Raw recap and reactions: The Draft concludes

Raw does the draft thing a bit better than SmackDown, but it still feels haphazard.

Halfway Thugs

I know, I know. Complaining about the draft is old hat. Geno did that on the first night, and I’m sure you can throw a rock and hit someone complaining about it on the internet. Although, to be fair, most all anyone does on the internet is complain. Yet that’s exactly what I’m doing because it’s the main hook of the show.

The idea behind the draft makes sense, and at least we got some status quo shake ups on Raw. Damage CTRL, Lyra Valkyria, The Final Testament, and Ilja Dragunov all waved hi to Monday nights. That changes the landscape in a several divisions. And as I noted way below, I liked them using draft positions as story fodder. The problem is it’s still not compelling television. They want to mimic the NFL but not entirely. We only got a shot or two of the war room. We went to “draft analysis” Booker T all of two times for a multiple round draft. And, as Geno mentioned, whom gets drafted and when rarely makes sense. That said, props to them for trying to square that logic through storylines. If you don’t understand why Judgment Day slipped out of the first round, Damian Priest will happily explain. But then there are things like Nick Aldis drafting Chelsea Green & Piper Niven instead of the Creeds, New Catch Republic, or even Baron Corbin when he’s not only seen the headaches Chelsea causes, but experienced them firsthand.

That typifies my main issue with how WWE approaches these things annually. Picking and choosing when logic applies isn’t as interesting as they think. Inconsistently using the tropes associated with sports drafts makes things confusing. In fact, Raw worked better when it focused on everything else. Becky Lynch and Liv Morgan finally got their fight date. The Judgment Day internal drama continues as Damian’s crew looks more like a liability heading into his match with Jey than an asset. The Intercontinental championship scene heated up, and the show moved with intention. While it’s fun getting the legends out for a few moments in the sun when they announce picks, it just feels so removed from the rest of the show.

The draft is neither fish nor fowl; in trying to please everyone it falls flat on its face as a big pile of meh.

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B-Sides

Crowned King

This was all about King of the Ring. Last week, Xavier Woods and GUNTHER declared themselves for the tourney, along with exchanging very mean words toward one another. Who would get momentum heading into the tournament?

What started as a typical GUNTHER beatdown turned into a battle of wills. Xavier absorbed a lot of punishment, most notably to his knee. GUNTHER wrenched Kofi’s knee between the middle and bottom ropes, then did what any psychopathic wrestling might do. Despite protests from the ref and Kofi, the former Intercontinental champ got extra physical on that knee and kept going. All of that made sense; GUNTHER is a monster and Xavier shines as an underdog who defies every single odd.

GUNTHER’s offense against the knee hit its climax when the Ring General trapped Xavier in a Single Leg Crab. In the middle of the ring. With nowhere to go. That’s when things got weird.

Kofi stood ringside and watched his best friend suffer. He looked on powerless. He then got his hands on a towel and jumped on the ring apron. Xavier told Kofi not to throw it. Nay, he begged him. Xavier audibly screamed, “Let me do it!” and kept screaming that. Kofi relented, threw the towel into the crowd and it looked like we might take the match to another level.

Yeah, that didn’t happen. GUNTHER turned that Single Leg Crab into a Crossface and Xavier tapped out.

He went from “Let me do it!” to “Nah” in a matter of seconds.

I’d prefer Kofi throws the towel in that case, or even better, let Xavier pass out from the pain. If Kofi tosses it, then Xavier has an out. If he passes out, he looks insanely tough in the loss while showing toughness. Just a weird finish that contradicted itself.

Wild Chapters

Loved this whole segment between Chad Gable, Bronson Reed, and Sami Zayn. First, Sami attacked Chad backstage with a mean kick to the jaw that the olympian never saw coming. Beautiful. Sami needed his revenge. That one move showed just how much he’s grown since winning the championship, while also remembering that Bronson jumped him previously. Sami learned a simple lesson: get them before they get you.

But this is wrestling, so one attack deserves another. During Sami’s match with Bronson, Chad responded in kind. Bronson got in on the action too, then lorded the Intercontinental championship over Chad and Sami.

Just loved the logic and that everything flowed together. All three have issues with each other, all three want to kill each other, and as of now, Bronson looks like he has the edge.

Part Time Suckers

CM Punk is steps ahead of Drew McIntyre. That’s the bottomline here. While I’m not a fan of how WWE runs their draft, as you already saw, I do enjoy them using draft order for story fodder. Drew took it personally that someone drafted Punk ahead of him. He took that beef to Booker T. He took it to the APA. He even took it to Kansas City. Punk appeared in a skybox, talked his trash, and Drew went hunting.

This brings me to something I liked about this show, despite the draft proceedings: forward momentum. There’s a thing in movies with exposition dialogue being notoriously awful to look at because it’s usually one person talking to another for the audience’s benefit. The directors who shine find interesting ways to film that very necessary information. James Cameron filmed his exposition in motion; Kyle Reese explained everything to Sarah Connor while in a moving car. Those walk and talks Aaron Sorkin is famous for? Same concept. Raw kept everything moving tonight. When Drew stormed off, he then showed up in the middle of Sheamus interrupting Bron Breakker’s interview. Besides alluding to last week’s clash between those two friends, it also added some flavor to the usual backstage confrontation. People in motion creates a sense of momentum, even if it’s just an illusion.

When Drew found Punk’s skybox, all he found was a Punk autographed photo. Yup, Punk hit him with a move out of Johnny Cage’s playbook. I cackled.

Punk showed up in the ring, and this happened:

These two hate each other and this build really does it for me.

Gold Rings

I’m so confused with how WWE used Patrick Mahomes on Raw. They aligned the city’s biggest athlete and the face of the NFL with notorious heel Logan Paul. He not only rocked a PRIME chain when the show started, but assisted Logan when the United States champ and some of Judgment Day beat up Jey Uso. Even after reflecting on it way after it happened, I’m still confused. Then, to compound things, they brought in Braun Strowman, newly drafted to Raw. Braun saved Jey, which was fine, but then he got in Pat’s face. Of all the things that happened on this week’s Raw, this one makes me scratch my head the hardest. Pat is KC’s favorite son. Why align him with a heel and tacitly against one of Raw’s biggest faces? Why then tell Braun to get in his face? Was the crowd supposed to boo Patrick Mahomes? I don’t get it.

Now, there’s a chance they wanted go to go with the idea that Logan hustled Pat. I could get with that. But that’s not how it looked and that’s not the story they told. Shrug.

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Singles

• As I said way above, Judgment Day looks weak going into Backlash. Jey, Andrade, & Ricochet got the W over Damian, Finn Ball, & JD McDonagh thanks to Finn taking the pin. An okay main event that firmly gave Jey momentum since he bested Damian’s crew twice in one night. My one complaint is Jey’s taken a backseat to the Judgment Day soap operatics. Sure, he’s not defeating Damian for the championship, but he just feels secondary to everything happening with the boys in purple.
• Liv defeated Nia in the latter’s last match on Raw. Tiffany Stratton and Naomi showed up. Well, more accurately, Naomi showed up and beat up on Tiffany. That distracted Nia, which helped Liv get the W. I don’ think Liv and Nia work the best together, but Liv earned her title shot at Becky.
• Candice LeRae defeated Maxxine Dupri in a very quick match. Maxxine got in some offense, but Indi interfered, showing she’s truly on the dark side. And now she and Candice head to SmackDown with DIY. That’s the way, as it were. Bad night for the Alpha Academy as Maxxine lost here, then Otis & Akira Tozawa lost their tag team championship match. When do the Creeds beat them up and take their rightful place next to Coach Gable?

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An okay episode of Raw. Much like how they treat the draft, it was inconsistent. And even the things that stood out get crowded out a bit because of the noise surrounding the draft. Can they just move this thing to Netflix or Peacock or wherever they are next year? Make it solely dedicated to the draft and do it right.

What say you, Cagesiders?