Kevin Owens VS Baron Corbin, Bayley VS “Michin” Mia Yim
Monday Night Raw kicked off with Kevin Owens, but before he could say anything, he was interrupted by JBL. Layfield stated that Kevin Owens has zero chance of beating Roman Reigns at the Royal Rumble before he brought out Baron Corbin. Corbin brought up the fact that he is the only person to have beaten Roman Reigns in the last 3 years before he said that he was going to win the Royal Rumble. Owens said he had had enough of listening to Corbin and JBL speak so he challenged “the modern-day wrestling god” to a match. The match itself was fine, both guys know what they are doing, but in the end, KO got the win with the Stunner. After the match, The Usos and Solo Sikoa attacked him for a bit before Owens ran them off with a steel chair. All of this was fine.
Grade: C
The Bloodline were walking backstage before Adam Pearce came up to them and told the Usos that there would be a tag team turmoil match later on in the night to determine the number 1 contenders for the Raw Tag Team Championships! Pearce then told the Usos that they have to leave the arena, but Solo’s staying because he’s got a match with Dolph Ziggler. After Corey Graves and Kevin Patrick talked about the condition of Bianca Belair, Alexa Bliss hopped onto the announce table and cut a promo about how she is now in control. A video then aired on the titantron with a playground in it before Uncle Howdy questioned Alexa. He then came out onto the entranceway before we cut to an ad break. I liked this because, before last week, these Uncle Howdy things were bothering Alexa. Now, she doesn’t seem to be bothered by it at all. We then went into a match between Bayley and Mia Yim, but before the match officially started, Bayley sent a message to Becky Lynch before she gave her Damage CTRL partners (Dakota Kai and Iyo Sky) the night off. Mia Yim did get a decent amount of offense in on the Role Model, but in the end, Bayley was too smart for Yim as she picked up the win whilst having her feet on the ropes.
Grade: C
The United States Championship picture, Candice LeRae VS Rhea Ripley
Kevin Patrick announced on commentary that Johnny Gargano will be out for a bit with an injury and when we cut to the backstage area, Cathy Kelley asked Candice LeRae about it. Candice said the most important thing is that Johnny gets back to 100% before LeRae talked about her dream to win the Royal Rumble. Rhea Ripley overheard this and laugh at her before stating that she was going to win it. LeRae then challenged Ripley to a match which the Nightmare accepted. Also, it’s worth mentioning that Nikki Cross was once again in the background. Austin Theory was then on Monday Night Raw and he straight away said that “the champ is here”. Theory then laughed at the crowd for wanting Seth Rollins before he said that he ended the Visionary. Seth “Freakin” Rollins then came out on crutches, but he soon threw them away and started dancing with one of them. Rollins then said even though he’s fine, he isn’t quite 100%. However, he will be by the Royal Rumble. Austin Theory then said that he is going to win the Royal Rumble and main event WrestleMania before Seth Rollins left the ring after calling Theory a kid. In a surprising turn of events, Bobby Lashley’s music hit and the All Mighty returned to Monday Night Raw. Theory clearly wasn’t happy with this and when he went to hit Bobby with the crutch, Lashley speared him. Bobby then stated that he is going to win the Royal Rumble so we’ve now got 3 big contenders for the match. After this, Candice LeRae took on Rhea Ripley. I actually thought this was the best singles match of the night. Both women put in a really good shift and they both worked really well together. Rhea used her power game to stay on top for the most part, but that doesn’t mean that Candice didn’t get any offense in. In the end though, Ripley picked up the win with the Rip Tide.
Grade: B for both (Theory, Rollins, Lashley and Ripley VS LeRae)
Backstage Segments, Dolph Ziggler VS Solo Sikoa, Miz TV
MVP went up to Bobby Lashley backstage and he made it clear that he was the reason why Lashley is back on Monday Night Raw. He also said that he is the reason why Shelton Benjamin and Cedric Alexander were competing in the tag team turmoil match later on in the night. P then asked Bobby if they could go back to what they used to do before Lashley told him that he hasn’t forgotten what he did to him last year. When the Hurt Business do reunite, it’s going to be really cool. We then got another one of those Cody Rhodes videos, but this time, it was highlighting Hell in a Cell from last year. Rhodes talked about how nobody was going to stop him from competing in that match with Seth “Freakin” Rollins before we saw his surgery process. He’s definitely showing up at the Royal Rumble. Dolph Ziggler was then being interviewed backstage by Cathy Kelley and he talked about how he was looking to get revenge on the Bloodline. Mustafa Ali then came up to him and said that he had just been informed that Ziggler turned down the opportunity to team up with Ali in the Tag Team Turmoil match before he asked him what his problem was with him. Dolph then apologised to Ali about costing him the United States Championship a month ago before he said that his business with the Bloodline has nothing to do with him. I’m guessing they will probably have a match on Raw in a few weeks. We then got another video for Bronson Reed before the Miz interrupted his interview with Byron Saxton to ask Bronson if he wanted a VIP seat for tonight’s Miz TV. Bronson said that the two aren’t friends and that if the Miz wants him to do anything, he has to pay him. It was then time for that match between Solo Sikoa and Dolph Ziggler. Solo was in control for most of this match (as expected), but the former 3-time World Champion did get a bit of offense in which included a Zig Zag for a near fall. In the end though, Solo caught Ziggler’s attempt at the famousser and hit a mid-air Samoan Spike to get the win. A solid match between two great competitors.
Grade: B-
Damage Control were celebrating backstage before Mia Yim came up to them and told them that they are a bunch of cheaters. Bayley laughed at this comment before the three beat Michin up. The Miz was then out as it was time for him to host his “hit show”, Miz TV. The Miz welcomed out his guest Dominik Mysterio, who was accompanied by Rhea Ripley, Damian Priest and Finn Balor. Dominik Mysterio talked about all the tough moments he had in jail before the Miz said that one of his sources told him that Evil Mysterio was only in jail for a couple of hours. I actually think this story is working quite well.
Grade: C+
Number 1 Contenders Tag Team Turmoil
Straight after Miz TV, the OC came out so we started the tag team turmoil off with Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson VS the Judgement Day. The four men are all used to wrestling one another so this was all fine and Finn Balor picked up the victory for his team after Dominik Mysterio tripped up Karl Anderson. Cedric Alexander and Shelton Benjamin were the next team out and they put up a good fight, but in the end, Finn Balor got the victory for the Judgement Day with the Coup de Grace. The Alpha Academy came out next and I’m convinced that they are going to become babyfaces in the near future. The reason for this is Otis hit the Caterpillar! When Otis went for his big splash, he landed on top of both Chad Gable and Finn Balor and Priest took advantage by hitting a clothesline to get the win. Due to this, Finn Balor was too hurt to compete so Adam Pearce told them that they either had to forfeit or Dominik Mysterio would take Finn’s place. They obviously took the second one. Montez Ford and Angelo Dawkins brought out all their big moves which included Ford hitting a 450 Splash. I really hope he calls that the Ford-50. In the end though, Rhea Ripley held Dominik Mysterio’s foot on the rope meaning Montez was pinned meaning the Judgement Day are the number 1 contenders to the Usos. Raw ended with the Usos and the Judgement Day staring at one another. Overall, this match was alright.
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