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Raw General Manager Kurt Angle revealed Seth Rollins’ fate
The short version is that Seth Rollins is staying on Raw, but he might regret it in the long term. After a week of wringing his hands over whether or not The Kingslayer would remain on Team Red, the former WWE Champion essentially proclaimed that he had no intention of running to SmackDown LIVE, and if still-absent Commissioner Stephanie McMahon wanted him gone as revenge for his WrestleMania win over Triple H, she’d need an army to do it.
Instead, new General Manager Kurt Angle greeted The Architect and proclaimed that, despite Stephanie having made it clear she wanted Rollins off Monday Night Raw, The Olympic Hero had decided to retain Rollins to reward his efforts at The Show of Shows.
The implication of that decision was soon apparent, however, as Samoa Joe appeared in the ring and attacked. While Rollins managed to fend off The Destroyer this time, it was clear that as long as The Architect stays on Raw, the target will remain on his back as well.
Intercontinental Champion Dean Ambrose confronted “John Cena
LONG ISLAND, N.Y. — On day one, minute one of the much-ballyhooed Superstar Shake-up, Monday Night Raw kicked things off by debuting a major acquisition from SmackDown LIVE... AND HIS NAME IS JOHN CE — oh, wait, it’s The Miz.
Reprising his Cena impression from the last few weeks of SmackDown LIVE, The Awesome One came to Raw with Maryse-as-Nikki Bella in tow and delivered some A-list roasting of The Cenation Leader until another Raw signee, Dean Ambrose, came down to talk some trash of his own.
The reigning Intercontinental Champion seemed fooled by Miz’s impression at first, talking to The A-Lister as if he actually was Cena and even offering his congratulations for defeating Miz & Maryse ("Those two are the worst") at WrestleMania. But once Miz removed all his Cena garb and screamed that he was, in fact, The Miz, Ambrose hit him with Dirty Deeds. Like you thought that would end any other way.
The Revival def. The New Day
The Revival’s Raw debut last week was a smashing success — literally.
They smashed Kofi Kingston’s ankle to such a degree that The Dreadlocked Dynamo needed surgery. So, down a man and looking for payback, The New Day decided to step to the #TopGuys in a rematch of last week’s loss that once again ended in disappointing fashion for the former W. W. E. World. Tag. Team. Champions.
Much like last week, Dash & Dawson kept Xavier Woods out of Big E’s reach, teeing off with impunity on their opponent. The entrance of E into the match briefly changed the complexion, but it was Woods’ return that allowed The Revival to capitalize for the second time, thwarting the Midnight Hour by shoving E out of the way and catching an airborne Woods with the Shatter Machine.
Big Show knocked out Curt Hawkins
Among the sleeper acquisitions of the Superstar Shake-up is Curt Hawkins, who has been dropping his own brand of #Facts on SmackDown LIVE since his return last year. Now that he’s back on Raw, The Prince of Queens wasted no time in demanding that Raw roll out the welcome wagon — at which point Big Show promptly strolled into the ring and knocked him out. Welcome!
TJ Perkins def. Austin Aries
Say this for Neville: He can kill two birds with one stone.
By insinuating that TJ Perkins had fallen from grace since winning the Cruiserweight Classic, The King of the Cruiserweights managed to get inside the head of The Phil-Am Flash and knock Austin Aries down a peg when Perkins reacted… unfavorably, following his win over the No. 1 contender to the WWE Cruiserweight Championship.
With Neville watching from the announce desk, Perkins deployed his full arsenal of style and skill, as if to demonstrate he was still a threat in the Cruiserweight division. He looked pretty good, too, though he needed a bit of an assist from Neville to surprise Aries with a small package to seal the deal.
But when Aries went right back to jaw-jacking with Neville, Perkins took advantage of the distraction by jumping A-Double from behind, blasting him with a detonation kick before realizing, apparently, that the King had used him as a pawn.
Nia Jax def. Charlotte Flair
For someone who calls herself The Queen, Charlotte Flair’s had a rough couple of weeks.
She lost at WrestleMania, Nia Jax beat her up at the end of last week’s Six-Woman Tag Team Match when she tried to blame Jax for the loss, and now she’s lost one-on-one to Jax herself.
To be fair (to Flair), the match was more of a fight than Jax expected, but Jax would unleash her power maneuvers and stop Charlotte cold any time The Queen would start to string moves together. Charlotte found daylight for a moment with a chop block and Natural Selection, but Jax kicked out, toughed her way through a moonsault and thwarted the Figure-Four Leglock by shoving Charlotte into the turnbuckles, splashing her in the corner and administering the Samoan Drop for the victory.
Finn Bálor def. Jinder Mahal
Last week, Finn Bálor made his triumphant return after nearly a year on the injured reserve list. It was awesome. This week, he earned his first singles victory since SummerSlam, defeating the on-a-roll-lately Jinder Mahal in a surprisingly hard-hitting match where the Irish Superstar essentially got punched in the face over and over again.
A battered Bálor answered with a match-ending Coup de Grâce, but, of course, a Superstar as high-profile as Bálor is bound to attract challengers from all sides. And Bray Wyatt, having recently crossed over from SmackDown LIVE, appeared on the TitanTron to declare three things: 1) Raw is his new home. 2) he's bringing his House of Horrors Match with him to the Raw-exclusive Payback event, and 3) that he would be watching Finn very, very closely.
Sami Zayn def. The Miz
‘Twas a decidedly un-awesome return to Raw for The Miz, who got shown up by Dean Ambrose in the opening of the show and couldn’t close out a tough match against Sami Zayn, who was both fighting to prove his worth to Raw and, perhaps, increase his stock in the eyes of the SmackDown showrunners who might be looking to poach him.
If Team Blue does decide to pull the trigger and get him, they’ll have a hell of a Superstar on their hands. After being manhandled by Miz, Zayn reversed The A-Lister’s Daniel Bryan kicks into the Blue Thunder Bomb. Maryse tried to pull Miz out of harm’s way and allow him to reclaim his momentum, but the moment Miz attempted the Skull-Crushing Finale, Sami rolled him up for three. So Miz has egg on his face, but if Sami is headed to SmackDown LIVE, he goes out a hero.
Braun Strowman attacked Roman Reigns
Roman Reigns may run the yard after defeating (and potentially retiring) The Undertaker at WrestleMania, but he clearly hasn’t learned to keep an eye on the monsters running around in it.
The Big Dog was in the middle of a sit-down interview with Michael Cole when Braun Strowman attacked, savagely beating Reigns all over the backstage area to such a degree that he had to be loaded, on the spot, into an ambulance. However, The Monster Among Men ambushed the EMTs and threw Reigns off the loading dock while he was still strapped to the gurney. And then, when they finally got The Big Dog into the ambulance, Strowman straight-up tipped it over, leading to cracked ribs, internal injuries and a possible separated shoulder.
Raw Tag Team Champions The Hardy Boyz, Cesaro & Sheamus def. Luke Gallows, Karl Anderson & The Shining Stars
What’s the only thing more enticing than The Hardy Boyz vs. Cesaro & Sheamus for the Raw Tag Team Titles? (Apart from Elias “The Drifter” Samson wandering through Raw, of course.) The answer is The Hardy Boyz teaming with their No. 1 contenders in an 8-Man Tag Team contest against former champs Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson, as well as The Shining Stars.
Ironically, both champions and challengers were in perfect sync, with Cesaro & Sheamus helping bounce Karl Anderson from the ring and tee him up for Jeff Hardy’s Poetry in Motion over the ropes. After Matt administered a Twist of Fate to Epico, Jeff sealed things up with a Swanton Bomb. Good teamwork all around. Let’s see what happens when they go against each other.
Alexa Bliss and Mickie James confronted Raw Women’s Champion Bayley and Sasha Banks
Sasha Banks and Bayley are both pretty open about their desire to stay together on Raw after the Superstar Shake-up. If they do, there’ll be no shortage of competition for them: Right as Sasha was seemingly about to challenge Bayley for the Raw Women’s Title, two-time SmackDown Women’s Champion Alexa Bliss reared her head.
The arrival of The Wicked Witch of WWE clearly threw a wrench into The Boss’ plans, but Mickie James was hot on her heels to throw her name into what has suddenly become a very, very crowded race for the Raw Women’s Championship. But, lest we forget, there’s still one more woman in play: Nia Jax, who bulldozed James from behind, ran through Sasha (who Alexa shoved right into her path) and finally laid out Bayley before openly declaring that she has her sights set on The Huggable One’s title.
Intercontinental Champion Dean Ambrose def. U.S. Champion Kevin Owens
Superstar Shake-up or not, Monday Night Raw is still The Kevin Owens Show, and the U.S. Champion will not take a backseat to the arrival of a new star like Dean Ambrose. Unfortunately, however, he might end up having to make do. The non-title Champion vs. Champion bout pitting “The Face of America” against The Lunatic Fringe ended with the curtain falling on KO’s head.
All of this was fairly unexpected because Owens was having his way with the Intercontinental Champion and showed no signs of stopping early in the bout. A trip to Chinlock City and a straight-up heave-ho, ribs-first into the turnbuckle left Ambrose gasping for air and Owens with a perfect target that he did not skimp on punishing.
Ambrose managed to maneuver his way into planting Owens with Dirty Deeds to seal the match, but The Prizefighter’s night was far from over.
Chris Jericho made his presence known, blasting Owens with a Codebreaker as some retribution for getting put through a table last week. It wasn’t capital-P Payback just yet (that’s in a few weeks), but it was definitely a start. Shane, Daniel? You’re up. wwe.com
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