Opener
Dean Ambrose is out first all kitted out in a new waistcoat and his Shield dog tags (cough, cough.. new Heel gear.. cough, cough.) He’s out with Charlie Carusso interviewing him about his loyalty to the Shield. He said he’s thought about leaving, stabbing them in the back, but everyone’s asking whether or not he’s gonna snap and turn, he ran around the subject but ultimately said the world needs to stop trying to figure him out. He said he will always ride with them into battle as they’re brothers.. swerving us fo’ sho’ though. This was a great promo from Ambrose. He’s really worked on his Mic skills. As Ambrose was about to exit, substitute GM Baron Corbin came to the stage and said he’s going to give Ambrose 3 choices, IC Title match, Universal Title Match or Braun Strowman tonight. Ambrose said he won’t dance for a carrot and said what about option 4? Ambrose vs Baron Corbin right now? But Corbin made the choice for him to face Strowman. Right away!
Dean Ambrose vs Braun Strowman
This match was really something! Some seriously decent fluidity between these two and I never saw that coming. As the match was getting really interesting, Braun hit a Powerslam on Ambrose and instead of pinning, picked him up for a second one, but before that could happen, Roman Reigns interrupted and attacked Strowman for absolutely no reason at all causing Strowman to win. Then Corbin made the matches of Rollins vs McIntyre and Reigns vs Dolph Ziggler. The latter of which is happening straight away.
Roman Reigns vs Dolph Ziggler
Roman wanted to put the Title on the line and gave it to the ref to hold up, the crowd popped for it and then Corbin entered and said no to any title matches, including Rollins for later. However this match was awesome regardless. So many back and forths and near falls and the Spear that inevitably ended it was extra brutal. Roman Reigns got the win. I liked this match too. So far Raw is on fire!
Ruby Riott vs Ronda Rousey
Alliteration gone mad there. The Bellas accompanied the WWE RAW Women’s Champion. Liv Morgan looked a little out of sorts when she came out with the Squad but lovely to see her looking okay. Ruby basically ended up trying to figure out how to attack Rousey and like a true gritty Heel, she used the outside environment of course! Looked like Ruby had the upper hand. This was a really good match, both women have been on such a role lately that they matched eachother really well and Ruby is such a great Heel, fish hooking and tights pulling without the Referee seeing it. The tables turned and Rousey hit her finishers and got a tap out victory. Fantastic match! Ruby got a near fall in the form of a schoolboy roll up and I genuinely thought she was gonna win. Ruby is a future champion 100%.
Bobby Roode w/ Chad Gable vs Konnor w/Viktor
In an attempt to avenge his defeated Conrad, this week Bobby Roode is going to take on the Ascension’s powerhouse. Konnor got yet another win! This could be the beginning of a star. Konnor looked great and Viktor hopefully will get the same treatment soon. The Ascension were unstoppable in NXT and have been nothing but a joke since coming up from the black and yellow brand.
B Team vs The Revival
This had the potential to be incredible. It was rather short though and B Team stole the win in a babyface fashion. But after the match AOP came out and destroyed The B Team. Hitting their running powerbomb smashy smash thing. Sending a message to the division.
Backstage
Roman is talking to Ambrose and says he didnt know if Ambrose was being serious or not about his words earlier where he said he has thought about leaving The Shield and how he realised how quickly he was replaced when he got hurt. But his response to Reigns was even more of an indication of a Heel turn as Ambrose replied with “if I wasn’t such a nice guy, I could be the Universal Champion right now.” I am loving this storyline. It’s so fresh and it involves 3 Babyface guys and 3 Heel guys that are on a tilt between the line of Face and Heel. I am a huge fan of this angle.
Backstage
Corbin is talking to AOP and he says they’re getting the job done and said they should keep it up as they’re looking great. He shook their hands and AOP and Drake Maverick looked chuffed to bits with that!
Susan G. Komen segment
Dana Warrior was in the crowd with some breast cancer survivors and they say that breast cancer is #Unacceptable. Which I think is great. Please join the fighting team and donate what you can here.
Backstage
Strowman is talking to McIntyre and Ziggler about what he needs them to do. He said he won his match, he needs Drew to go beat Rollins and that they certainly don’t need any weak links, whilst looking at Ziggler, to which McIntyre and Strowman walked away and left Dolph there. Not the way I’d go about this. This was weird for me as I always put Dolph as the leader of the faction. Guess not.
Drew McIntyre vs Seth Rollins
This one started off hot as Hell and it ended scorching so white hot that even Te Kã would ask them to turn the heat down a scootch. That Sidewalk Slam off the steps to the side of the ring was savage! The movement of this match was incredibly fluid. The fans were totally into it and so was I. Both men look ridiculously powerful and these two work so frickin well against eachother that I want to see this again! The match ended with one of the best sequences I’ve seen in a long time! Drew got reversed into a running Buckle Bomb, straight into Avada Kedavra and then Rollins went for a Stomp, but before he could, Dolph Ziggler’s music hit and he rolled in the ring, avoided the Stomp by rolling out straight away, which was enough to distract Rollins who ended up having his face kicked off by McIntyre and losing. McZigglIntyre beat on Rollins after and Reigns came out to even the odds, then Strowman, then Ambrose wielding an axe handle. But they got their asses whipped by the Dogs of War eventually. A Little bit of déja vu going on here.. pretty sure this is almost frame for frame what happened a month or so ago. Still enjoyable though.
Backstage
Elias is tuning his low E string when Kevin Owens walks up and talks to him about his free stuff he gets given like mints, spinach, water and cashew nuts.. But KO says that Elias doesn’t like cashews and Elias confirms it, then throws them in the face of the guy getting it all for him. He then gives KO a water and let’s him have at the spinach. Maybe this is a little more than a one off partnership for Kevin and Elias? I liked this little bit of them backstage. They’ve got really good chemistry.
Kevin Owens w/ Elias vs Bobby Lashley w/ Lio Rush
Elias and Owens cut a promo where they totally struck a nerve with the crowd when dissing their basketball team. They went insane and booed them louder than any crowd I’ve ever seen other than when Batista entered at 30 in that infamous Rumble. It was insane. Lio Rush eventually showed up and they exchanged some words, he introduced Lashley and it was as if all the energy had been sucked out the moment he walked in. I really don’t like his work, it’s so boring and really just the same all the time. The match ended with Elias getting Lio into a Full Nelson, distracting Lashley and Owens won via roll up. Elias and KO then got the upper hand after the match after hitting Lashley with a pop up powerbomb. This was okay. Just not that great.
Bayley w/Finn Balor vs Alicia Fox w/ Sunil Singh & Jinder Mahal
Finn Balor and Bayley come out together and do Bayley’s entrance together, this was awesome and made me really happy, then Jinder and Alicia Fox came out, Foxy has blonde hair now. Honestly it looks quite nice, until she moves and it looks like a bad quality costume wig. The match though, was great! Both Women showed a lot of dominance. I love Balor and Bayley together, the fact they’re best buds outside of the ring shines through really brightly. But Jinder attempted to get involved and took a Slingblade for his troubles then Foxy got into the Bayley to Belly hutch and ate a big one for a 3 count. Decent match. Kept me smiling.
HBK promo
HBK came out to talk about how this whole feud with HHH and Taker changed when Taker made it personal. He talked about how he’d always choose HHH to win over Taker that’s when Kane appeared behind HBK, then Taker appeared and got Shawn up for the Tombstone, until HHH ran and started trading shots with the big men, it didn’t work out for DX though as the Brother of Destruction ended up Chokeslamming both men and hitting HHH with a Tombstone before walking up the ramp. This was special. It gave me goosebumps knowing that this is probably the last time these 4 guys ever share a ring together on Monday Night Raw. Nostalgia is a funny thing.
Conclusion
8/10 🌟
This was a really good episode of RAW. I’m loving the storyline with Ambrose and The Shield, loving the conflict between and in amongst the teams of The Shield and the Dogs of War, loved the women’s matches this week too. Nobody got concussed which is nice and Brie wasn’t put in a position where she could botch either which gives her a break (I may feel that Brie needs some more training and I made some jokes last week but Liv seriously got hurt and the amount of abuse Brie got as a result is disgusting. It’s Pro Wrestling, guys and gals. Everyone makes mistakes. To demonise one is to demonise most! Through the years Lesnar broke Hardcore Holly’s neck after a botched powerbomb, Owen Heart broke Steve Austin’s neck after a botched inverted piledriver, Goldberg ended Bret Hart’s career after superkicking him in the jaw, in the last 3 or 4 years alone Samoa Joe nearly ended Seth Rollins’ career with a botched Coquina Clutch, Sheamus kicked Jeff Hardy’s tooth out of his head, Cesaro nearly had his front teeth shot into his brain after a botched leg-toss, Seth Rollins broke Cena’s nose after a jumping knee attack, he botched a Barricade Bomb and destroyed Balor’s shoulder and he also ended Sting’s career after a botched Buckle Bomb and it was only 3 years ago Rey Mysterio was involved when Perro Aguayo Jr died in the ring after getting hit wrong by Mysterio and yet no one went mad at them for it. Maybe some people, but never to this extent. It’s needless.) – Sorry about my rant there, I just think bullying of any kind is disgusting and intolerable behaviour. Anyway, Raw.. The only real let down was Bobby Lashley and the B Team/Revival “Match”. Other than that, I really enjoyed it.
Match of the Night – Drew McIntyre vs Seth Rollins
The match was amazing. The movement was very continual and fast. Great spots, loved the finish and it ended with a beat down on the Hounds of Justice. What’s not to like?
Performance of the Night – Dean Ambrose
Since returning, the Lunatic has been on fire. His attitude has deepened, his moveset has broadened with his shoulders and his microphone work is almost night and day compared to how it was. The storyline he’s involved in needs to be told well and it needs to be told right. I have no complaints thus far with anything this man is doing.
Thank you all so much for stopping by, I appreciate every single one of you, please feel free to comment, like and share and make sure to Too Sweet that follow button on the Twitter machine @KayfabeToday. Peace and love to one and all! ✌🏻💚
– CB
