There must be ratings in Enzo Amore, or else he wouldn't be opening the "flagship" every week ...
WWE has a lot of confidence in Enzo Amore, and while we don’t have the data of minute-by-minute ratings, something tells me that Enzo is being viewed favorably in that data.
Enzo opened Monday Night Raw last week with a promo opposite Sasha Banks. This week, Enzo again opened Raw with a promo, along with Big Cass, opposite Chris Jericho and Kevin Owens.
Enzo’s promos are golden, and if they weren’t generating eyeballs for WWE, he wouldn’t be opening the show on consecutive weeks. In the history of pro wrestling, no one has been able to touch The Rock on promos. No one. Period.
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John Cena was a shriveled grape when he went toe-to-toe with The Rock, aside from the one rapping promo he did prior to one of their two WrestleMania matches. Punk was close, but his promos were different than Rock’s. Punk’s promos were gritty and had hard edges. Rock’s promos are light, often funny, and rip to the core. Punk and Rock got to the same end, but took very different routes.
Enzo goes down the path that Rock blazed, all while working that often charming, yet at the same time annoying, Italian accent.
“How you doin?”
The Sopranos went off the air 10 years ago and coming from a Sicilian family (don’t let the stereotypical Irish last name fool you, my mother is 100% Italiano), I’ve never really heard anyone say “how you doin?” We call pasta sauce “gravy” and there are pounds of macaroni served with every meal - including Thanksgiving - but I can’t recall anyone in my family ever using that phony, “how you doin?” voice.
That’s part of Enzo’s charm, though. He makes it work. Heck, entire arenas are chanting “HOW YOU DOIN!?!” on a weekly basis.
“HOW YOU DOIN?!?!” is becoming 2016’s “IF YOU SMELLLLL!”
We’re literally five months into Enzo being on the main roster, and given his size he’s never going to be the megastar that Rock turned into. But on the mic, in that wrestling ring, he’s close. Maybe the closest WWE has ever had.
Bada boom.
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1. Chris Jericho beat Enzo Amore via DQ
Enzo takes a loss here but it was a cheap win for Jericho, and builds some heat for their SummerSlam match in two weeks.
Enzo’s mic work prior to the match was again excellent and he’s proving to be one of the most entertaining members of the Raw roster.
2. Braun Strowman beat Jorel Nelson
Another quick squash win for Strowman. WWE needs to stick with the same formula here because it’s working.
Nelson actually received a ring entrance here, and Strowman had an incredibly menacing look as he was coming to the ring. That sold me. They continue to develop and mold Strowman the right way, while protecting his limited abilities.
3. Darren Young beat Titus O’Neil
I think Titus O’Neil is the heel in this scenario? Honestly, it’s hard to tell and WWE hasn’t done a fantastic job explaining it. However, Corey Graves, the heel commentator, was upset that Young grabbed tights on the win, so I would assume that means that Titus O’Neil is the heel?
There’s too much thinking going on, though. WWE needs to make this a little more clear and maybe more people would connect with it.
4. Cesaro beat Sheamus
This match was more enjoyable than I thought it would be, but there was a lot of hard-hitting physicality here and both Sheamus and Cesaro felt like they were bringing something to the show that otherwise wasn’t there.
5. Neville & Sin Cara beat The Dudley Boyz
Filler! There’s always some of it on these way-too-long three-hour Raw shows, and this was it here.
Sin Cara just shouldn’t exist anymore. I’m not wishing a premature death on anyone, but repackaging Hunico as something other than Sin Cara would be the way to go. Kalisto has become the breakout star from that tag team, and pushing Sin Cara as a singles wrestler at this point makes literally no sense.
He’s Bart Gunn to Billy Gunn’s Mr. Ass. When tag teams separate, one wrestler generally goes on to do good things and the other one generally goes on to get released.
Doing something different with Sin Cara could change that. Otherwise, in a few months, I fear that he’ll be wished the best in his future endeavors (if history is any indication).
6. Sasha Banks beat Dana Brooke
Interesting match, and only seemed to take place to get Brooke out of the SummerSlam match -- by losing, she can’t interfere now.
From that standpoint, it furthered a storyline, but it didn’t get me anymore excited for Sasha vs. Charlotte at SummerSlam.
7. Luke Gallows beat Kofi Kingston
This match was over in just over one minute. It was basically a squash match. Going back a few segments, I would have rather they cut the Sin Cara/Neville tag match and gave Kofi more time in this match to look like less of a schlub against Gallows.
8. Rusev beat Cesaro to retain the U.S. Title
Rusev already had the match booked against Roman Reigns at SummerSlam, so we all knew he was retaining the title somehow in this match, but this was another really good showing for Cesaro.
Sheamus interfering in the match was logical, given the storyline, and likely sets up a Cesaro-Sheamus match for SummerSlam -- although given the number of matches on the card, maybe that’s the pre-show match -- and that’s not a bad thing, either.
Roman Reigns came down at the end, spearing Rusev to set up their SummerSlam U.S. Title match.
Reigns, by the way, has been cheered more the last few weeks and it’s because WWE has taken him out of that main-event picture. He came back, was beaten twice, and now has taken a step back.
The crowd seems willing to accept Roman Reigns as a babyface, just as long as he’s not forced as the top babyface in the company. Looking back, the suspension might be the best thing to ever happen to Reigns, because without it, Reigns is still likely being pushed at the top of the card.
