The Tribal Court
This week’s special edition of Monday Night Raw started with Hulk Hogan welcoming everyone to the show. We then got the awesome, yet long video package showcasing the history of Raw before Roman Reigns’ music hit. The Bloodline came out and after Paul Heyman made a quick comment about how Brock Purdy is going to smash the Philadelphia Eagles, Paul ripped into Sami Zayn and showcased multiple clips over the past 6-to-7 months that shows that Sami has been working with Kevin Owens the whole time. My favourite one was when Sami brushed the side of Roman Reigns and Paul Heyman called this assault on the Tribal Chief. Sami Zayn was really hurt by this and didn’t understand why this was going on after everything he has done for them. He then said that his defense is that he doesn’t have a defense and this pissed off Roman Reigns who ordered Solo Sikoa to finish the Honorary Uce. As Solo was about to hit the Samoan Spike, Jey Uso caught his younger brother's hand and told the Tribal Chief that he had some evidence of his own. We then saw clips of Sami Zayn taking the bullet for all four members of the Bloodline before Jey Uso and Jimmy Uso both stood up in the defense of the Honorary Uce. At the end of it all, Roman Reigns made the decision that Sami Zayn wasn’t guilty...for now. Roman then told Zayn that after tonight, he doesn’t want to see or hear from him until Saturday at the Royal Rumble. Roman, Paul and Solo then all left the ring and Jey Uso put the family necklace over Sami Zayn’s shoulders. I’m not kidding, this went 23 minutes. However, it was brilliant. The fans were into it the whole time, Roman Reigns, Sami Zayn and Paul Heyman’s acting was absolutely brilliant and Jey Uso being the one to make the save is just fantastic. Not many segments will be better than this in 2023.
Grade: A
Raw Tag Team Championships: The Usos VS The Judgment Day
The Usos stayed in the ring after the trial segment as they were about to defend their Raw Tag Team Championships against the Judgment Day’s Damian Priest and Dominik Mysterio. The match was pretty even for the first 60% of it and the highlight was definitely Damian Priest’s amazing dive. It then looked as if the Usos had the match won after they hit their Superkick/Splash combo, but somehow, Damian Priest kicked out. Finn Balor then attempted to take out the Usos, but the referee saw it and sent him straight to the back. Jimmy Uso then went for a dive onto Priest on the outside and he landed awkwardly. At first, it looked like Adam Pearce was going to have to make the Usos forfeit the match before Sami Zayn said that he could take Jimmy’s place. Pearce accepted this request and Sami and Jey went straight after the JD. A distraction from Rhea Ripley however allowed Damian Priest to hit the South of Heaven Chokeslam and that nearly won the Judgment Day the tag team championships. Jey Uso was then Superkicking everyone before Rhea Ripley ran into the ring and Jey Uso had to stop himself. As the Right Hand Man starred down at the Nightmare, Dominik Mysterio came from behind and hit the 619 before he delivered a Frog Splash. At that moment, I’d thought he’d won the Judgment Day the Raw Tag Team Titles, but Sami “Uso” was there to make the save again. He then dodged Damian Priest who went flying into the ring post before he and Main Event Jey Uso hit the 1D to retain their championships. This was excellent! The match was loads of fun, the story with Sami Zayn was brilliant and there were 3 or 4 times where it looked like the Judgment Day might actually knock off the Usos. What a brilliant first 50 minutes of Monday Night Raw.
Grade: A-
The Undertaker interrupts LA Knight, Bayley VS Becky Lynch: Steel Cage Match
JBL and Baron Corbin were walking backstage and a bunch of his old buddies kept asking Layfield who his stooge was. JBL said that it’s his protégé before he said that he wants to go into the exclusive Poker Club. When the Godfather said that Baron isn’t on the list, Corbin showed them some money and they let him in. I’ll give them credit, them opening the door just for the camera to show that they were all just sitting in a hallway was pretty clever. The Megastar LA Knight was then on Raw and he preview his pitch-black match with Bray Wyatt before he called out the legends who were in the building. When Knight said they’re all too scared to face off with the Megastar, The Undertaker’s music hit. However, it wasn’t Deadman Taker, it was the American Badass. Taker came out on his motorcycle before LA Knight said he would give the “old man” a free pass. When LA Knight continued to talk trash, Bray Wyatt’s music hit and the Eater of Worlds stood behind Knight. LA then ran into the ring and got held onto by the Undertaker before he threw the Megastar into the path of Bray Wyatt who delivered Sister Abigail to Knight. Taker then whispered something into Bray’s ear before he left on his bike. Seeing LA Knight, a guy I’ve watched on NXT for years, standing face-to-face with the Undertaker is just awesome. This whole segment was really well done.
Grade: B
We cut back to the Poker room and once again, Chad Gable was folding. Alundra Blayze then went all in, but she was beaten by DDP. We then cut back to the arena as it was time for Bayley to fight Becky Lynch inside a Steel Cage. As Becky Lynch was about to get into the Cage, she was attacked by the WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions Dakota Kai and Iyo Sky. Bayley then jumped out and the three women destroyed Lynch before they threw her inside the cage. Dakota then locked the door and Damage CTRL beat up Lynch some more before Adam Pearce finally managed to break his way into the cage. I have mixed feelings about this. I was really looking forward to this match so it not happening was pretty disappointing. However, it will hopefully happen on an even bigger stage and this builds more intrigue going into the Royal Rumble match.
Grade: C
D-Generation X, Imperium VS Seth “Freakin” Rollins and the Street Profits
D-Generation X came out and they went threw all of their normal catchphrases before they realised that Kurt Angle had tagged along with them. Kurt said he always wanted to be a part of DX so he took his Angle shirt off to reveal that he had a DX one on. Then all of a sudden, Gunther’s music hit and the whole of Imperium came down to the ring. The best part about all of this was Gunther standing face-to-face with Triple H.
In the end, everyone in the ring made an excuse as to why they couldn’t fight Gunther before Triple H basically requested that someone come out to the ring. That person ended up being Seth “Freakin” Rollins. The crowd was hot all night and they were so loud for the legends. However, I genuinely think Seth had the loudest reaction of all. DX then requested that a team come out and that so happened to be the Street Profits. After Triple H made a joke about how booking is hard, Teddy Long came out and declared that there will be a six-man tag team match next. We then got that match. The match itself was solid, all six men showcased why they deserved the opportunity and it was even cooler seeing Gunther face off with Seth “Freakin” Rollins. In the end, the Profits hit their finisher onto Giovanni Vinci before Rollins got the victory with the Stomp. Like I said, the match was solid, but the promo segment before was superb. I seriously recommend watching the entire first half of this show because it was just fantastic.
Grade: A- for the promo segment, B- for the tag match
Lots of different segments, Bianca Belair VS Sonya Deville
We once again returned to the Poker room to see Ted DiBiase playing against Baron Corbin. Corbin won, but then this guy showed up and told him he had to pay his taxes. This was something I didn’t understand. Cathy Kelley was then interviewing Bobby Lashley and he said that the reason his United States Championship match with Austin Theory is now a no-DQ match is because it means there are no excuses for either competitor. I’ve thought about this and if anything, it gives more reasons for people to have excuses. Anyway, MVP went up to Lashley and said he expects him to become champion before the All Mighty told P that he wants to do it on his own.
Ric Flair was then on the entranceway as he introduced his daughter Charlotte Flair. Charlotte listed a bunch of women that she has battled on Raw (not Sasha Banks though) and said that even though she is the SmackDown Women’s Champion, Raw will always be her home. Bianca Belair then interrupted and said that she works harder than anyone else to make Raw the best show on television. Sonya Deville then interrupted them both and claimed that she deserved a big spotlight on the 30 years of Raw show because she was running the show for a bit. That is a fair point. After some back-and-forth talking, Sonya Deville found herself in a match with the Raw Women’s Champion Bianca Belair. This match was weird. Belair was on top for the first few minutes before we went to an ad break. We came back from the ad break and Belair won the match about a minute later. This whole match felt very rushed and also, it doesn’t really make sense to have Deville lose when she’s trying to get a shot at the SmackDown Women’s Championship.
Grade: C+ for the promo segment, C for the match
Bianca Belair cut a promo after the match where she said that her focus still remains on Alexa Bliss. Bliss then appeared on the titantron and made it clear that she is the only person that Bianca should be worried about, not Uncle Howdy or Bray Wyatt. She then said that she’s going to walk out of the Alamodome as the brand-new Raw Women’s Champion. I really hope she does, but I can’t see it happening. We then got part 4 of Cody Rhodes' “Rhode to recovery” (I’m sticking with that) where he said that the dream scenario would be to return at the Royal Rumble and win the whole thing. I really don’t want that to happen. The Miz was then out and he was complaining that he wasn’t given a Miz TV segment given all the great things he has done for Monday Night Raw. Kevin Owens then came out and hit the Stunner onto the A-Lister before he promised the WWE audience that they would finally get a World Champion that they can be proud of. KO then hit the Miz with another Stunner. I actually thought this was a pretty decent way to get both the Miz and Kevin Owens onto the show. I also liked the fact that KO said that Roman had held the Universal Championship hostage for over two years. Usually they would say they’ve held the world titles hostage.
United States Championship: Austin Theory VS Bobby Lashley
The Main Event of Raw is XXX saw Austin Theory put his United States Championship on the line against Bobby Lashley in a No Disqualification match. Lashley was definitely on top for the start of this match, but Theory managed to get himself back into by spraying Bobby with a fire extinguisher. When we came back from the advert break, two tables were set up. It looked like Austin Theory was going to put his opponent through the table when he delivered a low blow to Lashley, but the All Mighty picked the Now up and dropped him through the table. As that happened, Brock Lesnar’s music hit and the Beast came storming down to the ring. Brock hit the F5 onto Lashley before he did the same thing to Theory. However, he smartly made it so Austin landed on Lashley meaning Theory pinned Bob to retain his United States Championship. I once again have mixed feelings towards this segment. I don’t mind Brock Lesnar coming back to cost Lashley as the two are most likely going to face one another at WrestleMania. However, like the Belair match, it felt really rushed. Also, Brock beat Bobby at Crown Jewel so why would he want another fight with the All Mighty? I guess we’ll have to find out, but one thing I do know is I really liked how Austin won.
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