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This week’s WWE RAW show was titled WWE RAW: In Your Face and it had its fair share of great moments. Drew McIntyre made his return last week and launched an attack on Randy Orton. The WWE Champion ensured that The Viper left the Thunderdome in the back of an ambulance.
McIntyre came out early this week on RAW and challenged Orton to an Ambulance match for the WWE Championship at the Clash of Champions PPV.
Asuka had to defend her RAW Women’s title, while the RAW Tag Team Champions, The Street Profits, faced the SmackDown Tag Team Champions, Cesaro and Shinsuke Nakamura.
McIntyre was scheduled to take on his friend Keith Lee on this week's RAW, and Kevin Owens looked to make a statement at the expense of Aleister Black.
The Hurt Business had another great night as United States Champion Bobby Lashley defeated Erik, while Cedric Alexander put down Ricochet on WWE RAW.
In this article, we will look at the five things WWE got right on this week’s WWE RAW In Your Face show.
#5 Aleister Black and Kevin Owens get their first big match on WWE RAW
After making his return to WWE RAW, Aleister Black attacked Kevin Owens a couple of times. The two men traded a few blows on RAW Underground, but they were outpowered by Dabba Kato, who took both men down during their contest. So both men decided to settle the score inside the WWE ring this week.
Black showed his new heel side by attacking Owens from behind before the bell rang. The Striking Man from Amsterdam continued to assault KO after getting into the ring, ensuring that he had the upper hand for the rest of the contest.
KO struggled to get up and mount an offense, as he’d already endured a lot of punishment early on. However, he managed to surprise The Dutch Destroyer with a Superkick after which the lights started flickered signalling a RETRIBUTION interference.
Owens took advantage of the situation and delivered a stunner to Black to pick up the win.
This was a decent first match between the two Superstars, but they require much more time. RETRIBUTION’s antics helped KO pick up the victory, and this will allow The Dutch Destroyer to get a rematch either on RAW or at the upcoming Clash Of Champions PPV.
#4 Asuka defeats Mickie James, finds a new challenger on WWE RAW
Mickie James got a big opportunity this week as she challenged Asuka for the RAW Women’s Championship.
Before their match, Angel Garza was seen flirting with Lana, and Zelina Vega was done with her clients as the former NXT Cruiserweight Champion and Andrade began to brawl soon after.
In the ring, Asuka did not care about James’ journey in WWE and only had one thing on her mind: to retain her RAW Women’s Championship.
The women had a decent match before Asuka managed to lock her challenger in the Asuka Lock but James reversed the move. But an injury to James forced the referee to call for the bell. Sadly, for most of the fans in the WWE Universe, their match wasn’t half as good as their initial one in WWE NXT.
After the match, Vega came out to the middle and confronted The Empress of Tomorrow who was celebrating in the ring. She told the RAW Women’s Champion that she was done wasting her time on others and wanted to win the gold for herself. She slapped the Champion before walking away, giving rise to a new rivalry for Asuka.
The end of the segment was good and allows Asuka to get a new challenger on her way to WWE Clash of Champions. Vega is a good wrestler, but we’ve seen her in her managerial role much more than in her wrestling one.
#3 The Street Profits continue their momentum on WWE RAW
The Champions vs. Champions match kicked off this week’s WWE RAW as RAW Tag Team Champions Angelo Dawkins and Montez Ford, competed against SmackDown Tag Team Champions, Cesaro and Shinsuke Nakamura.
The Street Profits came into the match with short bursts of energy, but Cesaro used his power and Nakamura used his skills to keep the RAW Champions at bay.
However, Dawkins and Ford, who’ve held the titles for almost 200 days now, came back into the fight and connected with the Cash-Out Splash on Cesaro to pick up the victory while Nakamura was laid out outside the ring.
Many fans expected to see the new heel SmackDown Tag Team Champions pick up the victory, especially considering that The Street Profits would not have lost much momentum after a loss.
However, it was good to see the RAW Tag Team champions come out on top against the Blue brand’s Champions, and it will be interesting if WWE decides to stretch this rivalry a little longer.
#2 Seth Rollins surprises fans even more on WWE RAW
Seth Rollins and Murphy, and The Mysterios have been carrying WWE RAW for a couple of months now. Rollins was once again scheduled to take on Mysterio Junior on this week’s show, this time in a Steel Cage match.
Rollins met with Murphy backstage and told him to stay in the backstage area for the match. Rey Mysterio and his family accompanied Dominik to the ring for his match against The Monday Night Messiah.
The match started with the usual moves, and Murphy tried to redeem himself by coming out with a kendo stick for Rollins which was instead taken by Dominik to use on Rollins.
While Dominik tried to escape the cage, Murphy attacked Rey at the entrance and blasted The Messiah with the cage door by mistake.
After a series of errors, Murphy managed to stop Dominik from escaping the cage, after which Rollins recovered from a frog splash and delivered a couple of Stomps to pick up the victory.
The Messiah taunted the Mysterios before leaving and attacked Murphy to show that their alliance is over now. This was a good match, but WWE needs to pull back on the Rollins vs Dominik matches until Rey gets fit enough to compete again.
This new Rollins and Murphy angle can help Rollins push forward on RAW and become an even bigger heel on the Red brand.
#1 Keith Lee and Drew McIntyre give the fans a taste of what’s to come on WWE RAW
While Keith Lee and Drew McIntyre had shown a lot of respect for one another since Lee moved to WWE RAW, things were very different for the In Your Face episode of the Red brand.
Both men were not on the same page this week on RAW. After a backstage brawl, the fight in the ring did not take long to blow out of control. Both men used their speed and power to keep the action alive, and they delivered some big moves to keep each other down.
After the two men managed to counter each other’s finishers, and Lee hit a big suplex on McIntyre, RETRIBUTION made their way to the ring and attacked both Superstars.
The faction took the competitors down until The Hurt Business arrived to even the odds. Lee and McIntyre recovered to clear the ring and stand tall at the end of the segment, showing that they are not yet done taking down the RAW roster.
This was a decent match that gave fans a preview of what to expect in the months to come. A decisive finish would have ruined everything, and RAW used RETRIBUTION well in this segment. Fans will have to wait longer to find out who’s the better man - The Scottish Psychopath or The Limitless One.
