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RAW was an excellent show this week that saw a multitude of events occur even without the presence of two big superstars in Braun Strowman and Samoa Joe. See what you missed below!
The Miz gets taken by a surprise announcement
The Miz was already in the ring when the show started along with The Miztourage. He said one word: "Respect", and was immediately cut off by Kurt Angle's music.
Angle said that he understood why Miz was frustrated about his status as Intercontinental Champion. He said that it would be defended at No Mercy and before he could make any further announcement, The Miz cut him off and told Angle he was disrespecting him.
Angle told The Miz that he would be defending the Intercontinental Championship next week on RAW. His opponent was to be decided in a 15-man over-the-top Battle Royale!
15-man Battle Royal - Intercontinental Championship #1 contenders match
The first to come out was a clean-shaven Big Show. It was followed up by The Hardy Boyz and then Finn Balor. The Miztourage were in the Battle Royale as well, as per Kurt Angle.
The entire ring of superstars threw out Curt Hawkins first. They all turned their backs to The Big Show, and a whole bunch of them started jumping The Big Show but got pushed away altogether.
The Miztourage eliminated Kalisto. Big Show was dominating the men in the ring, giving chest slap after chest slap. Gallows and Andrson caught The Big Show and tried to use teamwork to eliminate Big Show. It was Finn Balor of all people who joined them in eliminating Big Show.
After this, the trio stared down and teased a Bullet Club reunion. However, it didn't matter to Elias, who took out Balor while Gallows & Anderson went on to other opponents.
R-Truth was the next to get eliminated by The Miztourage. The duo nearly eliminated Finn Balor with help from Elias, but the former Universal Champion escaped just on time.
Gallows & Anderson eliminated Goldust with some good team work. Apollo Crews was eliminated during the break. Luke Gallows was eliminated by Matt Hardy. Anderson thought he eliminated Matt, but he failed. The two superstars battled on the apron and Matt managed to get him eliminated.
Gallows pulled Matt's legs from under, eliminating him. They attacked him until the referees pulled them away. Meanwhile, The Miz attacked Balor and Jeff Hardy to help The Miztourage.
Balor was very close to eliminating Elias, who hung on by his fingers to save himself. Jeff Hardy and Finn Balor had an interesting stare down, teasing a potential match in the future. Balor dropkicked Jeff Hardy and then Bray Wyatt came out of nowhere, threw Balor out and disappeared, much to the shock of the former Universal Champion.
Back in the ring, Jason Jordan was on fire until he got double teamed by The Miztourage. He ended up eliminating The Miztourage followed by Elias. However, Jeff Hardy took advantage and eliminated Kurt Angle's son, becoming the #1 contender in the process.
Jeff Hardy won the Battle Royal to face The Miz for the Intercontinental Championship next week
Backstage, Alexa Bliss called Sasha Banks out for never having a successful title defence and that her match later in the night would be no different.
Enzo Amore's first Cruiserweight match against Noam Dar
Enzo started his usual trash talk, unsurprisingly making a Mayweather-McGregor reference and then introduced Noam Dar, calling him SAWFT.
Noam Dar taunted The Certified-G at the start. Noam Dar played with his hair and took advantage, trying to spoil Enzo's cruiserweight debut.
Enzo debuted a new finisher and picked up the win.
Enzo Amore defeated Noam Dar
Backstage, Neville didn't seem impressed, stating that he would be Cruiserweight Champion forever.
Brock Lesnar makes a statement to Braun Strowman
Paul Heyman said that Braun Strowman was the most worthy contender for the Universal Championship in the WWE. He did a great job of hyping up Strowman as a threat to Lesnar, which he clearly is.
Midway through the hype, Brock Lesnar took the mic and said: "What's he's trying to say is suplex city b***h".
Seth Rollins vs Cesaro
Rollins dominated The Swiss Cyborg until he was met with a backbreaker. The commentators made reference to the trash talk going on in social media between the RAW & SmackDown tag team champions, further fuelling the speculation for a Survivor Series match.
Cesaro was called the "pound for pound strongest man in WWE today". After the break, he hit two brutal gut-wrench suplexes on Rollins. An enziguri put The Architect back in action with Ambrose willing him on from ringside.
Sheamus tried to distract Rollins but was met with an attack by Ambrose outside. Back in the ring, Cesaro rolled Seth for a small package pin.
Cesaro defeated Seth Rollins
Sheamus took the mic and said that they weren't done yet, and said that he would be facing Dean Ambrose next. The match started RIGHT AWAY with the same referee never leaving the ring.
Dean Ambrose vs Sheamus
The match was underway after the break and it was The Celtic Warrior was in total control. Sheamus was unsuccessful in an attempt to make Ambrose tap with the clover leaf.
A desperation move saw Ambrose hit a DDT onto Sheamus. The Irish superstar dominated most part of the match, with Ambrose getting in some offence here and there.
A spot saw Rollins take out Cesaro from the apron and attack him and then run into the ring, making Cesaro a distraction for the referee. Rollins hit the flying knee onto Sheamus and hit a suicide dive to Cesaro outside the ring, while Ambrose used the Dirty Deeds to win the match.
Dean Ambrose defeated Sheamus & Cesaro
Emma was backstage talking about trending on Twitter again. Mickie James was next to her calling her delusional, reminding her that she got squashed by Nia Jax. Emma was bragging about starting the women's revolution. Mickie James told her that if Emma beat her in their match later, she would tweet whatever she wanted, and if Mickie James won, Emma would have to stop saying she started the women's revolution.
Mickie James vs Emma
This seemed like the first "Hashtag" match. Mickie James took down Emma with her kicks, but Emma fought back, only to be met with a botched neck breaker.
Emma won with a small package. Oh, and Emma debuted a new theme song too. Not as catchy as the old one though.
Emma defeated Mickie James
Emma took the mic after the match and repeated "I started the women's revolution" way too many times. Looks like her character change is that she's completely delusional. Have to admit though, it was hilarious
John Cena and Roman Reigns make their No Mercy match official and tensions boil
Kurt Angle was in the ring and introduced the 16-time World Champion first. John Cena said that Roman Reigns has been protected, but there's no protecting Reigns from himself, and that The Big Dog doesn't want to fight him. He signed the contract and out came Reigns.
Roman Reigns began talking to huge boos. Reigns laughed at Cena saying that he didn't want to fight him. He told Cena that he's not as big a deal as he thinks he is. Reigns then told him that he did what Cena didn't do: Retired the Undertaker.
Cena said that Reigns is a corporately created John Cena rip-off. The crowd responded with huge "Yes!" chants. He said that he wasn't The Undertaker: A veteran with the bad him at the end of his career. Oh, and Cena OPENLY mentioned turning heel. Openly.
Reigns told Cena that he's good at spinning words. He seemed flustered and Cena broke the 4th wall telling Roman that he needs to cut a promo.
Roman called John Cena a "fake a** b***h" and completely trashed Cena, saying that Cena is a part timer who buries young talent.
Cena told Reigns he's a fool for using the same promo that everyone uses on him. Cena then told Reigns that he hasn't main evented WrestleMania in 5 years, opened SummerSlam and was blessed to win the US title, while Reigns took it as a demotion.
He then told Reigns that he's still there because The Big Dog couldn't do his job properly. He then told Reigns that he can do this part-time better than Reigns can full-time.
Reigns then signed the contract making the match official. He flung the table aside, ready for a fight, but Gallows & Anderson interfered and said that the room couldn't handle both their egos. Kurt Angle in the ring then said that Reigns and Cena would team up to take on the Good Brothers.
John Cena & Roman Reigns vs Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson
The tensions were high in the match as The Good Brothers had control of Cena. It seemed like a big ego waving contest between the two WWE golden boys.
Cena was down for a while before finally tagging in Reigns. The Big Dog was the hot tag who cleared out the former RAW Tag Team Champions.
Roman almost got pinned by Karl Anderson, but that didn't happen. The next spot saw Cena hit an AA on Gallows while Roman speared Karl Anderson at the same time. The Golden Boys won.
Roman Reigns and John Cena defeated Gallows & Anderson
After the match, the two stared down each other, with Cena applauding Reigns.
Elias was ready to debut a new song and Michael Cole was the only person in the world who was excited.
Elias walks with Memphis...sort of
Elias said that he had no one to blame for losing the Battle Royal except the crowd. He said that Dusty Rhodes called him the Elvis of the WWE because he's the king.
His song was of course about trashing Memphis. He got cut off by the Memphis native Jerry "The King" Lawler who was on commentary. He introduced Pelvis Wesley from Southpaw Regional Wrestling(Heath Slater).
Elias seemed to be enthusiastically dancing with Slater until he got angry and kicked Slater's gut. He hit the Drift Away to stand tall.
The main event for the RAW Women's Championship was next. The story being told was whether Sasha could successfully defend the RAW Women's title, something she had never done before.
Sasha Banks(c) vs Alexa Bliss - RAW Women's Championship
Sasha began working on Alexa Bliss' arms, almost like a heel. She cleared the former champion out of the ring with a dropkick.
After the break, it was the challenger who was in control. Alexa had her in a bow-and-arrow stretch but Sasha escaped with a kick to the head. She used her knees to slam the former champion's head against the turnbuckles.
The two went at it, showing off their high-level athleticism. The closest Sasha got at that point was when she hit a shining wizard. Bliss came close when she hit a super-plex on The Boss, but got hurt in the process. Her attempted pin got turned into a bank statement. Bliss managed to escape and then hit the DDT for the win. She defeated Sasha clean. Why Sasha even won at SummerSlam if she were to lose it 8 days later, who knows.
Alexa Bliss defeated Sasha Banks to become a two-time RAW Women's Champion
After the match, Nia Jax came out to congratulate her. She attacked Sasha and then lifted Alexa on her shoulders before slamming her down. She lifted the women's championship, making her intentions very clear.
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