WWE: Monday Night Raw was LIVE from the Sprint Center in Kansas City, MO on 9/5/16! Happy Labor Day!
During the RAW pre-show, we find out that Dana Brooke is going to be taking notes during a singles contest between the WWE women’s champion, Charlotte, and Bayley. She was literally handed a clipboard! That’ll be fun and that match should certainly entertain fans.
Raw starts off with Stephanie McMahon backstage setting up a celebration for Kevin Owens Universal title win. Mick Foley walks into the segment and he looks angry as heck. The look on his face is priceless. He said that Triple H made him look like a fool. He asked if Stephanie knew what happened last week. She said no. He talks about their storied past, recanting a great story from his active days, and he asks why he should believe her now. She says he should because she was embarrassed as a wife, a Commissioner and a figure of authority. She sticks to her guns and says she didn’t know how to respond to Mick. Mick says he believes her because he has too and she’s too good a person to be that crafty a liar. They show the intro signature next and we head to the ring, setup with a red mat for the coronation ceremony!
Stephanie introduces KO and he’s out in a black suit, the Universal title slung over his shoulder and we are welcomes to the Kevin Owens show. The prizefighter has the ultimate prize and he receives a well deserved reaction from the KC crowd. You can barely hear a boo, they are subtle if they are there. A massive pyro display goes off as he soaks in the moment. A huge “You deserve it” chant for the former ROH and NXT mainstay. He definitely deserves it. Stephanie says KO deserves it and she’s glad that the celebration makes him happy. He says he didn’t appreciate the crowd trying to hijack his moment. He mocks the crowds that chant things like “they are awesome” and many of the sheeple turn on the treasured heel quicker than a hiccup. That’s a proper heel ladies and gentlemen. He says despite Triple H helping out, he’d already done 98% of the work. He welcomes us to the “Kevin Owens Show” and as he basks in the glory, the music of “The Architect” Seth Rollins hits and he heads to the ring, fuming. He says he carried the company and he literally gave his knee for it. Seth calls KO a puppet and says he doesn’t have a proper with him, and if he doesn’t shut up, Seth will handle his business. He gets in Stephanie’s face, and Foley steps in to defend her. Seth and Foley have words and Foley says he’s not in Steph’s pocket, but he has her back.
“If you wanna make this guy the face of our new era, then I will be the one to burn it to the crowd.” -Seth Rollins
Great line. KO says great line, but he says every since Seth came back from his injury, the Architect has only been designing blueprints for total failure. The two trusted heels come to blows, and Stephanie shocks the world and INDEFINITELY SUSPENDS Seth Rollins! Foley overturns it! What a back and forth this is becoming. Foley clamors for Steph to respect him, and even though he doesn’t like Seth, he respects him. Foley says it’ll be Kevin Owens defending the Universal Title against Seth Rollins at “Clash Of The Champions”. In three weeks, we are gonna bear witness to a tremendous piece of work. I cannot wait for that one!
Foley, Steph and KO are having words backstage when Chris Jericho comes up to defend his buddy, “The longest reigning Universal Champion of all time”. KO says it’s been seven days. He calls Foley a stupid idiot and asks if Seth is a “Holy Foley” mark. Foley says this idiot is gonna book Chris Jericho against Seth Rollins in singles action for later tonight. We head to the ring for a non-title match between Charlotte and Bayley.
Bayley defeated Charlotte in a non-title contest with the Bayley-To-Belly suplex. What a heck of a match this was. They gave them a good 20-25 minutes and these two tremendous talents put on a clinic. That really set the bar for the evening and it was everything you’d expect from these two. Charlotte worked the knee of Bayley and the former NXT women’s champion sold it very well. The end came when Dana was taking notes and Charlotte unintentionally collided with her on the apron. Bayley took advantage of the mistake to hit her finish and to get the huge victory. We find out that not only will Jericho and Rollins be a thing tonight, but now, so will Kevin Owens and his old rival, Sami Zayn!
We find out that it’s pediatric research month and WWE shows that absolutely beautiful tribute to Connor “The Crusher”. That still gets me every time. What a vibrant young man that was. If you go back and watch the moment Daniel Bryan winning the title, he goes to hug Connor at ringside and Connor and his father are sitting beside the father of the Game himself, Triple H. It was a really special moment as we lost the youngster shortly after that. What a tremendous thing for him to enjoy before he passed. I know it meant a lot to Daniel Bryan.
After the return, we get a promo for the Cruiserweight division and we now know that they’ve officially inked Gran Metallik, Jack Gallagher and Akira Tozawa to join those already announced! Incredible! One more week for the promos and hopefully they will round out the other names missing with Ibushi! We have a very heated backstage segment where Charlotte chastises Dana Brooke for what happened and Charlotte slaps the taste out of her mouth and calls her sorry! Trouble in champsville!
We see that Bo Dallas is returning to his inspirational gimmick next after some trouble in the airport. He tells some jobber to “Bo-lieve in Bo” and he attacks him in a very heelish way. The match is underway.
Bo Dallas defeats Kyle Roberts with a roll of the dice in a squash match. Bo coming off some recent trouble with the law, but it doesn’t seem to be effecting what could hopefully be a push for a very underutilized talent. We find out later that Gallows and Anderson will be talking to the New Day about what will happen in their golden years. Chris Jericho will take on Seth Rollins next!
Seth Rollins defeats Chris Jericho with the Pedigree. This night has only had two premium matches, not including the squash match, and to be honest, the show could end now. What a phenomenal contest this one was as was Bayley and Charlotte earlier. Counters a plenty, Jericho hit the lionsault and had the Walls applied for a cup of coffee, but ultimately, the crafty Architect was able to pull it out with the Pedigree as he heads towards “Clash of The Champions” and a title opportunity. The tremendous action continues next with the third match in the best of seven series between Cesaro and Sheamus!
Sheamus defeats Cesaro with a Brogue Kick to go up 3-0 in the best of the seven series. The fourth match occurs in London at a house show this Wesneday and based on the way they are talking about a sweep, you know Cesaro is gonna win the next three. He favored the back after last week’s beating and tried to tough it out. Nevertheless, Sheamus was able to nail him with the Brogue to put it away. They show a tweet from Sasha Banks earlier where she said she’d be at RAW tonight and she has some bad news.
The Shining Stars are in the ring and they say that in America, Labor Day is supposed to mark the end of summer, but in Puerto Rico, it’s summer all year long. True. They are interrupted by Enzo Amore and Big Cass and this should be good. They call Primo and Epico haters and tell them to stop trying to sell us all Caribbean timeshares. They then say they are in the heart of the USA. That’s actually a very ignorant comment. Puerto Rico is a United States commonwealth, but nevertheless, they continue to entertain. There is a breathing exercise and needless to say, it’s quite funny as Enzo and Cass always are and it leads to a tag team match.
Enzo Amore and Big Cass defeat the Shining Stars with the Bada Boom Shaka Laka. Decent match for the time given, but this was really to put over Enzo and Cass as a tandem once again after Cass had the brief run towards the Universal Title. Good to see them get focused back on the tag titles. They cut backstage where Sami Zayn is being interviewed and he said ever since he beat Kevin Owens, he’s been directionless. KO walks into the scene and says he won the race, because he’s the Universal Champion. Zayn reminds him that he bested him at Battleground. Sami says he will win the Universal title too and he’ll do it by himself. He won’t need Triple H to hand it to him. Crowd responded well to that.
Nia Jax defeats Ann Esposito in a squash match with a Samoan Drop/Side Slam. Alicia Fox is apparently friends with the Jax fodder this evening. Corey Graves makes a great comment about Fox being a bad friend for making this happen. Having said that, Jax continues to dominate as she does every week, but Ann actually got in a few moves before getting destroyed. Jax continues her winning ways as she continues to turn heads with her high octane offense. Gallows and Anderson are up next with their retirement coordination efforts called “O.L.D.F.A.R.T” Cute.
Gallows and Anderson are in the ring and they introduce “The Old Day”. It’s actors portraying the New Day with the theme music slowed down. That’s actually pretty great. They make jokes about shrinkage and how “Old Xavier” looks like Tommy Chong. They say that one of them could use some glucosamine and that is just wonderful. The segment quickly takes a turn for the worst as Gallows and Anderson do their very best, but it’s rough to watch as it’s the usual humor that we’ve seen from the WWE for the past few years from some of the minds that brought us “Dr. Hiney”. The real New Day come out and tear the segment apart. Woods calls it absurd. Woods then asks the fake guy his favorite X-Men member and they say “Cyclops” and Woods looks disgusted. Big E. asks the old version of himself if he’s got the gout? They charge the ring, but Gallows and Anderson take their leave and say that they’re in their head. Gallows and Anderson are mega-talented and one of my favorite tag teams, they need to just let them handle their business without feeling the need to do these segments every week. Here and there, they are great. The New Day dance for the Old Day before they work them over and promptly dispose of them to end the segment.
Darren Young (w/ Bob Backlund) defeats Jinder Mahal with the Gutcheck. Young defeats the very capable Jinder in a short match before Titus O’Neil, who was on commentary, comes down and mixes it up with Bob Backlund again after the match. Young destroys Titus and leaves Titus laying on the ramp for his efforts. He lets out a primal scream and it seems that Young is becoming that wildfire presence that Backlund used to be.
Nia Jax is backstage and she happens upon Alicia Fox, who demands that Nia gets out of her face. Jax tells her this isn’t a reality show and mocks the whoopin’ she put on Foxxy’s friend. Fox goes ballistic and starts throwing trash around and a box hits Jax in the face. Jax with a simple shove puts her onto a table and leaves the scene. Fox is still fired up, but something tells me that it’s going to end very badly for Foxxy.
Braun Strowman defeats Sin Cara by countout after slinging him into the barricade. Not the usual squash match we’ve come to see from Braun. Sin Cara, who just celebrated his 39th birthday, has new music and he comes to the ring with a head of steam. He said he is standing up for the young luchador, Americo, who last week had his mask removed after the beat-down Strowman laid on him. Strowman runs through Cara with a violent clothesline and a power offense that seems to be progressing with each week. This is why squash matches, or at least matches against enhancement talent, are necessary. It helps get potential talent who is still green, over and on the way to success, and by that I mean, true success, or failure for that matter, in the eyes of the fans. They will like who they like and hate who they hate, as long as it’s an organic reaction.
Sasha Banks is out next and she seems really broken up about something. She says they broke through the mold. No more Bra and Panties matches, no more butterfly title. Sasha says the revolution that Stephanie McMahon introduced last year involves everyone. Sasha says she does it for every little girl, every person who dreams of being more. She does it for those who were told they couldn’t be anything. She says she used to recycle bottles and cans to make money to come to a WWE show. She says she fights so hard and that’s why, and this means everything to her. Sasha says that at Summerslam she was pushed to her limit, and Charlotte beat her straight up. Sasha says she met with doctors earlier today and she has an update on her condition. She is interrupted by Dana Brooke, and she said she made a promise to Charlotte that she’s gonna keep. She says she’s gonna use Sasha and her broken body and she’ll finish what Sasha started at Summerslam. Dana enters the ring and throws the mic at Sasha, but Sasha counters into a backstabber and a Banks statement! She then takes the mic and says that the bad news is actually for Charlotte, because at Clash, she’s coming for the strap with her rematch! Oh thank goodness! I was actually legit worried for a few moments. That was real raw emotion and Sasha is such a special talent. I was going to be heartbroken to see her out of action for a length of time. I’m so glad that she’ll be right in the mix with the women’s title again! Main event up next between KO and Zayn.
Kevin Owens defeats Sami Zayn with a powerbomb in a non-title match. Before Owens can even celebrate the victory, Roman Reigns heads out onto the entryway ramp to a chorus of boos. Reigns forces KO to retreat to the outside. Jericho heads down the ramp and it’s about to be a double team situation, but Mick Foley comes out and books a non-title match with Reigns and KO for next week and if Reigns win, it’s a triple threat. I like Roman, but I hope that it doesn’t happen. He needs to finish his program with Rusev, and I want Rollins and KO in a singles bout. Jericho ends up eating a spear from Reigns, but before all that unfolded, the main event as were the earlier contests, was a fantastic matchup. Zayn sold the ankle injury, and at one point, he hit a reverse exploder on KO on the floor. Ouch! They ended Raw with the announcement for next week, but not a bad show at all!
