Monday Night Raw opened with Seth Rollins in the ring wearing an all-black suit, with the remaining Raw superstars surrounding the ring for a town hall meeting. Seth talked about how much he loved the business; he also said that at last night’s Survivor Series, the Raw superstars dropped the ball. Rollins told them quite frankly, “You all sucked,” which did not go over well with the WWE Universe nor the superstars around the ring. He then targeted Randy Orton and Charlotte Flair telling them both they dropped the ball last night.
Both Orton and Flair walked away from ringside and left. He also called out The O.C along with United States Champion AJ Styles. Several other superstars joined Randy and Charlotte in their walkout, leaving Seth Rollins in the ring alone. Kevin Owens showed up and confronted Seth, who immediately launched into a tirade. He went on saying that Kevin shows up when he wants, called him lazy and eventually ate a Stunner for his insults. Kevin walked out leaving Seth smarting in the middle of the ring. In a backstage segment, Seth Rollins challenged Kevin Owens to a match later.
Bobby Lashley took on Titus O’Neil in a one-on-one matchup with Lana ringside accompanying The Almighty. Rusev had been served with a restraining order again this week stating he couldn’t come within 90 feet of Lashley and Lana. That restraining order would be violated to the highest degree as Rusev came through the crowd, hopped the barricade and unleashed weeks of frustration in a brazen attack on Bobby Lashley. Rusev would throw him around the ring, the ring steps, the outside barricade and up the ramp.
This was just before he was set to put Lashley through the announcer’s table.
While still in handcuffs, Rusev broke free and nailed Lashley with a shoulder tackle that knocked him off the stage. He then kicked a lighting rig over onto him while Lana screamed at the top of her lungs. Rusev would finally be escorted from the building wearing a huge smile.
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After weeks of promising violence to Raw’s tag team division, The AOP set out to turn those words into action against Zack Ryder and Curt Hawkins. They did not fall short as they completely decimated Ryder and Hawkins from bell to bell. A SuperCollider and a neck/backbreaker combo sealed the win for Akam and Razar.
Andrade along with Zelina Vega faced off against Tozawa, who tried to jump-start the match by catching Andrade off guard. It was a solid strategy but to no avail, as Andrade picked up the win with a hammerlock DDT to finish off Tozawa.
With Aleister Black promising to pay close attention to his match, Buddy Murphy took on a returning and ‘unbroken’ Matt Hardy. The veteran gave Murphy all he could handle but couldn’t overcome the repeated knee strikes and would eventually suffer the loss. After the match, Aleister Black showed up and hit Buddy Murphy with a knee strike of his own and knocked him out of the ring.
Humberto Carrillo was ready to face AJ Styles for the United States Championship
However, The OC had other plans as they attacked him as he walked down the ramp. This rendered him unable to compete. Styles and The OC mocked Carrillo and commanded the center of the ring before Ricochet showed up to check on his friend. He challenged Styles for the US title and was denied. Randy Orton came out next to possibly get himself a title shot as well. They were followed by Drew McIntyre and Rey Mysterio, all who were denied by Styles. Ricochet suggested a fatal four-way to decide the number one contender and Styles agreed.
Ricochet, Randy Orton, Drew McIntyre, and Rey Mysterio competed in a fatal four-way to determine the number one contender for AJ Styles U.S. Championship, with the winner facing the champ after the match. It seemed that Drew McIntyre, a heavy favorite would prevail in this contest, but he would eat an RKO from The Viper and was knocked out of the match. Unexpectedly, Styles and The OC showed up to attack Randy Orton and keep him from winning the match. Inside the ring, Mysterio would roll up Ricochet with a cradle pin to pick up the victory and face AJ Styles.
Rey Mysterio was still a little beaten and bruised from his Survivor Series match against Brock Lesnar.
This was coupled with his fatal four-way earlier in the night, but he was up to the challenge of facing AJ Styles. The OC tried to interfere and were banished from ringside by the referee. However, after a 619 caused AJ Styles to knock the referee down and out, Gallows and Anderson would return to ringside to attack Mysterio. Only this time, Randy Orton showed up to fight back Gallows and Anderson. He dispatched the two outside before slithering into the ring to hit AJ Styles with an RKO. Mysterio followed it up with another 619 and became the new United States Champion.
His son Dominic showed up and hoisted Rey onto his shoulders to celebrate.
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Charlotte Flair took on Asuka in a WrestleMania rematch. It was Flair who put an end to Asuka’s undefeated streak and took her championship, so there was some more unfinished business at stake. Kairi Sane, the other half of the WWE Women’s Tag Team champions, would be at ringside to support her partner Asuka. Flair rendered her useless by attacking her first so she could face Asuka with minimal distractions. However, Sane timed her interference just right, allowing Asuka to spray Charlotte with the green mist and roll her up for the victory.
Rowan was out with his cage/satchel/case thingy to face a local enhancement talent. This local enhancement talent thought it’d be funny to lift the cloth on Rowan’s cage. It wasn’t funny at all. Rowan destroyed him and hit him with two claw slams before retrieving his cage and leaving.
Seth Rollins versus Kevin Owens would close out Monday Night Raw. The two superstars went back and forth all night, exchanging signature moves and escaping others before the final sequence. Kevin would hit Seth with a Stunner but was unable to immediately make the cover. In the surprise of the night, the Authors of Pain hit the ring and put a vicious beatdown on Kevin Owens. Rollins cowered in the corner and was prepared to attack Akam and Razar, but they did not attack him. After they left the ring Rollins nailed Owens with two Curb Stomps to close the show.