9 Ups And 6 Downs From Last Night's WWE Raw (Aug 19)

5. Opening Raw With A Bang

Roman Reigns Dolph Ziggler
WWE.com

While the outcome of the match shouldn’t have been in doubt, the level of competition was certainly a pleasant surprise.

Roman Reigns squared off against an agitated Dolph Ziggler, who began by insisting that the good things should be happening to him – before blindsiding Roman with a superkick. From there, the two had a solid 15-minute match in which both kicked out of or countered each other’s finishers multiple times. Dolph turned spear attempts into a sunset flip and a Famasser.

But Reigns, who is still dealing with an unknown assailant, prevailed, finally nailing a spear to silence Ziggler after a hot opening to the show.

Hey, having Roman kick ass instead of deliver a 10-minute promo and fans cheer him. Who knew that that worked?

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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 fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.