8 Ups & 3 Downs From WWE Monday Night Raw (September 25 - Results & Review)
7. Otis Vs Bronson Reed
A second win over an Alpha Academy member in as many weeks for Bronson Reed was yet another big step forward for a big man that's struggled to make a big splash.
After Ivar's insane athleticism last week (more on that later) and the exceptional FTR sprint squash victory over the The Workhorsemen on Saturday's Collision, there feels like a renewed thirst in the North American scene for seeing how far big guys are willing to push themselves beyond the norm.
Had the commentators been yukking it up over "the big meaty men slapping meat" while two monsters collided to silence, this would have felt like a forced tribute act to stronger originals elsewhere on the scene. Instead, Reed and Otis earned some of the loudest reactions of the night, and the former looked increasingly like he might be a problem for World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins should he squeeze by Shinsuke Nakamura. That this defeat was folded into the Academy's lingering issues with Imperium was decent dovetailing too - Gable in particular seemingly couldn't get any lower, but viewers are being asked be patient waiting for the post-darkness dawn.