Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler Brawl, The Judgment Day Promo, Alpha Academy VS Imperium
Monday Night Raw started with a brawl between Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler which Nia won before Raquel Rodriguez made her return to TV to attack Jax. However, she was also beaten up by The Irresistible Force before the Women’s World Champion Rhea Ripley returned and a massive brawl started between all four women. This was a chaotic start to the show, but it also didn’t feel like it mattered at all.
Grade: C
Rhea Ripley then called out the rest of The Judgment Day, but it was only Senor Money in the Bank Damian Priest, and Dominik Mysterio who showed up because Finn Balor wasn’t there. Rhea said she wasn’t happy about how The Judgment Day has crumbled since she’s been gone and she fully puts the blame on Damian Priest. Priest wasn’t impressed by this and questioned where Dominik’s title is/was. Ripley then told Mysterio that he has a rematch for the NXT North American Championship against Trick Williams on tonight’s NXT, but if he loses, he shouldn’t bother coming back home. Jey Uso then arrived and peed off The Judgment Day even more before he Superkicked “Dirty” Dom. JD McDonagh then arrived to help, but that didn’t really happen as Cody Rhodes arrived to help “Main Event” Jey Uso stand tall. Adam Pearce then arrived and announced that on Saturday at Fastlane, The Judgment Day will put their Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championships on the line against the team of Cody Rhodes and Jey Uso. I thought this was a pretty decent segment, the stare-off between Rhea and Priest was cool whilst Dominik’s acting was superb throughout.
Grade: B-
It was then time for the first match of the night as Alpha Academy took on Imperium. Both of these teams are very good and I thought this was a pretty decent contest. The crowd were behind Chad Gable and Otis whilst you could tell that Ludwig Kaiser and Giovanni Vinci were desperate to pick up a victory, not only to impress Gunther but also so they avoid the wrath of The Ring General. To my surprise, they did just that as Kaiser nailed Otise with an enziguri whilst Master Gable was on the outside to get the victory. All of this was solid.
Grade: C+
Bronson Reed VS Cedric Alexander, Intercontinental Championship Contract Signing, Ivar VS Xavier Woods
After we saw a recap of the Extreme Rules match between Becky Lynch and Tiffany Stratton at NXT No Mercy, it was revealed that the scheduled NXT Women’s Championship match between Becky Lynch and Tegan Nox was unable to take place. Adam Pearce told Tegan Nox this in his office backstage before Chelsea Green walked in with her new look and mocked Tegan for not being “Championship Material”. Nox then challenged Green to a match which Pearce was more than happy to make official. Bronson Reed then stormed his way down to the ring as he was about to take on Cedric Alexander in singles action. I really rate Cedric Alexander and he looked pretty good in the opening stages of this match. However, he then got beaten up by Bronson Reed for a bit before Reed delivered the “TSUNAMI” to pick up the easy victory. I do feel sorry for Cedric as he deserves to be in a much better position than this, but this at least made Bronson Reed look like a dominant monster which is exactly how he should be portrayed (even though he is a decent Babyface).
Grade: C
Drew McIntyre found Adam Pearce backstage and told him that he wasn’t going to be on Miz TV tonight. When Pearce asked Drew what was going on with him, McIntyre responded by saying “I don’t recall anyone helping out when The Bloodline were beating down Drew McIntyre”. That was a truly great line, especially as that’s my favourite beatdown in WWE history. Adam Pearce was then magically in the ring as he welcomed out Gunther and Tommaso Ciampa for a Contract Signing for their Intercontinental Championship match. Tommaso Ciampa cut a passionate promo about dreaming about this moment since he was 5 years old whilst Gunther was just happy in his fancy suit. Ciampa then challenged The Ring General to have the title match tonight and “the Greatest Intercontinental Champion of all time” was more than happy to accept. The two then started to brawl and it ended with Gunther escaping the ring after The Blackheart locked in the Gargano Escape. This was pretty decent, Ciampa’s a terrific promo whilst Gunther just looked awesome. The crowd were also into this which is a good thing.
Grade: B-
The Judgment Day were sitting in their lounge backstage before Damian Priest got angry at JD McDonagh. However, Rhea Ripley defended JD and said that he might be onto something in regards to Kevin Owens getting angry at Jey Uso for getting a shot at the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championships. Kofi Kingston then joined commentary as it was time for his buddy Xavier Woods to go one-on-one with Ivar. One thing I have liked about this feud is it’s very rare that one-half of a Tag Team stays on television whilst the other half of the team is out injured. Instead, what’s happened here is Ivar’s been made to look really good and he showed it again here. However, that still wasn’t enough for him as he suffered a loss thanks to Xavier pulling out the BackWoods. This angered Ivar so he destroyed both Woods and Kofi Kingston before he flattened both men with his trademark Moonsault. This was totally alright for what it was.
Grade: C+
Shinsuke Nakamura Lays Out Seth “Freakin” Rollins, Chelsea Green VS Tegan Nox, Drew McIntyre VS The Miz
Michael Cole welcomed Seth “Freakin” Rollins down to the ring as the World Heavyweight Champion basked in the crowd singing his song. Michael Cole had a great line about Seth Rollins being the puppet in his story with Shinsuke Nakamura before he asked Seth why he’s putting himself through all of this. Rollins said it’s because he’s addicted to this sport and he needs to go down fighting in order for him to be an example to his daughter. Shinsuke Nakamura then appeared on the Titantron and questioned which one of them is actually playing this game before Nakamura arrived and attacked Rollins from behind. Shinsuke then nailed Seth with repeated chair shots before he delivered two Kinshasa’s and stood tall with the World Heavyweight Championship in his arm. This was alright, but it wasn’t as good as some of their previous segments/encounters. Also, I wasn’t happy to see Shin lift up the title because that definitely means he’s not going to win on Saturday which is a big shame.
Grade: C+
Becky Lynch found Tegan Nox backstage and apologised to her for not being medically cleared to compete before Natalya walked in and said she’s found a new level of respect for Tegan after their match last week. The WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions Chelsea Green and Piper Niven then made their way down to the ring as Chelsea was about to take on Tegan Nox. This match was pretty short and Tegan was in control for the most part until Piper Niven tried to get involved. However, Natalya ran down to ringside to even the odds and this distracted Green enough for Nox to hit the Molly-Go-Round before she nailed Miss Chelsea with the Shiniest Wizard to pick up the victory. Personally, I don’t like the idea of Tegan and Natalya teaming up again as Natalya is not a likeable Superstar and we’re supposed to be trying to get people behind Lady Kane.
Grade: C
Jey Uso told Byron Saxton that he’s happy to fight The Judgment Day every week (please don’t) before Drew McIntyre was in the ring to talk to his fans. Drew said he’s going to stop getting involved in business that doesn’t concern him before The Miz arrived and he was angry at McIntyre for cancelling tonight’s Miz TV episode. Miz then called McIntyre the “Two-Face of WWE” which was a good line before we got a match between the two. It’s worth mentioning that The Miz wrestled in a suit and I’m pretty sure that I’ve seen him wrestle more in a suit than I have in actual ring gear over the past few months. Anyway, the closing phases saw Drew McIntyre pick up his sword so the referee had to obviously take it away from him. However, this was just a ruse by The Scottish Warrior as it allowed him to take off one of the turnbuckle pads before he threw Miz into the exposed turnbuckle and nailed him with the Future Shock DDT to get the W. I really like this version of Drew McIntyre and him winning with the Future Shock DDT was very cool.
Grade: B- (Overall)
Jackie Redmond interviewed the brand-new NXT North American Champion Trick Williams backstage before The Judgment Day quickly interrupted Trick and told him that things are going to go down a lot differently on NXT than at No Mercy now that Dominik’s not going to be alone. Cody Rhodes then cut a short promo saying that him and Jey Uso are going to be at Friday Night SmackDown this week (which makes no sense) before Chad Gable got all fired up in the back whilst talking to Otis and Maxxine Dupri. We really need to see Maxxine talk a bit more as she’s so good at it, but it doesn’t feel like it’s happened recently.
Intercontinental Championship: Gunther VS Tommaso Ciampa
It was then Main Event time as Gunther put his Intercontinental Championship on the line against Tommaso Ciampa. These guys got plenty of time so they were able to have a pretty good match. Gunther and Ciampa also wrestled back at NXT Stand and Deliver in 2021 so they sort of knew what they were getting themselves into. The crowd was also quite decent in this match and they got behind Tommaso Ciampa and also brought into him winning the match when he nailed Gunther with the Running Knee. However, in the end, it wasn’t to be for The Blackheart as Gunther nailed his opponent with two Powerbombs before The Ring General sent Ciampa to sleep with a Sleeper hold. After the match, Gunther walked off as Ludwig Kaiser and Giovanni Vinci started beating up Tommaso Ciampa before Johnny Gargano made his return to WWE TV by helping Ciampa meaning Raw ended with DIY standing tall. It was great to see Johnny Gargano back on tele again and I’m really excited to see DIY on the main roster. Just a shame the feed cut out before they hit their Tag Team Finisher!
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