Monday Night RAW 8/24 Episode: The Dissonance of Thunderdome & The Limitless Potential of Keith Lee

Welcome to Monday Night RAW 8/24, the post SummerSlam RAW from the WWE Thunderdome. I must say, I’m a fan of the Thunderdome, I like how it is curtailed for a “Zoom” based audience. One thing that is odd is that during the promos there is just some ambient noise almost like it’s being piped into an NBA game, not real time reaction, which would be impossible. I suppose this is the way live events go now (at least until we get people in stadiums for NFL games in Florida, which I can’t believe is a thing that is going to happen).

First up is Drew McIntyre who doesn’t seem to be a fan of the Thunderdome. In his defense, it’s hard to cut a promo while you’re just talking over ambient noise because there is no flow. At least in the “before times” the crowd would have a sensible reaction to promo, but this just feels chaotic and dissonant. Regardless McIntyre calls out Randy Orton, to which Orton immediately responds by ambushing McIntyre at the end of the promo as he exits.

Next, we get the most exciting digital promo of the night (so far), a preview for Keith Lee to appear tonight at Monday Night RAW, which absolutely pays off, more on that later.

We get a quick segment where we learn Nia Jax has been reinstated after her suspension, so we MAY be seeing her soon (hint hint).

The next match is a tag team match between Bayley accompanied by Sasha Banks and Shayna Bazler with Nia Jax standing at the entrance ramp staring…menacingly. There is tension between Sasha and Bayley due to a fallout from SummerSlam. I cannot believe we are taking ANOTHER crack at this story line. If I never see another Bayley/Sasha fallout for the rest of my life, it’ll be too soon. The match ends quickly with Nia Jax interfering by pounding on Bazler giving Bazler the win via DQ. Nia stops and then stares down Bayley and Sasha as they exit, giving us a shot of both Bazler and Nia staring down the two Women’s Tag Teams Champs. While I thought this would begin as a tear between Bayley and Sasha it seems like this is setting up an eventual feud between Nia/Shayna and Sasha/Bayley. From there it’s possible Bayley and Sasha will lose the tag team belts and thus will begin their split, or they’ll keep the run going, which would probably be my preference honestly. 

Next up is the KO Show, unfortunately it’s another segment that seems to be drowned out by ambient sounds with no sensible reactions, it’s okay guys, it’s a process. Aleister Black comes out looking like a pirate going to a business meeting. He’s wearing his classic black shirt, tie, pants, shoes, and vest. The look is topped off with a black eye bandage that truly pulls it all together. Owens and Black have an interview discussing the incident where Buddy Murphy stair gouged Aleister’s eye. Black takes out Kevin Owens with a Black Mass by surprise and walks off. Every segment and match so far tonight seems shortened, it’s hard to tell if it’s because they don’t want to prolong anything in the Thunderdome or if they need to squeeze in a lot of content for tonight’s show. 

The next match is a Fatal Four-way match for the 24/7 championship between Akira Tozawa, Cedric Alexander, Shelton Benjamin (the current champion) and the most important competitor, R-Truth. Thank you, WWE, for bringing out R-Truth for this, sincerely, I appreciate that R-Truth continues to put in the work, day in and day out for this silly 24/7 Championship bit. Unfortunately, the What’s Up bit did not work with the Thunderdome, as it was just a lot of loud indistinguishable sounds. Tozawa quickly wins with the assistance of three mysterious ninjas, which is ridiculous, if R-Truth had ninjas he would easily win every match he is in. It is a travesty that Truth does not have the 24/7 belt, give the man his belt back!

Randy Orton comes out next to discuss his brutal attack on Drew McIntyre. Again, I hate to harp on this, but I cannot impress how bad these promos are with ambient noise just being played over the promo, but I’ll leave that alone for now. Orton tells us that McIntyre got what was coming to him and that Orton doesn’t need any pity matches handed too him. Orton’s promo is interrupted by the one and only KEITH LEE. Now anyone who has read my reviews knows that Keith Lee is my favorite wrestler across all WWE brands. An Orton – Keith Lee feud is something that would be a great boon for Monday Night RAW. Two excellent competitors, the old guard vs. the up and coming star, would prove to be a great match, or even set of matches. Naturally, Keith Lee challenges Orton but Orton bails. What I find interesting about this is that these two are only separated by five years, but Orton has a storied career over two decades, whereas Keith Lee is up and coming within the WWE.

The next match is Angel Garza, accompanied by Demi Burnett of Bachelor in Paradise fame, facing off against Montez Ford of the Street Profits. I must say this has been an interesting melding of my worlds personally as a fan of both professional wrestling and the Bachelor franchise, there are more similarities between these two than differences. During the match Ivar comes in and steals Demi from Garza’s corner which makes Garza despondent, giving Montez Ford an easy win.

Next is a 3 Woman Tag Team match between The IIconics and Zelina Vega vs. The Riott Squad and Bianca Belair. Belair easily pins Vega giving the win for the face trio. These three have a natural chemistry and are a very compatible team, it’s fun watching the three of them together.

Up next, we get an arm-wrestling match between Apollo Crews and Bobby Lashley, moderated by Mark Henry. This is probably the most useless segment of the night; Crews wins with a bit of chicanery. 

Natalya and Lana are out on the ring next to “induct Mickie James into the WWE Hall of Fame.” It basically boils down to a segment where the two of them clown Mickie James. Mickie quickly comes out to beat up the two women who decided to talk shit about Mickie James.

Next up is a quick segment of the RAW Underground which is basically WWE Fight Club. There’s something to be said that there are SO MANY wrestlers even in Monday Night RAW alone, that they need a separate ring for fights that they can’t already fit within a 3-hour show. The concept is more interesting than the execution unfortunately. 

Next is the match of the evening, Randy Orton vs. Keith Lee. The match begins with many throws and slams by Lee to Orton, it’s a great display of Keith Lee’s power but also his speed and finesse. Orton can get some submissions in. The match is slow and deliberate, but I’m fine with that for a first match between these two. It’s better to leave the audience wanting more, rather than showcasing everything in a Monday Night RAW match. Keith Lee’s escapes, slams, and body blows against Orton are great, and Orton does a good job of responding. This is the most finesse match of the evening by far. As with most matches this evening it ends quickly with McIntyre interfering with the match and attacking Randy Orton. Orton quickly flees leaving McIntyre in the ring by himself. I think an eventual Keith Lee/Randy Orton Pay-Per-View match will be a great thing to watch, but for now this was a nice teaser.

Following this Randy Orton sneaks up on McIntyre AGAIN backstage and kick him in the head for a third time. When will the depravity end?

The championship match for the evening is Asuka vs. Sasha Banks for the RAW Women’s Championship in a lumberjack match. The match was surprisingly short, Sasha tries to hurt Asuka early, but to no avail. Bayley tries to get Sasha a chair to help take out Asuka, but Shayna Bazler stops her, during the distraction Asuka gets the Asuka lock in on Banks forcing her to tap out.

Drew McIntyre is taken away via ambulance after the savage beating he took from Randy Orton. Keith Lee promises that he will avenge his friend by destroying Randy Orton.

We get another quick segment of RAW Underground which is not very good. It feels like this time can be used more effectively that just showing random violence take place on a second stage. 

The Main Event of the RAW 8/24 features Rey and Dominik Mysterio vs. Seth Rollins and Buddy Murphy. Before the match starts Seth Rollins takes out Rey outside the ring leaving Murphy and Dominik to start. Dominik can hold his own against Buddy Murphy and is even able to turn the tide long enough for Rey to get in the ring for the assist. Dominik and Rey put up a great fight even pulling off a double 619 on Rollins. The match is interrupted by Retribution coming in and swarming the Mysterios and beating the hell out of them.

Interestingly that’s how tonight’s RAW ends. Overall, I thought RAW 8/24 was a satisfying episode except for a few bits, mostly the arm wrestling and RAW Underground. We also got a lot of submit for WWE Payback this Sunday which is good to keep the momentum moving. 

Monday Night RAW 8/24 is currently streaming on the USA Network website and app, Hulu and on demand.