6 losers and 6 winners from Monday Night Raw: October 30, 2017

A very notable episode of Monday Night Raw is in the books. On the night before Halloween, we saw returns galore, two title matches, a couple of squashes, and on a related note, some jack-o'-lanterns being used as helmets.

But who walked away with the most momentum after last night? Who walked away looking like a chump?

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Loser #1: Kurt Angle (and possibly the entire Raw Roster)

Sigh.

You would have figured the night would have opened with a bang after last week's invasion. True to form, we saw the entire Raw roster on stage as Kurt Angle apologized for letting his guard down, lamenting how his friendship with Shane McMahon blinded him to his real intentions. As a longtime student of power and persuasion, this type of storytelling was appreciated.

And then came the return I'd been dreading, but knew was going to happen sooner or later.

Stephanie McMahon came out, used her usual belittling and emasculating routine on another legend in Kurt Angle, and then left. If he doesn't win at Survivor Series, he's fired. Angle looked as submissive as a puppy.

The Olympian did his best for the rest of the night, but such a humiliation is hard to escape. If this is a sign of things to come, the entire Raw roster will soon be feeling the effects of Stephanie's presence, just as before.

Loser #2: Bayley

Nia Jax returns to Raw.

What a fall it's been.

Early this year, Bayley defeated Charlotte and ended her PPV streak, then retained her women's championship at WrestleMania. Now she's routinely eating the pin in multi-woman matches and losing to Alicia Fox who hasn't even been on TV for most of the year.

Therefore, her loss to Nia Jax last night was no surprise.

Not that anyone would win against Jax after her big return anyway, but it's just the continuation of a long-running trend.

I'm starting to come to the conclusion that part of the reason Emma was released is that WWE has settled on Bayley being the highest-profile women's jobber on Raw. What do you think?

Loser #3: Finn Balor

Tombstone for your troubles?

Last week, Finn Balor was destroyed by Kane in what was a heavily criticized decision, especially as it came immediately after his barn burner of a match with AJ Styles at TLC. This week was better for him, as he put on a good match with Cesaro... only to have Kane destroy him again anyway.

It's been a bad couple of weeks for Finn Balor. Not catastrophic, as he'll recover soon enough, but he was definitely a loser last night.

Loser #4: Seth Rollins

One more chokeslam!

Seth came out to a huge pop with Dean Ambrose to face Kane who, as we are constantly being reminded, is not the corporate Kane from the Authority days.

Anyway, in another decision that's sure to be heavily criticized, Kane didn't take terribly long to beat Seth Rollins. The Architect didn't look quite as bad as Finn Balor did last week, but down he went.

This was by no means a "burial," but one does wonder what the point of this was (other than to fill in time), as Seth Rollins is soon set to take on the Usos in a big Survivor Series match.

Loser #5: Gallows and Anderson

Wrong way!

Losing a match to Heath Slater and Rhyno is bad enough, but losing because you put a jack-o'-lantern on your head the wrong way is even more embarrassing. Unfortunately, there's just not a lot more to say.

Loser #6: Mickie James

Destructive aftermath.

Endless rematches are the norm in today's WWE. This one was delayed by a week, but nevertheless, we got the TLC rematch for the women's championship as Raw's main event.

It was your standard Raw fare. As far as match quality goes, it wasn't bad; until the end, that is, where Alexa Bliss beat Mickie James with a single punch.

That should speak for itself. Either Mickie is really lowly or Alexa is channelling her inner Big Show.

Winner #1: Samoa Joe

Joe! Joe! Joe!

After the return of Nia Jax, we immediately saw the return of another Samoan. To a huge pop, Samoa Joe walked to the ring and immediately insulted the crowd, saying that none of them authentically cared about him coming back.

He then went on to defeat Apollo Crews in a short match.

The crowd will surely forgive Joe for his insults soon enough. It was a good way to return. I imagine he'll be on Raw's men's team at Survivor Series now that he's back.

Winner #2: The Miz

And still Intercontinental Champion

The Miz was a star of the show for most of the night (more on that later), but nowhere more so than in his match with Matt Hardy, which was easily the night's best.

There has been some speculation that we may see some title changes before Survivor Series, with the Intercontinental Championship being one of the favourites because the Miz vs. Baron Corbin doesn't exactly sound like a great match in the making.

That speculation added tension to the night as we saw several near falls. When Matt Hardy hit the Twist of Fate, you believed the change would actually happen, but a split second later, Miz rolled under the ropes, and the universe was righted. Miz came back, hit the Skull Crushing Finale, and walked away, still the champ.

Matt Hardy was a winner in this too, given the match he put on, but one has to imagine he'll fade into the background again next week.

Winner #3: Asuka

Looking better.

Leave it to WWE logic to justify releasing Emma a week after she put on two competitive matches with the supposedly unstoppable Asuka, rendering those episodes rather pointless.

Again, it must be stressed that during her NXT career, Asuka didn't squash everyone, but she did squash the lowest rungs on the ladder. This week, WWE got on the right track by taking the Strowman route and having Asuka squash an enhancement talent, making her actually look special and unstoppable this time around.

This is a route that should continue for a while until Survivor Series, where Asuka should be the star of Raw's women's team if they want her to get over.

Winner #4: Kane

Kane dominating again.

The Big Red Machine is indeed back. First he destroyed his former tag team partner in Daniel Bryan, then he annihilated Finn Balor again (it was a really bad looking tombstone but that's another story), then he crushed Seth Rollins. So this show had Kane looking really, really strong.

All this is of course en route to Kane being destroyed by Braun Strowman, but one does wonder at the logic of this path of destruction, as Braun hardly needs a rub from Kane at this point. WWE logic is a meme for a reason, I suppose.

Winner #5: Alexa Bliss

Prior to the match.

Alexa Bliss has been booked formidably. She looked that part again last night as she dominated Mickie James for most of their match, then ended her counterattack with a single slap/punch to get the 1-2-3.

Booking wise, having Alexa drop the title here would have made little sense (no matter how bad the match with Natalya is going to be), so her victory was the right call. One does question, though, the manner in which it was achieved, as it really made Mickie look like a loser.

Anyway, Alexa was standing tall, triumphantly, her dominant reign continuing.

Winner #6: Braun Strowman

The scariest sanitation man you'll ever see.

The night wasn't over after Alexa's victory, though.

Miz and the Miztourage bolted for the exits as soon as Mickie James got pinned, as something clearly spooked them earlier that evening. They were right to be afraid, as Braun Strowman emerged from a garbage truck, ready to take out some trash of his own.

The Miz and Bo Dallas barely escaped his wrath, but not Curtis Axel. The crowd was uproarious, demanding that Braun Strowman flatten him again and again. The Monster Among Men didn't disappoint.

If Braun is indeed a full-blown babyface now, he's off to a great start. His No Mercy loss to Brock Lesnar has appeared to damage him little, as he is still insanely over and hot with the crowd. His return saw one of the night's biggest pops.

One has to think that Kurt Angle, now fearing for his job, should select The Monster among Men for his Survivor Series team in a heartbeat.