WWE Monday Night RAW meets The Demon King

RAW kicks off with some crazy. Seth Rollins is outside the arena and calls out Finn Balor’s Demon King.

In the ring, Rusev and Lana threaten to hijack the show until Roman Reigns comes out to apologize. Mick Foley is out first, and Rusev completely disrespects the Hardcore Icon. Stephanie then comes out and verbally dismantles Rusev while putting over Foley. Very nice. Rusev then threatens to defect to SmackDown. Wow. Reigns finally comes out and makes some smart-ass comments about Lana being a mail-order bride. Foley books Rusev vs. Reigns tonight in a non-title match.

Our first match seems to be odd, with Sami Zayn defeating Sheamus after Cesaro interferes. Sheamus has an odd intro, Zayn interrupts, and we fight. Decent match, some back-and-forth mishaps, but overall solid showing. Zayn cracks Sheamus in the face with the Helluva Kick for the win. This match was to push the Cesaro/Sheamus feud further.

Backstage: JeriKO discuss the legitimacy of Enzo being a “Certified G.”

Backstage: Sheamus and Cesaro continue to have it out, until Foley calls them “unprofessional” and books them in a Best of Seven. Is this WCW?

The New Day defeat The Dudley Boys in minutes. Wow. Minus Big E. Langston, they watch a video promo from Gallows and Anderson in their medical office looking for more participants for research, as they hold up jars with Kofi and Xavier’s names on them.

Backstage: Seth Rollins wanders are looking for Mr. Demon King.

Nia Jax destroys another female jobber named Rachel Levy. Jewish? Raven’s relative?

Rabbi Paul Heyman brings out his disciple, Brock Lesnar. They are immediately interrupted by HEATH SLATER. Wow, solid booking right here. I’m serious. He cuts a promos about how he’s doing this for his family and for his job. It started off with Heyman completely ridiculing Slater and essentially saying what we are thinking about this being a horrible joke, but Slater sells the hell out of it all and cuts a great promo about doing his job and not wanting to face Brock but doing it for the family. In a shock, Lesnar takes the mic and appears to feel sympathetic, but then says “I don’t give a (BLEEEP) about your kids.” Yes, he dropped the S-Bomb and was bleeped. Slater attempts to strike first, but is eventually murdered on live television by Lesnar. The segment resumes with a verbal shot at Orton as it should and Heyman as always crafts a fantastic promo.

Kudos to Slater and Brock for actually sounding coherent on the mic for once.

Enzo and Cass hit the ring and cut a funny promo on Y2JeriKO. The match between Kevin Owens and Big Cass comes to an end after Jericho interferes.

Backstage: Rusev and Reigns brawl.

So, during the RAW pre-show, Titus O’Neal proposes to Darren Young and Coach Backlund to reunite the Prime Time Players for tonight and see where it takes them. At the moment, I was jumping for joy, until early on in the match against Primo and Epico, an errant collision by Young into O’Neal causes Titus to get mad, splatter Young with the Clash of Titus and The Shining Stars get the win. Sigh.

Adrian Neville defeats Jinder Mahal. Mahal stood no chance at all.

Mick Foley tells Stephanie he got Jon Stewart to host SummerSlam. AWESOME.

Seth Rollins says he wants the night off since he can’t find Demon King Balor anywhere. Foley suggests he go to the ring to call him out, and if he doesn’t answer, Rollins can go home.

In the ring, Seth Rollins talks about being a one-man legacy and the best at everything, until suddenly a fan jumps into the ring but it quickly taken down by security. Seriously WWE, this fan-jumping problem isn’t going away. Shortly after that debacle, Finn Balor does show up in Demon war paint and after his lengthy entrance, the battle begins. After an exchange, Balor gains advantage but Rollins narrowly escapes the Coup de Gras only to get floored with a dive over the ropes. Great segment.

Doctors Gallows and Anderson defeat R-Truth and Goldust fairly quickly, but are then ambused by Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods. Really wonder who will walk away with the Tag Team Championships.

Backstage: Charlotte tells off Dana Brooke for her failure.

Charlotte defeats Alicia Fox, then calls out Sasha Banks. Oh look, it was a trap, as Dana Brooke helps Charlotte lock the figure-eight onto Banks.

Promo package showing Braun Strowman kill helpless jobbers.

Despite WWE’s valiant efforts, even pitting Roman Reigns against Rusev doesn’t help at all. It is humorous to hear the “let’s go Rusev” chants. At one point during the match, Rusev gets on the mic calling the fans “Russian wannabes” in an attempt to turn fans against him, and no one listens. The match between Roman Reigns and Rusev is well-paced, pretty decent, but ultimately is meant to show some unresolved business for this Sunday’s SummerSlam. Rusev dominates majority of the match, but Reigns hits the Spear for the pinfall victory.