7 Ups And 5 Downs From Last Night's WWE Raw (Sept 18)

WWE puts hard sell on two top-flight matches, goes all-in on Jordan/Miz.

enzo amore braun strowman
WWE.com

WWE is heading toward what for what typically would be billed as a “B-PPV,” a throwaway Raw only show after SummerSlam but before Survivor Series.

But if you’ve been paying attention, No Mercy is looking like anything but a B-PPV. Sunday’s event will feature two major first-time matches, pitting Brock Lesnar against Braun Strowman for the WWE Universal Championship, and Roman Reigns versus John Cena for bragging rights.

Those two matches are more than enough to sell the PPV, and Raw made it clear that its only job was to make sure the two bouts were front and center so fans ordered the WWE Network to watch these historic contests. Anything beyond that was gravy.

Raw on the whole was OK, with several good moments, but it fell flat in trying to beef up a third match, an Intercontinental Championship bout between The Miz and Jason Jordan, with Jordan earning the shot in a six-pack challenge that was Raw’s main event. The match itself could be really good, as Jordan has shown in the past month how good he is in the ring, and Miz has been hot of late.

We saw some excellent tag team wrestling on display Monday night, as well as a spotlight being shined on an epic losing streak… because that always works at getting someone over.

With that said, let’s find out what powerslammed the competition and what got speared out of its boots. Let’s get to it…

Downs...

5. Different Name, Same Result

bray wyatt goldust
WWE.com

Last week, we gave credit to WWE for doing something with Goldust rather than just ignoring him.

Monday night, the man behind the paint emerged, as Dustin Rhodes requested a rematch with Bray Wyatt. He got the bout… and then promptly lost to Wyatt. Fans barely had time to acclimate to the fact that Rhodes was simply stripping away Goldust as part of his fury. Wyatt caught Dustin with a Sister Abigail to end his night.

It was a nice idea to use Goldust as a paint-wearing stand-in for Finn Balor, and having Dustin get fired up certainly helped a little but it’s clear where he is on the pecking order.

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Contributor
Contributor

Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fortunately became a fan in time for WrestleMania III and came back as a fan after a long high school hiatus before WM XIV. Monday nights in the Carlson household are reserved for viewing Raw -- for better or worse.