I can’t think of a better way to spend my 23rd birthday than by thoroughly enjoying Monday Night Raw. Before I get into anything wrestling-related, I want to start out by addressing Andrew Luck’s rather abrupt retirement from the NFL (he is the son of Oliver Luck, who is the Commissioner of the XFL and will therefore be working very closely with Vince McMahon in the future). This brought up a few memories of wrestlers/sports entertainers whose careers have ended early under unfortunate circumstances.
- Magnum T.A. had real potential back in the ‘80s and bookers were planning on grooming him to become the next face of NWA as the World Heavyweight Champion, but that all changed when he was in a car accident in 1986 and the entire right side of his body was paralyzed four months.
- The Von Erich family also comes to mind as a number of them struggled with alcohol addiction among other things. Kerry was in my mind the most talented member of this family.
- And we can never forget that Ric Flair’s career almost ended before it even really got started. He was in a major plane crash in the ‘70s which nearly ended his career. Fortunately, we all got to experience the second coming of the “Nature Boy” after Buddy Rogers. Flair is truly a legend in the business of sports entertainment.
It looks like Seth Rollins and Braun Strowman will be working double duty at Clash of Champions because they will be defending the Raw Tag Team Championships against Dolph Ziggler and Robert Roode in addition to their Universal Championship match against each other.
The Universal Championship match between Seth and Braun could have easily been predicted based on what has happened the last couple weeks, but it’s a nice surprise to see Ziggler and Roode emerge as Raw Tag Team Championship contenders. It’s good to see that WWE is prioritizing the booking of Ziggler and Roode and is actually showing that they care enough about their position on the card to give them a meaningful spot rather than just turning them into jobbers, which is what I feared might happen. This is a refreshing change for WWE to be making them a priority.
Sasha Banks has brought a new cocky attitude to go with her new look, but as far as I’m concerned, she’s one of the few in WWE who has the swagger to back it up. There is clearly something about her character that fans deeply resonate with and can connect to, and this enables her character to be able to be overly flamboyant yet still accepted.
I have absolutely no idea who is going to win the King of the Ring tournament. My second pick to win it, Drew McIntyre, got beat by Ricochet (who is going to be a massive star. He has only been on the main roster for six months and is already one of the best). At this point, Baron Corbin might honestly get all the way to the final. I find him just as annoying as the next person, but WWE keeps pushing him because he incites a lot of energy out of the WWE universe. He receives a passionate reaction; it doesn’t matter if that reaction is particularly positive or negative.
Cedric Alexander is someone to watch because he may receive at least a small push in the coming weeks. He has looked particularly good in his last two or three appearances on Monday Night Raw, and his victory this week over Cesaro, a very highly regarded in-ring talent, will absolutely do him all sorts of favors. I’m not saying that he will be headlining pay-per-views in the foreseeable future or anything crazy like that, but I do definitely think that he could become a Kofi Kingston-type of reliable asset (obviously before Kofi became WWE Champion).
It looks like we may have to wait until the Undisputed Era debuts on the main roster to have another truly dominant heel faction. The OC may not be as dominant as we thought since Gallows and Anderson were sacrificed this week. AJ books strong but he needs help from his boys. Unfortunately, the WWE bookers have never viewed Anderson and Gallows as highly as the bookers in Japan did (this is probably at least partially because Gallows is a Strowman-level freak to Japanese people because they are typically smaller than Americans). All hope is not lost though for the OC, as Gallows and Anderson will likely win back the tag titles in a month or two minimum.
Side Note: The Undertaker is reportedly scheduled to appear on SmackDown Live in from Madison Square Garden on September 10, right before Clash of Champions. It would be reasonable to assume based on this – that The Undertaker will make an appearance and possibly even have a match at the pay-per-view. This is not a fact, but don’t be surprised if that’s the route WWE decides to go.