Atlanta Georgia was the home for Monday Night Raw. It was a go-home to Survivor Series and plenty of fans packed the Philips Arena to bear witness to a great show. It would only be a matter of time until the path toward Survivor Series becomes the express lane into the Royal Rumble and then it’s onto the Road To WrestleMania once more in the never-ending road system of WWE.
Opening Segment
Stephanie McMahon’s music hit and people just instinctually booed her. But people were cheering pretty soon when introduced Kurt Angle. The people in Atlanta like to yell “you suck” at heroes.
Angle said he was 100% prepared for last week’s invasion and then he said he didn’t know how New Day got in last week. Steph said there was no raid last week and Shane McMahon just manipulated him again because Kurt got everyone in a tizzy preparing for war when it was just Woods, Kingston, and E.
Then Steph gave Angle some crap about naming Jason Jordan on Team Raw. It still cracks me up when Angle said he’s his son. Stephanie made Angle tell her who SmackDown’s fifth team member is: John Cena. That was funny.
McMahon asked Atlanta if they still believed in Kurt and they cheered. She asked him what was the first thing he was going to do at Survivor Series and he said, “I’m gonna break your brother’s ankle.” Because if Shane has any balls too, then that’s how it’s gonna go down.
Steph reminded him it’s not the 1990’s anymore and she said he wasn’t capable of breaking anyone’s ankle anymore and she’s made a big mistake by making him team captain. Just when she was about to fire Kurt Angle… The Shield’s music hit.
Seth and Dean were standing in the crowd waiting patiently… then Roman Reigns walked up behind them. It’s good to see him again and no, I never thought I’d ever say that in such a genuine way.
The Hounds Of Justice got in the ring and waited out the applause. Steph told Dean off and asked Roman were he’s been. Roman flipped it on her and asked Steph where she’s been after Seth put her through a table and Rollins started shaking his head. “Okay, I don’t want to get you in trouble,” Reigns said. “Your husband put you through a table.” Reigns was on fire.
Seth didn’t have to say a word. Reigns said they wanted The New Day and that’s happening. The Shield attitude, feel, everything was back and it was excellent. It’s just too bad it probably won’t last long.
Mickie James vs Dana Brooke vs Bayley
This whole team formation has been about Bayley joining the team because it means so much to her. Fun fact: Bayley was the first person announced at Survivor Series 2016 when she came out as a member of Team Raw. So, she would like to make that a recurring theme. After all, Bayley loves hugging those nice PPV paydays too.
This match started in a three-way test of strength but it soon broke into Mickie James just drop kicking everyone. She really is so good. Bayley’s shoulder was wrapped with black therapeutic athletic tape and it’s a good thing because she took a sick bump out of the ring.
By the way, the first four members of Team Raw’s women’s team were lined up on the bottom of the ramp just watching the match looking all judgey.
Bayley started to rally until Mickie hit a faceplant and kipped up like nobody’s business. James went to the top but Bayley met her there with a forearm. They fought up top for a bit and Bayley got knocked down. Mickie hit a weird looking knee drop thing on her and Dana jumped in to break up the pin.
James hit a neckbreaker and it looked bad, Bayley rolled out of the ring. James hit Dana with a spinning faceplant and Dana rolled out of the ring. Asuka went to check on her and then she hit Asuka in the face. That was a mistake.
Asuka chased her through the ring and then destroyed with a kick on the other side. Bayley soon hit a Bayley To Belly and won the match.
Winner: Bayley via pinfall
Dana Brooke really did something stupid by hitting Asuka. I can only hope this will develop into some kind of feud between Asuka and Dana Brooke. But Asuka better not suffer an even stupider loss in the process. A retaliation from Brooke could be a great way to get Asuka out of the Survivor Series match without having Asuka actually suffer a loss. Brooke could just come down in the middle of the match and destroy her with a weapon or toss her through a table or something. I don’t know, assault her with a barbell? Dana likes lifting weights.
Enzo Amore and Drew Gulak vs Kalisto and Akira Tozawa
Drew Gulak is comic gold when paired with Enzo. Seriously, this was a good decision to put those two together. But Enzo just had to talk a lot. But just as Gulak was going to speak Kalisto and Akira Tozawa came out.
The babyfaces rallied early on and dropkicked the heels out of the ring. But after a little back and forth match, Enzo hit the Jord Enzo because he’s the champion going into a PPV and he got the pin on Tozawa because Akira isn’t the one challenging for the title on Sunday.
Winners: Enzo Amore and Drew Gulak
Kurt Angle and Team Raw were backstage and he said he needed to make sure Finn and Joe would be able to get along so he put them in a match against The Club. Then he booked JJ against Bray Wyatt (look who’s back too!!!) then Angle walked up to Braun and before he could say anything, Strowman said: “I want Kane” over and over again until Kurt Angle booked Kane vs Braun Strowman for free on the go home show to Survivor Series.
Miz TV
Curtis Axel was still wearing his neck brace because he’s awesome and knows how to put over a running powerslam through an announce table.
Miz was on fire but still fumbled a couple lines which was odd. Then he brought up his match with The Shield tonight. He introduced The Bar as his guest (and close personal friends)
The Bar were cutting a promo and Cesaro’s mouthpiece kept getting in the way. Then Sheamus started cutting his promo and the “you look stupid” chants kept getting in his way.
Bray Wyatt vs Jason Jordan
Bray Wyatt is back and they totally no-sold his absence. But he’s back to prove JJ is deserving of the fifth spot on Team Raw. Let’s just assume that Stephanie will come out after Bray beats Jason and make Wyatt replace Jordan on Team Raw? Yeah… that’d be nice.
Kurt Angle was shown watching intently on a monitor backstage as he drove Bray into the turnbuckles, hit a spear, and then nailed a belly to belly suplex. Bray powered out and dodged Jordan as he dove for him. JJ crashed into the barricade and slid down to the floor.
“You don’t know who you’re messing with kiddo,” Bray Wyatt said.
Bray continued to bring the pain to JJ in the ring and Jordan sold a misstep which caused a knee injury even though he’s still competing so we know it can’t be too bad. As Bray continued to target JJ’s left knee the referee looked worried.
Jason jumped around Bray but his leg gave out. Wyatt his a nice uranage slam and then Bray geared up with his weird upside down look. Suddenly Jason Jordan rolled Bray Wyatt up and got the win after avoiding a Sister Abigail
Winner: Jason Jordan via pinfall
Bray Wyatt made JJ wish he had never been born from Kurt Angle’s seed after the match when he gave Jordan a sick beat down. Bray targeted JJ’s left leg and drove it into the steel post.
Kurt Angle was shown backstage and looked worried. Then he left looking worried. The crowd chanted “thank you Wyatt” as Jordan struggled to get to his feet. The crowd gave him the “Na, na, na, na, heeey Goodbye” song… savage.
At this moment, Bully Ray tweeted out: “IMO… When fans are “thanking” the bad guy for jumping and injuring the good guy…after the good guy won clean…and then they chant “hey, hey goodbye…” It might be time to re-evaluate said good guy…”
Backstage Kurt Angle wanted to pull JJ from the match as he iced down his knee. Jordan said this is what he’s been waiting for his entire life followed by “I deserve this, dad”… and smarks all over threw up in their mouth a little bit.
Brock Lesnar And Paul Heyman Are Still Awesome
Paul Heyman was out there to give people a list of selling points about why they should sign up for the WWE Network. His mic work is impeccable as he ran through his valid points.
Then someone proposed to their girlfriend in the crowd and everyone started chanting “she said yes” so Heyman chastised them for interrupting his promo.
AJ Styles is very popular in Atlanta Georgia which makes a lot of sense. So Heyman really put Styles over while proving Lesnar was going to beat him.
On his way up the ramp, Brock Lesnar shook hands with a couple kids at ringside and it was kind of odd how stoic he was in the process.
The Shield vs The Bar and The Miz
Sierra, Hotel, India, Echo, Lima, Delta… SHIELD. It was really cool to see those three walk down the ramp and WWE’s head of security even had to kick someone out of the building for getting too close to them.
Dean took some damage thanks to The Bar once the match got started. The Shield got back on the same page and soon sent The Bar over the top rope leaving Roman alone with The Miz.
Miz powdered out and ran around the ring but Rollins ran after him. The Miztourage got in the way and Miz jumped the barricade and scampered off through the crowd.
The Miz eventually made it back to the ring though and the heels took advantage over The Shield. Sheamus snapped Seth’s neck off the top rope and jumped down into a kick from Rollins.
Roman got the tag and started cleaning house. He cornered Cesaro and hit a bunch of clotheslines… 10 in fact because the crowd loves to count along. He hit a Samoan Drop and popped right up to prepare for a Superman Punch. Miz grabbed his foot and then he got hit by a suicide dive from Rollins. Sheamus hit Roman and Cesaro hit a Super European Uppercut for a two count. Rollins hit Sheamus with a dive and Reigns nailed a Superman Punch. Cesaro revered out of a Spear and Miz got the tag.
The Miz almost stole a pin and then went for a Skull Crushing Finale but failed. Dean hit a Dirty Deeds on Miz and The Hounds Of Justice surrounded him. Roman hit a spear and then they prepped The Miz for the Shield Triple Powerbomb and they hit it square in the ring. 1-2-3 and that one was over.
Winners: The Shield via pinfall
Kurt Angle Speaks
Angle was out there to talk about how Stephanie discussed decisions and he was about to make a very hard one. He said Jason Jordan was injured eariler and he cannot allow Jason Jordan to compete. Then he said he was going to announce a replacement.
JJ was on the ramp crying about how he worked so hard to get to this point. He was really selling this whole Raw vs SmackDown deal. He said this was the first time he could fight side-by-side with his father.
“Jason, you’re injured.”
“By Sunday I will be fine” JJ replied.
Jason really pulled off some emotional character work as he said he’s just like his daddy because Kurt was injured and won a freaking gold medal. He said he emulated Angle his entire life (even though he didn’t know he was his dad).
It was just… well… it was bad but he tried his best but in the end, JJ came off looking like a whiny baby as he begged Kurt not to pull him from the match. “Please, please reconsider this… please.”
“Give me a break, Kurt,” Stephanie said as she walked out and people cheered.
Suddenly Triple H’s music broke out and The Game came to the ring in a full suit. “If you won’t make the damn announcement I will… the fifth member of Team Raw is me!” Triple H said.
The place went ballistic as Jason Jordan just stood in the ring with Triple H and Angle looking sad and disappointed. Then Trips his a Pedigree on JJ and took off to let Angle check on his baby boy.
Finn Balor and Samoa Joe vs The Club
Samoa Joe pushed Finn down before The Club’s entrance was even over. But Samoa Joe would soon have his partner’s back.
Gallows and Anderson are one of the best tag teams on the roster but their role in this match was to prove Samoa Joe and Finn Balor could get along. But Luke Gallows still got to deliver a few nice elbow drops on Balor.
Anderson tagged in to apply some damage to Finn as well. Anderson hit a signature spinebuster on Finn but only got a two count.
Joe finally got the tag and started lighting Anderson up with kicks and a running senton. He tagged Finn and tossed Luke Gallows outside. Finn kicked Gallows from the apron and Joe hit Anderson with a uranage slam. Then Joe hit a suicide dive on Gallows to Balor hit a Coupe De Gras on Anderson. 1-2-3 and that was it.
Winners: Finn Balor and Samoa Joe via pinfall
As soon as the match was over, Joe walked up the ramp looking serious while Balor stayed in the ring to celebrate.
Alexa Bliss was interviewed backstage and asked about the Women’s Title match on SmackDown tomorrow night. She said she gets to pick between the “Queen Of Cats and the Queen Of Dysfunction.” Bliss said she usually DVR’s SmackDown and forgets to watch it but she might watch it live tomorrow.
Kane vs Braun Strowman
This match is happening in the main event of Raw on the go-home show of Raw for free. It was 11:00 pm EST as the match started which really made me wonder how much time they’re going to give this one.
Kane just smiled at Strowman before this match started. Then Kane slapped him and Braun knocked him down to stomp on him. Strowman followed Kane outside and beat him around the ring. I never heard an opening bell for this match… maybe I missed it, but it didn’t look like they were NOT having a match.
Braun beat on Kane and yelled, “You think you can stuff me in a garbage truck?!”
Corey Graves pointed out that this match hadn’t even started yet… see?! I’m not crazy!
“Trim your beard, Braun!” some fan could be heard yelling. That was funny.
Then Kane grabbed a table and set it up at ringside. Kane grabbed a chair and belted Braun with it twice but Strowman didn’t fall at all. Then Kane latched his hand onto Braun’s throat for a chokeslam but it didn’t work.
Instead, Braun powered out and hit Kane with a chair shot of his own and then he hit him again. Braun went to the top rope and pulled Kane up too. There was that table still at ringside and it looked like they were going to pull off some kind of sick video game bump through the table on the floor.
But Kane fought out and Braun powered out as well. Suddenly, Braun Strowman hit a running powerslam and went through the ring. Yup. It caved in. It’s been awhile since they pulled that one out of their bag of tricks.
Both competitors disappeared and that was the end of the show!
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