RAW Recap & Review – Episode 1222

The last RAW before Hell in a Cell was okay, but it felt a lot like a pre-show rather than a complete show on its own.
The last RAW before Hell in a Cell was okay, but it felt a lot like a pre-show rather than a complete show on its own.
Alicia Fox once again takes on Nia Jax and Jinder Mahal faces Darren Young in a pair of rematches that are fine, but not really worth going out of your way to watch.
Roderick Strong makes his NXT debut teaming up with Austin Aries in a good episode of NXT.
Zack Ryder takes on Tyler Breeze and American Alpha faces The Ascension in a predictable but pretty entertaining episode of Main Event.
James Ellsworth gets the chance of a lifetime when he challenges AJ Styles for the World Title in an okay episode of SmackDown.
Goldberg returns to RAW to answer Paul Heyman’s challenge in an entertaining show that also had Rusev sharing some family photos, Seth Rollins coming up with a new nickname for Chris Jericho, Cesaro not paying much attention to Sheamus’ match against Big E, and much more!
The Shining Stars take on some local talent and Darren Young tests Jinder Mahal’s inner-peace in an okay episode of Superstars.
With a handful of debuts, two more matches in the Dusty Classic, and a minor payoff to Samoa Joe’s attacks over the last few weeks, this was an entertaining episode of NXT.
The Hype Bros versus The Vaudevillains and Jack Swagger versus Tyler Breeze were both decent matches, making this episode worth watching.
AJ Styles picks his next opponent, the Wyatt Family is (mostly) back together, The Miz isn’t done with Dolph Ziggler, and more on a packed and entertaining episode of SmackDown.
Good opening, good closer, and some nice matches in between. I liked the show.
This year’s No Mercy was pretty good, with the good matches being very good. The placement of matches seemed odd, but that didn’t hurt the show too much.
A big eight-man tag match featuring American Alpha, Hype Bros, The Vaudevillains, and The Ascension served as a good warmup for the second SmackDown Live PPV.
Darren Young faced Jinder Mahal and Neville took on Curtis Axel in a fine, if somewhat unremarkable, episode of Superstars.
The 2016 Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic starts with one squash and one good match, Samoa Joe ruins Dan Matha’s debut, Patrick Clark debut’s a new look when he faces Rich Swann, and Peyton Royce beats up a new girl with her friend Billie Kay by her side.
Naomi faces Natalya and Slater & Rhyno take on The Ascension in a kind of below average episode of Main Event.
On the last stop before No Mercy, this SmackDown was packed with stuff, though it felt a lot like a glorified promo for the PPV. Which I suppose it kind of is.
Sasha Banks and Charlotte continue to make a strong case for feud of the year in another title match, Jeri-KO takes on New Day in the ring and celebrities backstage, and Lana tells Roman Reigns to go to hell in a good episode of RAW.
Sami Zayn faces Curtis Axel in a rather slow match to start the show, but Neville takes on Jinder Mahal in a decent main event.
This show felt like a promo for another show. There were lots of matches, but all but one were squashes.