The Judgment Day Start the Show, Finn Balor VS Jey Uso: King of the Ring Round 1
Monday Night Raw kicked off this week with The Judgment Day as Damian Priest talked about his win over “Main Event” Jey Uso at Backlash. The World Heavyweight Champion then apologised to both Finn Balor and JD McDonagh for losing his cool after the match before they all hugged (Dominik Mysterio included). Finn Balor then went on about getting a bye to the Quarter-Finals of the King of the Ring tournament due to Drew McIntyre being injured, but Adam Pearce then arrived to announce that that wasn’t the case, and instead, Finn would be taking on Jey Uso. This was a decent match, both guys did what they needed to do, but it also definitely could’ve been better given the talent involved. Rather interestingly, Drew McIntyre showed up towards the end of the match, but this didn’t seem to throw Jey off as Uso delivered a Spear onto Balor to score the win and advance to the next round!
Grade: C+ (Promo and Match Combined)
CM Punk Speaks, Iyo Sky VS Natalya, Ilja Dragunov VS Ricochet: King and Queen of the Ring Round 1
Drew McIntyre was furious with Adam Pearce as he stormed out of the building, and as soon as he drove off, CM Punk drove into shot in a cool bit of camera work! CM Punk then made his entrance as he had a few things to talk about. Punk threw a few shots at Drew McIntyre before he stated the question as to who McIntyre actually hates. Honestly, there wasn’t too much to this in terms of importance, but The Best in the World is very good on the mic and I am really into this feud right now!
Grade: C+
Ricochet and Braun Strowman reunited backstage in a nice moment before Iyo Sky arrived to clash with Natalya in the First Round of the Queen of the Ring Tournament. This was a fine match, Iyo is always very entertaining to watch, but it just didn’t feel that important which is a shame as there were some actual stakes to this bout. Still, Iyo managed to score the win in the end with Over the Moonsault before Dakota Kai announced that she will be replacing the injured Asuka later tonight before King Kota planted the seeds for a potential match with Becky Lynch down the line. Exciting!
Grade: C+
We got a video package highlighting Raw’s newest signing Ilja Dragunov before The Mad Dragon arrived to take on Ricochet in another First Round matchup. I’ll be honest, this is the best Main Roster TV match I’ve seen in a long time! Ricochet is a phenomenal talent, always has been, but this was all about Ilja Dragunov showing people who hadn’t seen him wrestle before that he truly is the best in-ring competitor in the world! Some of the strikes here were ridiculous, and the high-flying offense from both men was just as entertaining! We also got a couple of pretty good near-falls, especially following a Ricochet Recoil, but in the end, a massive H-Bomb from The Czar was enough for Dragunov to score the win and set up a date with “Main Event” Jey Uso for next week! Yes Boy!
Grade: A-
Queen of the Ring Round 1: Ivy Nile VS Zoey Stark, Bronson Reed VS Chad Gable, Becky Lynch Interview, Dakota Kai VS Lyra Valkyria: Queen of the Ring Round 1
Sheamus cut a promo on Gunther backstage before Ivy Nile took on Zoey Stark in the second Queen of the Ring match of the night. I thought this was a pretty decent showing for both women, I thought it was nice to see them on TV, but I did also feel a bit sorry for them that they had to follow the previous Dragunov-Ricochet match. Still, I thought it was decent enough, and Zoey Stark was eventually able to score the victory courtesy of the Z360.
Grade: C+
The Awesome Truth had a weird backstage segment before Bron Breakker confronted Adam Pearce over not being in the King of the Ring Tournament. Damian Priest then got very angry when Dominik Mysterio brought Carlito into The Judgment Day Clubhouse before Bronson Reed went one-on-one with Chad Gable. This match only lasted two minutes, and in those two minutes, we got two crazy moves when Bronson Reed took big bumps. In the end, Sami Zayn arrived to cause the DQ finish before Reed once again dropped his opponents to stand tall. I like all three of these guys, and I’m now very excited for their Triple Threat Match at the King and Queen of the Ring PLE (Sami confirmed it later in the show).
Grade: C+
We got a good video package highlighting Lyra Valkyria before Gunther talked about wanting to be The Best in the World. Becky Lynch then arrived for a sit-down interview as the Women’s World Champion talked about all her potential new opponents over the next few months. This was actually quite a smart thing to do, but I’m not sure if it was executed particularly well! Anyway, Liv Morgan then arrived to demand a shot at the Women’s World Title (which Becky accepted) before Damage CTRL arrived to make it clear that they want the Gold too. Liv then left as soon as DC got in the ring before Lyra Valkyria ran down to make the save before she took on Dakota Kai. The match itself was decent, Dakota Kai is really, really good whilst Lyra Valkyria has the potential to soar on Monday Nights! I will say that King Kota needs to start winning matches again, but for now, it made sense to give Lyra the win and that’s exactly what happened as Valkyria hit the Night Wing to advance to the Quarter-Finals!
Grade: C+ (Promo and Match Combined)
King of the Ring Round 1: Gunther VS Sheamus
And after a Kofi Kingston promo, it was Main Event time as Gunther took on his long-time Rival Sheamus in the First Round of the King of the Ring Tournament! These guys know each other so well, so they got straight into it with some wicked chops and strikes! These guy's wrestling is always great because their styles work so well together, and this was another fun chapter to their rivalry. However, the only knock on this match I have is it wasn’t the best of the night, which is an interesting thing to remember down the line. Anyway, the ending was cool as The Ring General made Sheamus tap out which never happens, and yeah, this was still really good even if they’ve had better clashes in the past!
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