Rhea Ripley Vacates Her Women’s World Championship
Monday Night Raw kicked off this week in a rather sad and disappointing note as Rhea Ripley arrived down to the ring in a sling and revealed that she is being forced to vacate her Women’s World Championship due to injury. Rhea blamed this injury on an attack from Liv Morgan last week which brought out Liv who just laughed at her. Security guards stopped any proper action from happening, but Ripley was able to floor one with a headbutt. This is very disappointing news that kind of rocks the future and also current state of the Raw Women’s Division. It also changes things up for Liv Morgan, who was booed here by the crowd, so we’ll have to wait and see where that goes! Anyway, get well soon Rhea!
Grade: Sad and Disappointing
Sheamus Returns (VS Ivar), Triple H Makes an Announcement, DIY VS The New Day VS The Creed Brothers: Number 1 Contender’s Triple Threat Match, Candice LeRae and Indi Hartwell VS Ivy Nile and Maxxine Dupri,
The Judgment Day all hugged backstage as Damian Priest promised to keep the group as dominant as ever. Sheamus then arrived to a nice pop as The Celtic Warrior returned after 8 months out to tackle Ivar of The Viking Raiders. This was a decent match between two big guys, and it was just nice to see Sheamus back as he’s a very fun in-ring competitor. I will say it was a bit odd to have Ivar in this match given he’s looking set to face Oba Femi for the NXT North American Championship, but anyway, after Sheamus delivered the Knee Cap, The Celt followed it up with a Brogue to secure the W!
Grade: B-
We got a great video package hyping up tonight’s Main Event between Sami Zayn and Chad Gable before Triple H arrived with some news. This news was that we have new “World Tag Team Championships” which he handed over to The Awesome Truth (who were holding the Raw Tag Titles). R-Truth then did some not-so-funny comedy (even though his line about HHH being Tommaso Ciampa was good) before it was time for a Triple Threat Tag to determine who would face Truth and The Miz next week. Those teams were DIY, The New Day, and The Creed Brothers and I thought this was a good match. DIY are fantastic, The Creeds are very, very good, and The New Day are veterans in WWE nowadays. The closing phases of this contest saw Xavier Woods hit a superb elbow drop before Ciampa and Gargano delivered Meet in the Middle to score the win. I really want DIY to win next week, but I kind of wished the match was happening in France.
Grade: C+ for Triple H, B- for Tag Match
Drew McIntyre was so angry backstage that he kicked a TV over before we headed into another Tag Team match as Candice LeRae and Indi Hartwell took on the pairing of Ivy Nile and Maxxine Dupri. What I liked about this and this whole story in general is it’s actually getting a decent amount of time, which is great because wrestlers like Candice and Ivy will make it worthwhile. Maxxine also impressed me here, but in the end, it was Indi Wrestling who made the big difference as Indi nailed Dupri with a big boot behind the referee’s back before she put LeRae on top of Maxxine to win the match for her team. I liked this, Heel Way All The Way!
Grade: B-
Andrade VS Dominik Mysterio, Chelsea Green and Piper Niven VS Katana Chance and Kayden Carter, Cody Rhodes Promo, Finn Balor VS Jey Uso
We got a great video package for Damian Priest before Priest took charge of The Judgment Day in their Clubhouse. Interestingly, Finn Balor said they should be focusing on winning back their Tag Team Championships which is worth keeping an eye on. Chad Gable then cut a promo of his own on Sami Zayn before it was time for Andrade to go one-on-one with Dominik Mysterio. This was a decent match mainly because I really enjoy watching Andrade. Dominik also did some good things here, including a Canadian Destroyer on the ring apron, but in the end, El Idolo hit The Messenger to score the win before JD McDonagh jumped Andrade from behind only for Ricochet to make the save. A Tag Team match between those four men should be fun next week!
Grade: C+
Jey Uso wasn’t too interested in talking about The Bloodline to Cathy Kelley backstage before Chelsea Green and Piper Niven took on Katana Chance and Kayden Carter in another Tag Team match! These are two good Tag Teams so this was another decent match which really highlighted Niven as the powerhouse that she is. In the end, a crossbody from Piper onto Katana Chance was enough for Chelsea to score her first pinfall win in months.
Grade: C+
Liv Morgan didn’t seem at all sad at Rhea Ripley getting injured which is interesting before Cody Rhodes arrived to cut a promo. Cody talked about and praised Seth “Freakin” Rollins for being his Shield at WrestleMania before he talked about The Rock and the rest of The Bloodline. This then tied nicely into Jey Uso coming out and despite Rhodes offering help for Jey against The Judgment Day, Uso said he had to do this alone. This was fine, it’s nothing worth going back to watch again, but it does make me think that this was the Undisputed WWE Champions' last appearance on Raw for a while.
Grade: C+
After Nia Jax said she deserved to be the new Women’s World Champion (I actually agree with her), Finn Balor arrived to take on “Main Event” Jey Uso. Balor-Uso is always going to be a good match, and this was no exception. However, I will say that Finn Balor’s role in all of this is a bit odd. In the end, Jey scored the win with an Uso Splash before he escaped an attempted beatdown by The Judgment Day. Another interesting thing to note is Damian Priest didn’t get involved in this beatdown, the World Heavyweight Champion only observed.
Grade: B-
Intercontinental Championship: Sami Zayn VS Chad Gable
After Jey Uso’s escape brought him to where Sami Zayn was waiting outside, we got one of the best entrances in a while as Sami put his Intercontinental Championship on the line against Chad Gable. Sami VS Chad in Montreal for the IC Title felt like a big deal, and that’s exactly what it proved to be as there was plenty of drama and emotion at play. Zayn, in particular, knew he had to win given what happened at Elimination Chamber last year so he was really up for this. Despite Master Gable’s best attempts to break the ankle of the Champion, Sami managed to hit a Helluva Kick for the win before the two Babyfaces showed respect to each other afterwards. However, whilst Sami was hugging his wife at ringside, Gable returned and delivered a nasty suplex onto Zayn before the show went off the air with Chad locking in the ankle lock right in front of Sami’s wife. I kind of expected this to happen, but I also didn’t which made it so effective! As much as I enjoy Chad Gable as a Face, he’s so much cooler as a Heel and the rematch in either France or Saudi should be splendid!
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