The WWE was back on the road this week and flew into England for a live instalment of Raw, which was as highly convoluted and entertaining (but nowhere near as funny) as a Monty Python sketch.

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Alas, there were no dead parrots but a cartoon-like show unfolded which was bizarrely brilliant – in a similar mould to the subversive work of Terry Gilliam.

Home favourites Bad News Barrett and Paige were wheeled out to varying degrees of success in the ring (Barrett lost to John Cena and Paige won the right to become the No. 1 contender for the Divas title) but both left their homeland with reputations enhanced.

Cena’s match with Barrett was a real treat and the late assault from Rusev and the setup for a Russian chain match at the upcoming Extreme Rules PPV was  a throwback to the unique novelty of pay-per-views as enjoyable as John Cleese’s Ministry of Silly Walks.

Unlike Python’s superb array of hits across TV, film, music and the stage, this Raw was not short of duds. Like many a sketch show, sometimes you will simply miss the mark. 

For the WWE, this week’s RAW fell miserably short in its middle stages as a number of the card were as lifeless as that dead parrot and a number of the UK fans would have been looking for an exchange.

Dean Ambrose vs Adam Rose, Fandango vs Stardust and Damien Mizdow vs The Miz were all poor affairs that offered little in terms of progress to storylines. At this stage you felt WWE Creative’s Knights of the Round Table were all very naughty boys.

Thanks to a monstrous chokeslam from Big Show on Roman Reigns atop a London cab (the WWE never misses a trick) and another excellent spot from Seth Rollins and Randy Orton, the show was saved – much like the bank accounts of Python’s retiring comedic geniuses by their sell-out tour last year.

It will be these bouts and the Cena vs Rusev showdown that will truly deliver an Extreme Rules to remember, but the incessant need to turn Kane from Demon to office-worker and back again is something that has long been tiresome and only seemed to build momentum on Monday.

Like that most famous of Flying Circus lines, “now for something completely different.”

MOVE OF THE WEEK – Big Show’s chokeslam on Roman Reigns
After being heckled by the crowd and Reigns, Show turned the tables on the former Shield member with a huge chokeslam. 

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