{"id":66154,"date":"2018-09-17T11:40:18","date_gmt":"2018-09-17T16:40:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/?p=66154"},"modified":"2018-09-17T11:40:18","modified_gmt":"2018-09-17T16:40:18","slug":"wwe-raw-primer-9-17-hell-in-a-cell-fallout-the-deadman-returns-lesnar-inserts-himself-the-shield-and-the-dogs-of-war-next-for-rousey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2018\/09\/17\/wwe-raw-primer-9-17-hell-in-a-cell-fallout-the-deadman-returns-lesnar-inserts-himself-the-shield-and-the-dogs-of-war-next-for-rousey\/","title":{"rendered":"WWE RAW PRIMER 9\/17: Hell in a Cell fallout; The Deadman returns, Lesnar inserts himself, The Shield and The Dogs of War, Next for Rousey"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"pwtor-3061065140\" class=\"pwtor-before-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><hr \/><b>SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)... <\/b>\r\n\r\n<iframe src=\"https:\/\/widget.spreaker.com\/player?show_id=3076978&theme=light&playlist=false&playlist-continuous=false&autoplay=false&live-autoplay=false&chapters-image=true&episode_image_position=right&hide-logo=false&hide-likes=false&hide-comments=false&hide-sharing=false&hide-download=true\" width=\"100%\" height=\"140px\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe>\r\n<hr \/><\/div><h3><strong>WWE MONDAY NIGHT RAW PRIMER<br \/>\nSEPTEMBER 17, 2018<br \/>\nDALLAS, TEX. AT THE AMERICAN AIRLINES ARENA<br \/>\nAIRS ON USA NETWORK, 8:00PM EDT<br \/>\nBY FRANK PETEANI, PWTORCH CONTRIBUTOR<\/strong><\/h3>\n<h3><strong>Arena \/ Hell in a Cell Recap<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>WWE returns to the American Airlines Arena in Dallas, Tex. tonight for Raw for the second time this year.\u00a0 The show last emanated from this arena in March in the runup to WrestleMania.\u00a0 Hell in a Cell is now behind us and thus we begin to turn our attention in a couple of directions.\u00a0 The Super Showdown takes place on Saturday, Oct. 6 and Evolution, the first WWE\u00a0all-women PPV will unfold on Oct. 28.<\/p>\n<p>Brock Lesnar inserted himself into the HIAC Universal Championship match.\u00a0 Bear in mind this was HIAC where nobody gets in or out.\u00a0 I apologize for the early sarcasm, but WWE completely trashed the concept of this match as they\u2019ve done before.\u00a0 I\u2019m also cranky since the Giants dropped to 0-2 losing to the Cowboys so bear with me.\u00a0 The match featured Universal Champion Roman Reigns, challenger Braun Strowman, and eventually Dolph Ziggler &amp; Drew McIntyre and Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose.\u00a0 Both the Raw women\u2019s championship (Ronda Rousey) and tag team championship (Ziggler and McIntyre) stayed put.\u00a0 Tonight, WWE follows up on these items as well as welcoming back a legend and sure-fire Hall of Famer, the Undertaker.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>The Undertaker Addresses Triple H<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong>The Undertaker returns tonight to address \u201cThe Game\u201d Triple H, who was on Raw last week discussing their upcoming match at the Super Showdown coming from Melbourne, Australia.\u00a0 Last week, Triple H claimed the series of matches with Shawn Michaels (2009-2010) and himself (2011-2012) changed Undertaker forever and he lost his aura or mystique.\u00a0 He said the Undertaker was never the same, lost \u201cthe streak\u201d as a result, and at this point is just a reputation.\u00a0 Tonight, the Undertaker returns to rebut these claims by \u201cThe Game.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>Frank\u2019s Analysis:\u00a0 Some loved this promo, I didn\u2019t.\u00a0 I will say it was delivered with more gravitas, but the content is what bothered me.\u00a0 Triple H forgets that Undertaker had the best match of WrestleMania 29 in 2013 with CM Punk, the year following their epic encounter.\u00a0 Of course, I don\u2019t expect him or WWE to acknowledge that but what about Brock Lesnar ending the streak at \u2018Mania in New Orleans the following year?\u00a0 What about age and declining health?\u00a0 I understand they want to play off of their history, but this is another case of WWE and Triple H wanting to rewrite things, all to sell a one-off match that will come nowhere near their epic Hell in a Cell match from \u2018Mania in 2012. <\/em><\/p>\n<h3><strong>Universal Championship Picture<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Towards the end of last night\u2019s Universal Championship match inside HIAC between champ Roman Reigns and Braun Strowman, Brock Lesnar made his return to WWE for the first time since dropping the Universal Championship at SummerSlam.\u00a0 With both Reigns and Strowman laid out in the middle of the ring inside the cell (for an inexplicably long amount of time), Lesnar\u2019s music hit.\u00a0 Out came Lesnar with his advocate Paul Heyman.\u00a0 Heyman sprayed special guest referee Micky Foley in the eyes while Lesnar kicked down the panel of the cell which had been padlocked (probably by a store-brand lock).\u00a0 Lesnar proceeded to give both Strowman and Reigns F5s and hit them both with pieces of a broken table.\u00a0 The match was ruled a no-contest.\u00a0 Tonight, we find out the ramifications of this interference and what it means to the Universal Championships picture.<\/p>\n<p><em>Frank\u2019s Take:\u00a0 I was a caller on Greg Parks\u2019 Wrestling Night in America show following Hell in a Cell and we discussed this matter at length.\u00a0 First of all, WWE can\u2019t sell us on HIAC being a match where nobody gets in or out.\u00a0 I understand Lesnar\u2019s a beast, but the concept at this point means nothing when somebody can get into the cell.\u00a0 With that said without Lesnar having a UFC match on the books, one can only assume that there is still mileage on his WWE tires.\u00a0 A triple threat match between Lesnar, Strowman, and Reigns is certainly possible either at the upcoming show in Saudi Arabia or Survivor Series.\u00a0 It\u2019s not crazy to see another one-on-one with Lesnar and Reigns although if I were WWE I\u2019d give that a rest.\u00a0 There\u2019s also the issue of Strowman and Lesnar.\u00a0 Last year, Lesnar made short work of Strowman in their Universal Championship match and I\u2019m not sure people have gotten past that.\u00a0 If Strowman is to take that next step, a victory over Lesnar or at least a more competitive match would go a long way towards that goal.\u00a0 Either way, a lot more questions were raised with this situation and we will certainly need to see how things play out.<\/em><\/p>\n<h3><strong>The Shield and the \u201cDogs of War\u201d<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Tied into the Universal Championship match were the Raw tag team champions Dolph Ziggler and Drew McIntyre (together with Strowman they are unofficially the \u201cDogs of War\u201d) and the rest of the Shield, Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose.<\/p>\n<p>Earlier in the evening, Ziggler and McIntyre retained their championship over Rollins and Ambrose in a hard fought twenty-three-minute match that I would call the best match of the night.\u00a0 They attempted to interfere to help Strowman only to be foiled by Rollins and Ambrose.\u00a0 All four men went back and forth on the floor and eventually the top of the cell.\u00a0 Ambrose and McIntyre ended up knocking each other out with clotheslines while Rollins and Ziggler took table bumps off the side of the cell.\u00a0 Tonight, WWE will follow up on this situation.<\/p><div id=\"pwtor-3676861754\" class=\"pwtor-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280 __336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p><em>Frank\u2019s Analysis:\u00a0 I\u2019m personally getting a headache talking about this, as there were SO MANY moving parts to this HIAC match.\u00a0 The problem is, it all comes back to MRLG (Make Roman Look Good), a mission WWE has been on for four years.\u00a0 I\u2019m not sure how all of these parts help the situation.\u00a0 I am sure it continues to expose the issue that Roman is not over as the top babyface.\u00a0 As far as Ziggler\/McIntyre and Rollins\/Ambrose, their rivalry should continue.\u00a0 There continues to be talk of an Ambrose heel turn, of which we\u2019ve seen no evidence.\u00a0 That should make the turn quite effective. <\/em><\/p>\n<h3><strong>Raw Women\u2019s Championship Picture<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Last night, Ronda Rousey retained the Raw Women\u2019s Championship over former champion Alexa Bliss.\u00a0 Ronda had her good friend Natalya in her corner while Alexa had Alicia Fox and Mickie James at her side.\u00a0 The match went about twelve minutes and featured outside interference by all parties, and also Rousey fighting through a \u201crib injury\u201d she suffered on Raw last week.\u00a0 Tonight, we\u2019ll start to learn where WWE goes with the title picture especially with Evolution around the corner next month.<\/p>\n<p><em>Frank\u2019s Take:\u00a0 I thought WWE handled this match perfectly.\u00a0 You don\u2019t want another squash match, and thus the outside interference and Ronda\u2019s rib injury were perfect to \u201cdress it up\u201d if you will.\u00a0 Ronda and Alexa played their parts to the letter, which is key as Ronda will move on to another challenger while Alexa gets ready for Hall of Famer Trish Stratus at Evolution.\u00a0 This is speculation on my part, but a match with Stratus could put Alexa on course for a babyface turn.\u00a0 That wouldn\u2019t be a terrible idea after being a heel for over two years.\u00a0 The problem is the lack of credible heel opponents on Raw outside of Mickie James and Ruby Riott.\u00a0 Ronda is likely moving towards working with Nikki Bella at Evolution.\u00a0 I don\u2019t see Nikki getting another championship run, thus this is a way to build up Ronda while stretching out her run at this point.<\/em><\/p>\n<h3><em>\u00a0<\/em><strong>Other Items from Last Week\u2019s Raw<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Bobby Roode teamed with Chad Gable again and defeated the Ascension.\u00a0 Again, I hope this is a path to a Roode heel turn although I don\u2019t know how much gravitas it would have turning on Chad Gable.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>The Authors of Pain won another squash match with their new manager, Drake Maverick at ringside.\u00a0 There was little to no reaction.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Bobby Lashley was shown working out when 205Live\u2019s Lio Rush appeared.\u00a0 He told Bobby he was there to motivate him.\u00a0 Okay, wasn\u2019t it the week prior where he was ordered by G.M. Baron Corbin to take meditation from Jinder Mahal for his anger issues?\u00a0 Now he lacks motivation.\u00a0 I don\u2019t get it.\u00a0 I almost wish Lashley never left Impact.<strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Kevin Owens returned to WWE after quitting for well, never.\u00a0 He claimed he has not been the same since Bobby Lashley took out his best friend Sami Zayn over two months ago.\u00a0 (Hmm, perhaps that\u2019s why he was trying to align with Braun Strowman).\u00a0 G.M. Corbin apparently wanted him back in WWE, but Owens only agreed to return if he was able to do whatever he wanted whenever he wanted and it\u2019s all Lashley\u2019s fault.\u00a0 I\u2019m glad Owens finally admitted this issue after two months, but my question is didn\u2019t he previously admit he hasn\u2019t been the same since he lost the Universal Championship to Goldberg last year?<strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>In her first singles match on Raw in quite some time, Nikki Bella defeated Ruby Riott.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><strong>Start Time and Matches Advertised<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>The arena\u2019s website is advertising a start time of 6:30 p.m. local time but doesn\u2019t say when doors will open.\u00a0 Once again, an eight-man tag match is advertised which seems to be standard operating procedure (SOP as we say in the airlines).\u00a0 This version shows Reigns, Strowman, Rollins and Balor vs. Ziggler, McIntyre, Corbin, and Owens.\u00a0 Unless Strowman turned back into a babyface following the attack by Brock Lesnar last night I don\u2019t see how this match takes place.\u00a0 For me it\u2019s not a big deal in the grand scheme of things, but some people do buy tickets based on what the arena is advertising.\u00a0 WWE can talk about the card being subject to change all they want, but they should examine their process of deciding what is advertised.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><em>Follow me on Twitter @FrankPeteani and ask any question you may have.\u00a0 Thank you for reading!<\/em><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>NOW CATCH UP ON LAST WEEK&#8217;S RAW:<\/strong>\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2018\/09\/10\/top-3-developments-raw-9-10\/\">TOP 3 DEVELOPMENTS \u2013 RAW 9\/10: Roman Gets the Upper Hand, More Build for Triple H vs Taker, Kevin Owens Reboot<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"pwtor-end-article-groups pwtor-entity-placement\" id=\"pwtor-847100805\"><div id=\"pwtor-4020268033\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\nTHANK YOU FOR VISITING<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>WWE MONDAY NIGHT RAW PRIMER SEPTEMBER 17, 2018 DALLAS, TEX. AT THE AMERICAN AIRLINES ARENA AIRS ON USA NETWORK, 8:00PM EDT BY FRANK PETEANI, PWTORCH CONTRIBUTOR Arena \/ Hell in a Cell Recap WWE returns <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2018\/09\/17\/wwe-raw-primer-9-17-hell-in-a-cell-fallout-the-deadman-returns-lesnar-inserts-himself-the-shield-and-the-dogs-of-war-next-for-rousey\/\" title=\"WWE RAW PRIMER 9\/17: Hell in a Cell fallout; The Deadman returns, Lesnar inserts himself, The Shield and The Dogs of War, Next for Rousey\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":42055,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[52,4354,5893],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-66154","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opnionandanalysis","category-raw-primer","category-tvprimers"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/post\/2017\/05\/UndertakerGG3x2_600.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66154","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66154"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66154\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":66155,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66154\/revisions\/66155"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42055"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66154"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66154"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66154"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}