Opener
Roman Reigns began the show and was met by a thunderous reaction. I’ll tell you now, WWE have a lot to answer for after the finish of HIAC and the fans weren’t shy about letting it be known.
Roman invited Brock to the ring for his rematch since he wanted it so bad, and after the beat down he dished out to both Braun and Roman last night at Hell in a Cell it seemed likely that’s what he would do, but Braun responded with his presence instead. They bickered about who gets to get revenge on Lesnar, but GM Corbin made a choice to have a Triple Threat with all three of them in November at the Crown Jewel PPV in Saudi Arabia.. seriously. That happened. Braun piped up and said what we were all thinking, he said that the decision “sucked”. Then Heyman showed up to basically say that Lesnar accepts. After all was said and done, Strowman ran after Heyman, we have a match set for almost 2 months away and we also had an announcement that Reigns will defend his title later on against Baron Corbin! Which is not a bad main event to have, but then again a Hell in a Cell match between Braun Strowman and Roman Reigns for the WWE Universal Heavyweight Championship with Mick Foley as Special Referee seemed for sure that it was going to be out of this world, but they still managed to ruin that, so..
Dean Ambrose vs Drew McIntyre
No valets for either man, totally one on one and this match was so good! These two work super well together! They hit hard and manage to make eachother look a million quid in between the ropes! Drew picked up the win after moving out of the way from a Dusty Elbow off the top to the outside and then as Dean beat the 10 count, he was hit with a Claymore for the 3. I liked everything about this match. Great opener. My only grievance is that I wish it’d been a little longer, but that’s great because now I’m looking forward to more from these two! I also liked that Renee and Corey began a dialogue including references to her marriage to Ambrose too. Nice to see that be acknowledged.
Backstage
Dolph greeted McIntyre backstage when Corbin shows up to say that’s one Shield member down and two more to go. Corbin said Ziggler should invoke his rematch clause for the IC Title, Dolph disagrees after his fall from the cell, but Corbin said that he doesn’t think Rollins is even there after his Cell fall and if Rollins can’t compete then he will strip him of his title! So Dolph is suddenly all fired up for it and Corbin exclaimed loudly that he is damn good at his job. I love this. Two title matches at this point! You think the WWE felt like they had something to make up for or something?
Backstage
Ronda Rousey was chatting to Nikki and Brie Bella and Natalya where she let them know she’s doing an open challenge for the title later! Once again, that’s 3.. THREE title matches on RAW! Or so I thought at this point. Definitely making up for Sunday night’s rubbish ending me thinks and you know what? It was at this point of the show that I forgave them.
Backstage
Rollins rolled in to the building and was informed of his match for the title later and the stipulation set out by Corbin. Rollins said that Corbin may be the acting GM but someone should remind him that it’s still “Monday Night Rollins”. Nice little addition to lead into the story of the match.
Promo
GONG…. GONG... The Undertaker came out next and weirdly didn’t take 48 hours getting to the ring! Which was a nice change. He did his whole Deadman shtick talking about broken souls, The Grim Reaper and the such like, the nostalgia was flowing hard in this promo. Taker verbally attacked HHH for being a corporate stooge now. He said that HBK is going to be in HHH’s corner and he’s okay with that because in his corner will be his brother, Kane! Super Showdown seems to be shaping up to be a great show!
Bayley w/ Sasha Banks vs Dana Brooke
Dana was going it alone after apparently totally severing from Titus Worldwiiide. She looked very strong but she still lost. This was quite boring really, predictable and not reallt relevant. Nothing else happened. No storyline update on either one which sucks big time! Bayley and Sasha Banks just cringe me out now too. WWE have ruined them I think so even when they do break, people won’t care as much. They should have pulled the trigger months ago. Same as they did Reigns back when he almost won the Rumble during the Shield’s second year on the roster and everyone was chanting for him to win it when he was one of the last two. Look how that turned out.
AOP w/ Drake Maverick vs more Jobbers
Vicious style squash match. I don’t care if it’s the same thing again. I love AOP and this pairing with Drake Maverick is golden!
Backstage
Corbin and Ziggler are talking about their plan until Rollins comes in to say he’s not backing out and that he’s going to the ring.
Seth Rollins vs Dolph Ziggler for the WWE Intercontinental Championship
Neither man looked 100% in this one. But it was still a fantastic match. These dudes are astonishing together. Rollins ended up winning with a Stomp and retaining his title which was nice but I wish the IC Title was being utilised a bit more instead of an accessory to a tag team feud.
Backstage
Roman Reigns interview. Roman says he’s not worried about Corbin. That’s it.
Ronda Rousey’s WWE RAW Women’s Champions open challenge
After the challenge was issued, Natalya’s music hit and she is dragged out by The Riott Squad. Ruby accepted her open challenge but then the Squad attacked Rousey instead. Enter the Bellas to make the save. Just a promotion for their match in Australia. Damn that was a shame. I was pumped for the title match!
Elias vs Bobby Lashley
Hey! Elias gets a real match for the first time in months (The Curt Hawkins match doesn’t count). But before the match Elias jams out some Blues, 12 barring and all, and it was pristinely played too! Elias is super over in Texas! Even after insulting their NFL team. As he was about to play his song, Lio Rush interrupted him! He cut a promo until Elias interrupted him and asked “Who’s kid is this? How irresponsible! Who let’s their kid get up on the ramp and start running their mouth?” which made me laugh so much that I rewound it and watched it again. Savage burn! But Lio introduced the man he now apparently represents, Bobby Lashley.. WHAT!? Why?? Lio is NOT supposed to be a manager! He’s amazing on the microphone but he’s bordering on supernatural in the ring! Stupid choice if you ask me. I hope they don’t keep cherry picking 205 Live guys for Managers just because Vince has got a hard-on for them again.
Lio Rush is on commentary for the match too. He confirms his managerial role, I wasn’t interested in this until KO came out and tried to get Lio, but Lio was flipping and rolling and leapfrogging and Enzuguri-ing and all sorts! He works well with the bigger guys. It’s been so long since the two sizes have mixed that I’d forgotten how entertaining it can be! If this is how they book him and have him as a wrestler too, that’d work. He kicked Elias in the head so Elias won by DQ. But screw it, I’ll take it!
Mickie James & Alicia Fox w/ Alexa Bliss vs Ember Moon & ???
Ember got a huge pop from her home town of Dallas, Texas! Her partner did too, the returning Nia Jax!
Nice match! High spots, flowing action and hard hitting shots! Ember Moon and Nia won after an Eclipse and a Samoan Drop. This match was great and I loved seeing the home town response to Moon and Nia is back! What’s not to love about that?
Roman Reigns vs Baron Corbin for the WWE Universal Heavyweight Championship
Corbin took Roman Reigns far and beat him down. Roman fought back but Corbin ended up hitting him with a chair. Het got DQ’d… but then restarted the match as a No DQ match!
Roman Reigns vs Baron Corbin for the WWE Universal Heavyweight Championship No Disqualifications
Braun Strowman approaches the ring and destroys Roman for a bit, until Reigns reverses, but then gets attacked by Corbin. Deep Six hits and a near fall causes some frustrations. Ziggles and Mac come down to help, Braun is involved, The Shield also come down to assist and Gangrel popped out from behind Braun’s beard! It was pandemonium! Ref didn’t call this match off though.. But I thought that’s what we did now when someone interferes in a match with no DQs? Or is that just if Lesnar interferes?
Anyway, the match ended as you all predicted it would. Roman hit a spear and got the 3 count. The show went off the air with the two teams staring at eachother.
Conclusion
8.5/10 🌟
This week was really good. One of the better Raws this year, but still had some random matches with no direction like Bayley and Brooke and some segments that were unnecessary like the Roman interview and the Women chatting segment. But all in all, it was a good show and I had fun watching it. Elias had a match and we had 2 championship matches, some great storyline developments and set ups for the coming PPV. So I can’t really complain but I’m still yet to crown a Perfect 10! 10! 10!/10 to any show!
Thank you so much for your support in reading my work. It reallt does mean a lot to me as it’s not exactly quick work with 3 kids and a schedule to keep to, so the replies and the retweets and most importantly the views really do make a difference. So thank you all.
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– CB
