Payback after Payback!

WWE RAW RUNDOWN May 1st 2017

Announcers: Michael Cole, Corey Graves & Booker T

Venue: Golden 1 Center

Location: Sacremento, CA

• After the intro package, Monday Night Raw started with Bayley, Alicia Fox, Sasha Banks, Nia Jax, Emma, Dana Brooke and Mickie James in the ring with a podium in the centre. The New Raw Womens champion is announced and Alexa Bliss smugly makes her way to the ring. Alexa delivers a typically great heel promo stating that 'The Queen is Dead! Long live Alexa Bliss, the one and only Goddess of WWE'. She runs down Mickie James with an age related insult and points out to Sasha Banks that she pinned her on the way to the title. Bliss accidentally bumps into Nia smoothing things other quickly talking about how good Nia is. She gets on top of the podium and insults Bayley saying how she is her families new role model. This sets Bayley off who tips the podium knocking Bliss off and everyone gets into a scuffle
  
• 8 woman tag team match after the brawl with Bayley teaming with Sasha, Dana and Mickie against Alexa, Nia, Emma and Alicia. It was nice to see all these women in a match as it wasn't long ago Raw's womens division seem to only have 3 or 4 women on TV regularly. All the women got some great spots in although its clear that Dana and Alicia were the weaker of the 8. Dana at least I feel has potential to get better but Alicia is a veteran and isn't going to get any better I think. Nia continues to improve as she has done massively since coming up to the main roster. The finish comes after a mad skirmish featuring everyone when Alexa rakes Bayleys eyes, hits the DDT and pins her again. This was the right result as it solidifies Alexa as a tough to beat champion and backs up her words from earlier.

• *face palm* Looks like this Enzo & Cass Vs Gallows & Anderson feud is still going! This was the lowest point of the night for me as this feud is so boring which is a shame because I like these teams. At least Gallows & Anderson attacked Enzo & Cass during thier intro stick which is getting SO old! The Enzo Vs Gallows match is pretty dull with Gallows dominating (as he should!) for most of the match then Enzo showing a few offense moves which I guess was nice to see. Gallows pinned Enzo but still needed a distraction for Anderson to win. PLEASE FINISH THIS WWE!!

• Neville and TJ Perkins...sorry TJP as he is now, backstage talking about their 'Aries Problem'. Great heel work as has been the case recently by Neville being like the devil on TJPs shoulder manipulating and motivating him to take out Aries.

• Seth Rollins make his way to the ring to cut a promo. This was some good babyface promo work from Seth talking about being at the lowest of lows but working his way back up. Then he talked about that next he wanted the Beast which got a great reaction from the crowd. Seth wants Brock Lesnar and the Universal title. This brought out Finn Balor, who shows Seth respect to a point reminding him that Finn beat Seth for the title back at Summerslam with one good arm! Finn also talks about Lesnar saying that if anyone wants a title shot the line starts with him. Dean Ambrose comes out next to an always decent reaction from the crowd. Ambrose talks a little shit about Brock saying how Brock only wants to fight when he wants which is a fair point. Ambrose talks up being Intercontinental champion and says that he will fight anyone anywhere. Next out is The Miz and Maryse who promptly get booed. Miz does great work here talking again about how Ambrose is an embarrassment as champion and points out that Ambrose wasn't even good enough to make the Payback card. Finn tells Miz he just joined the 'Finn Balor just kicked my arse Club' and Seth says the could run rings around Miz even with one good leg. Ambrose settles this by making a phone call in the ring to GM Kurt Angle who books the main event as Miz, Seth and Finn in a triple threat match with the winner becoming no.1 contender for the IC title. Great way to make the IC title feel important much like Smackdown did recently with the United States title.

• 6 man tag team match next from the Cruiserweight division. Tony Nese, Brian Kendrick & Noam Dar against Rich Swann, Akira Tozawa & Jack Gallagher. Gallagher came out with 3 umbrellas and he posed with his team mates which I thought was quite amusing! Again like the Womens match its good to see Raw remember they have other cruiserweights in the division other than the 4 they seemed to have been using exclusively over the past few weeks. The action was great typical of a cruiserweight match these days with a mix of high flying and intense strikes. The heel team did a great job working over Tozawa, I feel Nese and Dar are incredibly underrated talents. Tozawa gets the hot tag to Swann who typically comes in like a house on fire flying around the place. Gallagher is tagged in with Kendrick, Swann and Tozawa take out Nese and Dar with dives to the outside. Gallagher gets the pin on Kendrick after the Gentleman Dropkick. 

• Cesaro & Sheamus make their way to the ring with amazing jackets. You can tell immediately how happy they are to be heels now. Sheamus does a great job working the crowd telling them how much he hates them, and also talking about how The Hardys stole their Wrestlemania moment. Cesaro talked about how the crowd loves living in the past instead of enjoying whats in the present. Sheamus talks about the Hardys being just a novelty act and Cesaro finishes by saying they don't set the bar, they are the bar. The Hardys come out and Matt says he appreciates their explanation and here is thier response. Matt and Jeff do the 'Delete' gesture and come down to the ring. Cesaro & Sheamus bail and the segment ends.
   
• Miz is being interviewed backstage by Charly Caruso. Miz talks about Rollins injuring Balor. It cuts back and Dean Ambrose has replaced Charly and asks Miz about what hair gel he uses. Miz leaves and Ambrose says 'Gene and Bobby, back to you at ringside.' Funny stuff.

• Heath Slater and Rhyno are making their way to the ring and we are shown something that was filmed backstage earlier on. Apollo Crews is talking to Heath and Rhyno about being a father before Titus O'Neil interupts. Titus warns Apollo not to talk to the enemy. Apollo and Titus make their way to the ring for a match between Apollo and Heath. This was a decent match between two babyface midcarders. Apollo gets the win after his spinning powerbomb move which still doesn't seem to have a name! After the match we get another post-match selfie with Titus and Apollo which Rhyno phtotobombs hilarously.
   
• Kurt Angle makes his way to the ring to address the conditions of Braun Strowman and Roman Reigns after Payback. He talks about the injuries both men have but they both aren't done with each other yet. Just as it looks like Angle is going to announce something he is interupted by Bray Wyatt. Bray gets in the ring, introduces himself to Kurt and they shake hands. Bray cuts one of his typical sermon cult leader like promos talking about how he's our saviour. Bray says that Kurt needs him and askes if Kurt will let him do his work or stand in his way? Kurt says it is his show but Bray says this is his world. The segment ends. Interesting stuff.

• 'Mean' Dead Ambrose interviews Seth Rollins in the locker room and the two have great back & forth. They talk about each others history Rollins mentioning he's beaten Dean before and has some new surprises for him. Ambrose says he's been surprised once but never again which was a nice call back to the Rollins heel turn on the Shield.
• Cruiserweight match up next as Austin Aries faces TJP. Great action again like the 6 man tag with high flying and intense strikes from both men. TJP did a great job spending the match focusing his attacks on Aries knee to set up the Knee bar. Perkins feels much more comfortable in this current heel role then when he was a good guy clean babyface. Aries make his comeback and manages to get TJP to tap out in the Last Chancery. After the match TJP clips the knee he was working on and gets Aries in the Knee bar. He leaves to a chorus of boos. Great stuff.

• Finn Balor is walking backstage when he is stopped by Dean Ambrose who interviews him about his upcoming match. Finn says that the IC title is coming to Balor Club. Dean then says something we have all wanted to say for Finn. 'For the love of god man, eat a carb!'. Balor takes a bite and leaves. The Drifter shows up. Ambrose asks him if he knows any Pearl Jam, which makes The Drifter drift away. Funny stuff again.

• Before the main event we see The Golden Truth backstage with Kurt Angle. Goldust asks Angle for a shot at the tag titles. Angle says he can't because their win/loss record isn't good enough which is a nice touch of continuity. Goldust talks about wanting to prove they are legit and they have a new fire since Angle and the Hardys came back. Angle is convinced and books them as part of Tag Team turmoil match next week. Nice to see some character development from Golden Truth lets hope it continues and isn't just a one off.
• MAIN EVENT TIME!! Balor Vs Rollins Vs Miz for the IC title no.1 contendership. This was a fantastic match which was one of the best Raw matches of the year so far. All 3 of these guys are fantastic peformers and it was great to see a match up on Raw we hadn't seen before. Both Rollins and Balor played thier roles of the athletic babyfaces extremely well and Miz is the absolute best at playing the cowardly oppourtunistic heel using Maryse whenever he could. The double blockbuster from Rollins and the dropkick from Finn into Rollins making him DDT Miz were my favourite spots of the match. The finish starts with Joe attacking Seth on the outside taking him out the match with a uranage. Then just as it looks like Finn was going up for the win, Bray appears attacking him. Bray hits him with the Sister Abigail, then disapearing allowing Miz to get the win. Again fantastic match, I can't stress enough that it needs to be seen.

So that was Raw for this week! Overall I thought it was a good show. Some good matches and a great main event, as well as some good feud development and character work. Lets hope for more of the same next week! What did you guys think? Let me know in the comments and thanks for reading!