This week’s Raw was the last episode before Sunday’s WWE Clash of Champions pay-per-view event. It featured two major matches, with Seth Rollins battling Rusev in the first bout while Kevin Owens had to wrestle Roman Reigns in a steel cage match.

The explanation for the matches were head scratchers because Raw General Manager claimed that Rollins vs. Rusev was happening because they interfered in matches on last week’s show. That means WWE fans are supposed to think that guys who are paid to have wrestling matches got “punished” by being put in a wrestling match? That’s so lame.

For the main event, they decided to go with Owens vs. Reigns again, even though Owens beat him last week. The reason Owens won last week was because Rusev showed up to cause a distraction, so the idea behind the cage was to make sure there was a winner.

While I give WWE credit for at least coming up with an explanation to set up these major matches, some of the methods they use to get that point are weak. I guess it’s better than doing a tag match because WWE likely wants to save Rollins and Reigns teaming up together for something bigger down the road or at least something with more build.

The Rollins vs. Rusev match started at about 8:15 p.m. ET, which was not an accident because WWE probably wanted to get that big match in before Monday Night Football started 15 minutes later on ESPN.

It wasn’t a great match by any means, but it felt fresh because they were both heels at the same time. Now that Rollins is a face, this is probably a big match WWE can do again down the road. That’s why the finish made sense because after Rollins hit two suicide dives in a row to take out Rusev on the floor, they brawled up the ramp for the countout finish. They went over to the announce table where Rollins jumped off the table onto Rusev on the floor with a cross body block. It was a sign of things to come.

The main event saw Owens battle Reigns in a Steel Cage Match with the WWE Universal Title not on the line. Since Owens won last week in a cheap manner, I figured Reigns would get the win this time. WWE books Reigns so strong all the time that it would have been shocking to see him lose two weeks in a row, even if it had a cheap ending. The match ended after Reigns nailed a Superman Punch while they were on the top rope. Reigns climbed out of the cage and landed on the floor before Owens could get out of the ring.

After the match was over, Rusev showed up to attack Reigns, who he faces at Clash of Champions for the US Title. Owens shoved the cage door into Reigns’ face to slow him down. They went to double-team Reigns, but Rollins showed up to save his former Shield “brother.”

In the highlight of the night, Rollins climbed to the top of the cage, knocked both Owens and Rusev to the mat and jumped off the top of the cage with a huge cross body block. The crowd was going wild for it because you don’t see too many moves off the top of a cage. It was a smart way to get the fans behind Rollins, who just turned face a few weeks ago and still needs to do more to earn the support of the crowd. The show ended soon after before anybody could really think about Rollins coming to the aid of his former friend Reigns.

The two main matches were good in their execution. I don’t think either of them came off as a big deal, though. Rollins/Rusev was a bit of letdown while Owens/Reigns felt repetitive after they did it for 25 minutes last week. That’s a big problem with WWE these days. They just don’t know how to build up big matches on television unless they are major title matches.

When looking ahead to Clash of Champions, I can’t leave this episode of Raw saying that I am more excited about Rollins vs. Owens or Rusev vs. Reigns. Both matches could have been built up so much more, yet what we got was pretty lame. I think WWE needs to do a better job of setting up their marquee matches better.

This Week’s Raw Matches

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The best match of the night featured the cruiserweights. Here’s a look at every match on the show.

Seth Rollins and Rusev ended in a double countout

This was covered earlier. I suspect they will have many more matches in the future.

Braun Strowman defeated Sin Cara

It was another easy win for Strowman, as he got the pin with a powerslam after two minutes. The finish was set up when Strowman caught Cara doing a moonsault attempt and slamming him down. Simple stuff.

Charlotte & Dana Brooke defeated Sasha Banks & Bayley

Before the match took place, it was announced that Charlotte will defend the Raw Women’s Title against both Sasha and Bayley because of the double pin last week. That means that they had a No. 1 contender match last week which nobody won because it was a draw, yet the two women that had the draw are getting title shots? That’s weird to me.

The ongoing troubles between Charlotte and Dana were mentioned throughout the match. In the end, Dana ended up helping Charlotte by tripping up Bayley, which led to Banks taking out Dana on the floor and Charlotte nailed a boot to the face for the win.

Bo Dallas defeated Gary Graham

This was the second really quick match of the show, with Dallas getting the win in two minutes. I’m not sure where things are headed with Dallas, but at least he has a few weeks of wins going for him. What’s next? No idea.

Cesaro defeated Sheamus in Match #6 in their Best of 7 Series (Series Tied 3-3)

The idea of the Best of Seven series sounded good, but the story has gone flat because of the 3-0 lead that Sheamus had. It’s been obvious that Cesaro was going to win three matches to come back. Give them credit for working hard, though. The last few minutes were really good. Sheamus went for a shoulder tackle, but Cesaro hit an uppercut and the Neutralizer finished it.

It was announced that Match #7 will take place at Clash of Champions, which was obvious many weeks ago. Winner gets a title shot, but we still don’t know for which title that will be. Be specific, WWE! It’s not that hard.

Sami Zayn, Big E, Kofi Kingston, Enzo Amore & Big Cass defeated Chris Jericho, Luke Gallows, Karl Anderson, Primo & Epico

It was a 5-on-5 match to put over the good guys heading into all of their matches at Clash of Champions. It felt rushed at about six minutes, with Enzo getting the pin for his team.

Brian Kendrick defeated Rich Swann, Gran Metalik & Cedric Alexander

This was the debut of the Cruiserweight division on Raw. It was announced by Raw GM Foley that the winner of this match faces Cruiserweight Champion T.J. Perkins at Clash of Champions. I thought it was a mistake that Perkins wasn’t even shown on camera before or after the match.

The match went about 15 minutes in length, with all four guys getting a chance to show their athleticism and some submission moves as well. Alexander and Metalik were really impressive hitting some high-flying spots. I love Swann hitting that Standing 450 Splash too. Kendrick is less of a flyer than he used to be, but is more of a savvy veteran who tossed Swann out of the ring and locked Alexander in a Captain’s Hook submission for the win. Really good match. Best of the night.

Roman Reigns defeated Kevin Owens in a Steel Cage Match

I covered this earlier. Do I like the Universal Champion losing in a non-title match on Raw? Absolutely not. I hate when they do that to major champions.

Three Other Key Items From Raw

1. There were too many segments featuring authority figures Stephanie McMahon and Mick Foley this week. After starting the show with a promo like usual, they were featured throughout the night in backstage segments with different people, whether it was Rollins complaining to Stephanie or heels like Rusev and Jericho complaining to Mick.

I thought the authority figures were going to be on TV less during the “new era,” yet it seems like they are being used more.

There’s still a good amount of wrestling on the show. I just wish there was more of a focus on Rollins vs. Owens by allowing them to talk to each other, instead of featuring so many backstage segments.

2. Chris Jericho’s performing at such a high level right now that I need to dedicate some space to his greatness. He’s really done an awesome job in creating this egotistical heel character.

Jericho is an elite promo man who is showing that he’s able to fit in with the crowd, even though he’s 45 years old. A lot of the guys in the wrestling business don’t even make it to that age, so just the fact that he’s out there entertaining us at a high level is so impressive.

I enjoyed his segment on this week’s show with his “List” about things Foley has done poorly since being a GM. Then he turned it into a list of “stupid idiots,” which was a funny way to utilize his latest catchphrase. The man is one of the smartest wrestlers there’s ever been. He can take the smallest things and make them come off as a big deal. I’m a huge fan of his. He’s one of my 10 favorite wrestlers ever.

3. The feud that sticks out the most in terms of losing momentum in the last month is the Tag Team Title feud. I really like The New Day and Gallows & Anderson, but some of the comedy bits they did failed miserably. On this week’s show, they only interacted a bit during the 10-man tag match and the promo that took place before it.

It’s an example of WWE going against the basic things that make feuds work and overdoing it. I’m not sure if Gallows & Anderson will win the gold or if WWE will keep the titles on New Day for a couple of months so they can have the all-time record for longest tag team title reign. I just know that the feud has suffered because of poor booking. I feel bad for the performers, but I do have faith in them having a good match at Clash of Champions.

Looking Ahead To Clash Of Champions

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The next Raw pay-per-view is Clash of Champions, which takes place this Sunday, Sept. 25. Here’s the lineup.

WWE Universal Championship: Kevin Owens vs. Seth Rollins

WWE United States Championship: Rusev vs. Roman Reigns

WWE Raw Women’s Championship: Charlotte vs. Sasha Banks vs. Bayley

Chris Jericho vs. Sami Zayn

Match #7 in Best of Seven Series: Sheamus vs. Cesaro

WWE Raw Tag Team Championship: The New Day vs. Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson

WWE Cruiserweight Championship: TJ Perkins vs. Brian Kendrick

Kickoff Match: Nia Jax vs. Alicia Fox

That’s a full card. I can see Enzo & Cass vs. Shining Stars being added to the show as well.

In Closing

It was an average edition of Raw this week with some solid matches all show long, but nothing that was out of ordinary. I thought in terms of storylines, they did a poor job of setting some things up. At least the cruiserweights were there to prevent the third hour from dragging the way it usually does. Their presence certainly helped provide some excitement later in the night.

Rollins was booked well with the two big high spots he got to do. The problem is that I don’t think WWE has done a good enough job of setting up the Rollins vs. Owens match, which should have been the top priority this week.

Raw presents Clash of Champions this Sunday, Sept. 25 on WWE Network. I’ll have a full preview of the show up later this week.

About John Canton

John has been writing about WWE online since the late 1990s. He joined The Comeback/Awful Announcing team in 2015. Follow John Canton on Twitter @johnreport or email him at mrjohncanton@gmail.com with any comments or questions. For more of his wrestling opinions, visit his website at TJRWrestling.net. Cheap pop!