By RJ Marceau Last night, Monday Night Raw launched its first episode in the brand extension and it was great. The small tweak to the set, the new intro and relocating the commentators were fresh. Raw wasn’t filled with long promos or segments and actually focused on the wrestling. Both Fatal 4-way matches were great and Sasha Banks winning the WWE Women’s Championship was amazing. The WWE decided to focus on the new “stars” with Finn Balor and Sasha Banks winning their marquee matchups while Braun Strowman and Nia Jax squashed local wrestlers. I am not a huge fan of squash matches but instead of 50/50 booking building someone up against jobbers kills the trading back and forth wins.
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By Graham "GSM" Matthews The Hype Bros def. The Vaudevillians I was really hoping that his move to SmackDown would mean that Zack Ryder would be better positioned as a singles star, but if the past week has been any indication, it looks like Ryder's singles run will have to hold off for a while with Ryder reuniting with Mojo Rawley as The Hype Bros on the main roster. I'm fine with that for now if only because it adds more depth to a depleted tag team division on the blue brand. These two teams have history working against each other in NXT, so this was a solid matchup. Rawley remains very green in the ring, but can be carried to a competent contest by his opponents and his partner. I was surprised Aiden English took the pinfall loss given Simon Gotch has had heat on him reportedly as of late, but either way, I feel bad for them because I doubt they'll get pushed with Gotch being in the doghouse with management at the moment. Tyler Breeze def. Jey Uso I've gone on record before saying I couldn't care less about The Usos in singles competition. They're perfectly fine wreslters, but they are much more exciting as a tandem. It seemed the live crowd could agree because they sat on their hands for a majority of this match. Once they picked up the pace down the stretch, however, it did turn into a compelling contest with a fun final few minutes. Breeze going over was also the right finish because it would have made no sense for Jey to be able to win on his own without his brother at ringside despite Fandango being in the corner of Breeze. I surely hope this isn't leading to a split of The Usos but rather a change in character for them that possibly sees them turn heel soon By Graham "GSM" Matthews Raw Commisionier Stephanie McMahon and Raw General Manager Mick Foley Announced a New WWE Universal Championship First and foremost, I absolutely love the new theme song for the show as well as the placement of the commentators and set (it isn't a far cry from the old one but it's a refreshing change nevertheless). After Dean Ambrose retained the WWE Championship at WWE Battleground and took the title to SmackDown, many of us assumed it wouldn't be long before a new world title was instituted on Raw. I'm not a fan of the "WWE Universal Championship" name if only because it sounds similar to the WWE Championship. Bringing back the World Heavyweight Championship would have sufficed. At any rate, this was a hell of a hot way to kick off the show and establish the night's biggest matches heading into the main event to determine who would face Seth Rollins to crown the inaugural champion at SummerSlam. Finn Balor def. United States Champion Rusev, Kevin Owens and Cesaro in a Fatal 4-Way Match to Advance to the Main Event (Non-title) You really can't go wrong with four of the best wrestlers on Raw colliding in a Fatal 4-Way, so naturally, this was an excellent opener. I appreciated how much time it was given and I hope that is a sign of things to come with a smaller roster working the three hours. Balor winning was the most obvious albeit the right choice, and the final flurry of offense from all four competitors was a blast. Having Balor win the first official match of the New Era was truly poetic. By Graham "GSM" Matthews #AskGSM is a weekly Q&A video where I, Graham "GSM" Matthews, answer fan questions from Facebook, Twitter and YouTube in regards to the world of wrestling. Nothing is off limits, and this week’s edition touches upon a variety of topics including:
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