We are just days away from Hell in a Cell, what will go down tonight on RAW? And how will the re-debut of Eva Marie go down?
Welcome to the Playground folks. Alexa Bliss welcomed us to Monday Night RAW. Apparently, she got some complaints about what Lily did last week. Then we saw the footage of what happened between Bliss, Lily, and Shayna Baszler. Bliss said she had good intentions inviting Baszler to the playground last week, but Lily took things out of hand.
According to Bliss, in part due to the actions of last week and WWE going back on the road soon, Lily is in timeout. Apparently, though, Baszler still got what she deserved anyway. Enter Nia Jax.
Jax wasn’t in the mood to hear Bliss talk. She told her Baszler would see her Sunday at Hell in a Cell. Jax then continued by saying that she knows the real Bliss and they used to be friends, the real Bliss. She told Bliss to stop interfering with her career and messing with her friends.
Then things got dark, Bliss didn’t appreciate Jax coming to her playground and spewing her allegations. Apparently, they were never friends according to Bliss. Then Jax challenged Bliss to a match tonight. Bliss began to “cry” and ask for forgiveness, but that soon turned to laughter. She then accepted Jax’s challenge.
Inside the Thunderdome, Corey Graves, Jimmy Smith, and Bryon Saxton gave us a little rundown of matches to come tonight.
Then Nikki Cross made her entrance. After we went backstage and Charlotte Flair was interviewed. Flair said this Sunday, she and Rhea Ripley would have the best match of the night, but Ripley lacks the maturity to be champion. While she doesn’t need a match tonight, she does need the loss against Cross gone from her record. Flair made her entrance, the match began and no beat the clock!
Nikki Cross defeated Charlotte Flair via Countout
RAW Women’s Champion, Rhea Ripley made her way to ringside seconds after the bell rang for the match. Although Ripley’s entrance served as a momentary distraction, Flair tossed Cross to the outside and tossed her into the barricades.
Flair truly was in control for the majority of the match, but thanks to a slight distraction by Ripley, Flair did not make it back in the ring. After Cross hit a Tornado DDT, Flair rolled to the outside. Flair was right in front of Ripley when she caught Cross and tossed her. Not paying attention to the referee’s count, Flair did not make it back into the ring in time.
After the match, Flair did not take the loss well. She gave a big boot to Cross on the outside! As Flair went to put Cross into the Figure Eight, Ripley got into the ring and stopped her! RIPTIDE TO FLAIR!
We saw footage of Riddle’s match with Kofi Kingston from last week. Then we saw Riddle chatting with Jeff Hardy backstage. Riddle asked Hardy for advice on being in a tag team. Hardy told him it’s all about teamwork, continuity, and most importantly trust. He actually told Riddle to listen when the Viper speaks.
After Hardy left, Randy Orton walked up. Riddle apologized for last week and said he wouldn’t let him down tonight. Orton told him to be himself tonight and not the second incarnation of Orton.
John Morrison made his entrance to the ring, with Miz in a wheelchair, as we went to commercial break.
John Morrison defeated Jeff Hardy via Pinfall (Starship Pain)
As Hardy made his entrance, Morrison used the “Drip Stick” and sprayed water on Hardy. This gave Morrison a slight advantage to begin the match. Although this is the first singles match between the two in WWE in ten years, it was still fun to watch. Cedric Alexander decided to join the party and made his entrance mid match.
As Hardy went for a Whisper in the Wind, he threw a towel at Miz. That didn’t finish the match. As Hardy went for a move on the apron it backfired on him and Morrison got the victory.
After the match Cedric Alexander got a microphone. Alexander said he wanted to apologized for last week and not showing him the respect he deserved. While Alexander idolized Hardy growing up, after watching their match from last week back he saw Hardy being a sore winner. Really Alexander only wanted to apologize for not putting Hardy in the retirement home.
Hardy then got a microphone. He told Alexander if he could beat him right now he would retire. Then we took a commercial break.
Jeff Hardy defeated Cedric Alexander via Pinfall (Swanton Bomb)
Well it looks like Alexander could not do what he set out to do. Alexander did target one of Hardy’s legs so he could not climb the ropes, but that actually didn’t work. The Michinoku Driver almost put Hardy away, but her was able to kick out. Alexander went to the top rope and missed! A blocked Twist of Fate attempt. A missed Neuralyzer led to Hardy gaining the victory.
After the match we got a video showcasing all that has been going on between Drew McIntyre and Bobby Lashley.
Before going to another commercial break, Naomi made her entrance.
Eva Marie made her entrance with Piper Niven at her side. Although it was slated as Marie’s match, Niven walked on before her.
Piper Niven defeated Naomi via Pinfall (Michinoku Driver)
Welcome to Eva Marie’s debut! Er, well kind of. Of course Eva Marie did not wrestle tonight, but Scotland’s own Piper Niven got to instead! It was a rather quick match, but cool to see Piper get this moment anyway. Naomi did fight valiantly, but there was no answer for Niven’s strength. And yes, commentary acted like they had no idea. who Piper was.
Eva MArie got the microphone and announced herself as the winner….cause of course she did.
After the match we saw footage from a photo shoot earlier in the day featuring Mandy Rose and Dana Brooke. As they were in the middle of the shoot they heard distracting noises, so they went to go figure it out. Natalya and Tamina were training in a ring backstage and Rose asked them to keep the noise down.
Nattie and Tamina said Rose and Brooke cared more about how they looked in photos than what they do in the ring. Tamina said if they put more into their skills they probably would have been champs by now. Rose said they just seem jealous. Nattie said their priorities are all wrong. Rose then dropped that they wouldn’t be anything without their last name. Then a brawl broke out.
Back inside the Thunderdome, The New Day made their entrance to the ring and we went back to a commercial break.
Returning from break Drew McIntyre was interviewed. McIntyre said he was going to call Bobby Lashley, Trashley from now on due to his actions. As for his opponent tonight, AJ Styles, he is one of the best in the world. Those from Scotland are known for their brilliant strategy, which he will use tonight and this Sunday.
Randy Orton and Riddle defeated The New Day via Pinfall (RKO)
Honestly this was a fun match to watch. Riddle seemed to actually take Orton’s advice to heart and wrestled like the Riddle many are used to seeing. We had a nice back and forth between the teams for a bit, but eventually The New Day did find themselves in control.
Of course their control didn’t last too long. For the length of the match and a tag team that still is figuring out how to work together, it was good. Kofi Kingston was pretty brilliant and Randy Orton pulled out the vintage moves. Xavier Woods was so close to putting Riddle away, but Riddle got Orton tagged in. Woods went for an Honor Roll and….RKO!
After the match we saw some footage of the opening match. Then Rhea Ripley was interviewed. Ripley tonight is an example as to why Charlotte Flair is the delusional one. She said Flair is too busy trying to mend her bruise ego instead of focusing on their championship match.
Asuka then made her entrance to the ring as we took yet another commercial break.
Rhea Ripley defeated Asuka via Pinfall (Riptide)
Asuka started off the match having a good time, but then Ripley took over. We’ve seen these two as opponents now a few times and this match may have been slightly more hard hitting then the others.
Asuka did have the Asuka Lock almost locked in, but Ripley powered out of it. Moments later Ripley hit Riptide.
After the bell rang, Charlotte Flair attacked Ripely from behind! We got a pretty good preview of what to expect at Hell in a Cell and it could be brutal. These two women weren’t holding back. Referees and WWE Officials came out from the back to try to separate them and couldn’t even get things under control! Flair actually walked away with a bloody nose!
We then went backstage where Bobby Lashley, MVP, and Lashley’s Ladies (I really would love to call them something else, but here we are) were enjoying music and champagne when an interviewer showed up.
MVP didn’t like the disrespect of the interviewer coming in without knocking. Then he said MVP is cool as a cucumber about the match Sunday. He is not concerned about McIntyre’s match tonight and only focused on Sunday. Lashley reminded us all that McIntyre asked for this match and he is going to publicly execute him.
Before going to commercial break Alexa Bliss made her entrance to the ring.
Alexa Bliss defeated Nia Jax via DQ
Bliss went for the sleeper hold on Jax right away, not once but twice. Jax rammed her into the corner to break the hold the first time. The second time she rammed her into the corner and then gave her a little trip.
Somehow Bliss moved, well really just sat up, and Jax missed a leg drop. Bliss then went to the top rope after little shenanigans, but Reginald jumped on the apron and distracted her. This helped Jax for a moment, but Bliss still found a way to gain control back. As she went for the pin, Reginald got in the ring and tore her off of Jax.
After the match, Bliss and Reginald were in a staredown. It seemed though that Bliss was somehow in control of Reginald’s movements because anything she did he also did.
Jaxson Ryker defeated Elias via Countout
Elias was in control out of the gate. That control didn’t last long though, as Ryker hit some huge momentum-changing moves. The action did end up outside of the ring and Ryker put Elias spine first into the ring post. The referee kept counting, Ryker got back in the ring and Elias chose not to.
We saw the entrance of Drew McIntyre and then took a commercial break. Of course when we returned from break Bobby Lashley, MVP, and the ladies were sitting on couches on the entrance ramp.
AJ Styles versus Drew McIntyre ended in a No Contest
Who didn’t see this one coming? While the match began pretty normal and things seemed all good, with Lashley chilling on the entrance ramp of course things weren’t going to stay chill for long. Omos accompanied Styles out, so McIntyre looked like he was all alone. Eventually, The Viking Raiders came out to play equalizers, but they could not stop Lashley from interfering in the match.