Brock Lesnar attacks Cody Rhodes, Paul Heyman kicks off the show, Bronson Reed VS Ricochet
Raw opened with Cody Rhodes being attacked backstage by Brock Lesnar. Lesnar ended his attack by attempting to break the arm of the American Nightmare. We then cut to the ring as Paul Heyman cut a promo about how Roman Reigns and Solo Sikoa are going to beat Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn at Night of Champions to become the brand-new Undisputed WWE Tag Team Champions. Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn then made their way down to the ring as the Wiseman left. KO and Sami declared that they are dedicating their victory on Saturday to the Usos before Imperium arrived. Before they could attack the tag team champions, Matt Riddle arrived to even the odds meaning he was the mystery partner for the main event match. The fact that it wasn’t Mustafa Ali fully showed that the Intercontinental Championship match at Night of Champions isn’t anything more than a stepping stone which is wrong.
Grade: C
Adam Pearce told Byron Saxton that he didn’t have a medical update on Cody Rhodes before Ricochet took on Bronson Reed in the first match of the night. This match came about after the ending of last week’s Intercontinental Championship Number 1 Contenders Battle Royal and it was pretty clear that Bronson Reed wanted payback for last week’s proceedings. The match was totally fine, both guys are a lot of fun to watch, but I’ve seen way better matches for both men. Ricochet got in plenty of offense which is fine, but in the end, it was Bronson Reed who picked up the win with the Tsunami. My concern with this feud is it’s actually just being done so we can get Reed-Strowman when Braun returns.
Grade: C+
Seth “Freakin” Rollins Chapter 3, Candice LeRae VS Zoey Stark, Brock Lesnar attacks Cody Rhodes again
Apollo Crews was being interviewed backstage before Rhea Ripley and Dominik Mysterio walked in. Rhea challenged Natalya to a championship match at Night of Champions before Apollo Crews interrupted saying this was his interview time. Ripley didn’t like this so Dom agreed to fight the former United States Champion. We then got the third part of Corey Graves’ interview with Seth “Freakin” Rollins where the Visionary said whilst he loves Roman Reigns, he can’t and doesn’t respect the champion that he’s become. Seth then talked about how much he respects AJ Styles before he called him “one of the greatest in-ring workers of all time”. He’s certainly one of the greatest that I have ever seen and the same can definitely be said for Seth “Freakin” Rollins. Finn Balor and Damian Priest were both unhappy with Byron Saxton’s journalism backstage, but they were even more unhappy with Shinsuke Nakamura after the King of Strong Style’s actions on Raw Talk last week. It was then time for the first women’s match of the night as Zoey Stark took on Candice LeRae. Zoey Stark got a really cool video before the match started and both women are talented in-ring competitors, but unfortunately for them, the crowd did not care at all (they were pretty rubbish all night). Nikki Cross also arrived at one point and her “love” of Candice LeRae ended up costing the Poison Pixie the match as Zoey Stark hit the Z360 to stay undefeated on Monday Night Raw.
Grade: C
Mustafa Ali cut a more serious promo backstage where he talked about the fact that no one is giving him a chance to beat Gunther for the Intercontinental Championship at Night of Champions. Brock Lesnar then walked past, told Ali to “get a life” before the Heart of 205 Live walked off looking very upset. This was the only thing that was done on this show to build the feud between Gunther and Ali and even this was a backdrop to Brock Lesnar. Surely it’s not hard for WWE to make this match (or any match) feel important. Brock Lesnar announced in the ring that Cody Rhodes is injured and he will be issuing an open challenge at NOC. However, Cody Rhodes stormed down to the ring only to be beaten up by the Beast who once again tried to break Rhodes’ arm in the Kimura Lock. There wasn’t anything wrong with this segment, but that doesn’t mean it was a good segment.
Grade: C+
Alpha Academy VS Viking Raiders, Shinsuke Nakamura VS Finn Balor
WWE then went straight into a tag team match as the Alpha Academy battled the Viking Raiders in the “neither team ever wins match”. Maxxine Dupri was once again at ringside and she happily watched on as Otis delivered the Caterpillar to Erik. In the end, Valhalla scared Dupri, but this allowed Chad Gable to pick up the victory with a good-looking roll-up. Alpha Academy deserve to win matches, but I think this confirmed where the Raiders are viewed in the tag team pecking order.
Grade: C
Cody Rhodes kicked Adam Pearce out of his locker room before Indus Sher got a video promo. It was then time for a match between two men on a decent winning streak as Shinsuke Nakamura battled Finn Balor. This was another alright match, but you would probably expect more from the two. Damian Priest kept interfering on the outside and that ended up resulting in Finn Balor dropkicking Shinsuke into the barricade before he nailed the King of Strong Style with the Coup de Grace in the middle of the ring to get the victory. I think Judgment Day winning is great, but Nakamura needed to stay undefeated for a lot longer.
Grade: C+
Raquel Rodriguez VS Sonya Deville, Becky and Trish Contract Signing, Apollo Crews VS Dominik Mysterio
Raquel Rodriguez made her way down to the ring as she was about to face Sonya Deville in singles action. Sonya was in control of this match for the most part, but Raquel hit her two signature moves to get the victory. The match was as short as it took me to write these three sentences. Chelsea Green then attacked Raquel before Shotzi ran down to make the save. Ridiculously, WWE acted like this was a massive surprise which is stupid given the fact that these two were a tag team that just randomly split up 5-to-6 months ago.
Grade: C
Adam Pearce was backstage and he rejected Trish Stratus’ request for a “no touch policy” before we got a video package for Matt Riddle. Ok. Becky Lynch’s music then hit and she wasted little time signing the contract for her match with Trish Stratus that takes place at Night of Champions. Trish, however, took longer to sign the contract as she ran down Becky Lynch on the mic in a really good promo. However, Becky fired back with maybe an even better promo as she thanked Trish “for being everything that she’s not” before she welcomed Stratus to the big time which was a nice touch. I definitely feel like this feud has definitely been built up the best heading into Night of Champions as both Lynch and Stratus have cut killer promos every time they’ve been in the ring. Just need the match to be on the same level now.
Grade: B+
Adam Pearce was speaking to someone on the phone before Byron Saxton asked Shotzi why she came to Raquel Rodriguez’s aim (he clearly doesn’t watch the product). Shotzi answered by saying she will always have Raquel’s back before Rodriguez said the two are going to become WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions next week. It was then time for Apollo Crews to have his first singles match back on the main roster as he took on the Judgment Day’s Dominik Mysterio. This match was alright, but it’s crazy to think how much more important Dominik Mysterio is compared to Apollo Crews in WWE right now. It’s not a bad thing for Dominik though who’s majorly improved since joining the Judgment Day and a bit of help from Rhea Ripley allowed Mysterio to hit a brilliant Frog Splash to get the victory. However, it’s not looking great for Apollo Crews, but you could argue it never has since he lost the Intercontinental Championship.
Grade: C+
World Heavyweight Championship hype, Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn and Matt Riddle VS Imperium, Cody Rhodes gets a visitor
WWE aired an awesome video showcasing the career of AJ Styles, both in and outside of WWE before we got Chapter 4 of Seth “Freakin” Rollins. Seth said he wants to become the new World Heavyweight Champion to give other people opportunities in the spotlight. All four of these Seth Rollins videos were excellent, even though they did miss out some great characters. It was then main event time as the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Champions Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn teamed up with Matt Riddle to take on Imperium. This match was decent, everyone involved is talented and they played their roles well. However, Matt Riddle being in this match was stupid, start that feud next week if you want, but not when Gunther’s meant to be defending a belt against a guy that people need to believe in again. Elsewhere, Ludwig Kaiser and Giovanni Vinci were selling superbly, but all they do is lose which is another problem that WWE needs to resolve. In the end, Sami Zayn hit Vinci with the Helluva Kick before KO delivered the Swanton Bomb to get the victory. WWE then cut to the back as Triple H walked in to speak to Cody Rhodes. Even though Triple H told Rhodes he wouldn’t be medically cleared for Saturday, the American Nightmare made it clear that he is going to Saudi Arabia to fight the Beast Brock Lesnar. Let’s hope this all plays into the match on Saturday because otherwise, this has been completely pointless.
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