Drew McIntyre Starts the Show, Drew McIntyre VS Sami Zayn
This week’s edition of Monday Night Raw kicked off with Drew McIntyre cutting a promo on a bunch of different Superstars before Sami Zayn arrived. Drew told Sami that they aren’t alike in the slightest and the main reason for that is Sami was the only guy who deserved to get screwed by The Bloodline. Zayn then took a shot at McIntyre’s family which made The Scottish Warrior angry before it was time for the first match of the night. This match actually got quite a bit of time which makes sense given both guys are top stars that deserve a big spotlight. However, it did feel like it dragged on for a little bit too long by the time we got to the finish. Throughout the match, Sami Zayn struggled with his left knee/leg and he was then in real agony when Drew delivered a chop block from behind. McIntyre wasn’t finished there though as he then nailed Sami with the Claymore Kick to get the victory. Overall, this made Drew McIntyre look really good which is a massive positive.
Grade: B- (Promo and Match Combined)
Nia Jax VS Shayna Baszler, DIY VS Imperium: 2-out-of-3 Falls
Shayna Baszler told Byron Saxton backstage that she’s going to take Nia Jax out again before we got a great video package for Jey Uso. What I really liked about this is it included more than just his run in The Bloodline. We then returned to the backstage area to watch Drew McIntyre destroy Sami Zayn’s leg even worse he already had. I’m assuming Sami’s having some time off now? Nia Jax then confronted Becky Lynch backstage to properly tease a feud between them before it was time for Nia Jax to go one-on-one with Shayna Baszler. This was okay for what it was, not much of note happened, but there also weren’t really any bad moments either. Shayna Baszler tried to ground her former Tag Team partner, but Nia Jax proved to be too big and powerful for The Queen of Spades before Jax hit the ANialater to pick up the victory. After the match, Becky Lynch made her way down to the ring, but Nia wanted nothing to do with this so she left. Cool!
Grade: C
DI-Way were hanging out backstage before Candice LeRae and Indi Hartwell took shots at Imperium. Ludwig Kaiser then told Giovanni Vinci that he’d better not screw anything up before it was time for DIY and Imperium to contest in a 2-out-of-3 Falls match. The first fall went to Imperium as Ludwig Kaiser held the tights whilst rolling up Tommaso Ciampa before Johnny Gargano got a level of revenge for the Babyface team with a roll up of his own on Mr. Kaiser. We then got a really good final few minutes between two excellent Tag Teams that ultimately ended with DIY picking up the victory after dropping Kaiser with Meet in the Middle. This was good, I enjoyed it.
Grade: B-
Katana Chance and Kayden Carter VS Tegan Nox and Natalya, Cody Rhodes Promo, The Judgment Day (Dominik Mysterio and JD McDonagh) VS The Creed Brothers
The WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions Chelsea Green and Piper Niven took the mick out of Tegan Nox and Natalya’s friendship backstage before we got a segment between Diamond Mine, The New Day, and Alpha Academy. I don’t find any of these segments to be funny. We then went to The Judgment Day Clubhouse and Damian Priest was very annoyed as R-Truth was just there again. Who keeps letting this guy in? I should also mention that Senor Money in the Bank told Dominik Mysterio and JD McDonagh to sort The Creed Brothers out. Chelsea Green and Piper Niven then joined commentary as it was time for Katana Chance and Kayden Carter to take Tegan Nox and Natalya. This was your standard Tag Team stuff made better by the fact that Chance and Carter are an actual Team. However, the highlight of this match for me was actually Chelsea and Piper on commentary as they are genuinely funny. In the end, The KC’s picked up the victory with a nice Tag Team move which seemed to massively offend Ms. Green for some reason.
Grade: C+
Cody Rhodes was out next as he wanted answers from Shinsuke Nakamura. They came pretty quickly as Shinsuke appeared on the screen to cut a great promo about how their careers are quite similar. See, both guys won the Royal Rumble as the top Babyface in the company before both guys went on to lose at WrestleMania. I thought this was really good work from Shin and his line “I didn’t get to finish my story, now I’m going to finish yours” was terrific. However, Cody Rhodes did then undermine it all a little bit by saying “he doesn’t rate” Nakamura.
Grade: B-
Jey Uso told Adam Pearce that he wanted Drew McIntyre before Pearce told Jey to focus on his World Heavyweight Championship match with Seth “Freakin” Rollins first. It was then time for more Tag Team action as The Judgment Day’s JD McDonagh and the NXT North American Champion Dominik Mysterio took on The Creed Brothers. The Creeds dominated Dominik and JD for nearly the entirety of this match to show us that one, Julius and Brutus Creed are the real deal, and two, Mysterio and McDonagh suck when they don’t have back up (which is a little bit harsh in my opinion). R-Truth was also at ringside because of course he was and in the end, Truth could only watch on as The Creeds delivered the Brutus Ball onto McDonagh to get the victory.
Grade: C+
World Heavyweight Championship: Seth “Freakin” Rollins VS Jey Uso
After Adam Pearce told Seth “Freakin” Rollins that he intends to sign CM Punk to a Raw exclusive contract, it was Main Event as The World Heavyweight Champion put his Title on the line against “Main Event” Jey Uso. Seth and Jey got plenty of time to show their worth in this one and I thought they both did a pretty good job. To be perfectly honest, I never brought Jey winning this match so I wasn’t surprised when Seth kicked out of both an Uso Splash and then a Spear. However, after Uso kicked out of the Pedigree, he dropped Rollins with another Spear before he climbed up to the top rope and delivered another Uso Splash for a very, very good near fall. Whilst I didn’t buy the first two near falls, there was a big part of me that genuinely thought Jey had Seth beat and hats off to them for that. However, in the end, it was The Visionary who walked out the winner thanks to a Stomp. After the match, the two good guys embraced only for Jey Uso to roll out of the ring to get nailed by a monster Claymore Kick from Drew McIntyre. Drew then chucked Seth Rollins away with a massive belly-to-back suplex before he sent “Main Event” Jey crashing through the announce table to end the show. Given what transpired on this episode of Monday Night Raw, I think can safely go back to calling McIntyre “The Scottish Psychopath”.
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