WWE Raw on Monday night in the longtime pro wrestling hotbed of New Orleans continued the more-than-welcome trend of enjoyable offerings as the Paul Heyman regime continues in its infancy. Solid, logical booking coupled with entertaining in-ring action has made the flagship show must-watch viewing again, and Monday was no different as we inch closer towards the Clash of Champions pay-per-view event on Sunday, Sept. 15.
Let's have a look now at everything that went down on this week's edition of Raw, beginning with the Braun Strowman-Seth Rollins partnership taking an interesting turn towards the Clash of Champions event.
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Tag champs set to clash for universal title
A backstage interview aired featuring the new Raw tag team champions Rollins & Strowman. Rollins was reminded that he has to defend both the tag titles and his universal title upcoming at Clash of Champions, and as he answered, Strowman glared at the top Raw title the entire time. Strowman asked Rollins who he was going to let step up and challenge him for the universal title at the pay-per-view, which prompted Rollins to ask his partner whether he was the one delivering the challenge. Strowman confirmed, and the challenge was accepted by Rollins as this angle takes the route we all expected.
United States Championship -- AJ Styles def. Braun Strowman via disqualification to retain the title: Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson were barred from ringside, but a ref bump to the outside allowed them to still run down and offer assistance to Styles. Strowman took them out with a steel chair that Styles had introduced to the match earlier, which unfortunately came during the time referee Chad Patton was awakening. Styles channeled his inner-Eddie Guerrero, hitting the mat to create the illusion that Strowman had taken him out with the chair. Patton told Strowman he heard the chair shots, assumed they were handed out to Styles and called for the disqualification. Following the match, and angry Strowman again assaulted Gallows and Anderson with the chair before laying out Styles with the running powerslam to end the show.
I'm forced to humbly admit i was swerved here a bit. It was easy to assume that Strowman was about to become a dual-champion just like Raw tag team title partner Rollins, but they found a nice out to keep the titles on Styles -- who should definitely drop that championship to a young up-and-comer at some point. The major development from Monday, though, is the fact that Strowman and Rollins are being forced to co-exist earlier in the night at Clash of Champions as tag champs while their (likely) main event bout for the universal title will be lurking in their heads. The rehabilitation of the Strowman character has been extremely well done to this point, and honestly, this may be the best he's been since the days of the Roman Reigns feud. Pro wrestling is at its best when it's unpredictable, and everything that's been done of late with this Rollins-Strowman angle should leave you excited and intrigued to see how it all plays out come Sept. 15. Grade: B+
IT'S ON, PARTNER.@WWERollins has accepted @BraunStrowman's challenge for the #UniversalTitle at #WWEClash of Champions! #RAW pic.twitter.com/Gp09q49QY4
— WWE (@WWE) August 27, 2019
Sasha Banks gives us some answers
Sasha Banks strutted her way to the ring to kick off Raw on Monday night. She said that, despite being away for four months minding her own business, all she heard about while she was away was, "Sasha Banks, Sasha Banks, Sasha Banks." Banks referenced all the internet rumors during her hiatus, including the reported hissy fit in the locker room at WrestleMania 35, to which she repeatedly replied, "I did." She admitted to not caring about being a part of the women's tag team title match as well as being bitter in towards Becky Lynch earning the main event opportunity at WrestleMania. But, she had a plan all along that involved attacking Natalya to lure her true target out Lynch for the save. Banks called herself the standard bearer and, more appropriately, the boss of the women's division. Before she could gloat any further, Nattie made her way out and attacked on the outside. The two continued to scrap until the officials were finally able to get them separated.
Sasha Banks def. Natalya via submission with the Banks Statement. Following the match, medical personnel were in to check on the already-injured Natalya as Banks exited the ring. "The Boss" returned, however, and locked in the Banks Statement once again for evil measure before being sent to the back.
Last week, Banks delivered an amazing pre-taped heel promo on the heels of her shocking return the week prior. This week ... well, it seems the creative team decided to get a little too cute in forcing her to make reference to the dirt sheets that did nothing but speculate and dissect her social media on a daily basis while Banks was on hiatus. The promo to begin the show just felt way too forced, but the post-match angle with Natalya did a solid job of highlighting the diabolical, remorseless side of "The Boss" as the Raw women's champion Lynch looms on the horizon. Grade: C+ (Mainly for the cringe promo)
.@SashaBanksWWE may be the TALK of the Women's Division, but, tonight, @NatByNature is the FIGHT of the Women's Division! #RAW pic.twitter.com/vXR0uVAnSF
— WWE (@WWE) August 27, 2019
What else happened on Raw?
- King of the Ring First Round -- Ricochet def. Drew McIntyre via pinfall after the 630. Incredible match, and Ricochet now advances to face Samoa Joe in the quarterfinals next week on Raw.
- King of the Ring First Round -- Baron Corbin def. The Miz via pinfall with the End of Days. Corbin advances to face Cedric Alexander in the quarterfinals on Raw next week.
- Robert Roode & Dolph Ziggler def. Heavy Machinery via pinfall to win an eight-team tag team turmoil match to become No. 1 contenders to the Raw tag team titles at Clash of Champions. Order of elimination: The Viking Raiders def. The B-Team via pinfall, Viking Raiders and The OC were both disqualified, Roode & Ziggler def. Lucha House Party via pinfall, Roode & Ziggler def. The Revival via pinfall, Roode & Ziggler def. Zack Ryder & Curt Hawkins via pinfall
- Bayley def. Nikki Cross via pinfall with the elbow drop from the top rope.
- Cedric Alexander def. Cesaro via pinfall after hitting the Lumbar Check, which it must be pointed out was sold just incredibly by the in-ring god that is Cesaro.
- A recap of Bray Wyatt's "Firefly Funhouse" segments aired to keep his presence alive on the show.