Monday Night Rawwas on fire as theWWErolled into Everett, Washington for an electrifying show, following on fromthis weekend’s Survivor Series.CM Punk and Seth Rollins finally got physical after one year of teasing, before Jey Uso and Sami Zayn got involved in a spectacular opening 30 minutes where verbal bullets were flying fast and furious. Jey Uso was later attacked by an unnamed member of the roster. With Seth and Sami settling their differences in a sensational Main Event,Drew McIntyre returned to Claymore Sami after the bell.
Elsewhere, Gunther defeated Dominik Mysterio and will now face Finn Balor at Saturday Night’s Main Event. Dakota Kai became the first woman to qualify for the next round of the Women’s Intercontinental Championship match, Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez defeated Damage CTRL, R-Truth shocked Pete Dunne with victory andThe New Day turned heel instead of breaking upin a heartbreaking section in which they verbally annihilated Big E.
The Opening 30 Minutes Of Monday Night Raw
Punk, Rollins, Sami, and Jey in a Segment of the Year Contender
The top tier of Monday Night Raw’s male roster unloaded verbal bombs on one another in an unmissable opening to Monday Night Raw. Opening the show with 30 minutes of non-stop promo time is a bold play (especially now the show is down to two hours), but this spot was red hot. SmackDown has the spellbinding current feuds between Cody Rhodes, Randy Orton, and Kevin Owens, and the fight for Bloodline supremacy, but the personal nature of the verbal attacks and the star power of CM Punk, Seth Rollins, Jey Uso, and a particularly inspired Sami Zayn wasthe perfect post-Survivor Series start forRaw’s road to Netflix.
It was CM Punk who opened the evening, beginning to reveal his plot to be in the main event at WrestleMania, before being interrupted by Seth Rollins. Rollins said he wished he’d knocked Punk out, only to be answered that, since Seth lost his title, Punk doesn’t think about Rollins at all. The two came to blows before Jey Uso and Sami Zayn broke things up. Once Jey convinced Punk to head to the back,the mic altercation between Rollins and Sami Zayn was the highlight of the nightand a massive moment for both men. Seth Rollins is a more interesting character when there is beef, and Sami is so wholesome, it was nice to see him drop some truth bombs. A+ from everyone.
Drew McIntyre
The Scottish Warrior Makes His Triumphant Return
Having not been seen since his Hell In A Cell war with CM Punk at Bad Blood,Drew McIntyre returned to Monday Night Raw and reminded everyone of his placein the upper echelons of the show, nailing a thunderous Claymore to Sami Zayn to end Monday Night Raw. Sami and Seth decided a match was the way to settle their differences after the above promo, but Jey Uso was assaulted by an unnamed assailant. By the end of the evening, it was obvious who the culprit was.
McIntyre has had a fantastic year, his feud with CM Punk is one for the ages and their blow off contest was a Match Of The Year contender. That he has come back and been placed in such a high profile slot is just desserts for his achievements. Whether it’s Jey Uso or Sami Zayn,Drew is back in the picture at the top of Monday Night Rawand he’s there on merit.
Dakota Kai
A Dark Horse to Become the First Women’s IC Champion
When Dakota Kai required surgery in August after tearing her meniscus, a ripple effect happened in WWE’s fanbase. It felt like there was a collective surge of goodwill towards Kai. Crucially, it feels likethere has been a unanimous feeling that Dakota Kai is underrated. Her victory in the women’s Intercontinental Championship tournament takes her one step closer to that being a thing of the past.
Winning out in a triple threat over Shayna Bayzler and Katana Chance, and having booked her place in the semi-finals,Kai is one of the favorites to win the whole thing. History awaits to see if she can pull it off.
Finn Balor
The Prince Is Making a Play to Be King
It has been a long way to the top for the Real Rock n' Rolla. Since being one of NXT’s best-ever performers and navigating the hellscape that was Vince McMahon’s booking, Finn Balor has had to suffer to claw his way out of audience perception of him as a mid-card talent.Balor now has a World Heavyweight Championship match against Guntherin which he can set that record straight.
After planting a big boot on Balor after he interfered in his match with Damian Priest, Gunther was happy to tell Finn he didn’t need or appreciate his help, and he cost him a clean victory. Balor and his lapdog, Dirty Dominik Mysterio, continued to eat at the Champion before he offered to make an example of Dom in the ring. The results were as you’d expect in that match, butBalor smashed Gunther with 3 Coup de Graces after the bell to set up a title matchat Saturday Night’s Main Event.
The New Day
Kofi And Woods Stay Together But Nothing Will Be the Same
Of all the outcomes, it is satisfying when one of the least expected is picked and works. After 10 pancake throwing, unicorn horn wearing, trombone playing, Booty-O eating years together, a somber speech was loading up from Xavier Woods and Kofi Kingston to signal the end of one of the most loved teams in wrestling history. It felt like months of bickering had finally taken its toll,when a Big E intervention made fans believe there was still hope.
The big man made his first appearance on Raw or SmackDown in years, appealing to their good nature andthe 10-year legacy of the New Day, and to quit arguing and get back on the same page. He then offered to travel andbe their manager every week, despite his extreme injury problems, something that many fans actually had advocated for online over the past weeks.
However, the result was shocking asThe New Day made a heel turn for the ageswith a savage barrage of insults for their now former friend. Telling Big E “you broke your neck, so what?” before comparing him to Austin and Edge, who came back from similar injuries, was rawer than the title of this show. It’s a great way to revitalize the group, bringing them back to their heel origins. The whole segment was impressive as it was despicable. Bravo.
Pete Dunne
Embarrassment For The UK Brawler
It may have been fairly brief but Pete Dunne put himself back in major WWE conversations with an impressive short feud with Sheamus earlier this summer. Looking like he’s just crawled out from under a bridge,Pete Dunne is the perfect unkept antidote to the glossier feel of WWE’s presentation. It was encouraging to see him being booked strongly against one of the roster’s major players.
Suffering a roll-up loss at the hands of R-Truth, the smart money is obviously on Dunne to batter Truth in the coming weeks for him by unknowingly taunting him with his old Butch moniker. It’s a throwaway and forgettable loss on a Raw that was bustling with new major stories, but after doing a short stint back in NXT,Dunne is entering a “do or die” phase in his career and this is not ideal. It’s hard to survive on a 2-hour show that is so packed with talent that the World Champion isn’t even the main focus, but Dunne has to pull out all the stops now.
