Monday Night Raw opened with a video replay of last week’s wedding between Lana and Bobby Lashley and the resulting fallout. WWE Champion Brock Lesnar and his advocate Paul Heyman made their way down to ringside. Paul announced that Brock would enter the Royal Rumble as the first entrant, in order to really make history. A six-man tag main event is on the horizon.
Rey Mysterio cut a promo backstage in both Spanish and English basically saying that Andrade wasn’t a worthy champion. He also gave his son Dominic props for convincing him to keep pushing himself. He was prepared for his return match for the United States Championship he lost at Madison Square Garden a few weeks ago.
The match began with a fast pace and Rey Mysterio rocked Andrade early and often but Zelina Vega, as she so often does, kept her client in the match. Mysterio hit a Canadian Destroyer on Andrade for what was going to be a three count but Zelina put Andrade’s foot on the ropes, prompting the official to restart the match. Vega would again play a physical part of the match; Andrade pushed Rey into Zelina and as the Master of the 619 was distracted, Andrade cinched a hammerlock DDT to retain the United States Championship.
The Raw Tag Team Champions, The Viking Raiders took on The O.C. and The Street Profits in a triple threat tag team match for the titles.
The O.C had some momentum going into this match as the only team to beat the Viking Raiders since they became champions. The Street Profits themselves had a little momentum also, having just beaten Gallows and Anderson the previous week on Raw. The O.C. had the upper hand early on in the match but after Gallows was taken out by the Street Profits, the Raiders hit Karl Anderson with a powerbomb followed up by a splash for the win.
The Man, Becky Lynch, the Raw Women’s Champion cut a promo talking about how many times she’s fallen short to Asuka. She also played a video on the big screen. Asuka, one half of the Women’s Tag Team Champion Kabuki Warriors came out and taunted Becky in Japanese until Becky Lynch laid her out with a punch in the face.
Mojo Riley was backstage and asked Erick Rowan if he could see what was in the cage. Rowan let him have a peek and Mojo freaked out. Rowan was incensed and took his frustration out on a local jobber by nailing him with an Iron Claw. He forced him to look in the cage and ended up getting red misted.
AJ Styles was angry, especially after Randy Orton’s ruse last week. He took his frustration out on Tozawa.
He hit a Phenomenal Forearm but refused to pin Tozawa. Styles followed it up with a hanging DDT and an RKO, mocking The Viper as he picked up the pinfall victory.
Lana and Bobby Lashley completed their ceremony and in the midst of Lana mocking the crowd, Rusev appeared. He was at the beach celebrating his freedom from Lana. He and Lashley will meet presumably one last time next with. Liv Morgan will be in Rusev’s corner.
Sarah Logan, who hasn’t been seen on the Raw women’s division in weeks attacked The Queen, Charlotte Flair. Logan also threw Flair’s robe around and stomped it. Flair responded by spearing Logan and throwing her into the guardrail.
Drew McIntyre took on No Way Jose in a one-on-one match but before the match could get underway, Drew attacked the conga lines.
Jose came out on fire trying to avenge his friends but The Scottish Psychopath put a stop to all of that with a Futureshock DDT and a Claymore. After a second Claymore, McIntyre announced his entrance in the Royal Rumble.
Aleister Black took out Shelton Benjamin in their matchup but was attacked from behind by his nemesis Buddy Murphy. He would nail the Dutch Destroyer with a knee strike on a steel chair. The two will continue their red hot rivalry next week.
Seth Rollins and the AOP took on Kevin Owens, Samoa Joe and a surprise returning Big Show in six-man tag action. The Big Show looked dominant in his return. As he was about to hit a double chokeslam on the AOP, Seth Rollins nailed him in the back with a steel chair to cause the disqualification. The team of Big Show, Samoa Joe, and Kevin Owens would eventually clear the ring to end the show as the AOP dragged a battered Seth Rollins up the ramp. Owens, Show, and Joe came out on top of this six-man tag matchup.
