Well, WWE Raw Was Pretty Damn Awesome This Week!
The third excellent outing was perhaps the best, pitting AJ Styles against Sami Zayn. Shane McMahon made the match, declaring that because Sami was robbed of his chance to compete in the four-way last week, he would wrestle match winner Styles for an opportunity to get into the match. If he won, the match would be made a three-way, rather than costing the blameless AJ his own opportunity.
That was smartly booked, and it was even better that Styles then won the match cleanly. It meant the outcome was not telegraphed (because usually in WWE if there is a stip attached, that will be the outcome, whether they stick to it or not), AJ came out of it looking stronger, fans were happy that Zayn was given an opportunity, and Sami looked good in defeat.
Some losses hurt talent and cannot be explained; here Zayn was simply bested by the better man following a strong showing. Nobody gets hurt with booking like that. This was perfectly executed.
What made all three of those bouts good was not simply the in-ring action which was of a very high standard but that they all meant something. There was a reason to get invested in the result because there was a prize at stake, be it a title or a title shot.
Thats why I was also really pleased to see a tag team tournament to establish a number one contender to New Days belts, because it means teams are competing for something tangible rather than one of them simply being declared as the next challenger due to a random attack or promo interruption.
Click "next" for part 4...