IMG Credit: WWE

Main Event
Date: October 8, 2020
Location: Amway Center, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Tom Phillips, Byron Saxton

We’re back to a normal Main Event here and hopefully they have figured out what the new normal is going to be. The show has been offering something new in the way of having some bigger, or at least fresher, names and that is a very good thing. You can see some of the same names over and over around here, so it’s nice to get some fresh blood in there. Let’s get to it.

Here are last week’s results if you need a recap.

Opening sequence.

Billie Kay vs. Peyton Royce

Remember when these two were seemingly setting up for a big showdown feud? They lock up in the corner to start but neither can hit a hiptoss. Royce gets in a faceplant but Peyton flips over her back and hits a dropkick, allowing her to strike her pose. Billie takes her straight back down and we hit the chinlock. A running forearm gives Billie two more and the chinlock goes on again. Peyton fights up with some forearms and kicks to the chest, followed by a rolling kick to the head. The spinning brainbuster finishes Kay at 5:52.

Rating: D+. I’m not sure what to make of these two and for the life of me I have no idea why WWE split them up. Peyton is rather good but I’m not sure why WWE thought she was ready to be on her own. Throw in that she hasn’t really done anything without Billie around and it makes even less sense, which is why it’s perfect for WWE.

Quick look at Roman Reigns destroying Jey Uso.

From Smackdown.

Here are Heyman and Reigns for Reigns to be officially crowned Tribal Chief. Heyman, sounding shaken, says it’s time for the crowning, but Reigns says he wants to hear Jey Uso acknowledge him. Cue Jey to say he doesn’t know Reigns, who showed his true colors on Sunday. Jey did as well though, because Reigns beat him up. Reigns won’t break his spirit though, and if Jimmy didn’t throw in the towel, Jey would be champion.

Reigns says if Jey wasn’t proud of what he did, Clash was the worst night of his career, both professionally and personally. That’s not what he wanted to do going into that match because he was trying to help Jey. All he wanted to do was put his name in the main event for once. He loves Jey more than Jimmy does and all Jey had to do was acknowledge him as the Tribal Chief.

All he wanted was to represent the family to the fullest, but Jey disrespected him. Jey broke his heart and even now, Jey can’t look him in his eyes. If Jey wants another shot, sure he can have it. We’ll do it at Hell In A Cell, but it will have the highest stakes in WWE history. Reigns hugs him and whispers something in his ear that the microphone doesn’t entirely pick up and walks off with Heyman.

Jey cuts him off though and says whatever the stakes are, Reigns is on. Cole implies that the match is going to be inside the Cell but neither Jey nor Reigns said that. With Reigns and Heyman gone, here is AJ Styles to say it doesn’t matter who gets the most chicken bones at the end of the table. AJ says Jimmy is the better athlete anyway and Jey is just the runt. Jey knocks him outside and hits a dive off the announcers’ table.

We look back at Seth Rollins continuing to meddle in the Mysterios’ lives.

From Raw.

Here is Seth Rollins to receive Murphy’s apology. Cue Murphy, who isn’t exactly looking happy. Rollins wants Murphy to get on with it already and gets all the more frustrated when Murphy says nothing. He even grabs Murphy by the beard, shouting that he made Murphy what he is. Murphy charges at him and the fight is on with the two of them heading outside.

Rollins whips out the kendo stick but Murphy drives him into the barricade and gets in some swings of his own. They get inside with Rollins begging off and getting beaten up even more. Rollins calls for Aaliyah to come out here and then apologizes after another stick to the head. Murphy begs off so Rollins goes for the eye and gets in his own stick shots. It’s chair time but here’s Aaliyah to cover Murphy. The Mysterios run out to chase Rollins off and we see Rollins watching from the back. Dominik tries to talk Aaliyah out of this because of everything he has done.

Murphy storms off on his own.

Video on Bayley vs. Sasha Banks.

Akira Tozawa vs. Andrade

Tozawa goes with the spinning kicks to the air to start as Andrade just kind of stands there. Andrade takes it to the mat with a headlock and then goes with a standing version instead. Tozawa sends him outside but gets tripped up on the apron to send us to a break. Back with Tozawa needing the rope to escape a chinlock. That’s really not a good sign for his future prospects.

Andrade sends him into the corner and we hit the chinlock again. A kick to the ribs connects and indeed it’s ANOTHER chinlock. Tozawa finally fights up and reverses a belly to back suplex into a crossbody. A hurricanrana into the Shining Wizard has Andrade in trouble but he cuts off the strike rush. Andrade’s German suplex is countered into a victory roll for two but Andrade is back with a Judas Effect. The hammerlock DDT finishes Tozawa at 8:01.

Rating: D-. Oh man this was a rough one to watch as Andrade clearly was not interested in doing anything here. Tozawa was doing what he could but you can’t get very far when the other guy is not giving even the slightest hint of effort. This was a really bad match, and that’s all due to the lack of effort on one side.

From Raw.

Randy Orton is in the back where he talks about how he could have left Clash Of Champions as WWE Champion. Instead, he left in an ambulance. He remembers a little bit about the match, which included Big Show, Christian and Shawn Michaels all interfering and Ric Flair driving the ambulance away. All Orton felt was excruciating pain and then the next night, Drew McIntyre stood in front of the four of them and celebrated.

That sight made him sick and then the four of them played poker all night. It was too much for Orton, so he turned out the lights, grabbed some night vision goggles, and beat all of them down. Orton talks about how all four of them looked lost and how he attacked them, including chair shots and a Punt to Shawn Michaels. He wishes he could have seen Drew’s face when he heard what happened. McIntyre still has to deal with Orton, so let’s do it in the Cell. McIntyre bursts in and beats Orton down until agents and referees break it up. Kind of a long way to get to the obvious but it was a little bit of a different presentation.

From later in Raw.

Drew McIntyre/Street Profits vs. Robert Roode/Dolph Ziggler/Randy Orton

The good guys waste no time in cleaning house and we take a break. Back with Dawkins diving over for the hot tag to Ford so the pace can pick up in a hurry. Ford’s standing moonsault gets and it’s off to Roode, who scores with the spinebuster for two. Orton pulls Ford outside and drops him hard onto the announcers’ table. Back in and Orton slowly hammers away but stops to mock McIntyre, allowing Ford to score with a DDT. The double tag brings in McIntyre and Ziggler, with Drew launching him into the corner.

That’s enough for Ziggler though as McIntyre pulls Orton in to start the brawl. Roode and Ziggler make the save and everything breaks down. Dawkins’ Anointment is countered into a DDT though and he winds up right in front of Orton. The hanging DDT plants Dawkins but he’s right back with the Anointment into the Cash Out with Roode and Ziggler diving in for the save. McIntyre tags himself in as Ziggler hits the Fameasser on Ford. The Claymore puts Ziggler on the floor and there’s another to Roode. Orton is back up though and the RKO finishes McIntyre at 10:14.

Rating: C+. They kept the pace up here and I can go for putting off the announcement of Roode and Ziggler getting a title shot for as long as I can. Pinning the champ to build up towards a title match is a good idea and something that has worked for the better part of ever. Go with something that works and keep Ziggler away from any title at the same time. That’s certainly a nice way to end the show, even if we’ve seen it before.

Overall Rating: D+. The original stuff dragged down everything else they were doing as there isn’t much you can get out of scheduling a pretty obvious pair of Cell matches, both of which we just saw at the last pay per view. Not much to see here, but your expectations should be pretty low coming in for the most part anyway. It helps to bring in some bigger names, but can we make it not Andrade next time?

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the paperback edition of KB’s Complete 2004 Monday Night Raw Reviews (also available as an e-book) from Amazon. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2019/08/26/new-book-and-e-book-kbs-complete-2004-monday-night-raw-reviews/

And check out my Amazon author page with cheap wrestling books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

IMG Credit: WWE

Monday Night Raw
Date: September 28, 2020
Location: Amway Center, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Tom Phillips, Samoa Joe, Byron Saxton

Clash Of Champions has come and gone and we are on the way to the Cell. That could mean a few different directions, though Orton vs. McIntyre III would seem to be in the cards. At the same time though, the Draft is looming and that means we could be in for a big shakeup in the next few weeks. Hopefully we don’t have a big lull for the next few weeks on the way there. Let’s get to it.

Here are last week’s results if you need a recap.

Here are Ric Flair, Big Show, Christian and Shawn Michaels to get things going. Shawn welcomes us to the show and introduces Drew McIntyre for the big congratulations. Drew talks about knowing all of these people for years, including how they all guided him as far as he has gotten. Drew tells a story of Flair being on the active roster when he first arrived in American (Drew: “Before somebody retired you.”). He couldn’t believe he was on the main roster as Ric Flair and it was one of the coolest things he had ever seen.

Then last night he defeated Randy Orton and is he is still WWE Champion. Shawn talks about how they’re all here to congratulate him and he hopes that Drew isn’t mad about that. If he is mad, it was all Ric’s fault. Drew is cool with them….and here’s Orton on the Titantron. Orton says this is over when he says it is, so Drew knows he is going to beg for another match.

Orton says he won’t have to beg because he is Randy Orton and will get another title shot. He’s here today to say there is a price to pay when you cross the Legend Killer. Orton walks over to….get his bag and leaves. Drew wants to be a fighting champion so tonight, anyone who has never gotten a shot against him can get a title match. Somebody please step up.

We recap Asuka beating Zelina Vega to retain the Raw Women’s Title, followed by Vega attacking her after the match.

Vega says she is ready but here’s Asuka to yell at her. They have to be held apart.

Raw Women’s Title: Asuka vs. Zelina Vega

Asuka is defending and mouths the Big Match Intros for a nice touch. Vega fights out of an armbar to start and grabs an Octopus on the mat. They head outside with Asuka knocking her down as we take a break. Back with Vega grabbing an armbar and making Asuka hold her up at the same time. Asuka muscles her over with a suplex for the break and tries the Asuka Lock, sending Vega straight to the ropes. A Backstabber gives Vega a quick two but her moonsault only hits knees. Asuka is right back with the Asuka Lock to retain at 8:38.

Rating: C. Nothing close to their match last night but that is usually the case with the post pay per view rematches. They really didn’t need to do a rematch in the first place as Vega got a lot out of last night’s match. This was a downgrade, though it wasn’t terrible by any means. It just didn’t need to happen, but why go with what makes sense when you can just do the same thing?

The legends are still here and a poker game has broken out.

Post break Andrade is in the ring to yell at Zelina Vega for being nothing without him. Vega leaves and Andrade starts ranting about how he was holding the team together last night before Angel Garza got hurt. He is the best in the company and it’s open challenge time.

Andrade vs. Keith Lee

Lee shoves him around to start but Andrade slips away. Some arm cranking has Andrade in more trouble but he goes for the knee to slow Lee down. The running knees in the corner connect but Lee is right back with the Spirit Bomb for the pin at 2:53. Presenting the Spirit Bomb (or hopefully the Big Bang Catastrophe as well) as this sudden freight train that no one can handle is a good way to go and something that could work out well.

Earlier today, the Hurt Business was in catering when a random guy came and took Bobby Lashley’s seat. Lashley showed up and the guy moved over, but that was still Lashley’s seat. Some glaring got rid of the guy, but Lashley had him leave his food anyway. MVP looks a little confused but they all start laughing.

We look back at Akira Tozawa being eaten by a shark.

R-Truth is playing chess with Little Jimmy but here’s a Ninja with a letter for him. It’s in Japanese, but the Ninja provides an English version as well. The letter says that if Truth is readying this, Tozawa has been eaten by a shark. Their battles were epic though and now that he is gone, Truth needs to have this. It’s Tozawa’s black belt, leaving truth to wonder why Tozawa had to be devoured. Tozawa pops out from under a table and wins the title. The Ninja jumps Tozawa though and steals the title, revealing himself as Drew Gulak. Truth hits him in the head and steals it right back.

We look back at the Seth Rollins/Mysterio Family genetics drama last week.

Seth Rollins comes up to Murphy in the back and mentions that the Mysterios will be on the King’s Court tonight. Murphy is in his gear though and Rollins doesn’t like it. Rollins had a suit ready for him and says go put it on, which Murphy begrudgingly does. With Murphy gone, Rollins steals Murphy’s phone and pockets it.

It’s time for the King’s Court with Jerry Lawler bringing out the Mysterio Family. Rey and Dominik want to finish things with Rollins and Murphy but Lawler asks about Murphy talking to Aaliyah last week. She says she’s 19 years old and Murphy talked to her. What she does know is that someone who associates with Rollins needs to evaluate things because he is evil.

Rollins pops up on screen to say he needs to tell them the truth. The truth is that one of them isn’t being 100% honest with the rest of the family. The truth is that Aaliyah might not be telling the truth about Murphy. Rollins shows us a screenshot from Murphy’s phone of Murphy and Aaliyah texting each other.

Murphy apologizes again and Aaliyah seems interested in his offer to spend some time together, even wishing him a happy birthday. Back in the arena, Aaliyah says Murphy isn’t like Rollins and leaves, with Rey and Angie following her. Murphy comes up to Rollins in the back and grabs him by the shirt as Rollins laughs. Dominik runs up and jumps Murphy until agents break it up. The soap opera drama isn’t making up for the fact that this story has been going on for almost five months.

Here are Lana and Natalya to say that they want the Women’s Tag Team Titles because Shayna Baszler and Nia Jax can’t defend them. Adam Pearce comes out and makes a tag match for right now.

Mandy Rose/Dana Brooke vs. Lana/Natalya

Natalya headlocks Dana to start but Dana fights up and hits the handspring elbow in the corner. A cartwheel kick to the face gets two on Natalya but Lana comes in off a blind tag for her own kick to Dana’s face. Lana grabs the chinlock for a bit until Dana fights up and brings Mandy back in. A faceplant gets two on Lana and a jumping knee finishes her off at 3:10.

Rating: D. Yeah this didn’t work and I’m not exactly surprised. These four are not the ones you need out there to make a match work and that was the case here again. Lana, Brooke and Mandy are not exactly polished in the ring and Natalya is hardly the most popular star. This was almost never going to work and it really didn’t here.

We look back at Aleister Black attacking Kevin Owens last week.

Black thought Owens was a good man but Black isn’t buying Owens saying one thing and having everyone change their thoughts on him. Owens has a history of betraying people and at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter how many people forget and forgive. The eye patch comes off and Black says he will not forget.

The legends are playing poker when the Street Profits come in to join the party.

Kevin Owens vs. Aleister Black

Black has lost the rising board entrance and now has music with a voiceover at the beginning. Owens jumps him to start and the fight heads outside with Black being driven into various things. Black comes back with some strikes of his own, only to get hit in the face. A clothesline takes him down again and the backsplash crushes Black again.

Black is suplexes down again and rolls out to the floor, with Owens hitting a Swanton off the apron. We take a break and come back with Black kicking Owens between the shoulders and adding a running kick to the chest for two. The front facelock keeps Owens in trouble for a bit and a big kick to the head gives Black two more.

Owens gets in a hard shot for his own two but gets sat on top. Black’s superplex attempt is blocked and shoved away but the Swanton hits knees. Black nails a jumping knee to the face for some near falls but the referee yells at Black for attacking on the ropes. Owens slugs back but Black unloads, accidentally hitting the referee in the process for the DQ at 13:18.

Rating: C. This wasn’t the most thrilling stuff after the break and I’m not exactly looking forward to what we are going to be seeing with Black’s latest moodiness. He was getting somewhere with the face run and the longer matches, but this was a bunch of kicks and a chinlock until we got to the finish. Black worked a lot better as a face, but for now we’re stuck getting through this.

Post match Owens gives Black a Stunner.

Mustafa Ali runs into the Hurt Business, who isn’t pleased. They hit him in the face but here are Apollo Crews and Ricochet to say they’ll see them tonight.

24/7 Title: R-Truth vs. Drew Gulak vs. Akira Tozawa

Truth is defending and gets double teamed to start, but Gulak and Tozawa fight over who gets to go for the cover. With that argument out of the way, we hit a double arm crank until Gulak throws Tozawa outside (bumping into the referee in the process). The Gulock has Truth in trouble until Tozawa makes the save. A sitout gordbuster hits Tozawa and Gulak gets AA’d onto Tozawa to retain Truth’s title at 4:17.

Rating: D+. This was a weird situation as they just had a match instead of doing any wacky shenanigans. That being said, it was kind of a downgrade to not have the goofiness as it left them with a run of the mill triple threat. It wasn’t terrible or anything, but this was about five minutes that just came and went.

Dana Brooke and Mandy Rose are coming for the Women’s Tag Team Titles. Also, Dana sees Mandy as an inspiration. I’d ask how but that might just make things worse.

Dominik Mysterio vs. Murphy

Dominik starts fast and hammers away in the corner before they go outside. Murphy sends him over the announcers’ table for a nine count but Dominik is back in with a high crossbody. Some shots to the face have Murphy in trouble until he scores with a pump knee to the face. Dominick is back with a tornado DDT and some stomps in the corner send Murphy outside. It’s kendo stick time but here’s Aaliyah to say don’t do it. The distraction lets Murphy roll Dominik up for the pin with tights at 7:13.

Rating: C-. This is a situation where the wrestling doesn’t matter. The problem here is how this story has dragged on for months and they just keep finding ways to extend it. Dominik and the rest of the family aren’t interesting but we’ve had so much between Rey and Rollins that it can’t be done any more. The match was fine, but I can’t bring myself to care about anything involved.

Post match Dominik unloads with the kendo stick but Aaliyah tells him to stop. Dominik says this is for the family but Aaliyah says Murphy isn’t like Rollins. Dominik says she really is naive and she slaps him in the face.

Dolph Ziggler talks to Adam Pearce about his idea for the open challenge. It’s going to be Robert Roode isn’t it?

Here’s the Hurt Business, minus Cedric Alexander, for their six man. Before the match, MVP says Cedric Alexander messed up last week so he’s off at Hurt Business Boot Camp to avoid future mistakes. As for Apollo Crews, he is the definition of insanity as he keeps trying to take on the Hurt Business and gets dropped over and over. It happened at Payback, it happened at Clash of Champions and it is going to happen again tonight.

Hurt Business vs. Ricochet/Apollo Crews/Mustafa Ali

Ricochet and company jump the Hurt Business before the bell and the brawl is on outside. Hold on though as the lights flicker and Retribution’s logo pops up everywhere. We take a break and come back with the match in progress and Benjamin grabbing a chinlock on Crews. MVP comes in but misses the running boot in the corner, only to have Lashley break up the tag attempt. Crews hits a German suplex and frog crossbody to MVP though, allowing the hot tag to Ricochet.

The pace picks up in a hurry but Ricochet has to bail out of the Phoenix splash, allowing MVP to kick him in the face. The Playmaker is countered though and Ricochet hits his own kick to MVP’s face. It’s off to Ali to pick up the pace, including a running neckbreaker for two. Lashley pulls Ali to the floor where Crews makes a save with a moonsault off the apron. Back in and Ali hits most of his tornado DDT (thankfully commentary doesn’t act like it was hit perfectly), setting up the 450 for the pin at 5:23 shown.

Rating: C. This was more of the same feud that we’ve seen from everyone involved and I can take that over a lot of the other things that we have seen on the show. The Hurt Business seems ready to move on but with Retribution in quarantine, there is only so much that they can do. Granted having them lose isn’t the most logical move, but I can go for Ali getting another win.

Ric Flair keeps winning at poker.

Bianca Belair outruns a bunch of other people because she’s the fastest.

Video on Retribution.

Here’s Drew McIntyre for the Open Challenge for a title shot. No one comes out at first so McIntyre asks how Charles Robinson’s day is going. Cue Dolph Ziggler though and we have an opponent.

Raw World Title: Drew McIntyre vs. Robert Roode

Roode is challenging and rakes Drew’s damaged back to put the champ in early trouble. They’re out on the floor in a hurry though, with Drew hitting the reverse Alabama Slam onto the apron as we take an early break. Back with Roode knocking McIntyre into the Tree of Woe, only to have McIntyre sit up for the choke throw off the top. Ziggler offers a distraction though and Roode goes after the leg to take over.

The leg is wrapped around the post and then dropped onto the announcers’ table. Back in and Roode hits a top rope clothesline for two, followed by the Figure Four in the middle of the ring. McIntyre turns it over to send Roode bailing to the ropes for the break and they both need a breather.

It’s McIntyre back up first with the Glasgow Kiss into the overhead belly to belly suplexes. There’s the nip up but McIntyre’s knee gives out. Roode’s spinebuster gets two and McIntyre’s Futureshock gets the same. McIntyre takes Roode out but walks into the Glorious DDT for two more. That’s enough for McIntyre as he hits the Claymore to retain at 12:38.

Rating: B-. Perfectly nice main event here with a bit of drama before McIntyre retained. Roode is someone who may not have the most varied offense but he does everything rather well, which is a style that is going to make anyone look good. I liked the match well enough, even though the challenger was pretty obvious.

We cut to the back where Randy Orton, dressed as a janitor, goes into to the Legends’ Lounge (yes it has its own sign), whips out some night vision goggles, turns out the lights, and apparently nearly massacres everyone with a chair. Orton leaves, throws his hood up, and points referees and trainers to the room to end the show. So….it’s pretty much the same way they set up Summerslam but now it’s the third match in the trilogy and it’s going to be in the Cell?

Overall Rating: C-. The wrestling was passable enough tonight and they have set up a few things for the future, but there was a lot of warmed over leftovers on this show and it made the show feel long. Asuka vs. Vega II, R-Truth still doing his wacky 24/7 stuff, MORE Mysterios vs. Rollins/Murphy, the Hurt Business vs. Ricochet N Pals and a spinoff of McIntyre vs. Ziggler to set up McIntyre vs. Orton III. That isn’t quite inspiring stuff and while a lot of what we had here was fine, it wasn’t exactly fun to watch. Oh and there is an open challenge for the World Title and Keith Lee chose to face Andrade. How bright of him.

Results

Asuka b. Zelina Vega – Asuka Lock

Keith Lee b. Andrade – Spirit Bomb

Dana Brooke/Mandy Rose b. Lana/Natalya – Jumping knee to Lana

Kevin Owens b. Aleister Black via DQ when Black hit the referee

R-Truth b. Drew Gulak and Akira Tozawa – Gulak was AA’d onto Tozawa

Murphy b. Dominik Mysterio – Rollup with tights

Mustafa Ali/Ricochet/Apollo Crews b. Hurt Business – 450 to MVP

Drew McIntyre b. Robert Roode – Claymore

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the paperback edition of KB’s Complete 2004 Monday Night Raw Reviews (also available as an e-book) from Amazon. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2019/08/26/new-book-and-e-book-kbs-complete-2004-monday-night-raw-reviews/

And check out my Amazon author page with cheap wrestling books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

IMG Credit: WWE

Clash Of Champions 2020
Date: September 27, 2020
Location: Amway Center, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Michael Cole, Corey Graves, Tom Phillips, Byron Saxton, Samoa Joe

We’re back to the show that is all about titles, which should be the majority of shows but this one is special due to reasons of they need a theme. The big story at the last minute is two matches being changed for reasons that aren’t entirely clear but virus issues seem like a strong possibility. Let’s get to it.

Kickoff Show: Smackdown Tag Team Titles: Lucha House Party vs. Cesaro/Shinsuke Nakamura

Nakamura, now sleeveless, and Cesaro are defending and it’s Kalisto/Lince Dorado for the House Party. Cesaro takes Dorado down to start and then drops him with a single shot to the face. Back up and Dorado sends him into the corner for a knee to the face and the back to back splashes get two on Cesaro. Kalisto spins into a sleeper on Cesaro but it’s broken up in a hurry. Dorado comes in with a missile dropkick to knock Cesaro into the corner for the tag off to Nakamura as things slow down a bit.

Nakamura kicks him to the floor and then kicks him down back inside, followed by Good Vibrations in the corner. A knee to the chest gets two on Dorado and it’s back to Cesaro for a forearm to the face. Dorado manages a sunset bomb for two of his own, earning himself a big boot from Cesaro. Back up again and Dorado manages to kick Nakamura down, setting up the high crossbody for the breather.

Kalisto…is not tagged in as Cesaro knocks him off the apron. Some more knees in the corner have Dorado in trouble but he rolls over for the hot tag off to Kalisto. Everything breaks down and Kalisto hits a DDT for two on Cesaro. They all head outside with a double superkick dropping Nakamura. Back inside and a pair of moonsaults get two on Cesaro but Nakamura pulls Dorado outside. The reverse exploder sends Dorado over the barricade, leaving Kalisto to be swung into the knee from Nakamura to retain at 10:45.

Rating: C. This started slowly but picked up a lot of steam near the end. I was expecting some kind of an angle with the House Party but thankfully they kept it simple here and had the champs retain as they should. It wasn’t anything special, but it would have gotten a live crowd into the show, which is all you can ask for.

John Cena narrates the opening video, talking about how hard it is to become a champion but then how it is even harder when you realize that some people have trained just as hard as you have. We then shift into a regular hype video on the main events.

Intercontinental Title: AJ Styles vs. Jeff Hardy vs. Sami Zayn

Hardy is defending in a ladder match with both titles above the ring. We get a classic ladder match moment from all three during the entrances for a nice bonus. The bell rings and Sami informs them that his belt shouldn’t be up there, earning himself a shot to the face. It’s Jeff going for the ladder first but AJ baseball slides it into his ribs. Sami follows with an Arabian moonsault to AJ and it’s time to throw a ladder inside. Hardy is right there to backdrops Sami into the ladder against the ropes and then turns the ladder upside down.

Jeff dives at AJ but only hits the ladder in a bump he shouldn’t be taking. AJ whips Sami hard into the ladder in the corner, leaving AJ as the only person standing. That means AJ can go climbing but he has to come back down for a Pele on Sami (whose back is looking HORRIBLE early on). Jeff goes up to catch him but gets knocked down HARD, only to pop back up to pull AJ down again.

Everyone is down until Sami suplexes AJ into the ladder in the corner. They all head outside with AJ getting the better of things until he misses a charge into the barricade. Jeff hits Poetry In Motion to AJ against the barricade, only to get caught with Sami’s Helluva Kick. Sami goes up so AJ chucks a mini ladder at him, possibly breaking Sami’s hand in the process. Hardy and Styles go up but the ladder tips over into the corner, with Sami wisely covering up and having the ladder only graze his knees.

Sami goes up so AJ tries the Phenomenal Forearm but Jeff shoves the ladder over to knock AJ out of the air. Jeff hits a Twist of Fate on Sami and goes up but Sami is there to grab the ladder. The ladder is tipped over so Jeff starts crawling over the top, leaving him upside down on the end that is going into the air. The ladder goes over the ropes and Jeff crashes down to the floor in another very nasty landing. Sami bridges the ladder between the ring and the announcers’ table but AJ hits the moonsault reverse DDT to take him down.

Sami is put across the ladder and Hardy hits AJ in the face with another ladder. Jeff climbs a big ladder and Swantons through Sami through the ladder for your crazy spot of the match. Cole says this is part of Jeff’s redemption year but Graves asks what good is a redemption year if you can’t get out of bed.

AJ goes up but Hardy turns the ladder over for the next big crash. The THIS IS AWESOME crowd noise is pumped in as Sami sends Jeff into the barricade a few times. With everything else not working, Sami whips out some handcuffs…and attaches Jeff’s EAR to the ladder. Sami isn’t done though and tries to handcuff AJ to the ropes but AJ fights up in time.

Somewhere in there Sami handcuffed himself to AJ though, leaving AJ to hammer away as he realizes what just happened. AJ loads Sami up in a fireman’s carry and climbs the ladder as Jeff, still earcuffed to the other ladder, is back in. Sami has a key and unhooks himself as Jeff rams a ladder into AJ. That means AJ can be cuffed to the ladder hinges, leaving Sami to climb up and win the titles at 26:42.

Rating: B. The handcuffs deal was creative and there were some big spots with a surprise ending, but at the same time I can’t quite feel right when you have people taking a bunch of bumps that they really don’t need to be taking. Jeff is a human wreck and now he’s doing these things that are just going to bang him up even more. I know he’s ok with them, but that doesn’t mean it’s a good idea. This got hard to watch at times, but they didn’t have Jeff rip his ear off to win or something so….that’s a positive?

Post match Sami says he didn’t recapture anything because he is AND STILL Intercontinental Champion.

On the Kickoff Show, R-Truth, in a wig and hat, was panning for more gold because it’s a gold rush.

R-Truth, still in disguise, comes into the referee’s room and yells at Little Jimmy for giving them away. Drew Gulak sneaks in to win the title and runs off.

We get a clip from Jey Uso’s WWE Network Chronicle.

Raw Women’s Title: Asuka vs. Zelina Vega

Asuka is defending and takes her down with ease to start. A test of strength is teased but Asuka dances away as only she can. Vega gets creative by going after the arm, only to get headlocked for her efforts. An armdrag attempt doesn’t work whatsoever as Asuka reverses into a cross armbreaker. That sends Vega bailing to the ropes and she pulls Asuka down by the arm for a change.

Again Asuka is out of it in a hurry, this time with a hip attack to send Vega outside. Asuka gets pulled bad arm first into the steps though and an arm wringer gives Vega two back inside. The armbar goes on and Vega even flips forward to crank on the arm even more. Vega tries her own cross armbreaker but Asuka switches into a failed Asuka Lock attempt. That sends Vega to the apron, where she avoids another hip attack.

Back in and Vega snaps off a hurricanrana, setting up some running knees in the corner for two (Joe: “THAT WAS CLOSE! THAT WAS CLOSE!”). The Backstabber is blocked so Vega rolls over to kick her in the head for two more. Asuka has had it and tries the Asuka Lock but Vega reverses into a victory roll for two. Another rollup is countered into the Asuka Lock to retain the title at 7:08.

Rating: B-. This was WAY better than it had any right to be with Vega showing off a lot more than she usually gets to do in the ring. Vega took her time to start in on the arm and had Asuka in some trouble before getting beaten. Asuka gave her a lot here and this was a heck of a surprise. Nice job to both of them.

Post match Asuka calls Vega a firecracker and offers respect so Vega bows. Asuka bows back but Vega kicks her in the ribs, sending Asuka into her crazed screams as Vega bails.

US Title: Bobby Lashley vs. Apollo Crews

Lashley, is defending in a rematch from Payback where he took the title from Crews. MVP and Ricochet are here as bonuses. Lashley starts with the power but gets knocked to the floor, setting up a moonsault from the apron. Back in and Lashley runs him over, meaning it’s time for the beating in the corner. MVP yells from the floor, asking if Crews is feeling the hurt and if they are in business. A suplex gives Lashley two and MVP starts more trash talk.

Crews gets in a shot of his own though and hits a running elbow against the ropes. A dive to the floor takes Lashley down again and Crews hits the gorilla press into the standing moonsault for two back inside. Lashley is right back with a superplex for two of his own but the spinning Dominator is countered. Crews hits the standing shooting star into a frog splash for another near fall. Back up and Lashley hits the big spinebuster into the Hurt Lock for the tap to retain at 8:14.

Rating: C+. Another match where they were cranking up the energy before the right decision. There was little reason to have Lashley drop the title here as the Hurt Business seems to be moving on towards a bigger feud with Retribution. I liked what we got here though and that’s a nice thing to say about a match that didn’t feel like much coming in.

Raw Tag Team Titles: Andrade/Angel Garza vs. Street Profits

The Profits are defending. Andrade cranks on Dawkins’ arm to start but it’s quickly off to Ford. Garza grabs Andrade from the apron to cut Ford off, meaning Garza can TAKE OFF HIS PANTS. A running kick to the face gets two on Ford as Joe is VERY impressed by Garza and Andrade’s teamwork. Ford fights his way up with a belly to back suplex and the hot tag brings in Dawkins to clean house. Garza gets splashed in the corner but Andrade cuts Dawkins off with a dropkick.

A blind tag brings in Garza, meaning he can break up the Cash Out. Ford and Garza go up top with a super Spanish Fly giving Garza his own two. The running knees in the corner give Andrade two more but a jumping enziguri gets Ford out of trouble. The hot tag bring sin Dawkins for the spinebuster (now the Anointment) to Andrade…for the pin at 8:17. Andrade’s shoulder was WAY up at two and no one seemed to expect that as the finish.

Rating: C. Let me guess: that means we get ANOTHER match between these guys. The fact that there just aren’t any more teams available to challenge for the titles should tell you a lot about what the titles mean at this point. The Profits don’t need the belts at this point so find someone new to lose the titles to already.

Drew Gulak talks about always being prepared and gets jumped by R-Truth, who wins the title back.

Here’s Bayley with the chair to laugh about Nikki Cross not being here, even though she would have lost anyway. It’s open challenge time.

Smackdown Women’s Title: Asuka vs. Bayley

Only Bayley is defending as Asuka suplexes her down to start. It’s too early for the Asuka Lock as Bayley makes the rope and grabs her own belly to back suplex. Bayley yells at Cole for saying her name and then dives into a Codebreaker. They head outside with Asuka hitting another German suplex but Bayley hits her with the chair for the DQ at 3:38.

Rating: D+. Yeah that’s fine. I’m not sure what else they could have done here as Asuka was a safe pick to make people’s eyes go up at the possibility of a title change before doing the quick DQ to get Bayley out of there. They were in a bad place with Cross’ condition so this was as good of an idea as they could have gone with at the moment.

Post match here’s Sasha Banks in a neck brace to jump Bayley. A kick sends Banks away but Bayley spends too long setting up a chair, allowing Banks to get in some kendo stick shots. A scared looking Bayley runs off.

We recap Drew McIntyre vs. Randy Orton for the Raw World Title. McIntyre escaped with a win at Summerslam but Orton kicked him in the head three times. McIntyre did the same to him, meaning they were even on putting the other in an ambulance. Therefore, it was time for an ambulance match for the title.

Raw World Title: Drew McIntyre vs. Randy Orton

Drew is defending and you win by putting your opponent in an ambulance. They slug it out to start but Orton kicks the rope for a low blow. There’s the hanging DDT to plant the champ and it’s time for the Punt….but Big Show of all people shows up to grab Orton’s leg. The chokeslam sends Orton through the announcers’ table and Show leaves. McIntyre drops Orton face first onto the barricade and it’s time to head up to the ambulance.

For some reason there are crutches and chairs inside (the chair even has a red cross) but McIntyre takes too long and gets crutched in the ribs. Orton drives the chair into McIntyre’s bad jaw before trying to put him inside. McIntyre fights out in a hurry though, meaning it’s time to fight around to the side of the ambulance. The driver’s side door is opened up but McIntyre blasts him with the Glasgow Kiss. The Claymore only hits the door, sending it flying off the hinges.

They fight backstage and Drew chops him against a wall, only to be sent into another wall for his efforts. It’s time to go to catering next, where Christian jumps Orton and pounds him down next to the tables. With Christian gone, they head back to the ambulance and Orton gets in a rake to the eyes. Orton sends him through the windshield and they wind up on top of the ambulance. A shot to the face puts McIntyre, with his bloody back, down again and Orton knocks him down to the floor to make it worse.

Orton stands on top of the ambulance but it’s Shawn Michaels running in to superkick him down through part of the set. McIntyre picks him up for the toss into the ambulance but Orton slips out and hits the RKO on the floor. That’s enough to put McIntyre inside for one door shut….and then Orton pauses for a bit. McIntyre shoves him away and goes to the eye, setting up the Claymore. That’s not enough though as McIntyre adds his own Punt to finish Orton at 21:33.

Rating: B. I was worried when Big Show got involved but the ending worked out well. If nothing else, at least they didn’t have Ric Flair come out and shockingly side with Orton so at least they’re doing a bit of thinking. Odds are this goes to the Cell though, because winning two matches isn’t enough to end a feud these days. Good stuff here though, with some rare longer form storytelling from WWE.

Post match, Ric Flair drives the ambulance away.

We recap Jey Uso vs. Roman Reigns. It’s a battle of the family, as they are cousins and part of one of the most important wrestling families of all time. Reigns is the big star and Jey wants to know why he can’t be the guy. When someone talks about him, all they ask is which twin is he. Now Jey wants to be the new chief of the tribe and Reigns is not cool with that. Either this same video or a similar version was aired on Smackdown and it is still excellent with a great look at the family.

Smackdown World Title: Jey Uso vs. Roman Reigns

Reigns, now shirtless and with Paul Heyman, is defending. Reigns glares him down and drives it into the corner for another sneer. Uso gets shoved away and says he’s trying to get this too. A jump over Reigns in the corner doesn’t get Jey very far as Reigns shoves him outside. Reigns: “How are you going to be the chief if you can’t even stay on the island?” Back in and the jumping clothesline has Jey down for two and Reigns chokes on the rope. Reigns says Jey should have listened to the tribal chief and it’s time to send Jey outside again.

They trade shots to the face and Jey goes onto the announcers’ table. Reigns says he loves him and they head back inside, with Jey getting in a few shots to the face. A Samoan drop gives Jey two but Reigns is right back with the big Superman Punch. It’s already back to the floor for a slugout with Reigns getting the better of it in a hurry. Back in and Reigns says Jey should have laid down and taken the payday but now he has to take this beating. More hard shots to the face have Jey down again. Reigns: “You’re trying to level up but I live at this level.”

Some corner clotheslines rock Jey again but Reigns runs into a shot to the face. Jey sends him shoulder first into the post and it’s a suicide dive to the floor. The jumping enziguri sends Reigns right back to the floor and it’s another suicide dive to keep the comeback going. Reigns hits a high crossbody into a low superkick for two more and they’re both down. The Superfly Splash doesn’t work and Reigns busts out a Rough Ryder of all things for two more.

The spear is countered into a crucifix for two and it’s a superkick into the Superfly Splash for the big near fall. Reigns seems to have hit him low on the kickout though and the fans find this awesome. The spear cuts Jey in half but Reigns doesn’t cover. Reigns says he isn’t ready yet because Jey brought the chief all the way out. He demands that Jey acknowledge him as the tribal chief so Reigns can end this. Jey says no so Reigns spears him again for no cover. Reigns makes him look into the corner and tell the people who the chief is.

That’s still a no so Heyman shouts that Reigns is his tribal chief. Reigns says he needs to heat it from Uso and unloads on him. The referee tries to break it up so Reigns threatens to knock him out and make him lose his job. Reigns demands Jey acknowledge him and knocks Uso silly with shots to the head. Jey is sent face first into the mat and Reigns hammers at the back of his head.

Cue Jimmy Uso to say he’s throwing in the towel. Reigns says Jimmy can come in and acknowledge him and this will all end. Jey says don’t do it so Reigns pulls him back in and drops hard right hands. Jimmy throws in the towel (even Heyman is telling him to do it) for the stoppage at 22:58.

Rating: A. And that’s your winner for “match that should have been a squash and turned amazing because they played it perfectly”. I absolutely loved this and got sucked into the entire thing, as Jimmy coming out was the perfect way to end it. Reigns looks like the most heartless killer in a long time and it’s going to take something special to get the title off of him. I didn’t quite buy Jey as having even a prayer of a chance, but that’s the biggest criticism I can think of in an outstanding display from everyone involved.

Post match Jimmy holds Jey and says Reigns is the tribal chief if that’s what he wants. Heyman puts the lei that Jey wore around Roman’s neck and looks terrified.

Overall Rating: A-. This was a heck of a show that went WAY beyond what it should have been able to accomplish. The only bad thing was Bayley vs. Asuka, which wasn’t even a scheduled match and didn’t break four minutes. The two big matches over delivered and there were some surprises along the way. If there is a drawback, it would probably be the complete lack of impact this show seemed to have (I had to be reminded that any title changed hands only a few hours into the show) so the Champions part was hardly the most important. Other than that though, heck of a show and one of WWE’s best in a good while.

Results

Sami Zayn b. AJ Styles and Jeff Hardy – Zayn pulled down the titles

Asuka b. Zelina Vega – Asuka Lock

Bobby Lashley b. Apollo Crews – Hurt Lock

Street Profits b. Andrade/Angel Garza – Anointment to Andrade

Asuka b. Bayley via DQ when Bayley used a chair

Drew McIntyre b. Randy Orton – McIntyre put Orton in an ambulance

Roman Reigns b. Jey Uso – Jimmy Uso threw in the towel

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the paperback edition of KB’s Complete 2004 Monday Night Raw Reviews (also available as an e-book) from Amazon. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2019/08/26/new-book-and-e-book-kbs-complete-2004-monday-night-raw-reviews/

And check out my Amazon author page with cheap wrestling books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

IMG Credit: WWE

WWE runs a show like this every year and every year I try to figure out if it makes sense to have a show built entirely around titles. On one hand it is about as easy of an idea as you can have for a pay per view, but at the same time, aren’t most shows built around title matches? Either way I’m not driving six hours one way for a middle of the road pay per view this year so things are looking up. Let’s get to it.

Kickoff Show: Raw Women’s Title: Asuka(c) vs. Zelina Vega

This one was thrown together pretty recently but WWE did something smart to help set it up: they gave Vega a clean win over Mickie James. It is no secret that Vega does not have the most polish in the ring, but she has enough to get by. Now though, she has beaten someone with an established resume and that should give her enough to be a decent enough challenger to Asuka.

Now that being said, there is no reason to believe that Vega has even the tiniest prayer here so it’s Asuka retaining in a walk. Asuka is someone who could be champion for a good while to come as it’s not like there is any major credible challenger on her horizon. Let her beat Vega here and maybe again in a rematch on Monday Night Raw while we wait and see who else WWE can find for her. For now though, Asuka wins and does so with ease.

Raw Tag Team Titles: Street Profits(c) vs. Andrade/Angel Garza

Sweet goodness it feels like we have been here quite a few times now. This is one of those matches that WWE seems to want to run at multiple pay per views and that is what we have seen so far. The Street Profits have held the titles for a LONG time (at least for these titles) and they have beaten Garza and Andrade several times as champions. That should mean something, but I’m not sure if it does.

For probably the third time in a row, I’ll take Andrade and Garza to win the titles. We’re kind of at the point where they have to or there is nothing left for them to do as a team. We’ve kind of been here for months now and until they actually win the belts, the team might as well be on a treadmill. We are way past the point where the Street Profits need to prove themselves and they will probably get the titles back later, but for now, we need new champions.

Smackdown Women’s Title: Bayley(c) vs. Nikki Cross

Speaking of long reigning champions and matches we’ve seen before, we have this one, with Bayley continuing her practically 500 day reign as champion against Cross, who Bayley seems to have beaten about half a dozen times already. The idea here is that Bayley is vulnerable without Sasha Banks in her corner, but the only thing that I can think of from that concept is “….oh come on.”

Of course Bayley retains here, because the ONLY thing that this should be setting up is the mother of all showdowns for Bayley and Banks. You could put that one in the Cell, but it might need something even bigger than that. I don’t think they can stretch it all the way to WrestleMania, but if anything deserves that kind of a stage, it would be Banks FINALLY dethroning Bayley. If it sounds like I’m treating Cross like an afterthought here, it’s only because she is one in this case.

Smackdown Tag Team Titles: Cesaro/Shinsuke Nakamura(c) vs. Lucha House Party

WWE is doing a really bad job of making these matches seem like they don’t matter because there are other stories already being set up. In this case it would be Lucha House Party imploding as Kalisto seems to be thinking about himself more than the team. Now that could go multiple ways here, as it isn’t clear which members of the team will be getting the shot. That being said, I don’t think it’s going to matter.

I’ll go with the champs retaining here, but there is a little voice in the back of my head that could see the titles changing hands, setting up a story where the new champs have to decide what to do with Kalisto. I don’t think WWE has thought that far ahead or put that much thought into the idea of the Lucha House Party splitting up though, so I think it’s safe to drop that idea and just go with Cesaro and Nakamura retaining.

US Title: Bobby Lashley(c) vs. Apollo Crews

It’s a Payback rematch here but things have already changed. Not only has Lashley already figured out a better name for the Full Nelson than the Full Lashley, but the Hurt Business is good when they are fighting Retribution and bad when they are fighting Crews and his friends. That’s confusing enough, but at least the match should be a pretty easy result to figure out.

This is the best (or maybe worst depending on how you look at it) example of a match where they needed to have a title match and since there is no one fresh to challenge (because Ricochet doesn’t exist on pay per view), they’re going with a rematch from last time. Lashley should retain here as Crews already got what he could out of the title and there is no need to change it back.

Intercontinental Title: Jeff Hardy(c) vs. Sami Zayn vs. AJ Styles

It’s the monthly ladder matches because we need to have one of some kind about every month in WWE. Hardy is champion, Styles wants a rematch, Zayn looks like Fidel Castro and has his own title from five months ago (not six because WWE can’t count) so let’s put two titles above the ring for a ladder match. As usual, this has me worried about a screwy finish, and I can’t even say WWE wouldn’t go there.

I’ll play it safe and say Hardy retains here, but it wouldn’t shock me to see two people pulling down titles to make this a glorified elimination match. Zayn has no real claim to the title and while Styles should get a rematch, I think he might be the odd man out here. Zayn has been more interesting than he has in years in his current heel run (again, if you cut out the five month hiatus) and I’d like to see him get something going, but it doesn’t seem to be this. At least not with both titles.

Women’s Tag Team Titles: Nia Jax/Shayna Baszler(c) vs. Riott Squad

Oh yeah this is a thing they’re doing too. This isn’t a match that has any interest from me as Jax and Baszler have already sucked the life out of the titles. I’m not sure what that means for the titles’ futures, but it isn’t doing much for their present. Lately the champs have mainly existed to beat up Lana because her husband is now working elsewhere, leaving this match as kind of an afterthought.

The champs retain here, as WWE sees them as more interesting than anyone else. At the moment, that does seem to be the case when compared to the Riott Squad, though having Ruby Riott and Liv Morgan slipping on one banana peel after another is getting a little tiresome. Maybe they throw in a curve here, but I have a feeling that the wacky tag team partners idea is going to continue for a good while.

Smackdown World Title: Roman Reigns(c) vs. Jey Uso

I wanted to put this one on last because it’s the best story in WWE today. While there might not be much doubt in who is going to win, this is a lesson in how to take something that should be nothing and turn it into something. They’re members of the same family, Reigns is the star, Uso wants to know why he can’t be the new big dog. If you have a sibling, there is a good chance you have been in one of their shoes before. That’s how you make a wrestling story work: by giving the fans something to grab onto.

I don’t think there’s any real doubt about who wins here. Reigns is Reigns and Uso is waiting on his brother to get back to action. What is going to be interesting here is seeing how Reigns retains. There is a case to be made for Uso to get in some offense and come off looking like a star, or there is a case for Reigns to beat him in two minutes, including a cold stare at Uso’s unconscious body. I’m expecting something in the middle, as Reigns turns it on when he needs to in order to retain, but Uso should get in a little something (emphasis on little) in defeat.

Raw World Title: Drew McIntyre(c) vs. Randy Orton

So what we have here is the champion who won the title at Wrestlemania and held it against some questionable opponents before escaping with the title against Orton at Summerslam, setting up a rematch at Clash Of Champions. Oh dang it I have the wrong notes here. That’s the story they did with Kofi Kingston against Orton last year. And people wonder why this company is seen as creatively bankrupt.

I’ll take….dang who will I take? I’ll go with Orton here, as I have a feeling they still want to do something else with both of them down the line. I’m not sure what, but I didn’t feel right putting McIntyre. The biggest problem for both is I’m not sure where they go next, but maybe the Draft can shake things up enough. That has to be coming soon, though so is the Cell, which could make for a good blowoff match. Orton wins here though, in a pick I have zero confidence in making.

Overall Thoughts

The more I think about it, the less I like this card. It feels like WWE is running on creative fumes at the moment and that isn’t surprising. This show is taking place on September 27 and is their third pay per view in six weeks (with Takeover running next Sunday night). It’s a case of WWE needing to let them have a breather but content is king these days and this is what we have to work with. This show has some matches which could work out rather well and probably will, but after two pay per views so recently, it’s a little hard to get up for this one.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the paperback edition of KB’s Complete 2004 Monday Night Raw Reviews (also available as an e-book) from Amazon. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2019/08/26/new-book-and-e-book-kbs-complete-2004-monday-night-raw-reviews/

And check out my Amazon author page with cheap wrestling books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

IMG Credit: WWE

Monday Night Raw
Date: September 21, 2020
Location: Amway Center, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Tom Phillips, Jerry Lawler, Byron Saxton

It’s the go home show for Clash Of Champions and we still have some more to do for the show. First up is a triple threat match to crown new #1 contenders, but we also have a rematch from last week when Retribution interrupted Keith Lee vs. Drew McIntyre. Other than that, expect some more Retribution interference. Let’s get to it.

Here are last week’s results if you need a recap.

Retribution hacks the opening feed and here they are to get things going. They have officially signed contracts (because that’s a good company move) and unmask (mostly), revealing Mia Yim, Mercedes Martinez (I believe), Dominik Dijakovic, Dio Madden and a fifth member (Shane Thorne maybe?).

They talk about wanting to drain the lifeblood of this company because this place has betrayed them for the love of money. Cue the Hurt Business to chase them off and issue a challenge for tonight. Cue more masked members of the team to surround the ring and the beatdown is on. The goons are kicked out but the original members get in and the Hurt Business is overwhelmed.

Rey Mysterio is proud of his son for following in his footsteps.

Seth Rollins/Murphy vs. Angel Garza/Andrade vs. Dominik Mysterio/Humberto Carrillo

The winners get the Street Profits, on commentary, for the Tag Team Titles at Clash Of Champions. There is no Zelina Vega here to shake things up a bit, meaning she isn’t here to see Garza TAKE OFF HIS PANTS at the bell. Murphy gets sent to the floor to start so Andrade and Garza take over on Carrillo. Andrade is sent outside as well and an enziguri drops Murphy to the floor again.

Mysterio and Carrillo hit big dives to the floor to take out Andrade and Garza before we settle down to Mysterio hitting a Code Red for two on Andrade. Mysterio gets in a pretty sloppy 619 to Garza before it’s off to Murphy for a jumping knee to Andrade’s face. Murphy goes over for the tag to Rollins, who walks away, saying he has a lot on his mind. That leaves Andrade to hit a heck of a spinning elbow to Murphy and the Wing Clipper to Murphy to send Andrade/Garza to Clash at 5:24.

Rating: C+. It was a high energy match while it lasted but it seemed to be a lot more about Rollins and Murphy splitting up than the title match being set. That’s all well and good for a change, as that’s a bigger story than almost anything involving the Tag Team Titles. It doesn’t help that it’s a title match we’ve seen for months now but at least it should be decent.

We recap Braun Strowman invading Raw Underground and getting in a staredown with Dabba-Kato.

Shane McMahon is ready to hype up the fight on the Kevin Owens Show and has the large guard keep Raw Underground on lockdown.

Retribution is ready to beat up the Hurt Business tonight.

It’s time for the Kevin Owens Show with Kevin talking about how he had to deal with Captain Hot Topic last time but we’ll move on from that. He can’t believe it, but his guest is Shane McMahon. After a recap of their history, Owens hands it off to Shane’s natural promotional skills to hype up Raw Underground.

Shane talks about how Owens got to meet Kato a few weeks ago so let’s bring him out right now. Owens looks a bit impressed and says he and Kato will do this at some point, but here’s a preview. That means a slap to Kato, who Shane has to hold back. Owens has a second guest tonight so here’s Braun Strowman. Shane has to try to keep them apart until Raw Underground but here’s Aleister Black to crotch Owens against the post a few times. Shane and the giants don’t seem to notice.

We look at Drew McIntyre vs. Keith Lee being interrupted by Retribution.

Drew McIntyre says yeah, he’s worried about wrestling again with a fractured jaw. As for his fight with Lee last week, it was just business. If you’re in WWE and don’t want to be the champ, why are you here? They’ll laugh over drinks later, but for now, they’re beating each other up.

Retribution has jumped Titus O’Neil and Humberto Carrillo with Dijakovic shouting that WWE stars are the sickness. They are the judge, jury and executioners.

Keith Lee vs. Drew McIntyre

Non-title and Lee has new gear again, with the low cut singlet top that Big Show wore for years over his shorts. McIntyre misses a Claymore attempt at the bell and they trade aggressive headlocks. A running crossbody sends McIntyre over the top in a heap and it’s time to forearm it out in front of the announcers’ table. Back from a break with McIntyre not being able to get him up in a fireman’s carry and being forearmed down instead. The Spirit Bomb is broken up though and McIntyre comes back with a spinebuster for two.

A neckbreaker gives McIntyre two more but the Future Shock is powered into the corner. Lee Hulks Up and hits something like a spinebuster of his own for his own near fall. Some shots to McIntyre’s face (after commentary brought up the bad jaw) and a clothesline give Lee two more. The Spirit Bomb is escaped again and McIntyre hits the Claymore but here’s Randy Orton with a chair to McIntyre for the DQ at 12:22.

Rating: C+. It was nice while it lasted but this was a matter of time until Orton came in. They don’t want to pin Lee and McIntyre shouldn’t be taking any kind of a pin right now so this was the only way to go. That doesn’t make it better, but it makes it logical. Lee is still impressive in the ring, but

Post match Orton drives the chair into McIntyre’s face and hits a Punt on Lee.

Post break Orton says shame on all of the fans for doubting him for even a second. Of course he is going to make it to Clash Of Champions. He’s been here for twenty years and he has been the only constant. Orton has never walked away from a World Title match and he won’t be doing it anytime soon.

The match on Sunday isn’t your usual World Title match though, is it? Orton walks over to an ambulance parked in the arena and opens the doors, saying he took a ride in this ambulance just a few weeks ago. That came after three Claymores and as he heard the sirens, he was fading in and out of consciousness.

Then he knew what it felt like to be taken out by the Legend Killer. He knew what Edge, Christian, Shawn Michaels, Big Show and Ric Flair all felt like. As he came to in the back of the ambulance, he started to smile. It wasn’t because of the pain, but it was because he remembered what he was capable of doing. He knows what it takes to become WWE Champion and that is where he will go again.

For some people this ambulance represents hope, pain or death. For Orton though, it means his 14^th World Title, so listen up Drew. At Clash Of Champions, Orton is giving Drew one more ride in the ambulance to make his title reign flat line. Orton slams the door to wrap up a good promo.

Asuka isn’t worried about facing Zelina Vega or Mickie James at Clash but here’s Billie Kay to interrupt. She laughs at the idea of Asuka being willing to face anyone, but here’s Peyton Royce to say she should get a title shot. Billie: “….Yeah. Either of us!” Asuka says no one is ready for her on Sunday, but tonight, she is ready for Billie.

Zelina Vega vs. Mickie James

The winner gets Asuka for the title on Sunday. Mickie promises to never give up on the Raw Women’s Title so Zelina better be ready. Zelina sends her into the corner to start but Mickie is back with a kick to the face for two. Back up and Zelina grabs a Black Widow before sending her into the corner.

A slow motion hurricanrana out of the corner gives Vega two and Mickie’s reversal into a sunset flip gets the same. Mickie is back with a spinning kick to the ribs and a running forearm. There’s the flapjack into a nipup, followed by the top rope Thesz Press for two on Vega. The MickieDT is countered though and Vega’s Backstabber is good for the clean pin at 4:13.

Rating: D+. The match was pretty rough, but what matters here is giving Vega a clean pin to set up the title match. I can’t imagine Vega actually wins the title on Sunday but they gave her a little momentum going into it and made her seem like someone who could be a bit more of a threat. Why it takes so long to do that is beyond me, but at least they did it here. Well done.

Retribution jumps the Hurt Business but they fight back and take out some of the Retribution goons.

Video on Bianca Belair out training various men at the Performance Center.

Earlier today, Akira Tozawa and a Ninja referee waited for R-Truth….in the ocean. R-Truth showed up with Little Jimmy and the 24/7 Title but Little Jimmy saw a shark’s fin in the water. Truth: “SHARKNADO!!!” Truth ran off and left the title in the water, before returning 20 minutes later with flippers and a snorkel. Little Jimmy is almost dragged off by the current but Truth makes the save.

Cedric Alexander vs. Apollo Crews

Lashley vs. Crews for the US Title is announced for Sunday. Before the match, MVP threatens violence against Retribution, with Cedric saying Crews is getting the same. He doesn’t care about Crews or Crews’ kids, so here are Crews and Ricochet to say this is about revenge. Crews starts fast and sends Alexander outside for a suicide dive as we take a break.

Back with Crews fighting out of a chinlock but getting kneed in the ribs. That means the chinlock can go back on with Alexander driving in elbows to the ribs this time. The Michinoku Driver gives Cedric two and he’s a little surprised at the kickout. Crews is back up with a crossbody and a toss Samoan drop gets two. Cedric is sent outside but avoids the moonsault, setting up Alexander’s suicide dive. Back in and Crews is fine enough to grab a rollup for the pin at 8:05.

Rating: C. Not bad here and I’m getting into this feud fairly well. There’s a personal issue between the guys and it’s becoming more and more interesting to watch. I’m not sure where it leads, but the Hurt Business has become a much better team over the last few months. It’s a nice story and the team has gotten more interesting, showing that WWE knows how to do this when they try.

Post match the Hurt Business comes out for a distraction and it’s a beatdown on Crews and Ricochet. Lashley gets the Hurt Lock on Crews to leave him laying.

It’s Raw Underground time with Dolph Ziggler vs. Arturo Ruas. Ziggler gets taken down but manages to block an armbar. A leglock is blocked again and it’s the sleeper to make Ruas tap.

Shane McMahon tries to talk to Braun Strowman but new Raw Underground interviewer Briana Brandy gets to do the interview. Braun doesn’t walk to talk and says Shane better have some better competition.

Here’s Seth Rollins for a chat. He thought it was over with Rey Mysterio, but then WWE.com put up a series of photos of the Mysterio Family. We see one of the photos, and Dominik towers over the rest of them. Rollins thinks something is amiss and has an envelope with results. He asks the Mysterios to come out here and find out the truth in person. The family comes out and Rey says they are tired of the mind games.

Seth says he has grown to respect them because they have overcome adversity together. That’s why they deserve the truth, which includes the result of a DNA test. Seth knows this has been done before and technology has advanced a lot since then. We need an answer to the question: is Rey really Dominik’s father? The results are clear: Rey is not the father. Rey goes on a rant about how we’re sick of this, but Seth realizes he made a mistake. This isn’t a test for Dominik, but rather Aliyah, who isn’t really Rey’s daughter. If that isn’t enough, Rollins has more proof.

We see a clip from last week where Aliyah checked on Murphy after Rollins jumped him. Rollins doesn’t think that was very Mysterio like, but Rey says keep his daughter’s name out of his mouth. Rey calls Aliyah naive for knowing nothing about their world, which sends Aliyah walking away. Angie goes with her as Rollins looks stunned.

Dominik and Rey go after the two of them, leaving Rollins to say he wasn’t trying to drive a wedge between the family. Rollins knows that other families have dealt with this before and apologizes. As he leaves. Rollins flashes an evil smile. Are they just trolling us with this story already? It wasn’t interesting in the first place and is coming up on five months. That’s Rusev/Lana/Lashley territory.

Shayna Baszler/Nia Jax vs. Lana/Natalya

Non-title and the Riott Squad is on commentary. Nia takes Lana down with ease to start and it’s off to Shayna for a gutwrench faceplant. The Kirifuda Clutch makes Lana tap at 1:00.

Post match Jax and Baszler go after the Squad, who smile at the champs. Lana gets planted through the announcers’ table in a loud crash.

Drew McIntyre is ready for Orton but has something to do tonight.

Rey tells Aliyah that he doesn’t want her to get hurt but Aliyah says she is just here for Dominik. But she’s just a naive 19 year old right? Aliyah leaves and Angie won’t let Rey go after her.

Back at Raw Underground, Erik and Riddick Moss fight with Moss knocking him out.

Dabba-Kato wants to see what Strowman is all about.

Asuka vs. Peyton Royce

Non-title and Billie Kay is at ringside. Asuka rolls her up to start and hits a sliding kick. They miss kicks to the face and Peyton is back with something close to the Widow’s Peak minute grabbing Asuka’s face. The Asuka Lock is countered so Peyton settles for a spinning kick to the face for two instead. Peyton goes up but gets pulled down into the Asuka Lock, only to have Zelina Vega run in and jump Asuka for the DQ at 2:16.

Post match Asuka fights back, with the threat of the spinning backfist sending Vega running.

Murphy comes up to Aliyah to say he’s sorry for what she has to go through. Aliyah looks more confused.

It’s back to Raw Underground for Strowman vs. Kato. They lock up to start and trade some body shots until Strowman takes him down for a choke. They fight to the floor for a bit before heading back to the stage, where Strowman hits a right hand and pounds away for the knockout win.

Clash Of Champions rundown.

Retribution vs. Hurt Business

Retribution is introduced as Slapjack, T-Bar and Mace (all in their half masks). MVP is the odd man out here and we start after a break. Lashley pulls Mace (Dio Madden) in and hammers away in the corner but it’s off to T-Bar (Dominik Dijakovic) to clothesline him to the floor. Cedric comes in to hammer away but gets taken into the corner for the tag off to Slapjack (possibly Shane Thorne).

Some shots to the back allow the tag to T-Bar, who sends Cedric flying. The Neuralizer staggers T-Bar so it’s off to Shelton to clean house. Mace gets in a distraction though and T-Bar scores with a kick to the face. It’s back to Mace for a double suplex but Shelton belly to back suplexes Mace for a breather. Slapjack gets backdropped as well and the hot tag brings in Lashley to clean house. The high angle spinebuster sets up the Hurt Lock but T-Bar hits Lashley in the eye from the apron for the DQ at 6:15.

Rating: D+. I’ll get to the issues with Retribution later but this was a pretty lame six man tag. The ending was horrible too as you have this chaotic and violent group and the best way to have them get disqualified is a poke to the eye from the apron? They couldn’t, I don’t know, triple team Lashley for a bit or do SOMETHING a little more violent? Granted that’s about the third biggest problem with the team so we’ll leave it for now.

Post match all of Retribution hits the ring for the beatdown. Cue Drew McIntyre with the rest of the locker room for the big brawl. Most of the ring is cleared and it’s Randy Orton with an RKO to McIntyre to end the show.

Overall Rating: C-. I actually liked most of the show as they kept things moving and, aside from the endless Mysterio vs. Rollins deal, they didn’t linger on anything too long. They added three title matches to Sunday’s card and even built on some of the matches they already had. Throw in some nice Raw Underground stuff and the show was pretty good, assuming you ignore one boneheaded move with Retribution after another.

Where do you even start? We’ll start back in 1996 with the NWO, who terrorized WCW for a LONG time. They ran in, they attacked people, they messed with the production truck and they generally caused chaos. It took until Uncensored 1997, about nine months after they debuted, for them to win authority to do a bunch of stuff.

Here, about a month and a half after Retribution debuted, WWE just hands them contracts for no apparent reason. Ignoring the fact that they were all trained at the Performance Center and therefore would seem to be under contract already, why would WWE do that? I know we won’t get an answer, but I’d think one might be a bit helpful.

The whole point of Retribution is they’re a bunch of outsiders who are mad at WWE. If they hate the place so much, why would they accept contracts to work for them? Why would WWE offer them those contracts? Why would you take away the main core of their whole persona in one night? It doesn’t make sense from a kayfabe perspective or a writing perspective. Did WWE think that Retribution would just play nice now that they worked here after they didn’t play nice when they already worked there? That’s the logic we’re working with here?

Then they actually got in the ring, where their names sound like rejected Final Fight villains from 1994. I don’t know what they are going to call Mia Yim and Mercedes Martinez, but are we really supposed to not recognize some of these people? Thorne I can accept as he is average sized and wears a full face mask and MAYBE Madden as he never wrestled on TV, but Yim, Martinez and Dijakovic are kind of hard to hide, especially with half of their faces showing. Losing via DQ is fine enough, but they couldn’t wait ten seconds and have the rest of the team run in to end it?

If this is the best WWE can do with Retribution, the team is in more trouble than they seemed to be. This felt like someone completely new took over the story (which very well may be the case) and ignored everything that made it interesting or that made sense about it in the first place. I liked some of what I saw, but unless you turn the volume off and ignore some details, you might get a big headache in a hurry.

Results

Andrade/Angel Garza b. Humberto Carrillo/Dominik Mysterio b. Seth Rollins/Murphy – Wing Clipper to Murphy

Drew McIntyre b. Keith Lee via DQ when Randy Orton interfered

Zelina Vega b. Mickie James – Backstabber

Apollo Crews b. Cedric Alexander – Rollup

Shayna Baszler/Nia Jax b. Lana/Natalya – Kirifuda Clutch to Natalya

Hurt Business b. Retribution via DQ when T-Bar poked Lashley in the eye

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the paperback edition of KB’s Complete 2004 Monday Night Raw Reviews (also available as an e-book) from Amazon. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2019/08/26/new-book-and-e-book-kbs-complete-2004-monday-night-raw-reviews/

And check out my Amazon author page with cheap wrestling books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

IMG Credit: WWE

Monday Night Raw
Date: September 7, 2020
Location: Amway Center, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Samoa Joe, Byron Saxton, Michael Cole

Last week, we set up the main event of Clash Of Champions so tonight it’s time to get a lot more stuff done. I’m not sure what that is going to entail but there are a lot of titles that are going to need to be defended. That could make for an interesting show, but that has never stopped WWE before. Let’s get to it.

Here are last week’s results if you need a recap.

Here’s Randy Orton to get things going. Orton talks about earning the Clash Of Champions title shot last week and tonight, he’s ready to kick Lee in the head. We could list off everyone Orton has Punted over the years but Raw is only three hours. Last week, Orton earned the shot against Drew McIntyre but that’s assuming Drew can wrestle. We look at the three Punts to McIntyre and Orton asks what McIntyre should do. Maybe he should just forfeit the title…and here’s an ambulance. Of course McIntyre is driving and he gets straight in the ring for the Claymore.

Earlier today, the Hurt Business beat up a janitor for allegedly saying something about Shelton Benjamin’s mama. Now that could be a nice reference to days past, but I doubt anyone remembered it when they said something.

McIntyre says he’s going to be at Clash no matter what. Adam Pearce says he can’t risk another injury so he needs McIntyre to leave. McIntyre does just that and Pearce sends security to be on guard against Retribution.

Hurt Business vs. Cedric Alexander/Ricochet/Apollo Crews

The Hurt Business jumps Cedric on the stage before the bell and the beatdown is on until Ricochet and Crews make the save. Cedric gets on the apron as Shelton clotheslines Crews down to start. Lashley hammers him down in the corner and MVP adds the running big boot for two. It’s back to Lashley for the chinlock…and Cedric jumps Ricochet to beat him down. Crews gets a Lumbar Check and Shelton hits Paydirt for the pin at 4:28.

Rating: C-. They had to do something with this story at some point and Cedric accepting the team’s offer, or at least rebelling, instead of getting beaten down week after week makes sense. If nothing else it gives us some fresh matches as there are only so many ways you can have the same match over and over. I’m liking this idea and Cedric vs. Ricochet and/or Crews sounds interesting.

Post match Cedric looks up at the team and smiles, though he doesn’t stand with them.

Street Profits vs. Angel Garza/Andrade

Non-title, Zelina Vega is here with Garza/Andrade and speaking of matches we don’t need to see anymore. Garza starts with Ford and TAKES OFF HIS PANTS. Ford picks up the speed early on and Vega isn’t pleased with him getting taken down early on. Yelling ensues on the floor and it’s off to Andrade, who is knocked down into the frog splash for the pin at 2:03.

Post match Garza walks off, because we’re doing this again. Hold on though as here are Cesaro and Shinsuke Nakamura for a staredown with the Street Profits. Post break Cesaro says they were surprised to find out that the Street Profits are the longest reigning Raw Tag Team Champions in years. Usually people think of people never defending their titles when they think of the Street Profits. That’s why next week, thanks to the quarterly brand vs. brand invitational (Huh?), they want a champions vs. champions match.

Nakamura holds up a red cup and says they want the….but Dawkins calls him out for copyright infringement. Ford isn’t happy with the Bar 2.0 coming here and suggests Cesaro get an STD test from having so many partners. Anyway, the match is on, with Nakamura getting to say SMOKE.

Earlier today, R-Truth was at a restaurant when dessert was served. A Ninja popped up through the table though, with Truth shouting that he did not order a Ninja. Akira Tozawa shows up so Truth throws the title to Little Jimmy, who must have gotten out of the juvenile facility. Jimmy drops the title but Truth picks it up and runs away. He even steals the card and says that the restaurant will never get on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives while serving Ninja!

Billie Kay vs. Peyton Royce

Kay is no the Femme Fatal. They slap it out to start and Peyton loads up a Widow’s Peak. That’s broken up and Kay misses an elbow, allowing Peyton to grab a waistlock. The chinlock goes on but Billie gets up and drives her into the corner for the shoulders to the ribs. Royce is right back with a neckbreaker for the pin at 2:40.

Post match Peyton helps her up.

We look back at Murphy accidentally kicking Seth Rollins in the head at Payback and ultimately costing them the match. Then last week, Rollins beat Dominik Mysterio and left him laying. Tonight, it’s Murphy vs. Dominik.

Here are the Mysterios (Rey/Dominik/Aliyah/Angie) for an in-ring chat. Rey doesn’t have a timetable for his return from the tricep injury but he’s very proud of his son. Before Dominik can say anything, Murphy pops up on screen and says Rollins picked him up when no one else would. As for tonight, let’s make it a street fight. Dominik agrees to embarrass Murphy in front of his messiah, because a simple “you’re on” is too basic for a WWE promo.

Shayna Baszler and Nia Jax aren’t happy with having a handicap match each against the Riott Squad. Drew McIntyre walks by and Adam Pearce isn’t happy.

Asuka/Mickie James vs. Lana/Natalya

Mickie gets a shot at Asuka next week. Natalya gets double teamed to start so it’s quickly off to Lana, who is backed into the ropes. A kick to the ribs doesn’t work on Asuka, who shows Lana how it’s done. Asuka misses the running hip attack in the ropes so Mickie slaps her on said hips for the tag.

Natalya comes in to whip Mickie into the corner but Mickie grabs a quick rollup for two. Lana plants Mickie for two more, with Asuka having to make a save. Everything breaks down and Mickie hits a neckbreaker on Lana…but there is no Asuka. Instead Mickie goes up ans Asuka tags herself in for the Asuka Lock on Lana for the tap at 4:51.

Rating: D. Even without a crowd in person, you could feel how ice cold this was. Using Natalya and Lana to set up anything is a bad idea and that was on full display here. Mickie vs. Asuka isn’t the best match in the world but for a one off match, it works out well enough. Just don’t have Lana and Natalya do anything but be the replacement IIconics though, because it won’t end well.

Cedric Alexander says he’s ready to make this official with the Hurt Business, but Shelton Benjamin says he better be serious, or it won’t go well.

It’s time for the VIP Lounge with the Hurt Business and Cedric Alexander as the guests. MVP officially welcomes Cedric to the team and they hand him the shirt, which goes over his shoulder. Just one question: what made Cedric change his mind? Shelton wants to know as well, but Cedric says he is tired of taking beatings and going broke with Ricochet and Apollo Crews. Cue the Viking Raiders and Crews/Ricochet to storm the ring and the fight is on in a hurry.

Hurt Business vs. Ricochet/Apollo Crews/Viking Raiders

Benjamin suplexes Ricochet to start before charging into a raised boot. Ricochet kicks him down and Crews comes in for a standing moonsault. It’s off to Erik to knee MVP in the face and fire off more knees up against the ropes. Ivar adds a crossbody for two and it’s back to Crews, who gets taken into the wrong corner. The spinning Dominator doesn’t work and it’s Erik coming back in to ram into Lashley a few times. The shotgun knees send Lashley into the corner and Benjamin gets suplexed.

Lashley is right back with the spear though and Erik is down in a hurry. A series of slams put Erick down and Shelton suplexes him for two. We hit the chinlock for a bit before MVP comes in for a running boot in the corner. Cedric gets the tag, yells at his former friends, and chokes away on Erik in the corner. Erik gets up and brings in Ricochet to clean house as the pace picks up. A moonsault hits MVP but Cedric comes in to glare at Ricochet for the distraction.

MVP gets in a shot to the back of the head for two and Cedric adds the Neuralizer for two of his own. Ricochet fights up for the slugout and nails a superkick. A nasty looking dragon suplex causes everything to break down with Ivar hitting a dive onto everyone but Cedric. Back in and Ricochet misses the 630, allowing Cedric to grab the Michinoku Driver for the pin at 10:16, even though Ricochet was very clearly up at two (Cole: “Cover, kickout! He didn’t kick out!”).

Rating: C-. Everything after that dragon suplex looked off, with Ricochet looking like he was supposed to bridge but not even getting one, Ivar slamming his wrists together in an X after the landing (that might mean nothing but it was hard to ignore) and the weird timing on the pin. I’m not sure what happened in there but it was pretty awkward for the last minute or so. At least Cedric got the pin though, or at least close to one.

Post match the replay shows that Ricochet did indeed kick out. Medics come out to check on Ivar so yeah that X was very intentional.

Drew McIntyre is still here as he just happened to grab the wrong phone and can’t find the exit.

We recap Aleister Black attacking Kevin Owens.

Owens heads into Raw Underground to face Black, but does mention that he still doesn’t like Shane McMahon. Now is that little bit of continuity too much to ask for elsewhere?

Keith Lee vs. Randy Orton

Orton stalls on the floor to start and holds his jaw from the Claymore earlier tonight. Lee gets tired of waiting but gets his throat snapped across the top rope. Back in and Orton goes to the eye but Lee calmly blocks the RKO with straight power. Orton isn’t sure what to do so he goes outside and sends Lee into the steps. Back in and Orton grabs the chinlock, complete with a bodyscissors this time. Lee fights up again and shoves off another RKO attempt, setting up a powerslam for two. The powerbomb is loaded up but Orton slips out and hits the RKO…but turns into the Claymore from Drew McIntyre for the DQ at 6:24.

Rating: C. Lee got in some spots here but you could feel a lot of the energy going away, mainly because he felt like an obstacle for Orton rather than someone doing something for himself. However, an important note to this (though it might have been unintentional): Lee rolled to the ropes after the RKO instead of just laying there, giving them a small out to make it look a little unclear if he would have been pinned. That’s better than some people get, even if it might have been just so McIntyre could have somewhere to land.

Post match Adam Pearce comes out to yell at Drew McIntyre. I think we have a future General Manager on our hands, which isn’t the worst idea. McIntyre leaves and referees are sent to check on Orton, who is holding his jaw.

We go to Raw Underground, where Aleister Black destroys an unknown before Kevin Owens comes in for the fight (So where was he for the last ten minutes?). The fight is on and they fall to the floor for a double knockdown as we take a break.

Orton yells at Pearce and says his word means nothing to him.

Shayna Baszler vs. Riott Squad

Handicap match and Nia Jax is in Shayna’s corner. Ruby gets taken down to start but grabs an armdrag, only to have Shayna grab her arm. The armbar goes on on the mat and Ruby can’t roll her way out of it early on. Ruby manages to get out and brings in Liv, who is knocked to the floor in a hurry. Ruby’s distraction lets Liv get in some knees to the back but Baszler knees her in the face. The arm stomp is loaded up but Jax says she could do better. Baszler doesn’t stomp on the arm, allowing Morgan to grab a sunset flip for the pin at 2:33.

Owens and Black are still fighting at Raw Underground, with Black grabbing an armbar. Owens gets him off the stage though and hits a powerbomb to the floor to knock Black silly.

Nia Jax vs. Riott Squad

Shayna is at ringside. Liv can’t get a sunset flip so Nia sends her into the corner, with Ruby adding a running crossbody. Back up and a clothesline rocks Riott so hard that even Shayna is impressed. The chinlock goes on for a bit before Nia runs her over again. Riott avoids the arm stomp though and Liv tags herself in. The Riott Kick sets up Oblivion for two…as the lights go out for the no contest at we’ll say 2:55.

The Retribution logo comes up on screen and three people in black appear on screen. One of them talks about how the Thunder Dome has changed nothing. They have been forgotten and left to pick at what they can. Another person says they are here like locusts to feed on what they can. Their darkness is coming and they are Retribution.

The Mysterios will be at ringside and Rey tells Seth Rollins to stay out of this.

Black and Owens are STILL fighting until Dabba Kato interferes and wipes them both out.

Orton is very slowly leaving as he holds his jaw. Cue McIntyre to jump him again and send him into the spare ring backstage. The third Claymore leaves Orton laying one more time.

We recap the parade of Claymores.

Orton is taken away in an ambulance.

Murphy vs. Dominik Mysterio

The rest of the Mysterios are at ringside and it’s a street fight so Dominik has a kendo stick. Murphy knees him in the face to start though and Dominik is in trouble early. They head outside with Dominik getting in some shots to the face and they head up near the stage. Dominik climbs onto the video screens and hits a big dive to take Murphy down as we take a break.

Back with Dominik slugging away until they brawl up towards the stage. That goes nowhere so they wind up back at ringside with Murphy ramming Dominik head first into the ramp. Dominik is fine enough to block the eye into the steps but gets dropped ribs first onto the barricade. Some chairs to the back have Dominik in more trouble and we hit the seated abdominal stretch.

That’s broken up with a hiptoss to the floor but Murphy is right back in to tie Dominik in the ropes. It’s time for the kendo stick but Rey pulls it away. Angie and Aliyah get Dominik free and he hits a sunset bomb through a table at ringside. Now it’s Murphy being tied up in the ropes and all four of the Mysterios beat on him with the kendo sticks until Murphy quits at 14:12.

Rating: D+. They were having a pretty watchable match but then they had to get into the Mysterio Family stuff again and it’s really hard to care that much. This feud has been going on for about four months now and there have been multiple times where it could have been blown off. Somehow it’s still going though, and while it might be shifting towards Murphy vs. Rollins, seeing these Mysterio Family Values moments doesn’t exactly inspire me. Four people just beat up one guy. What a great moment that makes me want to cheer for all of them.

Post match the beating continues to end the show. Your heroes everyone.

Overall Rating: C-. I’m split on this show as it has some positives and negatives. The bad part part is that there weren’t very many interesting things going on. Cedric joining the Hurt Business worked well and Black vs. Owens could go well, plus the World Title feud is getting better. That might be the end of the good parts though and that’s not enough for a three hour show.

The important part of the show was something even better though: stuff happened. One of the bigger problems of WWE TV over the last few months has been the feeling that stories just keep going with nothing of note happening. That has changed over the last few weeks, with a different energy to the show which has made it seem like things are happening on the show. That makes things so, so much easier to watch every week and that was the case here. It might not be good, but it’s not terrible either and that’s a big step in the right direction.

Results

Hurt Business b. Cedric Alexander/Ricochet/Apollo Crews – Paydirt to Crews

Street Profits b. Andrade/Angel Garza – Frog splash to Andrade

Peyton Royce b. Billie Kay – Neckbreaker

Asuka/Mickie James b. Lana/Natalya – Asuka Lock to Lana

Hurt Business b. Ricochet/Apollo Crews/Viking Raiders – Michinoku Driver to Ricochet

Randy Orton b. Keith Lee via DQ when Drew McIntyre interfered

Riott Squad b. Shayna Baszler – Sunset flip

Riott Squad vs. Nia Jax went to a no contest when Retribution interfered

Dominik Mysterio b. Murphy when the Mysterios beat him with kendo sticks

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the paperback edition of KB’s Complete 2004 Monday Night Raw Reviews (also available as an e-book) from Amazon. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2019/08/26/new-book-and-e-book-kbs-complete-2004-monday-night-raw-reviews/

And check out my Amazon author page with cheap wrestling books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

IMG Credit: WWE

Monday Night Raw
Date: August 31, 2020
Location: Amway Center, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Tom Phillips, Samoa Joe, Byron Saxton

We’re done with pay per view for a bit but now it is time to start getting ready for Clash of Champions. Already announced for the show is a series of matches to set up a triple threat later in the night for the shot at Drew McIntyre, so at least they’re going quickly. There isn’t a ton of fallout to deal with from last night so the slate might be a bit more open. Let’s get to it.

Here is Payback if you need a recap.

Opening sequence.

Here’s a ticked off Randy Orton to open things up and talk about how Drew McIntyre deserves to be in pain. McIntyre has been promising to kick Orton’s head off but Orton is doing the kicking around here. Orton talks about all the people he has kicked in the head and laughs at McIntyre thinking he is entitled. He takes out everyone he faces and we see a graphic of all of the legends he has hurt in hospital beds (including Shawn with a bag of ice on his head).

Orton’s laugh is cut off by Keith Lee, who talks about how he beat Orton last night, which makes him wonder why Orton is talking about title shots. Maybe beating a legend killer means Lee should be getting that title shot. Lee considers Drew McIntyre a friend but here’s Dolph Ziggler, his opponent in one of the singles matches tonight, to jump him from behind.

Dolph Ziggler vs. Keith Lee

The first of the three qualifying matches. The bell rings after the break and Lee cranks on the arm, including lifting Ziggler up by the hand. A hard catapult sends Ziggler face first into the buckle and Ziggler needs a breather on the floor. Back in and Ziggler takes him down by the knee and grabs a chinlock. That doesn’t last long as Lee gets up and runs Ziggler over as we take a break.

Back with Lee hitting Grizzly Magnum and throwing Ziggler into the corner. Ziggler hits a quick Fameasser for two and a neckbreaker into the jumping elbow gets the same. Lee gets up again and slugs away, followed by a pop up face plant. Ziggler tries to fight back but walks into the Spirit Bomb for the pin at 9:53.

Rating: C. Might have been a bit longer than it needed to be but Lee getting another win is a good sign. If nothing else you can put him in the triple threat later and have someone else take the fall to (probably) send Orton on to Clash. They’ve given Lee two big wins early on so the foundation is being set. Just don’t screw it up from here.

Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler bicker about who is responsible for winning the Tag Team Titles last night. Asuka comes in to interrupt and the other champs aren’t cool with that. Shayna is shoved away and a big staredown ensues.

Adam Pearce wants security on extra watch for Retribution.

Here’s Asuka for an in-ring chat. She talks about all of the women she has beaten and now she needs a new challenger. It doesn’t matter who is ready for Asuka because Asuka is ready for anything. Cue Mickie James to say Asuka is awesome but she’s coming for the title. Cue Natalya and Lana, both in gear for a change, to say Mickie isn’t jumping the line like that. Lana talks about being a fashion influencer and if Mickie wants to face Natalya, you have to go through her. Asuka is ready for all three of them so Lana and Natalya jump the two of them but Mickie and Asuka clear the ring in a hurry.

Connor’s Cure video.

We look back at the Hurt Business cleaning house in Raw Underground last week.

The Viking Raiders and Cedric Alexander are ready for a match tonight. Demi from the Bachelor thinks it’s great that Cedric turned down the Hurt Business and kisses Ivar on the cheek. They all leave and Andrade pops up with a rose. Again, WHY IS DEMI HERE???

Lana vs. Mickie James

Natalya is at ringside and Asuka is on commentary but it takes a bit to get her headset working. Lana chokes in the corner and snaps off a suplex for two before the chinlock goes on. Mickie fights back and hammers away with some clotheslines but Lana slips out of the MickDT. Instead it’s the Mick Kick to finish Lana at 2:39.

Mickie and Asuka stare each other down post match.

We look back at Aleister Black attacking Kevin Owens last week.

Randy Orton leaves Black’s dressing room.

The IIconics are ready for their match against the Riott Squad where the losers have to split up. They have known each other since high school and sacrificed a lot to get here. The Riott Squad isn’t breaking them up and their win will be iconic.

Kevin Owens vs. Randy Orton

The second triple threat qualifying match. Hold on though as Black comes out to jump Owens before the bell and even hits Black Mass on the floor. Saxton: “Is this why we saw Randy Orton leaving Aleister Black’s locker room?” Joe: “OF COURSE IT IS BYRON!” Owens gets inside and says ring the bell and it’s an RKO for the pin at 15 seconds.

Rey Mysterio is not cleared to compete tonight but Dominik will be taking his place in the triple threat qualifying match. Dominik knows he is an underdog but he is ready to make his family proud.

Here are MVP and Shelton Benjamin for the VIP Lounge. MVP hypes up the guest and brings out Bobby Lashley for the big celebration. MVP talks about how he has seen a lot of young people getting in trouble over youthful exuberance and Apollo Crews did it too. There are three things you can guarantee in life: death, taxes and Bobby Lashley. Speaking of Lashley, he promises to get some revenge on Crews for jumping him after last night’s match. Shelton promises to do the same to Crews in Raw Underground but MVP is ready for the six man tag they have coming up.

MVP walks to talk about Cedric Alexander but here’s Cedric to interrupt in person. The Hurt Business goes to meet him in the aisle and MVP asks if Cedric has had a change of heart. That’s a no, and he didn’t come alone. Cue the Viking Raiders to start the brawl before their match.

Hurt Business vs. Viking Raiders/Cedric Alexander

Lashley stomps away at Erik in the corner but a forearm to the face cuts that off. A running shoulder in the corner has Erik in trouble again though and it’s off to MVP for the rights and lefts. It’s off to Ivar who knocks Shelton into a knee from Erik and Cedric comes in to hammer away in the corner. Shelton busts Erik’s spine but it’s back to Cedric, who is dropped with a faceplant.

That means Cedric is choked down in the corner and MVP’s running boot to the jaw connects. The armbar goes on but Cedric fights up and tries for the tag but the Vikings are pulled outside. That’s fine with Cedric, who grabs a rollup (and some tights) for the quick pin at 6:20.

Rating: D+. Not much to see here, but Cedric getting a win is a good bonus. The tights on the rollup could go a little somewhere as it’s not like this story has been going anywhere for the time they have put into it so far. The Hurt Business does tend to lose quite a bit, but at least they have the US Title and the champ didn’t take the fall.

MVP seems rather pleased with Cedric and calls off the Hurt Business from destroying him.

Post break, the Hurt Business jumps Cedric in the back. Apollo Crews and Ricochet make the save.

IIconics vs. Riott Squad

The winners get a Women’s Tag Team Title shot and the losers are forced to disband. Kay jumps Riott to start and Peyton bulldogs her onto Kay’s knee. We’re already in the chinlock but Ruby fights up in a hurry and brings in Liv to clean house. A dropkick to the back gets two on Peyton but Billie gets the same off a suplex. Liv gets in a shot to the face and the hot tag brings in Riott as everything breaks down. Peyton and Liv fight to the floor, leaving Riott and Kay to trade rollups until Ruby gets the pin at 3:29.

Rating: C-. The match was the fast paced formula stuff with the right team winning, but I really don’t get the need to split up the IIconics so soon. Unless there is some reason for one of them to lose, I don’t think either of them is ready to hang on their own. A story where they need each other could work out well, but I’m going to need to see how they make this work.

Post match the IIconics freak out and hug each other. Hopefully there is more to this.

Shane McMahon is ready for Raw Underground.

Commentary announces that Rey Mysterio has a torn tricep. Well that’s neither good nor surprising.

Video on Seth Rollins/Murphy vs. the Mysterios.

Here are Rollins and Murphy for Rollins’ match against Dominik, but Rollins isn’t happy. He yells at Murphy for costing them the match last night by kicking him in the head and then getting pinned by DOMINIK MYSTERIO. Rollins has a big chance tonight and can’t have Murphy screwing it up for him. Murphy is sent to the back and out of Rollins’ sight. Rollins does not want to see him until Murphy figures out what he stands for. Murphy slowly leaves and gets jumped by Dominik on the way to the back.

Dominik Mysterio vs. Seth Rollins

The third of three triple threat qualifying matches. Mysterio goes straight at him to start but gets sent to the floor. Back in and Seth stomps away but gets kicked in the face. They head outside with Dominik sending him into the announcers’ table and then diving off of it as we take a break.

Back with Dominik fighting out of an abdominal stretch but getting pulled down into a bodyscissors. That’s switched to a waistlock instead but Dominik fights up and counters a buckle bomb with a hurricanrana into the corner. The tornado DDT out of the corner into a standing moonsault gets two on Rollins and he rolls outside. That means a big dive from Dominik as the rest of the Mysterios are watching in the back. The 619 sets up the frog splash but Rollins rolls away, setting up the Stomp for the pin at 10:03.

Rating: C. Dominik is doing a lot better in the ring than probably would have been expected of him and to be fair they didn’t do something crazy here. I still don’t really care to see him in the ring, but at least they aren’t going completely overboard with someone who looks lost out there. The match was fine enough and the right person won in short enough order so I can’t get that upset. I’m curious about what Rey’s injury means for Dominik though, as there isn’t much else for him to do other than stuff with his dad.

Post match Seth hits another Stomp as the Mysterios are devastated.

We’re off to Raw Underground where Titus O’Neil is beating people up. Riddick Moss comes in and the fight goes off the stage. Someone distracts Titus though and Moss takes him down for the knockout win. More later.

The Street Profits have a scouting report on Zelina Vega and company. Zelina’s details include “poisons people” and “amusement parks” because she’s too short to ride roller coasters.

Earlier today, Akira Tozawa tried to come into the building but his name wasn’t on the list. Tozawa got out of the car, found out that the list was blank, and was rolled up by R-Truth for the 24/7 Title. Of course the security guard was the referee, so Tozawa kidnapped him and chased after Truth. He was in such a rush that one of the Ninjas had to walk all the way into the building.

Street Profits vs. Andrade/Angel Garza

Non-title tornado rules with Zelina Vega and Demi at ringside. The match starts fast as expected with Dawkins turning a double superplex into a Tower of Doom as we take a break (again with no pitch to the break, which has been a trend tonight). Back with Ford on the floor and Dawkins being chopped to the mat. A middle rope dropkick to the side of the head gets a delayed two on Dawkins and the armbar over the ropes makes it even worse. Dawkins fights back to clean house though and a bulldog gets two on Andrade.

Another shot to the head puts Dawkins down again but Ford hits a BIG dive for the save. The pace picks up and a running Blockbuster into an enziguri hits Andrade….and there go the lights. The referee bails and Angel leaves with Demi. Ford covers Andrade but here’s Retribution over the barricade. Commentary bails and even Zelina starts fighting three of the members at ringside. That goes as badly as you would expect and it’s a big beatdown on Andrade and the Profits. We’ll say it’s a no contest at about 9:00.

Rating: C-. This was a weird one even before the ending and that didn’t do it any favors. It doesn’t help that there is no one else to challenge the Profits for the titles at the moment so this is the best we can get. They have held the belts for over six months now and that doesn’t exactly make it easier to keep the division fresh. Retribution being back is a bit of a relief though as they weren’t on either Smackdown or Payback. That doesn’t seem very long, but it is almost enough to make you believe WWE was dropping a story.

Back with commentary sounding perfectly calm and calling the replay, despite the three of them running for their lives five minutes ago. Samoa Joe is not someone who is going to have a bunch of masked guys interfere and chase him off and be fine with it. That’s completely out of character for him and I doubt WWE cares.

Adam Pearce yells at security.

The IIconics are at Raw Underground as Jessamyn Duke destroys Avery Taylor. Another woman gets up and yells at Duke so Marina Shafir, in street clothes, gets up and massacres the other woman in about ten seconds. The IIconics tease getting in but Peyton stays on the floor, leaving Billie to get beaten up.

We look at Cedric Alexander pinning MVP and then getting beaten up by the Hurt Business.

Apollo Crews is ready to fight Shelton Benjamin in Raw Underground and has Cedric Alexander and Ricochet with him.

Post break, the Hurt Business arrives at Raw Underground and it’s Crews vs. Benjamin. Shelton takes him down but Crews gets in a Kimura. That’s broken up and they fight off the stage, meaning the brawl is on with the other four. All six wind up on the platform and the Hurt Business knock/choke them all out in a hurry. Well that was one sided.

Demi is scared of Retribution but Angel Garza has this covered. Retribution charges in and beats up security so Garza runs off. The women of Retribution step forward and Demi runs off. So to recap: WWE showed Garza getting engaged to his longtime girlfriend, then made him a womanizer, then brings in a woman from the Bachelor to play his second on-screen love interest for months. There was NO ONE else in WWE who could have played her role? Or his role for that matter?

Randy Orton vs. Keith Lee vs. Seth Rollins

The winner gets McIntyre at Clash of Champions. Rollins pitches the alliance with Orton, who immediately drops down to the floor. Then Rollins rolls out to yell at him but Orton says he changed his mind. Lee grabs Rollins by the hair (Rollins: “OW!!!”) and pulls him inside where Rollins’ headlock doesn’t work very well. Orton comes back in and gets splashed in the corner but Rollins is back up with ax handles to Lee. They send Lee to the apron so Lee slingshots in with a crossbody to both of them as we take a break.

Back with Lee getting knocked out of the air and sent to the floor for a drop onto the announcers’ table. There’s a whip into the steps to put Lee down even more but they carry him back to the apron in a rather questionable move. Orton turns on Rollins with the hanging DDT for two but Rollins is right back with the Falcon Arrow for the same.

Lee rises up though and throws Rollins into Orton for the big crash. Orton heads outside where Lee Pounces him into the barricade before catching Rollins’ suicide dive and tossing him into the announcers’ table. Back in and Rollins enziguris Lee and kicks him in the head again to knock him down. The Stomp is countered into the Spirit Bomb but Orton comes back in for the RKO to Lee and pins Rollins at 11:05.

Rating: C+. That was about all they could do here and that’s the right call. Lee looked dominant and didn’t get pinned, which is what matters most in this. Orton gets back into the title match as well, which isn’t quite surprising and it’s not like Rollins is going to be hurt by taking a fall. Good enough here, but more importantly it wasn’t stupid and that’s an improvement.

Overall Rating: C. The best thing here was that they didn’t do anything incredibly stupid. I know that might be a pretty low bar to clear, but in WWE’s world, it is at the top of the priorities list. They set up or moved things towards Clash while keeping things moving well enough. I liked what we got here and while nothing is worth seeing, they didn’t ruin Lee (yet) and I could see myself being interested in where some of these things go. Good enough show here, which is quite the upgrade over what they had been doing in recent months.

Results

Keith Lee b. Dolph Ziggler – Spirit Bomb

Mickie James b. Lana – Mick Kick

Randy Orton b. Kevin Owens – RKO

Cedric Alexander/Viking Raiders b. Hurt Business – Rollup with tights to MVP

Riott Squad b. IIconics – Rollup to Kay

Seth Rollins b. Dominik Mysterio – Stomp

Street Profits vs. Andrade/Angel Garza went to a no contest when Retribution interfered

Randy Orton b. Keith Lee and Seth Rollins – Orton pinned Rollins after a Spirit Bomb from Lee

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the paperback edition of KB’s Complete 2004 Monday Night Raw Reviews (also available as an e-book) from Amazon. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2019/08/26/new-book-and-e-book-kbs-complete-2004-monday-night-raw-reviews/

And check out my Amazon author page with cheap wrestling books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

IMG Credit: WWE

Summerslam 2020
Date: August 23, 2020
Location: Amway Center, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Michael Cole, Corey Graves, Byron Saxton, Tom Phillips, Samoa Joe

It’s finally time to try this out and yes it’s another Thunder Dome show, which may or may not mean anything to you if you’re reading this in 2273. Basically there are no fans live in the arena, but there are pictures of several of them scared to move because of all of the conditions WWE has included to allow them to be shown on screen. Other than that, we have two World Title matches and something we’ll never see coming, which kind of negates the idea of a surprise. Let’s get to it.

Kickoff Show: US Title: MVP vs. Apollo Crews

Crews is defending and the rest of the Hurt Business is banned from ringside. A quick sunset flip gives Crews two and MVP wants a breather on the floor. Back in and MVP uses a distracted referee to get in a cheap shot but Crews is right back with a dropkick. MVP is ready for a charge in the corner though and sends Crews over the top and face first onto the steps for a nasty crash.

Back in and MVP misses a big running boot in the corner but he’s fine enough to crotch Crews on top. A superplex brings Crews back down with MVP slipping a bit on the fall before getting two. Crews is fine enough to clothesline MVP to the floor and that means a big running flip dive, which seems to hurt Crews’ back again. Back in and Crews wins a slugout before ripping off MVP’s nasal strip. That sets MVP off enough that he tries the Playmaker but Crews reverses into the Toss Powerbomb to retain at 6:35.

Rating: C. This could have been on any given Raw and that isn’t the most surprising thing. The bigger story here would seem to be Crews vs. Bobby Lashley down the line and letting Crews get the Summerslam win on the way there is a nice boost for him. Other than that, there isn’t much to see here, but it was just a Kickoff Show match.

Post match Lashley and Shelton Benjamin run out for the beatdown but Crews slips away.

The opening video presents Summerslam as a huge production, including the lights, camera action line. Each match gets a quick look as well.

Smackdown Women’s Title: Asuka vs. Bayley

Bayley is defending and has Sasha Banks in her corner. Asuka forearms Bayley in the shoulder to start and hits a running dropkick. The sliding dropkick misses but Asuka can get a seated Octopus hold. Thankfully this cuts off Cole’s explanation that the big difference between their careers is Asuka has won the Women’s Royal Rumble. Not that Asuka has never lost a singles match to Bayley, including beating her twice in the last month and a half, but their Women’s Royal Rumble record.

The hip attack sends Bayley to the floor and Asuka hits a jumping DDT from the steps to knock Bayley silly again. Back in and Bayley grabs a quick suplex for a breather and the stomping is on in the ropes. The Bayley to Belly gets two more so Asuka kicks Bayley in the head for the double knockdown. Another hip attack rocks Bayley and there’s the release German suplex to send Bayley flying. They head to the apron with Bayley dropping Asuka knees first, much to Banks’ delight.

Back in and Bayley gets two off a chop block, followed by something like an Indian Deathlock. That’s broken up so Bayley grabs another leglock with Asuka going to the ropes this time. Bayley goes up for the top rope elbow but Asuka pulls her into the cross armbreaker instead. Asuka lets go to kick at the screaming Banks though and they head outside with Asuka hitting Bayley in the face. Back in and Bayley grabs a rollup for a close two but Asuka’s running hip attack hits Banks by mistake. That’s enough for Bayley to small package Asuka to retain at 11:21.

Rating: B-. It was good for Bayley to win, even if it has no bearing on her Royal Rumble history. Bayley retaining again is interesting, though that would give you more of a reason to believe that Asuka is taking the other title later. Either way, they had a solid match here as they tend to do, as Asuka can have good matches with almost anyone. It was a good effort here and they even helped set up the other title match later.

Post match Bayley and Banks lay out Asuka again.

Dominik Mysterio asks Rey Mysterio to let him do this himself against Seth Rollins and not get involved. Rey agrees and they hug.

Recap of Retribution’s carnage.

Kevin Owens comes out for commentary, complete with a red tie. He also waves to his wife watching in the crowd.

Raw Tag Team Titles: Angel Garza/Andrade vs. Street Profits

The Profits are defending and Zelina Vega is here with the challengers. Ford flips over Andrade to start and hits a jumping clothesline. A jumping hurricanrana off the top freaks Vega out and Andrade is sent outside. Dawkins comes in for a double flapjack to Garza but Ford’s running flip dive to the floor is countered into a double powerbomb. Back in and Ford gets sent into the corner, allowing Garza to TAKE OFF HIS PANTS!

Andrade armbars Ford over the ropes, setting up the Alberto double stomp for two more. Ford avoids a charge and brings in Dawkins to clean house, including a spear to Andrade. It’s back to Ford, who is grazed by the basement dropkick to the head for two. Zelina gets on the apron but is knocked down in a hurry, leaving Ford to escape the Wing Clipper. The Cash Out into the (spinning) frog splash pins Garza to retain the titles at 7:49.

Rating: C. Another Raw level match here, though maybe a little bit better than that. I doubt this is over between the teams, because it’s not like there is anyone else for the Profits to defend against at the moment. The Owens inclusion was a little odd but he has enough of a story history with Vega and company to make it work.

Post match Owens congratulates the champs and announces the return of the KO Show tomorrow night, with Aleister Black as his guest.

Bayley and Sasha Banks don’t like Kayla Braxton’s questions. Banks knows she can beat Asuka, and Bayley knows it too. Tonight Asuka is tapping out and then next week they’re retaining the Tag Team Titles.

We recap Mandy Rose vs. Sonya Deville. They used to be best friends and then Sonya got sick of Mandy getting all of the attention and turned on her. Then Sonya cut her hair and challenged her to a hair vs. hair match, which was seemingly derailed by someone wanting to actually murder Sonya, so instead it’s No DQ, Loser Leaves WWE.

Mandy Rose vs. Sonya Deville

No DQ, Loser Leaves WWE. Mandy punches her in the face for an early knockdown and they head outside with Sonya being whipped into various things. A suplex onto the ramp drops Sonya again and Mandy dives off the announcers’ table with a clothesline. Mandy grabs a table but Sonya gets in a shot and takes it inside. Back in and Mandy misses a running knee, allowing Sonya to slap on a dragon sleeper.

Sonya grabs a triangle choke but Mandy is smart enough to stack her up for two to force the break. The trash talk is on but only causes Mandy to slap away. Now the knee gives Mandy two and they head back outside, with Mandy shouting about being the soccer mom. Mandy throws the chairs at Sonya’s head but walks into a pump kick instead. Back in and Mandy hits a pair of knees, followed by a third as she goes half Kenny Omega. Angel’s Wings plants Sonya and a fourth knee to the face finishes her off at 10:00.

Rating: D+. Yeah believe it or not, I’m not exactly getting behind the idea of a blonde bombshell who got all of the attention being called out for getting all of the attention. Sonya stole the show in the entire feud and while things got turned upside down this week (completely fair enough), I was really wanting to see how far Sonya can go after everything she has been doing lately. Or to see Mandy bald for some reason. The No DQ stuff changed almost nothing here.

Post match Sonya is devastated as Otis comes out to celebrate. He does the Caterpillar and Mandy fails completely in her attempt.

We recap Dominik Mysterio vs. Seth Rollins, which is fallout from Rollins going after Rey Mysterio, including taking his eye out twice. Dominik is here to fight for his dad’s honor in his debut. They’re making it a street fight to help Dominik out a little bit.

Seth Rollins vs. Dominik Mysterio

Street fight and Rollins, with Murphy, is in Rey Mysterio WCW inspired ring gear. Rey is here with Dominik to even things out. Dominik looks nervous to start and Rollins seems more interested in toying with him. Rollins even sticks his head out so Dominik can grab a headlock. Instead of punching Rollins in the face, Dominik grabs a headlock and is shoved down almost immediately. Some armdrags into a front flip have Rollins a little staggered so he slams Dominik down.

Rollins demands and receives a kendo stick from Murphy but Dominik is up with a dropkick. That means Rollins has to run from the kendo stick until Rollins catches him with some stomping back inside. The neck cranking goes on but Rollins lets go to yell at Rey. Dominik’s feeble comeback is cut off with the Sling Blade and Rollins puts the knee on his face. The chair is set up inside and Rollins tells “Papa” to come on. Dominik reverses the buckle bomb and grabs a tornado DDT for two.

The kendo stick shots have Rollins in trouble for a change but he crotches Dominik on top. That means the superplex into the Falcon Arrow for two and Rollins wants his own stick. Dominik gets beaten down and Rollins calls for a table from Murphy. Rollins loads up said table in the corner but takes too long going up, allowing Dominik to hit a super Russian legsweep through the table for two. Dominik’s frog slash gets the same, plus a million versions of the same jokes about Eddie being his dad.

Dominik takes too long getting a chair and walks into a superkick, followed by a powerbomb. A bunch of kendo stick shots have Rey clutching his own chest and now we go old school with handcuffs. Before they go on, cue Rey’s wife to try to call this off but Rey stops her. Murphy comes in for the knee to Dominik and tries to take the eye out, finally drawing Rey in for the save.

Rollins and Murphy double team Rey and handcuff him to the middle rope. They both grab kendo sticks but turn to look at Rey’s wife instead. Since she’s on the stage and Rollins is at ringside (and since she can’t MOVE), Dominik makes the save. Something like a 619 sends Rollins into the barricade and there’s the regular version. Another frog splash hits knees though and Rollins makes Rey watch as he….just kind of holds Dominik. The Stomp finishes Dominik at 22:35.

Rating: D+. I’m not sure what to think here, other than it went WAY too long. The match itself was ok enough as Dominik has some skill and has clearly been trained well, but that doesn’t mean I want to watch this for twenty two minutes. It felt like a lot more of the same, with Rollins trying to be vicious but coming off as a heel wrestler instead of anything especially violent. This feud has gone on way too long and odds are we get a tag match next so they can keep trying to get the big emotional moment which hasn’t come yet. Dominik looked pretty good (all things considered), but not ready for Summerslam good.

Post match Rollins leaves the keys with Dominik and watches as he has to crawl over and free Mysterio.

Raw Women’s Title: Asuka vs. Sasha Banks

Banks, with Bayley in her corner, is defending. Asuka has a bad knee coming in and Banks goes straight for it in a smart move. Back up and Asuka hits a weakened version of the sliding forearm to put Banks on the floor. That means a leglock on the floor to even up the knees a bit, followed by a kick to the back for two on the champ. Asuka heads to the apron and Banks grabs a spinning powerbomb to the floor, freaking Bayley out in the process.

That’s good for nine so Banks kicks her in the chest for two more. Asuka pulls her down into an ankle lock but Banks rolls out in a hurry, sending Asuka onto the middle rope. That’s fine with Asuka, who hits a middle rope DDT for the slightly delayed two. The missile dropkick gets the same and Banks falls into the corner. Asuka tries to pull her out but Banks grabs a Codebreaker for two in a cool counter.

Banks misses her own frog splash and the Asuka Lock goes on but Banks flips backwards for two. Asuka has to let go and Banks gets the Bank Statement. She tries to flip into the center and gets switched into the Asuka Lock, which is broken again. Bayley gets on the apron and gets elbowed down, allowing Banks to try a rollup ala Bayley earlier. This time Asuka reverses into the Asuka Lock for the title at 11:31.

Rating: B. Better than the first match and I can always go with someone who learns from an earlier match. This made good sense after earlier and they had to do something to get some of the gold away from Bayley and Banks. The action was pretty hard hitting here and Banks works with Asuka better than Bayley, so this was a nice improvement over the opener and the best match of the night so far.

Banks is distraught post match and Bayley doesn’t know what to do.

We recap Drew McIntyre vs. Randy Orton for the Raw World Title. McIntyre won the title back at Wrestlemania and Orton has been on a roll in the last few months. This of course meant we needed Ric Flair to be involved because he has to be in on a big story a year. Anyway, McIntyre has worked his way to the top and doesn’t think much of Orton skating by on talent over the years. Orton on the other hand doesn’t think much of McIntyre at all and is taking the title because he can. Oh and he Punted Flair because it’s Flair.

Raw World Title: Randy Orton vs. Drew McIntyre

Drew is defending and Orton bails to the floor at the bell. After the stalling ensues, Orton goes back in, gets punched once, and heads outside again. The chase is on this time and Orton stomps away as Drew gets back in. Orton misses a pair of RKO attempts but the second one sends Drew outside for a breather. The champ gets back in again and unloads on Orton in the corner. Orton can’t hit the RKO for a third time but he can avoid a charge to send McIntyre shoulder first into the post.

McIntyre falls outside and Orton drops him hard onto the announcers’ table for a big crash. He does it again to make McIntyre’s back even worse and there’s a suplex off the table. That’s good for one back inside and we hit the chinlock. Orton starts stomping away at the ankle and leg but McIntyre gets in something like a Stunner to Orton’s knee. As a fan holding up a Twitter sign is replaced, Drew puts on a Figure Four in the middle of the ring.

Orton is in trouble but gets smart by pulling the referee in and poking McIntyre’s eye for the break. They get back up and slug it out with Orton still not being able to hit the RKO. McIntyre snaps off an overhead belly to belly and then does it a second time. A top rope clothesline drops Orton and McIntyre is fired up. McIntyre loads up a top rope superplex but gets dropped down into the Tree of Woe.

That doesn’t slow McIntyre down that much as he pulls himself up for a choke throw to put Orton back down. The Futureshock gets two and Orton’s head is busted open. McIntyre goes up top but misses a shot to the head, allowing Orton to hit the powerslam for two. The hanging DDT is countered and McIntyre hits the Glasgow Kiss.

They fall out to the floor together and Orton hits the hanging DDT on the way back in. Orton loads up the Punt but walks into a powerbomb. The Claymore is loaded up but Orton ducks, only to miss the RKO again. McIntyre grabs a backslide for the pin to retain at 24:38. Phillips: “Orton never saw it coming!”

Rating: B+. They took their time here and I got into it pretty quickly. I like the idea of having McIntyre win without some kind of a screwy ending and if that’s the only thing we didn’t see coming, it might be quite the upgrade. It was a very nice back and forth match and Summerslam main event worthy, so well done on living up to the hype.

Tomorrow: Keith Lee is on Raw.

We recap Braun Strowman vs. the Fiend. They have been feuding for months now with the Fiend reemerging from the swamp at Extreme Rules. During their fight, Alexa Bliss appeared and tried to convince Strowman to join Bray Wyatt again. Strowman said no, but it became clear that Strowman still thought something of Bliss, and maybe vice versa. Strowman said she meant nothing to him though and he even gorilla press slammed her on Smackdown. Strowman has had it with Wyatt and the Fiend in particular so it is time for the big fight.

Smackdown World Title: The Fiend vs. Braun Strowman

Strowman is defending and falls count anywhere. Fiend is knocked down to start but comes right back with a release Rock Bottom. They head outside with Fiend sending him into various things and hitting Strowman in the ribs with a toolbox. Fiend loads up the announcers’ table but gets chokeslammed onto it for his efforts. A spear sends Fiend through the barricade and a shot with the steps makes it worse.

Back in and the running powerslam gives Strowman two, meaning it’s time to fight up the ramp. They go into the gorilla position with Fiend hitting Sister Abigail for two. Fiend pokes the eyes and takes it back to the stage, where he slithers over to Strowman. The Mandible Claw goes on near ringside but Strowman shoves him into the LED ring skirt.

Another running powerslam gives Strowman two back inside and frustration is setting in. Strowman goes to the toolbox and pulls out a box cutter so he can cut up the mat. Some of the wood is exposed but Fiend gets up and hits another Rock Bottom. Two Sister Abigails onto the wood makes Fiend champion again at 12:01.

Rating: C+. This was feeling big to start and then wound up being Strowman losing because he was stupid and took forever to set up….something while the supernatural monster was left laying there. Fiend winning was the only possible outcome here as there was nothing left for Strowman to do as the failed champion. Either way, it was better than I was expecting, but it still wasn’t great.

Post match ROMAN REIGNS returns and hits a spear to take Fiend down and hammer away. Reigns spears Strowman down too and shouts that Strowman isn’t a monster without him. He unloads on Strowman with chair shots and spears Fiend down again before shouting that the title was always his. I know supervillains are supposed to have weaknesses, but football players who played college ball in Georgia and use spears is as specific as I’ve ever heard. Also, Reigns was WAY more aggressive than usual here and felt as close to a heel as he’s been since the original Shield run. He might not have turned, but it wasn’t far off.

Overall Rating: C. This show was looking outright dreadful until Banks vs. Asuka (though I could see people liking Rollins vs. Mysterio) and the rest of the show bailed the first half out as much as it could have. Reigns being back is a great thing as Smackdown (and Raw for that matter) needs all of the star power it can get. It’s not a great show, but it jumps up in quality in the second half and that saved it from being a nightmare.

Results

Bayley b. Asuka – Small package

Street Profits b. Andrade/Angel Garza – Frog splash to Garza

Mandy Rose b. Sonya Deville – Running knee

Seth Rollins b. Dominik Mysterio – Stomp

Asuka b. Sasha Banks – Asuka Lock

Drew McIntyre b. Randy Orton – Backslide

The Fiend b. Braun Strowman – Sister Abigail onto exposed ring boards

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the paperback edition of KB’s Complete 2004 Monday Night Raw Reviews (also available as an e-book) from Amazon. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2019/08/26/new-book-and-e-book-kbs-complete-2004-monday-night-raw-reviews/

And check out my Amazon author page with cheap wrestling books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

IMG Credit: WWE

It’s that time of year again. WWE has a long history of pay per views and it is time for one of the biggest on the calendar. This Sunday, WWE will present Summerslam from the Thunder Dome in Orlando, which could make things a lot better or a lot more headache inducing, depending on your taste and eyesight. I’m not entirely sold on this one but Summerslam has the ability to surprise you. Let’s get to it.

Dominik Mysterio vs. Seth Rollins

Let’s get this one out of the way before I fall asleep thinking about it. This is the next step in a feud that has gone on for months and feels like it has gone on for years. I’m not sure what WWE sees in this but maybe now that Rey Mysterio has signed a new contract, we can wrap it up and let them get on to something more interesting. It isn’t the worst feud, but I can’t bring myself to care about it whatsoever.

I don’t see a reason for Dominik to win in his debut against a name like Rollins, so I’ll go with Rollins to win here. Rey will be there and the match is a street fight to even things out a bit, but I’m not sure how good the match can be. The biggest problem is that I don’t care enough to get interested and that is going to be a problem with such a big match on this stage.

Raw Tag Team Titles: Street Profits vs. Andrade/Angel Garza

This is the match where they included another illegal action to set the story up, but in this case the poisoning (yes poisoning) was dropped for the sake of….well maybe better taste. The Street Profits have held the titles for about six months now, which is the longest reign since the New Day’s record reign by a wide margin. That would suggest it is about time to finish and it might be the case here.

That’s what I’ll go with here, as not only have the Profits held the titles for a long time now but Andrade and Garza need to actually win something at some point. They have been a team for a long time now and have yet to actually accomplish much of anything, so winning the titles here could be a nice step. The Profits are long past the point where they need the titles and can get them back later if they need to, so hopefully the titles change here.

US Title: Apollo Crews(c) vs. MVP

This is another feud that has been going on for a little while now but this time around they have me wondering where things are going to go. The interesting thing for me here is that it doesn’t seem to be the final blowoff of the whole story. Instead it seems that we are setting up Bobby Lashley as the final boss for Crews, which unfortunately doesn’t exactly leave this as the biggest mystery.

As you might have guessed, I’m taking Crews to retain here. Crews has gotten something out of this title reign, including an improvement in his promo skills. I could go for some more of him as champion, but I’m not sure where he goes after the title reign. It gets to continue here though, as MVP isn’t someone who needs to be US Champion again at this point in his career.

Sonya Deville vs. Mandy Rose

We need to get to some Smackdown stuff on here and that’s where this one comes in. I was really curious to see how they were going to have the hair vs. hair match play out, but now things have changed to a No DQ, Loser Leaves WWE match. It wouldn’t surprise me to see this be due to some real life issues and now I’m not sure how much drama there is with the match.

In theory, this is a pretty big layup with Rose winning so Deville can go deal with the fact that someone wanted to murder her a few days ago. I can’t bring myself to complain about this one of course, as that’s about as serious as you can get. It is kind of a shame though as Deville has turned into one of the best characters, especially with her talking, in all of WWE’s women’s division as of late. I’m sure she’ll be back, but it’s a shame that her roll slowed down for now.

SmackDown Women’s Title: Bayley(c) vs. Asuka

Now we begin our fairly strange two part portion of the evening, with Asuka getting a pair of singles title shows. There are a few different combinations for this and she gets Bayley to start things off. I’m not sure what to expect this time around, but Bayley has been losing more than she should be as of late. That doesn’t bode well for her, but WWE can be a strange place in something like this.

I’ll take Asuka to win the title here, as they seem to be moving towards turning the tables with Bayley and Sasha Banks. In this case that would mean Banks succeeding where Bayley doesn’t and that could make for something interesting as we move forward. Bayley has to lose the title here though and Asuka taking it would certainly be something that would work, even if it is another blow to the Raw women’s division.

Raw Women’s Title: Sasha Banks(c) vs. Asuka

So that leaves us with this, because for some reason this is the kind of idea that WWE loves to run with as of late. There is some kind of an idea about having a small number of people dominating a division and the women’s division is getting that condition now. It is Asuka, Bayley and Banks at the moment, but the question is whether Banks leaves this show with a title of her own.

I’m going to say that she does, and that means I’m likely to be wrong as there is little reason to believe that Bayley vs. Banks is EVER going to take place at this point. Fifty years from now our grandchildren are going to be waiting on them to fight in their retirement community and odds are it’s going to be any month now. Have I mentioned I’m tired of hearing about that feud being any day now?

Smackdown World Title: Braun Strowman(c) vs. The Fiend

This is now Falls Count Anywhere and hopefully that means they can wrap it up sooner rather than later. I know the Fiend might not be the best choice for World Champion but MY GOODNESS he is better than Strowman. I don’t know how much more of Strowman I can take at this point as the guy is one of the least interesting champions in recent or long term memory. I’m not sure why we need to see it last this time, but hopefully it finishes here.

In other words, for the love of all things good and holy, PLEASE let the Fiend win here. There is no need for Strowman to stick around here and I really don’t want to see them have a fourth match here because there is no need for any of this to continue again. It has been downright horrible and they need to just drop the whole thing with Fiend ending Strowman. Say by beating him with bowling pins and serving him as sandwiches at a James Bond themed dinner party.

Raw World Title: Drew McIntyre(c) vs. Randy Orton

And then we have this, which is one of the most interesting things on the card. I’m not sure what this is going to bring, but sweet goodness it actually feels like they have set up something where you could see either guy could win and be ok with it. However there is one thing that I think is hanging over the whole match and it is going to play into the ending: the show’s tagline of “You’ll Never See It Coming.”

My guess is that comes into play here with one of two ideas, and both of them end with Orton winning the title. First up, Retribution could cost McIntyre the title after he called them out on Raw earlier this week. That could set up him getting some payback at Payback, either against Orton or part of Retribution. The other, and more likely option? Flair was never Punted (remember the lights flickered) and you’ll never see it coming when he shows up to help Orton win the title. Either way, the tagline doesn’t exactly help that they’re basically telegraphing a surprise, thereby negating the concept of a SURPRISE.

Overall Thoughts

Call me crazy, but I think we might be in for a decent show here. I know the TV hasn’t been great for the last few months, but there is something about this card that is giving me hope. Summerslam has been going fairly well over most of the last few years and if they can keep that trend going, maybe they can go somewhere. I mean I don’t believe they will, but you have to have some hope somewhere. Maybe they can have some good TV as a result. You would never see that coming would you?

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the paperback edition of KB’s Complete 2004 Monday Night Raw Reviews (also available as an e-book) from Amazon. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2019/08/26/new-book-and-e-book-kbs-complete-2004-monday-night-raw-reviews/

And check out my Amazon author page with cheap wrestling books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

IMG Credit: WWE

Monday Night Raw
Date: August 17, 2020
Location: WWE Performance Center, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Tom Phillips, Samoa Joe, Byron Saxton

It’s the last night in the Performance Center and that means we are also less than a week away from Summerslam. This week’s show gets to deal with the big fallout from the Punt last week as Randy Orton kicked Ric Flair in the head. Since it’s a Flair story, we need the combined forces of Shawn Michaels and likely HHH down the line to tell us how great Flair is all over again. Let’s get to it.

Here are last week’s results if you need a recap.

Opening sequence.

Here’s what’s coming tonight.

Here’s Drew McIntyre for an opening chat. After a long video on what happened to Flair last week, McIntyre talks about how Flair is a 71 year old legend with a tear in his eye and Orton kicked him in the head. McIntyre is ready to do whatever he has to do at Summerslam..and the video goes nuts as Retribution has struck again. We cut to the truck where they are wrecking everything in sight and we jump to a commercial with McIntyre still talking.

Post break, the locker room wants to know what’s going on. Drew McIntyre comes in and says he doesn’t like being disrespected like this and wants them to ban together to stomp them out. Seth Rollins and Murphy come in to talk about being the Messiah, meaning that the roster already has a leader. Rollins should be getting a title shot but Ricochet brings up Rey Mysterio returning tonight. No Rollins isn’t scared and asks for a match with McIntyre instead. They have to be separated and a match seems likely.

Here’s the Hurt Business, with the cameras staying on a wide shot for a good while and the graphics taking their time to start up. Still on the wide shot, MVP rants about Retribution and calls them out. He has been following the money, which takes you to catering, where you find Apollo Crews and his merry band of pranksters. Retribution showed up around the time that MVP faced Crews for the US Title.

Cue Apollo to laugh off the allegations and accuse MVP of trying to throw out some distractions before Crews beats him at Summerslam. MVP says Crews has had more starts and stops to his career than a bad car, and it’s back to catering as soon as he loses the title. Crews says he knows that’s why MVP wanted him in the Hurt Business, so maybe they can do some business right now. He can face Shelton Benjamin right now and if he wins, Lashley and Benjamin aren’t at ringside at Summerslam. Let’s go.

Shelton Benjamin vs. Apollo Crews

Non-title. Joined in progress with Shelton stomping away and unloading on Crews in the corner. Crews gets beaten down even more and here’s R-Truth, as chased by Ninjas. The distraction lets Crews get in a rollup for the pin at 2:03. They really needed to pin Shelton for that?

Post match the Hurt Business keeps up the beating but Cedric Alexander, Ricochet and Mustafa Ali make the save. Lashley gets the Full Lashley on Cedric but the numbers game gets the better of Lashley and sends him outside. R-Truth comes running back and gets kicked in the face by Shelton, who wins the 24/7 Title. MVP says this isn’t happening so let’s do a six man elimination later. Just give the title back to Truth already.

Angel Garza hits on Demi from the Bachelor again when Ivar comes in to hit on her instead. Demi is invited to join the hunt tonight and Ivar accuses Garza of poisoning Montez Ford. That’s not true, so Ivar eats a drumstick and is ready for their match tonight.

Ivar vs. Angel Garza

Ivar’s early spinning kick to the face is cut off and Garza sends him face first into the mat by the beard. Garza TAKES OFF HIS PANTS as Angelo Dawkins is hitting on Demi in the back. Ivar hits a running crossbody to crush Garza, followed by some running clotheslines in the corner. A backsplash gives Ivar two and Garza heads outside, only to have Zelina Vega block the dive. Back in and Garza gets in a neck snap and the low dropkick finishes Ivar at 3:54.

Rating: C-. Just a match here which wasn’t all that bad but it did well enough. I’m not sure why we can’t have the #1 contenders to the Tag Team Titles in a singles match before their Summerslam title shot but I’m guessing Erik’s Raw Underground match is a little more important. Not a bad match, but they haven’t done the best job of hyping this up.

Post match Dawkins pops up and suggests they ask Charly Caruso a little more about Garza. That’s shouted down so Dawkins says he has a tape. Garza goes running off, with Vega asking Samoa Joe what is going on. Naturally Joe knows, and talks about all of the extra security around here to deal with Retribution. The tape is going to show how far someone is willing to go around here. Vega leaves and isn’t happy.

We look at what Seth Rollins and Murphy did to Dominik Mysterio last week.

Natalya vs. Mickie James

Lana is here with Natalya. This is Mickie’s first match in over a year and it was hyped up on WWE’s preview, so naturally she doesn’t get an entrance. Natalya takes her into the corner so Lana can film things before Mickie fights back and grabs a headlock. Mickie goes over to shout at Lana but the MickDT is countered.

A double clothesline gives is a double knockdown and here are Rollins and Murphy to yell at Joe. Rollins wants to know why Joe thinks Mysterio is going to be here as Mickie snaps off a hurricanrana out of the corner. A neckbreaker puts Natalya down again but Natalya knocks her off the top. The camera mainly stays on the argument as Mickie is counted out at 3:13.

Rating: D. This had me thinking of the opening scene to Guardians of the Galaxy 2 where the focus is on Groot while the battle is going on in the back. Picture that, but not entertaining or funny in any way. That being said, there is something funny about Natalya and Lana literally being downgraded to background noise during something else.

Post match Rollins threatens Joe and says he’ll take care of the Mysterios.

Sasha Banks/Bayley vs. Asuka/Shayna Baszler

Non-title. Before the match, Sasha and Bayley friendly bicker about who faces Asuka first at Summerslam. Either way, they’ll laugh all the way to Payback and their Tag Team Title defense. Cue Shayna to say she has the next shot at the Raw Women’s Title but here’s Asuka to say they have to fight together before Shayna can fight her. Asuka and Shayna charge the ring to start things off and it’s a Codebreaker to put Sasha down.

As Asuka goes after Sasha, it’s Nia Jax knocking the Plexiglas down to take Shayna out. Pat Buck and some referees come out to take care of her but Shayna starts the brawl into the stands. Asuka hits the hip attack on Sasha and we take a break. Back with Bayley working on Asuka’s back and handing it off to Sasha for two off the Meteora. Bayley comes back in to clothesline Asuka down for two more but the big elbow hits raised boots. Asuka fights back but gets caught in the Bank Statement.

Cue Shayna for the save and Asuka brings her in off the hot tag. Shayna’s stomp to the arm is countered with a rollup for two but Bayley has to break up the Kirifuda Clutch. Banks has to save Bayley from the same and the Bayley to Belly gets two more. Asuka pulls Banks to the floor for the Asuka Lock and Baszler Clutches Bayley for the tap (two in two weeks for Bayley) at 11:58.

Rating: C-. Let’s see: champ loses via tap out for the second week in a row, they set up the Payback Tag Team Title match, Nia is back (making me sigh heavily), Shayna now looks like she should be challenging Bayley on the other show and Asuka only looks like a threat to one champion. Did I miss anything here or did they pack in another five stories into one match while I turned my head for a second? And can we get a match without some kind of shenanigans?

Video on Dominik being attacked last week.

Apollo Crews and company are ready and walk off. Randy Orton comes in and seems to be pondering things.

Shawn Michaels comes up to see Drew McIntyre and they talk about all of the bad things Randy Orton has done. Shawn talks about how Drew drove five hours to watch film with him every day while he was healing up and knows he can deal with Orton. As for tonight though, Shawn needs to handle Orton so give him his space.

The IIconics and the Riott Squad argue about who is winning their singles matches tonight. The camera pans over to show Shayna Baszler talking to Marina Shafir and Jessamyn Duke in their Raw debuts.

Long video on Retribution.

Ruby Riott vs. Peyton Royce

They fight to the floor early on before Peyton blocks an O’Connor Roll back inside. A knee to the head gets two on Riott but she fights back with a running elbow in the corner. Peyton is sent outside for an apron crossbody but Billie Kay and Liv Morgan get in an argument. That lets Peyton shove them into each other and throw Ruby back in for the Deja Vu and the pin at 2:54. This was nothing.

Shane McMahon is ready for Raw Underground.

We join Raw Underground in progress with Erik mauling an unknown. Dolph Ziggler gives it a 4/10 so Erik calls him out for a fight. Ziggler gets on the stage and we have our first name vs. name match. Ziggler goes for a leg but Erik blasts him in the face with a left hand. A suplex drops Ziggler again but he keeps a grip on Erik. They trade hard shots with Erik getting the better of it and picking him up by the leg. Ziggler grabs a sleeper though and adds a thumb to the eye as Erik is out. After the bell, Ivar knocks Ziggler onto a bunch of people.

MVP sits down next to Cedric Alexander and asks why he isn’t in the six man tonight. He brings up Cedric being caught in the full nelson (because he’s already forgotten that he named it the Full Lashley an hour and a half ago) and offers Cedric a spot on the team again. MVP leaves and Cedric is frustrated.

Back on Raw Underground, Riddick Moss and Arturo Ruas beat the heck out of each other and fall off the stage. They fight with security and the match is deemed a draw.

Hurt Business vs. Ricochet/Apollo Crews/Mustafa Ali

Elimination rules. Ricochet kicks Benjamin down for two to start but it’s off to Lashley, who runs over the legal Ali. The spinning Dominator gets rid of Ali at 1:35 and it’s 3-2. A big spinebuster plants Ricochet and Paydirt gets rid of him at 2:15, leaving Crews all alone. Crews comes in and hits the Toss Powerbomb to get rid of Shelton at 2:55 to even things up a bit. Cue Cedric Alexander to roll Shelton up for the pin and the 24/7 Title as we take a break.

Back with MVP stomping away in the corner and throwing Crews outside. MVP misses a charge in the corner though and Crews hits the Toss Powerbomb to finish him off at 9:29. Lashley comes straight in to knee Crews down but Crews hits some kicks to the head. The standing moonsault gets two but Lashley spears him down for the pin at 10:50.

Rating: C-. I’m still not sure why it isn’t Crews vs. Lashley for the title at Summerslam but maybe that’s what we have for Payback. There isn’t much shame in having Crews lose a glorified gauntlet match and this goes a long way to give MVP a chance on Sunday. Not a good match or anything, but it did its job well enough.

Summerslam rundown.

24/7 Title: Akira Tozawa vs. Cedric Alexander

Cedric is defending and knocks Tozawa to the floor early on, sending him crashing into the Ninjas. Tozawa comes back in with a spinning kick to the head but has to bail out of the top rope backsplash. The Neuralizer into the Lumbar Check retains the title at 1:22.

Shelton Benjamin runs in with Paydirt to win the title back.

Back at Raw Underground, Marina Shafir destroys a woman for the win. Nia Jax runs in and takes out Shafir and Duke. Shayna pops up for the fight and Jax bails. ENOUGH WITH NIA JAX ALREADY!!!!

Montez Ford vs. Andrade

Ford starts fast and sends Andrade outside for the big flip dive. Back in and Ford gets crotched on top, allowing Andrade to hit a superplex for two. We hit the chinlock for a bit until Ford fights back and hits a standing moonsault for his own near fall. Andrade goes up and gets hurricanranaed right back down. Zelina Vega offers a distraction so Andrade can break up the frog splash. Vega dives at an invading Bianca Belair but gets slammed down, allowing Ford to grab a rollup for the pin at 3:08.

Rating: D+. Another match that was energetic while it lasted, though I’m a bit surprised that they had Ford get back in the ring before Summerslam. They did an angle with him getting poisoned and he’s just back two weeks later? I guess it wasn’t all that important, but it would have been nice to see them hold out until the pay per view to add a little something to the match.

Here’s Shawn Michaels to show us what happened to Ric Flair again. Shawn talks about how the 31 days Flair spent on his death bed were some of the hardest days of all of our lives (uh….). Without Flair, there would be no Shawn, HHH, Edge, Christian, Big Show or Drew McIntyre (UH…….). Randy Orton is on that list as well and then he had the nerve to take out Flair last week. Shawn doesn’t know how it is going to happen but it is going to happen at Summerslam. Maybe it’s from Sweet Chin Music or the Claymore, but someone is going to give Randy what he deserves. Whatever it is, Orton is going to see it coming.

Shawn goes to leave and there’s the RKO into the Punt. McIntyre runs in to run Orton off and a referee comes out to check on Shawn. Orton comes back and McIntyre beats the heck out of him, including throwing him over the announcers’ table. McIntyre checks on Shawn but Orton comes back in again for the RKO as Shawn can’t get up to end the show. This was as expected, including the over the top praise of Ric Flair, because Shawn and HHH still haven’t officially opened their eternal shrine to him.

Overall Rating: D+. There’s quite a bit to unpack here. First of all, you can’t really say the show was boring, because it didn’t stop moving all night long. Now that being said, there were a lot of highlight packages (often different versions of the same one) and a lot of them made you feel like they were just filling in time. There wasn’t much on here that you needed to see and last week’s show felt a lot more like the go home show for Summerslam. It also doesn’t help that Thunderdome is coming and that means this show was little more than a placeholder.

Results

Apollo Crews b. Shelton Benjamin – Rollup

Angel Garza b. Ivar – Low dropkick

Natalya b. Mickie James via countout

Asuka/Shayna Baszler b. Sasha Banks/Bayley – Kirifuda Clutch to Bayley

Peyton Royce b. Ruby Riott – Deja Vu

Hurt Business b. Mustafa Ali/Apollo Crews/Ricochet – Spear to Crews

Cedric Alexander b. Akira Tozawa – Lumbar Check

Montez Ford b. Andrade – Rollup

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the paperback edition of KB’s Complete 2004 Monday Night Raw Reviews (also available as an e-book) from Amazon. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2019/08/26/new-book-and-e-book-kbs-complete-2004-monday-night-raw-reviews/

And check out my Amazon author page with cheap wrestling books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6