Seth “Freakin” Rollins Starts the Show, Ivar VS Kofi Kingston: Viking Rules Match
Monday Night Raw kicked off this week with the World Heavyweight Champion Seth “Freakin” Rollins as Seth talked about how Shinsuke Nakamura pushed him to his limit at Fastlane. Seth said that despite that and the realisation when he got to the back after the match that his back is seriously struggling, he’s only just getting started. Funnily enough, when Rollins said he wanted one night where he doesn’t have to fight, the crowd booed which made both me and The Visionary laugh. Before Seth could get the crowd to sing his song again, Drew McIntyre’s music hit and The Scottish Warrior made it clear that he wants a shot at Seth’s World Heavyweight Championship. However, to the shock of the Champion, Drew said he was happy to wait for Crown Jewel so Seth would be at 100% for their match (or as close to 100% as Rollins can get to right now). As McIntyre walked off, Damian Priest arrived and started beating down The Visionary and whilst Drew didn’t help at first, he did stop Dominik Mysterio from running down and handing Priest his Money in the Bank Briefcase. This was a decent start to the show that was made better by Priest’s arrival. Also, Drew McIntyre helping out when he did makes total sense because whilst Seth being beaten up by Damian Priest doesn’t affect him too much, Priest cashing in and becoming the new World Heavyweight Champion does affect him massively.
Grade: B-
We then got the first match of the night as Ivar and Kofi Kingston went to war in a “Viking Rules Match”. This was pretty decent stuff and Ivar was able to once again show why he’s pretty good in the ring when he’s given the right spotlight. A powerbomb that Ivar hit was particularly impressive, but Kofi Kingston got him back by pulling his opponent's beard which resulted in Ivar going crashing through a table. However, Kofi couldn’t take advantage as Valhalla appeared out of nowhere to take him out before Xavier Woods ran down, and whilst Woods was able to send Valhalla flying over the barricade (as she charged at him), Ivar then squashed him in a pretty entertaining moment. Ivar then did the same thing to Kofi Kingston as he ran him through a table inside the ring before Ivar nailed the Moonsault to pick up a massive victory over the former WWE Champion. This was all entertaining stuff and my only negative thought towards this match was the fact that we didn’t get the Viking Ship!
Grade: B-
Nia Jax VS Raquel Rodriguez, Cody Rhodes and Jey Uso Celebrate, Bronson Reed VS Chad Gable VS Ricochet: Intercontinental Championship Number 1 Contender’s (Triple Threat) Match
Shinsuke Nakamura barely said anything to Byron Saxton in a backstage interview before he got attacked by Ricochet. I’m pretty sure I’ve said this at least five times before, but I am sick and tired of watching Ricochet VS Shinsuke Nakamura. Anyway, Damian Priest was then STRANGILING JD McDonagh before the rest of The Judgment Day had to calm him down. However, Finn Balor was also pissed off with McDonagh before Rhea Ripley told him he had to prove himself by taking care of Drew McIntyre. I know I joked about Priest wanting to kill McDonagh, but I didn’t think he’d literally try and do it! It was then time for the first women’s match of the night as Raquel Rodriguez aimed to get some revenge on Nia Jax. Raquel did that to a point as she got a bunch of offense in on Nia, but Jax was often too powerful even for Rodriguez meaning she was able to stay in control. However, having said that, Raquel did deliver an awesome Powerbomb to the former Raw Women’s Champion before the current Women’s World Champion Rhea Ripley ran down and caused a disqualification for some reason. Ripley laid out both Nia and Raquel before Shayna Baszler ran down and started attacking her former Tag Team partner. When Rhea pulled her off and told Shayna that Nia is hers, Baszler just kneed Ripley in a very cool moment. Honestly, this match was alright and Shayna being the one left standing at the end was really cool to see. However, Rhea Ripley just running down to cause a DQ was pretty stupid and annoying.
Grade: C+ (I’m being generous)
Seth “Freakin” Rollins found Drew McIntyre in the back and told him that their match for Crown Jewel is official before Seth questioned what type of games Drew was trying to play. McIntyre told Rollins that he’s not playing games and that he’s only told the truth which is why he only helped Seth when Priest tried to cash in because he doesn’t want a repeat of The Bloodline on Monday Nights. This McIntyre character is so, so good. Shayna Baszler then told Jackie Redmond that she’s the baddest woman when she’s in the ring before Michael Cole welcomed out the brand-new Undisputed WWE Tag Team Champions Cody Rhodes and Jey Uso. Michael Cole decided to be a Heel once again as he questioned Cody’s belief that he can finish the story, but before Rhodes could answer Cole’s question, Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn made their way down to the ring as Sami’s old entrance theme started to play. Sami even joked about it before he said that whilst he’s happy for both Cody and Jey, he’d be lying if he said that he didn’t wish it was him carrying around the Gold. Kevin Owens then said he wasn’t happy to see Rhodes and Uso as Champions before he challenged them to a match for the Undisputed Tag Team Champions for tonight’s Main Event which The American Nightmare and “Main Event” Jey Uso were more than happy to accept. My biggest takeaways from this was that Kevin Owens is great, Michael Cole is such a big Heel, and Sami’s got his old theme back for some unknown reason.
Grade: C+
We went backstage to see Otis chopping the chest of Chad Gable in what I assume is another one of Master Gable’s teaching methods. Bronson Reed then walked up to them and laughed before he told Chad to make sure that his kids aren’t watching the next match as otherwise, they’d be crying again courtesy of Bronson Reed. Ricochet was then making his entrance before he was attacked by Shinsuke Nakamura who nailed “The One and Only” with a couple of nasty knee strikes. Again, I really don’t want/need to see this feud. This then all led into a Triple Threat Match between Chad Gable, Ricochet, and Bronson Reed as they all fought for the opportunity to face Gunther for the Intercontinental Championship on next week’s “Season Premier” of Monday Night Raw. That still makes no sense, but the same can’t be said for this match as it was actually quite fun. All three guys are so, so talented and their styles are all so different that it works really well. Ricochet hit all the “flippy dippy do da” moves that you’ve come to expect whilst Chad Gable suplexed Bronson Reed at one point in an awesome spot. However, it was Reed who got the defining moment as he delivered a running senton to both of his opponents before he nailed Ricochet with the “TSUNAMI” to get the victory. I’m not kidding, but Gunther-Bronson Reed could genuinely be fantastic.
Grade: B-
Drew McIntyre VS JD McDonagh, Becky Lynch VS Tegan Nox: NXT Women’s Championship
Becky Lynch told Jackie Redmond that Tegan Nox was going to have to bring the fight of her life to stand any chance of becoming the new NXT Women’s Champion before Xia Li just walked in out of literally nowhere and said that she wants a shot at Becky and the NXT Women’s Title. JD McDonagh then made his way down to the ring accompanied by the NXT North American Champion Dominik Mysterio as it was time for JD to go one-on-one with Drew McIntyre. This match started with Drew just chucking McDonagh around for a few minutes before a distraction by Dominik was enough for The Irish Ace to deliver a chop block to McIntyre. However, it didn’t do much to McIntyre as The Scottish Warrior nailed JD with the Future Shock DDT before he hit the Claymore to get the victory. This wasn’t very long and you could very much make the argument that this was a squash match. However, I had a great time with this match, I thought it was very entertaining (because both guys are great). Also, it’s worth mentioning that Rhea Ripley told Damian Priest after this match that she’ll go handle things.
Grade: B-
In an interview taped earlier in the day, Wade Barrett interviewed Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa in a locker room and asked them whether DIY was getting back together. Johnny and Ciampa said this is something they’ve wanted for a while before they got completely blindsided by Imperium and Ludwig Kaiser and Giovanni Vinci beat the crap out of Mr. Gargano. This is how you make Imperium feel more badass (and serious). We then got a really good video package highlighting the “Ups and Downs” of Tegan Nox’s career before Natalya came up to Tegan backstage and gave her a pep talk. Why, Why, and Why?! Ricochet was then trying to find Shinsuke Nakamura before Adam Pearce came up to him and told Ricochet that he’s going to get Shinsuke in a “Falls Count Anywhere Match” next week. Whilst I was very disappointed to hear this, I was very intrigued by what was going on in the background as you could clearly see that the Women’s World Champion Rhea Ripley was talking to Drew McIntyre. It was then time for the NXT Women’s Championship to be on the line as Tegan Nox looked for the biggest win of her career against “The Man” Becky Lynch. This was a solid match that was made to make Tegan Nox look as good as possible, something Tegan was able to achieve because she is really good. I’ve also been impressed with Becky Lynch’s performances more than usual since WrestleMania and she put in another good showing here. However, my only negative about this match was I could never buy into Nox beating Lynch which always hurts matches no matter how much they try. In the end, Big Time Becks locked in the Dis-Arm-Her which forced Lady Kane to tap out meaning Becky will go on to face Lyra Valkyria for the NXT Women’s Championship at NXT Halloween Havoc in a couple of weeks.
Grade: C+
Candice LeRae and Indi Hartwell were speaking to Adam Pearce about the conditions of both Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa before Rhea Ripley stormed in and ordered “The Way” to get out as she needed to speak to Pearce. The Babyfaces did just that before Rhea said she wants a match with Shayna Baszler next week. Ripley really could’ve just said that in front of Candice and Indi, but there you go. Natalya then came over to see Tegan Nox who was clearly dejected after a hard-fought loss before Katana Chance and Kayden Carter came over and also voiced support to Nox. The WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions Chelsea Green and Piper Niven then walked in and after Natalya threatened Chelsea Green after Green had talked crap about Tegan, Piper Niven got in Natalya’s face and they agreed to have a match next week. Ok. Drew McIntyre then found Jey Uso backstage and told him he’s going to be there when he slips up before Sami Zayn had to butt in to try and prevent a brawl from taking place. Sami and Jey then showed respect to one another before we got a ridiculously brilliant video for Ludwig Kaiser. I don’t know who came up with this and why this was done, but it was absolutely superb for a guy who has properly broken out in 2023.
Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championships: Cody Rhodes and Jey Uso VS Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn
It was the Main Event time as Cody Rhodes and Jey Uso put their Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championships on the line against Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn. Straight away, I need to talk about the fact that Sami came out to his “World’s Apart” theme song so I have absolutely no idea what’s going on there and as for the match itself, it was good stuff. At one point, Kevin Owens and Jey Uso were just punching each other which was completely bizarre and hilarious and we also got a sequence where Uso and Owens just kept Superkicking each other. Cody Rhodes and Sami Zayn also played a part in this match as they are very talented and despite both teams coming close to picking up the victory at various points in the match, it was the “Co1Dy” (that’s what I’m calling it) that won the match for “The American Nightmare” and “Main Event” Jey Uso as they pinned KO for the three count. After the match, the two teams shook hands and embraced to tell everyone that these four guys are still super Babyfaces.
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