Sami Zayn Starts the Show, Ricochet VS Shinsuke Nakamura: Falls Count Anywhere
This week’s “Season Premiere” edition of Monday Night Raw started with Sami Zayn who came out wearing a Kevin Owens t-shirt. Sami said he’s gutted that his Tag Team partnership with Kevin Owens has come to an end, but he knows KO will go on to do great things on SmackDown whilst it’s now Sami Zayn’s turn to show people why he’s World Heavyweight Championship material. However, Sami also said that he has mixed emotions about Jey Uso now because Jey is the reason why Kevin’s no longer on Raw with him before he also voiced his displeasure about The Judgment Day. This brought out the Women’s World Champion Rhea Ripley, Finn Balor, Senor Money in the Bank Damian Priest, and the NXT North American Champion Dominik Mysterio who all surrounded the ring. However, “Main Event” Jey Uso then ran down with a pair of steel chairs before The JD backed off. Sami also left as it was clear that he didn’t want much to do with “his dawg”. This was a typical opening Raw promo, but the Sami stuff does intrigue me as like he said, he hasn’t done stuff on his own in quite some time.
Grade: C+
Shinsuke Nakamura said he was going to break Ricochet before Jey Uso found Sami Zayn and asked him what was going on. Sami got annoyed at Jey because “Kevin Owens should be here, not you” before Zayn found “Main Event” Jey Uso and apologised. The two then hugged before it was time for the first match of the night as Ricochet and Shinsuke Nakamura went to war in a Falls Count Anywhere Match. I’ve been very open about my lack of enthusiasm when watching Ricochet and Shinsuke Nakamura go at it because I’ve seen the match take place countless times since June. However, this was definitely their best match yet and some of the spots were insane. Anything Ricochet does is impressive, but the Shooting Star Press that he hit in the crowd is up there with his 630 at NXT Takeover: War Games (2018) for me. Shinsuke Nakamura also amazed me in this match with just how good/awesome he looks with Nunchucks and in the end, Shin sent Ricochet crashing through a table on the outside before The King of Strong Style nailed The One and Only with a Kinshasa to get the victory. It’s important that Nakamura continues to win matches for the foreseeable future.
Grade: B-
Piper Niven VS Natalya, Seth “Freakin” Rollins and Drew McIntyre Promo, Johnny Gargano VS Ludwig Kaiser
Tegan Nox was talking to Katana Chance and Kayden Carter backstage whilst Nikki Cross was just hanging out on top of a box before the WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions Chelsea Green and Piper Niven came over to talk trash. Tegan made it clear that she will get her hands on Chelsea one day. We then got a cool video for Gunther before it was time for Piper Niven to take on Natalya. This was a bit of a scrappy contest that didn’t go super long (even though there was an ad break in between) and after a distraction from Chelsea Green, Piper nailed Natalya with her Diving Crossbody to get the victory. After the match, the Tag Champs continued to beat up The Queen of Harts before Tegan Nox ran down to make the save. I still have no interest in seeing a Natalya-Nox Tag Team.
Grade: C
Damian Priest and Finn Balor seemed quite adamant that they wanted to take care of Drew McIntyre, but Rhea Ripley stopped them before she told Dominik Mysterio that she doesn’t need him in her corner for her match with Shayna Baszler. Seth “Freakin” Rollins’ music then hit as The Visionary made his way down to the ring to question Drew McIntyre’s true intent. Seth then called out Drew and asked him what was going on with his conversation with Rhea Ripley last week. McIntyre told Seth to “mind his own business” before the two cut a really good back-and-forth promo on one another that mentioned Drew struggling to get over his loss to Roman Reigns at Clash at the Castle last September whilst McIntyre also brought up the fact that he beat Rollins the last time the two fought over a World Championship (Money in the Bank 2020). I really like both of these guys and I’m very much looking forward to their clash at Crown Jewel.
Grade: B
After a video hyping up Bronson Reed, Johnny Gargano wrestled his first match on Monday Night Raw in at least 5 months as he took on Imperium’s Ludwig Kaiser. This match was decent enough, but it was never allowed to get anywhere near the levels it truly could have. After Johnny Wrestling nailed Ludwig with both the Willow’s Bell and the One Final Beat, Giovanni Vinci poked Gargano right in the eye to break up the pinfall before, in the end, Kaiser hit The Rebel Heart with the enziguri to get the victory. I like Ludwig Kaiser and Imperium a lot, but in what universe did anyone think Johnny Gargano losing this match was a good thing?
Grade: C-
Rhea Ripley VS Shayna Baszler, Gunther VS Bronson Reed: Intercontinental Championship
The NXT Women’s Champion Becky Lynch was confronted by Indi Hartwell (and Candice LeRae) backstage as Indi said she wants a shot at the Title that she never lost. Becky agreed to go and sort this out before she came face-to-face with the Women’s World Champion Rhea Ripley. Given the run that Becky’s been on, I’d be very intrigued to see a match between her and Rhea. Drew McIntyre then found Sami Zayn backstage and questioned how he could forgive Jey Uso so quickly. When Zayn said to Drew that he understands that it’s difficult to move on from The Bloodline, McIntyre responded by saying “you don’t understand because you’ve never been a World Champion and if you keep acting how you have been, you never will be!”. What another killer line by The Scottish Warrior. We then got Rhea Ripley VS Shayna Baszler and it went exactly as I expected (well sort of). Rhea and Shayna fought hard before Nia Jax arrived even though she was taken out by Raquel Rodriguez. Zoey Stark then appeared out of nowhere to drop Jax before she got in the ring and caused the Disqualification because it’s WWE’s favourite finish. Rhea and Zoey then worked together to once again take out Nia Jax before Stark drop kicked Ripley to stand tall. The fact I said this match was going to end in a DQ last week and it does tell you a lot about the way things are booked (for the most part).
Grade: C-
Adam Pearce agreed with Becky Lynch defending her NXT Women’s Championship against Indi Hartwell before Xia Li once again asked Becky where her opportunity is. Xia then left before Becky came face-to-face with Jade Cargill. I’m a big fan of having Cargill come face-to-face with the biggest stars in the Women’s Division, but I do have to question why Becky Lynch is defending her Championship against Indi Hartwell next week when she’s meant to be defending the Title against Lyra Valkyria the night after at NXT Halloween Havoc. Anyway, Cody Rhodes and Jey Uso then cut a backstage promo (and said absolutely nothing of note) before it was for Gunther to put his Intercontinental Championship on the line against Bronson Reed. I like both of these guys, I think they are very good, and they showed it in this match with a fun contest. Both guys are big, but they are also incredibly strong and I was amazed at how easy Bronson Reed made it look when he picked up and dropped The Ring General. Unfortunately for Bronson, he wasn’t able to nail the IC Champ with the Tsunami, but he was able to amazingly kick out of Gunther’s flying Splash (my favourite Gunther move). After this, The Ring General superbly picked up The Big Aussie and dropped him with his trademark Powerbomb to get the win and retain his Intercontinental Championship. All of this gets a thumbs up from me.
Grade: B-
The Miz tried to cut a backstage promo before Nia Jax walked in, stole the microphone, and said “Despite all the punishment that I’ve received, I’m still standing” (yeah yeah yeah). Rhea Ripley then found Adam Pearce backstage and Pearce told Rhea that she will be defending her Women’s World Championship against Shayna Baszler, Nia Jax, Zoey Stark, and Raquel Rodriguez in a Fatal 5-Way at Crown Jewel. As Rhea left, Indus Sher walked into the room after being missing for months. We then saw an Alpha Academy training session that Akira Tozawa was taking part in before The New Day walked in and this set up a Tag Team match for next week. Gunther then got annoyed at Giovanni Vinci backstage and told both Vinci and Ludwig Kaiser that Johnny Gargano better be stretched out of the arena next week or else. This guy’s insane!
Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championships: Cody Rhodes and Jey Uso VS The Judgment Day
It was then Main Event time on the “Season Premiere” of Monday Night Raw as Cody Rhodes and Jey Uso put their Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championships on the line against The Judgment Day. We nearly got a finish pretty early in the contest as Cody dropped Damian with a Cross Rhodes, but Dominik Mysterio was there to put Priest’s leg on the ropes. Sami Zayn ran down at one point to take care of the NXT North American Champion before Finn Balor amazingly kicked out of the “Co1Dy”. Near the end of the match, Senor Money in the Bank Damian Priest sent The American Nightmare crashing through the announce table before Finn Balor missed whilst attempting to hit a Coup de Grace on “Main Event” Jey Uso. However, Jimmy Uso arrived and delivered a Superkick to his twin Brother before Balor nailed Jey with the Coup de Grace to get the victory meaning The Judgment Day are once again the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Champions. I liked this from a shock factor as I didn’t see this Title change coming at all. However, what was the point in Cody and Jey even winning the Gold at Fastlane, and also, what was the point in them beating A-Town Down Under last Friday? And finally, the one that really doesn’t make sense is why would Jimmy cost Jey considering everything that we’ve been told about The Usos.
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