Damian Priest VS Sami Zayn
Shockingly, this week’s Raw didn’t start with a promo segment as it instead started with Senor Money in the Bank Damian Priest taking on one-half of the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Champions Sami Zayn. Neither Kevin Owens nor The Judgment Day were at ringside which was a good thing as it allowed Damian and Sami to go at it with no interference (just wait). I thought this match was good, the crowd were up for it and I always have a good time when Priest is in the ring. It also helps when you're fighting Zayn as well as he is superb. In the end, when it looked like Sami was going to pick up the win, JD McDonagh arrived from nowhere and tripped up Zayn which allowed Damian Priest to send Sami South of Heaven to pick up the victory. After the match, Priest wasn’t at all interested in what JD McDonagh had to say and as he walked off, Kevin Owens arrived and hit a Stunner onto Mr. McDonagh whilst Priest just watched on.
Grade: B-
LA Miz, The New Day VS The Viking Raiders, Chad Gable VS Ludwig Kaiser
Drew McIntyre was looking at a picture of new gear that Matt Riddle had put together and Akira Tozawa seemed to like it a lot. Drew wasn’t as keen though, but he did agree with Riddle that they should go to ringside to watch the match between The New Day and The Viking Raiders. We then got a cool video package for Raquel Rodriguez where she gave reasons why she can defeat Rhea Ripley. My one criticism of this is there were no mentions/clips of their battles in NXT which is a shame because that was a pretty significant feud in both Raquel and Rhea’s careers. LA Knight’s music then hit to the delight of Wade Barrett, only for The Miz to show up dressed like The Megastar. LA Miz then cut a super promo imitating Knight before he eventually took off his “cosplay outfit” and told everyone that this proved that anyone can be LA Knight and get cheered for it. I don’t remember much else of what The Miz said, but I thought this was a really good segment. Miz is so good on the mic and the message he was making by doing this made total sense and adds to the credence that he doesn’t believe LA Knight is special. This was a lot of fun and Wade Barrett then wearing The Megastar’s glasses on commentary made it even better!
Grade: B+
It was then time for our next match as The New Day took on The Viking Raiders whilst Drew McIntyre and Matt Riddle watched from ringside. This match actually got a lot of time which is a good thing, but it did feel like it started to drag at points. It also doesn’t help that I’ve seen Kofi and Xavier fight Erik and Ivar countless amounts of times, but I did like the ending. Ivar decided to take out MattIntyre (which is what I think Drew and Riddle should be called) which pissed off The Scottish Warrior so he decided to throw an office chair at Erik. However, Erik moved meaning the chair hit Woods instead before The Raiders delivered Ragnarok to Kingston to pick up the surprising victory. I say surprising because they haven’t won in about 6 months.
Grade: C+
Damian Priest told Finn Balor that he doesn’t care about JD McDonagh which angered The Prince. Rhea Ripley then told them that they’d better walk out of Payback as the brand-new Undisputed WWE Tag Team Champions as otherwise, changes would be made. We then got another tribute video for Bray Wyatt (which was lovely) before Drew McIntyre apologised to Kofi Kingston about what happened to Xavier Woods. Kofi told Drew that they knew it was an accident before McIntyre stormed off saying he was going to talk to Adam Pearce about getting a match with The Viking Raiders for next week. Imperium then arrived as the Intercontinental Champion Gunther cut one of his trademark announce table promos. Gunther said he was angry about what happened in his Championship match with Chad Gable last week, and that’s why he will put it right next week when he once again defends his Intercontinental Championship against Chad Gable. Master Gable then arrived as it was time for the leader of the Alpha Academy to go one-on-one with Ludwig Kaiser. Both of these are technical wizards in the ring and this was a good match that also got a lot of time. Shootout to Wade Barrett on commentary who made a brilliant point that Gunther is one of the very few Champions that would actually be annoyed over losing a match by count-out, even though it meant he held onto his title. Rather unfortunately, this contest ended in a DQ as Giovanni Vinci decided to get involved and break up a pinfall by Gable. Imperium then took out Otis by driving him into the steel ring post before Gunther arrived and got really peed off after Master Gable tried to lock him in an ankle lock. The Ring General then dropped Chad with his trademark Powerbomb to stand tall over his rival. It’s a bit of a shame that this match isn’t going to be on Payback this weekend, especially as Gunther’s going to win either way.
Grade: C+
Seth “Freakin” Rollins calls out Shinsuke Nakamura, Bronson Reed VS Tommaso Ciampa, Rhea Ripley Promo
Seth “Freakin” Rollins arrived and made a bunch of tributes to Bray Wyatt. Not only was Seth wearing an armband with the name “Windham” on it, he also started his promo by saying “Yowie Wowie” and something I didn’t notice until after the show was The Fiend’s side plates were on Rollins’ World Heavyweight Championship which was a really nice touch. Seth then called out Shinsuke Nakamura because he wanted to hear the crowd sing Shin’s song. However, Rollins then said the line “Oh wait, they don’t sing that anymore” which was a killer line. Nakamura then appeared on the titantron as we got another cool Japanese-spoken promo by The King of Strong Style. I’m not kidding when I say that one of the lines that Shinsuke said was “I’m the reason why you can’t walk your Daughter down the aisle on her Wedding day” which really made me laugh. Seth was furious about this, however, before he then asked what happened to the Shinsuke Nakamura that “Headlined the Tokyo Dome” or what happened to the Shinsuke Nakamura that “set the world on fire when he debuted in NXT”. These were more killer lines from The Visionary before he got nailed in the back of the head by Shinsuke as Nakamura once again whispered something into his rival’s ear. I’ve loved this feud so far, every week has produced super segments/promos/moments. I cannot wait for this match on Saturday, it’s maybe one of my most anticipated matches of the entire year.
Grade: B+
Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn both declared that they were sick of The Judgment Day winning due to the numbers advantage which is why their match with Damian Priest and Finn Balor this weekend will be a “Steel City Street Fight”. I’ve thought about this more and more, and all this does is allow Rhea Ripley, Dominik Mysterio, and potentially JD McDonagh to get involved and it would be totally legal so KO and Sami have made a bit of a blunder here. Tommaso Ciampa’s awesome entrance theme hit, but he was quickly attacked during his entrance by Bronson Reed. I like both of these guys, I think they’re both very good at what they do, but this match didn’t feel as good as it could’ve been. There’s a good chance that I felt that way because this match has happened quite a few times in the past and was sort of unnecessary here. There were still pretty good bits here and I did enjoy parts of it, but the scrappy ending which saw Ciampa awkwardly pick up the victory kind of summed up this whole match.
Grade: C
Becky Lynch told Jackie Redmond that she was lucky forward to beating up Zoey Stark in tonight’s Main Event before the Women’s World Champion Rhea Ripley made her way down to the ring. Rhea, accompanied by the NXT North American Champion Dominik Mysterio, compared her accomplishments to Raquel Rodriguez and how she’s got no chance of defeating her for the World Title this weekend. Raquel then arrived and this started a brawl which eventually saw Rodriguez stand tall. This was ok, but it didn’t feel as big as it should’ve done. Rhea-Raquel is a major feud that was great in NXT and can/could be great on the main roster. However, something’s just not clicking right now.
Grade: C
Becky Lynch VS Zoey Stark: Falls Count Anywhere
Trish Stratus and Zoey Stark cut a promo backstage before we got a nice video package for Terry Funk. Becky Lynch’s music then hit as it was time for The Man to face Zoey Stark in a Falls Count Anywhere Match. This is a tough match to grade for me as I wasn’t that interested in it because I’m fed up of this feud. However, some of the spots were pretty good and I am a fan of Zoey Stark (don’t tell Emerald). Trish Stratus couldn’t help but get involved about 15 times and like I mentioned with the KO and Sami VS The Judgment Day match at Payback, there were no rules so Stratus absolutely should’ve gotten involved, and this kind of made Becky look like a bit of a fool. In the end, though, she had the last laugh as Zoey Stark “accidentally” punched Trish Stratus which sent the Hall of Famer crashing through a couple of tables before Becky sent Zoey through one with the Manhandle Slam to get the victory. Becky then raised her armband which said “Bray” on it and started crying which was actually quite sad.