The Club vs. Finn Balor & Samoa Joe (WWE RAW) Match Review

I was looking at Karl Anderson’s cagematch earlier, as one does on their day off. His WWE run is fascinating man, we’re somehow 567 matches deep and so little of it has stuck. I say that lovingly obviously, Karl is a favourite of mine and the creative has kicked his ass, but it’s still wild. Anyway, I was intrigued by if he’d shared the ring with Samoa Joe. This came to mind when listening to the Talk’n Shop reboot.

In the show’s previous life, Anderson told a tale in which he stared at the mirror long enough that Joe quipped “you know, you really think you’re something, don’t ya?” This has been my go to response to any show of confidence ever since. Regardless, they did indeed share the ring, meeting in five multi-man tags. They, along with Gallows, were a trio for the first, going six minutes with Big Cass, Finn Balor and Seth Rollins.

This is their second encounter, standing on opposite sides of their final televised overlap, outside of Rumble matches. Before that though, the insanity of their other matchups must be noted. They sent Greenville, South Carolina home happy as the dark main event in 2018, as AJ Styles and The Club battled Randy Orton, Samoa Joe and Shinsuke Nakamura, somehow. One year later, they’d tussled in Tokyo, as Triple H joined The Club for a hilarious 8-man tag against Joe, Baron Corbin, Bobby Lashley and Drew McIntyre.

None of that is my focus though, believe it or not, as we return to that second instance, heading to the November 13^th 2017 edition of RAW. The World Wrestling Federation are in Atlanta, Georgia for this one, building to a chaotic, wildly uneven Survivor Series. Balor and Joe are on the RAW team for that event, looking to build some chemistry here against an established duo. Joe is a heel, of course, as he was for almost the entirety of his main roster stint.

The only exception came at the end of his in-ring run, I believe, standing from the announce desk to stop some Seth Rollins shenanigans. At this juncture, Gallows and Anderson are in their NERD era, sporting t-shirts and all. As we know, anything vaguely funny must immediately become a grappler’s entire identity. Before the bell, Balor and Joe are already beefing, with the latter pushing Finn to the mat. That opens the door for an Anderson jumpstart, which is instantly overcome by the all-stars.

Their shine emerges from there and Booker T immediately declares that they are on the same page. They are arguing seconds later and I must say, I’m not sure that Booker is on the same page as anyone. Gallows takes a sweet clothesline along the way, with Balor and Joe continuing to kick ass coming out of the break. In fairness to Booker, the lads are now making quick tags. Maybe this should’ve been a thing for a minute? Probably not though.

Gallows eventually distracts Balor as he climbs up for his finish, allowing Anderson to cut his old cohort off. The heat on Balor is mostly just the lads laying around, outside of Gallows’ glorious superkick. As the pace slows, Booker T is fully unlocked as an analyst, pondering The Survivor Series. He declares John Cena to be “the ultimate team player – scary when it comes to the team format.” Fascinating. That match would eventually be a Triple H vehicle, obviously, setting up a Braun Strowman match that never happened.

Anyway, “Machine Gun” sits in a hold long enough that “Joe” chants emerge, sort of. This is 2017 RAW man, they don’t really make much sound unless Mickie James is saying “biscuit butt” or whatever. Anderson’s spinebuster remains awesome. Then, now, forever. After a while, Balor avoids Gallows’ big elbow, landing a Pele kick to earn a faceplant sell. Joe’s hot tag follows and absolutely rocks, kicking ass in an instant.

He wipes out the lads almost singlehandedly, opening the door for Balor to pin Anderson with his finish. As the referee counts three, Joe strolls off as only he can and folks, do they get any cooler? Seriously, do you know the presence it takes to seem cool on this show? It’s extraordinary, he’s not human. Bits aside, the finish here actually rocks and gets over the all-star nature of RAW’s Survivor Series team.

I mean, it’s not much obviously, nor is it supposed to be. TV tag to kill some time and give PPV players a win. Even still, the execution is enjoyable, including a very flattering presentation of the big man. I wouldn’t recommend this to anyone other than myself, a weird guy that loves all four fellas. If you’re normal, you don’t remember this and it’s not worth revisiting.

I am not normal however, so this ruled, actually.