CM Punk Starts the Show, Pete Dunne VS Sheamus
Monday Night Raw kicked off this week with the returning CM Punk who cut a promo talking about what lengths he’s willing to go in order to end his feud with Drew McIntyre. Punk basically said that he’s willing to put everything on the line, including his life, inside Hell in a Cell and that Drew has awoken the devil inside him! I thought CM Punk delivered this promo well, but there wasn’t really much to it at all.
Grade: C+
After a promo from Sheamus, it was time for the opening match of the night as Sheamus clashed with his old buddy Pete Dunne! This was a fun opening contest, it was hard-hitting, and the crowd were definetly into it! Both guys are really good at what they do which definetly helped matters, and you could tell that there was genuine hatred on the side of The Bruiserweight! Interestingly, after the referee got distracted by a shillelagh, Pete Dunne whacked Sheamus with a cricket bat before he hit an odd running kick to score the victory! I feel like Dunne should’ve won with his finisher, but besides that, I quite liked this finish!
Grade: B-
Natalya VS Zoey Stark, Bron Breakker Interrupts Jey Uso, The Judgment Day VS The New Day: World Tag Team Championships
Jey Uso caught up with Rhea Ripley and Damian Priest backstage before Xavier Woods made it clear to The Terror Twins that he didn’t want nor need their help for his Tag Team Title match later in the show! Braun Strowman and The Miz then had a chat about Bronson Reed before Natalya was in the ring to take on Zoey Stark! Surprisingly, this match got a decent amount of time which included an ad break! However, the in-ring action itself wasn’t the most exciting, particually on the side of Natalya. I do enjoy watching Zoey Stark wrestle, but she definetly had to slow her pace down, and in the end, Natalya came away with the roll-up victory which again seemed like the wrong decision!
Grade: C
Finn Balor had a great backstage interaction with Rhea Ripley where Finn blamed Rhea for everything that was wrong with The Judgment Day! Jey Uso then came over to protect MAMI before “Main Event” Jey Uso headed down to the ring to cut a promo on Bron Breakker and the Intercontinental Championship. Jey talked about how he’s going to prove to the world that he doesn’t need his family to win Championship Gold, and this brought Bron out who basically laughed off that statement. Uso then fired back with a great serious promo where he took shots at Breakker’s NFL career before a cheap shot from the Intercontinental Champion led him to getting Speared by “Main Event” Jey! I thought this was a really good segment, both Uso and Breakker fired great promos off, and I’m really excited for their match next week!
Grade: B+
Iyo Sky called Bianca Belair a coward which set up a match between the two for later in the show before it was time for The Judgment Day to finally put their World Tag Team Championships on the line against The New Day! Honestly, The New Day dominated this matchup, I’m not sure JD McDonagh got more than 3 moves in! It was a very odd decision, but there was obviously more to it than just the in-ring action as the rest of The Judgment Day’s arrival at ringside led to The LWO coming out as Kofi Kingston wiped them all out with a dive. This then allowed Xavier Woods to hit his trademark elbow drop, but for some stupid reason, the referee was hanging around outside and this ultimately cost Woods the win and allowed Finn Balor to deliver a Coup de Grace to retain his and JD’s Tag Team Titles! After the match, it was pretty clear that Woods wasn’t at all happy with Kofi!
Grade: B-
Bronson Reed VS Braun Strowman, Sami Zayn Promo, Bianca Belair VS Iyo Sky
We got another video for The Wyatt Sick6 before Xavier Woods went mental at The LWO. Kofi Kingston had to explain to Xavier that he asked for The LWO to be out there, but this only made Woods more angry. Please, please, have Xavier Woods turn Heel! After a Bronson Reed promo, we were set for a match between Bronson Reed and Braun Strowman, but that didn’t happen as they managed to break the top rope turnbuckle before we had a mass brawl that saw Bronson throw a human fan into Braun and then Strowman follow it up by smashing Reed through the barricade! The brawl then continued backstage as we got another crazy table spot before their brawl finally ended after they sent each other crashing through a wall! I haven’t made any of this up, it was absolutely insane, and I loved every second of it!
Grade: A-
Ludwig Kaiser was trying to speak to Adam Pearce before Sami Zayn’s music hit as Sami made his way down to the ring! Sami talked about how he knows he’s good enough to become World Heavyweight Champion, and deep down, Gunther knows it too! This led to Ludwig Kaiser coming out and laughing this all off before Zayn questioned why Kaiser keeps acting as a “second to Gunther”! This brought out the World Heavyweight Champion which allowed Kaiser to attack Sami Zayn as Gunther once again rejected Zayn’s request for a Title Match. However, Ludwig Kaiser got too cocky and he ultimately got dropped with a Helluva Kick for his troubles! Overall, this segment was good enough to further this story!
Grade: B-
After Liv Morgan tried to get in the head of Damian Priest (it really didn’t work), Bianca Belair headed down to the ring to go one-on-one with Iyo Sky! This was actually a really good match, probably the best in-ring action of the whole show! Bianca Belair is a highly decorated competitor these days, but people are quick to forget just how brilliant Iyo Sky is! The one dive Iyo pulled off was absolutely extraordinary, and the crowd continued to get more and more into it! In the end, it was Sky who reversed the K.O.D. into a roll-up to score the win, and I think that was definetly the right call!
Grade: B
Damian Priest VS Dominik Mysterio
After a fantastic video for American Made and The Judgment Day sent a warning message to Ilja Dragunov, the Main Event of this week’s Monday Night Raw saw Damian Priest clash with Dominik Mysterio! This went exactly how I expected it to with Damian destroying Dominik for the large majority, but The Judgment Day’s continued interference allowed Mysterio to fight back. However, Rhea Ripley was able to wipe out Liv Morgan (and Wade Barrett) over the announce table and this led to Damian Priest dropping “Dirty” Dom with South of Heaven to score the W! After the match, however, The Judgment Day pounced on Priest as Liv threw Rhea into the steel steps! Jey Uso was then on his way to make the save, only for him to get completely smashed with a Bron Breakker Spear, and this left the Morgan to drop Ripley with an ObLIVion as Finn Balor delivered not 1, not 2, but 3 Coup de Grace’s onto Priest to end the show with The Judgment Day on top! This was an effective end to the show, particually as it furthered multiple stories!
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