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WWE MONDAY NIGHT RAW PRIMER
OCTOBER 1, 2018
SEATTLE, WASH. AT THE KEY ARENA
AIRS ON USA NETWORK, 8:00 P.M. EDT
BY FRANK PETEANI, PWTORCH CONTRIBUTOR
Arena / Last Week’s Recap
WWE Raw returns to the Key Arena in Seattle Washington for the first time since February of 2016. We’ll get ready for the Super Showdown taking place Saturday Oct. 6 as tonight will be the go-home show from the Raw perspective for that particular event.
Last week, the Shield (Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins & Dean Ambrose) stood united at the end of the show against the Dogs of War (Braun Strowman, Dolph Ziggler & Drew McIntyre) but not before it was teased that Ambrose could turn on the Shield or McIntyre would defect from the “Dogs.” Prior to the main event, Dolph Ziggler & Drew McIntyre would retain the Raw Tag Team Championship over the Revival in a hard-fought victory and one that saw the Revival take a “step up” in the tag team division. In the Riott Squad’s victory over the Bella Twins & Natalya, Liv Morgan of the Riott Squad suffered a concussion at the hands of Brie Bella’s “Yes kicks.” Bobby Lashley defeated Elias via DQ. Lashley had Lio Rush in his corner while Elias was flanked by Kevin Owens. Finn Balor defeated Jinder Mahal. Balor and Mahal had their Mixed Match Challenge partners, Bayley and Alicia Fox respectively, in their corners. Konnor of the Ascension defeated Chad Gable, flanked by Bobby Roode. Nia Jax, with Ember Moon in her corner, defeated Alicia Fox. Fox had Alexa Bliss and Mickie James by her side.
Tonight, two matches are on tap thus far plus a Hall of Famer makes another appearance.
Non-Title Match: Ronda Rousey (Raw Women’s Champion) vs. Ruby Riott
Ronda Rousey takes on Ruby Riott of the Riott Squad in a non-title match tonight. This coming Saturday at the Super Showdown, Rousey will team with the Bella Twins to take on the Riott Squad in a six-woman tag team match.
Last week, as I discuss earlier, Brie Bella was performing her husband’s (Daniel Bryan) signature “Yes kicks” on Liv Morgan but unfortunately gave her a concussion. WWE confirmed the concussion on their website and is going through their concussion protocol at this time. On their YouTube channel, WWE showed a clip of the match but left out the kicks that knocked out Morgan:
Brie was sympathetic on Twitter following the match:
Every match on #Raw is an opportunity for us to entertain our fans. Our intentions as @WWE Superstars is to win the match, never injure our opponents. Thinking about @YaOnlyLivvOnce tonight. ❤️ -B
— Nikki & Brie (@BellaTwins) September 25, 2018
Ruby Riott did a little trash talking on Twitter to her opponent tonight:
I’ve seen the fighter in you, rebellious, relentless, fought for herself. But somewhere along the way that’s dissipated. Your head is clouded by the need to please @natbynature, @BellaTwins and the WWE Universe. So let’s see if there is any fight left in our “fighting champion.” pic.twitter.com/6GZx8xnL9N
— Ruby Riott (@RubyRiottWWE) September 30, 2018
Frank’s Analysis: I expect WWE to leave out the kicks on their YouTube channel, but you can’t erase it from viewers’ minds. Your mileage will vary on how you feel about Brie giving Morgan the concussion. There are articles out there where WWE Hall of Famer Bubba Ray Dudley and former WWE wrestler & color commentator Taz put some blame on Morgan. Either way, I can’t see any malintent on Brie’s part, so I view it as an accident. I am concerned though about Brie’s work in the ring. She botched two suicide dives in a recent match and has looked questionable overall. While accidents happen, Morgan is a woman with a career in front of her. I would hate to see something like this derail things for her. With all due respect, Brianna Monique Danielson (Brie) has made her money and has things established for her and her family outside of WWE. I’m not sure Gionna Jene Daddio (Morgan) is in the same boat. That is not me blaming Brie and siding with Morgan, rather it’s just me looking at the big picture.
Bobby Lashley vs. Kevin Owens
Bobby Lashley faces Kevin Owens tonight one-on-one. This coming Saturday at the Super Showdown, Lashley will team with a returning John Cena to face Kevin Owens and Elias.
Last week, Lashley defeated Elias via DQ when Owens interfered in the match. This was following the Kevin Owens where Lio Rush was Owens’s guest, as well as Elias. After a back-and-forth between all three men, Lashley would come out to a huge hometown pop as they were in Denver, COL. Lashley and Elias would go at it until Owens went after Lashley, causing the DQ. Remember, Owens blames Lashley for his current “situation” especially with Lashley taking out his best friend Sami Zayn. Owens later attempted his signature pop-up powerbomb on Rush when Lashley would make the save, solidifying their partnership.
Frank’s Analysis: There’s a misconnect with Owens for me here. Wasn’t it a few weeks ago where he returned and said the condition under which he returned was that he be allowed to do whatever he wanted, whenever? I didn’t get that sense of him being a “chaotic” character as last week he was more comedic doing the Kevin Owens show. I don’t sense the conflict between Owens and Lashley that Owens sold us on a few weeks ago. Also, there has been little to no hype for the tag match coming up at Super Showdown. It does involve a 16-time world champion John Cena whom, unless I’m forgetting something, hasn’t appeared on WWE programming since WrestleMania in April. I don’t know if it means anything, but I found this Cena tweet interesting:
Nothing lasts forever. When doing something you love make sure to be present and enjoy it. That way if and when it ends, you can look back with fond memories instead of regret.
— John Cena (@JohnCena) September 25, 2018
Shawn Michaels Appearance
WWE Hall of Famer Shawn Michaels makes another appearance on Raw tonight. He will once again weigh in on the “Last Time Ever” match between Triple H and the Undertaker at Super Showdown. We learned from the Undertaker a few weeks ago that Michaels will be in Triple H’s corner while Kane, Undertaker’s former “Brother of Destruction” tag team partner, will be in his corner.
Frank’s Analysis: First Triple H stands in the ring with his wife Stephanie McMahon (Raw commissioner) as white-meat babyfaces discussing WWE’s partnership with Hyundai on Connor’s Cure, the foundation created for Pediatric Cancer Awareness. The venture is great, and I support WWE 100% in their endeavor, considering a friend of a long-time close friend of mine lost a son to pediatric cancer a few years ago. The problem is moments later, Triple H switches back to heel mode when questioned about the upcoming match with the Undertaker. There are other issues here, but overall the dual character is a misconnect for me. As far as Michaels’s appearance if it’s anything like we saw a few weeks ago it should work, and it’ll be interesting if more seeds are planted for his in-ring return. There’s a lot of speculation that it could happen at WWE Crown Jewel on Friday, Nov. 2.
The Shield Stands United
Last week, the Shield (Universal Champion Roman Reigns, Intercontinental Champion Seth Rollins & Dean Ambrose) defeated interim G.M. Baron Corbin and the Authors on Pain. The Dogs of War, Braun Strowman & Dolph Ziggler & Drew McIntyre would be ringside backing Corbin and AOP.
Earlier in the evening, Corbin got a tongue lashing from commissioner Stephanie McMahon as to the state of Raw especially on the issues with the Shield as of late. She ordered him to find two partners and take on the Shield in an attempt to neutralize them. Ziggler & McIntyre would try to disrupt things in the Shield by telling Dean Ambrose by telling him he’s not appreciated and deserved more. Ziggler would further efforts with Ambrose in a backstage segment later, mostly highlighting their time on Smackdown together a few years back when Ambrose was WWE Champion. Rollins got with McIntyre later on telling him he was being used by Strowman and Ziggler.
Following the match, Ambrose stood between the “Dogs” and his Shield brothers. He would then stand united with the Shield. The Shield will take on the Dogs of War at the Super Showdown.
Frank’s Analysis: As crazy as it sounds, I could see a 10-man tag tonight featuring the Shield and the Revival taking on the Dogs of War and the Authors of Pain. That’s just me speculating so don’t hold me to it. There’s a lot of talk of a Dean Ambrose heel turn. I don’t see this at Super Showdown as it’s too obvious and too soon. If that happens, I believe it will come when we least expect it. I think what flew under the radar was the backstage segment between McIntyre and Rollins. You could see in storyline that Rollins got in McIntyre’s head making him think about how he was being used by Strowman and Ziggler. Before long, I could see McIntyre turning on the group as he’s just too good of a single’s talent. That is no disrespect to Strowman and Ziggler. The Authors of Pain were certainly elevated being in the main event slot, as were the Revival early in the evening in their loss to Ziggler & McIntyre. The 10-man tag I speculated on earlier could actually further help elevate both teams and add a different “flavor” to this feud.
Start Time & Matches Advertised
The arena’s website is advertising a start time of 4:30 p.m. local time (PDT) with doors opening at 3:00 p.m. A six-man tag is advertised featuring The Shield vs. Braun Strowman & Dolph Ziggler & Drew McIntyre. They also show Bobby Lashley and Raw Women’s Champion Ronda Rousey appearing, as well as Shawn Michaels which is accurate considering what WWE.com is advertising. The six-man tag is what’s happening at Super Showdown, so I have doubts that will happen tonight but given WWE’s history on things like this I can’t be 100 percent sure.
Follow me on Twitter @FrankPeteani and ask any question you may have. Thank you for reading!
NOW CATCH UP ON LAST WEEK’S EPISODE: HEYDORN’S WWE RAW REPORT 9/24: Alt Perspective coverage of the live show including Elias vs. Lashley, Ziggler and McIntyre vs. The Revival, and more
Another possibility: Dean and Drew decide they both are tired of carrying others, and join forces themselves. A bad-ass tag team and singles championship competitors entourage is born. Too sweet for real.