WWE: Monday Night RAW was LIVE from The Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids, MI on 5/22/17!
Clips of last week’s events setting up the fatal five way number one contender’s match for the Universal Title that will take place at Extreme Rules is quickly interrupted with a jump cut that is the prelude to the entrance of the “Eater Of Worlds” Bray Wyatt. Stands up he says, for soon the slaves of the Beast shall be liberated. He asks that we rejoice for him. The Beast cometh, it’s all around us, it lives in each and everyone of us. It’s the leech that society wraps around our necks and the reason the children cannot sleep at night. He continues to wax poetic and says that he alone can protect us. He references each of his opponents, beginning with Seth Rollins. He continues, but is ultimately interrupted by “The Big Dog” Roman Reigns, who isn’t pleased when Bray talks about him in “his yard”. Bray laughs and says it’s good to see his old friend once again. He tells Roman that he is the only one who can beat Brock Lesnar. Roman says that isn’t gonna happen, because Roman is gonna beat four guys and move on to beat Brock Lesnar. Roman isn’t worried about Brock at the moment, he’s worried about how he’s gonna get Bray out of his yard. “You Suck” chants trumpet the arrival of the Raw GM, Kurt Angle, who is out to intercede before the two men come to blows. Kurt doesn’t wanna wait until next week, or even later tonight, he calls for a referee to get out there and we’re gonna get this exciting singles bout right now!
Roman Reigns defeats Bray Wyatt via DQ after interference from Samoa Joe. “The Destroyer” entered the ring after Roman and Bray put in some work, and he toyed like he was going to attack Bray first. Bray sat in the corner, almost daring him to attack, but Joe turned to Roman instead, locking him in the Coquina Clutch. Roman backed into the corner and broke the hold where Bray struck, laying him out. Joe quickly showed that at Extreme Rules, it would be every man for himself as he slapped the Coquina Clutch on Bray. Seth Rollins hit the ring and picked up where he left off with Joe, trading rights and lefts. Joe is sent into retreat mode and Bray tries to attack Seth, only to be nailed with a Superman punch. The former Shield brethren lock eyes as the two heels head up the ramp and towards the back as they head to a commercial.
We find out that later tonight, former “good brothers” and Bullet Club brethren Karl Anderson and Finn Balor will do business, competing against one another in singles action. Matt Hardy and Sheamus will also compete against one another, leading towards the Hardyz and Shecesaro clashing for the titles at Extreme Rules as well.
Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns are having words about what happened before the break. Kurt Angle shows up and says that Extreme Rules will see every man for himself, but tonight it’s about teamwork. Our main event will see Reigns and Rollins competing against Joe and Wyatt! Here comes “The Drifter” Elias Samson. Kurt said he’s got his attention. Kurt says it’s time that Samson sees action, and he’ll compete against “The Lunatic Fringe” Dean Ambrose! The crowd reacts very positively for Samson, and they pop when it’s announced that he’ll compete against Ambrose. What a strange world we are living in! Samson gets a huge pop and Jinder Mahal is the world’s champion on champion. What a time to be a fans of sports entertainment! Back to the ring for Cruiserweight action.
Akira Tozawa defeats Ariya Daivari via pinfall with a top rope senton. They were given a short amount of time, and THE Brian Kendrick was backstage giving his thoughts on the action. Tozawa got the crowd behind him and he quickly ended things as he took to the top rope and got incredible height on a senton bomb. Kendrick promotes their street fight tomorrow night on 205 Live after the match is over. We find out that Samson and Ambrose will take place after the break.
Sasha Banks is asked about her rubber match tonight with Alicia Fox. Banks is excited to get away from the crazy and move on with her life. She is interrupted by Fox and Noam Dar, who mock her for being all alone. Sasha quiets Dar before he can make another crack and she walks off, setting the stage for their match later.
Elias Samson defeats Dean Ambrose by DQ after blatant interference by the Miz. Samson plays us all a tune in the middle of the ring and he’s quickly interrupted by Ambrose, who heads out for the non-title bout. The Miz and Maryse are on commentary at ringside as the action is fast and furious. Samson is actually putting in work and I’m impressed quite frankly because he seemed very robotic when he was in NXT. Like I said earlier, with Jinder Mahal winning world championship gold, nothing is off limits now and anyone can get a fair shake if they work for it. They head to a break and when they return, Samson is in firm control. Ambrose mounts the comeback, catching Samson with a neckbreaker. The resilient champ continues working the newcomer over as he looks to put him away, souring his in-ring debut on Raw. Ambrose comes off the top rope, but he eats a beautiful jumping knee by Samson that gets a great reaction from the crowd. Miz leaves the commentary area and heads to the ringside area, he immediately strikes Samson, giving the newcomer a DQ victory! Classic Miz! Ambrose gives chase and he nearly gets to the Miz, but he’s cut off by Samson, who catches him with his signature swinging neckbreaker that was a staple of his arsenal in NXT. I gotta be honest, not bad kid, not bad. A fine debut by Samson and someone to watch on Raw.
Big Cass is shown backstage and he hears a commotion. He stops in his tracks, an angry look on his face. The camera pans over and we see Enzo Amore, unconscious and being loaded onto a gurney. Cass asks several refs and medical personnel what happened, but he gets no answer. It’ll be something to watch. Speaking of things to watch, good brothers don’t “brother”, instead they battle and they’ll battle next. Finn Balor and Karl Anderson after the break!
Enzo is conscious and being asked what he remembers by medical personnel. Kurt Angle is standing there as is Big Cass. Cass tells Angle he better hope he finds out who did this before he does. Revival return? Who knows.
Finn Balor heads to the ring to massive “2Sweet” chants as Balor grabs a mic before the match and he gives props to Grand Rapids for being members of the Balor Club. He plugs the fatal five way and funnily stumbles over the phrase, correcting himself. LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, holy cow, it’s “The Advocate” Paul Heyman! Heyman says he’s out to scout potential opponents of the Beast and he references the words of Bray Wyatt from earlier. He references the other men involved in the contest and he puts them over before saying they’ll all be victimized by Lesnar. He gets to the “man who laid the Deadman down” and puts over Reigns while the crowd boos him. He says that if Reigns wins the match, he’ll no longer be the be all, end all, he’ll be another victim. He says that now he’s got words for Balor and asks if he can enter the ring to speak with him. Balor concurs. Paul says Balor is nobody’s victim, and he’s been painted as the underdog. Paul says the others may not see him coming, but Paul does. Heyman says he believes in his heart that Balor is the msot talented performer in the ring today. He puts over Balor’s heart and says he doesn’t look at Lesnar like he’s the Beast that he is, listing his accolades in the process. Heyman says Balor believes that Brock, just like the other four men in the ring at Extreme Rules, he thinks Balor believes that Brock will be his victim. Balor says that he’s glad Heyman is there. He wishes Brock was, but he’s not, surprise surprise. He gives Heyman his intentions towards Brock and Karl Anderson heads out. We’ll have that action after another break.
Finn Balor defeats Karl Anderson via pinfall with the Coup De Grace. This was the match of the night. I would have expected nothing less because of the history involved and the good brothers wasted no time going at it. They traded blows and hit many of their signature spots. An overhead pele kick sent Anderson outside the ring and Balor removed Gallows from the equation with an apron kick. Anderson tries for a powerbomb, but it’s countered into a jumping double foot stomp and then he dives outside the ring, taking out both members of the Club. A sling blade and a trip to the top rope leads to the Coup De Grace and a three count. Balor defeats his great friend and rival tonight, gaining some crucial momentum heading into Extreme Rules. This was very enjoyable, especially given the history. Hopefully we’ll have this reunion of three great hands sooner, rather than later.
Sasha Banks defeats Alicia Fox via pinfall with the double knees in the corner. Fox gave the former champ everything she had, and Dar represented well at ringside, but the rubber match went to Banks. Dar gets in Sasha’s face after the match and he gets slapped for his efforts. Fox once again attacks Banks from behind, nailing her with the patented scissors kick. Who knows? Maybe this will end with a blowoff match at Extreme Rules. I’m glad to see Fox getting some TV time at least.
Kalisto and Apollo Crews are backstage and Kalisto asks Crews what is going on with him. He says that Apollo is fighting Titus O’Neil’s battles for him. Kalisto says that Crews DID attack Enzo last week and he asks if he was responsible this week? Titus shows up and asks if Kalisto wants to be an international talent represented by the talent brand. Kalisto declines and talks noise and it leads to Titus saying that Apollo will get his name some respect. The two men head off and a match will take place later. After the break, we’ll hear from the women’s champion, Alexa Bliss on her match with Bayley at Extreme Rules.
We see the heinous attack on R-Truth from last week at the hands of his old partner, Goldust. We see a taped segment with Goldust, and he’s gone back to the classic heel persona from when he first debuted in the fed. I can get behind this. He was awesome then and he was awesome here.
Alexa Bliss is then interviewed backstage as was promised and they show her attack on Bayley with the kendo stick last week leading to their scheduled match at Extreme Rules. Alexa tells Charlie Caruso that the sound of the kendo stick striking Bayley’s match makes her salivate and she’s aching to do it again. She wants to tattoo Bayley’s entire body with welts and she isn’t sorry she attacked her. Bayley isn’t capable of getting Extreme according to Bliss and tonight, she’ll take out Bayley’s new friend, Mickie James. She’ll turn Bayley’s dreams into nightmares over the next few weeks.
Kalisto defeats Apollo Crews via pinfall with the Salida Del Sol. So much for getting some momentum behind Crews to go with this slow-building heel turn. Fans have to invest in the talent and killing their heat is done by booking decisions just like this. I like Kalisto and he’s a tremendous hand, but a loss here would not have hurt him. They could have had Crews and Titus behind the attack on Enzo and you have a tailor made feud heading into Extreme Rules. I’m not gonna beat this one into the ground, but Kalisto gets a win. We have a prime example of short term thinking by a booking team that should be taking notes at times from how Smackdown builds stories, and shocks fans with creativity and controversial calls that can pay off at times.
They keep the Strowman/Reigns beef fresh in our minds as they show Roman taking Braun out from a few weeks back.
Matt Hardy defeats Sheamus via pinfall with a Twist Of Fate. I am incredible impressed with the chemistry that the four men involved in this feud have with each other. Sheamus and “Broken” Matt worked a fine program here tonight. It was a hard hitting affair with Sheamus hitting all of his signature moves including the ten beats of the Bowery and Matt was able to hit his trademark leg drop and many of his big moves. The winner of the match would pick the stipulation for the title match at Extreme Rules and after they returned from a break, Matt Hardy gets the win following a Twist of Fate to keep the momentum on their side heading into the PPV where they will defend the titles within the unforgiving confines of a fifteen foot high steel cage! Cool! Haven’t seen one in a while and I’m looking forward to enjoying that one and what these four guys can do inside of one.
Austin Aries defeats Tony Nese via submission with the Last Chancery. Aries and Neville will do business at Extreme Rules in a submission match and this might be the one that sees Aries with the gold at the end of it. Neville has been flawless as champ, and I can see him retaining, but if the change is gonna take place, it’ll take place there. Nese was up to the task tonight as “The Premiere Athlete” looked to derail Aries momentum, while the Cruiserweight Champ, Neville, looks on from ringside. Aries hits Randy Orton’s favorite move, a suicide “dive” through the ropes before the break and after the return Aries catches Nese with a guillotine choke and as Nese tries to escape, Aries floats over into one fluid motion and gets the tapout with the Last Chancery. That was amazing. After the match, Neville attacks Nese, not pleased with Nese not doing the champ’s dirty work and he puts Nese in a submission of his own. Neville is obviously looking to send his own message with the Rings of Saturn as Aries looks on. We see Alexa Bliss heading to the ring to face Mickie James in a non-title bout and that takes place after the break.
Alexa Bliss defeats Mickie James via pinfall with the spiked DDT. The veteran Mickie really got some shots in on the champ, working her over with knife-hand chops and stiff kicks. She took Alexa to task with a crisp neckbreaker and she looked to halt the fire that Bliss has caught ever since she debuted on the Raw roster and took the title shortly thereafter. Bliss finally came back, stalling Mickie’s offense and she quickly put her away with the spiked DDT as she moves towards her “Kendo Stick On A Pole” match at Extreme Rules. Bliss goes under the ring after the match, grabbing a kendo stick and she slams it down on Mickie’s James will evil intentions. Bayley runs down to the ring with her own kendo stick in hand and the champ isn’t going to wait in the ring to see if Bayley has what it takes to get Extreme after all.
Samoa Joe/Bray Wyatt defeat Roman Reigns/Seth Rollins via submission after Joe got the Coquina Clutch on Rollins. Feuds were extended and old rivalries were reignited as these four men did battle in the main event. Joe and Rollins worked well against each other as is expected at this point. Bray and Roman reopened old wounds and it was anything but forgotten as each of the four men looked to secure the pinfall to gain a solid foothold on the upward climb towards a championship opportunity against Brock Lesnar. Joe was the standout in this match as fans really got a chance to see what the “Destroyer” is capable of. He is scary quick and showed off both his power and his ability to take flight. He worked Roman over pretty well as the “Big Dog” looked to get the hot tag to Rollins. “The Kingslayer” is in and he’s a house of fire. He hits a blockbuster, a sling blade and many of his signature moves as he looks to put away his adversary, Samoa Joe. He nails a suicide dive on Joe and Rollins heads up top, but Bray catches the foot and Joe takes advantage of the distraction. Rollins fights back with a double cross body and Roman is back in as the two work voer Joe. Roman sets up shop and he looks to deliver the Superman punch, but Joe sends him into Rollins! Rollins takes offense and calls out Roman, but Bray yanks Roman out of the ring and Joe takes advantage, Coquina Clutch applied, ballgame. Kurt Angle is looking on from a monitor backstage. Balor shows up and commends the main event and asks to be a part of the action next week. Kurt kills it again as he books a triple threat for next week between Joe, Balor and Wyatt and he books Reigns vs. Rollins as well! Great main event and a pretty enjoyable Raw again tonight. I’m enjoying the in-ring action, that’s for sure. They just need to keep building stories.
