WWE: Monday Night RAW was LIVE from Ohio State University in Columbus, OH on 4/17/17!
Highlights of the savage attack that took place last week start us off where Braun Strowman decimated Roman Reigns. Strowman heads to the ring to begin the broadcast as Michael Cole and Corey Graves are joined for the next six weeks by the legendary Booker T. at the commentary table. Braun is proud to say that last week he broke Roman Reigns in half. He’s proud that Roman left in an ambulance and suffered multiple injuries. He’s proud to say that Roman will not be live at the arena tonight! The crowd responds with a frantic “Yes” chant for the controversial star. With Roman out of the way, Strowman is ready to tear through the entire roster and truly become the monster among men! Here comes the new Raw GM, Kurt Angle! Kurt asks what Braun is trying to prove? He flipped over an ambulance with Roman Reigns in it. Kurt says despite Roman’s injuries, he’s booking them in two weeks at Payback. Braun asks about tonight. Kurt says he should be suspended and instead of getting competition, he’s getting the night off. Strowman says that he’ll have competition tonight or else! Kurt asks or else what? Strowman doesn’t respond and he leaves the ring. This quick opening promo made Braun looks like a legit bad dude and it worked.
A number one contendor’s match will take place later as Sasha Banks will take on Alexa Bliss, Nia Jax and Mickie James in a fatal four way match. Dean Ambrose will be the guest on Miz TV later but first, we’ll see Samoa Joe in action against Chris Jericho. Seth Rollins is on commentary!
Samoa Joe defeats Chris Jericho via submission with the Coquina Clutch. A great match between two savvy veterans, but this served to make Joe look like one of the toughest guys in the business. He managed to fight out of two separate attempted Walls Of Jericho attempts and he countered a Hitman roll into the Clutch for the victory. I expected a controversial finish with Rollins at ringside, but Jericho did the favors and kept Joe looking strong. After the contest, Joe called out Rollins and mocked the agony he went through when, on his debut night, he attacked Seth Rollins, and Rollins took a hard landing, hurting his knee. Joe says he did it for Triple H, and Joe says because of what Seth did to both Triple H and Stephanie McMahon, it will be very personal. Rollins retorts by saying it will be personal because Joe almost cost him his career. Seth then says, you know what they, payback is a you know what. This feud is a breath of fresh air and should really deliver a quality match.
Gallows and Anderson are headed to the ring for tag team action against members of Golden Truth, they waltz past “The Drifter” Elias Samson and Corey Graves is appalled. The Golden Truth will not be seeing tag team action after all, they are completely destroyed backstage by Braun Strowman, who delivered on his “or else” promise. We actually get to see both Jamie Noble and Fit Finlay backstage tending to the injuries. That was pretty awesome. “My name’s Finlay, and I love to fight!”. What a great hand that guy was.
Strowman is approached backstage by a referee who tells him that Kurt Angle gave him the night off. Braun says he’ll leave when he wants too. Gallows and Anderson are waiting in the ring. Anderson says it looks like The Golden Truth got the United Airlines treatment and they came over from Japan to “be mean and make green”. He suggests that Kurt send a few nerds out for the good brothers. Cue Enzo Amore and Big Cass. The fan favorites are out with their pre-match tomfoolery and we get to the action.
Gallows and Anderson defeat Enzo Amore and Big Cass via pinfall with a northern lights variant. The action was fast and furious and Cass looked strong, rocking Anderson with a thunderous clothesline that sent him over the top right before Enzo got launched into him before the first break. The good brothers held their own as well and they need to be kept strong, even without the titles if they ever intend the reunite the Club, with it’s original founder, Finn Balor. The good brothers looked fantastic at the end of this as Cass destroyed Gallows with a huge boot as both men spilled over the top and onto the floor. Enzo went up top for the desperation DDT, but Anderson caught him and setup for a northern lights, but he tossed him towards the top turnbuckle and Enzo’s own momentum was his undoing. A very unique move to get the good brothers the victory. Glad to see them made to look strong, even at the expense of the fan favorites as it was sorely needed. Kudos to both teams for a great match. Miz TV is up after the break!
Miz TV furthers what appears to be a looming program between Smackdown staples Dean Ambrose, The IC Champ, and The Miz, who came out dressed in a maroon suit and gaudy shoes which Ambrose promptly mocked. The wife of the former world’s champion, Maryse, called Ambrose a dirty rat and The Miz called him lazy and uninspired, as well as complacent. Ambrose played to his home state, which was rare, but fun, and he tried to get the upper hand on Miz once again, but the Miz was quick to escape as the two work towards what is sure to deliver as it has on Smackdown on multiple occasions.
Braun Strowman continues to walk his path of destruction, dragging a battered Kalisto out into full view of the backstage cameras. He compares Kalisto to Roman Reigns, calling them both trash before he literally heaves Kalisto into a dumpster backstage. He walks off and is drilled into a loading dock door by The Big Show who has seen enough. It leads to Kurt Angle booking a match between them for later in the evening.
TJ Perkins defeats “Gentleman” Jack Gallagher via pinfall with the Detonation Kick. TJ Perkins, with his new heel persona, managed to put on another incredible match with “Gentleman” Jack Gallagher. Austin Aries and the Cruiserweight Champion, Neville, were looking on from ringside. Distractions on the outside led to Perkins kicking the rope into the eyes of Gallagher before hitting the Detonation Kick, which he’s using more and more as a finish, and he picks up yet another victory. I am finally digging TJP, the cocky heel is working well for him already, and we get continued storytelling between Neville and Aries as their second title match looms in just a few short weeks at Payback.
We get a friendly backstage chat with Apollo Crews and Akira Tozawa, who welcomes him to Monday Nights. Titus O’ Neil walks into the segment and congratulates Apollo, as he’s about to become a father. Titus tries to utilize the Titus brand as well as puns on Apollo’s name to promote the new talent. Some of them are funny, some are corny as heck. He hands Apollo a card and walks away.
We get a backstage interview with “Broken” Matt and Brother Nero. Matt is still doing the mixture of his characters, which is awesome, Jeff is back to being the talented athlete who won multiple world titles. Cesaro and Sheamus welcome both men back on behalf of the entire WWE roster and they talk about the Hardyz stealing the show with TLC at Wrestlemania 17. Sheamus said they earned his respect that night. Cesaro promotes his match with Jeff Hardy later tonight. Sheamus says it’ll be an honor to win back the titles from the Hardyz and Cesaro apologizes for Sheamus being a buzz kill. After witnessing several video packages promoting the four women involved in the number one contendor’s match, that match is next!
Alexa Bliss defeats Mickie James, Sasha Banks and Nia Jax via pinfall in a fatal four way number one contender’s match by covering Banks after a Jax Samoan Drop. This was really a coming out party for James, who looked as fresh in the ring tonight as she has in years. She had a better match tonight on Raw than she did on her entire Smackdown tenure since the return, good for her. Banks almost had the victory with a submission on Bliss, but Nia broke it up before hitting the Samoan drop on Banks. Bliss dropkicked her out of the ring and got the victory in classic heel fashion. Jax worked better tonight, but she is still avocado green. Some of her fluidity needs some work and we need her to go from being Javale McGee on Shaqtin’ A Fool to Javale Mcgee, current Warriors talent. I am very excited for a Bliss/Bayley title match and I’m sure most of the WWE Universe feels the same way.
Curt Hawkins is waiting in the ring and he says that when he debuted last week on Raw, Big Show knocked him out and this week he’s in the main event. Who’s going to be next to join the Curt Hawkins Star factory? It’s Finn Balor! He’s cleared to get back to business after a concussion last week at the hands of “Hardbody” Mahal.
Finn Balor defeats Curt Hawkins via pinfall with the Coup De Grace. The first ever Universal Champion makes quick work of the enhancement talent with a delayed corner dropkick and the Coup De Grace. The match is kept short and that’s smart. The paying fans get to enjoy the enigmatic Balor and he gets to have a half day at work and continue to heal up after the concussion. Balor and Wyatt will do business sooner rather than later. Bray Wyatt will have a “Sermon To The Snake” after the break, but we get an appearance from Bruton Gaster and Magic Head himself! Dule Hill is attending the live show and they promote his new movie “Sleight”. Great to see the “Psych” star!
Chris Jericho is backstage with the “Face Of Jericho”, “Frame It In, Maaaaan!”. He talks about losing to Samoa Joe tonight, but he is heavily focused on Kevin Owens. He then runs down appearing on Smackdown and he rolls off a litany of failed WWE shows including the fabled Sunday Night Heat. He then calls Mike “Tom”, and I’m glad we at least learned the dude’s name because I had no idea. Jericho does a great job of entertaining the crowd and promoting his Payback rematch. Mike is about to get put on the list, but Elias Samson drifts into the segment and ends up on the list instead. He isn’t pleased with the strange straggling strummer.
Bray Wyatt means to burn the “House Of Horrors” to the ground, with Randy Orton inside. This was an incredibly well constructed promo, just like the early vignettes hyping the arrival of the Wyatts. I’m not going to do it justice, go watch it. Bray is such a master of words and I find him so incredibly unique, very much enjoying his in-ring and promotional work. We still aren’t clear on exactly what the “House Of Horrors” is going to get, but I’m eager to enjoy the rematch nevertheless. Jeff Hardy and Cesaro are up next.
Emma has to work a backstage segment that was downright cringeworthy as it featured both Alicia Fox and Dana Brook. Emma did her best with the subject matter, but Foxxy was over the top and it didn’t serve any purpose other than to maybe promote the forthcoming feud between Emma and Dana. Jeff Hardy heads to the ring for singles action.
Jeff Hardy defeats Cesaro via pinfall with a Swanton Bomb. Dang, I actually feel bad for Strowman and Show having to follow this. This was past meets present. Hardy looked as impressive as ever and he and Cesaro put on a clinic for the fans. We got a great show of sportsmanship from Sheamus and Cesaro after the match. Cesaro almost had it won on several occasions with his patented maneuvers, including several flurries of European Uppercuts. A Gotch Neutralizer was countered into a back drop and Hardy was able to hit the Twist of Fate before the Swanton. It’s great to have the Hardyz back because we’ll get to see some wonderful in-ring action.
We’re about to get an update on The Golden Truth and Kalisto, but we’re interrupted with a pleasant arrival in the form of Heath Slater and Rhyno. They provide some comedic relief as Braun Strowman stalks past them and they knuckle up, preparing to come to blows. Strowman is a man on a mission though. The main event is next.
Braun Strowman and The Big Show is ruled a no-contest after the ring collapsed. They’ve done the spot before, but this one took the cake. Strowman hit a superplex on Show and it literally brought all four ring posts out of their bases and the ring steps separated. The referee calling the action was shot-putted out of the ring and the live crowd dug it, I did too. I can’t believe I’m typing this, but I get to the point where I literally anticipate their matches because they are that much fun to watch. Strowman looked like a million bucks, kicking out of a choke slam and a KO punch and Show proved why he is still one of the greatest veterans working today as he looked as fresh as he did during his early WCW run. Very proud of these two guys setting the stage for action next week and this was a great way to close out a fun show.
