The Bloodline Kickoff the season premiere of Monday Night Raw
D-Generation X were ready to go out to the ring, but Triple H couldn’t because he was focusing on making Raw the best possible show it could be. He then told his buddies to behave and not to act like they used to do. After this, Corey Graves introduced his new broadcast partner Kevin Patrick before Roman Reigns’ music hit and the Bloodline came down to the ring. Roman Reigns spoke about how he doesn’t like to dwell in the past before he asked Jey Uso if he was a fool. Just as it looked like Reigns was going to tear into his lesser cousin, Sami Zayn interrupted and reminded Roman that that was his job. After a slight thought, the Tribal Chief was quite happy to let the Honorary Uce take care of it. Sami Zayn then told Jey that he needs to be happier like his twin brother and cooler like the rest of the group. Jey Uso then became visibly angry and as he was about to shout at the tribal chief, Matt Riddle’s music hit. The original Bro asked Roman for another shot at the Undisputed WWE Universal championship, but Reigns said no due to Riddle actually being banned from fighting Reigns for the championship. Sami ended up challenging the Original Bro to a match for later on in the night. The comedy wasn’t great but Roman VS Jey is arguably WWE’s best storyline for the past 5 years so I’m glad that there’s tension there.
Grade: B+
Austin Theory VS Johnny Gargano, Chad Gable VS Rey Mysterio
The first match of the night was a battle between “father and son”. Both men showcased their immense talents, from Gargano doing his trademark spear and suicide dive whilst Theory hit this crazy looking move that I’ve never seen before. There was a lot of reversals in this match, but that made sense given how well these two know each other. At one point, Austin Theory locked in the Garga-no escape which was genuinely awesome before Gargano applied his submission for the first time on the main roster. The end of the match saw Johnny hit the One Final Beat to get the win. Johnny winning was arguably the right call, and I really enjoyed the match but there was some stuff missing. A video package showcasing their history would have been great, Gargano or Theory coming out wearing the Way shirt or even one of them coming out to the Way theme song. That might just be my love of the group coming out though.
Grade: B
Chad Gable took on Rey Mysterio in a solid encounter. Rey and Chad had some decent sequences and midway through the match, Dominik Mysterio and Rhea Ripley came down to the ringside area. Rey Mysterio was able to block out their Judgement Day’s noise and got the win after hitting the 619 onto Chad Gable. After the match, Dominik Mysterio attacked his father multiple times, leading to the legendary luchador crying. This was good stuff; Dominik is definitely coming across much better as a heel then when he was a face.
Grade: B-
AJ Styles has backup now, Bayley VS Candice LeRae
Once we came back from the ad break, the Judgement Day were still in the ring. They cut a promo about how Finn Balor made Edge say I quit before Dominik was once again booed out of the building. Rhea also had an armband with the name “Beth” on it. Whoever came up with that idea deserves a pay rise. AJ Styles then came out and said he has been without friends for long enough. Finn Balor hugged him before AJ said he wasn’t talking about him. Gallows and Anderson, the OC returned for a big pop. They then brawled with the Judgement Day before they stood tall. Having the OC back together is really cool, particularly given Gallows and Anderson’s history with the prince. A nice surprise.
Grade: B-
After this, Damage CTRL had a sit-down interview with Byron Saxton, but they didn’t stay for very long, Roman Reigns was then getting ready to go out to New York with Paul Heyman and Solo Sikoa. Jey Uso was told that he wasn’t coming and that he has to make sure that the Honorary Uce picked up the W today. Another good segment between the two. After this, we got the match between Candice LeRae and Bayley. This was a dream match for me, so I was very excited. Both women got some good offense in and it looks like Candice has come up with a few new moves since the last time she was in WWE. To my surprise, Candice LeRae ended up winning this match with a roll-up. It was a big win for the poison pixie, but it doesn’t hurt Bayley too much given she was still suffering from her ladder match a couple of days ago. The women’s tag team champions came down to the ring and attacked LeRae from behind. They continued to decimate Mrs. Wresting and they did the same to Bianca Belair when she attempted to make the save. Even though Bayley lost, her, SKY and Kai all stood tall. A solid segment,
Grade: C+
The Miz’s birthday celebration, Omos Squash match
The Miz came down to the ring with a baseball bat signed by the Cleveland Guardians Jose Ramirez. Whilst the Miz went to open his present, Dexter Lumis showed up and attempted to attack him. The Miz managed to run away but he left his wife in the ring. Maryse managed to leave before Dexter Lumis tried some of the Miz’s birthday cake. This wasn’t very good.
Grade: D
D-Generation X were then backstage talking to the local talent that would be taking on Omos tonight. After this, The Miz and Maryse both came past looking absolutely shocked about what had just happened. Shawn Michaels told the Miz that Dexter’s “a nice guy” before it was announced that The Miz would face Dexter Lumis in a match next week. If Miz wins, Lumis leaves him alone but if Dexter wins, he earns himself a full-time contract. This was pretty good. Omos then had another squash match. It’s getting to the point where I’m no longer grading these matches as they are all the same. What was much better was a recap video showcasing Bray Wyatt’s return to WWE. This will be something that people talk about forever.
Brock Lesnar returns, Bobby Lashley VS Seth Rollins for the United States Championship
Bobby Lashley cut a promo in the ring before his United States Championship match, but it wasn’t Seth Rollins who came down, it was Brock Lesnar. Brock Lesnar said hello to the crowd before he destroyed Bobby Lashley. He hit multiple F5’s and even applied the kimura lock. This is really intriguing, could it be revenge for their Royal Rumble encounter from earlier on in the year. Whatever the reason, I’m excited. Seth Rollins then ran down with tapped ribs and he demanded that he got the US Championship match. As Bobby was walking off with the medical team, Seth Rollins took shots at Lashley’s “fighting champion” persona and also told him that he is a disgrace to his country. This angered the All Mighty to the point where he wanted to fight. He got met with a pedigree and a frog splash straight away, but it wasn’t quite enough to get the win. Lashley fought back but it just wasn’t enough. 2 stomps for the visionary sealed the deal meaning Seth “Freakin” Rollins is the brand-new United States Champion. This is great. It means Seth is now the number 1 champion on Raw whilst Lashley was protected in defeat. A great bit of booking.
Grade: A for the whole thing
Multiple segments, Sami Zayn VS Riddle
Bobby Lashley was seething during his interview with Byron Saxton. He told the Saxman that he is going to deal with Seth Rollins eventually, but his current focus is on making Brock Lesnar pay. He then “invited” Brock to show up to Raw next week. We then saw a video with Bray Wyatt/the white rabbit talking. He continued to say the words “Revel in what you are”. I didn’t really like this; the graphics were giving me a headache. On a cool note, Elias is returning to WWE next week. I’m genuinely looking forward to that, he’s very funny. The final match of the evening then took place between the “Honorary Uce” Sami Zayn and the “Original Bro” Matt Riddle. The match was pretty decent, both men are very talented. During the match, Sami Zayn told Jey Uso he didn’t need his help, and this ended up costing the master strategist later on. As Riddle was attacking Zayn, Jimmy went to help him, but his twin brother stopped him, telling him that Zayn doesn’t need anyone’s help. Riddle then took advantage of this by hitting the RKO to get the 3 count. Jey was laughing at this so it will be intriguing to see what the Head of the Table thinks about this.
Grade: B for the match
25 years of D-Generation X
The show ended with the 25-year anniversary of D-Generation X. Triple H, Shawn Michaels, Road Dogg and X-Pac all got their lines in and the crowd were clearly having a good time. For me, this was a fine segment. For people that were big fans of DX, they probably loved it. Either way, this was a happy ending to Monday Night Raw.
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