Monday Night Raw was liiiiiiiiiiiiiiive from Cleveland Ohio tonight, at Quicken Loans Arena. If you were there and want to send in some pictures, we’d be happy to post them later this week.
With that being said, let’s get right to the results and the hot takes that always come with them!
Samoa Joe starts the night by calling out Roman Reigns. After 4 or 5 minutes of boring dialogue, Reigns finally comes out, but within seconds it leads to a 3 on 3 with The Shield doing battle with The Bar and Joe.
Take – That was just a little too predictable for my taste, but we at least saw contact between the two for the third straight week and not just talk.
Bayley and Mickie James w/Sasha Banks vs Paige and Mandy Rose w/Sonya Deville
Take – Paige cut a pretty good promo on her way to the ring, and they continue to get Absolution over by keeping everyone’s role limited and calculated. They are smart to continue to let this team win each and every time out for a while, until a possible mania showdown with Paige and then champion Asuka.
Matt Hardy and Bray Wyatt have another back and forth pre-taped promo which leads to the mystery of Sister Abigail being further explained courtesy of Matt Hardy.
Take – Woken is Golden! The perfect ying to Bray Wyatts stale yang. With Jeff on the shelf for a bit, this is the exact way they need to use Matt and have some fun to make him relevant.
Finn Balor defeats Curtis Axel
Take – I’ve said it a million times over, and I’ll say it again, Balor is the future of RAW unless the WWE continues to screw it up. It is a terrible decision to rob him of his title shot against Brock Lesnar at The Royal Rumble as was originally rumored. He has it in the ring, he has the look and he has the fans behind him.
Backstage, Kane says tonight he and Braun Strowman step into the abyss. Tonight Kane will delight as he enters the ring with a fellow monster. Kane will, for the first time ever compete with Brock Lesnar. At the Royal Rumble, Kane will become Universal Champion.
Take – Kane will not be The Universal Champion, not now, not ever. No matter the outcome of this match, it is simply not happening.
Seth Rollins defeats Sheamus in a pretty good match that extended two segments.
Take – Both guys went all out and put on a very respectable match. Sheamus gets a raw deal some times for being a little stiff, but Rollins proves again he can have a good match with anyone.
Ariya Daivari vs Cedric Alexander vs Mustafa Ali vs Tony Nese for a match to face Drew Gulak for a shot at Enzo Amore’s Cruiserweight Championship
Take – This right here is the exact definition of lazy booking, not to mention a downright racist decision. By having Alexander win, the WWE merely plugged in one dark skinned babyface for another. I’m sorry, but not exactly subtle. The post-match segment with Gulak talking to Enzo was quite entertaining however.
Roman Reigns defeats Cesaro to retain the IC Championship.
Take – Some things never change.
Asuka was supposed to fight Alicia Fox when that gets interrupted by Absolution, only for the entire women’s roster to run down and squash Absolution.
Take – That is beyond horrible booking. Why would you squash the best thing going on the RAW women’s division only three weeks in? Terrible move.
Samoa Joe defeats Dean Ambrose in a tune up match for Roman Reigns
Take – This is the biggest build Joe has had since losing to Lesnar. Sorry to say, but this build will also end in a loss, this time to Reigns.
Braun Stowman and Kane battle to a double count out as the chance to face Lesnar disappears.
Take – Please tell me this means they are reconsidering Balor for the title shot at the Rumble? Most likely not, but it does leave the door open a crack.
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