WWE: Monday Night RAW was LIVE from the XL Center in Hartford, CT on 10/31/16! Happy Halloween!
Goldberg starts off Raw and the crowd is red hot! He comes out through the pyro, breathing smoke and he is prepared to speak, but is quickly interrupted by “The Advocate” Paul Heyman. Heyman says Brock doesn’t appreciate the crowd chanting for Bill and the crowd goes bananas. Heyman surprises the live crowd by introducing the “Beast Incarnate” Brock Lesnar, who is in attendance tonight as well! But he’s not, it’s the old CM Punk ploy. The crowd reacts accordingly and Heyman is chuckling. This isn’t going to end well for the former owner of ECW. Paul says Bill should see the look on Bill’s son’s face. It’s a look of disappointment similar to the one he’ll see after Goldberg is victimized at Survivor Series. Bill is set to move on Paul when the former US Champion, Rusev, heads to the ring with a live mic. Rusev says he used to watch Goldberg in WCW when he used his explosive strength to use the spear and the Jackhammer. Rusev questions his heart and his ability to fight when he’s been beaten down. Rusev says you know what he does to weak people? Rusev crushes! He fires a right hand at Goldberg and the former champ grins and laughs it off. Goldberg hoists Rusev up and Jackhammers down for Hartford and then he spears Heyman! The crowd is frantic! What a start to Raw!
We then get highlights of the Universal Title match from last night at Hell In The Cell and find out that Mick Foley will address the results of the match tonight. Up next however is a Trick or Street Fight between Gallows and Anderson and Enzo Amore and Big Cass!
Enzo Amore and Big Cass defeat Gallows and Anderson after a DD-G on Anderson. This was quite fun. There were candy corn kendo sticks and pumpkin innards and a finish where the DDT was on a pumpkin helmeted Gallows. It was a blast and the crowd appreciated the faces getting the win after a tough loss last night. Enzo and Cass were dressed as Woody and Buzz Lightyear from Toy Story before the match took place. After the match, Paul Heyman is shown being taken out of the arena in an ambulance and we find out that after the break, the NEW Cruiserweight Champion, THE Brian Kendrick will be defending the title in a rematch against TJ Perkins.
TJ Perkins defeats Brian Kendrick by count-out after Kendrick opted not to answer the ten count. Decent match for the time alloted as TJP hit a masterful hurricanrana off the top rope to the apron and onto the floor which saw his land on him neck and Kendrick crash and burn. Kendrick cut a great promo before the match and the switch shows that it was the right call. TJP enjoying the chase will be refreshing and it should make for some great TV.
Mick Foley is shown backstage wearing a white suit and a Halloween themed shirt. Braun Strowman approaches him and asks to be on team RAW. He wants real competition. Foley isn’t impressed with the threat…or so it seems. He says he’s afraid. Foley says what he can do is put Strowman in a battle royale and the winner will be apart of team RAW at Survivor Series.
Foley is out after the break and he puts over Hell in The Cell. He says however, that he was disappointed with Chris Jericho and Kevin Owens, the Universal Champion, for what they did in the cell with Seth Rollins. Owens said Foley is jealous because he won the match and Foley was a loser in four separate matches. Foley is incensed because they made a mockery of the cell, but he needs both of them for team RAW. Jericho mocks Foley and says Foley is upset because he took the key and twirled it around.
“It’s because it was the KEY of Jericho, Lock It In, Maaaaan!” -Chris Jericho
That line had me rolling and the crowd loved it. Foley said Steph wanted KO on the team, but not Jericho because of what he did. But he states he wanted both guys and he also needs “The Guy”. The US Champ, Roman Reigns, is out and he’s on team RAW as well. Roman thanks Foley for the vote of confidence to a raucous “Roman sucks” chant. Foley said his wife loves him. Roman calls KO and Jericho Spongebob and Patrick. Jericho said that Roman is not even in costume. Roman said he wanted to go as a “stupid idiot” but they were out of Jericho costumes. Jericho says because Roman insulted Jericho, you know what happens?! He trolls the crowd. He says Roman and the crowd isn’t worthy of being on the list. Nobody will be on the list tonight! Jericho and Roman continue to have words and it leads to a US Title match booked for the main event tonight!
Highlights of the grueling women’s title match in the cell are shown after the segment and it ends with the highlight of Charlotte Flair as she is now going to be known, taking her name as her own, holding the title up. Sami Zayn heads to the ring for the battle royale and it’s up next!
Braun Strowman wins the Battle Royale by eliminating Sami Zayn last. Strowman looked as if he was about to spill over the top, but the brute strength of Braun was too much. He tossed Neville before Zayn and a multitude of others were involved including Cesaro and Sheamus who tried to eliminate one another. Cesaro ultimately dumped his partner, but Strowman joins Reigns, Jericho and Owens on team Raw. It would be amazing to see Bray and Harper on team Smackdown so we get this matchup. We’ll have to wait and see!
The New Day are shown after a break and Big E. is dressed as Faarooq, Kofi is dressed as The Godfather and Xavier is Papa Shango. The New Day are captains of the Raw tag team and it’s the Power of Positivity against Cheese and Crackers. Apparently it’ll be Slater and Rhyno and The Hype Bros. for Smackdown thus far. For Raw, it’s just The New Day at the moment. They end the segment by trashing most of the teams and putting over American Alpha and then we head to the ring with Rich Swann, Cedric Alexander and Lince Dorado heading down the ramp for six man tag action!
Rich Swann, Cedric Alexander and Lince Dorado defeat Tony Nese, Ariya Daivari and Drew Gulak via pinfall after a jacknife pin by Swann on Nese. Swann is definitely being primed to be the next to take on Kendrick. Crowd was a little quiet for this one which was a shame because this was great. Alexander worked incredibly hard for the majority of the match and then Swann made the hot tag and took over. Nese looked really strong too and this was a good match with some decent time given to further showcase the Cruiserweights and get the division moving. After the next break, we’ll hear from Charlotte after her monumental win in Boston last night.
Charlotte is out on a throne carried by Centurions. She is the Queen and the Captain of team Raw. She tells Nikki Bella that she put her on the shelf for a year, if she gets in her way, she’ll shelf her for life. She also trashes Carmella, Becky Lynch and Alexa Bliss. Charlotte says there is a potential weak link on her team and she calls out Bayley. Before all this, she calls Sasha second place and a glorified loser. Bayley comes out and calls Charlotte a jerk after Charlotte runs her down. Charlotte says that she is gonna test Bayley. Bayley asks if she is gonna have to beat Charlotte’s protege again? Charlotte then introduces her opponent for tonight, Nia Jax! They’ll compete after the break.
Nia Jax defeats Bayley with a samoan drop. It was a hard fought match and Bayley certainly did her best, but Jax ended up being too much. My biggest complaint with this match? Jax needs to learn to sell better. I’ve always enjoyed Nia and her mere presence, but she basically no sold three dropkicks from Bayley in a row and worked lazily in my opinion. Great showing from Bayley, but if Jax is going to be as dominant as I know she can be, she’s gotta make the work look better.
Sheamus and Cesaro defeat The Shining Stars via submission after Sheamus forced Epico to tap out to the Cloverleaf. Primo was looking to make the save off the top rope, but Cesaro cut him off with a European Uppercut. The teamwork continues as the two men look towards the tag straps that eluded them last night but the DQ victory didn’t. After the break, it’s time for main event as we have Roman Reigns defending the US Title against Chris Jericho.
Roman Reigns defeats Chris Jericho by DQ. Owens entered the match after what a very enjoyable contest between the two men. After the ref called for the DQ, the beatdown on Reigns ensued. Just as the two heels and best friends were about to put the final screws on Reigns after a codebreaker, Seth Freakin’ Rollins hit the ring and made the save for his former Shield brother. The crowd was going nuts for the show of respect. Rollins hit two suicide dives on KO and then a springboard knee to Jericho before the mini-reunion of sorts and that’s how the show ended.
