WWE: Monday Night RAW was LIVE from the Pepsi Center in Denver, CO on 10/2/17!
A moment of silent reflection opens a somber Raw broadcast in the wake of the senseless tragedy that occurred in Las Vegas earlier this morning. We at The Scrum Sports want to send our deepesy condolensces out to those affected by this horrific event and we look to move forward as a United people in the face of unbridled hatred.
Tonight, as with each week, we’ll look to provide some joy and more importantly, an escape, from these horrendous affairs that seem all-too common these days, with some Monday Night Raw coverage. We look to follow the example provided by the WWE, covering a product meant to entertain the entire family. We’ll do that tonight, as we have an IC Title match set to take place between Roman Reigns and The Miz later in the show.
We start with one half of the world tag team champions and we hear the guttural introduction of “The Architect” Seth Rollins. BURN IT DOWN! Michael Cole is absent for the first time in years as he attends the wedding of his son and we wish him well.
Tom Phillips is filling in as Rollins starts the broadcast off, ready to engage Braun Strowman, “The Monster Among Men”, in singles action. What a match to begin the night!
Braun Strowman defeats Seth Rollins via pin fall with a running powerslam.
Similar to what befell his partner last week, Rollins is manhandled early in the contest, as “The Kingslayer” cannot handle the dragon that is Strowman. Strowman employs his power offense and there is no wasted motion as he displays his grizzly strength in front of the live crowd.
Rollins valiantly fights his way back into the match with sound counters and well-timed strikes, dumping Strowman over the top rope at one point. After a commercial break, we come back with Strowman firmly in control yet again.
A quick boot looks to derail Strowman, but a fallaway slam sends Rollins to the outside. Springboard forearms from Rollins, followed by a blockbuster, and the big tree is finally chopped down. It’s only for a one count though.
Strowman with a massive clothesline and a running powerslam and that’s the ballgame. Strowman looks dominant coming off a loss to Lesnar at the prior PPV. He sends a strong message to the Raw locker room with another powerslam after his hand is raised and he’s felled both of the tag team champions in successive weeks.
The music of the “Lunatic Fringe” hits and he’s on Strowman. Furious rights and lefts and a dropkick nearly end the carnage, but two choke slams and Ambrose joins his partner on the mat. A running powerslam for Ambrose and the question now looms, who stops this monster now?
We’re not done. “The Bar”, Sheamus and Cesaro, like vultures circling a carcass, pick the remains of the champs after Strowman does the dirty work. A Gotch Neutralizer for Ambrose and a Brogue Kick for Rollins. This was not a good start to the night for the world tag team champions. Will they rebound?
We come back with a dedication to The Susan G. Komen foundation and the great work they do in the month of October for breast cancer awareness. Kudos to them for six strong years of grand support!
We recap the Raw women’s champion’s confrontation with Mickie James last week. Emma then tells Mickie James, even at her age, she has a secret admirer. She opens her locker room door to find a box of depends and a walker. Emma is joined by Alicia Fox. Mickie says she doesn’t have time for their nonsense, and she goes to confront Alexa Bliss.
She is promptly met by Nia Jax, who blocks her attempts. It leads to the booking of singles action between the ladies for later in the evening.
We “drift with Elias” before he goes one on one with the leader of the Titus brand, looking to redeem recent woes for the fast-rising brand, Apollo Crews having taking a recent loss to Samson.
Elias defeats Titus O’Neil via pin fall with Drift Away.
Elias keeps with his simple, yet effective offense, handling Titus with relative ease. Titus got in a few shots here and there, but ultimately, he fell victim to Drift Away and the Titus brand takes L’s in respective weeks as Elias continues to move forward in his young career.
A video package for the forthcoming debut of the “Empress Of Tomorrow”. Asuka arrives at TLC. Nia Jax and Mickie James do business next.
“The Goddess” comes down to ringside for a bird’s eye view of the action as Jax handles the veteran James early and often in this one.
Mickie James defeats Nia Jax via DQ after interference from Alexa Bliss.
We have a commercial break after Jax puts on a dominant show and we come back to more of the same. James refuses to quit, but it’s all for naught as we continue, Jax keeping her grounded with a full nelson and a bear hug. James tries to create some breathing room and she escapes a powerbomb attempt, hitting Jax with a staggering kick.
She tries to kick the legs out from under Jax, before Nia dumps her in the corner. James counters with a tornado DDT that is poorly sold by Nia, but before we can get the three count, Alexa Bliss intercedes and causes the DQ. Alexa rolls her to the outside, but James slaps Bliss and boots her into the barricade.
Mickie blows the champ a kiss, coming away with a victory and perhaps a future title opportunity? Kudos to Mickie.
We get highlights of the “main event” last week, where Enzo Amore had a celebration inside the ring before the new Cruiserweight Champion was flattened by Neville. With that attack, it seems that Neville will never get a shot at Enzo’s Cruiserweight title as a result of such. We’ll see how that plays out.
Neville needs to move back into the heavyweight division again. He’s too good as a heel not to be involved with it.
Renee Young talks to the Cruiserweight Champion about the “mutiny” that took place after Neville’s attack, with them being abhorred that Amore is the champ. He doesn’t say a single word, just standing there. With his backstage heat, he’ll make a marvelous heel.
Gallows and Anderson defeat Jason Jordan and Matt Hardy via pin fall after a Magic Killer on Hardy.
Jason Jordan continues to try and find favor in his father’s eyes as he continues to hone his craft and develop his talents, this week, as with last, teaming up with the “Broken” one as Jeff recovers from a shoulder injury.
Members of the Club took issue with these “nerds” and the “Good Brothers” found their way to the pay window after a hard fought contest. Gallows disposed of Jordan on the outside, introducing him to the barricade on the outside the hard way.
Matt then fell victim to a Magic Killer and Jordan wasn’t able to make the save. This was a great win for the former champs and one I’m glad to see. They are both a solid promo and they are always a threat to the world tag team titles. Kudos to them tonight.
A great in-ring presentation takes place featuring the Raw women’s roster and Dana Warrior. For breast cancer awareness month, three survivors are presented with custom women’s titles and introduced to the Denver crowd to a standing ovation. Very cool stuff here.
Roman Reigns defeats The Miz via DQ after interference from The Bar.
This was a very enjoyable match and just as entertaining from a fan’s perspective. Before the match even began, Reigns eliminated the Miztourage with steel chair shots and superman punches.
As the intro says, Miz “came to play”. This was a very pro-Reigns crowd in Denver and they were behind “The Big Dog” as he and the Miz put on a very watchable match. Miz got a near fall following a Skull-crushing Finale and Reigns seemed shocked after Miz kicked out of a tigerbomb and a superman punch.
The end came when The Bar appeared out of nowhere with some awesome new shirts and they tore into Reigns, causing the DQ. Reigns was issued a Gotch Neutralizer, A Brogue Kick and a Skull Crushing Finale as the Miz grinned with delight.
To further mock the rumored Shield Reunion, which will ultimately lead to a six-man tag at Survivor Series, the three heels hit a triple powerbomb on Reigns and held up the three fists in unison. Awesome.
A downright creepy appearance from the “Eater Of Worlds”, Bray Wyatt, as Finn Balor is in the ring for a promo. This feud looks to continue, despite Balor having the 2-1 advantage.
Wyatt seemed to have his hair down over his face and some visual effects almost made him appear to look like a demon, ala “The Grudge” or any other horror film featuring a frightening apparition.
We had laughter that sounded like it was female and Balor was fixated on the video wall as the situation unfurled. Halloween is this month and this was a cool way to lead up to that.
Bayley and Sasha Banks are headed to the ring for tag team action, as both look to get back on track as they look to move back into title contention for Alexa’s women’s title.
“It’s All About Me”. Emma comes out with new music and the words over the intro. Emma says that last week, Nia led her down so bad, she didn’t even trend on twitter.
Alicia Fox is teaming up with Emma, and she appears to be back in the division, instead of working with various talents on 205 Live. They’ll need her veteran experience going forward, that’s for sure.
Bayley and Sasha Banks defeat Emma and Alicia Fox via pin fall after a Bayley-To-Belly Suplex on Fox.
This was not a one-sided affair. They seem to be getting behind Emma’s social media presence, hopefully focusing on her in-ring presentation as well. Banks certainly takes her liberties with the returning Foxxy as the match progresses, but both teams had the ability to shine in this one.
Bayley made a timely save for her partner as Banks almost fell victim to heel tactics later in the match after they returned from a commercial break. Sasha does play the face in peril for much of the match as Emma and Fox keep her seperated from her corner, getting some cheap shots in behind the ref’s back as often as they can.
A “Let’s Go Sasha” chant motivates the former champ, and “The Boss” makes the hot tag to Bayley who’s in and she’s a house of fire. Bayley dumps Fox and then she hits a version of the stunner before crashing into her in the corner. Foxxy counters, looking to tag Emma, who ducks the tag, leaving her “partner” high and dry.
Foxxy turns and eats a Bayley-To-Belly suplex and that’s all she wrote. So much for that short lived team!
They slow a clip that took plac after the cameras stopped rolling on Raw. The Cruiserweight Champion, Enzo Amore, was decimated by Braun Strowman and then we saw a “mutiny” where almost the entire division took their liberties with the champ. He addresses that next.
Members of “The Bar”, Sheamus and Cesaro, will be the featured guests on MizTV next week. That’ll be an “A-List” affair, that’s for sure!
Dang, a downright COLD crack from Corey Graves as he says that Enzo Amore looks like a ski instructor and he hopes that Enzo finds the late Sonny Bono’s teacher. I know Enzo incited Graves earlier on twitter, but ouch.
Enzo goes full heel and calls the fans “fugazi” and he not only made 205 relevant, but he’s main-eventing two weeks in a row. He says before he took the title, it was the “Snoozerweight” division. You can’t fault him for telling it how it is. He mocks the fans for chanting “you deserve it” during the attack last week.
He says that if having success is wrong, he doesn’t wanna be right. He says the fans are jealous because he’s making money and he’s got more talent then all the Cruiserweights put together. He says that whoever came up with the phrase “talk is cheap”, never footed the bill for an Enzo promo. He’s got skills, charisma and he puts more butts in seats then lazy-boy. He says his back in hurting from carrying the Cruiserweight division.
It’s rapid fire and he is killing it on the mic tonight. He says he got a specialty clause from Kurt Angle that if any Cruiserweight lays a hand on Amore tonight, they are forfeiting their livelihood because they’re getting fired. He says he’s got no opponent for tonight, they’re all lucky. He then trashes Neville and runs him down, mocking how he beat him at the PPV.
Here comes the former “King Of The Cruiserweights” and he is flanked by the entire division. Enzo says here comes “last place”, referencing everyone on the roster. He calls Mustafa “Mufasa” and he then mocks Dar, Swann and tells Gulak he’s so lame he needs to go sit next to Graves at the announce desk. He then mocks Gallagher, Kendrick, Dorado and TJP. He says if he attacks TJP, it’s like assaulting a minor. He trashes Cedric Alexander, Neville and he gives a pass to Tozawa because Tozawa liked him on twitter. Epic.
This is great stuff. Kurt Angle has apparently had enough, he comes out to a “You Suck” chant, ready to address this dressing down on the division. He says based on their conversation earlier, none of the Cruiserweights ringside can attack him. He’s signed Kalisto to 205 Live and the newest signing lays Enzo out with a Salida Del Sol. That’s a great signing as the former US Champ can hopefully regain needed momentum on the show.
Roman Reigns is seated backstage, nursing his injuries from earlier, he looks up and sees Dean Ambrose, who looks down at him. Reigns stands up, he then looks to his other side and we see Seth Rollins. The crowd is going bananas. No words are spoken, but we understand what’s happened. End of broadcast.
