Opening Segment -
To the surprise of some fans, Monday Night Raw did not open up with a promo from the Authority or Seth Rollins. Instead Laredo, Texas was welcomed by the Wyatt Family. Bray tells the WWE Universe that the Wyatt Family tried to warn Roman Reigns, but maybe Bray wasn’t speaking clear enough. In the middle of the promo, Reigns music hits and out comes Roman. Roman tells Bray that this feud has been between the two of them, so the other Wyatt Family members should leave, so Roman and Bray can have a fight. The Wyatt Family leaves the ring, so Bray and Roman begin to fight. Not long into the fight, the Family comes back into the ring and attacks Roman Reigns. Overpowered by the 3 on 1 assault, the Wyatt Family begins to decimate Roman, but fear not, because out comes Dean Ambrose to save the day.
Even with the help of Dean, the former shield members are still outnumbered 3 to 2 and start to suffer a beating from the Wyatts. Randy Orton makes his return to RAW and evens the odds. The Wyatt Family do some damage control and leave before the situation gets out of hand. There are a few problems with this segment. For one, Bray Wyatt had some very sloppy wrestling during the brawl with Roman Reigns. Second, if Randy Orton returned last night to help Roman and Dean, why couldn’t Orton be in the six man tag match on Sunday at Night of Champions? Doesn’t make much sense to have had Chris Jericho team with Reigns and Ambrose on Sunday. The segment was enjoyable to watch, and was refreshing to not have an opening promo from John Cena, Seth Rollins or the Authority. Overall Grade: 6 out of 10
Return of Corporate Kane -
After the opening segment the camera goes to the back and the WWE Universe sees Seth Rollins about to walk into The Authority’s office. Seth enters the office looking down at the ground telling “Stephanie,” that a plan needs to be constructed to stop Kane. Once Seth looks up, Rollins is greeted by Corporate Kane. Rollins says that Kane shouldn’t be here, after Kane attacked Seth last night at Night of Champions. Kane tells Seth that a rematch will happen tonight against John Cena for the United States championship. The segment was funny and announced the main event for tonight’s show. It was great to see Corporate Kane has some comedy, and the segment was fun to watch. Overall Grade 7.5 out of 10.
Neville/Lucha Dragons - Cosmic Wasteland -
This match started the trend of rematches from Night of Champions. This matched started with a really bad botch from Sin Cara who slipped on the top rope. The match was heavily dominated by Stardust and the Ascension. This match didn’t pick up until Kalisto was tagged into the match. Kalisto generated the only sort of offense and picked up the win for the team. This match was very similar to the one on the pre-show the night before, except this time Neville and the Lucha Dragons. The match was pretty typical between these two teams. Overall Grade: 6 out of 10.
Ryback - Bo Dallas -
This was a typical squash match. The match was dominated by Ryback and after a shellshock, Ryback looked to pick up the win, before being attacked by Kevin Owens who was on commentary. After a pop up powerbomb was reversed by Ryback, Ryback almost hit Owens with a Shellshock, but Owens was able to escape. There isn’t anything from the match to take away, but the interaction between Kevin and Ryback means that there is more than likely going to be a feud coming out of this. Overall Grade - 6.5 out 10
Charlotte’s celebration -
After winning the Divas title at Night of Champions, Charlotte held a celebration on Raw with Charlotte’s father Ric Flair, and tag team partners Paige, Becky Lynch. Ric said how much of a proud moment it was to see Charlotte on top of the Divas division. The celebration really picked up when Paige grabbed the mic and said that the only reason responsible for Charlotte winning is Paige. Paige tells Charlotte that Nikki is going to win back the title and there never was a “Divas Revolution.” Paige then says Becky is the least relevant Diva of them all.
Paige continues to fire shots at Team BAD, Natalya, Summer Rae, Lana and the Bella Twins. After Paige leaves the ring, the “Bella Army,” comes out. Nikki tells Charlotte when at the top, people are going to be jealous and leave. Nikki then announces that Charlotte will face Brie Bella. This was one of the better promos from the Divas. People have been waiting for Paige to turn heel. Paige’s character has become really stale and needed a shakeup. Overall Grade - 8 out of 10.
Charlotte - Brie Bella -
There isn’t much to say about this match. Brie Bella dominated the match, working on Charlotte’s leg that was injured last night against Nikki. Charlotte eventually mounted a comeback and won off of a figure 8. The match was okay, but when Brie Bella is wrestling, it isn’t going to be a 5 star match. Overall grade - 4 out of 10.
Mark Henry - Sheamus -
This match lasted all of about 2 minutes and Sheamus squashed Mark Henry. The point of this match was to put over the Money In The Bank holder. Overall Grade - 3 out of 10
Rusev/New Day - Dudley Boyz/Dolph Ziggler -
Before the match started New Day cut a promo on how everyone has a voice and can save the tables. Once the match officially started it was a pretty good one. Both teams each put in a lot of work, and this match saw an ending when Xavier Woods climbed onto the apron and blasted a note from the trombone in Ziggler’s face. Dolph proceed to kick Woods off of the ring apron, but then met a kick to the face from Rusev which ended the match. This watch was enjoyable to watch. Whenever New Day is involved it is going to be entertaining, and all the wrestlers involved generated some sort of offense. Overall Grade - 7.5 out of 10
Naomi - Natalya -
How long has it been since Natalya actually wrestled on RAW? In a match against Naomi, Natalya dominated most of the match, but lost the match off of a distraction from Tamina and Sasha Banks. This match was a normal Divas match. The usual 5 minutes with nothing to ride home about. Overall Grade - 4 out of 10.
Cesaro - Big Show -
This was once again another squash match. Big Show dominated the match and ended it with a KO punch. The point of this match was to put over Big Show for his upcoming match against Brock Lesnar on a live event. It’s a shame how far Cesaro has fallen. Overall Grade - 4 out of 10
John Cena - Seth Rollins -
This was the typical Seth Rollins - John Cena match until the finish. Seth Rollins hit Cena with a frog splash and attempted a pin. After a count of 2, Cena rolled through the pin, hanging onto Seth Rollins. Cena executed the AA and pinned the WWE champion to retain the US title. After the match, Kane appeared on the titantron. Kane tells Rollins that people are lined up to take the WWE title, people Seth wouldn’t even imagine. Kane then appears from the bottom of the ring, and pulls Rollins under the ring. The match was enjoyable as Rollins and Cena always put on a great match. Afterwards the setup for Kane - Rollins was okay, nothing special. Really wish the WWE would give some of the young guys a shot at the WWE title, instead of continuing to bring back legends. Overall Grade - 7 out of 10.