It’s a good thing WWE specializes in entertainment — because the wrestling? Not great, at least not on Monday.
Raw from Quebec City on Aug. 11 featured five matches. Two ended in disqualification, including the main event. Two more saw the heels win thanks to underhanded tactics. The only clean finish came when Becky Lynch outmaneuvered a still-green Maxxine Dupri — who didn’t exactly impress my wife, a non-fan.
“It’s going to be a long time before she gets good at this,” remarked Mrs. G0MEZ.
When I asked why she felt that way, she said, “Look at what she does with her arms between moves. It’s like she doesn’t know what to do with herself.”
Now that she said it, I can’t unsee it.
That’s who Becky Lynch beat clean — more or less — to retain the Women’s Intercontinental title.
Additionally, the two tag team matches featured the same spot. While it worked the first time, it felt played out by night’s end.
In the opening contest, Dominik Mysterio and El Grande Americano defeated AJ Styles and Dragon Lee. Midway through, Lee went to tag Styles, but Mysterio, on the outside of the ring, broke that up, prompting Styles to chase him around ringside, leaving Lee high and dry.
In the main event, a similar scene unfolded as LA Knight went to tag his partner, CM Punk. Bron Breakker tried to pull a Mysterio, but Punk spotted him and went to cut him off. In doing so, he left Knight hanging, and Knight got roughed up some more by Bronson Reed.
In perhaps the most frustrating match of the night, Sami Zayn beat Rusev by disqualification. I say frustrating because they were having a good match, and I was becoming invested. But then Solo Sikoa showed up with his MFTs and attacked Zayn. Sheamus, as a courtesy to Zayn, promised to stay in the back.
Hard as it was for him to stay away from his sworn enemy, Rusev, Sheamus kept his word. When the match ended, he and Rusev engaged in another wild brawl — their second in as many weeks.
The other bout saw Roxanne Perez slip by Iyo Sky after the Kabuki Warriors, who ignored Sky’s request to stay in the back, came to her defense. Instead, the babyfaces got discombobulated as Perez shoved Sky into her pals before rolling her up for the win.
In fairness, the results of these matches all figured into a larger plan.
With a crooked win from unlikely allies, Mysterio and Americano have momentum heading into Saturday’s Triplemanía. But they’ll be enemies then, as they challenge El Hijo del Vikingo for the AAA Mega Championship in a four-way match that includes Dragon Lee.
By attacking Zayn, Sikoa and his crew escalated their feud, which started last week on SmackDown when Zayn beat Sikoa in a non-title match. The post-match brawl between Sheamus and Rusev also continued their own beef.
The doomsday clock ticked a minute closer to disaster for Sky and the Kabuki Warriors. Asuka seems fed up with Sky acting like she’s above the group, while Kairi Sane is caught in the middle. After a backstage argument, Sane reluctantly chose to walk off with Asuka.
After her win over Dupri, Becky Lynch attacked Dupri’s mentor, Natalya, setting up a likely showdown for the Women’s I.C. title.
As for the main event, Seth Rollins, who claimed earlier in the night he was leaving the arena, came out and attacked Knight and Punk. That led to a save by Jey Uso…
Yeah, so Rollins, Breakker, and Reed — The Vision — were laying it in on Punk and Knight. Uso’s music hit, but Rollins and his crew kept whipping the babyfaces.
Why? Because Uso took his sweet time getting to ringside. When he finally made it, he wore out a charging Breakker with a chair.
Meanwhile, in the ring, Rollins and Reed paused their beatdown and just stood flat-footed instead of helping Breakker.
Short story long: the bad guys left smiling after Rollins curb-stomped each of his enemies. General Manager Adam Pearce wasn’t thrilled with the treachery. So, he booked Rollins in a Fatal 4-Way at Clash in Paris on Aug. 31 against Uso, Punk, and Knight, with Rollins’ World title on the line.
Ultimately, every finish on Monday’s Raw served to move WWE’s current storylines forward and set up a major title match at Clash in Paris. But the constant interference, non-finishes, and recycled tropes made the show feel hollow.
Sadly, that’s emblematic of WWE these days. Rules often go unenforced, and stipulation matches exist mostly to justify interference or protect the losers.
And the saves? Still ridiculously theatrical. Imagine EMTs queuing up their playlists before arriving on the scene to administer emergency aid. That’s what these theatrical saves resemble.
At least the promo segments have fire.
But the matches? Brutal. Just a mind-numbing series of repetitive moves leading to unsatisfying finishes, filling time until it’s time to “do the thing” that moves the story forward.
The good news? If you keep a pair of dumbbells handy, you can get in a mini workout during each match before the closing sequence, when the real action begins.
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