Seth “Freakin” Rollins Starts the Show, The Judgment Day VS The New Day
The World Heavyweight Champion Seth “Freakin” Rollins came out to start this week’s episode of Monday Night Raw as The Visionary had a couple of people to thank. The first person was Drew McIntyre for giving Rollins a hell of a fight at Crown Jewel before Seth asked Sami Zayn to come down to the ring so he could thank him in person. Sami came down but told Seth that he didn’t steal Damian Priest’s Money in the Bank Contract to save him, but more so The Judgment Day don’t become “The Bloodline 2.0”. Seth Rollins then came back saying it didn’t matter and offered Zayn a shot at the World Heavyweight Championship whenever he wants it. Sami eventually agreed and decided to have his opportunity in tonight’s Main Event. There really wasn’t much to this, but it at least wasn’t interrupted by The Judgment Day (for once).
Grade: C+
After Damian Priest got angry at JD McDonagh backstage, it was time for the first match of the night as the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Champions The Judgment Day took on The New Day. Whilst this match wasn’t anything to write home about, one thing I did very much like about this contest was the fact that The Judgment Day were made to look strong. What I mean by that is Finn Balor and “Senor Money in the Bank” Damian Priest didn’t need any help from any other members of the group to get the job done. After Kofi Kingston was whipped out at ringside, Priest dropped Xavier Woods with the South of Heaven before Balor hit the Coup de Grace to get the victory.
Grade: B- (Mainly because The Judgment Day looked Good)
Akira Tozawa VS Shinsuke Nakamura, Bronson Reed VS Ricochet VS Ivar VS The Miz: Intercontinental Championship Number 1 Contender’s (Fatal 4-Way) Match
Jackie Redmond decided that it was okay to interview Drew McIntyre as soon as he pulled up to the building. Jackie then asked Drew a question that he didn’t like so McIntyre decided to drive off. Good for him. It was then time to see if Akira Tozawa could pull off one of the biggest upsets in a long time as he went one-on-one with Shinsuke Nakamura. This match didn’t go very long, but it also wasn’t a fully one-sided squash match which is a good thing as not only is Tozawa a good wrestler, but he also needs to look somewhat decent heading into his NXT Heritage Cup match against Noam Dar in tonight’s episode of NXT. Still, after Shinsuke got his knees up when Tozawa attempted his awesome senton, Nakamura nailed “the Junior Member of Alpha Academy” with the Kinshasa to get the victory. After the match, we got a stare-down between Shin and Otis which was certainly something.
Grade: C+
After a video package for Natalya, Adam Pearce explained why he chose Bronson Reed, Ricochet, Ivar, and The Miz as potential next challengers for Gunther’s Intercontinental Championship before Pearce found Seth “Freakin” Rollins and asked him whether he’s okay to put his World Heavyweight Championship on the line tonight. What a stupid question. It was then time to see who would earn a shot at Gunther as we got an Intercontinental Championship Number 1 Contender’s Fatal 4-Way. This was a good match that got plenty of time to shine and it can do just that when you’ve got the likes of Ricochet and Bronson Reed in the contest. Both The Miz and Ivar also brought stuff to the table and the sequences we got between Reed and Ivar were particularly fun. In the end, however, we got a pretty messy finish as the referee counted incredibly slowly for both Miz pinning Bronson and Ivar pinning Ricochet, and in the end, Ricochet kicked out but Reed didn’t meaning The Miz is heading to Survivor Series. However, the referee was then waving his hands like that didn’t happen before Ivar beat up The A-Lister and nailed him with a moonsault. This referee was trying to give English referees a run for their money I think!
Grade: C+
DIY VS The Creed Brothers, Women’s World Championship Number 1 Contender’s Battle Royal
Chad Gable told Akira Tozawa that he was proud of his efforts tonight before he told Tozawa that the whole of Alpha Academy will be in his corner at NXT to support him in his big NXT Heritage Cup match with Noam Dar. Maxxine Dupri then walked in saying that she was going to win tonight’s Battle Royal and move on to face Rhea Ripley for the Women’s World Championship at Survivor Series. We then saw Diamond Mine officially sign with Monday Night Raw which was cool before DIY walked in and this set up a Tag Team match between the two Babyface teams. I thought this was good stuff from everyone involved, but that’s not really a surprise. There’s an argument to be made that DIY is NXT, but you could also make the argument that The Creed Brothers are one of the best Tag Teams to come out of NXT, certainly since the 2.0 era started. It was also pretty cool to see Johnny Gargano wrestle Julius Creed, and in the end, Ludwig Kaiser appeared out of nowhere to deliver an enziguri to Gargano before The Creeds hit their Tag Team finisher to pick up the victory. This was actually a smart finish as it protected DIY in defeat whilst also giving Julius and Brutus Creed another big victory over a talented team.
Grade: B-
We got a great video recap showing us the events of the Main Event of this year’s Elimination Chamber Premium Live Event between Roman Reigns and Sami Zayn before Jey Uso found Sami and told him that hopefully by next week, they’d both be wearing Championship Gold. Becky Lynch was then interviewed by Jackie Redmond before Nia Jax walked in and took a shot at Becky for being the person who broke her nose back in 2018. Lynch then fired back and reminded Nia that whilst she went on to Main Event WrestleMania, all Jax went on to do was get fired! The WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions Chelsea Green and Piper Niven were then confronted by Shayna Baszler and Zoey Stark and it was pretty clear that not only is this going to be a feud down the line, but all four of these women wanted to win the Women’s World Championship Number 1 Contender’s Battle Royal which came up next. However, before the match could start, Xia Li attacked Becky Lynch during the entranceway which ultimately ruled both competitors out of the match due to Adam Pearce banning Xia from competing. It was then time for the Battle Royal which wasn’t great compared to other Battle Royal’s we’ve seen over the years. Nikki Cross was eliminated first whilst both Piper Niven and Maxxine Dupri went pretty early (which was a shame as I wanted to see Niven-Jax). It then felt like there weren’t any eliminations for ages before Ivy Nile got on a roll and eliminated the KC’s as well as Natalya. The final 5 came down to Raquel Rodriguez, Nia Jax, Zoey Stark, Shayna Baszler, and Ivy Nile, and the four “good guys” worked together to eliminate Jax. However, Nia didn’t like this so she decided to just pull Ivy Nile off the mat and out of the match which seemed a bit harsh. Shayna and Zoey then worked together to eliminate Raquel before, after 3 Superkicks and a DDT, Zoey Stark was finally able to eliminate Shayna Baszler to book her ticket to Survivor Series. I like Zoey and I definitely feel like she was one of the top 3 best options to win this match (alongside Tegan Nox and Ivy Nile).
Grade: C
World Heavyweight Championship: Seth “Freakin” Rollins VS Sami Zayn
After Zoey Stark confronted the Women’s World Champion Rhea Ripley backstage, it was Main Event time as Seth “Freakin” Rollins put his World Heavyweight Championship on the line against Sami Zayn. I thought this was a good Main Event matchup that showcased why both Seth and Sami are two of the top guys in the industry. The crowd were also well into this match and amazingly, this was a clean contest with no interference from The Judgment Day which was a very nice surprise. Both guys tried and failed to hit their finishing manoeuvres, and after Sami locked in a Boston Crab, Rollins rolled out of it and covered Zayn to just about keep hold of his World Heavyweight Championship. After the match, The Judgment Day did appear before Jey Uso and Cody Rhodes ran down to make the save (because that is simply Cody’s gimmick). This angered Adam Pearce who made it official that these 8 men will collide at Survivor Series, in WAR GAMES!
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