The show opens, the right way, with a moment of silence for those who lost their lives in the tragic nightclub shooting in Orlando, Florida.
Requisite Show Opening Promo: The New Day comes out to a big ovation. Kofi tries to cut a promo about the Money in the Bank pay-per-view. However, Xavier and Big E stop him and ridicule him for his sneakers — which are the new Steph Curry Under Armour shoes. Enzo and Cass come out and cut off the New Day Rocks chant. The crowd goes apeshit bananas for them. They two join in on making fun of Kofi’s shoes. The promo goes into a weird territory where it’s revealed Enzo “was with Francesca II last night.” It was weird, but it did give us the line, “I’m the only one who blows my girl.” This lead to the “verbal joust” between Enzo and Xavier, but The Vaudevillains came out…of course. Aiden English started singing, but luckily Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows came out. Which of course lead Cass to do his “Sawft” chant.
The Requisite Opponents Team Up March — The New Day, Enzo & Cass vs. The Club and The Vaudvillains: The match was predictable but fun. Enzo was the Ricky Morton of the match, taking the brunt of the abuse from the heels. He makes the hot tag to Vince McMahon’s new favorite, Big Cass. The big man lights everyone up with boots, and kicks. The Vaudevillains bail, but Kofi tags in and does an amazing flipping centon over the top turnbuckle, wiping the “bygone era” duo out. Karl Anderson is finally starting to get moments to shine, which is a drastic improvement over, over-selling for Roman and The Usos. Big E has an amazing spot where he slaps Simon Gotch in the butt during an abominable stretch to the beat of “New Day Rocks.” The math breaks down and everyone hits some nice spots, but in the end Anderson and Gallows hit The Magic Killer on Kofi. Winner: The Club, The Vaudevillians.
The Club is being made to look super strong, their promos need a little work (more like they need to be let loose), but they are poised to take the tag titles. The cynic in me thinks The Vaudevillains will probably win the belts.
Backstage Promo: Darren Young and Bob Backlund do another crazy backstage promo. It’s so weird, and it’s awkward. I don’t see where the hell this is going.
McMahoningans #1: I just hate this so much. Just stop. Corporate Kane shows up, and pitches himself as the GM of Smackdown! I can’t believe this, but Kane actually saved the promo by presenting Shane and Steph with a resume, and a letter of recommendation from The Undertaker. Also, he had so many “fire” puns, it was ridiculous.
Backstage Promo: Zack Ryder is talking to some people. I don’t know who they were. They looked 12. Sheamus shows up, and jaw jacks with The Prince of LINY to hype their match.
Shining Stars Promo: It was terrible. No one is surprised.
Titus O’Neill vs. Rusev in a Michael Dworkis Dream Match: Our regular RAW reviewer Michael Dworkis loves Titus almost as much as he loved Wade Barrett. But, as usual, anyone who MD loves — gets his ass kicked on RAW. Rusev beat the Pancake Patterson out of Titus.
The Ambrose Asylum: Dean Ambrose made this fun. He has so much charisma, and is great with off the cuff humor. His awkward hug when Rollins walked in the ring was great. Rollins was able to play off Ambrose well, and he basically cut a babyface promo on how awesome The Shield was. Of course, he heeled out and said he loved when he beat up The Shield, and stealing the title from Wrestlemania. Seth and Dean carry the segment, and thankfully Roman is silent for the majority of the segment. It was nice to see Ambrose interject “What would happen if I won Money in the Bank, and cashed in?” Him dropping Roman with Dirty Deeds was definitely an awesome site.
Women Title Match: Charlotte w/Dana Brooke vs. Paige: This was a very competitive match, that was unfortunately marred by Natalya and Becky Lynch on commentary. Unless it’s Kevin Owens, guest commentators ALWAYS kill matches. Charlotte pretty much gets dominated by Paige, which makes zero sense, and when she gets tossed to the outside Dana Brooke shows up to shield Charlotte from Becky and Natalya. Dana tosses Charlotte into the ring, where Paige ends up leveling her and picking up the win. Winner: Paige
While it was nice to see Paige finally get a win, it didn’t make sense for her to make Charlotte look like chump.
Backstage Promo: Renee Young, looking resplendent, interviews Cesaro. Sami shows up, and Cesaro basically slaps him around on the mic, which is really surprising, since Cesaro isn’t exactly a lyrical miracle. Cesaro has severely upped his promo game.
Backstage Promo: Charlotte slaps around Dana Brooke verbally — saying there’s no room for mistakes. Don’t break up this team already, it’d make little to no sense.
Sheamus vs. Zack Ryder in a Michael Dworkis’ Tears Match: Another one of MD’s faves, Zack Ryder, is the sacrificial lamb for Sheamus. Zack got his requisite offense in – Broski boot and an elbow drop. As expected, he goes for The Rough Ryder, misses, and gets pinned. Winner: Sheamus
Post-Match: Sheamus kicks Zack around till Apollo Crews comes in and cleans house.
McMahonigans #2: Corporate Kane makes a match pitting The Lucha Dragons against a bickering Kevin Owens and Alberto del Rio.
Sami Zayn vs. Cesaro: I’m not even reviewing this match. If you love wrestling, go find search this match out, watch it, and realize this is why you love wrestling. Winner: Sami Zayn
John Cena/AJ Styles Promo-Contract Signing: At times this segment was great with Cena putting over Styles’ accomplishments, and AJ wondering who would’ve been the bigger star had AJ arrived in WWE 15 years ago. Then it was terrible when Cena basically referred to AJ as “indy guys like you” and talked a lot about being buried. It came off more like Cena was shooting than trying to promote a match. The WWE needs to do the right thing and let AJ win on Sunday, and not have him lose for his fourth consecutive PPV in a row.
Alberto del Rio & Kevin Owens vs. The Lucha Dragons in a Enemies Are Friends Match: This match was all about Owens and del Rio comically getting annoyed at each other, almost costing the other the match, and eventually banding together to win. The Lucha Dragons did a nice job of hitting their patented moves, and thankfully no botches. Winners: Kevin Owens and ADR
McMahonnigans Again: Corporate Kane doesn’t make the cut. Shane and Steph bicker. I want to the show to end.
Main Event: Chris Jericho vs. Dean Ambrose with Sami Zayn and KO on commentary, ADR as the bell ringer, and Cesaro as the announcer: This was your standard Jericho/Ambrose match we’ve seen for the past few months — fun, but nothing amazing. Kevin Owens really carried the segment with his commentary. He absolutely killed Cole, Sami and Byron, and yet it never deterred from the match. Winner: Chris Jericho
Overall Thoughts: This was an okay edition of Monday Night RAW. It certainly was not a great “go home” episode before the PPV, but I think Money in the Bank doesn’t need to be sold, the card is just really good.
