The main event of Monday Night Raw was, on the surface, another example of Braun Strowman's complete and utter physical dominance over everyone in the WWE, regardless of size. In the third match of a trilogy against the Big Show that stretches back to February, Strowman survived a physical war and ultimately came out looking as strong as he's ever been by powerslamming Big Show for the victory and then tossing him through the side of the steel cage they had just competed in.
But more than anything else, the main event and 10-minute overrun to Raw provided a healthy dose of closure. Closure to a trilogy that was left open-ended after a superplex collapsed the ring the last time they faced off in April. Closure to a stretch of Big Show's career that started so brightly, as he and Strowman put on a spectacle that no one could have expected. Their encounter was delayed as Big Show was dragged for a while in the midst of a forgettable Big Cass/Enzo Amore rivalry, and then came charging back on Monday night.
And it might just have been the final bit of closure that the Big Show needed in his career. More than 18 years after he made his debut in the WWE by throwing Stone Cold Steve Austin through a steel cage at WWE's St. Valentine's Day Massacre pay-per-view, Strowman crying out, "I'm going to put you out to pasture, old man" and tossing Big Show through the cage in a similar fashion screams of things having come full circle.
Now, we don't know if Big Show is indeed done and I wouldn't complain if he returned to TV for the right idea, but these moments were something special. The slow, labored and assisted trip back up the ramp, selling the big moment for every last drop it's worth, and the pause to acknowledge the fans in attendance certainly did little to dissuade the notion of this being the potential end to his run.
EXCLUSIVE: After being thrown through the #SteelCage by @BraunStrowman, @WWETheBigShow is helped backstage by @WWE officials. #RAW pic.twitter.com/3Y58kRrqrG
- WWE (@WWE) September 5, 2017
If this is truly it, then Big Show's career would come to a close with two seemingly contradictory thoughts. He's done everything there is to do in the world of professional wrestling over the course of a 22-year career, having held almost every major title there was to hold in both WCW and WWE and competed against almost all of the legends of the last two decades of this business. He'd also be leaving the ring at a time when a big man renaissance feels as though it's just starting to build.
There's obviously Strowman, who became a major hit despite limited in-ring experience due to his raw strength and charisma. He was able to show just how far he's come against the Big Show in this trilogy, and Big Show similarly seemed to find something of a fountain of youth in squaring off with Strowman. He's headed for a one-on-one match with Brock Lesnar, another once-in-a-generation big man, in a Universal title match that would have seemingly been unimaginable even a few months ago.
But more than that, a once-in-a-generation crop of dynamic big men have risen to the top of the independent wrestling ranks, just as Big Show seems ready (or close to ready) to hang up his boots. If you're unaware of who guys like Keith Lee, Donovan Dijak, WALTER and Jeff Cobb are, just to name a few, a Google search might blow your mind. These are guys that have many of the big-man attributes that Vince McMahon has always been alleged to be enamored with, while being able to do the kind of high-flying moves (especially against one another) that men half their size push their limits to execute.
With Dijak heavily rumored to be headed towards the WWE fold (Update: he reported to the Performance Center on Tuesday), and others amongst them certain to be on WWE's radar, it would be something of a shame if Big Show never got to see what he could do with them. If he is indeed done, it would be tough to quantify just how much the Big Show has done for big men and the wrestling business in general over the course of his career.
John Cena and Roman Reigns take it down a few notches
One week after John Cena and Roman Reigns threw some no-holds-barred verbal haymakers at one another, they went for a slightly more subdued Round 2 on Monday night. While Cena certainly seemed to be the winner the first time around, Reigns seemed to hang in there far better this time around.
After Cena dispatched Jason Jordan to open the night's action in a very competitive match, Reigns' music hit and he strolled to the ring. Words were once again exchanged, with each man casually calling the other a "fake-a-- b----" in the course of their discussion, with Reigns quick to point out the hypocrisy in the Cena versus Jordan match. Why should Cena, a 16-time world champion, take so long to dispatch a rookie? Was he leading Jordan along with a false sense of security, only to break his heart, or had he truly lost a step?
Cena proceeded to label Reigns a "conceited, know-it-all golden boy," an interesting direction to go in considering his own career path and status. Reigns brought the proceedings to a close by asking the Omaha crowd, "Do you want to see John Cena beat my a--?", to which the crowd responded with the biggest pop Reigns has received in years. He called Cena out and told him to back up his "big mouth", and Cena backed down.
This round may have been artificially skewed in Reigns' direction, depending on how "real" you feel this rivalry is becoming, but it served as a nice little cool-down before the ramp-up to No Mercy really gets going in the weeks to come.
Hits and misses
-- While manufactured losing streaks can often feel labored and risk losing the interest of the audience, the Jordan versus Cena match was absolutely the high-water mark of Jordan's main roster tenure thus far. The match was coming together nicely when he hit a chain of back-to-back Northern Lights suplexes, finishing with a bridging pinfall attempt. It got the audience in Omaha and at home alike as excited as they've been for Jordan since he's come to Raw, and though there's still work to be done to make people care more fully about him, this was a nice step in the right direction. Drawing the parallels to Cena's debut against Kurt Angle, including a video clip, was a nice touch as well.
-- What was initially announced as Alexa Bliss vs. Sasha Banks for the Raw women's championship quickly became a Fatal 4-Way match that includes Nia Jax and Emma. The unusual pairings of Banks/Bliss and Jax/Emma worked well, and this match was given plenty of room to work and breathe. There was a lot to like about what happened here: the cowardly heel Bliss, fueled by adrenaline and confidence, slapping Jax only to immediately regret the decision, Emma tagging her way in to claim the victory at the end and clearly Jax being the centerpiece of the match. This should all make for an interesting dynamic at No Mercy.
UH-OH! #RAW @AlexaBliss_WWE @NiaJaxWWE pic.twitter.com/0VWapVC9yo
- WWE Universe (@WWEUniverse) September 5, 2017
-- The Miz versus Jeff Hardy was far better than it had any business being in 2017. It may be pushing it to think Hardy has one last world title run in him, but both Jeff and Matt seem to have something left to give in the realm of singles wrestling.
-- The Raw tag team championships are officially on the line at No Mercy as well, with Sheamus & Cesaro getting their rematch. We got a rare Heath Slater & Rhyno sighting, which was nice, but Gallows & Anderson were made to look the fools once again, several times over. It still boggles my mind to try to understand why you'd have them under the same roof as AJ Styles or Finn Balor and not have them as menacing heavies, especially if they're not going to be in the tag team title picture.
-- Speaking of Balor, he and Bray Wyatt had another spooky face-to-(on a video screen) face where Wyatt called him out for not being able to get the job done without tapping into the demon. And so we get the third match of a trilogy at No Mercy.
-- The jury is still out on whether Enzo Amore and the cruiserweight division will be a good fit, but there are seemingly some glimmers of hope. With so many dynamic in-ring performers, a personality-heavy character certainly doesn't seem as though it would hurt.