WWE: Monday Night RAW was LIVE from the Royal Farms Arena in Baltimore, MD on 10/30/17!
The Raw GM, Kurt Angle, has the entire RAW roster out on the entryway ramp for an apology to start the show. He let his friendship with Smackdown GM, Shane McMahon, get in the way of a friendly rivalry. Shane went for the jugular and it ended up leaving many of the RAW talents laying.
Bow down to the Queendom! The return of Raw Commissioner, Stephanie McMahon, her first appearance since going through a table at Wrestlemania, is her praising Kurt for a job well done up this point. She talks about him stepping up for the Shield at TLC, but with praise comes a needed dressing down. She says that Angle will captain team RAW at Survivor Series.
She says that he made a mockery of what her father built as she hypes the 25th Anniversary show in January which will feature Shawn Michaels, The Undertaker and Kevin Nash. She says that if Kurt doesn’t succeed, she will find another Raw GM.
The Miz shows up in his limo with Curtis Axel and a returning Bo Dallas. He runs into Kurt Angle who isn’t happy. He calls Miz a coward and questions his tardiness as he didn’t witness the dressing down that Steph just gave him. Miz will be punished later as he’ll defend his IC Title against a mystery opponent. Miz storms off.
Alicia Fox is out with a captain’s hat for singles action against Bayley. The Raw women’s team “captain” says she is too busy to face Bayley tonight, but she’d found a suitable opponent, cue the return of Nia Jax!
Nia Jax defeats Bayley
Jax sold a solid offensive attempt from Bayley for a good portion of the match, but in the end, Jax was dominant and she comes away with a victory in her return.
There was speculation that Jax had left the company, but rumors were just that and she returns to not only secure a victory over the hugger, but she impresses Alicia Fox and Nia Jax will be the second member of Team Raw for the women’s match.
As Fox and Jax celebrate the moment, we get another huge return and it’s Joey Headrocker! Samoa Joe is back and he looks to be ready for some competition!
Joe takes a microphone after the break and chastises the fans for not wishing him well during his victory and he’s back to inflict more damage and as he does so, he’ll pretend the victim is each and every member of the WWE Universe. Apollo Crews is out to challenge Joe!
Samoa Joe defeats Apollo Crews
Joe looked dominant in his return. Apollo tried valiantly to take it to Joe, but his attempts were short lived as Joe caught him with a uranage and then he put Apollo to sleep with the Coquina Clutch.
Titus O’Neil took offense to Joe going full Steph Curry before the match, throwing his mouth guard at him. Apollo is tended too by Titus and it’s a crucial mistake. Joe slaps the Clutch on him and Titus takes a nap as well. Joe is back, and he’s as dominant as ever. Terrific!
The Miz defeats Matt Hardy
This was a fantastic match. The Miz relied on the aide of his cohorts in crime as Dallas and Axel were able to serve as ample distractions. Hardy had several near falls after a Twist of Fate and a side effect.
The crowd was REALLY behind Hardy as we should hopefully see his transition to “Broken” Matt with the imminent return of Jeff. That is going to lead to some quality television. Matches like this serve to showcase that crowds are eager to get behind Hardy.
Alexa Bliss is backstage with her women’s title slung over her shoulder. She tries to butter up Kurt, but he’s angry at her for not helping the Raw women in the attack last week either. Bliss talks about bringing up talent from the Mae Young Classic, but they should get rid of Mickie James first.
Kurt takes things in a different direction and instead, Alexa will defend her women’s title against Mickie James in the main event instead!
Asuka defeats Stacie Cullen
We certainly wish Emma well after her release, but this is what should have been done by Asuka for the first few weeks of her arrival. This unknown talent was completely leveled and destroyed by the “Empress Of Tomorrow”.
Asuka nailed a beautiful spinning back fist and several fast-paced strikes and a driving kick before she ended things for Cullen with the Asuka Lock. This was awesome and this was done right. Kudos.
Kurt Angle freaks out as he’s on the phone backstage and he says that “They’re here!”. It’s Smackdown GM, Daniel Bryan, and he’s apologetic for what happened last week as that was done without his knowledge.
The Raw GM says it’s in Bryan’s best interests to stay backstage as anyone on the Raw roster would take him out for what happened last week. Bryan is trying to play peacemaker, but Angle has other things to deal with at the moment.
The lights go out on Bryan as he’s on the phone with someone himself. He then finds himself in the grasp of his former partner, the “Demon” Kane! A choke slam puts Bryan through a table and there’s absolute silence. Booker T. says that Daniel was a “casualty of war”.
Finn Balor defeats Cesaro
This was an exquisite match and they barely even got started. If these guys have a future match and are given thirty minutes, they will work wonders for the live crowd. Cesaro brought back the suplex from apron to the ring and it was sensational.
Sheamus was ringside and he tried to distract Balor, but ultimately, Balor was able to counter and take to the skies with the Coup De Grace for the victoy.
As Balor celebrated his victory, he turned around and for the second week in a row, found himself in the waiting arms of the “Demon” Kane. The “Big Red Machine” hoisted him high and drove him onto the hard steel ramp with a tombstone piledriver. Wow.
Kane defeats Seth Rollins
Rollins and Ambrose came down to the ring via the crowd with the Shield entrance and Rollins seemed up to the task, taking it to Kane with the best of his abilities.
“The Bar” made their way down to ringside for key distractions and that was enough for Kane to take advantage of the opportunity to secure the victory. After the match, Rollins was issued a tombstone as Balor was earlier. Ambrose quickly defends his partner, hitting Kane with Dirty Deeds.
“The Demon” rises and he immediately issues another tombstone to Ambrose as “The Bar” look on. Kane is being booked very well since his return. he’s still a very capable veteran and his feud with Strowman might turn some heads if done right. We shall see.
Daniel Bryan is being loaded onto a gurney and he’s taken away, his neck being held in place. DVon Dudley and Jamie Noble are seen helping things along.
The Miztouage enters their dressing room to a ghastly smell and it’s a bag of trash. Miz fears the imminent return of Braun Strowman before they head to a break.
Miz is having a chat with the “Demon” Kane after finding garbage in his dressing room before the break. Curtis Axel and Bo Dallas say that they’ll protect him, and that worries him even more. He congratulates Kane on tombstoning Rollins, Ambrose and Balor and he’s worried that the man responsible for the bag of trash is “The Monster Among Men” Braun Strowman.
Kane says Miz is on his own. Having said that, he also tells Miz that Strowman knows where to find him.
Heather Slater and Rhyno defeats Gallows and Anderson
This is what the “good brothers” have been relegated too instead of teaming them up with Finn Balor for a Club reunion. Slater and Rhyno are dressed as Santa’s and the good brothers are dressed like wrestlers from Southpaw Regional Wrestling.
They utilize all sorts of tomfoolery ranging from attacks with jack o’lanterns to candy corn kendo sticks. It’s a real debacle and I honestly can’t tell if the fans were having fun or not. We do get a table and that makes the B-More fans happy.
Slater gets a face full of Pumpkin innards and that couldn’t have been enjoyable. Gallows gets hit with a pie and the commentary team is literally mocking this whole debacle. I’m sure that nitwit Kevin Dunn is somehow responsible for sinking his teeth into this. Yup, I went there. I don’t even care.
Gallows gets countered by Rhyno through a table and Gallows can’t see because he has a pumpkin on the wrong way. Yup, I typed that out.
Well, after the break, we will “drift with Elias”. Hopefully that will be more entertaining than the spectacle we just bore witness too on live TV on what had been a fine Raw up to this point.
Before we “drift”, The Miz is having words with “The Bar” and Cesaro tells Miz that soemone is probably just messing with him. Miz says it’s nice to be part of a team. Cesaro and Sheamus say “team?”, laugh and they dip out like a rollercoaster.
We “drift with Elias”, who mocks Joe Flacco and gives us the “Ballad of Jason Jordan”, showing the assault with the guitar from last week. Michael Cole makes an amazing reference to Bruce Springsteen’s “Hungry Heart” which I’m sure many didn’t catch.
Jason Jordan enters the ring and he destroys the guitar that Elias was playing just a few short moments ago. The crowd seems pleased with the destruction and that’s all we get tonight as it relates to the progression of that feud.
Kurt Angle does his own dressing down, his victim being the Miz. he says that Miz had the gaul to arrive late and he’s trying to leave early. He’ll stay the entire night or else! Miz takes his bags and heads back into the arena.
Enzo Amore, the Cruiserweight Champion, and Drew Gulak are out to have words with the audience and it’s tremendous. Gulak is really coming into his own on the microphone and along with Enzo, they are brilliant heels.
Kalisto defeats Drew Gulak
This was a quick one and the future challenger for the Cruiserweight title made short work of Gulak. Enzo immediately attacked Kalisto after the match, hitting him with the Jawdonezo.
We find out that Mickie James and Alexa is up next, so it looks as if the Miz will actually close out the show, probably with the return of Braun Strowman taking root as well.
The Miz is frantic that they were inches away from an escape, he tells Axel and Dallas to call the driver because they are out of here as soon as the show is over. The women’s title match is up next!
Alexa Bliss defeats Mickie James
Alexa gets better each and every week. It never hurts to get her in the ring with a trusted veteran and James was up to the task tonight. Mickie got in much of her signature offense and despite few folks in the crowd, people seemed to enjoy this one.
Mickie took an excellent bump early in the match, hitting the ringpost with a dynamite thud that anyone could hear, it was awesome. James tried to put Alexa away several times, but “Little Miss Bliss” was able to escape or utilize her cunning to get a rope break.
Mickie seemed to have things firmly in her grasp, but a staggering right hand out of nowhere was the ballgame. Alexa retains.
The Miztourage make their way out of the arena and into their limo, but a garbage truck backs up and stops the limo in its tracks. It lifts and trash flows freely and who should appear, but “The Monster Among Men” Braun Strowman!
A MASSIVE pop for the monster, who runs over the limo as the Miz and company seek a hastened escape. Strowman chases them towards the ring and he manhandles them. The Miz is set to go through the announce table, but he is able to escape as Axel and Dallas try to hold court with the Monster.
Strowman ends the show by powerslamming Axel four times before carrying him up the ramp and slamming him through the table. We seem to have the makings of a full-fledged face turn for the Monster. We shall see.
