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The Miz and Bobby Lashley (Credit: WWE)
Welcome to Bleacher Report’s September 5th coverage and recap of WWE Raw.
We’re officially entering the post-Castle Clash period before WWE begins preparations for Extreme Rules, but we’re still seeing this week as The next payout lays some groundwork – every viewing on October 8th.
With major events separated by more than a month, WWE gave itself a little breathing room so it could take the time to build storylines to fill card.
Monday’s show didn’t have much impact as no title changed hands on Saturday, but we did see Bobby Rush Leigh defends the U.S. Championship against the Miz in a steel cage.
Let’s see what happened on Monday’s show.
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Raw open, Edge is coming out Huge pop and tons of Pyros. He talks about how it felt when Dominik Mysterio attacked him in Clash at the Castle.
Rated-R superstar says he believes he doesn’t have to worry about Dom because he treats him as a nephew and now just wants to beat him meal.
Rey Mysterio comes down and asks Edge to forgive his son on his behalf, but Edge says if Dom is old enough to play, he already Big enough to take responsibility for what they do. This made Rhea Ripley taunt them before bringing Dominik to her side.
Rey told his son not to face Edge, but his son didn’t even look him in the eyes. When Ripley flashed a sly smile, he left his son sadly. Finn Balor and Damian Priest attack Edge from behind, but he sees it.
Dom comes in and takes Edge’s knee, and he stops Rey from helping Edge. The Nightmare pulled Rey out and threw him down the steel steps. Judgment Day put a chair on Edge’s lap, knocking him to the ground.
While most of this was supposed to be on Saturday, not Monday, it’s still a good thing WWE finally pulled the trigger. Now, we can go in the direction of Rey vs. Dom at some point. This part was better than expected, which is a good sign that Dom might actually be involved in Judgment Day if booked properly.
grade:B
Notable moments and observations
Edge was in class alone. The time he spent learning to act really helped him become one of the top performers in WWE.
When Dom’s hair is pulled back like he does in this clip, it just looks slightly less ridiculous.
Ripley beating up handsome guys every week is a good sign and we might see her face guys in a game someday. If anyone can follow in Chyna’s footsteps and win the WWE Singles Championship normally reserved for men, it’s Ripley.
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The first game of the night ended with a fatal 4 -Way puts the tag team in the spotlight to determine the next contenders for the Usos and the undisputed tag team championship.
Angel, Humberto, Otis, Chad Gable, Xavier Woods, Kofi Kingston, Montez Ford and Angelo Dawkins looked all excited.
At one point, Kingston and Woods ended up being two legal men in the ring, so they tried to pull one Quickly, Woods covered Kingston for one stitch, but the others broke it in time.
The rest of the game is full of what you would expect from these four teams. Blockbusters all look good, but sometimes it’s easy to forget who’s legit.
Braun Strowman returns to WWE and enters the ring with Gable after the second commercial break. As the referee looked at him helplessly, he started knocking out everyone in the game. The monster among the men took away several security guards who tried to stop him.
While Strawman does look dominant in his big return section, it comes at the expense of most of the tag team for cost. We didn’t get a new No. 1 contender, so that has to be decided at some point. This is one of those parts that most people will either love or hate. There will be few middle grounds.
winner: No match
Grade: C+
Notable moments and observations It doesn’t make sense for the referee to make Woods and Kingston the two legal persons in the game, But the resulting shenanigans are hilarious enough to prove it.
A raid by Dawkins that sends someone into Ford’s arms for a back duplex is a good option.
Ford slamming Otis is an impressive display of power.
Strowman got decent popularity when he debuted, so maybe WWE was right to bring him back.
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- Raquel Rodriguez and Alia
Aliyah and Raquel Rodriguez as women’s tag team champions this week The first game was played, when they faced Doudrop and Nikki ASH in a non-championship fight.
Aliyah and Nikki start for their team. After knocking Rodriguez off the apron, Doudrop flagged and took control of her smaller opponent.
Powerhouse recovers and marks Aliyah for a break, but Doudrop doesn’t make it easy for her. Rodriguez hit what was supposed to be a powerful bomb on Doudrop for victory, but she couldn’t get Doudrop into the right spot.
This game isn’t long, but it’s not squash either. The championship wins, and it looks like WWE is going to put some effort into the women’s tag team, so this part serves its purpose.
winner:
Grade:
C –
Notable moments and observations
The announcer talked about Alia not doing much during the game, So they may already be planting the seeds for things to come.
Rodriguez is in a bad position in the final finisher. It wasn’t her fault, but at least she did some kind of grand slam.
Damage Control watched the game in the background, so Dakota Kai and Iyo Sky still had their sights set on the title.
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- Kevin Owens
Austin Theory came out and advertised despite failing to deliver this weekend , he plans to use it to win a championship soon. This led Kevin Owens to respond with his usual humorous insult.
They ended up walking back and forth a few minutes ago and the referee came down and KO started a fight.
Prize Fighters took the game to the 25-year-old until the show switched to a break. When we got back, Theory started some offense, using his speed and agility to get one step ahead of Owens.
Second commercial break and plenty of time for this game to be both competitive and fun. It seemed like it could go either way for a while, but Owens was able to get the pin and celebrate in front of a happy crowd.
winner:
Grade:
B+
Notable moments and observations
KO might have gotten a little too meta for some fans with his insults, but he was so good that he made it.
Theory has a nice dropkick. It’s a move he hits well every time he does it.
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Bayley, Sky and Kai came out to promote, announcing their Going to win the women’s label title. Kay pointed out how she was pinned but not a legal competitor, so a rematch could be possible at some point. Bianca Belair came out to challenge Pele for the race, but in the end nothing happened.
After what happened earlier in the night, Rey ended up in a singles match with Priest. The notorious archer can easily overwhelm and dominate the luchador.
The 47-year-old is making a comeback as always, but the pastor never made him overly offended before letting him go again. Ripley, Dominic and Balor eventually came down the aisle and watched as their teammates destroyed Dom’s father.
They did a good job balancing the longer time Priest controlled with Rey’s short attack, and since they also had a fair amount of time , so they never feel like they’re in too much of a hurry.
Priest dodged 619 with Dom’s help, then he hit South of Heaven and won.
winner: Pastor Damian
Grade:
B
Notable moments and observations
Bailey’s claim that she doesn’t work on Labor Day to avoid the game is ridiculous.
Whenever someone has red gear with yellow accents, it’s hard not to think of McDonald’s. Did Rey’s gear make others want some McNuggets? Dominik’s silence on all this is a good move. Ripley doing all the talking will make all of this work better.
