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This Monday night, WWE Live rolled through Glasgow - and left no expenses spared as the Superstars of RAW and SmackDown made sure they put on a show worthy of replacing the previously scheduled WWE RAW event that would be moved to a pre-recorded episode taped following WWE SmackDown this past Friday in Manchester.
Ahead of the event, I had the pleasure of chatting with two-time Intercontinental Champion Bobby Lashley, thanks to WWE. We spoke all about his dream celebrity opponent, who he'd face from NXT, what it's like working with Braun Strowman, his friendship with Lio Rush, and which WWE Superstars could transition into MMA.
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Well, the actual event would play host to the only Steel Cage Match of the WWE Live UK tour, and the Universal Championship, WWE United States Championship, WWE RAW Women's Championship, and WWE Women's Tag Team Championships would all be up for grabs - with hometown here Nikki Cross getting a shot at the latter with a surprise partner!
WWE RAW Women’s Title Match
Becky Lynch vs Sasha Banks
The opening contest of the night saw WWE RAW Women's Champion "The Man" Becky Lynch defending her title against "The Boss" Sasha Banks.
The pair put on an incredible opener with some decent time, and several teased finishes and worked an incredibly fun match - one which would see Sasha Banks do the DX crotch chop, hold up Becky Lynch's title, and also go for a kick, only for Lynch to catch her by the ankle and walk round in circles for three rotations.
Eventually, The Man would emerge victorious at the second attempt of the Dis-Arm-Her after surviving the Bank Statement.
Winner: Becky Lynch
WWE United States Title Match
AJ Styles vs Braun Strowman
The night's second match saw Braun Strowman compete against AJ Styles for the United States Championship, with the crowd going wild for both men.
The match would be entertaining, but pretty short-lived after Gallows & Anderson made their presence felt to ensure Styles retained the Championship.
However, the numbers advantage wouldn't last long, as Braun had some buddies on hand to help...
Winner: Braun by DQ, Styles retains
Six-Man Tag Team Match
The OC vs Braun Strowman & The Viking Raiders
Strowman cut a promo after he and The Viking Raiders chased The OC out of the ring, saying he knew Gallows & Anderson would get involved, and that's why he entrusted the RAW Tag Team Champions and asked them to have his back. The Monster Among Men would challenge The OC to a match, who would decline, only for Sarah Schreiber to confirm the match was made official. The OC would still try to leave the arena only to be chased down.
This was another entertaining encounter with Braun, Erik and Ivar all receiving raptuorous ovations from the WWE Universe with every tag. Strowman would also decimate all three members of The OC with his now trademark laps of the ring where the former RAW Tag Team Champion shoulder barges everyone in sight, and he and the RAW Tag Team Champions would come out on top with Strowman pinning Karl Anderson following a Running Bodyslam.
Winner: Braun Strowman & The Viking Raiders
R-Truth vs Drake Maverick
Former WWE 24/7 Champion R-Truth was up next, sharing the ring with Drake Maverick in a segment where he spoke of how the pair had squashed their differences, and wanted to make it official in Glasgow that they no longer had problems by sharing a Dance Break!
Just as Truth convinced Maverick and started dancing, the 205 Live General Manager attacked R-Truth from behind, but would go on to lose to his long-time rival with the record-breaking former 24/7 Champion picking up the victory.
Winner: R-Truth
Nikki Cross vows to win the WWE Tag Team Championships
While everyone in the building would have been well aware of the main event being The Fiend vs Seth Rollins in a Steel Cage Match, the big tease going into the second half of the show was undoubtedly seeing hometown hero Nikki Cross return!
Well, a unique vignette would air where Cross would confirm that she was competing in a match for the WWE Tag Team Championships against The Kabuki Warriors, stating how excited she was to compete in the iconic SSE Hydro for the first time with poor timing preventing it from happening before.
Who would be Cross' partner though? Well, the Glaswegian Superstar introduced her as the lady formerly known as Crazy Mary Dobson - Sarah Logan!
Cross vowed that they were going to go to Sauchiehall Street, get a chippy, an Irn-Bru, and go to The Garage and the (now closed) Campus to celebrate them winning!
Rey Mysterio & Ricochet vs Drew McIntyre & Randy Orton
The final match before the interval was arguably match of the night. While Drew McIntyre was about as close to a homecoming as he'll ever get for WWE, with Glasgow's Hydro being the biggest arena that's closest to Ayr, the spoils were shared when it came to fan excitement here between four hugely popular Superstars.
The WWE Universe both loved seeing Ricochet and McIntyre's different styles mesh, and obviously the insane throwback that was Rey Mysterio vs Ricochet!
This match had everything, from 619s to RKOs - but Mysterio and Ricochet would come out on top after an incredible display of teamwork throughout that makes you wonder whether this could be a pairing we see in the future...
Winner: Rey Mysterio & Ricochet
Cedric Alexander vs Shelton Benjamin
Following the interval, Shelton Benjamin would compete against Cedric Alexander in a fairly impressive and pretty lengthy encounter, with Alexander winning via a roll-up.
Benjamin would grab the microphone and say he wasn't leaving until he got another match, as the win by Cedric was purely luck.
Winner: Cedric Alexander
Angelo Dawkins (w/Montez Ford) defeats Shelton Benjamin
Well, not one but two men answered Benjamin's challenge! The Street Profits emerged and ran through the crowd, Ford would look likely to compete and would offer Benjamin a drink from his trademark red cup, but Benjamin would slap the cup away, allowing Dawkins to take advantage for the win...
But Shelton Benjamin wasn't done there, as he aimed to call out ANOTHER Superstar.
Winner: Angelo Dawkins
Kevin Owens appears
Before he could, KO emerged and told Benjamin he wasn't here to compete as he'd been filling up on popcorn, but that he was here to STUN Benjamin, laying waste to the former United States Champion before leaving to a huge pop.
WWE Women's Tag Team Championship Match
The Kabuki Warriors vs Nikki Cross & Sarah Logan
Next up, hometown hero Nikki Cross made her triumphant return to a rapturous ovation, teaming with Sarah Logan to take on the current Women's Tag Team Champions.
Despite a great showing for the pair to an amazing reaction, Cross and Logan would be on the losing side of this exchange, but Logan would quickly hand Cross a Saltire and hold it up, before the former Riott Squad star took her leave and allowed Glasgow's own Nikki Cross to take in this incredible moment all on her own - standing in Scotland's largest and most iconic wrestling venue and taking home some well deserved plaudits from her adoring fans.
Winners: The Kabuki Warriors
Rusev vs Lashley (w/Lana)
It's one of the most controversial storylines in WWE right now, but the crowd reactions say it all as Rusev got a rapturous ovation while the WWE Universe were jeering profusely at Lashley and Lana.
This match was relatively short, but incredibly entertaining with Lana and Bobby Lashley whipping the crowd into a frenzy with some dastardly antics, which would see Rusev win by disqualification after The Dominator hit The Bulgarian Brute with a low blow.
WWE Universal Championship Steel Cage Match
"The Fiend" Bray Wyatt vs Seth Rollins
The most tense moment of the night, a moment of nostalgia that will hook in any WWE fan, the Steel Cage lowered as Sarah Schrieber announced that the main event for the evening would be for the WWE Universal Championship.
Seth Rollins emerged first to a largely positive reaction from the WWE Universe, before the lights dimmed, and the Firefly Funhouse intro played before fading out into Wyatt's new theme.
Wyatt's character had been teased all night, too, with a slightly odd intro video at the start of the evening having some "technical difficulties" before The Fiend flashed up at the beginning, with Schrieber saying she didn't know what was going on, making Wyatt's entrance even more impressive.
This battle was all about brutality, with both men smashing one another's skulls off of the cage after brawling outside of the steel structure to start the match. The cage would then end up filled with weapons, as Wyatt and Rollins attacked each other with chairs, and we even saw Rollins put Wyatt through a table!
Wyatt would get the last laugh, though, assaulting Seth with a kendo stick and decimating The Architect, before a Sister Abigail ended the encounter to see Bray Wyatt retain the WWE Universal Championship, and send the WWE Universe home happy.
We want to know what you think of the matches that you see on TV! Go to our WWE page here and rate and comment what you thought of them!
