5 Things You Missed From RAW

We’ve done it WWE fans, we’ve made it to Great Balls of Fire. After all of the phallic symbolism and irresistible sophomoric puns, we will finally arrive at our destination.

As expected, all of WWE’s feuds were tossed in the oven to be kept warm for Sunday. But, for go-home shows, this one was fine. We got one more chapter of Samoa Joe screaming for Brock Lesnar. We found out that Roman Reigns moonlights as an EMT. And we officially know that the Miz is a boxer-brief guy.

What’s most important is that Great Balls feels like WWE’s most balanced card in a long time. Feuds like Enzo and Cass have reached their tipping point, same goes for Joe/Lesnar. For the first time in a while, a pay-per-view feels necessary.

Up Next: Buy or Sell: RAW Women’s Championship vs. SmackDown Women’s Championship

WWE has done a lot to make sure we get invested in some of its less shiny matches – like Neville vs. Tozawa, which is sure to be a banger of a match. With WWE’s newfound appreciation for detail, you as fans may have missed some of their finer points. I mean, RAW is 3 hours, and to catch everything would require some pharmaceutical performance enhancers.

That’s why I’m here, to pick out the more subtle notes from RAW. so here they are the 5 Things You Missed:

Enzo’s Star Power

About twice a year, someone in WWE cuts a promo that really matters. The last one was the Miz on one of the earliest episodes of Talking Smack. To this day, the Miz is still riding that wave of verbal explosion.

Enzo Amore just got his last night. 

More: Carmella is a Huge Fan of Enzo/Cass Break Up

Was it the greatest promo of all time? Not at all. But it was honest and loosely scripted. Those are the moments as fans we crave. We’re just children at a magic show – we just want to believe. 

We believed Enzo last night. And at Great Balls of Fire, we’ll all be behind him. So when Big Cass destroyed him, it will hurt. But, don’t rule out a sneaky victory by Enzo. WWE has gold with these two, let’s hope that can make two stars, not just one.

Apollo Crews Main Evented RAW

Titus World Wide finally got the bright lights it’s been clamoring for – it’s just a shame they had to share the stage with Braun Strowman. 

It wasn’t exactly a squash match, but we all knew that Crews would be losing, it was just a matter of how long it would take. The match gave us a few moments, most notably when Strowman leg pressed Crews across the ring. 

Strowman’s excessive beatdown of Crews and his handler, Titus O’Neil underlined something that has been unclear to this point: Crews and O’Neil are babyfaces, albeit quirky ones. 

The addition of Akira Tozawa only fortifies this as is the only cruiserweight that we consistently find ourselves rooting for. 

The Miz and Maryse Are OK. For Now.

The Miz is at his best when he has the IC belt on his shoulder and his wife at his side. For the first time, they both are in jeopardy. 

For weeks now, The Miz just can’t help being clumsy and cowardly. The Miz’s flaws have put Maryse in harm’s way enough times for us to anticipate a future splitting of WWE’s power couple. 

Things have gotten so tenuous that The Miz has already recruited his break-up support group in Curtis Axel and Bo Dallas.

During the past month or so, something has transpire to incite divsion between Miz and Mayrse, but last night everything was peachy. They shared a sultry kiss at the end of their hell escapades.

Keep a look out at Great Balls of Fire, where the couple may reach of point of no return.  

Seth Rollins or Bray Wyatt. But Not Both

We’ve reached the overly negative portion of this slide show. This is the worst feud that will get a match at Great Balls of Fire, yes that includes R-Truth and Goldust. 

Bray Wyatt’s desert promo we perfect last night. Not because it was good, but because the arid backdrop was the most accurate metaphor to explain Bray Wyatt’s current standing on the WWE roster. He’s been fruitless. 

More: Seth Rollins Debuts New Finisher On RAW

The only way it could have been more appropriate was if Seth Rollins was stumbling blindly in the background, searching for a finishing move that we can car about. 

Both men are highly talented, but this feud has reached the point of zero-sum. I’ll save some of my July 4th fireworks for when it’s over. 

Is Balor Cooling?

The first Universal Champion finds himself in an odd place; wrestling a throw-away match with Cesaro and being left off of pay-per-view card.

Since his feud with Elias Sampson has just started, WWE may not see it fit for them to have a match at Great Balls. Then again, we could see it happen in wrestling Purgatory, the Pre-Show.

Has WWE fallen out of love with Balor? It would be reactionary to think so – but it does serve as a nice reminder that WWE has bigger fish. Perhaps that euhpemism is too approprite because Balor is much smaller than Crusierweight Champion, Neville. 

With the rise of Samoa Joe and Braun Strowman, Balor finds himself fighting for relevance. Perhaps WWE has something special lined up for SummerSlam, but it looks lie Balor is in line for a few months on the mid-card.