Cody Rhodes kicks off the Show, Dominik Mysterio VS Cody Rhodes
Cody Rhodes’ music hit to start this week’s Monday Night Raw as Cody tried to talk about Jey Uso. However, he was interrupted straight away by Dominik Mysterio who made it clear to Rhodes that Jey was going to join The Judgment Day. The NXT North American Champion then came across as very worried over the fact that Rhea Ripley wasn’t there before the rest of the Undisputed Tag Team Champions of The Judgment Day Finn Balor and Senor Money in the Bank Damian Priest made their way down to the ring to support Mysterio in his match against Rhodes. This was quite a short match that saw Cody dominate the reigning NXT North American Champion. Despite attempted interference from Balor and Priest, The American Nightmare was able to deliver a Cross Rhodes to get the victory. This was very odd and did not make the Champ look particularly good. It’s also worth mentioning that Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn then came out and KO asked Cody why he’d brought Jey to Raw. Whilst Cody’s argument was a fair one, Owens still didn’t seem fully convinced. I still really like this whole story surrounding Jey Uso.
Grade: C (Pre-Match Promo, Match, and Post-Match Promo Combined)
Kofi Kingston VS Ivar, Ricochet VS Shinsuke Nakamura, Chelsea Green and Piper Niven VS Shayna Baszler and Zoey Stark
After it was revealed that Erik of The Viking Raiders was unable to compete, Ivar had to go it alone against The New Day’s Kofi Kingston. This match started off alright as both guys know how to wrestle, but I thought it got really good in the last couple of minutes. Ivar kicked out of the S.O.S. (which isn’t really a surprise), but what was a surprise was when Ivar delivered his awesome moonsault to Kingston, but Kofi still found some way to kick out. In the end, Kofi nailed Ivar with Trouble in Paradise to get the hard-fought victory.
Grade: B-
Ricochet cut a promo about how he’s going to make Shinsuke Nakamura pay before Shinsuke’s music hit. Seth “Freakin” Rollins’ music was the next to be played as the World Heavyweight Champion tried to get into it with his rival. However, Nakamura wanted none of this and got out of dodge before a bunch of security/referees took Rollins to the back. We then got the match between Ricochet and Shinsuke Nakamura, and I’ll be honest, I’ve gotten a bit tired of seeing it. I feel like I’ve seen these two fight about 5 times since May and I don’t get why you couldn’t use someone else in Ricochet’s place. Also, the match was at a slow pace for the most part before it ended with Ricochet hitting Shinsuke in the back with a steel chair. Why Nakamura can’t pin this guy I’ll never know?! After the match was over, The King of Strong Style viciously assaulted The One and Only with a chair before Seth “Freakin” Rollins returned to try and make the save. However, that didn’t work out too well for The Visionary as Shin dropped him back-first onto the announce table. Whilst the match itself wasn’t very good at all, the stuff between Shin and Seth continues to be good plus Nakamura grabbing one of those Seth Rollins cardboard faces was hilarious!
Grade: C
Seth “Freakin” Rollins could barely walk in the back so a referee had to help him to the trainers’ room. Byron Saxton then interviewed the WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions Chelsea Green and Piper Niven backstage and Chelsea called her and Piper “besties”. When Niven asked Green what country she’s from, Green responded by saying “Florida”. Chelsea Green nails her character perfectly! This then led into a match for the Women’s Tag Champs as they were about to face the team of Shayna Baszler and Zoey Stark. I thought this match was alright and told a simple story of Baszler and Stark being too much for Green, but Piper Niven being too much for all of them. Piper Niven even dropped Shayna Baszler with a Samoan Drop on the outside which looked pretty cool. However, Niven then got her “ass kicked” by Nia Jax who arrived and tore through all four members of this match meaning it had to get thrown out. I’m really torn on this ending as whilst I was glad that it meant that the WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions weren’t going to get pinned, it was also disappointing to see a second Disqualification finish in the space of about 10 minutes. Also, Nia just easing through Piper Niven didn’t seem right whilst they also didn’t nearly make as big of a deal as they should’ve when Jax took out Baszler given the fact that besides last week and the Royal Rumble this year, Nia’s last appearance in WWE was her getting destroyed by her former tag team partner Shayna Baszler.
Grade: C
Bronson Reed VS Chad Gable, Becky Lynch VS ?: NXT Women’s Championship Open Challenge, Giovanni Vinci VS Tommaso Ciampa
Adam Pearce didn’t seem particularly happy backstage before Chad Gable came over and asked for one last shot at Gunther and the Intercontinental Championship. Pearce rightly said he couldn’t do that before Bronson Reed made his return to TV by agreeing to have a match with Gable. Jey Uso was then interviewed by Jackie Redmond before Damian Priest interrupted and said that most of The Judgment Day are pulling for Jimmy to be the Uso to join the group now. However, Priest prefers Jey and told him to give them an answer by the end of the night. Alpha Academy’s music then hit as it was time for Chad Gable to go one-on-one with Bronson Reed. I thought this match was pretty decent and I was just happy to be watching Bronson Reed again as he’s very good. Also, you’re never really going to get a bad match when Chad Gable’s in the ring. Whilst Master Gable tried to Suplex Bronson, Reed was just too big before he delivered the TSUNAMI (in the voice of Wade Barrett) to get the victory. I actually liked that Bronson won here because Gable shouldn’t be getting an opportunity at Gunther and the Intercontinental Championship anytime soon.
Grade: B-
Tommaso Ciampa said he was going to take out Giovanni Vinci tonight on his quest for a shot at Gunther’s Intercontinental Championship (everyone seems to want this belt) before Becky Lynch was walking backstage and she just fist-bumped Akira Tozawa because Tozawa offered his handout. This was so random yet so funny. Jey Uso then came up to Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn backstage and you could tell that KO really doesn’t like Jey. Kevin then left to grab his car before Sami wished Jey good luck for his tough decision. Becky Lynch then made her way down to the ring as the brand-new NXT Women’s Champion was about to issue an Open Challenge for her new title. Becky said she wanted to give an opportunity to someone in the back who hasn’t been given opportunities in the past. I was excited at this because I thought we might see a Tegan Nox, or a Candice LeRae, or maybe even a Xia Li (who was actually Main Event funnily enough), but we didn’t get any of them and instead, we got Natalya, the women who got squashed by Rhea Ripley at Night of Champions. Becky also questioned this before Natalya called Lynch a hypocrite for going down to NXT and stealing the spotlight off of those women. To be fair, she does have a point. We then got this match between Lynch and Natalya and The Man won with a roll-up. None of this was very good and was not a particularly good look for the NXT Women’s Championship (on a night when one NXT Champion had already been made to look rubbish).
Grade: D
Dragon Lee was talking to Adam Pearce backstage before Dominik Mysterio walked in and said he “doesn’t like people with masks because it reminds him of his deadbeat Dad!” Mysterio and Lee will face off for the NXT North American Championship on Raw next week which is actually very cool. It was then time for a singles match between Imperium’s Giovanni Vinci and Tommaso Ciampa. I like both Ciampa and Vinci so it was cool to see them getting to face one another. Whilst this was a short match, there were some good technical bits during the contest and it ended with Tommaso Ciampa picking up the victory after forcing Giovanni Vinci to tap in the Gargano Escape. I miss Johnny Gargano man!
Grade: C+
Drew McIntyre VS Jey Uso
Seth “Freakin” Rollins said he’s sick and tired of Shinsuke Nakamura before the World Heavyweight Champion put “the ball in the Shin’s court” in regards to their next title match. We then got an awesome video package showcasing the history between Drew McIntyre and Jey Uso before it was time for Drew and Jey to do battle in the Main Event. Both of these guys are top-quality talents so this was good fun. It then got really interesting as The Judgment Day made their way down to ringside to cheer on “Judgment Jey”. However, Jey showed his true allegiances are not with The JD as Uso Superkicked Priest, Balor, and Mysterio before he got met with a massive Claymore Kick as Drew McIntyre picked up the victory. I really liked this finish and it got even better afterwards as The Judgment Day started to beat up Jey whilst McIntyre walked off. This was great as whilst you could tell a part of him wanted to help, Drew really shouldn’t. Cody Rhodes then arrived to make the save which was totally fine.
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