Bobby Lashley and Brock Lesnar brawl, The OC VS Alpha Academy, Judgement Day make a challenge
Monday Night Raw kicked off with Bobby Lashley already in the ring calling out Brock Lesnar. The Beast incarnate came down and the two brawled. Lesnar was on top to start with, but Lashley got him back with a spear through the barricade. WWE officials and superstars like Johnny Gargano, Mustafa Ali, Shelton Benjamin, Cedric Alexander and the Alpha Academy to name a few. They didn’t make much difference though as Lashley speared Brock over the table before he put him through the table to end the brawl. The All Mighty standing tall over the Beast makes Lashley look awesome. Hopefully, that’s what will happen at the Premium Live Event.
Grade: A
The first match of the night saw the OC (Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson) take on the Alpha Academy. AJ coming out in full OC gear was really cool, you can tell that these 3 guys love working together. This match was designed to showcase Gallows and Anderson to people who maybe weren’t watching WWE when they were a thing and it definitely worked. When I watched them, it reminded me of why at one point, they were seen as one of the best tag teams in the world. It also helps when you have guys like Chad Gable and Otis who can make stuff look even better. The OC got the win with the Magic Killer but before they could celebrate too quickly, the Judgement Day arrived. Finn Balor said that he deserved a thank you for starting the group in the first place before AJ asked if Balor, Priest and Mysterio needed to ask their mom (Ripley) for permission to fight them. Dominik and AJ then got into a massive argument before Styles challenged “the punk” to a match for later on in the night. The Judgement Day continue to be one of the best acts in all of WWE.
Grade: B for the match
Mustafa Ali comes out to Seth Rollins, Damage CTRL VS Bianca Belair and Candice LeRae
The Brand-New United States Champion Seth “Freakin” Rollins came out to celebrate his accomplishment. He talked about how everyone loves him before he attempted to undermine Riddle’s victory at Extreme Rules by calling it a “strategic tap”. Mustafa Ali then came out and asked Rollins for a championship match. Rollins said no and told the Heart of 205 Live that he doesn’t deserve to be in his ring. Ali then knocked the Visionary’s glasses off before Rollins complemented both Ali’s in-ring ability and his personality. It was all part of a plan though as whilst Ali started to smile, Rollins punched him and threw him to the outside. Ali then fought back but the Architect threw Ali into the ring post, meaning Mustafa was able to do his awesome looking sell. As a neutral, this was probably a solid segment. As a Mustafa Ali fan, this was great!
Grade: B+
We then saw a car pull up that looked a lot like JBL’s before it was time for the Women’s tag team champions Damage Control to take on the team of the Raw Women’s Champion Bianca Belair and the Poison Pixie, Candice LeRae. The in-ring action was solid, but the best part of this whole thing was Bayley on commentary. She can be genuinely funny at times but then she will put her partners and rivals over. She also referenced NXT and Indi Hartwell which is really cool. Back in the ring, SKY and Kai were showcasing how good of a tag team they have become whilst letting Candice LeRae showcase her ability. Bianca Belair got the hot tag and I was a bit worried that she was going to get the win but Bayley’s presence at ring side was too much for Belair to handle. Damage CTRL got the win after hitting what looks to be their brand-new tag team finisher onto LeRae.
Grade: B-
Backstage Segments, Baron Corbin returns and takes on Dolph Ziggler
Matt Riddle was backstage and he compared Seth Rollins to a rubbish hoverboard. He then saw Mustafa Ali and told him that he would give him an opportunity at the US Championship once he defeated Seth “Freakin” Rollins. The two then saw the Miz sitting on the floor. The A-Lister talked about how he had slipped on water left by a janitor before he asked the two babyfaces to get some help. The Judgement Day were then backstage before Cora Jade asked Ripley to be Roxanne Perez’s opponent on tonight’s NXT. Ripley accepted meaning she is Perez’s poison. Back in the ring, JBL returned to WWE and trashed talk Oklahoma City. JBL then introduced the newly renamed Baron Corbin. Corbin came out in a new attire, but his character didn’t seem to be too different from his previous Happy iteration. JBL then talked rubbish about Dolph Ziggler before the Showoff came out for his scheduled matchup with the former Lone Wolf. The match itself was pretty fine, both men are really talented and some of Corbin’s signature moves are the best in the business. My only complaint was this match went long. That’s not a bad thing if it’s a big feud but I thought the whole point of the match was to make Corbin look like a dominant heel. This match just wasn’t that.
Grade: C+
Comedy Backstage Segments, AJ Styles VS Dominik Mysterio
The Miz was in the trainer's room before Byron Saxton told the A-Lister that there is witnesses’ who saw the Miz set up his fake injury. As soon as he said this, Johnny Gargano shouted, “it’s Dexter Lumis” and the Miz jumped straight up, showcasing he’d been faking his injury the whole time. The best part of this was when Miz said he’s had a miraculous recovery. MVP quickly talked about how monsters aren’t really whilst Giants are before Cameron Grimes showed up backstage. Grimes asked the OC if they would be his tag partners for tonight’s NXT and the Good Brothers accepted because they love a paycheck. This was actually good comedy, particularly AJ saying it was all in crypto currency. It was also nice to see buffoon Grimes again. It was then time for the Phenomenal one to take on Dominik Mysterio. This was actually pretty good. AJ Styles is still one of the best performers in the world and he made Dominik look pretty decent. Add in Rhea getting involved as much as she could + Balor and Priest’s excellent facial expression and this was good fun. The ending came when The OC and The Judgement Day stared off outside the ring. Whilst the referee was distracted, Ripley interfered and Dominik got the win with the surprise roll up. Not only was this Dominik’s best win, but it was also his best ever match. Evil Mysterio is starting to improve in more ways than one.
Grade: B+ for the match
More Comedy, The Miz and Johnny Gargano
The Miz was backstage getting ready to go out for his match before Johnny Gargano came over to him. He mentioned his history with Dexter before he told The Miz that this would all go away if the Miz told the truth. Finally, it looks like the story is properly going to progress. Dexter Lumis then came out with an entrance which is pretty funny before The Miz attacked him from behind with a steel chair. The Miz then hit the Skull Crushing Finale on Lumis onto the chair before he walked off, meaning the match was cancelled. Byron Saxton was then backstage and he interviewed Damage CTRL who were very happy after their win from earlier on in the night. It was then announced that Bayley would be taking on Bianca Belair in a non-title match on next week’s episode. The Miz was then back again and so was Johnny Gargano. Gargano told his fellow Clevelander that Lumis will keep coming back until he tells everyone the truth. The best part of all of this was Gargano saying that Miz and Mrs would be cancelled and it could be replaced with the Wrestling’s.
Grade: B for all of the Miz/Gargano stuff
Elias returns, Seth “Freakin” Rollins VS Matt Riddle for the United States Championship
Elias made his return to WWE and talked about how his brother Ezekiel’s career got cut short. On a serious note, I know that Elias and Ezekiel are played by the same person, but Elias is so much more likeable. Anyway, Elias was ready to sing a song for all the people before Matthew Riddle came out. He told Elias that he is a huge fan before he asked if they could one day do a duet together which Elias agreed too. As Ezekiel’s older brother went to sing, Seth “Freakin” Rollins came out. The best part of this was whilst everyone was singing Seth’s song, Corey Graves said the words “this is real music”. That’s a pretty good line from Graves.
Grade: B- because I like Elias
The main event matchup then became and quickly on, Riddle attempted to lock in some submission manoeuvres that he used in the fight pit match at Extreme Rules, but Rollins was able to get out. On the outside, Elias was still there and he ended up kneeing Rollins in the face once he had had enough of the Visionary’s trash talking. When we came back from the ad break, we got plenty of reversals between Riddle and Rollins before Matt locked in the same move that made Rollins tap out at Extreme Rules. This time however, there was no “strategic” benefit for Seth to tap so he managed to get out of it. He then had another argument with Elias before he got a shot in on the music man. Elias was angry about this and he ran into the ring. This allowed Rollins to push Matt into him before he connected with the stomp to retain his championship. He then stomped Elias for good measure. However, as he was about to hit Riddle with another stomp, Mustafa Ali came down and the two brawled. In the end, Mustafa Ali stood tall on the barricade whilst Rollins was in the crowd. To see Mustafa Ali standing tall at the end of Monday Night Raw is pretty special. Rollins VS Ali has the makings to be special, but you also have Elias and Riddle that you can throw into the mix. A good end to Raw.
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