NXT on the other hand was entertaining the hell out of me. First of all, it was only one hour a week which is a much more manageable time allotment for viewing. I wouldn’t begrudge it if one week was a little lack-lustre because I wasn’t losing that much time to it. RAW‘s 3 hour snooze-fest was becoming increasingly frustrating considering how many things I could actually get done and accomplish in that time instead.

Secondly, NXT does not have 20 minute (or longer) promos opening every show sucking the life-blood from my brain. Most of the story telling is done in the ring or with 2 minute interviews back-stage. The odd time there is a promo in the ring it’s usually done to call someone out and rarely lasts long. You know what all this leaves more time for? Wrestling.

And, oh my, how the wrestling has been good. Kevin Owens, Finn Balor, Tyler Breeze, Sami Zayn, Hideo Itami are all legitimately great wrestlers and have all been competing for the title over the past few months. However, I found myself increasingly being drawn to Sasha Banks, Bayley, Charlotte, Becky Lynch, and more with how they have re-energised female wrestling to the point where the women’s matches are often my favourite ones on the show. No longer will the ladies be referred to as “toilet breaks” now they’re must-see TV.

Then three of the Four Horsewomen invaded RAW and I got that flutter in my chest that I hadn’t felt since D-Bry’s run for the title.

So this past Monday with Banks, Charlotte, and Becky coming off the back of their RAW debuts the week before and their impressive showings at Battleground the night before I was compelled to once again fall into the trap of watching an episode of RAW. And I really can’t state this enough, it was the prospect of seeing these three women tear it up with the likes of Paige and Naomi that made me tune in. Not even Brock vs Undertaker could do that right now.

I’m more than happy to report that the women did not disappoint and I was especially glad to see two full matches on the card. There is still some way to go; they need to figure out what to do with the Bella Twins now for a start. As Brandon Stroud said on Twitter about the Battleground match “Charlotte vs. Sasha Banks vs. Brie Bella is like Van Gogh vs. Picasso vs. Guy Fieri”. But to have people cheer, consistently and loudly, for two Divas matches on RAW? That’s a good start.

And also, please, for the love of god, let’s get rid of the term “Diva”. Please.

Now that they’re off the Network and on TV the only way is up for female wrestling as the bar has now been raised and everyone needs to evolve or lose out. Princesses tend not to survive revolutions.

There is a weird thing that happens the first RAW after Wrestlemania. All the hardcore fans who save up to go to the biggest show of the year hang around and go to the show the night after. Grown-ups. With jobs. Folks who have been fans all their lives. Folks, who aren’t always happy with what WWE have been doing lately. And the RAW show seems to be where they make their points.

Last year, we saw the “YES!” chant begin. The discontent with how Daniel Bryan was being treated, especially after losing his title in an 18 second match to a man who isn’t exactly universally liked, was being shown in a way that couldn’t be ignored. The whole show was being dominated by “YES!” chants. Now keep in mind, this wasn’t a thing before, this was the very first night we saw it. The fans homed in on something that Daniel did on the way to the ring, embraced it, and it became a rallying cry. It dominated promos from The Rock and also John Cena (to the point where both had to acknowledge it). They started to chant “¡SI!” for Del Rio. Daniel didn’t even perform that night on RAW but they put him in a dark match at the end. Here is what happened at the end of that match.

I like to think those fans changed some of the thinking back-stage. Bryan got a huge push since and is still part of most of the big happenings in the company now. And it’s well deserved, I must add.

Well, this year it was no different. I think there was 1 main moment where I think the amazing New Jersey crowd managed to make a point that I think was important, and one long moment where I think they were just having fun.

1) Dolph Ziggler

By far, THE biggest pop of the night was Dolph fiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinally cashing it in.

It’s been a long wait, but hopefully this will once-and-for-all legitimize Dolph as a top drawer talent. For years now, smart fans have been telling anyone who will listen that Dolph Ziggler is one of the best wrestlers in the industry. The guy has had to job for everyone and has been amazing doing it. He has all the skills but just not the opportunity. Fans have been getting ravenous waiting for him to cash in the Money In The Bank contract and when he finally did it he got not only the biggest reception of RAW but of the whole Wrestlemania weekend. Now, all I can do is pray that the boys in the back took notice and acts accordingly.

2) Fandango

You know, I’ve enjoyed Fandango. Before the name change, when he was just Johnny Curtis, he always impressed me on NXT as the guy who deserved a shot. When I found out his shot required a gimmick change, this gimmick change in particular, I thought “well, that’s the end of that guy”. This ballroom dancer schtick had “dead end” written all over it. But somehow he managed to find something fun with it and I’ve genuinely laughed at some of the “Faaaaaaahn-daaaaaahng-goooooo” antics.

Now, was the fans chanting his theme tune through half the show an endorsement of his excellence? No, it was fans just trying to have fun but hopefully it will give the guy a chance with what would have otherwise been a no-hoper. They did more for him in one night than WWE Creative did in 6 months.

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Much like last year, the post show promo (this time delivered by John Cena) had to address the crowd and particularly their reactions for both of the guys above.

But what does this mean for the future? It’s hard to tell. Like I said before, I hope this solidifies Ziggler’s place in the company the way it has for Bryan. But I think it emphasizes something else.

The vast majority of the crowd were above the age of 21. Any regular watcher of the WWE product will note that the opposite is the norm. 12 year olds often dominate the RAW and Smackdown crowds. The problem is, the crowds have been dead for far too long. Deathly quiet arenas have stagnated a product long overdue for an overhaul. The PG experiment has been divisive and while I think it’s probably been a positive as a whole they need to get some more grown ups back in to fill some seats and make some noise because wrestling is nothing without the crowd.

If only we could have this crowd every week.

The 1000th episode of RAW was aired this past week, and as per usual Vince turned it into equal parts car crash and joyous entertainment. I won’t go into a full break down of the episode but I would like to talk about the moments that stuck out for me. Overall, it was a decent show, nothing more, but it was a “kitchen sink” sort of broadcast with so many crazy parts that it deserves some mention.

As always when reviewing a show like this, if you haven’t seen it yet, there be spoilers a-hoy-hoy:

The DX Reunion

The sad state of Sean Waltman’s physical and psychological appearance aside, I was super happy to see the team back on screen. I have a huge soft spot in my heart for Billy Gunn, he was one of my favourite wrestlers growing up. Road Dogg is a guy who has turned a corner in his life and seems to be on the straight and narrow now, which is wonderful, and appears to still have a lot of skill on the mic even though he didn’t get a huge opportunity to show it off that night.

You could really tell the guys were having a lot of fun. With HHH’s wise-crack about everyone’s hairline to the butt-joke skit afterwards, it was definitely a party atmosphere when they were around. And with X-Pac’s madness aside, you could see how much it meant to the New Age Outlaws to be in a WWE ring again. And damn it, it meant a lot to me too, to see them there.

The Sonic advertisement.

I hope the King was sufficiently embarrassed.

Mae Young’s Hand-son.

Genuinely, I think this was a stroke of comedic genius. And if you’re too young to remember what this is in reference to, then you’re too young for me to explain it. But don’t worry, you don’t want to know. I wish I could forget.

This almost made the therapy worth it. Almost.

Dude Love’s entrance was longer than Brodus Clay’s match

That is all.

I’m really getting tired of squash matches. 

Lita… Wow. Yay APA.

In the words of Farooq “…damn!”. Lita still has it. All of it. And I like it. Yup.

I’ve kind of made a promise to myself not to make misogynistic comments online. So I’ll stop talking about Lita except to say that it’s a shame she is no longer with the WWE as she was a good talent in the ring and could genuinely wrestle.

I got a thrill seeing the APA back on TV too. That clothesline-from-hell still looks as crazy as it always did. God damn, that always looks like it hurts.

The Punk Heel Turn.

You know, there was rumours of Cena doing it which I dismissed off the bat. When the Rock challenged “the champion” to a match at the Royal Rumble, I figured it meant Cena would win the belt that night, which did nothing as a theory but make me sad, however it seemed logical that they would set up a Cena/Rock rematch. I was also convinced that Cena would win this one because to make him the first Money In The Back winner to not became champion, ON TOP OF making Cena lose on this big show… well I’m just shocked that this all happened. So well played WWE, well played.

So if a heel turn means Punk is still the champion… I’ll take it. I look forward to see what he comes up with.

Oh and before I forget…

…I, for one, welcome our new overlord.