In the season premiere of Monday Night RAW, we will see Asuka defend her RAW Women’s Championship against Lana. While Keith Lee goes up against Braun Strowman.
We began the show with commentary giving us a rundown on what to expect tonight. Then the lights went red and Alexa Bliss was in the ring. She told us He was here and to let him in! The Fiend then made his entrance to the ring.
In a turn of events, Retribution surrounded Alexa Bliss and The Fiend. Once Mustafa Ali, Mace, T-Bar, Slapjack and Reckoning were in the ring, the lights went out. Once the lights came back on, The Fiend and Bliss were gone.
The Hurt Business then came out to deal with Retribution and chaos ensued! We went to commercial break after Cedric Alexander took Retribution out with a dive to the outside.
Back from commercial break we got a promo video for Matt Riddle.
The Hurt Business defeated Retribution via Submission (Hurt Lock)
The Hurt Business brought the pain early in this one. Bobby Lashley brought most of the offense for The Hurt Business. The only time Hurt Business didn’t seem to be in control, is when Cedric Alexander got distracted by Mace and T-Bar. After a commercial break Hurt Business was back in control and that did not change.
After the match, the lights went red and out came The Fiend. He single-handedly took out Retribution while The Hurt Business looked on. Then we went to commercial break.
Back from commercial break AJ Styles made his entrance with the former RAW Underground body guard, Jordan Omogbehin. Styles gave credit to the powers at be for drafting him, a true leader, to Monday Night RAW. He talked about his triple threat match last week and said the real redemption of RAW was his return.
He proved last week that RAW never was Monday Night Rollins. After he beats Matt Riddle tonight, Styles said a new era will begin for the face that runs the place. Then his opponent Matt Riddle made his entrance.
Before the match began, the referee was having a difficult time getting Omogbehin to leave the ring. Omogbehin flat out refused, that is until the ref began to count out Styles.
AJ Styles defeated Matt Riddle via Pinfall (Styles Clash)
A competitive match up, but with Omogbehin at ringside Riddle needed to have his head on a swivel. After a spill to the outside, Riddle found himself face to face with the big man and wisely got back in the ring. Riddle was met with an enziguri from Syles, which led to the Styles Clash.
After the match we got a recap of the feud between Randy Orton and WWE Champion, Drew McIntyre. We are told we will hear from Drew McIntyre when we return from break.
When we returned from break Charly Caruso was with Drew McIntyre. She asked him how big a factor the difference of experience would be going into Hell In A Cell, but McIntyre just asked for the mic. He said when he met Orton, it was obvious to him how evil, entitled, and selfish Orton is. McIntyre said he should have left Orton in the past after he won at Clash of Champions.
But McIntyre saw red when Orton took out the legends and agreed to HIAC. While McIntyre does not have experience in the cell, he said there will be no honor or respect Sunday. He will go through hell and put Orton through hell to keep his WWE Championship. Then McIntyre warned Orton he may show up at his interview later.
Back at ringside we got the entrance of Lana for her RAW Women’s Championship opportunity.
Asuka defeated Lana via Submission (Asuka Lock)
A rather quick match, but Lana was able to get a pin attempt on Asuka and some offense in. After another pin attempt though, Asuka was able to get her in the Asuka Lock and that’s all she wrote.
After the match the Women’s Tag Team Champions attacked Asuka from behind. For a fifth time, Nia Jax put Lana through the announcer’s desk with a Samoan drop. Asuka was able to fight off Shayna Baszler and get away. We then went to another commercial.
Back from commercial, Jax said that their attack on Lana and Asuka is proof of their teamwork, which most think they lack. Baszler called it dominance and said they own the tag team titles, which in turn means they own the RAW and Smackdown Women’s divisions. Jax then challenged any team to prove them wrong.
Mandy Rose and Dana Brooke then came out, but so did Lacey Evans and…Peyton Royce. Just when it looked like we were ready for a match, The Riott Squad made their entrance.
Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler defeated Lacey Evans/Peyton Royce, Dana Brooke/Mandy Rose, and The Riott Squad via Pinfall (Samoan Drop)
After a lot of chaos and many, many dives to the outside, the tag team champions were able to back up their talk from earlier. Just when it seemed like the Riott Squad would get the victory after double knees and the Riott Kick, Baszler pulled Riott out and put her in the Kirifuda Clutch. Throwing Riott back in the ring, Jax was able to tag in and get the victory.
Before going to commercial break we saw Elias conferring with his band for his concert.
Back from break it was time for Elias’ concert! Elias said his album is called Universal Truth and is out on the 26th of October. Then he began his concert with a song called Amen.
When Elias asked for his guitar to perform an encore, the man who had the guitar turned out to be JEFF HARDY! He tried to hit Elias with the guitar, but he ducked out of the way.
Backstage Miz and Morrison were talking about what the Miz has been going through lately. Morrison tried to talk about how he was attacked by Lars Sullivan last week, but Miz wasn’t having it. Miz talked about how moving Mandy Rose to RAW was saving her. He also said he would save the Money In The Bank contract when he wins his court case with Otis.
Tucker then came up and said while he isn’t on the same roster as Otis anymore, he was still looking out for him. He said he would ruin Miz and Morrison’s lives in a tag team match tonight. Miz and Morrison accepted the challenge because they believed Tucker finding a tag team partner was laughable.
Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods then made their entrance to ringside as we went to commercial break.
Back from break Charly Caruso stopped Elias backstage. Elias was furious about Jeff Hardy’s interruption. He then challenged Hardy to a match at Hell In A Cell.
In the ring, Kofi Kingston and Woods we’re celebrating the fact that after nearly four years they stood as RAW Tag Team Champions. Woods said a lot had changed in those four years, like just last year he tore his ACL and 2020 has been a garbage fire of a year. Kofi got him to calm down and take a breath, but before they could continue Sheamus made his entrance.
Sheamus said he was glad they stopped crying because last Friday was embarrassing. Now Kofi and Woods are just 2/3rds of the New Day and that just means in a few moments they’ll end up on the wrong side of a Brogue Kick.
Kofi explained that The New Day isn’t over, they now just get to spread their seed of positivity all over the WWE. Sheamus said the power of positivity isn’t reality, but their reality is they will fall. Woods reminded Sheamus how Big E dropped him on the hood of a car.
Kofi Kingston defeated Sheamus via Pinfall (Trouble In Paradise)
With Big E watching via video in the Thunderdome, Kingston was able to gain some positivity from his stable mate. Sheamus was in control for a good majority of the match, until Woods alerted Kingston E was watching. Kingston was able to pull out some new moves to get Sheamus off his feet. An excellent match up.
Commentary brought us back to the beginning of RAW, where The Fiend collided with Retribution. Then backstage we saw Retribution. Mustafa Ali said The Hurt Business and The Fiend made a mistake earlier. Ali believes they think his only power is strength in numbers. His power is creating chaos and no one understands the chaos he can bring. Ali said he needs a laptop, a cell phone, and a secret. One click and he can make someone’s world go down.
He said in the past year while he was sitting at home, because the corrupt company couldn’t figure out how to make a buck off of someone named Mustafa Ali, he was watching everyone. The mysterious hacker? That was Ali. He did it because he wanted everyone to know that WWE is infecting everyone with greed an corruption.
Good talented individuals are being abandoned because of it. Ali promised them that their truth would be heard. You can try to stop the truth from being heard, but Ali said that Retribution will shut them down.
We got the entrance of Miz and Morrison before going to commercial break.
Returning from commercial break The Hurt Business was backstage with Titus O’Neil. Titus was trying to make his case to join The Hurt Business. MVP needed a moment to confer with the other members, but the answer was no. The beat down on Titus then occurred.
Miz and Morrison were waiting in the ring for Tucker to bring his tag team partner to the ring. Tucker came out and introduced his tag team partner as….El Gran Gordo, a famous luchador, which was definitely not Otis in a mask.
Miz and Morrison weren’t buying that El Gran Gordo wasn’t Otis. Miz said that the Money In The Bank contract changed his career and Otis is just wasting it. He listed reasons why he is WWE Champion material. Miz said he will win the court case and bring prestige back to the Money In The Bank briefcase.
Tucker and El Gran Gordo defeated Miz and Morrison via Pinfall
This definitely didn’t go according to Miz’s plan. Mid match R-Truth was being chased by Akira Tozawa and Drew Gulak, just when it looked like Miz had the match won. With the distraction, El Gran Gordo was able to get the victory.
Returning from break Tucker and El Gran Gordo were with the New Day backstage. The teams were celebrating their victories. Then Mandy Rose came up with a ham for El Gran Gordo and the victory party continued.
Then it was time for the Firefly Funhouse. Bray Wyatt is searching through a box, where he pulled out the black lamb mask and other things. While he was sad to be leaving his friends on Smackdown, Wyatt said he was looking forward to new friends on RAW.
Then footage was shown of The Fiend’s earlier appearance on RAW. After Abby yelled at him because she was looking to go to sleep. Wyatt told he not to be so crabby because being back on RAW means fun. Rambling Rabbit popped up saying they should take this new beginning as a chance to make new friends and be better people.
Apparently Rabbit has a wife and kids, which Wyatt knew nothing about. Wyatt said going forward he will be a better friend. We then saw all of the hell Wyatt has put Rabbit through. “The past is in our heads, but the future is in our hands.” The fresh start didn’t last long, as Rabbit was attacked and take off screen.
A knock on the door brought Alexa Bliss to the Funhouse. She said their fun is just getting started. And that was the end of the Funhouse.
Braun Strowman defeated Keith Lee via Pinfall (Big Boot)
Lee attacked the injured ribs of Strowman, which was a great plan. Strowman was really hurting after his encounter with Roman Reigns on Friday, Strowman wasn’t able to lift Lee like he would have otherwise. Just when it seemed that Lee was close to the victory, Strowman low blowed Lee without the ref seeing.
After the match Lee returned the favor and delivered a low blow himself! Lee told him he had tangled with the wrong one. Monster meet dragon.
Randy Orton makes his entrance to the ring where the Hell in a Cell is lowered. Orton said he wanted to come out to the cell lowered to reflect. He said after everytime he has walked out of a Hell in a Cell match he has learned something about himself.
Orton then recounted the seven Hell in a Cell matches he has been in. He then said the word legend gets thrown around a lot lately. Orton said that McIntyre defeating Brock Lesnar was a legendary moment, but before he could continue McIntyre made his presence known.
At first McIntyre could not get into the ring because Orton had locked the cell. Thinking on his feet, McIntyre stashed bolt cutters at ringside. McIntyre cut the lock and we ended RAW with McIntyre and Orton in a stare down.