5 takeaways from the RAW After Wrestlemania

Every year the RAW after Wrestlemania is a lively one to say the least. This is the time when smart fans from around the world who have paid lots of money to come to Wrestlemania, spend one more night in town for the first RAW of the new Wrestling calender year. So what were the biggest takeaways from the first RAW since the show of shows?

The crowd was raucous...and weird

The crowd was pretty rowdy as you'd expect but at times they were just downright strange. When Baron Corbin made his debut on RAW against Dolph Ziggler in a fairly good match, the crowd were more interested in a beach ball that had been let loose in the crowd. And people wonder why we don't get nice things. Another big one was the Women's Title coronation ceremony. Charlotte was trying to break kayfabe and state how this was such a momentous occassion for women in WWE. Did the crowd care? Nope. All they were interested in was chanting the name of a certain Doctor of Huganomics. Some of the interesting chants of the night were "Nakamura", "NXT" and "Gable" which actually leads me on to the next point.

Commentary was even more abysmal than usual. 

We all know how bad Byron Saxton, Michael Cole and JBL are. They are just so bad. I cannot stress enough how bad they are, it's like they suck the life out of what is going on in the ring on purpose. Despite the fact that they are bad, as we have established, they reached a new low last night. When RAW came on the TV after the opening segment, this is what they had to say:
"Wrestlemania week continue on RAW which usually has this non traditional audience. This audience is made up of fans from round the world who exercise their freedom of expression. Sometimes they cheer the guys they usually boo and boo the guys they usually cheer."
Wow. Talk about not understanding your own bloody audience. Basically what they tried to say to everyone watching at home is that this crowd is not how WWE fans really feel about the stars in the ring. Erm, correct me if i'm wrong, but this crowd is usually the most on point crowd all year. What made it even worse was when they tried to cover up the chants in the crowd by lying to us. Midway through The Dudleyz vs The Usos, the crowd started chanting "Gable and Jordan" to the rhythm of No Limit by 2 unlimited. The commentary team tried to cover this up by saying that the crowd was actually saying "Get the tables". Really? how stupid do they think we are? Another hilarious highlight was how they tried to justify the deafening boo's for Roman Reigns by saying this was a "Special crowd". I hate all three of you. Please get off of my TV. Sure they are probably dealing with Vince screaming in their ear telling them what to say but there comes a point where they are pretty much just insulting our intelligence. Give me Mauro Ranallo and Corey Graves right now.

50-50 booking returns yet again

At Wrestlemania The Usos beat The Dudley Boyz and The League of Nations beat The New Day. A day after on RAW, The Dudley Boyz beat The Usos and The New Day beat The League of Nations. So those matches at Wrestlemania were absolutely pointless. For the product to evolve, people need to be given wining streaks. Sure, The Usos lost to the Dudleyz at Wrestlemania. Have them face someone else then. Having them beat the people who just defeated them at Wrestlemania just makes absolutely zero sense. Would someone tell Road Dogg that Wins and Losses do matter?

A fresh direction

Now that the bad stuff is out of the way lets get on to the good stuff and AJ STYLES IS NUMBER ONE CONTENDER! I guarantee nobody saw this coming, including myself and I happen to be a huge Styles fan. Even when he was in the main event fatal 4 way he looked like he was just there for the sake of things. A returning Cesaro, Chris Jericho or even Kevin Owens would've been a much safer bet for fans to bank on to leave as number one contender. But fair play to WWE they swerved us and gave us a number one contender that the majority of us like and gave us a feel good moment. It will be interesting to see what they do with Roman from here. Given a choice between Reigns and Styles there is only one way that the IWC is going to go. A Heel turn could actually be coming in the near future. The seeds were planted when he referred to himself as "The guy" in a smug tone and basically dismissed Styles and Zayn when they came out to confront Reigns. Maybe we could even see Bullet Club come out to make the assist for AJ, choosing to side with their most recent leader instead of the groups founder in Balor. (Prince Devitt) There is so much potential for this. Sure there's a chance that Vince comes out next week and revokes AJ's title shot but we should savour it while we can. It shows WWE see that there is money in AJ Styles.

Maybe Vince thinks more highly of NXT than we think

So we saw Apollo Crews, Baron Corbin, Enzo Amore and Colin Cassidy on an episode of RAW and we have The Vaudevillians debuting this Thursday on Smackdown? Interesting. Yes, we probably wanted Samoa Joe, Finn Balor and American Alpha instead of three out of four those options but we can't always get what we want, although I was legitimately surprised when neither Joe or Balor showed up on RAW. The problem now will be WWE trying to make sure that these guys don't fall down the card. I doubt that will happen to Enzo and Cass due to their solid in ring work and their awesome ability on the stick but the other three worry me slightly. Cena, Orton and Rollins are all yet to return and when they do it's likely that someone will become an afterthought. Given what Vince reportedly thinks of WWE's development brand, don't be surprised if it's one of these guys.

NXTTakeover: Dallas Review

NXTTakeover: Dallas aired a 3am here in the United Kingdom which made it very difficult for some fans to stay awake for the event. Those of us who did manage the feat however, were not dissapointed as we were treated to one of the best nights of Wrestling we have seen in the WWE in a long time, potentially even ever. Shinsuke Nakamura made his much hyped debut, American Alpha took on The Revival for the Tag Team Titles, Austin Aries was out for revenge against Corbin and of course Bayley faced Asuka and Joe took on Balor for the two singles Titles. So what exactly were the matches like?

American Alpha vs The Revival

American Alpha hold their new NXT Tag Team Championships

This match was how Tag Team Wrestling should be happening in the WWE. Both teams have great chemistry with their partners and with each other in the ring and last night they put on one of the best Tag Team matches we've ever seen in a WWE ring. Yes, there were a few botched spots here and there but overall the fluidity of the match was not ruined and the show started off with an explosion more than a bang. Most of the credit will surely go to American Alpha after this match but as the saying goes, you are only as going as your opponent, and Dash and Dawson were really good. Yet again their Heel tactics in the ring were a welcome sight, causing the crowd to rally behind Gable and Jordan even more (If that were even possible) The highlight of that was Dawson crawling under the ring to deny the hot tag to Jason Jordan. In the end the right team won and this set the tone for the entire night.

****1/2 out of 5

Austin Aries vs Baron Corbin

Austin Aries attempts to get Baron Corbin off his feet

You have to feel a little for Austin Aries because on any other night his debut would feel like one of the biggest things on the card, but with Nakamura turning up later and the other matches, this wasn't as big as it should've been. It didn't really help that the crowd were completely gassed after watching that unbelievable Tag match beforehand. The match itself was pretty slow but in more of a methodical way. Corbin got in a lot of offense and the little offense that Aries was able to get in he tried to focus on the leg of Baron Corbin. In the end Aries won with a roll up which was a bit of a weird finish. Baron Corbin yet again portrayed his Heel character to perfection and if he is not going for the NXT Title then a main roster call up is surely imminent. I'm sure in the future we'll see a lot of great stuff from Austin Aries but this wasn't a mind blowing debut.

*** out of 5

Shinsuke Nakamura vs Sami Zayn

Shinsuke Nakamura shows respect to Sami Zayn after their match

I can't remember the last time people were so hyped for a debut. Nakamura finally arrived in WWE and he arrived to a rapturous reception. We all knew that this match was going to be good, we didn't know it was going to be this good. The greatest part was that they let Nakamura be himself and they didn't change anything apart from the name of his finisher. They didn't water down his style in any way and he still looked as Stiff as he always has. The sight of Nakamura and Zayn just slugging it out for minutes with their forearms will be a sight that is remembered for a long time. Ask anybody about this match and they will most likely say one thing, it's a match of the year contender and it's hard to argue with that statement. What made this match even better was the show of respect by the two men at the end of the match. Anyone who wasn't familiar with the King of Strong Style before now will be. Also if there was anybody who deserved this match, it was Sami Zayn. The man embodies what NXT is all about and being given the honor of facing Nakamura in his debut match is nothing less than what Sami Zayn deserved. It will be hard for any match to top that this year, let alone this weekend.

***** out of 5

Bayley vs Asuka

Asuka celebreates becoming new NXT Women's Champion

I think deep down we all knew that this was going to happen, but it didn't make it any more bearable for fans of The Hugger. Personally I'm a huge Asuka fan so this was a great result for me but seeing Bayley at the end of that match was a heartbreaking sight. Asuka eventually put Bayley out with the Asuka lock which can be considered an overused spot but if anyone deserves that finish instead of being forced to tap then it's Bayley. This match was a different type of match than we've seen from Bayley before. Against Sasha Banks she put on excellent and exciting affairs while against Nia Jax she portrayed the perfect underdog, but this was different. This was different because it was such a technical affair between two gifted Wrestlers. There were plenty of counters with holds and Submissions and it was delightful to watch. Bayley and Asuka yet again proved why Women's wrestling is getting the attention that it does in NXT.

**** out of 5

Finn Balor vs Samoa Joe

Samoa Joe attempts to execute the Muscle Buster on Finn Balor

If Samoa Joe vs Finn Balor at NXT Takeover: London was a battle then this was an all out war. Right from the get go these men were right at each other and Joe was severely busted open. This both added and took away from the match as there were 4 stoppages to wipe away the blood. We all understand the importance of the the safety of the competitors in the ring but the continued stopping and starting really slowed this match down. The finish was a little strange for two reasons. Firstly because most people probably expect Joe to win and Finn Balor to debut on Monday at RAW, although that could still happen. The second reason is the underwhelming finish. It was the second roll up of the night and it really felt like it didn't do the match justice. Either way, Samoa Joe yet again looked strong and the demon is still undefeated, which I think should be the case for a long time.

***1/2 out of 5