It is time for Monday Night RAW in London. Tonight’s episode features some interesting matches, set ups, and storylines to move forward as we progress towards Money in the Bank.
We begin with Roman Reigns in London; it’s good to see that even the Brits know to “boo” him as he enters. Roman talks about he was robbed last week by Jinder Mahal and challenges Mahal to come out and face him like a man. Kurt Angle comes out to tell everyone that Jinder Mahal won’t be coming out tonight to see Roman; instead, he will be in a match for Money in the Bank. Kurt admits he was wrong to keep Jinder out of money in the bank consideration. Tonight, Jinder can qualify for MITB in a triple threat match with Elias and Bobby Lashley. Roman asks to be added, but Kurt denies him and informs him he will have no more qualifying opportunities for Money in the Bank. Roman tells Kurt he’s going to have to take matters into his own hands.
This leads Roman to go backstage and confront Jinder. Jinder beats the living hell out of Roman Reigns; Reigns then gets up and then starts beating on Mahal. WWE is really putting Roman haters in a tough spot by saying “You want to boo Roman so much? Fine we’ll pair him up with Jinder Mahal, because we dare you to cheer Jinder Mahal.” Roman and Jinder make their way out front, as Roman continues to beat down Jinder Mahal.
The first match of the evening will be Seth Rollins vs Kevin Owens for the Intercontinental Championship. It’s a great match by two of the best. Kevin gets in early but then Seth takes over. At one point Seth completes a falcon arrow on Owens on the ring apron. Then he does a series of suicide dives on Owens, completely taking out Owens. When they’re back in the ring, they trade heavy blows back and forth. The match really accentuates the range and skill of these two wrestlers. Kevin Owens goes up for a frog splash, Rollins gets the knees up to counter and goes for the stomp, but KO dodges. Seth Rollins goes to the top to try and get the jump on Owens, Owens counters and wraps up Seth but Seth kicks out. Owens then goes to the top rope and gets Rollins with a power slam. Rollins rolls out of the ring before Owens gets the pin. Owens throws Rollins back into the ring but as Owen gets back in the ring Seth Rollins gets the stomp (or the blackout as it was formerly known) on Owens.
Rollins pins Owens to retain the IC title. A great match by two fantastic performers; it’s a great way to start the night.
After the break, they recap the NBC event today in New York as we see the promo where Nia Jax challenges Ronda Rousey for the RAW Women’s Championship at Money in the Bank.
Curtis Axel and Bo Dallas come out as the B-team, realizing they can’t use the A-team due to the copyrights…sure. They ask Kurt for a shot at the Raw tag titles, he denies but gives them a match to shut them up. It seems that Axel and Dallas will be taking a more overt comedy angle now that they’re no longer with the Miz. I think this can work if they really commit, but we’ll see where it goes.
Next is a triple threat match between No Way Jose, Baron Corbin, and Bobby Roode to qualify for Money in the Bank. Jose is left out of the early parts of the match by Corbin taking him out leaving it to Roode and Corbin. Eventually Jose gets into the action with Corbin. Roode takes out Corbin and tries to take out Jose as they get into it. It’s a slow match with a lot of tradeoffs between the three. Jose is good but it’s clear he can only work with one wrestler at a time. Corbin starts to dominate taking out Roode and Jose. Roode counters and throws Corbin out of the ring, he catches Jose off guard, hits him with a glorious DDT.
Roode pins Jose and qualifies for Money in the Bank. It was a fine match, nothing spectacular, but a good showing of the talent.
Next up is the newly formed B-team (Curtis Axel and Bo Dallas) against Breezango. Axel and Dallas are wearing these ridiculous white t-shirts with a giant ‘B’ in sharpie, it’s surprisingly funny. It really seems like this B-team gimmick is an attempt to introduce comedy into their act. The match is a surprisingly good match. I forget how good Breezango is at having high energy matches. There were a lot of throws and jumps during the match. Eventually Bo Dallas gets a jump from the top rope to take out Fandango.
Bo Dallas pins Fandango to get a win for the B-team. It’s a good quick match, and a surprising display of talent from the four wrestlers.
The looks of shock on Bo and Curtis are priceless. At the end, they call out Bray Wyatt and Matt Hardy and warn them that they’re coming for the RAW tag titles. I can actually see this gimmick going somewhere; I just want them to commit to the funny aspects of this routine and not fall into anything too serious.
Next is a 6-woman tag match between Sasha Banks, Natalya, and Ember Moon vs. The Riott Squad. It’s a very good match, with everyone showing off their talents. Ember Moon and Ruby Riott looked especially good during the match.
Natalya lands the sharpshooter on Liv Morgan as she taps out.
Next is The Revival vs. Matt Hardy and Bray Wyatt. I have yet to be excited for the Revival, unfortunately this match does little to sway me from my feelings. Hardy and Wyatt do most of the work in this match, with The Revival doing little to help propel this match. Eventually it ends in the kiss of deletion by Hardy and Bray.
Matt Hardy and Bray Wyatt win the match via pinfall.
Backstage Sasha wishes Bayley ‘good luck’ in her upcoming match which possibly signals an end to their feud.
Sami Zayn comes out next to cut a promo about how he’s been cheated by Bobby Lashley, they debuted the same day on RAW, and ever since Lashley has been beating Zayn mercilessly. Sami takes the opportunity to trash Lashley; he talks about how he reached out to Lashley’s sisters on Facebook to get a better idea of Lashley. Sami then tells us that next week he’s invited Lashley’s sisters to attend Monday Night RAW and we will get to learn who the true Bobby Lashley is. I am not sure where this story line is going but with things being slow post-WrestleMania it’s easy to see why WWE is experimenting with some different things.
Next is a Women’s Triple Threat match to qualify for Money in the Bank between Bayley, Alexa Bliss, and Mickie James. Alexa and Mickie team up on Bayley early but Bayley fends them off. Bayley gets the beat down on both Alexa and Mickie. The match is slow moving for a while, with Bayley trading hits with both Alexa and Mickie. Eventually Bayley lands a Belly to Bayley on Alexa but Alexa kicks out. Bayley takes out Mickie, as she sets her sites on Alexa, Alexa lands a DDT on Bayley.
Alexa pins Bayley to qualify for the money in the bank match. The match was good; it started slow but picked up towards the end. It was nice to see Alexa win clean as she qualifies for money in the bank.
Backstage we see Jinder Mahal getting ready for his triple threat match; out of nowhere, Roman Reigns spears him and leaves Jinder on the ground writhing as we go to commercial.
Due to Roman’s actions Jinder cannot compete in the money in the bank qualifier against Bobby Lashley and Elias, leaving Kurt Angle to find a replacement.
Before then we have a tag match between Finn Balor and Braun Strowman against Dolph Ziggler and Drew McIntyre. Finn and Dolph start against each other. Finn gets a quick dropkick on Dolph as he tags in McIntyre. McIntyre wants to face off against Braun so he tags in. McIntyre backs off and tags Dolph in. Braun picks up Finn and tosses him onto Ziggler as Finn tags back in. There is a great moment where Balor looks horrified at Braun for using him as a weapon, leaving Braun to angrily shout “You’re fine, now get up!” The best moments with Braun are the ones where he dominates and acts like a monster, he pulls this off while still being a baby face, which is incredible. Eventually Braun tags back in and he takes out McIntyre and Ziggler. Braun goes in for the tackle but Ziggler dodges and Braun goes into the ring post. Finn tags in and trades various blows against Ziggler. McIntyre tries to interfere but Braun takes him out, outside the ring. Finn tries to capitalize but Dolph gets the jump on Balor.
Dolph Ziggler pins Finn Balor giving a win to him and Drew McIntyre. It was a great match with the highlights being Finn Balor and Dolph Ziggler highlighting their ability to put on great matches.
Elias starts out after the break, he only gets as far as “Hello I am Elias” before he is interrupted by the surprise competitor, Kevin Owens. This will be the second match KO works tonight which is very interesting. After KO, Bobby Lashley comes out to face off against Elias and KO in a money in the bank qualifying match.
The match starts with Kevin Owens and Elias trying to take out Lashley. Both Elias and Owens perform various slams, hits, and kicks on Lashley in and out of the ring. Eventually Elias and Owens turn on each other and begin trading blows. Bobby regains his composure and begins the beatdown on KO. Elias comes in and takes out Lashley with a knee to the face which leaves Elias in the ring by himself. He then signals Jojo to give him a microphone and his guitar, as he begins to perform for the crowd during the match. Kevin Owens comes in behind Elias, cutting off Elias (again). Elias tries to take out KO but Lashley keeps interfering, which stops Elias from getting a pin. KO and Elias team up again to try and take out Lashley, but it doesn’t work as Lashley gets the double suplex on KO and Elias. As the match goes on it’s impressive how these large men make it seem so easy as they throw each other around the ring. It is a fantastic match, probably the best of the evening outside of the Owens/Rollins match. As Lashley tries to get the pin on Elias after a dominator, Sami Zayn interferes and pulls away Lashley. This gives the opening for KO to get the frog splash on Elias and the pin.
Kevin Owens pins Elias off an assistance from Sami Zayn. It’s a good match even though it didn’t end clean, the match only went on for 10 minutes, but I could’ve watch 10 more with the way these men were performing.
Overall, this was a good episode of Monday Night RAW. This one a RAW where it didn’t set up much, but it featured a variety of good matches which is sometimes even better. For the next few weeks, it looks like we’ll be setting up the Money in the Bank picture, and of course the weird Bobby Lashley reveal with his sisters for next week.
