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All eyes are focused on ‘The Greatest Wrestling Match Ever’ as the final RAW before WWE Backlash ended with a few big victories and surprises.
The show kicked off with a big triple threat tag team match between the women of WWE and set up the pace for the rest of the night. We got ourselves the number one contender for the United States Championship during the night, with Apollo Crews set to defend his title at WWE Backlash.
Christian hosted "The Peep Show" this week and his guest Edge was given a lot of advice by his former tag team partner for his match at Backlash. However, Randy Orton wasn’t just going to stand back and watch the two veterans simply talk.
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The Viking Raiders and The Street Profits competed in a Decathlon before The Raiders met some real competition in MVP and Bobby Lashley later in the show.
The night ended in disappointment for the RAW Women’s Champion Asuka, who will need to pull up her socks for the upcoming WWE Backlash event and also watch her back during her title defense.
In this article, we will look at the five things WWE got right on this week’s RAW before Backlash.
#5 The Triple Threat Women’s Tag Team Match
Bayley and Sasha Banks arrived on the show to kick off Monday Night RAW and interrupted the RAW Women’s Champion, Asuka, in the process. This led to Charlotte Flair also showing up as she looked to compete against Asuka once again during the night.
After firing some shots on the mic, all four women were interrupted by The IIconics who decided to mock everyone in the ring. Billie Kay and Peyton Royce then announced that they would compete against Bayley & Banks and Nikki Cross & Alexa Bliss for the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships at WWE Backlash in a Triple Threat Match.
A brawl broke out which led to a Triple Threat match between the three teams in the ring as Asuka and Flair decided to work together. However, their chemistry did not work well as they continued to show off to each other during the match.
WWE RAW seems to be giving its women some extra screen time
Their poor teamwork did not cost them too much as they managed to take down Royce and Kay before Asuka made the blind tag to Flair and locked in the Asuka Lock on Kay to pick up the victory.
After the match, The Queen wiped out the RAW Women’s Champion for disrespecting her and stealing her thunder.
This was a good match that allowed the company to build towards the main event of the night and also a possible RAW Women’s Championship rivalry down the road. The IIconics taking the pin made sense as they have nothing to lose and we won’t be surprised if they end up taking the pin or pulling off a heist at WWE Backlash during the WWE Women’s Tag Team Match.
#4 Aleister Black's build as the savior of RAW
Seth Rollins took to the RAW commentary table this week with Rey Mysterio being interviewed via a video call. Mysterio revealed that he was at high risk but was recovering from his injury.
The Monday Night Messiah and Mysterio had a verbal confrontation and Rollins offered him a chance to come in peace next week and retire on the show. However, Mysterio seems to have other plans going forward and we could very well end up watching Dominick make his in-ring debut very soon.
Aleister Black came out of nowhere and attacked Rollins which led to Austin Theory and Murphy coming out to his aide. Humberto Carrillo joined The Dutch Destroyer as we headed to a tag team match between the four men for this week's RAW.
Will Aleister Black be the real savior of WWE RAW?
The chemistry between Black and Murphy was great once again, while Carrillo and Theory also got some high points in the match. Black managed to pick up the victory for his team, after which Rollins walked out in a mask - seemingly mocking Mysterio - and the three heels took down the babyfaces of RAW.
Murphy hit The Striking Man from Amsterdam with Murphy’s Law before Rollins finished him off with The Stomp.
This was a big segment that allowed The Dutch Destroyer to stand out once again and stand up to the biggest heel on RAW. Black showing respect to Mysterio and fighting for his cause is something we’d expect the babyface to do and he has been doing an incredible job of carrying Carrillo with him in this rivalry.
#3 Talk less, Clay-More
Last night on RAW, The Viking Raiders were scheduled to take on the team of MVP and Bobby Lashley in a big tag team match.
WWE Champion Drew McIntyre interrupted the VIP Lounge and threatened MVP with a Claymore Kick. The Viking Raiders joined in, followed by the RAW Tag Team Champions Montez Ford and Angelo Dawkins, who decided to watch the match from ringside.
Lashley dominated The Viking Raiders in the match and took the fight to Erik and Ivar even when they tried to make comebacks.
After some action, The All Mighty locked Erik in the Full Nelson and made him tap out to the lock, humiliating the RAW Tag Team Championship contenders in the process.
The All Mighty was treated to a surprise by the premier face of WWE RAW
After the match, he trapped Ivar in the submission as well, but McIntyre made a timely save by taking Lashley out with the Claymore.
While The Viking Raiders losing to a makeshift team doesn’t help the RAW tag team division, it was good to see the WWE Champion talk up the tag team before the match and help them out afterward.
While Lashley managed to lock McIntyre to close out RAW last week, McIntyre had the last laugh before the two men collide at WWE Backlash.
#2 The United States Championship picture
With WWE Backlash on the horizon, RAW decided that it was the perfect time to book a match for the United States Championship for the event. Apollo Crews announced that he would face the winner of a Triple Threat Match between Andrade, Angel Garza, and Kevin Owens.
Garza and Andrade teamed up to take KO out of the equation, but the two men managed to knock Zelina Vega down on the floor as they traded some blows.
Tensions began to rise between the heel teammates of RAW, as they searched for an opening to win the match rather than help each other get through.
Late in the match, Garza managed to lock KO for the Wing Clipper, but The Prizefighter fought his way out and hit a Stunner in return. While he was set for the victory, Andrade kicked him out of the way and pinned Garza to pick up the victory for himself.
WWE RAW has some deserving candidates for the title
While Andrade may have gotten himself a ticket for Backlash, he seems to have ended up on the wrong side of his teammates after his actions on RAW.
With KO getting involved in the United States Championship picture, it seems like the creatives are now taking as much interest in the title as they are in the WWE Championship.
Such great storylines will help both the titles increase in value and give first-time Champion Apollo Crews a chance to grow.
#1 The future build for the RAW Women’s Championship
The main event of Monday Night RAW saw two of its biggest Superstars share the ring once again. Charlotte Flair looked to shake off her loss at NXT TakeOver: In Your House and decided to vent out her frustration on RAW Women’s Champion, Asuka.
Sasha Banks and Bayley arrived to watch the match from the commentary table but they were soon attacked by Peyton Royce and Billie Kay.
Inside the ring, The Queen and The Emperess continued to battle and trade the advantage. Flair kept on getting Asuka down, but the RAW Women’s Champion kept coming back for more.
Is WWE RAW building towards a future rivalry?
While the two women were putting on a great show, Asuka’s opponent for WWE Backlash, Nia Jax, arrived to distract The Emperess. Asuka delivered a couple of moves to her. This allowed Charlotte to connect with the big boot on Asuka for the victory.
After the match, Jax entered the ring and laid out Asuka with a Samoan Drop.
This match was as entertaining as any other match between these two top women of WWE. While fans may be getting bored of watching Flair repeatedly defeat Asuka even when she’s holding the RAW Women’s title, we could end up getting a big match between these two women where Asuka finally makes Flair tap out.
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