The Overtimer’s Jordan Huie here once again, this time covering Raw! You can check back here for live recap and results from tonight’s episode of Monday Night Raw!
Roman Reigns opens the show.
As he makes his way out we see a video recapping the storyline Roman has been in, plugging the supposed reveal of Reigns’ attacker tomorrow night on SmackDown. And Dolph Ziggler is out to face him… it’d be amazing if this was a full-length match. Before the match Ziggler gets on the mic and says he’s glad Roman is okay after what nearly happened to him recently. But he says bad things almost happening to him doesn’t compare to all the bad things that have really happened to Dolph. ‘I thought Goldberg had to wait six months before spearing me again!’ He walks in and than surprises Reigns with a superkick!
Dolph Ziggler vs. Roman Reigns
Bell rings, Roman takes over immediately, though he does still sell the superkick pretty well. Ziggler bails to the outside, Roman follows but Dolph shoves him into the barricade and he bounces off right into a Zig Zag onto the floor! And that takes us to the first commercial break. Guess we’ve got a match after all.
Back in the ring, Roman gets the advantage back for a bit but Ziggles gets back into it with a Tornado DDT and then a second Zig-Zag! So naturally that’s a nearfall. Dolph sets up for a superkick, countered with a Superman Punch and I’m almost shocked Dolph kicked out. Roman sets up the spear… but Ziggler counters with a fameasser, nicely done! Nearfall, obviously. Dolph gets upset and starts yelling at Roman to do something. Idiot charge into the corner, met with a spear! And that is it.
Winner: Roman Reigns
Nice match.
We get a video of Sasha’s appearance last week.
Promo from Becky backstage. She claims that the reason she always dares everyone to come after her is to get them all at their best. Becky says Sasha is the greatest woman on the roster to never be great.
Cut to Jerry Lawler in the ring with the King’s Court. King of course plugs the King Of The Ring, as is mandatory. He picks Cedric Alexander and Ricochet to make it to semis, and is about to make his pick for SmackDown… but the lights start to dim! Lawler wisely makes his exit as the whole place goes dark! Cole is freaking out with concern for Lawler as the lights shine… King sadly didn’t make it out as he was caught on the stage… with the Fiend right behind him! The mandible claw follows and King is out!
We come back in mourning over this and a KOTR teaser tag team match is up next.
Ricochet & The Miz vs. Drew McIntyre & Baron Corbin
Ricochet heard the comments from last week and is wearing his Nightwing gear without the shirt now. Moonsault off the second rope from Ricochet onto everyone leads us to commercial! We go back to Baron beating on the Miz. McIntyre tags in and tosses him all the way across the ring with a Fallaway Slam! Baron does his little gimmick of slipping outside and going around the ringpost for absolutely no reason before clotheslining Miz in the corner. Ricochet tags in for the hot comeback! After flying around the ring, it’s capped off with an enziguri followed by a front dropkick to Corbin!
McIntyre comes in, gets a superkick from Ricochet leading to a Skullcrushing Finale from the Miz. Ricochet does his kickflip, but runs into a Deep Six for a nearfall. Corbin idiot charges into the corner, Miz pulls Ricochet away for the save, sets up for the Recoil (single knee codebreaker) for the finish.
Winners: Ricochet & The Miz
Simple, effective, right man won and right man lost.
Clip of Sasha backstage, now set for a setdown interview later on with the unfortunate demise of Jerry Lawler earlier. She is wearing an extremely bedazzled dress.
Cole begins a satellite interview with Booker T. Booker comments on how dangerous the Fiend is before putting over the importance of winning King Of The Ring. He’s asked who his pick is and he’s going with Drew McIntyre.
And… well, seems the US title match is up right now.
WWE United States Championship: AJ Styles (c) vs. Braun Strowman
Bell rings, AJ foolishly slaps Braun in the face. Braun shoves him into the corner, AJ escapes and goes for a chopblock… but Strowman is too sturdy. AJ bails and makes Braun follow him around the ring. He’s looking a might faster than the last time I saw him. Braun with a pop-up back body drop, I dunno if that was intentional but it looked crazy. AJ tries to fight back but gets smacked out of the air after a springboard. Braun has him up for the Powerslam, but in comes Gallows and Anderson for the predictable DQ.
Winner: Braun Strowman (by DQ)
A short beatdown commences, but out comes Rollins to make the save, paying Braun back for last week.
Samoa Joe is on the way for the first match of KOTR. Backstage, Rollins meets up with Braun and agrees to let him challenge for the Universal title. But first, he wants to take care of the OC. So he suggests the two of them challenge Gallows and Anderson for the Raw Tag Team titles!
King Of The Ring Tournament Round 1: Samoa Joe vs. Cesaro
IMMEDIATE EUROPEAN UPPERCUT takes everyone off-guard and nearly gets the pin right then and there! We’re off to a hard-hitting back and forth from the outset. Cesaro tries for it… but Joe denies the swing. Enziguri from Joe takes Cesaro the outside… and a suicide dive takes him over the barricade! Commercial break.
We come back to Joe chopping Cesaro in the corner. Cesaro fights back with uppercuts, running big boot for a nearfall. Cesaro deadlifts for a suplex, can’t quite get him. This would’ve been terrifying with anyone else but it’s Cesaro he gets him harmlessly to his front on the mat before trying again and getting him over. Takes Joe to the floor, runs all around the ring for a big european uppercut. Crossbody in the ring for a nearfall. Cesaro with a charge in the corner into a big uranage! Joe with a senton and a pin for 2. Cesaro trips Joe… and there’s the Swing! It’s not one of his best but he pulled it off. Sharpshooter follow-up countered, as is the crossface. Neutralizer, Joe counters with a back body drop! Cesaro just keeps trying stuff and getting denied until Joe wraps him in the Koquina Clutch! Submission is foregone.
Winner: Samoa Joe
Sensing a bit of rust in Cesaro right now, not quite at the top of his game. But this match was never gonna be bad and it was a fun physical fight.
And we go from that believable brawl to Elias’ 24/7 situation. Not that I’m complaining too much.
Elias in the ring for his ‘farewell performance‘. He’s getting some feedback issues as he tries to introduce this. He gets agitated by the constant noise but tries to play it cool. Elias strums his guitar a bit but then gets upset over it being out of tune. Someone just tosses a guitar in. He forces them to get into the ring and hand it to them. The stagehand all in black picks up the guitar, then refuses to give it to him. As the lights come back on, he dehoods to reveal… R-Truth! Another stagehand in black reveals themselves to be a ref!
WWE 24/7 Championship: Elias (c) vs. R-Truth
Truth with a roll-up, shockingly fails! Scissors kick for a nearfall! Truth stares at the guitar for a moment, then picks it up! But when he swings it, Elias bails from the ring and escapes up the ramp.
Winner by default: Elias
Yes I’m counting it as a match don’t @ me.
Interview with Rey Mysterio backstage. Charly Caruso notes the difficult time he’s had with Andrade of late. Rey sounds glum as he says that he’s been wrestling since he was a little boy. But recently things just haven’t been clicking. And what Andrade did – ripping off his mask – was a disgrace. In their culture as a luchador that is the biggest insult. And he hasn’t been able to do anything about it. Rey says when he can step into the ring he can see ahead of time what his next moves will be, but for some reason his body doesn’t respond anymore. Rey knows he’s had a lot of injuries in his career and those injuries have finally caught up to him.
“I know that this day has to come to everyone at some point, I just didn’t expect that one day it would come to me. But I now understand that it’s time for me to hang up the mask.”
This gets a gasp from the crowd. Rey says it’s time for him to let the next generation of superstars make their wave in. He begins to take off the mask, but his son comes in to stop him. He says that he was told when he debuted, he’d do it as Rey’s partner. He wants to be able to tell his children that he was a partner with his grandfather, the great Rey Mysterio. He asks him to stay in WWE, to not retire. He promises to make him proud. Rey is tearing up as he says that he’ll do it for him, because he loves him.
The New Day vs. The Revival
Revival get some Revival-esque heat for a bit until Big E and Xavier get a double clothesline to the outside in, for a commercial break.
Back from break, New Day are making their comeback… but in comes Randy Orton out of nowhere (legitimately though!) with an RKO to a major surprise pop!
Winner: The New Day (by DQ)
Kofi Kingston comes out as Orton and Revival surround his partners and starts clearing house! But after taking out both members of the Revival he eats an immediate RKO of his own! RKO/SHATTER MACHINE COMBO! Revival position Xavier in the corner as Orton yells ‘break his leg’! Orton drags Kofi over and forces him to watch as they basically Pillmanize Woods without a chair. Xavier sells it with blood curdling howls. This gets some solid heat.
As he writhes, Cole is now talking with Sasha Banks. Banks explains that last week, she looked in the mirror and told herself… ‘blue is your color’! She says everyone’s raving about it. So it’s time to show up and show out. Cole says with all due respect, no one is talking about her blue hair, they’re talking about her finally returning to WWE only to attack Nattie and Becky. Sasha goes quiet before simply saying, ‘You’re welcome’, in reference to the ‘Thank You, Sasha’ chants.
WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions Alexa Bliss & Nikki Cross vs. Fire & Desire (non-title)
Rose and Sonya were the ones to eliminate the IIconics last week, hence them getting a crack at the champs tonight. Cross and Bliss remain in control with holds and double teams. Rose starts a comeback with a leaping running knee. Deville tags in, does some damage but gets surprised by Cross who hits her neckbreaker variant for the win.
Winners: Alexa Bliss & Nikki Cross
That was fairly nothing. Nice to see Women’s tag champs actually winning non-title matches though.
Backstage, Braun and Rollins discuss their upcoming match... but Braun can’t help but focus on the Universal title in the background. Rollins says he needs to stay focus and listen to him, and they might walk out tag champs. Braun counters by saying he needs to listen to him, and if he does, he promises they’ll be tag champs.
King Of The Ring Round 1: Cedric Alexander vs. Sami Zayn
Sami Zayn coming out to such utter silence is extremely sad. He does bring the attack quickly with strikes. Cedric tries to bring it back with a wicked chop but Sami catches him with a backbreaker. Zayn with a Michinoku Driver for 2! Cedric makes the speedy comeback, capped off with a solid forearm smash suicide dive! Neuralizer Kick catches Sami… Lumbar Check.
Winner: Cedric Alexander
That could’ve been a lot more but the crowd cares so little about Sami right now it’s probably not a good idea to give him long matches. That guy needs a reset in the worst way. Hope he can get it… but the important thing, we can all agree, is that my predictions are two for two thus far!
Street Profits backstage. They have their own KOTR brackets. Ford’s also 2 for 2… but sadly Dawkins’ bracket is already busted as he had Cesaro going to the finals. They celebrate but Dawkins starts to question why they don’t have a tag team tournament. Ford answers that it’s because the Street Profits are already the kings of this piece. Dawkins calls the challenging team tonight Seth Freakin’ Braulins. Ford hypes up that match being next!
Anderson and Gallows are upset that Rollins and Braun, a non-team who did nothing to earn the shot is going after the tag champs. AJ steps in and says they’re right, but they need to look at it as a chance to show off their greatness.
Natalya is interviewed from a unique part of backstage. She says she expected this to be an emotional week, but not because of Sasha Banks. Nattie says that Sasha was one of her closest friends. So she can’t comprehend that she did what she did. As she’s berating her actions, Sasha jumps her from behind and shoves her injured arm into a steel box! Sasha says, “You can go to Hell Nattie, and tell your dad I said ‘hi’.”
Just gonna keep letting this be uncomfortable eh…
WWE Raw Tag Team Championships: The OC (c) vs. Seth Rollins & Braun Strowman
Bell rings and Strowman shoves Gallows to prove he’s a bigger boy. Seth tries for his dive spots but gets stopped, and Gallows repeatedly tosses him onto the barricade, his still injured ribs making first contact. Champs still in control after the break, Anderson setting Rollins up for a superplex. But Rollins knocks him off, Blockbuster takes him down! Seth tries to make it over to Braun but Gallows tags in to cut him off.
Outside, Strowman gets into AJ’s face. Gallows takes advantage, shoving Braun into the ringpost. Back in, Rollins takes advantage of the distraction and is a bit of a house of fire all his own. Suicide dive runs through Gallows, Falcon Arrow to Anderson for a nearfall. Rollins keeps the fighting, goes for his springboard knee but AJ interferes to knock him off the ropes behind the ref’s back. Gallows and Anderson get heat on Rollins from there. Go for Magic Killer but Rollins escapes, only to succumb to the double team yet again.
On the outside, Braun springs to life and runs like a freight train right through AJ! To Gallows as well, and then back on the apron for the tag! Powerslam to Anderson, Curbstomp to Gallows… Braun pins! And that’s it, new champs!
Winners: Seth Rollins & Braun Strowman
Well, didn’t expect this at the top of the show. Rollins and Strowman celebrate on the stage. But at the end, Strowman still stares longingly at the Universal title… and we fade to black.
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