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It’s fair to say that Sunday night’s Stomping Grounds pay-per-view exceeded a lot of people’s expectations.
Admittedly, these expectations were low to begin with, but nonetheless, it was a fairly enjoyable event. This included a backstage segment between AJ Styles, flanked by Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson, and newly-crowned United States Champion, Ricochet.
WWE’s Twitter account later announced a non-title match between Styles and Ricochet for this week’s Raw. However, this would appear to be the only fresh, new feud set-up on Sunday’s Stomping Grounds show.
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The only other matches revealed prior to Raw were Roman Reigns vs. Shane McMahon and Drew McIntyre in a 2-on-1 handicap match, as well as Kofi Kingston vs. Sami Zayn. The ending of Sunday’s show suggested that Becky Lynch and Seth Rollins are set to continue their respective feuds with Lacey Evans and Baron Corbin.
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But after one of the least anticipated WWE PPVs in recent memory, the only way was up…right?
It’s now time to analyse this week’s Raw by allocating each individual segment a grade and look at how WWE is shaping up heading into next month’s Extreme Rules.
Seth Rollins & Becky Lynch opened the show
Seth Rollins and Becky Lynch opened the show and it wasn't long until they were interrupted by a sneak attack from Lacey Evans and Baron Corbin.
Lynch and Rollins quickly overcame their adversaries and Corbin & Evans escaped to ringside and grabbed a microphone. After some trash talk, they challenged the champions to a mixed tag team match at Extreme Rules.
This challenge was accepted but both parties had conditions they wanted met. Lynch and Rollins wanted the Extreme Rules match to be the last time they have to face Evans and Corbin, whereas the ‘Lone Wolf’ and ‘Sassy Southern Belle’ demanded that both the Universal Championship and the Raw Women’s Championship be on the line in a ‘Winners-Take-All’ match.
This announcement was met with apathy from the fans, who would much rather see the Champions move on to face fresh challengers. The best thing I can say about this segment is that it was short.
Grade: D
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4-on-4 Tag Team Action
The first match of the night was a 4-on-4 tag team elimination match pitting respective Raw and Smackdown Tag Team Champions, The Revival and Daniel Bryan and Rowan, up against The Usos and Big E and Xavier Woods of The New Day.
This was a fast-paced match and it wasn’t long until a bit of miscommunication between Bryan and Rowan and The Revival led to the elimination of the Smackdown Tag Team Champions.
The Revival wasted no time in evening up the numbers by eliminating The New Day after hitting Woods with a ‘Shatter Machine’.
The Usos ended up winning the match with an inventive finish as Jey Uso jumped off of Dash Wilder, who was laid across the turnbuckle, to hit an Uso splash onto Scott Dawson for the victory.
This was a fun match, but it was very short, especially considering it was a 4-on-4 elimination match. However, with The Usos defeating the Raw Tag Team Champions, this will likely lead to title shot for Jimmy & Jey. Hopefully this time The Usos and The Revival can have a serious feud and there will not be a jar of ‘Ucey Hot’ in sight.
Grade: B-
Miz TV with R-Truth & Carmella
Next up was an edition of Miz TV, with guests R-Truth and Carmella.
Miz recapped all the shenanigans surrounding the 24/7 Championship, most notably when Truth crashed Drake Maverick’s wedding last week to regain the title.
This led to Maverick coming out to reveal that his wife has refused to speak to him since the wedding. She has even refused to go on their honeymoon and they are yet to consummate the marriage. This inspired a ‘consummate’ chant from the Washington crowd.
Drake Maverick challenged Truth to a one-on-one match, with everyone else banned from ringside, to give him the chance to win back the love of his life, that being the 24/7 Championship.
The match was made official and was set to take place after a commercial break. The match lasted a mere few seconds as R-Truth swiftly defeated the 205 Live General Manager. He was then chased off into the crowd after the match by the usual mob of jobbers as Maverick left the arena alone and empty handed.
This was another enjoyable segment surrounding the 24/7 Championship, although it would have been nice to see the actual match go on for a bit longer and have a few more comedy spots sprinkled in.
Grade: C+
The Undertaker saved Roman Reigns!
The previously announced handicap match pitting Roman Reigns against Drew McIntyre and Shane McMahon was up next.
Shortly before the match began, Shane revealed that there would be no tags and Roman will have to face both him and Drew at the same time. Apparently this was also a no-disqualification match, as Drew hit Roman with the ring steps early on as he and Shane took control of the match.
After a couple of ‘Claymore kicks’ and a Shane McMahon spear, the duo tried to punish Reigns further as Drew held Roman in the corner to set up for Shane’s coast-to-coast. All of a sudden, The Undertaker’s ‘gong’ sounded and the lights went out. Now there’s a surprise!
The lights came back up and The Undertaker stood in the ring, the crowd went wild as the ‘Deadman’ attacked Drew and Shane and sent them scurrying to the back.
Why did The Undertaker save Roman? Why did he attack Shane and Drew? I don’t have the answers, but this was a cool moment.
It was announced later on in the night that Shane and Drew will be facing Roman Reigns and The Undertaker in a tag team match at Extreme Rules.
Grade: A-
Tug of War
From a cool moment to a not so cool moment, up next was Braun Strowman competing against Bobby Lashley in a tug of war.
Yep, that happened. Lashley and Strowman came down to the ring, which had a line across the middle of it, and fought over a length of rope. I'm all for new ideas, but this was dire.
After a bit of back and forth, Lashley dismissed the tug of war contest and attacked Strowman and left standing tall after a short beat down. This brought an abrupt, but welcome, ending to this uninspiring segment.
Bobby Lashley's lacklustre return to WWE continues to flounder and it's hard to see this how this feud will change things. Strowman is also on a downward slope currently and needs an angle or storyline to get him going in the right direction again. This program with Bobby Lashley is unlikely to help.
Grade: D-
Gallows & Anderson lost again
Following a backstage segment where AJ Styles caught Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows dancing with No Way Jose’s conga line, the ‘Good Brothers’ faced The Viking Raiders in tag team action.
Gallows and Anderson were once again looking to prove themselves to AJ, who was watching the match backstage. The former Bullet Club members were a lot more serious than they have been in recent months and they were in control until a bit of over confidence allowed the Viking Raiders back into the match.
Erik and Ivar would go on to win the match after hitting their ‘Viking Experience’ finishing manuever on Anderson.
Despite being another short match, there was some good action and gave a glimpse of how good these two tag teams could be if booked strongly. Simply put, this segment achieved it's goal in furthering the storyline between Gallows & Anderson and AJ Styles.
Grade: B-
24/7 Championship Chaos
A scheduled match between Mojo Rawley and Heath Slater was interrupted by more 24/7 Title shenanigans as the band of jobbers chased R-Truth back into the arena. Slater took advantage of the chaos and hit a neckbreaker on Truth to become the new 24/7 Champion, but not for long.
While trying to avoid the other superstars around the ring, Slater was then rolled up by Truth, who regained his championship. But we weren’t done there. Cedric Alexander then entered from the crowd to hit a ‘Lumbar Check’ on Truth and pin him to win the title. Cedric was then pinned by EC3 at ringside to crown the 4th 24/7 Champion of the night.
Just when you thought it was over, Carmella snatched the belt from EC3 to distract him for long enough to be rolled up himself by, you guessed it, R-Truth, who regained for the second time of the night.
Grade: C
Kofi's next challenger revealed?
More interruptions followed, as an in-ring interview with WWE Champion Kofi Kingston was cut short by Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn. The three guys traded insults in a well delivered, but pretty pointless promo segment, which led into the scheduled match between Kofi and Sami Zayn.
After an evenly matched bout, Kofi countered an attempted ‘Blue Thunder Bomb’ into a roll-up to get the 3-count and the victory. An incensed Kevin Owens got on the microphone after the match and challenged Kofi to a second match between Kofi and himself, which the WWE Champion duly accepted.
The Owens bout was a much shorter contest as it quickly spilled to the outside and Kingston hit an ‘S.O.S’ on Owens on the entrance ramp, which allowed him to claim a count-out victory.
It was a shame to see Kingston deal with both Owens and Zayn with relative ease, but he didn’t leave standing tall as Samoa Joe attacked the WWE Champion from behind, seemingly announcing himself as the next challenger to Kofi’s title.
Grade: B-
DTA - Don't Trust Alexa
Naomi vs. Alexa Bliss was up next.
This match was made after a couple of backstage segments from earlier on in the night. Firstly, Nikki Cross apologised to Alexa for costing her the match at Stomping Grounds against Bayley and vowed to help her get a rematch for the Smackdown Women’s Championship.
Later on, Alexa caught Nikki talking to Naomi and Natalya, who were both trying to warn Cross to stay away from ‘The Goddess’. This led to the aforementioned match.
Bliss won in another very short match, but this led to a tag team contest after everyone’s apparent best friend, Natalya, saved Naomi from a post-match beat down at the hands of Nikki and Alexa. Bliss then gained another victory in the tag match after capitalising on Nikki Cross’ work to pin Natalya.
While none of these segments were anything spectacular, they did help develop the odd-couple story between Alexa and Nikki, reinforcing Bliss position as a manipulative bully.
Grade: C+
Dream Main Event
Finally, we had the main event dream match between AJ Styles and the new United States Champion, Ricochet. The match had barely got started before Gallows and Anderson made their way down to ringside and attempted to get involved in the match. However, AJ Styles stopped the match and refused to restart it until Gallows and Anderson went to the back.
After a commercial break, the match restarted and the two superstars went on to tell a compelling story. AJ Styles used his veteran instincts to quell the momentum of the younger, faster Ricochet.
However, Styles became more and more aggressive over the course of the match as he grew frustrated with the U.S. Champion’s superior athleticism. The match ended quite abruptly after AJ connected with a vicious ‘Phenomenal Forearm’ and pinned Ricochet for the victory. Styles then raised Ricochet’s arm in a show of respect as the show went off the air.
The fact that Gallows and Anderson never came back out did make it seem like the show ended prematurely but that should take nothing away from the great match that AJ Styles and Ricochet had.
Grade: B+
Overall, this was a solid Monday Night Raw.
The show had a good pace throughout and the main event, as well as the shock return of The Undertaker were the clear highlights.
Overall Grade: B
