Cody Rhodes Starts the Show, Seth “Freakin” Rollins and Sami Zayn VS Dominik Mysterio and JD McDonagh (The Judgment Day)
Cody Rhodes started this week’s episode of Monday Night Raw to make it clear that he and Jey Uso would be ending the night as the new Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championships. Cody then brought out the members of “his” WarGames team as Jey Uso, Sami Zayn, and the World Heavyweight Champion Seth “Freakin” Rollins all talked about their disdain for The Judgment Day. However, it was also clear that Seth Rollins still has some disdain for Cody Rhodes before The Judgment Day arrived to interrupt proceedings. Interestingly, Damian Priest ended up calling himself the leader of the group after The American Nightmare got under his skin before Rollins got fed up and challenged Dominik Mysterio and JD McDonagh to a Tag Team match which Senor Money in the Bank accepted. Whilst the usual suspects who start Monday Night Raw appeared again, there were actually some good things in this segment that made it feel actually important.
Grade: B-
We then headed straight into the first match of the night as the World Heavyweight Champion Seth “Freakin” Rollins and Sami Zayn teamed up to take on the NXT North American Champion Dominik Mysterio as well as JD McDonagh. This wasn’t amazing by any stretch of the imagination, but it was still decent enough which you would expect given the level of superstars involved. Still, we may as well get straight to the end of the match as Finn Balor and Damian Priest arrived to cause the DQ before we got a similar 8-man brawl to how Raw went off the air last week. This angered Adam Pearce massively before the Raw General Manager made it clear that everyone not involved in tonight’s Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championships match are banned from the arena.
Grade: C+
Zoey Stark Confronts Rhea Ripley, Otis VS Shinsuke Nakamura, Piper Niven VS Tegan Nox
Rhea Ripley had stayed in the ring as she was still angry with Adam Pearce over his decision before Zoey Stark came out to cut a promo on Rhea about how/why she’s focusing on so many things. This angered the Women’s World Champion who put over Stark whilst also making it clear that she has no chance of defeating The Eradicator come Survivor Series. This wasn’t great, but it also wasn’t terrible.
Grade: C+
Shinsuke Nakamura cut another ominous promo in Japanese before Cody Rhodes told Seth “Freakin” Rollins backstage that he needs to know that he can trust him inside WarGames. Seth made it clear that they’re okay for that one night. It was then time for the second match of the night as Otis looked to get revenge for Akira Tozawa as he faced Shinsuke Nakamura in singles action. This wasn’t maybe as fun or enjoyable as I’d originally hoped, but it was still alright for what it was (I guess). Otis looked pretty good which is a positive whilst Shin’s new character rules. My main negative surrounding all of this though is the fact that Nakamura is already back to being in Midcard feuds when he really should be a main feature of Survivor Series: WarGames. Anyway, Shinsuke got the victory after hitting Otise with a couple of Kinshasa’s and it looks like we’re going to be getting Nakamura-Gable next week which should be great.
Grade: C+
Drew McIntyre confronted Seth “Freakin” Rollins backstage before the two shook hands and after that, we got a really good video for Tegan Nox. This tied in nicely as Tegan then had the mammoth task of trying to take down one-half of the WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions, Piper Niven. This match actually got a decent amount of time which is a good thing because both of these women are talented in-ring workers. However, after Chelsea Green and Natalya got into a “confrontation” on the ring apron, Nox nailed Niven with the Shiniest Wizard only for Piper to get her foot on the rope. However, around 20 seconds later, Lady Kane picked up the victory with a roll-up and I really don’t understand this as Tegan would’ve looked so much better if she’d won with her actual finisher. Anyway, at least Nox is winning on TV.
Grade: C
Ludwig Kaiser VS Tommaso Ciampa, Indi Hartwell VS Xia Li, Ivar VS The Miz
Ivar confronted The Miz backstage before Bronson Reed walked in. Reed and Ivar got into an argument which was ended by Valhalla. DIY then made their way down to the ring as it was time for Tommaso Ciampa to go one-on-one with Ludwig Kaiser. Both Ciampa and Kaiser are terrific technical wrestlers and they showed that here in a fun little contest. Earlier in the match, the referee sent Giovanni Vinci to the back after Vinci interfered, but towards the end of the match, Gio showed up and took out Johnny Gargano which distracted Ciampa and allowed Kaiser to steal the roll-up win. Whilst the match was pretty decent, I didn’t like this finish. Mainly because Ludwig should’ve been disqualified as Vinci kept getting involved when he wasn’t even allowed to be there.
Grade: C+
Whilst The Judgment Day weren’t particularly impressed with Damian Priest calling himself the leader, Rhea Ripley did believe that having Priest as the leader makes sense in regards to WarGames. The Group also decided that JD McDonagh deserved to become a full-time member of the group, but Senor Money in the Bank made it clear that he was the one who would be delivering the message to The Irish Ace. It was then time for another match as Indi Hartwell looked to put Xia Li in check after Xia’s attack on Candice LeRae a few weeks ago. This match really wasn’t that long, but it was nice to see both Indi and Xia on TV as they are both capable in-ring performers. However, this match had another finish that I didn’t like as after Li knocked Hartwell senseless with a kick, the referee called for the bell. I really don’t understand why Xia isn’t just allowed to pick up the pinfall victory and also, why doesn’t the referee do this in every match when someone hits their finisher? Anyway, Becky Lynch then appeared after the match to confirm that the two will face off next week. Whilst that’s a match that Xia Li should win, it’s one that Becky certainly will win.
Grade: C (I can’t really give it any higher)
Gunther found The Miz backstage and called him a clown before Miz fired back at the Intercontinental Champion by reminding him of his past accolades. Whilst Miz may have a fair point, it only really matters what you’ve done in the past year, not the past 10 (or even more in The A-Lister’s case). Shayna Baszler and Raquel Rodriguez then congratulated Zoey Stark backstage on her big win last week before Nia Jax walked in and got into a heated discussion with Raquel. The two will have a match next week. Ivar then stormed his way down to the ring as he was looking to take out his anger from last week’s result on the man who won that Fatal 4-Way, The Miz. After Ivar dominated the early parts of this bout, Bronson Reed made his way down to ringside to watch the bout and it became pretty clear that he didn’t have any favourites in this match. Whilst Ivar looked good (once again) in this contest, it was The Miz who ended up getting the W by putting his feet on the ropes. It’s interesting that The Miz is supposed to be a good guy now yet he’s still showing Heel tendencies. Whilst that can work with some superstars very well, I’m not so sure it’s going to work for the A-Lister when he faces more popular competitors (I.e. Gunther in two weeks). Also, Bronson Reed delivered the “TSUNAMI” to Ivar after the match which is always a cool sight.
Grade: C+
Damian Priest found JD McDonagh backstage and whilst not everything Priest had to say about McDonagh was the nicest, Senor Money in the Bank officially crowned JD as a part of The Judgment Day with a fancy new jacket. Whilst The Irish Ace was clearly happy about this, Finn Balor seemed even more ecstatic. Gunther then praised Giovanni Vinci for his night’s work backstage, but the Intercontinental Champion did not have the same feelings regarding Ludwig Kaiser. As Gunther and Vinci walked off, Kaiser turned around to get confronted by Indus Sher who’ve just reappeared again. We then got a not-so-funny segment between Alpha Academy, The Creed Brothers, and The New Day and the only notable thing from this segment was the interaction between Ivy Nile and Maxxine Dupri.
Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championships: The Judgment Day VS Cody Rhodes and Jey Uso
It was then Main Event time as The Judgment Day put their Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championships on the line against the team of Cody Rhodes and Jey Uso. This was a competitive bout between four teams that would’ve been fun to watch had it been a first-time match. However, I’ve seen these types of matches with The Judgment Day so often this year that I’m kind of bored of it. However, the ending of this match was both shocking and superb. As Jey Uso whipped out both Finn Balor and “Senor Money in the Bank” Damian Priest with a big dive, Drew McIntyre appeared and brilliantly nailed Uso with a massive Claymore! Drew then through Jey back into the ring and this allowed Balor to cover “Main Event” Jey Uso to get the victory and retain the Tag Team Titles for The Judgment Day. Rhea Ripley then came out as Monday Night Raw went off the air with Ripley and McIntyre shaking hands. This was really cool and I really, really want Drew and The Judgment Day to win at Survivor Series: WarGames (they probably won’t though).
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