Finn Balor starts the show, Drew McIntyre and Matt Riddle VS Imperium
Finn Balor arrived to kick off this week’s Monday Night Raw and the Prince made it crystal clear that the only reason he’s not standing here right now as World Heavyweight Champion is because of Damian Priest. The Judgment Day’s Rhea Ripley and Dominik Mysterio then arrived and Rhea attempted to calm Balor down. This worked slightly, but it also resulted in Finn storming down the entranceway and past Dominik. Rhea Ripley then said there’s no one that can end her dominance before Dom said he’s going to beat Seth “Freakin” Rollins tonight. This resulted in the Visionary making his way down to the ring to laugh at Mysterio’s comments. This was fine, the Rollins stuff seemed a little unnecessary, but I like the way that Finn Balor delivered his promo.
Grade: C+
Backstage, Rhea Ripley found Damian Priest and told him to sort out whatever was going on between him and Finn Balor. Priest agreed to, but only because Rhea asked him to. It was then time for the first match of the night as Drew McIntyre and Matt Riddle teamed up to take on Ludwig Kaiser and Giovanni Vinci of Imperium. Imperium were able to control the tempo of the match whilst they were dealing with Matt Riddle, but they lost all sense of control the minute Drew McIntyre tagged in as the Scottish Warrior went on a rampage. He was chucking everybody around before he stared down the Intercontinental Champion Gunther who was watching from ringside. Riddle then intercepted Kaiser and locked him in an ankle lock whilst McIntyre delivered the Claymore onto Vinci to get the victory. After the match, Gunther shouted at Giovanni before he stormed off. I thought this was a solid opening contest and I thought Drew McIntyre looked fantastic. However, it’s getting ridiculous the amount of times that Imperium lose. We’ve seen with both The Bloodline and The Judgment Day that a faction is better when everyone’s dominant rather than just one person being unstoppable and the other two losing all the time.
Grade: C+
Seth “Freakin” Rollins VS Dominik Mysterio, Logan Paul and Ricochet come face-to-face, Becky Lynch VS Zoey Stark
Finn Balor and Damian Priest spoke backstage and they agreed to wipe the slate clean and go back to dominating Monday Night Raw as long as Balor gets the first shot at Seth “Freakin” Rollins. Priest was fine with this, but he also made it clear that he will cash in if Balor does fail to beat the World Heavyweight Champion. Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn were then interviewed backstage where they said they are happy for anyone to step forth and challenge them for their Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championships. Rhea Ripley and Dominik Mysterio then walked in (god they must have done a lot of steps on this show) and Ripley made it clear to Owens and Zayn that any two members of the Judgment Day could take those tag team titles whenever they want. Cool, I hope they win them. Indus Sher then had a video promo which looked pretty cool, even though Jinder Mahal didn’t say much of note. It was then meant to be time for Seth “Freakin” Rollins to take on Dominik Mysterio except that didn’t quite happen. During Seth’s entrance, Dominik attacked the World Heavyweight Champion from behind before Seth started to chase Dominik around ringside. However, this was a trap as Finn Balor and Damian Priest arrived and the Judgment Day started to beat up Seth Rollins before Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn ran down to make the save. Rollins also hit Dom with a steel chair. This was kind of the Judgment Day’s fault for bothering KO and Sami in the first place and the best part was definitely Owens having a different shirt than what he had on less than 5 minutes ago.
Grade: C+
Ricochet then arrived and talked to the crowd about wanting to entertain everyone when he’s out in the ring. Ricochet then called out Logan Paul who arrived and called the One and Only “Unprofessional”. Ricochet then fired back at Paul before he challenged Logan to match which the Maverick didn’t accept. Ricochet then decided to do a cool dive which seemed to impress Mr. LP before Logan tried and failed to knock out the “Ultimate Midcard Champion”. Ricochet dropped Paul to end the segment. This was alright, it wasn’t amazing, but it wasn’t terrible. Also, whilst Ricochet’s dive to the outside was cool, it was nowhere near as good as when he did it in NXT to The Velveteen Dream.
Grade: C+
It was then straight into another segment as Becky Lynch looked to get some revenge on Zoey Stark in singles action. This match was decent as they got a good amount of time to show what they’ve got and Zoey Stark more than proved that she’s good enough for the main roster. If anything, she looked better in the ring than her highly accomplished opponent, but that doesn’t mean that Becky Lynch didn’t bring the fight. The Man actually probably would’ve won the match had it not been for Trish Stratus who kept trying to get involved. This allowed Zoey to “steal” the victory with a roll-up. Zoey Stark is the prime example of how you make an NXT Superstar into a main roster star as she’s gone unbeaten up to this point and just beat one of the most credible superstars on the entire roster male or female.
Grade: B-
Alpha Academy Graduation Ceremony, Shayna Baszler VS Emma, Cody Rhodes Promo
Seth “Freakin” Rollins, Kevin Owens, and Sami Zayn were talking backstage and they agreed that their strategy is to go out there and beat up the Judgment Day. That’s definitely the simplest strategy I’ve ever seen before. The Alpha Academy were then in the ring as they were about to give Maxxine Dupri her Graduation certificate. Chad Gable talked about how impressed he’s been with Maxxine whilst Otis seemed delighted. Master Gable then welcomed out Maxxine who thanked Gable, Otise, and the WWE Universe for welcoming her. In the ultimate sign of respect in the Alpha Academy, Chad Gable was about to give Dupri her very own vanity jacket before the Viking Raiders arrived. Erik and Ivar caused a distraction before Valhalla attacked Maxxine from behind and stole her jacket which is a very, very bad thing to do! Chad, Otis, and Maxxine once again played their roles to perfection whilst the Viking Raiders came out to continue their story which is fine as long as the Alpha Academy win again. However, the other thing I got from this is I now really want to see a segment/match between Alpha Academy and Chase University.
Grade: B-
Shayna Baszler was making her way down to the ring when we learned that she was about to go one-on-one with Emma. The reason this match was taking place was because Emma had gone up to Shayna earlier in the day and said that it was nice to see someone else beat up Ronda Rousey in the way that she did when she returned. Shayna didn’t find this funny, and told Emma to meet her in the ring so she could show what she’s going to do to Rousey before she squashed her in about a minute. Ronda Rousey then arrived and both her and Baszler brawled before Shayna rolled to the outside. I don’t really have much to say about this. Dominant Shayna is cool, but it’s also better when it takes place in longer matches like when she was down in NXT. Also, I genuinely think Emma has a worse win-loss record than her fiancé Riddick Moss which isn’t a great stat.
Grade: C
Cody Rhodes arrived to cut an in-ring promo where he referred to Brock Lesnar “as everyone’s biggest hurdle”. Cody then said he has to go through the Beast to finally end this chapter which is why he’s challenging him to a match at Summerslam. A match at Summerslam makes sense and it would hopefully be the end of what will have been a 4-month feud. In terms of the promo itself, it’s a typical Cody Rhodes promo. The American Nightmare says the same stuff, delivers as well as he always does and the crowd enjoys it.
Grade: C+
The Miz VS Tommaso Ciampa: No Disqualification Match, Chelsea Green and Sonya Deville VS Katana Chance and Kayden Carter
The Miz and Tommaso Ciampa’s “heated rivalry” continued as they battled in a “No Disqualification Match”. Ciampa destroyed The Miz in the early part of the contest with steel chairs and he even chucked Miz into the ring post whilst having a chair wrapped around his neck because Tommaso Ciampa is a sadistic human being! Trash can lids were also used and Ciampa also put the A-Lister through a table with the Air-Raid Crash. However, Bronson Reed arrived to break up the pin before he beat up the Blackheart. The Big Aussie then delivered the Tsunami to the former NXT Champion which allowed the Miz to steal the victory. I thought this match was pretty good fun and it was great to see Ciampa back to his old self. However, I’m not sure that him losing was the right call considering he’s only been back for like 3 weeks. However, I’m going to stay optimistic and hope that this is leading to the return of Johnny Gargano because I’m starting to lose hope.
Grade: B
Sonya Deville and Chelsea Green went up to Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez backstage and asked them why they were going to be out there for their match tonight. Liv and Raquel told them that they’ll be out there to scout their competition before Rhea Ripley walked in and warned the WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions that if they get involved in Mami’s business again, that’s 3 strikes. The best part about all of this was Chelsea Green’s response when she went “Yeah, that’s basketball!" Rhea didn’t seem at all impressed with Chelsea either before Morgan and Rodriguez told the Women’s World Champion that they’re not scared of her. This then led into Chelsea Green and Sonya Deville taking on Katana Chance and Kayden Carter. Chance and Carter are a fantastic team, but they lost a bit of credibility last week when they failed to beat Green and Deville who’d already faced 3 opponents. Needing to pick up a win to gain some momentum back, the KC’s lost again in a couple of minutes due to Chelsea having her feet on the ropes. I don’t know whose idea it is to have Katana and Kayden lose this much, but it’s pretty silly. What was even worse was a camera angle that showed that the referee had a clear view of Green putting her feet on the ropes.
Grade: D+
Seth “Freakin” Rollins, Kevin Owens, and Sami Zayn VS The Judgment Day
Drew McIntyre questioned Matt Riddle’s decision to have a match with Gunther whilst the Scottish Warrior isn’t there. The Original Bro turned to Drew and told him he’s got Ludwig Kaiser and Giovanni Vinci barred from ringside. Like that makes a difference. It was then time for the main event as the World Heavyweight Champion Seth “Freakin” Rollins teamed up with the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Champions Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn to take on The Judgment Day. This was a good main event where everyone involved got to show their ability. Kevin Owens shouting at Rhea Ripley and trying to grab her Women’s World Championship was particularly funny whilst Seth Rollins kept trying to get his hands on Dominik Mysterio. In the end, that cost the Visionary as he got taken out before Rhea Ripley tripped up Sami Zayn who was trying to go for the Helluva Kick. This allowed Damian Priest to drop Zayn with the South of Heaven before Finn Balor hit the Coup de Grace to pick up the victory. Whilst I thought this match was good, the result only elevated. Fair play to WWE for letting the Judgment Day beat the main Raw Champions.
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