Tiffany’s Takes: Monday Night RAW (7-22-2019)

Tiffany MC takes you on a journey into WWE Raw Reunion in this edition of Tiffany’s Takes!

Ah, the family reunion, where we meet relatives we haven’t seen or spoken to since the last reunion and air out the drama that can’t wait for Thanksgiving and Christmas. How did WWE’s version of this unsung summer ritual go?

Read Mitchell’s WWE Raw Reunion Live Results & Recap!

I’m not a John Cena fan, or not much of one, not like I used to be, but there’s no denying that the man gets the crowd on its feet. Of course my feelings of nostalgia died the minute he started doing one of his twenty minute promos (YAWN!). I’m always down for a rap off between the Doctor of Thuganomics and the Usos though. Also, loved seeing Rikishi again, rare guy that could make any gimmick work. Not thrilled about Revival interrupting the dancing. Have to have Rikishi and the Usos dancing, but D-Von Dudley and Revival works for me.

For all the criticism of Hulk Hogan, the man still gets a pop, and it was great to see him with Jimmy Hart again, even if Jimmy is as annoying as ever. Where did Cena go? I get Rikishi and D-Von not wrestling, but did Cena fly the coop or something? Good match, but we didn’t get a stinkface!

Loved seeing Kaitlyn, Alicia Fox, Santino Marella,and Torrie Wilson, but of course Drew McIntyre had to ruin the fun because that’s what unhappy people do.

R-Truth survived Comic-Con, I see. I hope the moderators were told ahead of time about this, so it didn’t seem too weird, but it it Comic-Con, so who knows? I will give Drake Maverick all the props in the world for being man enough to be seen in that costume. If we get Carmella vs Renee Michelle out of this, I’m game. Also, GODFATHER, no ladies since this is PG and the MeToo Era.

So, Drew McIntyre was so incensed by Cedric Alexander’s surprise win yesterday, he wanted another go. The match never got going since McIntyre attacked before Alexander got in the ring, so he couldn’t even even up the score. But at least he thinks he got his balls back or whatever.

Ew, who invited the Boogeyman? At least Pat Patterson is here to save us and take off with the 24/7 belt.

Christian is here! Wish Edge was too, but we’ll take what we can get! We also have Lilian Garcia as ring announcer for the murder of the Major Bros by the Viking Raiders! RIP Major Bros.

So the swanky RAW reunion was going on with Mike Kanellis chatting it up with Eve Torres and Eric Bischoff before Maria interrupted. I am HATING the Pregzilla thing, seriously, they’re making her into every person’s nightmare of a pregnant woman. Hello, Ron Simmons, with or without the megaphone.

So, the Club plotting Seth Rollins’ destruction, I do wish the Shield was here because that would’ve been so epic, but Jon Moxley is having the time of his life in Japan and we want him to be happy.

Gerald Brisco struck again and got tricked by Kelly Kelly, so there’s that.

So, we’re getting a reboot of an old feud between Samoa Joe and Roman Reigns, which answers the question of who Reigns is facing at SummerSlam. God help them if Samoa Joe spouts on about Roman ‘faking’ his cancer. The match was great, so I’m eager to see this at SummerSlam.

Listen to the Raw Reaction crew review Raw Reunion!

Seth Rollins started off his ‘Take the Title Back’ campaign with a stop at MizTV with a hilarious Brock Lesnar impersonation. Not as good as Cena’s but it wasn’t awful. I did enjoy watching him and Heyman promo off each other. This also interesting because it was the first MizTV to not end with someone, usually Miz, getting their ass kicked.

Everyone’s got that one relative that loves to stir up trouble at every reunion, and it looked like Sami Zayn played that role. LOVED Kurt Angle putting his GM hat on and making a match.

It’s been so long since I’ve seen Candice Michelle or Melina, those two were so great in their prime and Candice won her first championship in…a VERY long time by becoming the 24/7 champ, just to be beaten by…Madusa, I think? Good luck, knocking her out.

Jonathon Coachman is back in time to call Sami Zayn vs Rey Mysterio for us! I’ve said before that Mysterio’s most recent run in WWE hasn’t impressed me due to all his injury issues, but this was a good match, even got a spot for Rob Van Damm, Sgt. Slaughter, who still looks like he could hurt you, and Hurrican Helms, who isn’t quite as scary, and Kurt Angle.

Of course, the Nature Boy Ric Flair had to make his appearance, even though he’s not looking like he’s in the best health these days, it was good to see him again.

I still haven’t figured out what the Street Profits are doing on RAW.

Alundra Blayze  made her…triumphant return to RAW by selling the 24/7 Championship to Ted DiBiase.

Jerry ‘The King’ Lawler made his return to the show he called for nearly twenty years to call the rematch of Seth Rollins vs AJ Styles. This match was definitely the highlight of the night, in my opinion. It really looked like the Club was going to cause Rollins some misery, until he was saved by…DX? I’m not sure who was more shocked, Rollins or the Club. I think we would’ve all loved to have seen a Shield reunion, but Jon Moxley is having the time of his life in Japan, so Rollins getting an assist from DX will have to work. We didn’t get the six man tag, but the odds were evened up. The match ending in a DQ doesn’t really bother me since we got DX and the NWO in action…or was it the Kliq? Oh, who cares, it was cool and it happened. I literally turned into a teenage girl again squealing over Kevin Nash and Sean Waltman (Yeah, I had a crush on 1-2-3 Kid, mullet and all). Also, kudos for mentioning Chyna and Billy Gunn and for Seth marking out.

Mick Foley and Mark Henry are always joys to watch. Not a fan of Mick being attacked since he really isn’t in shape to fight back.

Well Moment of Bliss didn’t go quite the way I thought it would. I thought Alexa Bliss would find a way to shoehorn herself into the title picture, but she seemed happy to stir the pot between Becky Lynch and Nattie. I love how the Lynch/Nattie feud and seeing what the belt means to Lynch. Still curious to see what’s in store for Bliss and Nikki Cross, but that brawl was fun.

Our long nightmare is over, R-Truth is 24/7 Champions again. I said in the past that I had some reservations about the 24/7 Championship and things like this are why I had reservations, but the way this was handled was really fun and actually kept the Truth vs Maverick storyline going, not sure what happened to Renee Michelle.

Strowman crushed a jobber, so that happened.

Ah, time for everyone at the reunion to gather around and remind themselves that for all the drama, they still share a gene pool…or an employment history, in RAW’s case. However, is it me or does Ric Flair NOT look that good? That said, I loved seeing all the legends of RAW turn up for a beer bash with Stone Cold Steve Austin playing the relative that shows up just for the fuck of it and drinks beer all night. Great way to end a fun episode!