Braun Strowman makes his Money in the Bank cash in official for Hell in a Cell!
Trish Stratus returns to WWE!
And so does Kevin Owens… to then announce he’s quitting.
I’m Oli Davis, give us a subscribe, press the thumbs up button and click the ‘i’
above my head to vote for what you thought of the show - where you can choose from In
Awe, Cor, AVRAWGE, Poor and Bore - as I review the 27th August, 2018 edition of Monday Night
Raw ...in about 4 minutes.
Roman Reigns opened Raw by issuing an open challenge for his Universal Title - proving
that age old saying, you wait ages for a Universal Title defence, and then you get three in quick
succession in an attempt to get Roman cheered.
Braun Strowman came out to accept, even though he kind of already had an open challenge contract
with his Money in the Bank briefcase, and then booked them both a match at Hell in a
Cell.
But despite Roman powerbombing Braun through the announcer’s desk last week, they’ll
have to work together against Dolph Ziggler and Drew McIntyre in tonight’s main event.
Fresh off making those matches official, Constable Corbs then booked him vs Finn Balor, which
he first lost for using a chair, restarted it as a No DQ match and then won with the
End of Days.
This was a fun way of getting Baron’s mad with power character over, but it sadly came
at the expense of a very hot Balor, derailing Finn’s momentum from reviving the Demon
at SummerSlam and challenging for the top title the next night.
The seeds of dissension continued in Titus Worldwide, where Dana Brooke lost to Sasha
Banks, despite Apollo telling O’Neil she wasn’t ready.
Because those Shield babyfaces sure do love competition, Seth Rollins issued an open challenge
for his Intercontinental title next, which was answered by a returning Kevin Owens!
He only missed a week after losing to Braun at SummerSlam, but it really feels like he’s
gone for much longer, stuck in comedy fillers against Strowman for the last several months.
This was the return of The Kevin Owens Show.
And what a return it was, getting a thunderous reaction from his home country, but then getting
Toronto to boo him because he put over Montreal; wrestling a fantastic, pay-per-view calibre
match, busting out crossfaces, Stunners and even a wicked top rope moonsault.
It was like my SmackDown Just Bring It Create-A-Wrestler with just finishers for his entire moveset.
The last one was his downfall, though, as Rollins caught him with a Curbstomp to end
the match.
But when Raw came back from commercial, Owens was still in the ring, where he simply muttered
into the microphone “I quit” and walked out.
So now it’s the Kevin Owens No Show?
The B Team suffered their first tag team loss next in a non-title match against The Revival.
Hopefully that means they’re losing the belts soon.
Who wants to walk with Elias?
Trish Stratus, apparently, who interrupted him trashing her hometown of Toronto.
All the stuff between Trish and Elias - the bra and panties match joke, Elias saying he
doesn’t date women over 60 and the ensuing slap - was great.
Trish awkwardly entering Evolution PR mode, however, was awful.
Elias quickly Thanosed away as Natalya and Ronda Rousey joined Trish for Natty’s match
against Alicia Fox, who had Alexa Bliss and a returning Mickie James in her corner!
After Natalya won, her, Rousey and Trish ran into the Bellas backstage, who revealed they’re
going to wrestle a match next week.
Would someone please give them a lift home from SummerSlam now?
The Brand Split has been in rigorous effect since July 2016, WWE mostly drawing a distinct
line between the two rosters.
But the Bellas are beyond this.
An act so brand-transcending, that they evidently must appear on both Raw and SmackDown.
It appears Bobby Lashley will be the one to give Corbin his inevitable comeuppance, as
the two started a low-key feud with Baron booking him in a handicap match against The
Ascension.
Not only did Lashley beat both men in a few minutes.
Corbin also couldn’t remember their names.
Dean Ambrose spoke for the first time since returning from injury!
Where he badassly told meditation guru Jinder Mahal - who, remember, was SmackDown champion
this time last year - that when he closes his eyes he sees him breaking Jinder’s face,
his ribs and making him cry.
This set up a match between them later on, with Ambrose dropping the lunatic goofiness
of old and portraying a more serious, vicious character, beating Jinder in five minutes.
The main event was an odd affair.
After being worked over for ages, Roman hot tagged Braun for Strowman to just stand there.
Drew and Dolph decided to start stomping on Reigns to lose via DQ.
Strowman then sided with a surprised Drew and Dolph and to all begin beating up Reigns
together.
Cue the Shield running down for the save - but only one by one, because you wouldn’t want
to get a numbers advantage.
It felt like a Braun heel turn, just how last Monday felt like a Roman heel turn.
It’s quite an interesting approach to shades of grey, as Strowman is more than justified
for getting his payback from last week.
But the usually hot Toronto crowd received it all rather mildly.
Just like Becky Lynch on SmackDown, Braun is a character people organically want to
cheer [28], but he’s been forced to give that reaction to someone else, someone people
organically want to boo.
I thought this episode zipped along at a nice pace, with Trish returning to WWE and Kevin
Owens wrestling an excellent match.
This week’s Raw is a high AvRAWge.
Neville has had an offer from a major WWE competitor!
Click the WrestleTalk.com link onscreen now to find out who!
And click the picture of me and Luke to become a WrestleTalk Patreon today!
I’ve been Oli Davis, and that was wrestling.