The Dunkin Donuts Center in Providence, RI was home to a very somber edition of Monday Night Raw on 10/22/18.
The Universal Champion, Roman Reigns, came out without his staple flak jacket and Shield attire. His face was a range of emotion, but the casual fan could tell that something was amiss.
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The man, despite constant boos or cheers, has been as readily available on the WWE roster as anyone in recent memory. He has competed day in and day out, doing the media circuits, the house shows, and defending the championship each and every month since winning it.
Roman Reigns, the man, will step away from the business to seek the reassuring hands of loved ones and to spend precious time with family as he battles Leukemia, something he revealed he battled once at 22, and beat. He was given a chance by the WWE, and he took the ball and ran with it, beating it into remission. He will do the same again he tells us, and we at the Scrum Sports believe it and wish him well in his fight.
We look forward to hearing the music of the “Roman Empire” sooner, rather than later, as he makes his triumphant in-ring return to do what he does best and that’s compete in front of millions of fans.
He left the Universal Title in the ring where he was then met by dear brothers, Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins, racked with emotion and they provided a tender embrace for the “Big Dog”, tears streaming, as he offers the fist out for a final Shield bump.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ig5gFxn1sPc&w=560&h=315]
We’d see footage after the broadcast ended where he was greeted and supported by many a fellow competitor and friend backstage. An emotional Triple H, a nurturing Shawn Michaels offering words of faith, Paul Heyman, who worked with his legendary father. We see Nia Jax, Finn Balor, Braun Strowman and others as Reigns left his “yard” for the immediate future. After caring words from Renee Young, Michael Cole and Corey Graves, and in the immortal words of the late Freddie Mercury, “The Show Must Go On”.
We find out that our main event will be a tag team championship match where Dolph Ziggler and Drew McIntyre will defend the titles against the Shield.
Finn Balor defeats Bobby Lashley w/Lio Rush via pin fall after a rollup.
Balor was the right choice to bring out for singles action after how we began. The crowd needed that, and perhaps tonight might not be about wins and losses, but this was a good way to get the crowd back after the somber beginning.
Rush was annoying as usual, and it was great, and Lashley almost had the match several times following the Dominator. Balor eventually took advantage of a mistake and he won with a rollup. This will more then likely continue.
Drew McIntyre tells Dolph Ziggler that he’s going “monster hunting”, stating that Strowman needed the two of them much more than they needed him. He plans to continue to assert his dominance against “The Monster Among Men” tonight.
Ruby Riott defeats Sasha Banks via pin fall with the Riott Kick.
Banks was probably expected to win this after making her return to action after a hiatus, but such was not the case and they gave Riott the win, and momentum as Banks will be joined by Bayley and Natalya in a six-women tag match against the Riott Squad.
Bayley cleared the heels from the outside area, but as they came back with an assault, Banks flattened Morgan and Logan only to have that lead to her demise. Riott introduced her head to the turnbuckle and scored with the Riott kick to end this one.
We see a pre-taped promo from The legendary Undertaker and “The Demon” Kane where they talk at length about burying the rotting corpses of Shawn Michaels and Triple H at Crown Jewel. This was pretty entertaining as both veterans still have a way with words and they hyped the forthcoming “Crown Jewel” tag match with their arch-rivals.
Triple H and Shawn Michaels spoke in front of the Providence crowd in the same fashion. Triple H took shots at the promo and how DX isn’t back together for “nostalgia” or out of fear, they are back to handle their business and come away with a win. Solid effort here as well.
“The Advocate” Paul Heyman is out after promos for “Evolution” from talent such as Nia Jax, and we find out the plan for the vacant Universal Title. Roman Reigns, who is put over brilliantly by Heyman, was to defend the strap in a triple threat match.
It will now be a singles bout where “The Beast” Brock Lesnar will compete against Braun Strowman. This seems tailor-made for a Strowman title run, but never say never when Lesnar is involves. Personally, a Strowman/McIntyre feud looks to be money, but we’ll see. Heyman sets the table for the fans to eat from as he puts over Lesnar and the match as only he can.
Strowman takes issues with some of the comments and he states his intentions for Lesnar only to turn around where he’s fed a Claymore Kick from Drew McIntyre. The Scotsman leaves with a sadistic grin set upon his face and Strowman is left groggy.
Elias defeats Apollo Crews via pin fall with Drift Away.
Well Crews latest push lasted about as long as a cup of coffee, probably an espresso at that. We try to “Walk With Elias” before the quintessential interruption and the singles bout sees Crews with sound offense, but he is silenced after a mental mistake and “Drift Away”.
After an oddly times commercial following the end of the bout, we try to “Walk With Elias” once again which thanks to less than stellar delivery from Acting General Manager, Baron Corbin, sets up a needed Elias face turn. The crowd had been chanting “We’re not worthy” throughout the match, and Elias brings his guitar crashing down against the back of Corbin.
Corbin had stated that if Stephanie McMahon didn’t like Elias, he’d have fired him months ago. It was the drizzling you know what as Steve Austin used to say. Great to see Elias with the face turn, he’s over and it could and should work.
Michael Cole presents the contract signing for the Ronda Rousey/Nikki Bella title match. I never expected to be typing this, but Bella needs to be taking lessons from Rousey here because she is running circles around her with these promos. The Bellas are as bad in these promos as they were backstage with the guest host of the week so many years ago.
Bella slaps the taste out of Rousey’s mouth after signing the contract and instead of reacting, Rousey smiles and signs the contract telling her that on Sunday, she’s going to “end her”. It was a legitimate mark-out moment and the crowd ate it up. Worry rested upon the face of Nikki Bella as we returned with a fatal four-way match.
Ember Moon defeats Nia Jax, Dana Brooke and Tamina in a fatal four-way match with an Eclipse on Tamina.
They are really building Moon up as a legitimate threat to win the battle royale on Sunday although Asuka would be a sound choice as well. Nia Jax had her moments and Brooke has a brief moment in the sun, but ultimately, Tamina was the fodder for Moon’s victory here tonight. It wasn’t a long match, but it served its purpose.
We have a lengthy Kurt Angle promo where he runs down all the talent in the World Cup match, talking about their accomplishments and how he plans to win.
Titus O’Neil does some great promotional work for the Susan G. Komen foundation and the work that WWE does with them during breast cancer awareness month. he introduces some fighters and some survivors, a great moment here.
Trish Stratus and Lita are back for a promo where they have a whole back and forth with Alicia Fox and Mickie James. Rumor is, Alexa Bliss is battling a nagging injury and perhaps they are toying with the idea of replacing her with the veteran Fox. Foxxy is as terrific as always, and in this case, Stratus and Lita did “kill the messenger” as they look good on the road to their tag team match this weekend at “Evolution”. The main event is next.
Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins defeat Dolph Ziggler and Drew McIntyre via pinfall after a Blackout from Rollins on Ziggler to win the RAW tag team titles.
This was a fantastic main event as you’d expect from the two teams, especially in light of what was revealed earlier with Reigns. The heels had the upper hand, but ultimately, it came down to Braun Strowman making his presence felt. “The Monster” came down to ringside to repay McIntyre for the attack earlier and the two men brawled into the crowd, leaving Ziggler as a sheep for the wolves.
Ziggler ate a superkick and a Blackout as Ambrose helped a referee recover from a timely bump to allow for the interference and he saw the three count and new worlds champions.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3DSHWYe44Y&w=560&h=315]
This is where things went to hell in a hand basket. I will not take liberties with the ending of the broadcast as I’d like too, but many Scrum readers will surely have their own thoughts. Immediately after winning the straps, Dirty Deeds and the suspected heel turn.
Dean Ambrose assaulted his friend and partner on the night that Roman Reigns legitimately left the business to battle Leukemia. Yikes. The crowd reaction wasn’t the shock of a heel turn, but the faces showcased how many of us probably felt, really?
They could have come out next week to begin the broadcast with the titles and we come have an immediate Dirty Deeds and the turn here. This wasn’t Tomasso Ciampa turning on his beloved friend in NXT, unexpected, yet brilliant, this was expected, and more then likely poorly timed.
The title are being hot-shotted once again and they’ll surely change hands as a result of this, and we’ll obviously have a great feud over the Intercontinental Championship, but the timing here? Yikes. That ended RAW and we certainly want to wish Roman Reigns the best in his fight from all of us here at the Scrum Sports.
