rodriguez was distracting the referee, The Man sprung into action despite Vaquer telling her not to earlier. But that was followed by a scene of Morgan baiting Lynch into keeping an eye on the match…
Not sure Becky should fall for that, but if she’s being more honorable, that usually means she’s gonna be a little less mentally sharp. I don’t make pro wrestling rules, I just observe others following them. It makes the champ continue to look like the brightest bulb in the pack however, as she extends her reign with the help of the worst refereeing since Corrupt Carr.
For The Man’s next trick, she’s going to try to help Vaquer while keeping herself strong for a shot at Morgan down the road.
We also got the rumored and re-rumored return of Bayley to Raw, back to cost Lyra Valkyria a berth in the Money in the Bank Ladder Match. The appearance of the mentor she violently kicked to the curb at Madison Square Garden in July shook Valkyria, and gave Sol Ruca an opportunity to win a spot in the battle for the women’s briefcase.
The likely re-signed Horsewomen wasn’t done with Lyra. Now we’ll see how the heel version of Valkyria fares against a prepared and pissed off Bayley.
Fill characters
- Big Cass and Lola Vice got hype packages, and will be in next Monday’s MitB qualifiers (Je’Von Evans vs. Austin Theory vs. Cass, and Kelani Jordan vs. Raquel Rodriguez vs. Vice. That show is shaping up to be a big one from Mexico City, with Chad Gable defending the Intercontinental title against Dragon Lee, and World Heavyweight champ Reigns defending against Penta.
- Solo Sikoa and LA Knight had a scene backstage to remind us they’re currently pals, but not entirely on the same page when it comes to whether Reigns or The 946 is the bigger threat.
- Joe Hendry has been stripped of any fun he had as an Impact or NXT act. I don’t know if the Funko Pop plus is the main or only reason for his angle with JD McDonagh. But while I did chuckle at the absurdity of the various big McDonagh-headed folks in general, please leave Je’Von Evans out of it.
Grade: C+
Take it easy on me. I worked Labor Day for you, remember?
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