Raw comes to us from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn tonight and the big story going in is that WWE just can’t catch a break with WWE Finn Balor having to relinquish his newly won WWE Universal Championship after injuring his shoulder which will need surgery and keep him on the shelf fo around 6 months.
We begin the show with Raw GM Mick Foley and the Raw commissioner Stephanie McMahon in the ring, waiting for Finn Balor. Finn comes out wearing a sling on his right arm and the belt around his left shoulder.
Balor comes out to talk about how the belt around his shoulder represented a career full of sacrifice. He’s clearly emotional at having to relinquish the title and thanks the boys at the back, his opponent from SummerSlam Seth Rollins and the fans. The crowd chanted “No” at Finn as he tells them that he has to give up the title. Foley comes over and takes the belt from Finn Balor as he raises his band before walking to the back.
When will we see Balor in the ring again? Not anytime soon, unfortunately.
As Balor walks to the back, Seth Rollins’ music hits. Seth gloats as he makes his way down to the ring and unlike Balor showed no class. Rollins is in the ring talking smack and talks about how Balor giving up the title was a reason to celebrate. He wants another championship celebration for the true WWE Universal Champion, himself.
Rollins is interrupted by Sami Zayn of all people, to a massive pop from the fans in the Barclays Center. He’s followed out by a smug looking Chris Jericho. Jericho comes into the ring and immediately begs Stephanie McMahon for a title show. Next out is Sami Zayn’s blood rival and Chris Jericho’s new tag partner, Kevin Owens.
For some reason, next out to the ring are Enzo and Cass. This isn’t the tag team championship boys. After then, inevitably, came out Roman Reigns, to the usual tower of boos. Foley’s in the ring and he announced that there will be a series of matches that will culminate in a week to crown a new champ.
Stephanie finishes off by annoying that the matches start right now with Seth Rollins vs Sami Zayn.
Seth Rollins vs Sami Zayn
The first match in the series to determine the new WWE Universal Champion is between ‘The Architect’ Seth Rollins and Sami Zayn. Rollins should take a close look at himself after breaking Cena’s nose, injuring Sting with a Buckle Bomb and now injuring Balor, all in little more than a year. He isn’t the epitome of a safe worker right now.
As we return from the commercial break, the match has already begun. Sami held his own in the opening exchanges and countered Rollins’ attempt at a running powerbomb to the crowd barrier, the same move that injured Balor at SummerSlam. Sami counters with a moonsault from the barrier.
Zayn favoured his ankle after landing awkwardly from a springboard. Could this be another injury? Zayn fights on with what looks like a pretty bad ankle but Rollins is definitely on top now and the favourite to win.
Rollins continues dominating throughout the commercial break but Zayn tries to fight back with a tilt-a-whirl slam. He follows it up with a sunset-flip powerbomb for the near fall. Zayn goes for the Helluva kick following an exploder suplex to the corner. However, his bad ankle lets Zayn down and Rollins counters with a jumping knee.
Zayn attempts a Michnoku Driver but he can’t get Rollins up while hobbling on one ankle and Rollins counters with a Pedigree for the pinfall.
Seth Rollins def. Sami Zayn
Kevin Owens vs Neville
The next match in the championship series pits Kevin Owens against ‘The Man That Gravity Forgot’ Neville. Neville and Owens begin the match evenly in the opening exchanges. Neville does an impressive 450 splash from the apron to the outside followed by a running top rope dive to the outside. Neville is on top till Owens’ new best-friend Chris Jericho comes out and distracts Neville which led to Owens almost beheading him with a lariat.
This match was pretty decent but nothing outside of the ordinary. We returned from commercial with Kevin Owens holding Neville in his patented chin lock. KO followed up by looking for a cannonball but Neville countered with a beautiful German Suplex.
Neville then counters a frog splash attempt from Owens and follows it up with a splash and a deadlift German Suplex, earning nearfalls for both attempts. Jericho attempts to interfere but Neville kicks him away and goes to the top rope again. Owens cuts him off and hits him with an Argentine neckbreaker for the win.
Kevin Owens def. Neville
The New Day come out in the next segment to celebrate their year-long reigns. New Day went out to celebrate their year-long title reigns and Big E’s return. The New Day also took the time to thank the fans for their support.
They are interrupted by Anderson and Gallows who tell The New Day that after losing by DQ at SummerSlam, The New Day are in no position to celebrate. Anderson and Gallows verbally berate The New Day and tell them that they are owed a rematch for the Tag-Team Championships. Gallows announced the Anderson would be taking on Big E next.
Big E vs Karl Anderson
The match starts with Big E in control. Big E hits a bell-to-belly suplex on Anderson followed by a patented abdominal stretch. Big E then shoulder thrusts Anderson in the corner, who eventually gets out of it and hits Big E with a low dropkick targeting the knee. Anderson continues to work on Big E’s knee followed by a facelock to keep Big E grounded.
E manages to get to his feet and overpower Anderson but gets thrown out over the top rope by Anderson. Things break down into melee outside the ring after his as Gallows brawls with Xavier Woods and Kofi Kingston. Big E looks to take Gallows out with a spear through the middle rope by Anderson intervenes with a boot to the face. Anderson then charges at Big E, but Big E catches him and gives him a Big Ending for the pinfall.
Big E def. Karl Anderson
We come back to see Titus I’ Neil in the ring with a mic. He says that hearing The New Day talk about winning the Tag-Team Championships at last year’s SummerSlam is bittersweet for him since he lost his championship that night. He said that although people ask him if that was the worst night of his life, he actually thought it was the best day of his life since he separated from his partner Darren Young, whom he considered dead weight. He goes into saying that there is no episode of WWE Ride Along with the Prime Time Players in it because no wants to listen to or cares about Darren Young. O’ Neil even makes the absolutely ludicrous claim that he could have been the first WWE Universal Champion without Young.
He calls Darren Young to the ring but he doesn’t come out. Seeing this, Titus calls out Bob Backlund instead, calling him a crazy old man. Surprisingly, Bob Backlund charges into the ring to confront Titus and almost manages to put Titus in his famous chickenwing submission. He can’t lock his fingers, though, and Titus breaks free and lands the Clash of the Titus on Backlund. Titus then poses over Backlund’s body nd prolongs this feud, not that anyone cares.
We see Tom Phillips backstage with Stephanie McMahon next. Tom asked Stephanie what her reaction to the carnage from the SummerSlam match between Brock Lesnar and Randy Orton was and Stephanie replies that Brock had finally crossed the line and there would be consequences.
Rusev vs Big Cass
We see Lana in the ring next, introducing her husband, the WWE US Champion, Rusev. Rusev comes out, looking worse from wear, from his brawl with Roman from the night before. He was followed by Enzo and Cass who do their usual shtick and were as entertaining as ever. Enzo needs to learn geography because he clearly doesn’t know where Bulgaria is on the map. He wonders whether Bulgaria is on the east or west of Europe or whether it was in one of the five boroughs. Cass finishes off the promo by saying that he’ll finish off what Roman started and prove that Rusev is S-A-W-F-T.
Sidenote: What’s it with Raw going to commercial two minutes after a match starts? How annoying is that?
Anyway, the match starts with Cass hitting Rusev back in the ribs after Rusev’s opening salvo. Rusev’s clearly has injured ribs and immediately backs off in agony. We got to commercial after this and we come back to Rusev holding Cass in a chin lock. Cass tries to break out but Rusev hits back with a roundhouse kick. Cass hits back with more shots to Rusev’s ribs.
Cass gets Rusev in the corner and follows up with a sweet corner splash. Rusev rolls to the outside and lays out Enzo. Cass catches Rusev with multiple blows to the ribs when he gets back into the ring as Rusev screams in agony. Cass follows it up with a bodyslam and goes for an Empire Elbow but Rusev rolls out once again. Cass follows him and sent Rusev rib first into the steel steps. Rusev tries to hit back with a roundhouse kick but Cass catches him in the face with a big boot. At this point, Rusev decided that he’d had enough and walks away.
Big Cass def. Rusev by count out
We got a hilarious backstage segment after this. Tom Phillips is interviewing Jericho and Owens, who call him Felipe this time. Tom asks Jericho what will happen if both of them are in the fatal-4-way for the Universal Championship next week. Both guys put each other over and they agree that Roman Reigns doesn’t have a chance against Jericho in the qualifying match on main event of Raw.
The new WWE Women’s Champion Charlotte comes out next, accompanied by her protégé Dana Brooke. Dana tries to start a “You deserve it” chant but fails miserably. Charlotte takes the mic and says that she is the best female athlete in the world right now, better than Serena Williams, Simone Biles, and Sasha Banks. She says that she proved all her doubter wrong last night at SummerSlam when she beat Sasha. She also said that Sasha was injury prone and didn’t have what it took to carry the division.
Charlotte then got interrupted with the familiar car crash noise of Mick Foley’s entrance theme. Foley agrees that Charlotte and Sasha have raised the bar to a whole new level and congratulates her on her success. At this point, the crowd is chanting for Bayley, something that Charlotte reacts angrily to. Foley promises Sasha rematch upon her return while Charlotte demands to have the night off, since according to her, there’s no one worthy to face her.
Foley disagreed.
Foley says that he and Stephanie had just signed the hottest free agent of the New Era for Raw’s women’s division. No surprises here, it’s BAYLEY! The crowd erupts as Bayley makes her way down to the ring and the building fills up with chants of “You deserve it”. Bayley challenges Charlotte to a title match but she declines, saying that she wasn’t dressed or ready for action. So, we get a match between Bayley and Dana Brooke instead.
Bayley vs Dana Brooke
This match was basically a showcase for Bayley, to the fans who might be unfamiliar with her.
The match begins with a collar and elbow tie-up between the two before Dana took control. Dana hits Bayley with elbows and starts working on Bayley’s ponytail before slamming Bayley into the turnbuckle before sending Bayley sprawling to the outside.
Bayley hits back with a springboard elbow and shoulder blocks before going on to the home stretch where she hit the hapless Brooke with a Bayley-to-Belly for the pinfall.
Bayley def. Dana Brooke
Braun Strowman vs Johnny Knockout
We cut to Byron in the ring with Johnny Knockout. Johnny Knockout says he’s fighting Braun Strowman because he likes big, sweaty men. In my opinion, that’s the worst reason ever to fight someone.
There was nothing really to this match as Strowman pummeled Knockout and beat him withing a minute.
Braun Strowman def. Johnny Knockout
The Dudley Boyz come out next for their farewell. They thank the fans for supporting them all the way through their careers from ECW to the WWE. They say that it’s been one hell of a year – with ups and down and getting both booed and cheered by the fans.
This is followed by The Shining Stars coming out to get involved. They say that they have two tickets to Puerto Rico for the Dudley Boyz. The Dudley aren’t happy with this interruption and they give a 3D to Primo before giving the Wazzup diving headbutt to Epico.
As they go to get a table, they get attacked by Anderson and Gallows. Anderson sends D-Von into the steel steps while Gallows hammers Bubba. They hit the Magic Killer to Bubba on the outside. Then they head into the ring and give D-Von a Magic Killer through the table.
Roman Reigns vs Chris Jericho
The final match for a spot in next weeks fatal-4-way for the WWE Universal Championship was between Roman Reigns, Raw’s resident boo magnet, and Chris Jericho.
The match started off with Roman showing off his superior strength advantage. He knocked Jericho down with a shoulder barge and Jericho responds by slapping Roman Reigns in the face, which is never a good idea. Jericho slides out of the ring and Roman gives chase and follows him back into the ring to deliver another shoulder barge and a devastating lariat to lay Jericho lying.
Roman then had Jericho in the corner but was forced to back off by the referee. Jericho, the wily veteran, took advantage and raked Reigns in the eye and followed up with a series of punches and an axehandle drop that sent Roman scurrying to the outside.
We come back from the commercial break to see Jericho choking Roman with the help of his knee. Jericho takes a little time to soak in the crowd but Roman hits back with a brutal headbutt which sends Jericho reeling.
Jericho manages to get Roman into a reverse chinlock to take the upper hand once again. Roman eventually gets to his feet and manages to headbutt Jericho again and whipped him into the corner. Roman hits a corner lariat and goes for the Superman Punch but Jericho ducks and has Reigns in the Walls of Jericho. Roman fights out but Jericho hits him with a sweet Enzuigiri before raining down blows on the eye he’d raked earlier in the match. Jericho follows this up with more punches and boots to the head as Roman stumbled and got to his feet.
Roman then reversed an Irish Whip and sent Jericho to the outside. He followed it up with a Drive-By on Jericho. Roman then got into the ring and went for the Samoan Drop but Jericho countered. The consequent Lionsault attempt by Jericho was countered by Reigns who had his feet up.
Roman then attempted to hit Jericho with the spear as Kevin Owens ran out to help his new best friend. Jericho took advantage of the distraction with a roll-up pin for the nearfall and he hit a second Superman Punch on Jericho before a third attempt at the spear but Jericho reversed it into a Walls of Jericho.
Roman dragged himself to the ropes only to be superkicked in the face by Owens. Jericho followed it up with a Codebreaker for the pin but Roman still somehow managed to kick out. Jericho then started to disrespectfully slap Roman on the back of the head but this only fired up Roman. Roman fires back with slaps of his own followed by a Superman Punch on Owens to get him out of the equation. As Jericho went for the rollup, Roman kicked out and hit him with the spear!
1-2-3 and it was over.
Roman Reigns def. Chris Jericho
