Raw Kicks off and the Semi Final of the Women’s Tag Team Championship tournament.
The show opened with Rollins and Riddle brawling with officials trying to break them up. This was cool as this happened before the pyro, like it disrupted the start.
The proper start to the show saw Canada’s own Trish Stratus come out to a big ovation. Whilst she was cutting her promo, Bayley, Dakota Kai and IYO SKY interrupted. Bayley said that this is her show now and this forced Bianca Belair to interrupt. After Stratus said she would happily come out of retirement, Bayley didn’t seem to mind as she had the numbers advantage but when Alexa Bliss and Asuka came out, the Role Model had no interest in a fight.
The semi-final of the WWE Women’s Tag team Championship tournament began as Alexa Bliss and Asuka took on Dakota Kai and IYO SKY. This was a solid match, and the highlight was easily the interactions between Asuka and IYO SKY. Corey Graves mentioning that these two rose to fame in Japan and then dominated the NXT Women’s division was really cool. The ending came when Dakota Kai tapped to Asuka’s submission and as Asuka was celebrating, IYO, who was the legal partner, rolled up Asuka to get the victory meaning Kai and SKY are going to the final to face either Raquel Rodriguez and Aliyah or the winner of the second chance match as Toxic Attraction’s Gigi Dolin is injured and unable to compete.
Grade: B for both segments.
Dolph Ziggler VS Finn Balor
Before the match started, Balor said that Ziggler is another veteran clinging onto younger superstars for success. The best part of this is the fact that DZ is only 1 year older than the prince, so he isn’t exactly a “younger superstar”. This match was alright, there was some good near falls, particularly Balor kicking out of the Zig Zag. After Rhea Ripley laid in a shot on Dolph behind the refs back, Finn hit the Coup de Grace to get the pinfall victory. After this, Aliyah cut a promo and challenged Bayley to her first match in 14 months.
Grade: B+ for Balor VS Ziggler
Chad Gable VS Kevin Owens
The Alpha Academy came out and said that they would be accepting new students but there is no one good In Canada. I expect this to be a regular segment where he just changes the place that he is talking about. Master Gable then said that he will be issuing an open challenge and the challenge was accepted by Canada’s own Kevin Owens. This was awesome as KO not only had his NXT shirt on, he also had his old titantron from like 7 to 8 years ago which is really cool. This match was probably match of the night, it was really fun, and they hit some crazy moves. Not many people hit a better Frog Splash then Kevin Owens and certainly, no one hits a better suplex than Chad Gable. He even hit one to KO on the ring apron. The Prizefighter finished off his return to old form by hitting the Pop-Up Powerbomb to get the victory. He then stunned Otis after the match to stand tall.
Grade: A-
Aliyah VS Bayley and AJ Styles and Bobby Lashley VS Ciampa and The Miz
Toronto’s own Aliyah didn’t get much of a pop which might tell you just how little the WWE Universe cares about her. This match was more done to see Bayley back in the ring and give her a victory which they did. To be fair to Aliyah, this was one of her better matches but that probably has something to do with her opponent. Bayley won with the rose plant.
Grade: C-
Last week's opponents Bobby Lashley and AJ Styles teamed up to take on rivals Ciampa and The Miz. This match was fine, but it doesn’t mean to much given what happened at the end. AJ was attacked by a random guy who was straight away taken away by all the security. This was clever as this left the ringside area free for Dexter Lumis to drag the Miz over the barricade and we didn’t see either of them again. The match was rightly called off, but Lashley and Styles still hit their finishers onto Ciampa. Lumis is easily the most intriguing part of these US Championship segments.
Grade: B- for the match, A- for the angle
Johnny Gargano is back!
After we came back from an ad break, Johnny Gargano’s music hit for a massive ovation. This was a massive surprise. After he ran down his accomplishments in NXT, the Rebel Heart announced he was back in WWE but was then interrupted by his “son” Theory. Theory’s shocked face of his father figure being in the ring was brilliant and he said that he wouldn’t be where he was without Johnny’s guidance. The big change since there last encounter is that Theory is a lot more cockier and arrogant than last time and that showed when Theory said that he’s now the veteran and Johnny is the rookie. When Theory went to do the no look high-five, Gargano Super Kicked him. I would have maybe had Theory attack him to make him more of a bad guy, but I also understand that Gargano was teaching his son a lesson. The references to The WAY where done really well. Seeing my favourite wrestler return after 9 months and seeing my favourite ever faction sort of reunite was awesome, I loved this a lot.
Grade: A+
Damian Priest VS Edge
The main event saw Damian Priest take on Toronto’s own Edge. Damian Priest went alone in his fight against the Rated R-Superstar, and this was a fun match between two people with a lot of history. Beth Phoenix was shown sitting in the crowd before the start of the match and she was shown a few times during the more important spots. Priest hit an awesome looking powerbomb to put Edge through the announce table which sent us into an ad break. During the match, moves were being swapped as Priest hit the unprettier whilst Edge hit the south of heaven chokeslam. When the ref was out, Priest and Edge both attempted to hit their opponents with a chair and Priest nearly won because of it. Edge then hit a Canadian destroyer out of nowhere and hit the spear for the victory. After the match, Ripley and Balor showed up and attacked the hall of famer but Beth grabbed a chair and ran the Judgement Day off. The Judgement Day VS Edge and Phoenix looks like the direction that we are heading in.
Johnnys back Bay Bay!!