WWE Raw
The past week in wrestling has been incredibly eventful and historic, though it ended with a huge wave of negativity attached to the ending of Hell In A Cell. But while some fans expected a major response from this week’s episode of Raw, the fact that a Draft is about to commence on the October 11 edition of SmackDown and the October 14 showing of Raw meant that this was always likely to be a placeholder programme, even with the announcement of Tyson Fury having a “live mic”, based on his interaction with Braun Strowman at last week’s SmackDown.
Rusev/Lana/Bobby Lashley Fall-Out
On last week’s episode of Raw, it was revealed that Bobby Lashley and Lana are now romantically linked, despite Lana being married to Rusev. This week, the programme literally opened with Randy Orton and Baron Corbin pounding Rusev (ahead of the Team Hogan vs. Team Flair match at Crown Jewel), but while the Bulgarian Brute fought back, he was interrupted by Lashley on the big screen. Bobby was not only in Rusev’s house, but also in Rusev’s bed, soon to be joined by Lana. She then slipped under the blanket alongside The All-Mighty (lucky guy) and began to remove her top in a fairly strong scene for a PG show. The lights were switched out to let us use our imagination as to what happened next, but an upset Rusev was just as ticked at Orton and Corbin laughing at him, hence him further destroying both men at ringside. A Rusev-Lashley battle is inevitable, though this is clearly the early stage of this storyline.
Last Woman Standing Match
Lacey Evans vs. Natalya
This was the culmination of several weeks of back-and-forth attacks and insults, with Evans bringing out a trash can adorning Nattie’s name to represent her feelings on her. They were given plenty of time here, with Natalya starting the stronger of the two before Lacey took over control for a very extended period, which included kendo stick shots and tossing the aforementioned can and its contents at the Queen Of Harts. Evans intimated throwing Nattie off the stage, but the Canadian fought back and ended up powerbombing The Sassy Southern Belle off the stage herself through a table to earn the victory. If you are not a fan of either of these two or their feud, then this won’t have done anything for you, but otherwise this was an enjoyable if overly long bout, and it was cool to see a mid-card feud receive a decent percentage of the show’s running time.
Backstage, Tyson Fury noted that he was in attendance to receive an apology from Braun Strowman, and that if he didn’t get it, it would be Braun who would “get these hands”. Strowman later suggested that he was initially trying to have fun with Tyson, but his response suggested that Fury wanted a fight, which Strowman was prepared for if need be.
Dolph Ziggler & Robert Roode vs. The Viking Raiders
Erik and Ivar have been notching up a lot of wins for a while now, so their non-title battle against Raw titleholders Ziggler and Roode was inevitable. This played out exactly as you would expect, with the heels controlling the middle portion before the hot tag led to all hell breaking loose courtesy of The Raiders. There were teases that the champs might hand The Vikings their first defeat on Raw, but instead Dolph succumbed to a slightly messy Viking Experience to seal the win (and as we learned later, a title shot next week). This did its job, and I would say there’s a strong chance that Erik and Ivar win the belts next Monday night from the latest thrown-together combo that is Dolph and Roode.
Aleister Black vs. The Singh Brothers
Earlier, Aleister had conducted one of his backstage promos about looking for a fight, before deciding he was going to head out and find one. The Singh Brothers weren’t exactly the toughest opposition for him, and he flattened them in little over a minute. Black’s push is back on, and he could play a big role in the coming months after the Draft for either brand.
Backstage, Rey Mysterio explained how he had Cain Valesquez turn up at SmackDown to hunt down Brock Lesnar in revenge for what Brock did to Rey and his son Dominic, while also noting how proud he was of his son. Though it won’t happen for a little while, a match with Rey and Dominic teaming up against whomever steps up is inevitable, but I’m also expecting an eventual Rey vs. Dominic match to mark Mysterio’s official swansong (at WrestleMania 36, perhaps?).
The O.C. vs. Lucha House Party
After the latest vignette on AOP, we had a treat in the form of this six-man tag. Too often, we see upper mid-carders exclusively face those at their level without battling others further down the rankings with whom a collision would have potential. That proved to be the case here, though, as Kalisto, Gran Metalik and Lince Dorado made the most of their opportunity by putting together some nice action against AJ Styles, Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson. Though this was action-packed and different to the norm, the odds of an upset were still low, and so there was no surprise that AJ picked up the victory by planting Kalisto with a Phenomenal Forearm. Afterwards, the heels ganged up on LHP, and Lince took a middle-rope Styles Clash.
Miz TV w/ Becky Lynch & Charlotte Flair
The latest edition of Miz TV was presented with the still-Raw Women’s Champion and the new SmackDown Women’s Champion, both of whom talked up their latest victories at Hell In A Cell, before offering some in-jest shots at one another. Still, they had a task beyond their talk show one-liners, and that was a bout against the new Women’s Tag Team Champions and new heels The Kabuki Warriors. Asuka and Kairi Sane insulted Becky and Charlotte in Japanese (as Jerry Lawler on commentary said “I completely agree with those sentiments”), before heading to the ring for a pre-match brawl.
Becky Lynch & Charlotte Flair vs. The Kabuki Warriors
This non-title bout was presented as a showcase of champions, and so it proved as all involved put forth an effort to impress here. It was Asuka and Kairi who dominated (as all villains do, noted earlier when discussing RooDolph vs. The Vikings), and here it was The Man who got the hot tag and took control. It seemed that the faces would get the win here but instead as the referee was distracted, Asuka spat green mist at Lynch, allowing Sane to pin her for the unexpected triumph for The Kabukis. A post-match brawl with Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross sets up a rematch either on Friday or next Monday, but Lynch taking the pin was a bit of a jolt, and a welcome one at that. No sign of Sasha Banks or Bayley, though.
Ricochet vs. Apollo Crews
This was a relatively short match between two babyfaces hoping to impress ahead of the Draft. Given more time, this could have been a show-stealer, but instead they made the most of their minutes with little chance to do much else; Ricochet won with the Recoil. I should mention that throughout the show, we were told that the stations themselves – USA Network and FOX – are actively participating in the Draft, which is a neat twist on things, though I’m unsure how it will play out (will Paul Heyman and Eric Bischoff appear on TV to properly represent their home shows?).
Footage aired of Seth Rollins vs. The Fiend at Hell In A Cell. I mention this because this montage was the only proper acknowledgement of their PPV bout all night. It’s fairly obvious why based on the reaction to the HIAC main event, and I’m hoping this is a sign that their feud might be dropped altogether. It does no favours to either man if the rivalry continues without a planned title change, and even then, once The Fiend were to lose the Universal Championship, his novelty would begin to wear off. That being said, a straight rematch presents fewer booking obstacles than the Cell did, even if that would mean that the feud was played out the wrong way round (a gimmick match setting up a normal rematch).
Tyson Fury Segment
Closing the show, we had the big segment involving Tyson Fury. Jerry Lawler interviewed him briefly before Braun Strowman came out. Fury and Strowman exchanged insults about losing titles and knocking each other out, which led to a big pull-apart brawl. Security tried to intervene only to be demolished by both, and so it was left to fellow wrestlers to try and separate them, with multiple attempts failing. Braun went backstage and essentially challenged Tyson to a fight before coming back out for a further pull-apart as the programme went off the air. A match of some sort is certain to happen, but will it be at Crown Jewel, or will WWE save it for WrestleMania? We shall see.
For the most part, this was an episode of WWE Raw designed to fill time between the heavy activity of last week and the Draft that begins this Friday. The upshot was a programme that was far from bad and had some cool action on offer, but which wasn’t particularly memorable either, aside from the final angle involving Fury and Strowman. I personally have no problem with that, even if others will during a period when wrestling fan discontent is at a worrying high (which I will cover in a separate article). The Draft will truly be what shapes the path that both Raw and SmackDown take as we head to Crown Jewel, Survivor Series and beyond.