WWE Monday Night Raw Review: 14/09
Rey Mysterio Starts the Show, Stephanie Vaquer and El Grande Americano VS Liv Morgan and Dominik Mysterio
This week’s edition of Monday Night Raw, live from Mexico City, Mexico, kicked off with Rey Mysterio coming down to speak Spanish to the crowd! Rey then wanted to highlight his favourite moment of the weekend, which just so happened to be Stephanie Vaquer shockingly winning the Women’s World Championship off Liv Morgan at a house show in her hometown of Santiago, Chile! Stephanie received a wonderful ovation from the crowd, something that only angered The Judgment Day more as Liv Morgan and Dominik Mysterio arrived seething after being screwed out of their respective World Titles over the weekend! In fact, Dominik was so angry that he challenged Rey and Stephanie to a Mixed Tag Team match, but due to Mysterio still not being medically cleared to compete due to the attack from Omos in Las Vegas, it was El Grande Americano who stepped up instead! This was a really fun match, with the crowd going ballistic for the brand-new Champions, whilst Liv and Dom got booed out of the arena! As always, Dominik comes across far better in Mexico, whilst it was nice to actually see Americano back on Raw again (even if it’s for one night only)! Whilst I expected Vaquer and Americano to get the win here, we ultimately didn’t get a winner as the rest of The Judgment Day arrived to cause the DQ! JD McDonagh would then deliver a wonderful headbutt of his own to nail El Grande, whilst Morgan would floor Vaquer with ObLIVion! I’m assuming that this will potentially lead to something at World’s Collide!
Grade: B-
Men’s Money in the Bank Qualifying Match: Austin Theory VS Big Cass VS Je’Von Evans, Chad Gable VS Dragon Lee: Intercontinental Championship, Kelani Jordan VS Raquel Rodriguez VS Lola Vice: Women’s Money in the Bank Qualifying Match
After Penta and Dragon Lee hyped themselves up, Austin Theory, Big Cass, and Je’Von Evans clashed in a Men’s Money in the Bank Qualifying Match! How Big Cass found himself in this position to begin with is beyond me, but thankfully, he didn’t win! Match quality-wise, having Je’Von win is what’s best for the overall entertainment that we’d get to see at Money in the Bank, but in fairness to Austin Theory, him winning would advance The Vision storyline (especially if Bronson Reed was to also appear in the match)! However, Theory wouldn’t have anything to do with the finish, with Evans nailing Cass with an O.G. Cutter to get the win! I’m glad that The Young O.G. finally beat Big Cass; hopefully that’s the end of that feud!
Grade: C+
The Usos believed that 946 were going to show up tonight to try and cost Roman Reigns his World Heavyweight Championship, but Jacob Fatu rightly pointed out that Royce Keys is far more likely to take out The Bloodline one-by-one, in order to leave them a clear shot at Roman at the end! It was then time for the first Championship match of the night as Chad Gable went one-on-one with Dragon Lee for the Intercontinental Championship! Personally, whilst we’ll get on to the Main Event later, wrestling-wise, this was the match of the night! Chad Gable is absolutely brilliant; that guy has been long overdue a singles Title reign, whilst I will continuously praise Dragon Lee every week as he feels criminally underrated! The fact that this match took place in Mexico City also added a lot, as not only were the crowd behind both men, but the fact that Chad was back in Mexico after his iconic feud with El Grande Americano, as a Champion no less, only made it better! In the end, even though he possibly didn’t want to, Gable had to sinch in the ankle lock, forcing Lee to tap out as Chad quickly hugged his friend afterwards! This was a great example of wrestling psychology; what a year Master Gable is having!
Grade: B+
After Bayley said she’d make Lyra Valkyria pay for everything she did to her this past summer, both Kelani Jordan and Lola Vice made their Monday Night Raw debuts as they faced Raquel Rodriguez in a Triple Threat match for the right to head to Money in the Bank! In some ways, this was a bit of a bizarre match to put on, with Kelani being the reigning NXT Women’s Champion, Raquel being the reigning Women’s Intercontinental Champion, and Lola making her proper Main Roster debut after weeks of video packages to hype her arrival! You could make a fair argument that none of these women should be losing right now, but per the rules, there could only be one winner! In fairness, that was pretty obvious; it was always going to be Lola Vice! However, the bigger question was which of the two Champions were going to get pinned, and thankfully, Vice scored the win with a smart roll-up on Rodriguez! Pinning Jordan would’ve been a mistake, but let’s be honest; I doubt Lola’s going to win the MITB Briefcase!
Grade: C+
World Heavyweight Championship: Roman Reigns VS Penta
After a teaser for Joe Hendry’s brand-new album, and another tense exchange between Stephanie Vaquer and Becky Lynch, the Main Event of this week’s edition of Monday Night Raw felt seismic as Penta looked to take full advantage of the crowd being behind him as he challenged Roman Reigns for the World Heavyweight Championship in Mexico City! One of the biggest compliments I can give WWE is that they’re very good at making matches feel “big time”, with this contest being no exception! The entrances felt important, from the crowd backing Penta to them completely booing Roman Reigns out of the building! Now, most of that was because Reigns was in enemy territory, but we shouldn’t forget the fact that he is arguably the biggest Heel in the entire wrestling industry! Even though this match was pretty long (especially for a TV match), the crowd stayed engaged throughout, getting particularly excited when Penta came within touching distance of becoming Champion following a Mexican Destroyer! Instead, Roman would counter another Mexican Destroyer into a Superman Punch, following that up with a Spear to successfully keep hold of his World Heavyweight Championship! I’m glad that Reigns won clean; we didn’t need any shenanigans, but it perhaps would’ve been nice to have seen WWE capitalise on a seriously hot crowd, especially given all the shocks/great moments we’ve had across the past few days! However, as boring as some people may find it, having Roman Reigns as the Champion is the safe move (whether that’s better or not is another debate entirely)!
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