Raw Women’s Championship Number 1 Contenders Match: Alexa Bliss VS Bayley
Monday Night Raw kicked off with a match between Alexa Bliss and Bayley to see who would become the brand new number 1 contender for Bianca Belair’s Raw Women’s Championship. Before Alexa Bliss even came out, Becky Lynch showed up and attacked Damage CTRL’s Dakota Kai and Iyo Sky meaning that when Alexa Bliss came out, it was going to be a fair, one on one fight. Bianca Belair watched from ringside as both women tried their best to get the better of their opponent. After a fairly competitive match, Bayley and Belair got into an argument outside the ring and this ended up costing the Role Model as Alexa through Bayley into the ring before she hit Twisted Bliss to secure the victory meaning Alexa Bliss will take on Bianca Belair for the Raw Women’s Championship. Bianca hugged Alexa in the ring before Bray Wyatt’s graphic came up on the titantron. Something then snapped inside Alexa and she put Belair in the Sister Abigail but she quickly let go when she realised what was going on. The match was alright, it wasn’t anything special but the right person won and the aftermath was pretty cool. I would really like to see Alexa beat Belair but that isn’t going to happen.
Grade: C+
AJ Styles VS Chad Gable, The Judgement Day VS The Street Profits and Akira Tozawa
The Alpha Academy were being interviewed in the parking lot before the OC (minus Karl Anderson) were walking past and they took the mick out of what happened to the Alpha Academy on Friday Night SmackDown. Chad Gable then challenged AJ Styles to a match. We then got a quick Austin Theory video (which was really good) before we went straight into the match between the Master and the Phenomenal One. This was a match between two technical masters and it was pretty solid. Chad Gable has been on a different level this past year whilst AJ Styles is still a hell of a worker. In the end, AJ managed to pick up an important win after hitting the Styles Clash. Solid stuff
Grade: B-
We cut backstage to see Johnny Gargano and Dexter Lumis trying to workout how they were going to spend their money before Candice LeRae came up to them and told them the reason they were struggling to think of ways to spend the money was because they had everything they needed. Johnny agreed and then told Dexter that he had a plan. In the background, Nikki Cross was peering over so we are definetly getting this feud at some point. After this, the Street Profits teamed up with Akira Tozawa to take on the Judgement Day. I thought this match was pretty solid and I had two big takeaways from this encounter. One of them is just how good Akira Tozawa is. You forget that when he’s dressed as a Ninja doing comedy stuff so I’m glad he’s being able to go back to having proper matches. The second thing was how good Damian Priest looked. In the closing phases, Priest took out both Ford and Dawkins on his own before he hit the Razor’s Edge onto Tozawa which ended up being the finish (Dominik got the pin). I've seen Priest live, he’s a tremendous professional wrestler so it was nice to see him booked to look like a star. Another solid match.
Grade: B-
Gargano and Lumis give out gifts, Candice LeRae VS Iyo Sky
Johnny Gargano and Dexter Lumis brought literally everything from the merchandise stand before they came out to ringside and started handing out lots of shirts to the WWE Universe. The Miz appeared and attempted to steal back “his” money and after a bit of comedy, it was agreed that the Miz and Dexter would battle in a “Winner takes all” ladder match next week. The winner would earn all the money that was on the line.
We then got a really cool video package highlighting Seth “Freakin” Rollins before it was time to see Candice LeRae take on Damage Control’s Iyo Sky. These two had some amazing matches in NXT and even though this wasn’t nearly as good, it was still a solid match between two veterans of this sport. They both took risks but in the end, Candice LeRae missed with her twisted neckbreaker which allowed the former NXT Women’s Champion to hit “Over the Moonsault” to get the win. It was a good win for Sky but I was surprised at the fact that LeRae lost again.
Grade: C+
Elias VS Solo Sikoa, Asuka VS Rhea Ripley
Kevin Owens was being interviewed by Cathy Kelley before Elias came up to him and asked if he would have his back for his match with Solo Sikoa. KO declined this and made it clear that he wasn’t happy with how he tormented him for months as Ezekiel. Elias claimed that that wasn’t him which only made Owens even more angry. This was funny. Elias then came out and sang a song that Matt Riddle had wrote and to be honest, it was a pretty decent song. The crowd joined in too which was cool and as Elias said it was time for his Solo, Solo Sikoa came out. That was excellent. The two then had a match that I wasn’t particually fond of. The reason for that is because Elias got a lot of offense in. The problem with that is I thought Solo Sikoa was made to look unstoppable but Elias was able to match him quite a bit. Solo managed to pick up the win with the Spinning Solo which is something but I still feel that he didn’t dominate nearly as much as he should’ve. However, I did like the aftermath. Solo Sikoa beat up Elias after the match and he also hit the Samoan Spike. Kevin Owens then came down to make the save by hitting the stunner onto Sikoa before Zayn had to stop Sikoa from getting back into the ring and battling with the Prizefighter. Elias then went to say thankyou to KO but Owens quickly hit a stunner onto him too. Sikoa looked so much better after the match than in it and Owens laying out Elias was fantastic. Even though Kevin is now a babyface, he still has no reason to like Elias/Ezekiel.
Grade: C- for the match, B+ for the aftermath
After some pictures of the Miz giving out presents dressed as an elf, it was time for the Empress of Tomorrow to take on the Nightmare. Rhea Ripley and Asuka both know each other so well inside the squared circle so they were both equipped in blocking their opponents offense. This was a pretty solid match that got a lot of time. In the end though, Asuka had Ripley in the Asuka lock but Dominik Mysterio then moved Ripley’s foot onto the rope meaning Asuka had to let go. As Dominik was standing on the ring apron, Asuka spat blue mist into the face of Evil Mysterio before Rhea hit her with the Rip Tide to get the victory. It was another good win for Rhea who is surely on the path to winning the Raw Women’s Championship. As for Asuka, it was another loss for her but the interesting thing to note is the fact that she didn’t have her green face paint on. She was almost unrecognisable! Could we be about to see a return to the old NXT version of Asuka?
Grade: B-
The United States Championship picture, Bobby Lashley VS Seth “Freakin” Rollins
We cut to the trainers room to see Dominik Mysterio in agony over the fact that he had been spat at by Asuka. Damian Priest and Finn Balor were particually funny in this segment. Dolph Ziggler then cut a promo talking about how Austin Theory is too cocky and that he also wants the United States Championship. Speaking of the United States Championship, Seth “Freakin” Rollins took on Bobby Lashley to see who would be the next to challenge Austin Theory. Bobby Lashley got a cool video package before this match and both him and Rollins went at one another. It was a highly competitive bout that saw both men come close to winning. Bobby Lashley had the match won but the referee was slow to make the count after he fell outside the ring. After Lashley had a go at the ref, Rollins reversed the All Mighty’s spear into a Pedigree to pick up the massive victory. After the match, Lashley had another go at the referee before another one ran into the ring and got met with a elbow. In Lashley’s defense, he thought it was Seth. Adam Pearce then came down and had a go at the All Mighty before Lashley pushed him out the way. Adam Pearce was so angry at this, he decided to fire him. It’s a bit stupid given the fact that Pearce didn’t fire Rousey despite how many officials she took out. However, this could be a way to move Lashley over to SmackDown and I think that would be a really good thing for the blue brand. Also, Rollins getting a rematch does make sense.
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