WWE Raw
Another week, another WWE Raw, this time in Manchester, England which was taped three days beforehand, immediately after SmackDown. I was there live for this show, so let’s get to it!
WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship Match
The Kabuki Warriors (C) vs. Becky Lynch & Charlotte Flair
This match was preceded by a basic Becky promo where she noted the number of “savages” gunning for her, to which she replied “bring them on”. This included Asuka and Kairi Sane, who were defending their titles here against Becky and frenemy Charlotte (Natalya was apparently unable to compete for family reasons, hence Lynch being involved). This was given a decent amount of time, though the appearance at ringside of NXT Women’s Champion Shayna Baszler telegraphed the outcome. Sure enough, Shayna climbed up onto the apron to attack Becky, only for SmackDown Women’s Champion Bayley to run in from the crowd and attack Baszler. In the confusion, Asuka rolled up Becky for the win to retain the titles, and Shayna was able to rebound from the Bayley jump to stand tall as she marched away. The Becky-Baszler-Bayley three-way looks promising for Survivor Series, though for the time being, Charlotte is seeking a relevant spot on the card (though she’ll no doubt captain a women’s team for the Raw brand at Survivors).
Drew McIntyre vs. Sin Cara
Drew McIntyre was back in the UK and was greeted as something of a returning hero despite his villainous ways. Facing the Scottish Psychopath was always going to be a tall order for Cara, though he did put up a good fight and had Drew in trouble on occasion. But a brutal powerbomb off the apron to the arena floor set up the Claymore and the inevitable pinfall win for McIntyre. Between the time that this was taped and the show airing, Cara asked for his WWE release, which could make this his final televised match for the company.
WWE 24/7 Championship Match
Samir Singh (C) & Sunil Singh vs. R-Truth
The Singh Brothers had the rare opportunity to defend the 24/7 crown in a real match here against 24/7 division legend R-Truth. It didn’t last very long: with Truth seeming to have the win in his grasp, the Singhs seemly ran backstage with Truth following suit. Though it wasn’t shown to the live crowd at the time, backstage The Singhs were mauled by Erick Rowan, but since he didn’t have a referee to hand, he was unable to seize on this opportunity to win the title. Nor did Truth, who backed off as soon as he saw big Rowan.
Seth Rollins Promo
The Beast Slayer came out to suggest that he was still somewhat unsure as to what his future would hold, but in the immediate short-term, he wanted to prove that he was the best wrestler in the world and that he wanted to face the best that the UK had to offer. He sort of got his wish, because while the man to answer the challenge is Austrian, he also happens to be the WWE United Kingdom Champion. That would be WALTER, who was accompanied by Imperium, and so this once-unfeasible dream match was on.
Seth Rollins vs. WALTER
Not for the first time on this show (and certainly not the last), this was a fairly shot bout as two very different yet both highly-talented competitors battled one another as best they could, at least until Imperium got involved to cause the disqualification. Cue The Street Profits and Kevin Owens to come to Seth’s aid, setting up an immediate eight-man tag bout between sides representing Raw and NXT UK.
Seth Rollins, The Street Profits & Kevin Owens vs. Imperium
This was the first time that the majority of the usual Raw audience will have seen Imperium, and they did a good job in demonstrating their collective threat, in particular WALTER who at one point launched himself with a huge dropkick that sent Rollins into the turnbuckles. In his first Raw match for a while, Owens got the hot tag to set up the big babyface comeback with plenty of big manoeuvres, resulting in Owens hitting a Stunner and Rollins hitting a Stomp to earn a win for Team Raw. It was later confirmed that these two would join Randy Orton, Ricochet and McIntyre in a mammoth inter-brand match at Survivors. Also of note was Montez Ford pulling the ropes as crazy as The Ultimate Warrior ever did to celebrate the win here.
Cedric Alexander vs. Andrade
Andrade is quietly building himself some momentum, having repeatedly beaten both Rey Mysterio and Sin Cara in recent times. On this night, Cedric Alexander would be his target, and the two put together a fairly good back-and-forth match. The Hammerlock DDT finished off Alexander, giving Andrade another victory, but might this lead to bigger things for him after Survivor Series?
Lana Promo
Next up, we had the latest chapter in the Lana/Rusev/Bobby Lashley storyline. Here, Lana suggested that she was pregnant with Rusev’s baby, which she knew because she was nine weeks along, yet it was only seven weeks since she and Lashley first had sex (she emphasised this several times). Rusev was aghast, yet secretly happy, at this revelation, though he doubted that Lana was being truthful. Cue the Lashley run-in and beatdown as Lana revealed that she was indeed lying. To say that the Manchester fans hated this segment would be an understatement, though I am personally finding this to be hilarious, if not entirely for the reasons that WWE would like.
Erick Rowan vs. Soner Dursen
Rowan haD earlier destroyed The Singhs and then talked into a mysteriously-placed camera. This led to a short squash win for Rowan against Dursen, who you may know about TNT Extreme Wrestling. Rowan brought out a fairly big straw bag, the contents of which were not revealed.
The Viking Raiders vs. Flash Morgan Webster & Mark Andrews
This could easily have been another easy win, but instead the Brits from NXT UK put on a strong showing against the usually-unstoppable Erik and Ivar. There were several high spots here, as it proved to be a good mix of size and agility. The Viking’s triumphed of course with the Viking Experience, but while this was likely a one-off appearance on Raw for Webster and Andrews, they definitely made the most of it.
Randy Orton, Ricochet & Humberto Carrillo vs. The O.C.
In the main event, Randy Orton seemingly turned babyface (after an earlier backstage segment where he confronted AJ Styles as he, Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson were bullying Carrillo and Ricochet) by teaming up with two of Raw’s most promising young stars against The O.C. This was a slow-paced match for much of its duration, which tested the patience of fans in the Manchester Arena, but not enough to prevent them from reacting when Orton finally tagged in and cleared house. In the end, he teased an RKO on Ricochet, only to hit one on AJ, who then took a moonsault to allow Humberto to get the pin. Afterwards, Orton again teased hitting Ricochet with an RKO, which suggests that he may not be a completely-turned babyface just yet.
This was a fairly average episode of WWE Raw. There were some fun moments but not necessarily any standout matches, though it had logical booking and some good showcases of younger talent for the most part. I’m expecting more to happen next week, given that there is only one more episode to go before Survivor Series.
