Review: WWE Raw- September 19, 2016

With the WWE Brand Split a few months in the rear view and SmackDown Live\’s first PPV- and an impressive one- in the books, all eyes are on Raw and their first PPV, which is coming this Sunday at Clash of Champions. With both shows are picking up steam and Raw improving immensely from where it was before the Split, Clash is on track to be one of the best PPV\’s of the year so far. Of course, before we get to the PPV, we have the “go home” edition of Raw and it was a hell of a show with a lot of possibilities heading into the big night on Sunday. This week\’s Raw started with Roman Reigns, Stephanie McMahon and Mick Foley in the ring and they talk about last week\’s incident with Seth Rollins interrupting the match between Reigns and WWE Universal Champ Kevin Owens. Foley announces Reigns will have a US Title Match against Rusev at Clash and will face Owens in the main event of Raw in a Steel Cage Match. Seth Rollins vs. Rusev This one was a solid match. They both got their signature moves in and it ended in a no contest due to count out. Neither men could afford to lose going into Sunday. For awhile it was looking like Rusev was going to take it but Rollins got out of the ring and took the fight to ringside. Heading into Clash, the Women\’s title match is now a Triple Threat between Charlotte, Sasha Banks and Bayley, which was announced on Raw after Dana Brooke pointed out that Banks and Bayley double-pinned. We also got a tag match between Bayley/Banks and Brooke/Charlotte, which went to the heels. Braun Strowman vs. Sin Cara There\’s only one word that fits this match and that\’s SQUAAAAAAASH. You know WWE is building up to something with Strowman continuously squashing his opponents. Bo Dallas vs. Gary Graham I\’m really loving this new attitude of Bo Dallas. It was just sad seeing him called up from NXT only to become a jobber and a gimmick. I mean, come on, he\’s the longest-reigning NXT Champion of all time. I\’ll say this, though- his promos have been eerily reminiscent of Bray Wyatt…building up to something, maybe? Sheamus vs. Cesaro (Best of Seven Match #6) I think I speak for the rest of the WWE Universe when I say that I\’m just not buying Sheamus anymore. He hasn\’t been impressive since his return last year and the Best of Seven Series hasn\’t been too exciting. Chris Jericho, The Shining Stars and The Club vs. The New Day, Enzo & Cass and Sami Zayne Now this was a fun one. Jericho took to the ring to read a list of grievances against Mick Foley- The List of Jericho- and he was interrupted by each of the aforementioned teams and Superstars. Jericho is just genius on the mic- he always has been. With this match, we had a chance to see numerous match ups leading into Sunday and it lived up to what you\’d expect and want to see. The Cruiserweights debut: Gran Metalik vs. Brian Kendrick vs. Cedric Alexander vs. Rich Swann for the No. 1 Contendership This one stole the show. The Cruiserweights are what made WCW so great- it set them apart from WWE. It\’s so good to see this division back and it lived up to the hype. If you watched the CWC on the Network, you knew what was coming and this was just a taste of what\’s on the horizon. Brian Kendrick gets the win and faces TJ Perkins at Clash of Champions. Welcome back to Brian Kendrick- a true comeback story. Roman Reigns vs. Kevin Owens (Steel Cage Match) This one was a solid match- how often do we get a Cage Match on Raw anymore? I mean, come on. A little bit of excitement at the end, with Owens crawling for the door and escaping but Reigns climbing out just seconds faster. The true excitement came after the match with Rusev coming out to attack Reigns, chaining the door closed. Surprise, though- Seth Rollins comes out to save Reigns, jumping off the top of the cage down onto Owens and Rusev- saving Reigns. Could we be seeing the beginnings of a Shield reunion? I think so. All-in-all, Clash of Champions is looking very promising and could overshadow what SmackDown Live did with Backlash. -Reggie Edwards