Match Ratings For WWE Raw 8/26/19, Podcast Notes From Sean Ross Sapp

Sasha Banksaaaaaa

• Sasha Banks comes out to reveal why she attacked Natalya. She says she was minding her own business.
• She says that a lot ot reports about her were true, and she went home and went on vacation. She’s not happy that Becky Lynch
• This is not strong delivery at all. A lot of wrestling tropes in this. The cadence, the “you see.” This is why solo promos in ring don’t necessarily hit so well.
• Sasha Banks burying the tag team division and the titles was ill-advised. Counterproductive. I didn’t like it, really. I wasn’t a fan of the delivery or minimizing the tag division. Probably should have just had her speak from the heart.
• Natalya comes out in human being clothes and attacks.
• Good move having Natayla come out in human being clothes. Normalize some of these people. They don’t hang out in pleather all day.

King of the Ring opening round
Ricochet defeated Drew McIntyre
6.75/10

• Street Profits run down the night’s show in a super cheesy fashion.
• Drew throws Ricochet around, and side slams him on the apron and barricade. It really seems like Drew McIntyre has tried to vary up his offense lately, and I love it.
• Drew counters a Northern Lights Suplex with a heaving suplex of his own.
• You know Ricochet is flying everywhere, that goes without saying.
• Drew McIntyre catches Ricochet midair with strikes inside and outside the ring that hit hard.
• Drew does a crazy sitdown powerbomb off of a clothesline. This is great.
• Ricochet lands a middle rope Recoil and 630.
• Ricochet gets Samoa Joe next week.

King Of The Ring Opening Round
Baron Corbin defeated The Miz
6/10

• The Miz says he wants it all, and wants to be King of the Ring.
• He takes over early, but this is primarily brawling.
• I almost forgot what it was like to see Miz wrestle, especially as a babyface.
• These two work pretty well together and the crowd likes it.
• Miz has some babyface offense I’m not used to seeing. He eats a Deep Six, but counters End of Days with a DDT.
• Miz counters the Bossman lariat with a Skull Crushing Finale, but Corbin kicks out!
• Corbin wins with End of Days. This was another good one.
• Baron Corbin takes the throne and thanks himself.

Bayley defeated Nikki Cross
5/10

• Nikki rolls over a drop down, which I love.
• I also love that the main reason Nikki is upset with Bayley is that she disrespected Alexa.
• There’s some back and forth, but the crowd isn’t really there.
• Bayley wins with a flying elbow drop.

Top Contender Match
Tag Team Turmoil
Dolph Ziggler & Bobby Roode win
5/10

• The OC aren’t happy about having to earn another shot at the titles.
• B-Team get a little bit of offense on Viking Raiders and promptly get their asses whipped.
• The OC are next. They jump Ivar outside, prompting an Erik suicide dive.
• DOUBLE DISQUALIFICATION. This is very 1980s, but I think it fits here. Neither needed to lose, and it builds to the future.
• Roode & Ziggler and Lucha House Party are next. Bobby Roode is one of the best tag team wrestlers ever, so I’m not gonna be sad when he’s put in another tag team.
• Ziggler catches Metalik off a back handspring with a superkick and a pin.
• The Revival are next.
• Some good double team work from Dawson and Wilder, no surprise there.
• The crowd is totally dead despite the stakes. Two heel teams, one of which never teamed together.
• Roode pins Wilder with a Glorious DDT. Oh. There was a good brainbuster on Ziggler before.
• Hawkins and Ryder were next. They’re promptly beaten by a Ziggler superkick.
• WWE could treat their tag team division as special, or they can have a makeshift team run through the division
• Knight gets taken to the woodshed and the stairs by Roode, and gets beaten on for a while.
• Otis gets the hot tag, and is over with the crowd. He almost beats Roode with a pop up powerslam.
• Ziggler does a Zig Zag on Otis, on top of Tucker. Glorious DDT pins Tucker.
• We have a tag title match at the pape between two teams that didn’t exist eight days ago.
• Ziggler and Roode are interviewed backstage about how their team came together.

Sasha Banks defeated Natalya
5.5/10

• Natalya comes out with a lot of fire, as she should. She’s a more important part of Sasha’s return than anyone will realize.
• Sasha gets sent into the barricade hard.
• Sasha aggressively goes at Natalya at ringside, throwing her into an office chair. This was cool.
• The Banks Statement is applied. Natalya fights valiantly, but her injured arm is used against her and she taps out.
• Sasha Banks and Natalya had about as effective a four minute match as you can have. Banks goes over, Natalya is sympathetic, and a contender is developed.
• Banks applies the Banks Statement again after the match.

Cedric Alexander defeated Cesaro
5.75/10

• Cedric gets caught with a huge uppercut, but recovers and takes over.
• This crowd has been outright dead at points.
• The match continues through the break with outstanding work that the crowd unfortunately doesn’t care about.
• A one-legged Michinoku Driver from Cedric and a superplex from Cesaro don’t do anything. The Michinoku was a great touch.
• Alexander doesn’t win with the Spanish Fly, but does with a great a Lumbar Check.

WWE United States Title
AJ Styles (c) defeated Braun Strowman via DQ
5.75/10
Angle 6/10

• Seth Rollins is going to have to defend both titles at Clash of Champions, and Braun challenges him to a match. It’s later confirmed.
• Whoever the hell directed the Braun Strowman/Street Profits segment needs to explain some things.
• The OC and Seth are banned from ringside and Graves says Rollins is in Hawaii. So WWE sat on this news for a week?
• Strowman mows down Styles and we go to a commercial.
• Styles does a nice hesitation Lionsault that I don’t see him doing often.
• Strowman fights out of a Calf Crusher and gets posted hard.
• Big ref bump gives Styles the chance to use the chair and OC to attack.
• Strowman has it won with the Powerslam, but the ref wakes up and DQs Strowman, who is caught with a chair.
• The angle is much better than the rating indicates. This was pretty good.
• Strowman raises hell and beats the OC after the match.

Rating guide

10- Perfect, 9- MOTY Territory, 8- Excellent, 7- Great, 6- Good, 5- Average to above average, 4- Slightly below average, 3 or below: Poor

Each match starts at a 5 and slides up and down based on entertainment, execution, time, environment, reaction and stakes. The ratings are in no way an indication of a “star rating,” which is a completely different system. A standard, non-offensive “TV match” lands at a 5. The gap between 5.75-6 is generally the largest, with anything reaching 6 being recommended viewing.
These are opinions, and incredibly inconsistent ones. Don’t take them too seriously, and have (and share) your own!