Seth “Freakin” Rollins kicks off the show, Damian Priest VS Shinsuke Nakamura
Seth “Freakin” Rollins kicked off this week’s edition of Monday Night Raw as everyone in the Baltimore crowd sang the Visionary’s song. Seth put over what had happened at Money in the Bank a few days ago before Cody Rhodes interrupted him to just as big of a pop as what the World Heavyweight Champion received. However, before Cody could say why he’d come out there, Brock Lesnar’s music hit and the crowd once again went “bananas” as Brock and Cody brawled. Seth jumped out of the ring during the brawl and it ended with Cody sending Brock scurrying after he hit him with a Cody Cutter. When we came back from an ad break, Seth Rollins was still in the ring, but he was again interrupted, this time by the Judgment Day. Mr. Money in the Bank Damian Priest, Women’s World Champion Rhea Ripley, and Dominik Mysterio all made their way down to the ring as they told Rollins to mind his own business when he asked where Finn Balor was. In the end, Priest sent a warning to Seth about what can happen now he’s “Senor Money in the Bank” before Rollins agreed to fight Dominik in the main event. This was all a bit frantic and I’m fine with that. The crowd definitely made the start of this show better too.
Grade: B-
The first match of the night saw the new Mr. Money in the Bank Damian Priest take on the King of Strong Style Shinsuke Nakamura. These guys are both very good at what they do and they had a decent encounter which saw Priest outshine his legendary opponent and pick up the victory with South of Heaven. Whilst it’s not at all a bad thing to make Damian look great as he’s awesome, Shinsuke losing again doesn’t feel right. Absolutely, have Priest win tonight and for months going forward, but surely there is someone else that the Archer of Infamy can defeat, especially when Shin’s meant to be being built back up to the top.
Grade: C+
The Raw Women’s Division including a Tag Team Turmoil Match
Ronda Rousey made her way down to the ring before Shayna Baszler quickly interrupted. Ronda demanded an explanation from her former tag team partner before Shayna went on a rant about how, unlike Rousey, she actually cares about this business. She then apologised to the WWE Universe for helping bring Ronda into the company which was great before the two got into a brawl. Rousey was on top to start with before the Baddest Woman on the Planet was knocked out cold by a running knee from the Queen of Spades. This is by far the best Shayna Baszler has looked/felt in ages and it very much reminded me of when Becky Lynch attacked Charlotte. It was meant to portray them as the bad guy, but everyone dislikes Ronda Rousey (Charlotte Flair at the time) meaning everyone cheers for Shayna/Becky.
Grade: B
Alpha Academy were warming up backstage and Chad Gable got all annoyed when he found out people were questioning his coaching abilities. Whilst I can’t remember what Chad, Otis, or Maxxine Dupri said, I know I enjoyed it because it was so random. The brand-new WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez were then out as they were about to watch a Tag Team Turmoil match to determine their next challengers. Chelsea Green and Sonya Deville started off the match against Candice LeRae and Indi Hartwell. It went literally a minute and Green and Deville pinned Candice. The next team was Nikki Cross and Emma which was at least set up in a video from earlier on in the day. However, Nikki cared more about checking if Candice LeRae was alright to the point where Emma just got beaten up for about two minutes before she was pinned and eliminated. The next team was Dana Brooke and Tegan Nox! If you want to know how they got eliminated, I can’t tell you because it happened during the ad break (there was a replay about a minute or two later)! The final team was Katana Chance and Kayden Carter and this was definitely the best match of the four (not a very high bar) and it ended with Green and Deville picking up the victory and taking the clean sweep in the process. This was by far one of the worst things I’ve seen in wrestling during 2023. I have no problem with having Chelsea and Sonya win as they’re a good team. However, have them come in last and win like Pretty Deadly did a few weeks ago. Instead, they came across as the underdog team, and Katana Chance and Kayden Carter (who should’ve started first and ran through to the end) looked rubbish for not being able to beat a team who’d already faced three opponents. Also, The Way randomly just being in the match and then losing was terrible booking, particularly given the fact that this was Indi Hartwell’s first match on the main roster and the first thing she’s properly done since relinquishing the NXT Women’s Championship. And don’t get me started on the team of Tegan Nox and Dana Brooke!
Grade: E
Bronson Reed had a video package where he warned people about what he is capable of if people cross him before Becky Lynch made her way down to the ring. Becky called out Trish Stratus who arrived with a protective face mask before Lynch laughed at her. Trish came back at her by reminding the Man that she failed to win the Money in the Bank briefcase whilst also claiming that she is the G.O.A.T. What this segment eventually led to was Becky Lynch challenging Zoey Stark to a fight. However, Trish wanted the fight to happen on her and Zoey’s time so it will take place next week. Trish is a good promo and Becky’s a great promo. However, this didn’t do much for me which is a shame because it should’ve felt better than normal given how gobsmacking bad the previous segment was.
Grade: C
Alpha Academy VS The Viking Raiders, Rhea Ripley VS Natalya: Women’s World Championship, Matt Riddle VS Giovanni Vinci
Cody Rhodes did his entrance again before his interview for whatever reason before he said that he’s happy to fight Brock Lesnar every night of the week. Unfortunately for you Cody, Brock doesn’t do house shows. It was then time for a six-person tag team match as the Alpha Academy’s Chad Gable, Otis, and Maxxine Dupri (who was making her in-ring debut) took on the Viking Raiders Erik, Ivar, and Valhalla (who was wrestling for the first time on WWE TV in years). Chad Gable is a tremendous, tremendous professional wrestler who helped carry this match from a technical point. Otis is so fun to watch and his footwork/body movement is up there with the best in the whole company. However, the star of this match was Maxxine Dupri who tagged in Valhalla and hit some of the moves Master Gable’s been teaching her. Speaking of Gable, Chad took out Erik and Ivar with a moonsault to the outside before Dupri hit a sunset flip/roll-up combo to pick up the victory. Whilst the Viking Raiders losing is a shame, they’ve gotten to a point where they lack any sort of credibility so losing doesn’t really matter anymore. The main thing was about giving the fans something to enjoy and the combo of Chad, Otise, and Maxxine is top-tier entertainment. However, I still very much miss the Maximum Male Models.
Grade: B-
We saw a video from after Money in the Bank which saw Logan Paul and Ricochet brawl in the back. Jackie Redmond (who was making her debut as a Raw interviewer) spoke to the One and Only who challenged Paul to show up next week so they can have a face-to-face conversation. I’m legitimately not joking when I say that Ricochet VS Logan Paul could steal the show at Summerslam from an in-ring point of view (they’re not beating Bloodline storytelling). Rhea Ripley then made her way down to the ring as she was about to put her Women’s World Championship on the line against Natalya. The reason this match was taking place was because Natalya wanted a fair fight so to do this, she attacked Ripley from behind during her entrance (I literally banged my head on my desk when I wrote this). The match itself went on way longer than expected (or should’ve) and Natalya got plenty of offense to the point where the Queen of Harts came close to picking up the victory. However, that was never going to happen as Rhea delivered the Riptide to retain her Championship. Rhea Ripley has been on a role for the past year now, but she’s been booked as such a terrible champion. She’s barely defended the belt and in only her second proper title defense, she only just beat Natalya who hasn’t been credible or seen as a threat for years now. None of this made any sense and it’s gotten to the point where if this was reality and the winner wasn’t already booked, there’s no way that I would believe that the Eradicator would have any chance of retaining her title against the likes of Becky Lynch or either of the reigning WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions.
Grade: D
The show’s overall rating then massively picked up as Tommaso Ciampa cut one of his old-school promos that make him look awesome whilst also putting his opponent/rival over. It then arguably got even better as The Miz cut a fantastic promo about how when everyone that he mentors turns on him, they eventually get fired whilst he’s still here. The Miz then warned Ciampa that he’s going to remind everyone next week in their “No Disqualification Match” why the Miz is truly Awesome. Fantastic, absolutely fantastic. If people weren’t aware of whether Tomasso Ciampa is a good talker or not, they do now as his promo was excellent. Add in his promo about the Miz and then the A-Listers promo and it’s the most credible the Miz has been for a very long time. Like I said last week, the Miz as a serious competitor that’s not goofing around is one of the best in the entire company. I don’t usually grade promos that take up about two minutes of the show, but these promos combined deserve it.
Grade: A-
Rhea Ripley was walking backstage before the new Miss. Money in the Bank Iyo Sky looked at her. There wasn’t much to this, but it was cool either way. Dominik Mysterio and Damian Priest then walked in and Dominik said he’s going to embarrass Seth “Freakin” Rollins. Before he could do this, however, Matt Riddle had to go one-on-one with Giovanni Vinci. This match could’ve been cool, but it only went about two minutes and Riddle won with a roll-up. After the match, Ludwig Kaiser and Vinci beat down the Original Bro before Drew McIntyre made the save and laid Vinci out with a Claymore whilst Gunther watched on. This was a perfect example of a match/segment that wasn’t bad, but it also wasn’t good. The only thing I got from this short match was that I just really miss “Model Vinci”.
Grade: C
Seth “Freakin” Rollins VS Dominik Mysterio
Drew McIntyre and Matt Riddle were being interviewed backstage by Byron Saxton before Drew agreed to team up with Riddle next week to take on Imperium. Yet another loss incoming for Kaiser and Vinci. It was then time for the main event of this week’s Monday Night Raw as Dominik Mysterio looked to pick up a huge victory against the World Heavyweight Champion Seth “Freakin” Rollins. Seth and Dom are no strangers to one another, but the focus of this match wasn’t actually on the contest and more on Mr. Money in the Bank Damian Priest. This became pretty clear when Priest came into the ring and hit Rollins with the South of Heaven, causing the DQ. Priest then beat Rollins up around ringside before Dominik told Damian to cash in. However, before the Punishment of the Judgment Day was able to, Finn Balor arrived and started brawling with Rollins before Finn and Priest got into an argument. This allowed the Visionary to escape before he nailed Mysterio with a Pedigree for good measure. The show then went off the air with Finn Balor and Damian Priest arguing. I don’t really have any feelings towards this final segment besides that I don’t get why WWE would think splitting the Judgment Day up is a good idea. This could all just be a ruse, but even that doesn’t make much sense.
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