Coming off of a Payback pay-per-view that far surpassed expectations, it would have been natural to expect Monday Night Raw to roll that momentum into a big, flashy moment for one of the three stars they've gone out of their way to build up in the last few months. Whether it be a shocking return for Universal champion Brock Lesnar, a heroic statement of perseverance by Roman Reigns, or Braun Strowman destroying three dumpsters, two ambulances and anything else that got in his way, it was a chance to establish the lay of the land post-"superstar shake-up."
But none of those three men showed up Monday night, and everything was more than fine without them.
A definitive statement that had Alexa Bliss and the rest of the women's division take over the first 30 minutes of Raw, and a triple threat match in the main event that ultimately channeled feelings of a chaotic "Attitude"-era contest in the best way, proved that, when called upon, Raw's deep roster can step up to the challenge.
The 'goddess' stands upon her pedestal
The best villains in any medium take their victories and make them weapons against the heroes they've vanquished, and one night after making history at Payback, new Raw women's champion Bliss was in rare form indeed.
With a circular pedestal set up in the middle of the ring, and the seven other members of the Raw women's division surrounding her, Bliss fired shots at everyone she could, starting with some not-so-subtle shade at Charlotte Flair. Dismissing the value of queens and coronations, Bliss declared herself a goddess and inflamed the Sacramento crowd before she had even begun to lay into her contemporaries that stood before her.
She ran down Mickie James, calling her a contemporary of Mae Young and Fabulous Moolah, and further inflamed things with a future rival with Sasha Banks while reiterating that she defeated both Banks and Bayley on the way to this victory. As it seemed, all the while, that Bliss diminutive stature would catch up with her with so many adversaries surrounding her, Bliss took a step back (quite literally) when faced with Nia Jax and placated her with platitudes that, for the time being, seemed to keep her considerably larger foe at bay.
Bliss saved the worst for last, as she sought to absolutely embarrass Bayley in front of friendly Northern California audience for the second straight night. She even implied that having Bayley's family in the front row, with her nephews crying, nearly ruined her historic moment. But when Bliss implied that at least they had a 'real role model' to look up to, Bayley lost her cool and flipped the podium to send Bliss flying to an almost comedic height as chaos took hold.
Upon the return from commercial break, and a reset into an eight-woman tag team match, a funny thing happened -- the crowd was intensely interested. Whether it was Bliss' inflammatory words, some hometown support for Bayley or an appreciation for having any semblance of restriction on time or action, a highly-competitive contest energized the crowd and all eight women alike.
Each got their chance to shine, with the match carrying through two additional commercial breaks, and in the end, Bliss' eye rake and pin on Bayley served another great purpose. Despite her size, Bliss once again proved she can get the job done by any means necessary. More importantly, it kept Bayley on a path towards everything crumbling around her. Bayley's first main roster women's title run was a mixed bag, but if Raw can take its cues from NXT, and all of the hurdles she had to clear to reach the top there, they could ultimately put Bayley on pace to be a far bigger star.
But for now, it's all about Ms. Bliss.
Making the Intercontinental title feel important takes a group effort
When Seth Rollins went out of his way to call out Brock Lesnar on Monday night, it didn't feel like an impossibility. With Reigns, the presumptive next challenger, out of the way, why couldn't Rollins get a crack at the Universal championship? When Finn Balor came out to respond, putting the two men who competed in the first ever Universal championship match face-to-face, it appeared that perhaps they might clash for a right to face "the beast."
But like a bucket of ice water, Dean Ambrose came out and clearly reminded everyone that Lensar wasn't in the building, and likely wouldn't be for some time. While that disappointing dose of reality cooled some of the heat for what could have been, Ambrose, the Intercontinental champion, took an opportunity and ran with it. With the Universal championship out of play for the foreseeable future, Ambrose took the opportunity to try to elevate his title, which has otherwise been ignored for some time, by proposing a challenge among two former world champions for the right to vie for his championship.
Not to be ignored, The Miz inserted himself into the situation. With one awkward phone call to GM Kurt Angle, a triple-threat main event for the No. 1 contendership to the Intercontinental title was set.
While the pace was a bit clunky and slow at the start as part of a feeling-out process, once the momentum got rolling it was hard to stop. A mix of three-headed moves and pairings between all three men turned a one tepid idea into a truly thrilling match. While it should come as little surprise, at this point, to see Rollins or Balor step up to the plate in big matches, The Miz proved just how good he can be when he's in there against top-level talent.
It's hard to explain every minute detail of this match, other than to simply recommend you go out of your way to watch it if you missed it, but the pace of the build to the finish was top notch. Each near-fall was a more believable ending than the one that preceded it, and by the time that Samoa Joe injected himself to take out Rollins and Bray Wyatt appeared out of thin air to take out Balor, neither felt like a cheap copout.
That The Miz was able to pick up the pieces worked flawlessly, and even more so with him picking up the pinfall victory over Balor. With one match, two existing rivalries picked up steam and the Balor-Wyatt feud kicked off in earnest. It's funny what can happen when a great match lays the path for a great story, and not the other way around.
Hits and misses
-- After so many weeks of having Strowman run roughshod over Raw, it was truly jarring to feel his absence on Monday night. It feels as though Strowman-Reigns will be blown off in either an ambulance match or stretcher match at Extreme Rules, but with more than a month until the next Raw pay-per-view, both might yet be off of TV for another week or two to sell their respective injuries.
-- Cesaro and Sheamus' turn to the dark side is complete as they shake off the suits for a more casual jacket to pair with their respective kilts. I, for one, will miss Cesaro's tear-away entrance attire, but most of Cesaro's most interesting periods have kicked off with him playing the bad guy. With a gauntlet match set to determine the new No. 1 contenders to the Raw tag team titles next week, they could get another shot at The Hardy Boyz, but we'll have to wait and see what hanging another 'L' on Cesaro and Sheamus might do.
-- In their brief in-ring showdown, both Angle and Wyatt looked stiff and uncomfortable. After a hot start, Angle has appeared to be a bit meek in recent weeks. That should change soon, one would hope.
-- The cruiserweight division had another good showing in a pair of matches on Raw. The pairing of Rich Swann and Akira Tozawa is a fun one, and Gentleman Jack Gallagher sharing his collection of umbrellas was truly a class act. But the Austin Aries- TJ Perkins match was what really drove things forward. Each match between them feels fresh, yet familiar, and the finish, which saw TJP go for the detonation kick only for Aries to reverse it into something of a DDT, then into a chancery that he turned over into a last chancery for the submission win. Perkins doing Neville's dirty work by taking out the knee post-match, and then locking in a knee-bar, was another piece of good storytelling that didn't even require the 'king of the cruiserweights' to make an appearance.
-- We're really not going to let go of Enzo & Cass vs. Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson, huh? Another blindside attack by Gallows and Anderson left Amore bloodied and otherwise overmatched in a fairly quick win for Gallows.
-- Apollo Crews finally got a victory, over Heath Slater. With little else in the way of prospects, putting Crews under the "Titus brand," and getting him on a roll might not be the worst thing in the world.
Move of the night There was a lot to love about the main event, but let's give it to this dropkick/DDT combination.
Quote of the night
#ICChampion @TheDeanAmbrose has one final request for @FinnBalor... EAT A CARB, man! #RAW pic.twitter.com/n8sBr4lVSW
- WWE Universe (@WWEUniverse) May 2, 2017
"For the love of god man, eat a carb," Ambrose, handing Balor a doughnut.
Hopefully, going from 2 percent body fat to 2.5 doesn't obscure Balor's 11th and 12th abs. Let's just take this moment to point out how locked in Ambrose was during his backstage segments will all three main event combatants. From his call-backs in throwing back to Mean Gene and Gorilla at commentary to, for the second straight week, pointing out history with a former opponent who happens to be a fellow "good guy" to build tension without causing the sky to fall.