Cody Rhodes starts the show, Matt Riddle VS Ricochet VS Chad Gable VS Tommaso Ciampa: Intercontinental Championship Number 1 Contenders Fatal 4-Way
Cody Rhodes kicked off this week’s Monday Night Raw and talked about how Brock Lesnar “acknowledged” him after their match at Summerslam. Cody then said he feels like he could beat anyone when out came Seth “Freakin” Rollins. The World Heavyweight Champion was seemingly about to challenge The American Nightmare to a match before The Judgment Day arrived. Damian Priest and Rhea Ripley reminded Rollins and Rhodes that they run Monday Night Raw before Finn Balor arrived and attacked The Visionary. Sami Zayn then ran down to make the save before Cody challenged The JD to a 6-man tag team match. Seth Rollins did not seem too impressed. I thought this was alright and it was cool to see the three biggest Babyfaces standing across the ring from the best thing in WWE right now.
Grade: B-
Adam Pearce apologised to Ricochet over what happened at Summerslam before he told Ricochet as well as Matt Riddle, Chad Gable, and Tommaso Ciampa that they would each get the opportunity to earn themselves a shot at Gunther’s Intercontinental Championship. What I liked about this segment was when Chad said “A Thankyou”, Riddle responded by saying “You're Welcome” which made me laugh. We then went into the Fatal 4-Way and I thought it was pretty good. Ricochet is so entertaining to watch whilst Tommaso Ciampa is one of the very best. Matt Riddle can put on entertaining matches whilst Chad Gable is amazing. The best part about all of this is whilst there weren’t any out and out Heels, Master Gable was by far the most over as he was wrestling in his hometown. All four men brought it and hit different moves to try and get the victory (including Tommaso hitting Project Ciampa), but in the end, Chad Gable picked up the victory after delivering a lovely Chaos Theory Suplex to the Blackheart. Chad then celebrated with his family at ringside which was cool to see.
Grade: B-
Bronson Reed VS Shinsuke Nakamura, Shayna Baszler VS Zoey Stark, Otis VS Ludwig Kaiser
Cody Rhodes and Sami Zayn were talking backstage when Seth “Freakin” Rollins stormed in and he wasn’t at all happy with Cody Rhodes. He made it pretty clear that he still doesn’t like Cody which makes all the sense in the world before Sami convinced him to still do the tag team match. The Miz was then walking over to have a photo shoot before he was stopped because they were already in the middle of doing one. The person they were taking photos of was none other than LA Knight. Miz’s selling of this was pretty good. Bronson Reed then stormed his way down to the ring like always as he was about to go one-on-one with Shinsuke Nakamura. I’m a big fan of both of these guys as I feel they bring a lot to the table, but I don’t feel like this feud has particularly worked. It wasn’t at all bad in any way shape or form, but I feel like I’ve seen Bronson-Shinsuke way too many times now. I did appreciate Wade Barrett getting super excited at the chance to call the “Tsunami” again, but that didn’t happen as The Big Aussie missed which allowed Shin to deliver two Kinshasa’s to get the victory. This was also one of those matches where neither guy could really afford to lose, but they did protect Reed well in defeat.
Grade: C+
A “medical professional” told Adam Pearce that Raquel Rodriguez still isn’t medically cleared before Candice LeRae and Indi Hartwell consolidated Raquel. I honestly couldn’t believe what I was watching! Ludwig Kaiser then walked into Alpha Academy’s locker room (how the hell have they got one of those) before Ludwig started to flirt with Maxxine Dupri. Kaiser started being rude about Otis so Maxxine slapped him before Kaiser turned around to meet Otise head-on. The two then agreed to have a match and this was the second consecutive segment in the space of about 2 minutes that had me completely stunned! Becky Lynch then made her way down to the ring as she wanted to talk about Trish Stratus. However, that didn’t really happen as Zoey Stark quickly interrupted her. Stark actually cut a decent promo about how Becky’s scared of her and how she doesn’t play second to anyone. Remember that for a future date. Shayna Baszler then decided to show up to get in Zoey Stark’s face before Becky Lynch said the two should have a match. Adam Pearce then arrived to make it official and Pearce continues to get worse and worse as a WWE Official. He won’t let Raquel Rodriguez fight because she’s not medically cleared, yet he’ll allow Shayna to fight when she’s got two braces on her arms and an incredibly swollen eye! Before we get to this match, Finn Balor and JD McDonagh were talking backstage before Damian Priest told Finn that they needed to talk. It ended up with Rhea Ripley having to calm Finn Balor down again before JD butted in by saying that Priest should get rid of his briefcase because it’s hurting the entire group. Judgment Day McDonagh with some hard-hitting truths. We then went back to the ring as it was now time for the match between Shayna Baszler and Zoey Stark. I thought this was a decent showing for both women and I’m glad because they’re both very talented. Becky Lynch kept drinking lemonade by the commentary desk for some reason and The Man actually played into the finish as Becky distracted Zoey enough to allow The Queen of Spades to hit her version of the Piper’s Pit (Rousey’s move) to get the victory. Whilst Shayna Baszler doesn’t and shouldn’t need help to win, this protected Zoey Stark which is important.
Grade: C+
Shinsuke Nakamura was about to be interviewed by Byron Saxton before Saxton had to stop the interview because there was some commotion happening around the corner. That commotion was JD McDonagh destroying Sami Zayn before officials and referees had to pull him away from the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Champion. I was genuinely cheering at this as Judgment Day McDonagh is awesome and also, Sami Zayn’s elbow looked absolutely horrific so there’s no way that he’s not injured. Otis of the Alpha Academy was then accompanied down to the ring by Maxxine Dupri as the Number 1 Guy was about to face Ludwig Kaiser. This was incredibly short and there wasn’t much to it, but I still enjoyed it. Otis is absolutely brilliant whilst Ludwig Kaiser has the best facial expressions in the business (behind Roman Reigns and Paul Heyman). It also took 3 men to take down Otise as Gunther clocked the Number 1 Guy behind the referee’s back before Kaiser hit a nice kick to get the victory. Imperium then beat down Otis after the match before Chad Gable ran down to make the save. Whoever came up with the idea to have an Alpha Academy-Imperium feud deserves a raise.
Grade: C+
LA Knight interrupts The Miz, The New Day Return (VS The Viking Raiders), Rhea Ripley and Raquel Rodriguez brawl
Seth “Freakin” Rollins told Jackie Redmond that Sami Zayn won’t be medically cleared to compete before he continued to show that he doesn’t trust Cody Rhodes. Shinsuke Nakamura then walked in and offered his services as Sami’s replacement for tonight’s 6-man tag. Seth very much accepted. The Miz was then in the ring and he talked about how winning one Battle Royal doesn’t make you a star. LA Knight then arrived to arguably the biggest pop he’s had on the main roster (besides maybe London) and the two went on to have a great promo exchange. The Miz told LA Knight that “if you take away everything that makes me a star, you’d just be left with LA Knight” which is a brilliant line. Miz then called Knight an “attitude era fanboy” before LA fired back brilliantly. The Miz then attacked Knight before The Megastar laid out The A-Lister with the B.F.T. I thought this was great, LA Knight is amazing on the mic, but it would be unfair to not label The Miz in the same way. I’ve said it for a while, serious Miz is flubbing great!
Grade: B+
The Viking Raiders put out an open challenge to any team and it was answered by none other than The New Day. The crowd were clearly happy to see Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods back as the two Babyfaces put on a good show for the crowd. The match didn’t really last very long and after Kofi delivered Trouble in Paradise to Ivar, Woods hit the “Limit Break” to get the victory. It’s nice to see Kofi and Woods back picking up victories, but it’s almost laughable that The Viking Raiders lost again.
Grade: C+
Becky Lynch was about to be interviewed before Shayna Baszler came over and told Becky that she didn’t need her help to beat Zoey Stark. Shayna then said that she’s got a list of scores to settle and she’ll see Becky Lynch again down the line. I thought this was an awesome line and if I was booking the show, I’d have Shayna run through a bunch of former rivals before she beats Rhea Ripley (the woman who beat Baszler for the NXT Women’s Championship) to become the new Women’s World Champion. The New Day were then celebrating backstage and made a great point about how they need to bring positivity to the tag team division because no one else is. I thought about this and only Alpha Academy feel like proper Babyfaces. I then left the room to get my watch after I saw that Sonya Deville has torn her ACL. It’s getting to the point (if it wasn’t already) where WWE just needs to scrap the Women’s Tag Team Titles because they really haven’t worked since Bayley and Banks in 2020. Also, this absolutely sucks for Sonya Deville as she’s great and she deserved to have an amazing run as a Champion. The Judgment Day were then doing their entrance before Raquel Rodriguez arrived and attacked Rhea Ripley. Rhea then fought back before Candice LeRae and Indi Hartwell decided to show up. This didn’t work out at all well Mrs. Lumis, but Candice at least got some offense in. Don’t get me wrong, I thought this was a cool angle, but why the hell are Candice LeRae and Indi Hartwell involved? It’s getting to the point where no one has had more friends in the wrestling business than Raquel Rodriguez because she literally has backup from everywhere.
Grade: C+
Seth “Freakin” Rollins, Cody Rhodes, and Shinsuke Nakamura VS The Judgment Day
After Dominik Mysterio composed Women’s World Champion Rhea Ripley, The Judgment Day then had the task of facing the team of World Heavyweight Champion Seth “Freakin” Rollins, Cody Rhodes, and Shinsuke Nakamura. I feel like we’ve seen plenty of normal/six-man tag team matches involving The Judgment Day to end Monday Night Raw, but what made this one better was the fact that there were trust issues on both teams. Finn Balor and Damian Priest clearly weren’t getting along very well whilst Seth Rollins seemed pretty reluctant to tag in Cody Rhodes. He did eventually make the tag as The American Nightmare ran wild whilst the crowd berated Dominik Mysterio. In the end, Sami Zayn arrived and took out Damian Priest before Seth Rollins Superkicked the Money in the Bank Briefcase into Finn Balor’s face before Cody hit a Cross Rhodes to get the victory. The four Babyfaces all then stood tall in the ring as Seth “Freakin” Rollins and Cody Rhodes shuck hands. Seth Rollins then went to the top rope to celebrate and when he got down, he got met by a Kinshasa from Shinsuke Nakamura. I cheered when this happened as I genuinely wanted to see it. Shin’s been fed up of being disrespected by everyone and he also took advantage of an opportunity to be in the same ring as the World Heavyweight Champion. Also, what makes this even more clever is Seth Rollins took The King of Strong Style up on his offer because he didn’t trust Cody Rhodes. That’s really clever storytelling.
Comments