WWE RAW’s ‘Go Home’ For ‘Bad Blood’: Heel Turns, Hints & Destruction

It was the ‘go-home’ edition of RAW as this Saturday’s ‘Bad Blood’ is set to offer a stacked card, and even though Friday’s edition of SmackDown will be the final WWE programming before the PLE, it has been RAW that has felt like a genuine go-home episodes over the past several months.

Live from Evansville, Indiana, at the Ford Center, tonight’s promoted storylines and attractions offered depth to the show, and even without marquee names like Cody Rhodes and Roman Reigns, the narrative flowed in a way that made RAW feel like a living, breathing organism. Furthermore, the continuity from week to week gives real stakes to each segment, and because particular storylines are told throughout the three-hour show — soon to be two hours as of next Monday — it delivers the kind of authentic drama that keeps fans engaged.

Last Monster Standing

In the past several weeks of storytelling, we have seen short segments scattered throughout the show, with Braun Strowman and Bronson Reed destroying everything in sight. Tonight, however, producers smartly decided to withhold the physicality until the match itself. The two ‘monsters’ each delivered a backstage segment promoting the match, but Strowman’s was the most telling.

The Miz attempted to confront Strowman, the second time in several weeks, as he was being interviewed backstage. Miz started to explain how Strowman involved himself in his match with Reed last week (the match never started because of Strowman-Reed’s relentless fighting), but then R-Truth entered the frame, and we were left with yet another tease of a frustrated ‘face’ in Miz. R-Truth called Strowman “Giant” before walking off-screen to prepare for his main event match. Truth would explain to Miz that they had a match tonight as ‘Awesome Truth’ would face off against AOP—of course, Truth spelled it out phonetically in a hilarious line. (*SEE: A Truly Awesome Miz-Calculation for further explanation into this program)

As for the main event, they smashed tables and chairs and the timekeeper’s barriers in an attempt to bring a satisfying finale to one of the year’s best-booked programs. The second barrier was broken through and caught a couple of ‘fans’ in the crosshairs. Reed dropped a massive ‘Sunami’ from the top as WWE staff tended to the injured. Without a ref, though, there was no 10-count, so Reed took things into his own hands as he continued to toss security and refs. That is when Adam Pierce got involved, and Reed grabbed him by the shirt as a dozen or so staff members attempted to separate them. Strowman took full advantage by delivering the spot of the night to that point as he climbed the top and dove to the outside—taking out EVERYONE.

With everyone down, Reed made it to his feet first, followed by Strowman. Strowman attempted another high-risk maneuver, but he was stopped by Reed, who delivered a top rope suplex that utterly destroyed the ring. It felt like Reed had things in hand as he was nearly to his feet. As Reed attempted to use the stairs inside the ring to get up, we got a shot of a returning Seth Rollins curbed stomped Reed—the man who put him out of action with six tsunami drops (this was the first step to where we are today in Reed’s amazing booking). Strowman was able to make it to his feet as a motionless Reed laid conquered by the returning Rollins.

A Truly Awesome Miz-Calculation

The match started with the face team rapping their way to the ring—it was awesome to see (at least one last time). Awesome Truth, the former tag champs, had the fans in their palms, but AOP dictated the action and made the faces fight their fight. It looked as though Miz was gearing up for a ‘hot tag,’ but before the ‘face’ caught fire, he turned to Truth and delivered a kick before leaving Truth to be flattened by a double team move that would give ‘Authors of Pain’ the win. It felt like it was coming for weeks, but Miz took his frustrations out unfairly on Truth.

New Day Headed For Splits-Ville—But Is Kofi At The Wheel?

Despite ending on good terms last week, it seems like nothing can prevent New Day’s Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods from coming to an inevitable end. Of course, if there is any faction in wrestling history with the ‘positivity’ to overcome a breakup. After last week, Woods was ‘given’ the reins, and that fact was further highlighted by Kofi, who continued to refer to Woods as the ‘quarterback.’

Later, Woods faced off with Rey Mysterio Jr after a couple of weeks of misunderstandings with LWO. Woods took that win but resorted to demasking Rey to take advantage of the rollup pinfall victory. Kofi and Woods were backstage when Kofi informed Woods that Jey offered him a shot at the IC title. Woods was noticeably distraught but assured Kofi he’d be in his corner until Kofi admitted that he worked it so that Woods gets the shot.

Woods was elated, saying, “I can beat Jey Uso,” in a moment of realization, but the idea that Kofi set it up as opposed to the ‘QB’ of New Day is certainly worth acknowledging. You have to wonder, if the only thing keeping New Day together is Kofi’s willingness to kowtow to Woods, then at what point do we see Kofi break? In his match against Gable later in the show, Woods’ interference directly led to Kofi losing. Woods tripped Gable after he was sent to the ropes by Kofi to set him up for his spinning kick, but the trip made Kofi whiff hard, setting him up for Gable’s bridged-suplex pinfall victory.

CM Punk-Drew McIntyre Ends Saturday

With a ring full of staff keeping them from tearing one another heads off, both men delivered impassioned promos. One thing made clear was that Saturday is the end of this feud, but this program feels a little too straight up as far as endings go, so does that mean one of these men makes a ‘turn’ on Saturday?

McIntyre’s promo felt more real, and all he had to do was state the truth about Punk’s comeback as it relates to his time out of the ring due to injury. While it was a great line, it also underscores the lack of heat for this feud throughout the Summer. There were many Mondays where fans hoped we’d get a direction change, but we never did as both men continued to ramp up a feud based on a cheap ‘summer camp’ bracelet.

The pair made promises, many of them, based on the idea that the other would never be the same again after stepping ‘into hell’ with the other. How far they go could matter greatly in how we remember this feud years from now, but it could also be an opportunity to turn Punk. He is still beloved by fans, but what is interesting about the anti-hero ‘playing’ hero—especially in this era. Punk is a well-known admirer of Bret Hart (who can blame him), and Bret made a ‘heel turn’ in a match where he went in as face against a heel Stone Cold Steve Austin. That kind of booking could do wonders for both Drew and Punk.

Mario Mungia

Mario Mungia Jr. has a decade worth of experience as a combat sports journalist and correspondent which began with ThaBoxingVoice (TBV) as a podcast co-host, writer and editor-in-chief. Aside from his online resume, Mario spent a fair portion of his early career working for Spanish/English magazine Premier Round and the Mexican website Izquierdo. Mario has also contributed to NYFights while simultaneously working for MIC Sports Network as part of the broadcast crew covering local high school sports. Since then, he has launched his own podcast/live stream (Infighting/Work In Progress) and is covering pro wrestling for FightsATW.

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