It can’t be just me. Is anyone else looking more forward to the United States Championship match at Extreme Rules than the Universal/Raw Women’s Championship match? Also, when I first heard that Extreme Rules was going to air from Philadelphia (Paul Heyman has plenty of history in that location from his ECW days), a wrestling fan cannot help but think of the disastrous reaction Roman Reigns received at the Royal Rumble 2015, the year he won the whole thing.
Overall, this was a solid episode of Monday Night Raw, with a healthy dose of controlled chaos to start the show. Seth Rollins and Becky Lynch took on Andrade and Zelina Veg in a mixed tag team match, immediately followed by an attack on Seth and Becky from Baron Corbin and Lacey Evans.
It only seems to be a matter of time before the Viking Raiders win the Raw Tag Team Championships and go on to dominate the Raw tag team division for an extended period. Fans seem to be sick of The Revival (that is not an insult to them). Personally, I think they have been very good for WWE, but it is a palpable feeling that the WWE universe is ready for something different.
Karl Anderson seems to stand out to me more than Luke Gallows, despite the fact that Gallows got the spotlight on Raw this week with a match against Ricochet (maybe this is a sign that Paul Heyman favors him over Anderson).
Who would’ve ever thought that Drake Maverick, R-Truth and the 24/7 Championship would be one of the top two or three stories in WWE? Quite a few fans, including me, thought it might turn out to be the laughing stock of WWE and quickly be done away with, but credit has to be given where credit is due.
Who would have ever guessed that within just a couple months of the title’s inception that it would at least temporarily have more significance than Roman Reigns? Roman currently seems to be in a state of creative limbo (this is likely to change after Extreme Rules, as he will likely be put in a championship match for SummerSlam, watch should be awesome.) One would assume he might be placed in a WWE Championship match at SummerSlam, but brand doesn’t seem to matter that much anymore with the Wild Card Rule being implemented in May and effectively ending the poignant split.
Side Note:How awesome is it that the WWE universe will still chant CM Punk’s name when they get bored during shows? Even 5 ½ years after his departure, he still leaves an indelible mark in the minds of hard-core WWE fans (sorry Bayley). And, I really don’t know what’s up with Cedric Alexander being portrayed on Raw as Gary Garbutt.