Seth Rollins opens the show, Riddle VS Finn Balor
Seth Rollins kicked off the show and talked about how he is the face of Monday Night Raw. The Visionary said that he has no interest in a rematch with Riddle and is aiming to reclaim Championship gold. Just before it looked like he was going to call out Roman Reigns, Matt Riddle interrupted and ran straight towards the ring before a brawl ensued. Rollins managed to escape before the Judgement Day’s music hit. Finn Balor and Damian Priest came out and Priest referenced the real-life friendship that the Archer of Infamy, the original Bro and Rhea Ripley have. They then offered Riddle a spot in the Judgement Day, but Matt declined. After the ad break, a match had started between Riddle and Balor. Both guys are super talented, and they had a fun match. After Rey Mysterio and Damian Priest brawled through the crowd, Seth Rollins distracted Riddle which ultimately cost him as Finn was able to hit 1916 and then the coup de grace to get the victory. Rollins then stomped Riddle again to put an end to the feud (for now).
Grade: B
Backstage Segments and the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships
Damage Control cut a promo saying that they are going to take what’s rightfully theirs. Then, a pre-taped video aired were Dominik Mysterio explained why he has done the things he has done. This was actually pretty decent. Austin Theory then told the world that Chad Gable would be the man to take on Johnny Gargano in his first match back.
The WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships were on the line as the Champs Raquel Rodriguez and Aliyah defended against Damage Control. Raquel and Dakota Kai went toe to toe before Corey Graves reference their history in NXT but what he said was incorrect which wasn’t great for someone like me. In the end though, Bayley’s interruptions were too much for Raquel to handle as she was distracted which allowed IYO to hit a crazy but lovely dive onto the women who took the NXT Championship off her. Kai then hit the Kairopractor onto Aliyah (who didn’t sell it well) to get the victory. This was the right result, this two should be dominant champions until another proper team shows up (Toxic Attraction).
Grade: C+
Johnny Gargano VS Chad Gable, Austin Theory and Kevin Owens
After a quick promo which saw Dominik Mysterio completely ignore his dad, I got my wish! Johnny Gargano’s first “proper” main roster match was against Chad Gable. Gargano is one of the best wrestlers in the world and there aren’t many better technical wrestlers than Chad Gable. Gable hitting suplex’s and Gargano using his strikes were some of the highlights of this match. Also, Johnny’s slingshot spear is incredible. In the end, Johnny Gargano won with the One Final Beat DDT which I thought was cool. This match was great and during the match, I realised just how much I’ve missed Johnny Gargano wrestle. After the match, Theory attacked Gargano from behind with his briefcase. This was all excellent.
Grade: A-
After the Ad Break, Theory was in the ring talking about how Johnny Wrestling is an “overrated small fish in a big pond”. The kid really must like fish because it’s all he talks about. Kevin Owens then came out and cut one of the best promos I’ve heard in a long time. He brought up that Theory used to be the future of the company, but the land has changed. He also said that Theory has been handed everything before admitting that he couldn’t hate him for it due to being handed the Universal Championship back in 2016. That was a genuinely brilliant line, makes KO look a lot cooler. He then said that whilst Theory is one of many, guys like him, and Johnny Gargano, are one in a million. KO then said that he hopes that Austin will prove him wrong by winning stuff due to his passion, not because he is handed things. Austin didn’t take kindly to this, and they brawled. At one point, Theory got hit so hard, he was bleeding. This was all excellent, give KO a match against Roman right now!
Grade: A+
Bianca Belair’s Raw Women’s Championship Open Challenge
Bianca Belair came down to the ring and issued an open challenge for her Raw Women’s Championship. The call was answered by Sonya Deville which was a surprise. It then became a really cool surprise as Deville brought up the fact that Belair cost her her job. This match was fine, it was nothing special and quite obviously, Bianca got the victory with the K.O.D. This was really done to give Belair a singles victory after her loss in Cardiff but that isn’t a bad thing, Deville is also pretty good at what she does which helps. After this, Bayley, Kai and SKY all surrounded the champion, but Bliss and Asuka made the save. This was silly as in the end, the new tag team champions weren’t the ones standing tall which is a bit dumb.
Grade: C
Various Segments
Omos squashed 2 guys. That’s all I need to say on it. Rey Mysterio then pleaded with Edge to not fight Dominik, but the Rated R-Superstar rightly said no and apologised for what he is going to do. Seth Rollins then cut a promo on why he is the face of Monday Night Raw before Bobby Lashley interrupted and said you have to wear gold to be the face of Raw. Considering that the United States Championship is the main men’s belt on Raw, having the show’s two top stars face off for the title makes sense. Just a shame this couldn’t have been a proper long-term feud as it would have been awesome. Then, The Miz was doing a filmed interview from his house where you could clearly see Dexter Lumis in the window. The best part was Maryse saying that no one can get in and then as they left to go to a premier, Lumis was in the house. He drew a cool picture of the Miz and Mrs poster. Graves and Saxton’s selling of this on commentary was really good. Miz’s character makes him incredibly unlikeable but, like the feud he had with the Fiend in 2019, you kind of feel sorry for the guy. A credit to how good of an actor he is.
Edge VS Dominik Mysterio
The first thing I’ll say is every member of the Judgement Day has cool new theme music. The remix, more darker versions of their previous songs sound really cool. Edge is a great wrestler, and he did a good job of putting Dom over as a solid in-ring competitor. Rhea Ripley was on the outside and she has been excellent since her character change. Then, the evil side of Edge came out and as his opponent was tied up, he kept hitting him. Kind of like Tom Holland does in the newest Spiderman. It was so much that even Rey Mysterio ran into the ring, but Edge pushed him aside. Damian Priest then attacked Rey and Balor attacked Edge, causing the DQ. This makes sense as Dominik losing his first match as a bad guy doesn’t make him look like a threat. Rhea then hit Edge’s leg with a chair before Evil Mysterio kept smashing the Rated R-Superstar’s injury with the steel chair. Then, in an even better spot, Finn Balor did what I wished he did last week and that was hit the coup de grace onto Edge’s leg with a steel chair placed on top of it. The selling from Edge was incredible. Probably the best night the Judgement Day have ever had.
Comments