Are the Shield getting a fourth member? The Authors of Pain get a main event! And Liv
Morgan, welcome to BOTCH MODE! 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 24th September, 2018 edition of Monday Night Raw ...in about 4 minutes.
WWE have a new ‘Then, Now, Forever’ opening sting ! I hate change!
Baron Corbin eagerly greeting his boss Stephanie McMahon opened the actual episode, with the
Constable singing Happy Birthday as she got out a limo. One funny Triple H ‘I’m just
here to call out the Undertaker’ cameo later, and Steph laid out Corbz with her Emasculator
finishing move. Even though he’s a heel, Steph said he’s rubbish at his job. As was
the last guy. And the guy before tha-Stephanie, I’m starting to think you’re the problem
here. McMahon then booked a main event of The Shield vs Corbin and two mystery tag partners.
Who, going by the match graphic, are both The Miz.
The Shield came out through the crowd to mild applause next. Or, if you’re going by Michael
Cole’s commentary: “What an ovation! Oh my!”
Roman Reigns explained how the Shield are the bestest people in WWE right now, because
they’ve all got titles. He’s the Universal Champion, Seth Rollins is Intercontinental
Champion, and Dean is...oh, awkward. This was the first chapter in Raw’s night-long
narrative: playing on Ambrose as the Shield member taken for granted. The Dogs of War
later pointed out that Dean became WWE Champion all by himself on SmackDown, but has played
second fiddle to Seth and Roman since coming to Raw - and look how quickly Rollins replaced
him with Jason Jordan earlier this year.
To actually build Mixed Match Challenge on a main show - so it is in main roster continuity?
- Finn Balor took on Jinder Mahal ahead of their Mixed Tag with Bayley and Alicia Fox.
After some Sunil Singh shenanigans, Bayley grabbed Jinder’s leg for one of the biggest
pops of the night, helping Finn win off the distraction.
Brie Bella also got a decent pop with her Yes Kicks in the Bellas and Natalya vs the
Riott Squad. Unfortunately, one of those pops was Liv Morgan’s jaw likely being knocked
off. Twice. Botch Mode! The Riott Squad dealt with Morgan being taken out injured very well,
and Ruby picked up the win.
I’m all for charity, and Connor’s Cure appears to be a very worthy cause. But I have
absolutely no time for the entire roster breaking kayfabe in the middle of a show - babyfaces
standing alongside blood feud heels - for Stephane and Triple H to announce a corporate
relationship between Hyundai and WWE. This was patronising and had no place on Raw.
Chad Gable has a new catchphrase - WWBRD? What would Bobby Roode do? STOP FACING THE
ASCENSION FOR A START. How can you get people excited for a new act by having the same match
over and over again? It makes their segments repetitive, like white noise. And then you
derail whatever winning streak Gable had going by having Konnor beat him in a few minutes?
Corey Graves called the reaction a “stunned silence in the arena”. Which is sales speak
for ‘bored’.
The crowd were brought back alive by a surprisingly good tag title match next though, between
Dolph Ziggler and Drew McIntyre against The Revival. Not ‘surprising’ because it was
great in-ring, all four men are very, very good at wrestling. ‘Surprising’ because
WWE actually gave them time for the heel vs heel dynamic to connect with the crowd. Several
genuinely believable Revival near-falls eventually succumbed to the Zigmore for the champions
to retain.
Despite wasting Kevin Owens in this storyline, Bobby Lashley and Lio Rush are really cementing
themselves as an effective double act. Just three weeks into their pairing, and their
routine is already down - Rush is all hype and highspots, whereas Bobby is the muscle
and power. Owens attacked Lashley for the DQ, but Bobby
still fought them off, building to Lashly and John Cena against Owens and Elias at Super
Showdown.
Nia Jax beat Alicia Fox with one Samoan Drop. Looks like Jax and Ember Moon are the Women’s
Division’s latest best friends.
The rest of the show continued teasing Ambrose splitting from The Shield, with Seth Rollins
trying to get Drew McIntyre to leave the Dogs of War backstage - for Drew to flip that on
Rollins by telling Dean either Seth’s trying to replace him… or my much preferred storyline
- that Seth was trying to recruit Drew as the new fourth member of the Shield - sorry
Kurt. Then you could have all the drama of Dean slowly turning on the Shield after McIntyre
gets added. The main event saw Roman, Seth and Dean’s
first match together this year, and despite not having the cool auro of their first run,
they still put on excellent six-man tags. And to make it even better, WWE made the inspired
choice of AOP as Corbin’s mystery tag partners - which is a fantastic way to elevate them
as a dominant team. Strowman, Drew and Dolph sat backwards on
some steel chairs like hip supply teachers at the top of the stage to watch the match,
which told the story of Reigns and Seth being taken out, for Ambrose to save the team, for
them all coming together again at the end. After winning, Dean briefly teased siding
with the Dogs of War, but got into celebrate with The Shield instead. I’m sure that’s
the last we’ll hear of that long-rumoured Dean Ambrose heel turn.
The Dean Ambrose narrative, elevating AOP and a decent tag match made this a solid episode,
meaning this week’s Raw is AvRAWge.