Posted on 8/05/125 by Bob Magee
Here we are, friends. After a… complicated, SummerSlam, WWE
is back on the air with Monday Night Raw.
Let me address the diverticulitis-riddled elephant in the
room right away. This is a recap column, so I’ll be sticking
to the show. There are aspects and opinions of SummerSlam
that I’m sure you’ve read a whole bunch about and ones that
I feel very conflicted about. But, we’re gonna leave that to
the pundits tonight and try to have some fun and focus on
the show and the storylines coming out of Metlife Stadium.
The rest will still be there Tuesday morning.
So with that said, it’s Monday and like my sushi dinner,
it’s RAW!
-The show kicked off with a SummerSlam highlight reel,
bringing everyone up to speed with the all the winners and
losers of the event along with the headlines the show made.
Then, the traditional Wrestlers Arriving To Work montage
aired, showing Alexa Bliss, Charlotte and Naomi arriving to
the venue.
-Then we were kindly asked to BURN IT DOWN as the newly
crowned World Heavyweight Champion, and Talking Heads-style
suit enthusiast Seth Rollins his way to the ring, entourage
in tow. The Oracle, Paul Heyman (at least I think that’s
what he said his name was) addressed the crowd first.
Heyman bigged up Bron Breakker and Bronson Reed before
slagging Roman Reigns and CM Punk as has-beens. He then
introduced the reigning, defending, undisputed Heavyweight
Champion of the World, Seth “Freakin'” Rollins!
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Inspired by
Seth took the mic and said “Shame on you, Brooklyn.” He said
shame on everyone who didn’t believe in him and taunted him
with chants of “OTC.” He told the crowd to never doubt him
again. He told the locker room, shame on them for trying to
stop his cash-in and hold him back.
Rollins reminded everyone that he always has a Plan B and
the only ones who knew about this one (presumably his faked
injury) were his wife and his Oracle. Rollins now has
“absolute power” and this is the beginning of his Vision.
Suddenly, LA Knight appeared and made his way to the ring,
mic in hand. Knight congratulated Rollins on his title win
and said he wasn’t looking for a fight. He just had some
questions. Knight pointed out that Rollins already had the
MITB briefcase, so he didn’t need to fake an injury. Knight
said that the only reason Rollins faked an injury was to get
out of taking a beating by him at Saturday Night’s Main
Event.
So, Knight said that since he was the last one to beat
Rollins, so he should be the next one to beat him. Right
here, right now. Rollins declined the challenge and went to
leave the ring, but suddenly it was Adam Pierce’s turn to
talk.
Pierce was pretty mad that Rollins had lied to everyone
about his injury, so he made the match. Tonight, on RAW, in
Brooklyn, Seth Rollins will defend his World Heavyweight
Title against LA Knight. The icing on the cake was that
Pierce also banned Breakker and Reed from ringside.
-Backstage, the Judgement Day was walking around and ran
into the LWO. Domminck Mysterio claimed that he is the king
of the Lucha Libres. Dragon Lee took exception to that and
challenged him to a match. Dom accepted and the LWO left,
clearing the way for AJ Styles to show up. He told Dom he
didn’t appreciate the tricks at SummerSlam and he’s still
coming for the Intercontinental Title.
Rusev vs Sheamus
With all that out of the way, Rusev stomped his way to the
ring to take on Sheamus in the latest of their series of
bangers. This was a very exciting development for the former
League of Nations members and the crowd alike.
Also, the cast of the Netflix show Wednesday were shown in
the crowd. SYNERGY. Joe Budden was also there.
Sheamus ran straight to the ring and into the flying fists
of Rusev as the match began. The two traded punches until
Sheamus laid out Rusev with a big lariat. Sheamus sent Rusev
over the top rope, but when he followed Rusev got the drop
on him and sent him into the barrier.
Back in the ring, Rusev hit a big suplex and drove Sheamus
into the mat. The two went back to punch-based strategies
and hammered on each other from the mat to the top
turnbuckle. Sheamus got Rusev up on his shoulders and hit a
White Noise from the top turnbuckle.
During the commercial break, Rusev fought back and took
control of the match, setting a sleeper on Sheamus. He
followed that up with some kicks to the chest. Sheamus asked
for more, seemingly nourished by Rusev’s hatred. He leapt up
and hit an Irish Curse backbreaker on Rusev.
Sheamus went for a Brogue Kick, but Rusev ducked it and
Sheamus kicked the ropes. Rusev bonked his head off the
ringpost, sending him to the outside. Rusev went after
Sheamus, but Sheamus caught him and slammed him on the
announce table. Rusev responded by sending Sheamus into the
steel steps. Rusev then dragged him onto the barricade,
chopping Sheamus. The crowd didn’t like it, but Sheamus
reversed it, and began pounding on Rusev.
Then, the referee remembered that he was supposed to be
doing something and counted both men out.
Match Result: Rusev vs Sheamus went to a no-contest double
countout.
After the match, the two continued brawling at ringside.
Security flooded the area but as always were woefully bad at
their jobs and Sheamus and Rusev continued fighting as the
scene switched to pre-taped footage of the New Day back
stage in some truly ridiculous hats. I mean, who wants to
watch the brawl, right? Hats!!!
Any way, Grayson Waller joined them, promising to get New
Day a rematch for their lost titles. He stomped over to Adam
Pierce who was chatting with Penta. Pierce, in a foul mood
after Waller called him “baldy”, made a match: Penta vs
Grayson Waller and since that was all taped earlier, that
match happened now!
Penta vs Grayson Waller
The match kicked off with Waller reluctant to engage with
Penta. When they did get things going, Waller shimmied out
of a waistlock and the two traded headlocks. Penta deked out
Waller by slowing things down and then bursting into a
headscissor that sent Waller out of the ring.
Suddenly, the Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods, The New Day,
came out complete with hats. That caused enough of a
distraction for Waller to take over, sending Penta onto the
announce table. Corey Graves invited the New Day to join the
commentary team and Kingston called out Micheal Cole for
talking trash about them.
In the ring, a match was happening, and Penta got a two-
count off of a rollup. Kingston said that the New Day were
taking Waller under their wing. Penta took Waller under his
open hand and chopped him in the corner. The New Day
discussed their grieving process while Waller held Penta in
a modified headlock.
Back from commercial, Waller delivered some high knees to
Penta, but Penta fought back with a bulldog and backbreaker.
He then stomped Waller in the corner, until Waller delivered
a hard left to the face resulting in a two-count. Waller
climbed the second rope to drop an elbow, but Penta dodged
it and delivered a superkick. Waller came back with a high
knee and the two wrapped each other up in a double lariat.
Penta hit a superkick and a big Mexican Destroyer and pinned
Waller getting the victory and giving New Day one more thing
to mourn.
Match Result: Penta defeated Grayson Waller
New Day climbed into the ring and Kingston got in the face
of Penta. Penta sent Kingston and Woods packing, then threw
Woods comically large hat at them before flying over the top
rope and taking both men out.
-Next, Alexa Bliss and Charlotte Flair were shown taking a
walk in the back, but they were interrupted by Sheamus and
Rusev who were apparently still fighting. The Security team
chased after them as Sheamus through Rusev into a stack of
clanky pipes. Again, no one really wanted to see them brawl,
so a clip from Flair’s episode of Unreal on Netflix aired
instead.
-Back out front, WWE Women’s World Champion Naomi came out
to address the crowd. She ran down New Jersey, saying that
she assumed Brooklyn would be better. But, in fact, it’s
worse. Too much trash and construction in Brooklyn for
Naomi. She said the crowd deserved to move to Florida, which
frankly is a pretty mean thing to say.
Naomi said that next on her list was “Stephanie Velcro” but
the show then came back from commercial, cutting Naomi off
entirely for a recap of the aftermath of the John Cena vs
Cody Rhodes match. So we can assume that Naomi was talking
about Stephanie Vaquer and I guess she wants to fight her?
-As if none of that ever happened, the show came back and
Micheal Cole said that he asked Triple H and Nick Khan about
when they decided to bring back Brock Lesnar. They also said
that John Cena would be on Smackdown to address Lesnar’s
return. Then they tee’d up the Rollins vs Knight match later
to come.
Is someone asleep at the switch tonight? The last 15 minutes
were complete gibberish. And I’m a man who enjoys a good
amount of gibberish.
-WWE Women’s World Tag Team Champions Charlotte Flair and
Alexa Bliss came down to the ring next to address the crowd.
Flair thanked the crowd for her first “you deserve it” chant
and admitted that it felt good to do something as a “we.”
Bliss urged her to admit they were friends, but Flair
stopped short. The two debated how many times each has bean
a champion until Judgement Day’s music hit.
Roxanne Perez and Raquel Rodriguez stomped down to the ring
and said no one cares about friendship because the only
thing that matters is bringing gold back to Judgement Day.
Roxanne said “we know we don’t get a rematch but we didn’t
come down here to not take those titles back.” Flair
responded by saying they could have a rematch right here,
right now.
Suddenly, Ol’ Baldy, Adam Pierce came out and said that the
match would start right here, right now. Which was what
Flair just said, but glad to have confirmation.
WWE Women’s World Tag Team Champions Charlotte Flair and
Alexa Bliss vs Roxanne Perez and Raquel Rodriguez
Now, according to my little countdown in the corner of the
Netflix screen, the introductions were done and the match
started during a commercial break. The bell rang with a
minute left in the countdown, with Bliss and Rodriguez
facing off to get things started.
Back from commercial, Bliss was on Rodriguez’ back and was
quickly thrown off. She dragged Bliss to the corner and
tagged in Perez. A much more even match, Bliss and Perez
fought in and out of the corners with Bliss delivering a
headscissors to Perez before tagging in Flair.
Flair knocked Perez back to her corner where Rodriguez
tagged in. She sent Flair to the mat with a shoulder and
bounced her head off the top turnbuckle. Rodriguez isolated
Flair in the corner and tagged in Perez. Flair dodged her
and Rodriguez held Flair’s ankle so Perez could dive between
the ropes and send her to the outside.
Back in the ring, Perez stomped a proverbial mudhole in
Flair before tagging in Rodriguez. Flair fought back,
tagging in Bliss. The two delivered stereo bulldogs and
Bliss and Rodriguez fought with Bliss sending the taller
woman to the floor. She tried a cannonball, but Rodriguez
caught her and slammed Bliss on the barricade.
Into commercial, in a Diva’s Era throwback, Rodriguez held
Bliss’ hair and forced Flair to watch as she beat her up.
Perez tagged in and choked Bliss with the ring rope. Bliss
tried to get a tag to Flair, but Perez cut her off.
Rodriguez and Perez took turns throwing Bliss around and
Rodriguez snuck an elbow to Flair’s head in the corner.
Back from commercial, Bliss tried again to get the hot tag
to Flair, but Rodriguez cut her off. Bliss hit a DDT and
finally got the Tag, bringing Flair in off the top rope to
take out Perez and Rodriguez. Flair hit a lariat on
Rodriguez and used Perez as a weapon, throwing her at her
prone partner.
Flair went up for a moonsault and landed it on both, but
only got a two count on Rodriguez. Perez caused a
distraction so Rodriguez could deliver a big boot to Flair.
Perez charged Flair in the corner, but Flair was able to
dodge and send Perez into the turnbuckle. They both climbed
to the top rope and Perez hit a hurricanrana. Rodriguez
tagged in for a hurricane elbow but Bliss broke up the
count.
Flair sent Perez out and hit a big boot to send Rodriguez
out of the ring too. Bliss tagged in and intercepted Perez
for a Sister Abigail. Perez went down and Bliss got the pin,
retaining the titles for her and Flair.
Match Result: Alexa Bliss and Charlotte Flair defeated
Roxanne Perez and Raquel Rodriguez
-Backstage, IYO SKY and the Kabuki Warriors were hanging
out, doing stuff they do, when IYO was approached by Rhea
Ripley. Ripley said that she knows IYO asked for a one-on-
one rematch against Naomi. Rhea said that she wants IYO to
win so that she can beat her for the title. IYO grabbed her
arm and lovingly said that she was never going to beat her.
The two smiled and that was it.
WWE Intercontinental Champion Dominik Mysterio vs Dragon Lee
Mysterio came down to the ring and the show went to
commercial.
Back from break, Micheal Cole said that next year’s
SummerSlam in Minneapolis is sure to be “fire” which aged me
about 7 years.
Then, Backstage, Bayley went looking for Lyra Valkyria.
Bayley tried to apologize for costing her the
Intercontinental title at SummerSlam. Valkyria said that
Bayle should just stay the hell ouf her life.
Then, the bell rang and the match was on. Lee wasted no time
in sending Mysterio to the outside, dragging him back in and
pummeling him in the corner. Lee chopped him in the corner,
but Mysterio racked Lee’s throat on the ropes, sending him
outside.
Mysterio chopped Lee against the ring apron (the choppiest
part of the ring!) and sent him back in. Mysterio called for
a 619, but Lee dropped out and laid some quick kicks into
Mysterio’s face. Mysterio then hit a DDT on the ring apron
(the DDT-est part of the ring) as the show went to
commercial.
During the break, Mysterio mugged for the crowd and threw
punches at Lee on the mat. He then tried to tie the ribbons
from Lee’s mask to the bottom rope. His real father never
taught him how to tie knots though, so Mysterio abandoned
the effort for a headlock instead. Lee fought back, but
Mysterio hit a Michinoku Driver as the break ended.
Lee fought back, hitting a dragon kick in the corner. Lee
removed his elbow pad to try for a cover, but only got a
two-count. Mysterio tried walking the ropes, but Lee
countered with a sit-out powerbomb. Mysterio set Lee on the
top rope, but slipped, giving Lee the chance to stomp him.
Suddenly, Grande Americano appeared. Then, ANOTHER Grande
Americano appeared. Then a THIRD Grande Americano. That was
enough of a distraction for Mysterio to get a shot from
behind in on Lee and pick up the pin and victory.
Match Result: Dominik Mysterio defeated Dragon Lee
After the match, AJ Styles came out to beat up Mysterio, but
Mysterio bolted and Lee and Styles shook hands in the ring,
exchanging “can you believe that guy?” looks.
-Backstage, Sami Zayn was interviewed about his match
against Karrion Cross at SummerSlam. Zayn rejected a steel
pipe in the match, but admitted wanting to use it. In the
end though, it’s just not who he is. Zayn wants to be a
world champion and he wants to do it right.
Suddenly, Sheamus and Rusev appeared, still brawling and
still not being stopped by security. Zayn got caught up in
the middle, but WWE said who cares? and switched to footage
of Becky Lynch entering the building.
I know that this is supposed to be a funny running bit with
Sheamus and Rusev, but really all it’s doing is showing that
WWE has terrible security. Also, wouldn’t we, the viewers,
be interested in the never ending brawl? Just sayin’.
-Back from break and an inconsequential interview by Byron
Saxon of the Judgement Day, Method Man was shown in the
audience. This was by far the high part of the episode for
me. Dave East was also there along with Da’Vinchii and Adam
Blackstone. I am not cool enough to know who the last two
are, but they looked nice.
-Becky Lynch’s music hit and the Women’s Intercontinental
Champion made her way to the ring in the track suit version
of her husband’s suit. Lynch grabbed a mic and said that she
plans on being champion for a very long time, much to Lyra
Valkyria’s dismay. Suddenly, the music of one Nikki Bella
hit and the Hall of Famer made her way to the ring.
Bella said that she was able to take a step away from WWE
because stars like Lynch could hold things together. But
Lynch became a disappointment to Bella. She’s not the leader
she had hoped Lynch would grow into. The two traded jabs
about their IMDB listings, with Lynch mocking Bella for
having her role cut from Happy Gilmore 2. Now streaming on
Netflix. SYNERGY.
Bella called Lynch a liar just like her husband and said she
sees right through her. Lynch turned that around into a shot
about Bella and John Cena’s failed relationship, which was
quite clever if I do say so. Bella said that this isn’t
Lynch’s era, so she should put the Intercontinental title on
the line in a match against her.
Lynch said that the reason she and Bella never went one on
one was– and then she sucker punched her in the face and ran
for the ring.
-Backstage, Byron Saxon interviewed Women’s World Champion,
Naomi. He asked her how she feels about her SummerSlam win,
and she said “great.” She also mentioned that next week on
RAW, she would defend against IYO SKY. Stephanie Vaquer
wandered by and said that she would beat Naomi or SKY in
Paris. Even though no one asked her.
-Next in BREAKING NEWS, Cole announced that GUNTHER would be
out of action indefinitely because of a nose injury suffered
at SummerSlam.
Also, that Cody Rhodes would be on Smackdown this Friday.
Which is good, because that’s kinda his job.
Also, Also, as a result of the never ending brawl, Rusev and
Sami Zayn will go one-on-one. I guess Zayn blamed Rusev more
than Sheamus.
-Back from break, Backy Lynch was confronted backstage by
Natalya. She was real mad about the way Lynch treated Bella
and challenged her to a match. Lynch accepted, but not to
face Natalya. She said that Maxxine Dupri, who was also
there, could have the match and then walked away.
WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins vs LA Knight
Alicia Taylor gave everyone their official intros and the
Main Event of the evening was on. Knight laid out Rollins
with a right hand off the bell and stomped him into the
corner. Rollins swung back and Knight caught him with a
suplex followed by a neckbreaker.
Rollins charged Knight who sent him over the top rope to the
outside. Rollins staggered away, using Heyman as a human
shield to lure Knight outside. Knight slid through the ring
and bounced Rollins head off the announce table. Rollins
responded by sending Knight into the barricade, hitting a
big stomp to the back of Knights head.
Off to commercial, and in the ring Rollins stomped Knight
and called for Heyman to hand him the belt. Rollins posed
with it and then whipped Knight into the turnbuckles. Knight
tried to climb out, but Rollins caught him and sent his face
back into the turnbuckle. Rollins hung up Knight with the
second rope as the show ticked back out of break.
Rollins chopped Knight in the corner, but that seemed to
ignite his second wind and Knight fought back and
backdropped Rollins in the middle of the ring. Rollins tried
going up top,but Knight raced up there too and hit a
superplex for a two count.
The two got to their feet and traded punches until Knight
laid out Rollins with a lariat followed by a side Russian
leg sweep and a neckbreaker. It wasn’t enough to put Rollins
down though and he hit a jawbreaker. Knight didn’t get
phased though and hit a powerslam and an elbow.
Rollins tried a buckle bomb, but Knight reversed it into a
Death Valley Driver. The two men lay in the ring, exhausted.
Knight got to his feet first, looking to put Rollins away.
Rollins played possum and tried. a curb stomp and a
pedigree, but missed both allowing Knight to hit a DDT.
Knight hit his top rope elbow and Rollins bailed out of the
ring. Knight sent him into the announce table with a
baseball slide. He bounced Rollins’ head off the table and
went to pick him up, but Rollins headbutted Knight right in
the junk with a low blow. He then tossed Knight into the
post and punched him repeatedly before tearing up some of
the ringside padding.
Rollins sent Knight into the ringpost again for good measure
then dragged him over to the exposed concrete, setting him
up for a stomp. But out of the crowd came a wild CM Punk who
jumped Rollins and started pounding on him. The ref
signalled a DQ and Rollins tried to leave, but Punk followed
until Bron Breakker showed up and speared him. Bronson Reed
arrived and took out Knight in the ring.
Match Result: LA Knight defeated Seth Rollins via DQ
Breakker speared Knight for good measure and Rollins hit a
stomp on Punk, leaving them lying. Reed, Breakker and
Rollins exited the ring while Paul Heyman jawed at ringside.
The credits appeared and the show seemed over when suddenly…
Roman Reigns’ music hit and the OTC came down and cleaned
house, taking out Breakker and Reed. Rollins stood in the
ring as Reigns stalked towards him, but bailed as soon as he
hit the ring. Breakker tried to get Reigns from behind, but
he was intercepted, leaving Reigns open to attack from Reed
and a stomp from Rollins.
The three men gave the same treatment to Reigns that they
did Knight and Punk, ending with a definitive spear from
Breakker and Tsunami from Reed from TWO corners. Adam Pierce
hit the ring with various producers (presumably because
security was still chasing Rusev and Sheamus around) to
break up the beatdown.
The show ended with Rollins and crew standing tall.