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Los Angeles had a great night of action from WWE RAW and it started off with a bang that carried on all night. Paige was set to have her first match since returning to action and Roman Reigns was plenty busy as well.
The crowd was rambunctious and into every moment of this action-packed show from beginning to finish. There was something special in the air but that's usually the case when you're talking about an LA show because WWE usually brings something special to the City Of Angels.
Opening Segment
Raw kicked off with Kurt Angle's music hitting. He began to address the crowd but didn't get very far until his son Jason Jordan came down and demanded a match against Roman Reigns for the Intercontinental Title later that night.
The Big Dog came down to talk some smack to Jason Jordan and said to Kurt Angle, " Kurt I'm a fighting champion and I'm gonna tell you who I'm fighting and it won't be your son" then he said he wanted to face Samoa Joe.
Jason Jordan tried to come down on Roman Reigns for being a "poster child" and Reigns remarked that he has been on a lot of posters and chairs because he's main evented a lot of shows.
The Samoan Submission Machine came out accepted Roman Reigns challenge for a match but still gave him five seconds to reconsider his offer.
Jason Jordan said Joe was a coward for always hitting people from behind. Then Jordan nailed Roman Reigns with a suplex from behind when The Big Dog turned to address Samoa Joe. When Reigns got up he was upset and changed his mind about facing Jordan. So he told Kurt Angle to book the match
Roman Reigns vs Jason Jordan (Intercontinental Title Match)
Jason Jordan came at Roman Reigns with the strength of a veteran performer and dominated The Big Dog for a good portion of the match. But it was in all reality, a much better match than most would think it could be. But Roman Reigns and Jason Jordan had a pretty good contest during the build-up for No Mercy, therefore it shouldn't be unheard of that these two could tear the house down.
Roman Reigns started things off by dominating Jordan and sending him flying into the barricade and the ring steps outside. This theme of going outside would continue throughout this match because it happened quite often. But when the action was in the ring, it was fierce and neither man held back from their opponent.
Samoa Joe sat on the entrance ramp during the entire match just watching while being highly entertained in the process without letting a smile draw upon his face in the slightest. But you could tell by the expression emanating from his eyes that he was enjoying the destruction playing out before him.
Jason Jordan showed some great strength by picking Reigns up and driving him from turnbuckle to turnbuckle on several occasions and there was a very nice spot where Reigns went for a Superman Punch but Jordan caught him with a dropkick instead. Once they spilled outside, Reigns tried for another Superman Punch but Jordan caught him and drove The Big Dog into the ring post.
After giving each other pretty much all they had, Roman Reigns eventually hit a Superman Punch but Jordan kicked out at two. Reigns went for a spear but caught a knee to the face instead. After taking Jason Jordan's amazing twin Northern Lights Suplex move, The Big Dog kicked out and soon hit a spear for the win to retain his championship.
Result: Roman Reigns def. Jason Jordan
After the match was over, Samoa Joe approached the ring and said Reigns looked weary and offered to put him to sleep. Joe slid in the ring and wrapped up Roman Reigns with some knee strikes and as he tried for the Coquina Clutch, Jason Jordan pulled Joe off of him and give The Samoan Submission Machine a suplex to sent him out of the ring. As a way of saying thank you, Roman Reigns hit Jordan with a Superman Punch to send Kurt Angle's baby boy outside of the ring as well.
The Show Continues
Jason Jordan stormed into Kurt Angle's office as the Raw GM sounded like he was on the phone talking about things getting out of control and testosterone flaring. He was talking to Stephanie McMahon as evidenced by the fact he said, "talk to you later Stephanie" before hanging up.
Jason Jordan said he wanted a rematch against Roman Reigns next week and he wanted to be in the match with Samoa Joe tonight. Jordan was getting kind of whiney about it. Angle said he would take it under advisement just to get Jordan to leave. Suddenly Samoa Joe bulldozed over Jason Jordan and left him in a heap on Kurt Angle's office floor.
"Like father like son" Samoa Joe said before walking away. That is a very interesting comment coming from Samoa Joe considering his history with Kurt Angle. Whether this is building up a match between Samoa Joe and Kurt Angle or Jason Jordan vs Kurt Angle it is still a very interesting situation. The be honest, a triple threat match between these three would be a great time for all fans.
Paige vs. Sasha Banks
Alexa Bliss was sitting with Micahel Cole and the announce team during this contest which was a nice touch on commentary. Paige came out with her Absolution sisters and Sasha Banks had Bayley and Mickie James by her side.
Paige had a lot to prove in this encounter and brought a big fight to The Boss in Los Angeles.
This was a pretty good back and forth match and a great way for Paige to prove she still had it. There were plenty of times when Sasha Banks had Paige wrapped up in a submission and just transitioned it into another at the last moment. But the same went for Paige as well as she was also demonstrating superior submission capabilities.
Paige and Banks traded moves for a bit and really had a good showing trying to one-up each other.
The Anit Diva caught The Boss with a double-leg takedown and started unloading punches onto Banks Suddenly it looked like Paige was gearing up for the Rampaige but Banks charged forward sending both women toppling to the floor. They really did a great job keeping this match intense and the crowd seemed very into it.
Banks started to build momentum with a few takedowns but Paige slid out of the way when Banks went for her double knees to the corner. Paige climbed to the top turnbuckle and Banks joined her. Then Paige hit Sasha Banks with a dangerous looking top rope sunset flip powerbomb where Banks landed right on the back of her neck.
After a few more instances of avoided each other's attempts to gain an advantage, Paige found herself in the Bank Statment and The Boss had it locked in tight. Paige couldn't quite get to the bottom rope, but she did slide her foot under the rope so the ref called for the move to be let go.
Paige rolled outside in a heap after surviving the Bank Statment when Sonya Deville and Mandy Rose surrounded her to warn off her attackers. Mickie James and Bayley approached them and a brawl between Deville, Rose, Bayley, and James broke out just as Banks rolled Paige back in the ring.
The next thing Sasha Banks knew, she was eating a Rampaige and taking a pinfall to start Paige's return off with a bang and a big win.
Result: Paige def. Sasha Banks
After the match was over, Sonya Deville and Mandy Rose who had just laid out Bayely and Mickie James on the outside rolled in the ring and put some boots to Banks before leaving. "This is our house!" Paige screamed while they left up the ramp.
Setting Up A Great Night To Come
Enzo Amore was backstage with all the 205 Live heels. He was berating them for not being winners and trying to instill some motivation in the bad guy cruiserweights. He was high energy as always demonstrating that Enzo talk we've all come to know and appreciate.
After he sent them all away, The Realest Guy In The Room turned around and say Nia Jax standing there. She looked at him with a sly smile on her face and let the tension build for a second before saying, "how you doing." Then she left. That was a rather interesting turn of events and could spell a fascinating romance on the way if her coy little grin was any indication of things.
Drew Gulak vs Mustafa Ali vs Cedric Alexander vs Tony Nese
The winner of this match received a shot against Rich Swann next week in order to earn the privilege to face Enzo Amore for the Cruiserweight Championship.
They're calling all of the 205 Live heels the Zo Train now which is adorable and makes me really miss Neville as the top heel of the Cruiserweight Division. But this match was fine. Everyone got their spots in and the winner really came out of nowhere yet he was well deserved.
WWE has been putting a lot of work into Drew Gulak recently with his "No Fly Zone" and "No Chants" gimmicks and he's incredibly entertaining. Therefore it was good to see him win although it would be hard to believe they would have Gulak go on to face Enzo Amore at this point.
Result: Drew Gulak def Ali, Alexander, and Nese
Ladies and Gentlemen... Braun Strowman
Elias Samson was out to sing a song about Los Angeles and really get under his skin like he tends to do with everyone. He really does have a great thing going with his gimmick. But all of this was just a device for his opponent to come out and have a reason to be in the ring.
When Braun Strowman bulldozed down the ramp and into the ring Elias wanted nothing to do with him at first. He actually rolled outside and acted like he was going to leave which caused Braun Strowman to do one of his signature "raising your his hands in the air and yelling like a monster" taunts and Elias jumped back in to attack him. This was not a wise move.
What happened next was a pretty bad beatdown from Strowman to The Drifter. But Elias did grab a guitar and destroy it over the big man's back. However, a broken guitar did little to stop Braun Strowman as he chased Elias down again to level him.
Just as it looked like Braun Strowman was going to do something very sadistic to Elias after tossing the ring steps in the ring, Kane's entrance started and he appeared on the screen. Kane said Strowman's been a Monster Among Men for so long he forgot how to be a Monster Among Monsters. Then a match between Kane and Strowman was announced for Raw next week.
Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, and Dean Ambrose were backstage talking up the fact that Ambrose and Rollins were going to win the Raw Tag Team Championship that night. They said The Shield will be covered in gold once more.
Dean Ambrose pretended like he forgot their match against The Bar for the titles was that night and they all had a good laugh. They Hounds Of Justice seem to have things figured out this time around.
Somebody Might Be Ready For Asuka
Alicia Fox gave Asuka a little bit of a fight and Micahel Cole said nobody's been able to give Asuka this kind of a fight since her main roster deut making me wonder if they remember those two longer matches Asuka had with Emma at TLC and the next night.
But Fox really did control a good deal of this match, but in the end, nobody's ready for Asuka and she ended up taking some very quick strikes and Auska really brought the pain to Fox.
Alicia Fox went for the scissors kick but Asuka moved and laid in some more work before wrapping the Fox up in the Asuka Lock and making her tap out.
Result: Asuka def Alicia Fox
Suddenly, Paige's music broke out and the three members of Absolution came down looking very ready for Asuka. They surrounded the ring on three sides. But Asuka just smiled and nodded to them before exiting out the vacant side of the ring and heading up the ramp.
Paige grabbed a microphone and started cutting a promo on Alicia Fox for being the only one who liked her a year ago and admitted Fox was her best friend. Paige said she loved Alicia Fox from the bottom of her heart, but she said she didn't think "Sonya and Mandy feel the same way."
Then Sonya Deville and Mandy Rose slowly climbed into the ring and jumped Alicia Fox. They both executed some moves on Fox and the crowd seemed very into the assault. This was in the same building that just a few short months ago housed a movie filming reenacting Paige's WWE debut as she defeated AJ Lee. It was also the same night The Rock called CM Punk from inside a WWE ring which was really fun.
Finn Balor vs. Bo Dallas
Bo Dallas came out to The Miz' music which really got a lot of people excited they were going to get to see the A-Lister, but it was just his Miztourage paying homage to their hero.
Bo Dallas really seemed to give Finn Balor a hard time during this match and the first-ever Universal Champion really took some damage early on. But Finn Balor would later turn things around and nail a Coup De Gras for the win.
It's nice to see Balor getting some wins after a lot of losing. Maybe he might just be getting over enough.
Result: Finn Balor def Bo Dallas
Matt Hardy's Awakening
Bray Wyatt appeared on the screen and asked: "who is Matt Hardy." He said he knows and it cut in and out of Bray Wyatt cutting one of his classic and creepy promos and those of Woken Matt.
It was amazing and everything about the Broken Universe was back only he's Woken. It finally happened and Woken Matt Hardy is fully here. As Bray Wyatt spoke about how his fire cannot save you and how it will make sure you will burn... Matt Hardy popped up and sentenced Bray Wyatt to deletion.
"Delete" chants filled the arena and everyone lost their minds. It was quite a wonderful thing to witness how the Woken Matt gimmick finally came back to its rightful owner. This was everything it could have been and hopefully, it is just a sign of great things to come.
If WWE really lets Matt Hardy put in his own creative input into this character things could get pretty magical.
Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins vs. The Bar (RAW Tag Team Championship Match)
The Shield want to be covered in gold just like the good old days. The only problem, and it's a big one is that Sheamus and Cesaro really don't want that to happen. Dean Ambrose and Cesaro started things out and it was a pretty basic tag match in the early-goings.
The Bar gained an advantage to put some pain on their opponents and draw heat for themselves. Since being put together you really can't find a team that meshes as well as Cesaro and Sheamus do. They're so great in the ring together they're knocking each other's lights out or applying insane amounts of stiff punishment to their opponents.
As Roman Reigns watched intently on the monitor from backstage, The Bar continued to punish Seth Rollins. But the Architect fought back eventually and just as it looked as though Seth Rollins was going to get the tag, Dean Ambrose was knocked off the apron and was put out of commission.
Sheamus applied a headlock to slow things down because he could after taking Ambrose out via boot to the face. Seth Rollins hit a Superkick on Sheamus and the Celtic Warrrior went rolling out of the ring.
Ambrose jumped on the apron as Ceasro made the tag as well. With Dean Ambrose and Cesaro as the legal men then fought until Cesaro was outside of the ring. Ambrose went for a suicide dive, but Cesaro caught him with an uppercut. He always seemed to be ahead of the game, especially when he Ambrose later on from a top rope dive and tried to turn it into a submission which was also countered.
Sheamus nailed Ambrose with a knee to the face and Cesaro covered for a two count. In the end, this interference from Sheamus would continue until the end of the match where the referee had to call for the bell after Sheamus just wouldn't get back on his side of the ring .
Since the illegal man kept applying boots and knees to Rollins and Ambrose, the referee called for the bell meaning Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose won via DQ but the titles didn't change hands.
Suddenly Kurt Angle appeared and restarted the match as a no-DQ match. Rollins and Ambrose immediately hit The Bar with twin suicide dives.
They got Cesaro in the ring and hit him with two high risk moves for a two count. Suddenly just when it looked like they were going to come out on top, Samoa Joe showed up and took out Ambrose and Rollins.
Roman Reigns ran down and chased Samoa Joe off, but the distraction was enough for Sheamus to nail Dean Ambrose with a Brogue Kick and put Cesaro over him for the three count.
Result: The Bar def Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins
What makes Sting special? His first AEW opponent opens up RIGHT HERE.
