Last night was Battleground over on the blue team but tonight was Monday Night Raw. Hopefully, we’ll find out even more information about the Kurt Angle/Jason Jordan story that deserves to be a segment on Maury instead. Finn Balor will also get some retribution on Elias Samson after that sick guitar shot last week. Oh, and we still don’t know what’s going on with the Universal Title match so that might be the subject of conversation as well.
Opening Segment
Kurt Angle’s music hit and the Olympic Hero came out to an arena of people telling him he sucks in an adoring manner. Pro wrestling is fun.
The Raw GM welcomed everyone to Monday Night Raw and picked up right where he left off with the Jason Jordan storyline. He went over the story in a nutshell and the crowd went mild when he dropped Jordan’s name.
He said he’s been making up for lost time with his son and Jason will have his first match on Raw tonight. He said he’s giving him an opportunity and the rest is up to him. That was precise wording.
Kurt brought up the #1 contender’s match last night and Braun Strowman’s music hit and interrupted him before he could announce the new #1 contender at SummerSlam. Braun was sporting a black eye too which made him look even scarier. He said, “the next words out of your mouth better be Braun Strowman or else.”
Braun said unlike Joe or Roman he actually won his match at Great Balls Of Fire and Brock Lesnar fears him. Braun said he’s going to break Brock Lesnar in half and Samoa Joe came out to join the discussion.
Samoa Joe explained who he is to Braun Strowman just in case he hadn’t heard. Joe said he almost put The Beast to sleep at Great Balls Of Fire. Joe doesn’t fear Brock or Braun. Joe said all he accomplished last week was saving Roman from losing to him for the third time straight.
Joe told Kurt to book him against Brock Lesnar at SummerSlam and let Roman and Braun settle things at SummerSlam.
Insert Roman Reigns here…
The Big Dog had a very mixed reaction and took his time getting to the ring. He stood there without talking for a second and said it’s funny to him how Joe comes out and talks about what he almost did. He said Braun has only been in WWE for a hiccup. Then Roman started listing off his accolades while the crowd either cheered or booed him.
Finally Roman said, “tell me what you’ve done here, I’ll wait.” He almost threw down with Joe and Braun when Kurt said he just changed his mind again. Then Kurt Angle booked a fatal four-way match for the Universal Championship at SummerSlam.
Nobody saw that one coming.
Joe stopped Kurt Angle’s music and Angle said “we’re done here” and he left. Braun said he doesn’t care what kind of match it is all he cares about is piling bodies. Roman told him to shut up and punched him.
Strowman grabbed Roman’s neck and then Joe’s. Suddenly it was two-on-one as Joe and Roman jumped Braun and tossed him out of the ring and over a barricade. Then Joe and Roman started firing on each other and the action moved back to the ring.
Braun ran back in and sent Roman into the ring post. Kurt Angle called a bunch of local indie workers… I mean “security” down and Strowman started dismantling them. He tossed one poor guy halfway up the entrance ramp.
Suddenly the locker room emptied to keep them apart from each other. Roman hit Braun with a spear and sent the whole locker room flying. Braun hit Roman from behind and slammed him nearly through the ring.
SummerSlam is going to be violent.
Elias Samson vs Finn Balor (No DQ Match)
Who wants to walk with Elias? It seems like more and more people are cheering to that question. He said last week he hurt one of his babies referring to his guitar. “We want Balor” chants broke out as Samson said he was dedicating his song to Finn.
Elias’ song was about Finn and also took some digs at the Washington DC crowd. The song didn’t last long though as Finn Balor came out to ruin the concert.
Finn took it to Samson as soon as the bell rang and tossed him outside to hit a dropkick through the ropes. They mentioned the tape on Finn Balor’s shoulder and his history of shoulder injuries but in the end blamed it on the guitar shot last week.
Balor hit Elias from behind and sent him into the barricade while Fonzie Finn stood tall and ready to apply more punishment on his foe. Finn kept up the assault on Samson and hit his head against the barricade over and over again. When they got back in the ring Elias turned Finn inside out with a clothesline and attempted to recollect himself.
Elias draped Finn over the ring apron and drove his shoulder down before moving him back to the ring and slapping on an arm submission hold. Finn fought back and so far nothing about this match has been anything that would get someone DQ’ed.
“Who wants to walk with Elias?!” Samson yelled before wrapping Balor’s arm around the ring post. Then Samson grabbed a steel chair from the timekeeper’s area to turn it up a notch.
But Balor didn’t let him get to him with his new toy. Balor hit his dropkick to a seated Samson’s face but lost control to Elias. Samson stomped on Balor’s hand and kicked him in the back. He continued to target Balor’s shoulder as the match continued.
Balor started hitting a few takedown and backed Elias up in the corner. He stomped at Elias’ midsection and went for that chair on the outside.
Finn brought the chair in the ring but Elias kicked it out of his hands. Samson WHACKED Balor across the back with the steel chair to send Finn rolling out of the ring.
Finn tried to mount some offense but Elias tossed him out of the ring and against the barricade again. Samson hit a shoulder breaker and got a close two-count. Finn was holding his arm close to his side while he laid on the canvas and Elias wedged a chair in-between the turnbuckles.
But Elias had the move turned around on him and ended up taking the closest thing to an unprotected chair shot to the head as WWE will let people take nowadays. Finn hit an overhead kick and geared up for the end.
Finn and Elias ended up on the outside and Finn wrapped the apron around Elias to trap him. Finn stomped on the back of Elias’ head and neck until he got out of the clutches of the ring apron. Finn teed off and kicked Samson’s head off and dropkicked him into the barricade.
Balor grabbed the chair and got back in the ring. He hit Elias across the back several times with the chair and landed a dropkick to Samson’s face. He hit the turnbuckle drop kick and climbed to the top to hit the Coup De Gras.
Suddenly the arena got all Wyatty and when the lights came back on Finn was in Bray Wyatt’s clutches. Bray hit a Sister Abagail on Balor and then hung himself upside down in the corner.
Bray watched as Elias Samson crawled over to Finn and got the cover. 1-2-3 and Elias Samson won.
After the match was over Bray walked like a creepy spider over to Finn and whispered some sweet nothings in his ear before posing.
Backstage Segment
Renee Young interviewed Kurt Angle about Jason Jordan’s match against Curt Hawkins tonight. Kurt said he has butterflies in his stomach about Jordan’s match against Curt Hawkins.
Suddenly Emma walked on the set and asked when the focus was going to be on her. She said she started the Women’s Revolution and she’s been sitting on the sidelines the whole time. Emma asked what she had to do to get noticed and said she’s going to start dating Jason Jodan like it was a threat.
Kurt Angle set a match with Emma vs Nia Jax for later in the night. Looks like nobody wants Emma dating their son.
Enzo was backstage and Big Show walked up to him asking if he was sure he wanted to take on Big Cass. Of course, Enzo wants to do it.
Enzo vs Big Cass
This is proof Enzo loves pain. He came out to a great reaction and you can’t teach that. But you could teach some common sense. He got on the mic and spit some fire at Big Cass. Enzo said the things that drive him drives Big Cass crazy. He said he’s fueled on passion and he’s got a full tank. Enzo said the key that fuels his passion is all the fans and then he did the “running man.”
Oh yeah, Enzo quoted Drake too by saying “you’re like a finish line and I can’t wait to run into you.” How can you hate quoting Drizzy? Big Cass could probably figure out a way.
Enzo went for a dropkick to the knee but Cass didn’t sell it. He tried to dropkick him again but Cass just swatted him away. After that Cass didn’t really let Enzo breath for a minute. He tossed Enzo across the ring and then picked him up. Enzo tried to get a sleeper on Cassady but he was brought down.
Enzo ended up jumping on Cass again but just got slammed back down. Cass hit an elbow drop as “Casshole” chants broke out. Insert another elbow drop here. Insert kick to the ribs here. Cass started mocking Enzo by singing his chant which got the crowd going.
He placed Enzo on the top rope and hammered on him. He was taking his time and Enzo wasn’t fairing too well. Enzo tried to fight back but it didn’t do him much good.
Cass stomped on Enzo in the corner and the ref had to pull him off of his former tag team partner. Michael Cole said Cass could slam him and win the match while Corey said just because he can doesn’t mean he should.
Big Cass hit a big boot and Enzo lost clean once again. What is he trying to prove here? Also, what is WWE trying to prove by giving us the same one-sided match time and time again?
Cass picked Enzo up after the match and propped him in the corner. Cass slapped Enzo and THEN The Big Show came down.
Cass picked up Enzo and threatened to snap his neck if Show came in the ring. Big Show got on the apron anyway. Then he stepped over the top rope. Cass shoved Enzo into Show and kicked him. Cass hit a few more strikes that knocked Show down and delivered three Empire Elbows.
“Something has happened to this young man along the way,” Michael Cole said referring to Cass’ change in demeanor. Big Show tried to fight him off but Cass landed two more Empire Elbows and continued kicking Big Show.
Then Cass left after kicking him a couple more times and choking him with his boot for good measure.
Backstage Segment
Alexa said she’s not worried about SummerSlam because tonight the WWE Universe will watch a friendship explode. She can’t wait to see Sasha and Bayley fight. The real winner tonight is going to be the Raw Women’s Champion, Alexa Bliss.
Emma vs Nia Jax
Four years ago today NXT crowned their first Women’s Champion in a match between Emma and Paige. My how far we’ve come.
Emma begged away from Nia to start it out and tried to jump her with forearms but Nia don’t play that. Jax shoved her down and Emma looked ticked.
Then Nia hit Emma down and smashed her in the turnbuckle. She tossed Emma across the ring and splashed her again in the corner. Nia hit an elbow drop and then hit a flipping senton on Emma that nearly killed her. Seriously Nia Jax needs to work on that move because it looked rough to take.
1-2-3 and The Girl Who’s Not Like Most Girls wins again. Good lord, Emma learned a lesson to never complain about not being on Raw again.
Backstage Segment
Akira Tozawa was backstage when they showed some highlights of him and Ariya Daivari from last week. “Now you see why I want a rematch against Daivari,” he said.
Titus came on and said Tozawa’s injured shoulder is a liability. He was playing his new role of protective coach and explained why he got the match canceled. Akira got really angry and walked off. He said he wanted his match and this is his business. The camera followed the two of them up to the Gorilla Position and out to the ring.
Akira Tozawa Goes To The Ring
Akira’s music hit but Titus was still waving off the match. Tozawa pushed Titus with his good arm and there was a standoff in the ring.
Akira got the mic and said for Davairi to come out and face him like a man.
But instead, Neville’s music hit and the King Of The Cruiserweight came out. Neville said Tozawa’s injured shoulder was all his fault and he seemed proud of that. He said he tried to warn him but if trusted the false promises of Titus.
Then Neville got in the ring and stood in Tozawa’s face. He called him pathetic and a joke. Finally, Tozawa knocked Neville down and kicked him. Akira climbed to the top rope and hit his top rope senton.
Suddenly Daivari jumped in the ring and took out both Tozawa and Neville. It looks like we might be looking at a triple threat match for the Cruiserweight Championship soon enough.
Backstage Segment
Bayley was lacing her boots and Sasha asked if she heard what Bliss said while calling her a little troll. Sasha said she can’t wait to get her hands on Bliss and Bayley said she needs to focus more on tonight’s match. When Sasha asked her what she meant by that statement, Bayley said she wants to be Raw Women’s Champion just as much as Banks does. They said they’re going to tear the house down tonight. May the best woman win.
Jason Jordan was interviewed about his first match on Raw and he said it’s a great opportunity. He said he knows all eyes are on him but he can handle the pressure. He said he had butterflies and Renee said Kurt had the same thing to say. Like father, like son. How adorbs!
Jordan said the man he idolized his entire life is his father. He said he’s no poet but to put it into words just imagine a great dream just came true. That’s how he feels, but right now he’s focused. He said he’s going to go out and win his first match on Raw. Boy, there’s a lot of hype surrounding this match against Curt Hawkins.
Dean Ambrose was taping his hands in the locker room and Seth Rollins came in wearing his new WWE Shop t-shirt that says “Burn It Down” on it for some reason. He said this is a big deal that they’re tagging together.
Rollins said it’ll be 3 vs 2. Dean said Seth has to worry about three guys but he has to worry about four. It looked like Deano still didn’t trust The Architect.
Bayley vs Sasha Banks (#1 Contender Match)
Alexa Bliss came down after Bayley and Banks to get a closer look at the action. She strolled over to the announce table to join the commentary team.
Bayley and Banks started off pretty evenly matched as Bliss called them “Team Gag Reflex.” Corey Graves said he’d wear that on a t-shirt if they made one.
Bayley let Banks dropkick midair and pinned her quickly for a two count. They traded arm drags and Bayley hit a clothesline in the corner. Bayley locked in a head submission until Banks fought out but ate a back body drop.
Bayley hit some elbow in the corner and got up on the turnbuckle to pounce on Sasha. The Boss sprung to action and knocked Bayley off as she tumbled to the floor.
Sasha got Bayley back in the ring and kept applying some pain via a submission hold. While Bliss called herself the Goddess of WWE, Bayley fought out and lifted Sasha’s face into the top turnbuckle.
Bayley got a two count after a nice move through the ropes but Sasha wouldn’t remain silent for long. The Boss his Bayley with some knees i the corner and soon slapped on a Bank Statement. Bayley tried to fight out of it, but Sasha wouldn’t let go. Bayley got back on her feet with Sasha still on her back and flipped her to the mat.
Bayley was looking for a Bayley To Belly and this match devolved into a slap-fest. These two hammered away at each other and Banks tossed Bayley to the corner. She climbed to the top rope and missed the double knees.
Bayley hit a running knee and then Sasha no-sold it to nail a shining wizard but neither got a pin attempt as they sold their injuries. Bayley got to her feet first and the two kept trading punches and forearms. Bayley caught an elbow to Banks and tossed her to the apron. Banks hit her with a knee to the face and climbed to the top rope once again.
“Let’s go Sasha/Let’s go Bayley” chants started to ring out as The Hugger climbed up to join The Boss. Banks fought it off and sent Bayley to the canvas.
Sasha Banks hit a Frog Splash just like Eddie Guerrero (kinda) and covered 1-2, but Bayley rolled her around and hooked Sasha’s legs, 1-2-3 and Bayley is the new #1 contender for Alexa Bliss’s Raw Women’s Championship.
Bayley appeared shocked to have won the match while Sasha looked on in disbelief. Alexa Bliss walked down to the ring with her title in tow. She held up her title right in front of Bayley’s face and The Hugger just talked some inaudible smack and looked at the title.
Alexa Bliss’ music played as Booker T said, “it’s gonna be good!”
Backstage Segment
Curt Hawkins was asked about Jason Jordan and Curt said he doesn’t care about Jason Jordan. He said that’s all he’s heard about all week. He said he’s going to smack Jordan in his face, beat him, and ruin his big Monday Night Raw debut.
Curt said everyone will be talking about him tomorrow. Seriously though, at least people are talking about a Curt Hawkins match.
Jason Jordan vs Curt Hawkins
Jordan came down with his American Alpha music, so does that mean Chad Gable is going to be getting new music? Who knows? Curt Hawkins started things out with a right-hand slap across the face before the bell rang.
Jordan didn’t waste time and just tossed Hawkins down. Then he hit a suplex but Hawkins kicked out. Kurt Angle was shown backstage watching on a monitor looking like such a proud papa.
Hawkins hammered on Jason’s back and sent him to the mat. Curt taunted him in the face but that didn’t do him any favors. Jordan hit him with a couple knock down and then pressed him against the corner. He hit a nice German Suplex and took his singlet straps down like like his daddy.
Jason Jordan hit his finisher and got the clean win. That was quick and impressive. Kurt Angle has to be so proud. It’s true, it’s damn true.
The Revival vs The Club
Charly Caruso was in the ring and introduced her guests. The Revival came down and Dawson interrupted her saying they’re professional enough that they know what she’s going to say before she asks it. Scott asked Dash to tell us why The Revival is so special.
Wilder said not only did they dominate NXT, but now they’re on Monday Night Raw to do the same. Dawson said they sent The New Day packing to Smackdown and Big Cass ditched Enzo at the thought of facing the Top Guys.
Insert The Club here…
Anderson said they’ve done everything first. They bantered a bit and ended up saying The Revival wasn’t top guys, are were Top Nerds.
Then they had a match. Dawson and Anderson started things off. Scott backed Karl into the corner and pushed him which Anderson answered back with a quick slap to the face. Wilder got the tag and softened Anderson up a bit.
The Revival tagged in and out a bit and utilized their tag team abilities well.
Cesaro and Sheamus were shown backstage hanging out and watching the match on a monitor with their tag team titles. The Revival tried to double team Gallows but he took both of them out with clotheslines and body drops. The Club clotheslined The Revival to the floor and posed for the crowd.
The Revival soon took control until Karl Anderson hit a jumping kick and got the tag to Gallows. LG called Dawson a nerd and splashed him on the mat. Scott stepped away from another splash but still ate a boot to the face. They set up for the Boot Of Doom, but Wilder jumped up and stopped Gallows.
Just when it looked like they were setting up for the Shatter Machine, The Hardy Boyz’ music hit and The Club tossed The Revival out of the ring. The Club started stared The Hardys down then for some reason and The Revival surprised them with a Shatter Machine for the win.
The Hardys stormed the ring and hit a Poetry In Motion on The Revival. Matt hit a Twist Of Fate, but Dawson pulled Wilder out of the ring before Jeff could hit his Swanton Bomb.
Backstage Segment
The Miz hyped his Miztourage up. In the process, Maryse talked some trash at Hollywood and Tom Cruise’s newest failure “The Mummy” because Hollywood can’t come up with anything original. Miz equated it to being like The Shield.
Miz said they are going to prove Rollins and Ambrose are nothing but a box office bomb waiting to happen.
Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins vs Miz and Miztourage
Miz and Dean started this one off but Miz tagged off the Axel before Ambrose could touch him. The Lunatic Fringe laid some chops onto Axel and then took him down to hammer on his head with some fists. Rollins tagged himself in and hit Axel with a slam and a knee drop to Curtis’ head.
Sheamus and Cesaro were shown backstage once again looking on for some reason. Bo Dallas got the tag but it didn’t help things for the Miztourage as Rollins kept taking the punishment to him. Miz said he wanted a tag after Bo knocked Seth down.
Miz kicked Seth in the chest and then drove some elbows down onto him before getting a headlock. The Architect fought out of it with some punches and hit a sling blade. Dean chased Miz around the ring but Axel cut him off.
Dean tagged into Seth and they both hit some cool tandem offense on the Miztourage to send Miz scrambling out of the ring.
Once the action returned to the ring, Seth Rollins kept taking the punishment to Axel, but Miz got a quick tag and cut Seth off before he could tag in Dean. Miz stomped on Rollins and kept him down while the Miztourge hit some cheap shots while the ref was looking the other way.
Miz kept knocking Seth down while he trash talked Deano. He locked in a submission hold to keep Seth stationary. But Seth was still getting close to a tag until Miz kicked him and hit a backbreaker/neckbreaker for a two count.
Axel got the tag and hit a neck snapping move to Seth for another two count. Mr Perfect’s son kept assaulting Rollins with knee strikes and ground the sharpest part of his leg into Seth’s chest.
Rollins struggled to get to the tag, but Curtis shot him off the ropes and hit a dropkick. Bo Dallas got the tag and dropped knees into Seth’s head and neck area. Rollins tried to crawl to Dean, but Bo cut him off and hit him back.
Miz got tagged back in and Bo held Seth down while the A Lister casually walked around to hit Seth again. The heels were certainly taking their time here.
Suddenly Seth started fighting back at 10:59, but Miz countered with a DDT and got a two count. Miz started hitting his It Kicks but the last one didn’t land. Seth ducked out of the way and then they took each other out with double clotheslines.
Axel got the tag and tried to keep Seth from getting to Dean, Bo was tagged in and he was unsuccessful. Ambrose got the tag and started to clean house. He turned his signature bulldog into a move to take out both members of the Miztourage and then he sent Miz to the floor.
Dean looked hyped up and climbed to the top rope. He hit the elbow drop on Bo but Miz broke up the pin attempt. Seth sent Miz outside and Axel dragged Seth out of the ring and sent him into the barricade.
Bo tried to piledriver Dean but took a body drop. Axel distracted Dean and Miz got the tag. Ambrose sent Curtis out of the ring and Miz hit a Skull Crushing Finale. 1-2- Seth broke up the pin.
Miz was launched over the top rope by Dean and then 2/3 of the Shield went flying onto he Miztourage while Miz climbed in the ring. Miz hit a DDT on Ambrose for a two count. Seth hit a glancing knee off the top rope and Dean nailed his Dirty Deeds. 1-2-3 and Seth and Dean won over Miz and his Miztourage.
Raw went off the air with Seth hugging Dean while Ambrose just kind of brushed him off to celebrate. Seth offered his fist for a Shield fist pound, but Ambrose rolled out of the ring and left his old buddy hanging.
It doesn’t look like Dean has quite forgiven Rollins just yet, but “it was a start” Michael Cole said.
