WWE: Monday Night RAW was LIVE from The Royal Farms Arena in Baltimore, MD on 9/12/16!
Raw begins with the GM, Mick Foley, in the ring. He welcomes us to the show. Foley puts over Becky Lynch winning the Smackdown Women’s Title last night and he says Raw is still the premiere destination for women’s wrestling. He then invites the Raw Women’s champion, Charlotte, to the ring. Charlotte is out and she’s still flanked by her protege, Dana Brooke. Charlotte demands an apology from Dana Brooke, or their friendship, and more importantly, her mentorship, is over. Dana quickly apologizes and before Charlotte can continue, Foley talks about her defending the women’s title at Clash of Champions. Sasha Banks jumps the cue gun and heads to the ring, cutting Foley on. Sasha says that she doesn’t need an introduction and she puts herself over as the Boss and the woman who is taking back the title in two weeks time. The crowd gets behind Sasha, and then Bayley makes her presence known, joining the party. Bayley clamors for a title opportunity, but Sasha says while Bayley had her back at Battleground, there are no friends when it comes to the women’s title. Charlotte tries to stir things up, and Dana says Sasha and Bayley should have their own best of seven series. Charlotte tells Dana to shut up. We find out that it’s being changed and the winner of a triple threat between Sasha, Bayley and Dana Brooke! Dana slaps Charlotte back and the crowd goes nuts. That match is up next!
Sasha Banks defeats Bayley and Dana Brooke with a creative pinfall on Bayley to officially become the number one contender for the Women’s Title at Clash Of Champions. This was a very good match for the time allotted and one would expect. Really a good call to have Sasha pin Bayley. If Sasha gets the belt back, it really sets the stage for their main roster feud over the next few months. Bayley hit the Bayley-To-Belly on dana only for Sasha to stack her up with a pinning situation. Charlotte was on commentary and the fans really enjoyed the contest. Great way to start Raw.
After the break, Dana Brooke is blown up after her match and she runs into Charlotte. Dana tries to apologize, but Charlotte tells her to get her bags. We then pan to The Shining Stars trying to pitch R-Truth on a timeshare in Puerto Rico. They are trying to con him and he asks if he can bring Little Jimmy. R-Truth runs off and they turn around and run into Big Cass. Cass is joined by Enzo and they call the two men out for being con men. They put over their victory over Enzo and Cass last week. The two teams bicker and they setup a rematch for later tonight.
Tom Phillips is backstage with the Universal Champion, Kevin Owens. Tom asks him about his match with Roman Reigns later tonight. KO said Reigns doesn’t EVER belong in the same ring as he does. KO says Foley is trying to stack the odds against him, because Foley was never on the level of his mentor, Triple H. KO says in two weeks, it will not be a triple threat match, because tonight he will beat Reigns and walk out of Clash of Champions as the champ still. Chris Jericho walks into the segment and he calls Tom a hack. Jericho says the real tragedy is that Foley pulled Owens out of tonight’s highlight reel. He says that tonight he’ll have KO’s former best friend, Sami Zayn, on the show instead. He calls Zayn a stupid idiot, but he accentuates the “it” as usual. Amazing. We head to the ring for Bo Dallas in singles action.
Bo Dallas defeats Brandon Scott in a squash match with a roll of the dice. Just another way to get Bo over as a legitimate threat on the Raw roster and restore some of his credibility. The highlight reel is up next.
Jericho brings up Zayn for the Highlight Reel and he puts over KO. Zayn he he only wants to talk about winning the Universal Title someday. Zayn says if Jericho believes KO is his best friend, he is the stupid idiot. Jericho tells the fans to shut up. He says Zayn is a taker, just like all the fans. Jericho is a giver. He gives all these heathens the gift of Jericho. Zayn says that gift sucks. Zayn said KO showed him his true colors, and he only cares about himself. Jericho says the truth is that Zayn is jealous of Owens. Jericho says KO is the longest reigning Universal Champion in WWE history. He’s just Sami Zayn. Zayn asks if there is any shred of the old Chris Jericho left. Zayn said he and KO used to travel the world because of craftsmen like Jericho, Eddie Guerrero and Dean Malenko. Zayn says now he is nothing but KO’s “female dog”. This is a quality interaction here. Good way for Zayn to get some time in front of a Raw crowd. It’s been sorely needed for several months now. Jericho said that he got a text from KO right before the segment, telling Jericho what to expect. Needless to say, Zayn eats a shot from the cellphone and then a codebreaker. Classic Jericho! At least he didn’t put him through the Jeri-tron 6500 like he did with the legendary Shawn Michael several years back. What a fine segment that was! Cesaro and Sheamus, now 3-1, after a live tour interaction, will continue their program next!
Cesaro defeats Sheamus with a leveraged pin to take the best of seven series to 3-2. Quality match once again and the end came when Cesaro countered an attempted Celtic Cross from Sheamus into a pinning situation where he took the dastardly road and used the ropes for leverage to get the pinfall. The road continues for Cesaro!
Seth Rollins is backstage having words with Mick Foley about giving Roman Reigns an opportunity to join the fray at Clash Of Champions. Foley said it’s the fair decision to allow Reigns the opportunity to compete, based on the Triple H interference, and then he gets frantic and makes Seth promise not to interfere in the contest. We find out that Jericho and Zayn has been booked for Clash Of Champions! What a match that should be!
Nia Jax and Alicia Fox is ruled a no contest. Nia dominated Foxxy. She ends up slinging her by the hair and she puts her through the barricade as the referee cues the ole cease and desist, if you will. The match is either thrown out or never happened, but either way, another dominant performance by Jax.
The WWE World Tag Team Champions are out after a break and they trash the segment that occurred last week. That was painful. I am one of the biggest Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows fans there is, but they should hit the Magic Killer on that writer. Th New Day entertain the Baltimore fans as only they can, and Gallows and Anderson are out to break up the fun. We are going to enjoy a tag team affair, a non-title one at that, between Gallows and Anderson and Kofi and Xavier.
Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson defeat The New Day with a Magic Killer on Woods. Very enjoyable contest as we’re apt to see from these trusted hands. Gallows and Anderson employing their power offense and as usual, Kofi took to the air in an impressive fashion. The fans really get behind Xavier afterhe gets the hot tag, as he did tonight. But his valiant effort was for naught as he fell prey to a Magic Killer to light a fire underneath the heels chances of heading into Clash of Champions without, and leaving it with the tag straps.
Roman Reigns is backstage, and you can hear a very unfavorable reaction from the Baltimore faithful. He talks about getting the Universal title back, but he knows to do that, he’ll have to beat Kevin Owens tonight.
Jinder Mahal is waiting in the ring and cuts a promo about finding inner peace and letting go of his hate. Jack Swagger, who seems to be around for a cup of coffee these days, makes his presence known and we have a match. I would much rather enjoy these two hands getting after it then another week of the feud without end in Young and O’Neil.
Jinder Mahal defeats Jack Swagger with a neckbreaker. Wow! It looks like someone in the back is paying attention to what many of us have been saying about Mahal turning heads and impressing in the ring. Swagger misses a corner Swagger Bomb attempt and that led to his demise. After the match, Swagger is questioned about his RAW contract expiring soon and he walks away. Could he be headed to Smackdown for a fresh start or to greener pastures with a future endeavor letter from Big Johnny?
Epico defeats Enzo Amore thanks to Primo holding down Enzo’s feet. The ole Rick Rude Wrestlemania 5 finish. Either Enzo and Cass are in the doghouse or they really want to get behind Primo and Epico. Quite frankly, I believe it’s the latter because if they can shed the travel agent gimmick and you cut through all the mustard, Primo and Epico are great workers. Both men have been favorites of mine for years, despite that Matadores gimmick they were saddled with before this. It will ultimately probably lead to a dominant victory at Clash for Enzo and Cass on the road to a tag title opportunity, but the heels win again tonight.
Seth Rollins has words with Kevin Owens in the back. Owens mocks the fact that Reigns was the dominant one in the Shield and Rollins comes back with several cracks of his own. Mick Foley is present to reinforce his earlier stance about Rollins interfering.
Kevin Owens defeats Roman Reigns with the pop-up powerbomb after interference from Rusev. This was a fantastic match and really shows that Reigns can work. Rollins defied the orders of Mick Foley and interfered, but the GM sent him away and restarted the match after Rollins assaulted KO. The action continued and the fans were invested, and thankfully, we finally saw the return of the US Champion, Rusev, who ultimately cost Reigns the match with consistent interference. Reigns landed a superman punch that sent Rusev to the floor, but he turned around and ate the pop-up powerbomb to eliminate him from the title match at Clash of Champions. Rusev nails a superkick and some right hands on Reigns after the match, putting him in the Accolade as Raw goes off the air. Great action tonight and it really starts to set the stage for a Clash of Champions pay per view that is shaping up nicely.
