Universal Champion, Roman Reigns, starts off the broadcast at Toronto’s Scotiabank Arena on 8/27/18 talking about the Shield reunion last week.
Reigns says that he’s been defending the title all over the world, something that hasn’t been done while Brock Lesnar held the strap.
He invites Braun Strowman out to talk about last week, but if Braun doesn’t show up, he’s having an open challenge tonight. Strowman heeds the callout and he comes to the ring with his Money in The Bank briefcase. They talk about what happened last week and Strowman says, despite it all, he’s still going to be a man and announce his cash-in.
That cash-in will take place at Hell In The Cell in a few weeks time. The two are interrupted by former IC Champ, Dolph Ziggler, and Drew McIntyre. Ziggler says he’ll have his contractually obligated rematch with Seth Rollins when the time is right, but they are challenging the “top of the mountain” tonight.
McIntyre says that when you’re atop the mountain, the only thing left is to go tumbling down.
Acting Raw General Manager, Baron Corbin, comes out and makes a tag team main event between Reigns and Strowman and Ziggler and McIntyre. He then decides to put together another quality match after making Strowman and Reigns for the Universal title official, and that’s against Finn Balor, “The Man”, and that match is next!
Finn Balor defeats Baron Corbin by DQ after a chair shot
Balor and Corbin give it their all once again to start off the night. Corbin executes a tremendous deep six that worked perfectly because of Corbins ability to manipulate Balor’s smaller frame. It looked terrific. Corbin looked to introduce a chair that Balor eyed, but then Balor opted to go up top and try for the Coup De Grace, Corbin moves out of harm’s way and instead, opts to utilize the weapon himself. The DQ was called for.
Corbin then takes to the outside and says due to all of the strenous activity that befalls a General Manager, he neglected to mention that it was in fact, a NO DQ match. He calls for the bell to sound once again.
Baron Corbin defeats Finn Balor via pin fall with End Of Days.
Quick, fast and to the point. After the crushing steel contact with Balor, “The Man”. Corbin pulls Balor up and nails him with the End Of Days, ballgame.
We then have a video package highlighting the forthcoming match between Triple H and The Undertaker. We see a smattering of hall of famers ranging from “Nature Boy” Ric Flair, Jeff Jarrett, Kevin Nash, Mick Foley and “Captain Charisma”, the “CLB” himself, Christian, making their predictions for the match and talking about these staples of the industry.
We find out that hall of famer, the “Heartbreak Kid” Shawn Michaels, will be present at next week’s Raw to weigh in as well.
Apollo Crews is backstage with Dana Brooke. Apparently, she’ll be in singles action next against Sasha Banks, as we find out thanks to Titus O’Neil. He’s booked Brooke against a hungry Banks to see if she can hang with “The Boss”.
Sasha Banks defeats Dana Brooke via submission with the Banks Statement.
This was actually one of Brooke’s better matches as she had time to work with the veteran. Bayley was at ringside to support the Boss and Hug connection and after a meteora, a backstabber and a Banks Statement, Banks found her way to the pay window, besting a Dana Brooke that was up to the challenge, but ultimately fell short.
We see members of the Shield backstage, Dean Ambrose and the IC Champ, Seth Rollins, are chatting and Rollins will be headed to the ring next.
Rollins is out after the break, and while he expected to find himself further embroiled in a situation involving Dolph Ziggler and Drew McIntyre, he instead decides to issue an open challenge in front of the Toronto crowd, the title is on the line.
Kevin Owens is out and he receives a massive pop. he talks about being excited to return to Raw, but because of Sami Zayn’s injury, he couldn’t get past Braun Strowman and he’s run into a streak of bad luck that has been quite consistent. He accepts the challenge and here we go!
Seth Rollins defeats Kevin Owens via pin fall with the Black Out.
I cannot even begin to do this one justice. This wasn’t just match of the night, but easily one of the best Raw matches of the year. For one, this involved Seth Rollins, so you have that, but then you have Owens, so it’s a recipe for success. Owens teased victory on many occasions and he nearly put it away with a superkick among other things. Rollins fought back with resilience and he tried to head up top to put it away, but Owens shoved him off and then took to the top rope with a springboard moonsault.
He missed the mark, and Rollins recovered in time to hit the Black Out and he crawls on top of Owens for a three count. After the match, he gets to his feet and nods towards Owens in an approving fashion. The crowd was stunned and floored by the quality bout and the announcers reference that several times throughout the night. This one has got to be seen and enjoyed.
Braun Strowman approaches acting Raw GM, Baron Corbin, backstage and he officially hands in his Money In The Bank briefcase. Corbin takes it from him since the Hell In The Cell match has been booked. Dare we conceive a scenario that sees Reigns retaining or Strowman winning and since Braun “handed” the briefcase to Corbin, Corbin cashes in himself to win the strap? Perhaps he hands the briefcase to a Kevin Owens or rising star and we see the same thing?
If that happens, you heard it here on the RAWtrospective first. Kevin Owens then “quit” WWE.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFb9kCiAHPc&w=560&h=315]
The Revival defeat The B-Team via pin fall with the Shatter Machine in a non-title match.
As expected, The Revival will be in line for another opportunity at the tag team titles after being upset at Summerslam. It was a competitive match, but ultimately, Curtis Axel found himself in dire straits and he ate the Shatter Machine, which resulted in the pin fall. Frustrations mount and Bo Dallas meets the same fate, eating a Shatter Machine himself. The champs lose a non-title match and we have the recipe for a future tag team title bout laid out for fans of the division.
Dash and Dawson cut a promo after the match, saying the tag team division has been a joke ever since the B-Team won the straps. They reference classic tag teams and say they are sick of these two “morons” making a mockery of the sacred tag team division.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOYulSuaHOU&w=560&h=315]
Well, well, well, what’s the only thing better than “Walking With Elias?” How about walking with Trish Stratus?! Toronto’s own hall of famer comes out and receives a massive pop. We have already been informed that the legend will be seeing singles action against Alexa Bliss at Evolution, but a holy you know what chant breaks out and Elias tried to play off of it.
He introduces her as a hall of famer and he says it’s nice that she’s taken a break from changing diapers to do something important like get into the ring with him, because he’s kind of a big deal. Stratus says he’s got some “toe tappers” and good tuns, but when he starts trashing her hometown, she’s gonna have to ask him to silence his cellphone, hold his applause and shut his mouth.
Elias says an Elias performance in Toronto in like the Stanley cup, it’s not something often seen. Stratus says it’s like Elias winning championship gold. She references her own seven title reigns and her hall of fame credentials. She then plugs Evolution and match with Bliss. Elias mocks classic WWE and asks if it’s gonna be a pillow fight? Trish says he should take his guitar and floral kimono and leave the ring.
He says let’s cut to the chase, and asks if she is out to “walk with Elias”. He doesn’t date women in their sixties. Trish slaps the taste out of his mouth.
Here comes the Raw women’s champion, Ronda Rousey! Natalya is out next and the two make their way to the ring. Natalya will be in action against Alicia Fox after the break.
Alexa Bliss comes out after the break with Alicia Fox, she calls Trish miss irrelevant and trashes Nattie and Rousey as well. She gets some heat as expected, she calls herself the “Goddess” and she is invoking her rematch for the women’s title at Hell In The Cell. She says she’s gonna “revoke” her rematch, meaning invoke. Coach actually makes reference to the botch, which was great. Bliss brings out one Trish’s greatest opponents, Mickie James, and James flanks the heels as Fox heads to the ring and the match is on!
Natalya defeats Alicia Fox via submission with the Sharpshooter.
As expected, this was kept short in deference to time and Nattie was quick to put this one away with the sharpshooter and Fox took the L and then she made a quick exit. The faces celebrate, and Stratus gets another pop before making her exit.
We then find out that Dean Ambrose will take on Jinder Mahal shortly and we’ll hear from more legends about the Undertaker/Triple H match.
The faces run into the Bella Twins backstage and it’s a love fest. The Bellas say that they are so proud that Rousey is representing the division, and after chatting with Baron Corbin earlier, next week, the Bellas are back in action. Cool, that’s actually a pretty big deal. We are setting the stage for a Rousey/Nikki Bella match, which have been heavily rumored.
More hall of famers weigh in on the Triple H/Undertaker including “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, Booker T., “Diamond” Dallas Page and the Big Show. The predictions are split. I definitely am looking forward to the match, they are always good!
Baron Corbin is on the phone with Stephanie McMahon and they are talking about Kevin Owens and how he’s apparently “quit”, which he slides in there, hopefully this leads to a quality story line for Owens, because he deserves one. Bobby Lashley enters and mocks Corbin asking for a masseuse after Lashley handled him last week. Lashley is informed he’s been booked in a match next.
Bobby Lashley defeats The Ascension via pin fall with a Sideout Slam in a handicap match.
Quick, fast and in a hurry. Lashley is booked against Viktor and Konnor and he makes short work of them in a display of power, meant to get him back to his winning ways. Lashley looks strong and hopefully, will find himself involved in a major story again soon.
We do find out that Kevin Owens did indeed “quit” earlier following his loss to Seth Rollins. We’ll see where this goes.
Dean Ambrose defeats Jinder Mahal via pin fall with Dirty Deeds.
The return of the “Lunatic Fringe” continues full steam ahead as Mahal is made short work of by the returning Ambrose. Mahal had some early offense, but ultimately the Dirty Deeds was the end of Mahal’s chances of seeking out a victory tonight.
Nikki and Brie Bella will be taking on the Riott Squad in their return next week. I’m sure it’ll be against Liv Morgan and Sarah Morgan, as they’ll obviously want to protect Ruby Riott, who’s seen recent success since her return from injury. The Revival will also have a tag team title match against the B-Team after their non-title victory tonight.
Braun Strowman/Roman Reigns and Dolph Ziggler/Drew McIntyre is apparently thrown out via referee stoppage.
It was either that or the referee awarded the “faces” the victory due to the heels refusing to stop beating on Reigns. This was a shocking ending to a solid Raw. Reigns stayed in for the entirety of the main event, which was short due to a pretty lengthy runover with all things considered. Reigns fought valiantly to ward off offense from both the heels and finally, when he countered an attack from McIntyre, he tagged in Strowman. The “Monster Among Men” just stood on the apron as the heels continued to work over Reigns.
It then became shockingly apparently that we might have the trappings of a new heel trio that has formed before our very eyes. Strowman allowed Ziggler and McIntyre to hit the Claymore/Zig-Zag combo on Reigns. The Shield tried to save their friend, but Ambrose was quickly subdued and he ate a powerslam from Strowman for his troubles. Rollins came down, bad shoulder and all, he met the same fate. Reigns ate the powerslam to seal what seemed to be a reality.
Strowman then grabbed the hands of Ziggler and McIntyre and hoisted them high and holy cow, do we have the makings of some good main events potentially in the future. The Shield vs. this new trio? Consider me interested. A solid Raw in front of the Toronto crowd here tonight!
