WWE Undisputed Tag Team Championships: The Usos VS Kevin Owens and Matt Riddle
Raw kicked off with the Bloodline coming out to a massive reaction. We then cut to a backstage clip from earlier on in the night that showed Solo Sikoa taking out Elias. We then cut back to the ring and Jimmy Uso claimed that the match was cancelled. Matt Riddle then came out and questioned that what they did wasn’t very “Ucey” before Riddle said that he had found a new tag team partner. That person happened to be Kevin Owens. They then had a solid match, Owens and Jey Uso work so well together and Sami Zayn’s facial reactions are amazing. The coolest part of this match came when KO and Solo stood face to face before Riddle jumped onto the Street Champion. Whilst Riddle did this dive, Sami Zayn pulled Jey Uso out the way. This ended up allowing the Usos to take control, get back in the ring and hit the 1D (on Riddle) to get the win. After the match, Kevin Owens chased them off with a chair but in doing so, he left Solo Sikoa to pick the bones of an already beaten-up Riddle. Sikoa literally destroyed the Original Bro to the point that Riddle had to be stretched out of the arena. The match was solid, the post-match angle was excellent.
Grade: B- for the match, A for the closing angle
JBL’s Poker Invitational, Asuka VS Bayley VS Rhea Ripley
Rhea Ripley cut a backstage promo where she made it clear that she was going to win the triple threat match tonight and then she was coming for the Raw Women’s Championship. We then cut to the Poker Invitational room were lots of different WWE stars were in there. On one table, you had the OC, the Alpha Academy and Baron Corbin whilst the other table consisted of Shelton Benjamin, Dana Brooke, Tamina, Dominik Mysterio and Akira Tozawa. On the main table, Johnny Gargano and Dexter Lumis walked in and showed everyone that they had the money to join in with the poker games. There is more of this to come.
Bayley came out as she was one of the competitors that would be competing for the chance to make next week's number 1 contenders match. Becky Lynch then walked through the crowd to tell Bayley that she can’t wait to have a match with her. She even thanked Bayley for carrying WWE through the covid era which was nice. Becky then left as she wasn’t in this triple threat match, but she wasn’t able to leave until after a long stare down with Rhea Ripley. Asuka then came out meaning we were ready for our first triple threat match. What I liked about this match was Bayley’s tactics. She originally teamed up with Asuka to take out Rhea Ripley which was interesting given their recent feud and after a while, she teamed up with Ripley to take out the Empress of tomorrow. Rhea Ripley was definitely positioned to be the star in this match but in the end, she wasn’t involved in the pinfall as Bayley managed to hit Asuka with the Rose Plant to get the win. This was a really important win for Bayley and I’m glad Rhea didn’t win this match as it means she can be saved for a potential WrestleMania match with the EST.
Grade: B-
Seth “Freakin” Rollins and Bobby Lashley, Austin Theory VS Mustafa Ali: United States Championship
Seth “Freakin” Rollins came out and talked about how he will face Bobby Lashley next week in a number 1 contenders match for the United States Championship. Bobby Lashley ended up coming out and Seth starting poking at Lashley for not having as good of a career as Brock Lesnar. After a few more digs, Lashley struck Rollins before the two brawled. Officials did a terrible job at trying to break these two up and in the end, Lashley accidentally speared one of them as Rollins got out of the way. What happened here was fine but what’s more exciting is what this is for. It’s so nice to have number 1 contenders matches but also, neither Lashley or Rollins are clear good guys or bad guys. WWE should do this more.
Grade: B
Austin Theory was then backstage and he talked about how it doesn’t matter who wins next week's match as they won’t have a chance against “the now”. Theory then turned away to see Mustafa Ali there and Ali told the US Champion that he has to fight for everything whilst you just get handed everything. Theory told Ali to get ready for a championship match tonight and when he wins, he never wants to hear Ali complain about chances ever again. We then cut back to the poker room were Chad Gable kept folding because he was smart. Dexter Lumis was clearly whipping the floor with everyone and when Corbin called him a cheat, Lumis got out an axe. Corbin and JBL quickly changed their mind. On the other table, Tozawa caught Dominik trying to steal some money and after a heated exchange, Tozawa challenged Evil Mysterio to a match later on tonight. Dom accepted this. We were then straight into the United States Championship match between Austin Theory and Mustafa Ali. These two have wrestled many times this year so they know each other's skills and weaknesses. Austin Theory was on top in this match, but Ali kept fighting back. It was also nice to see the crowd getting behind the Heart of 205 Live; that hasn’t happened for a while. At one point, the two slipped on the top rope and both men, particularly Ali, took a nasty fall. However, both men are really good at what they do so they were able to move straight into a tornado DDT to keep the match going at a good pace. The ending saw Theory get met with a superkick by Dolph Ziggler, meaning the referee had to call for the bell. Ali was rightly furious with this and he got in the face of the former NXT Champion. In the end though, this allowed Theory to take both men out to stand tall with his United States Championship. Theory was always going to keep the belt so I’m glad they found a way to not have Ali take another pinfall loss. It’s really cool to see that we have loads of different contenders for the United States Championship.
Grade: B
The end of the poker games, The OC VS Baron Corbin and the Alpha Academy
The Miz came to see JBL and asked if he could join the poker game. JBL said he could if he paid the 50,000-dollar entrance fee but Miz said he didn’t have that sort of money on him. He then offered the hall of famer his Rolex, but JBL noticed it was fake. We then went back into the poker room where Baron Corbin was caught cheating. AJ Styles and Corbin started to push each other before JBL told them to all get out (OC and the Alpha Academy). Everyone left leaving Johnny Gargano and Dexter Lumis to assume that they had won before they took a lot of money. We then went to Cathy Kelley who asked Bianca Belair for her opinion on Bayley’s win and who she thinks is going to win the final triple threat match that takes place in the main event. Belair said that Bayley did a good job before she put over Bliss, Cross and Lynch and said it would be tough to choose a winner. It was then time for a six-man tag team match between the OC and Baron Corbin + the Alpha Academy. JBL was on commentary and he really put over the OC meaning that when Corbin beat them up, he could really hype up the “Modern Day Wrestling God”. He also said that the Alpha Academy deserve a tag team title shot as they are so good. This was a back-and-forth match were everyone was able to get their stuff in. In the end, the Good Brothers were able to pick up the win after hitting the magic killer onto Chad Gable. The best part of this was JBL saying that that wasn’t legal before he went on a rant about the OC cheating at everything. An important win for a team that really hasn’t got many.
Grade: C+
Akira Tozawa VS Dominik Mysterio, Alexa Bliss VS Becky Lynch VS Nikki Cross
Candice LeRae was being interviewed backstage and she said that she is fighting for so much more then when she was in NXT. You could once again see Nikki Cross hiding in the background so I’m assuming that we are going to get that match at some point. Johnny Gargano and Dexter Lumis then walked in and LeRae was shocked about how much money the two had won. This was the first time that Gargano and LeRae have been on the same screen together on the main roster and Gargano covering LeRae’s mouth before she swore was a call-back to the old NXT days. Akira Tozawa was then in the ring ready for his match with Dominik Mysterio and when the 25-year-old came out, he had the whole Judgement Day with him. This was a short match were both guys were able to get some TV time. Tozawa went to hit his senton and the height he got on this was insane. However, he missed and this allowed Mysterio to go to the top rope himself and hit the Frog Splash to get the win. After the match, the Judgement Day wanted to attack Tozawa some more, but the Street Profits came out to stop this. Damian Priest’s reaction to this was excellent.
Grade: C
Adam Pearce was talking with Bobby Lashley backstage and he made it very clear that what happened tonight can’t happen again. I’m assuming it’s going to happen again pretty soon. Alexa Bliss’ music then hit so it was time for the second triple threat match of the night. All 3 women put in a good shift but unfortunately, the crowd was pretty flat. I’m assuming they must have been tired which does make sense given it’s a long show. It’s been so long; I’ve forgot how good Becky is as a good guy. She did a good job in getting some parts of the crowd back into this match and both Bliss and Cross were able to showcase what their characters are like. At one point, Alexa Bliss attempted to hit Sister Abigail which was really interesting. In the end, Becky Lynch looked like she was going to pick up the victory, but Damage Control’s Dakota Kai and Iyo Sky stopped this before they power bombed the Man through the announce table. This allowed Alexa Bliss to hit Twisted Bliss from the top rope to get the win meaning she will face off against Bayley in next week's Number 1 contenders match. I would assume that Bliss will win that match next week meaning that we can go into a proper feud between Bayley and Becky.
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