WWE Monday Night Raw Review: 25/08

Roman Reigns Starts the Show, JD McDonagh VS Dragon Lee

Roman Reigns arrived in Birmingham, England, for a special edition of Monday Night Raw as The Tribal Chief kicked off the show by talking about how things aren’t the same anymore! Roman no longer has a Bloodline behind him, a Wiseman besides him, multiple Championships, all of that is gone! This brought out Paul Heyman and Bronson Reed, who said they will be victorious on Sunday as Bronson talked about his side of the family being exiled to Australia! This then started a big brawl between the two rivals, with security guards doing a decent job at separating them (for once)! Reigns-Reed should be a pretty good match at Clash in Paris; I’m looking forward to it!

Grade: B-

Finn Balor was once again confused with Dominik Mysterio talking to El Grande Americano before JD McDonagh faced Dragon Lee in the opening match of the night! What I saw of this match was good; both JD and Dragon Lee are great in-ring competitors, but for some reason, my Netflix was glitching here! See, I went from watching McDonagh headbutt Lee to AJ Styles throwing Dominik Mysterio into the ring post! It was very odd, and this quickly led to the finish as Dragon Lee scored the win! Kind of a shame that I didn’t get to see all of this match because it was looking pretty good!

Grade: B- (from what I saw)

Kofi Kingston VS Penta, Becky Lynch Calls Out Nikki Bella

LA Knight cut a promo from a Restaurant before Rusev said he was going to smash Sheamus at Clash in Paris! Raquel Rodriguez then told The Judgment Day to stop arguing as Dominik Mysterio told Finn Balor to go and get himself a match with AJ Styles before Kofi Kingston looked to get some revenge on Penta! Penta supposedly injured the neck of Xavier Woods whilst delivering the Mexican Destroyer last week, and that meant that Grayson Waller was walking around getting people to sign a petition to ban the move completely! Now, whilst the ban didn’t go through (as of right now), Waller proved to be a big help to The New Day as he distracted the Luchador enough, opening the door for Kofi to deliver a Trouble in Paradise to get the win! This result shocked me; I didn’t expect it one bit!

Grade: C+

Iyo Sky told Rhea Ripley that they need to go their separate ways, so she doesn’t upset her family, but this was pretty bad timing as The Kabuki Warriors were watching in the background! Stephanie Vaquer was then told by Adam Pearce that her Women’s World Championship shot at Clash in Paris is off (just give her the Title), and then the next segment saw Becky Lynch talk trash about both Birmingham and Nikki Bella! Nikki wasn’t too pleased by this as she came out to sing her own praises, saying there wouldn’t be a Becky Lynch without her! The two then exchanged in a war of words, not nearly as good as their segment from a few weeks ago, before Lynch agreed to put her Women’s Intercontinental Championship on the line against Bella in Paris! I have no care to see that match!

Grade: C

Rhea Ripley VS Roxanne Perez, Finn Balor VS AJ Styles

Credit: WWE

CM Punk wasn’t too pleased about LA Knight’s comments before Sheamus said he’s the only reason why Rusev is relevant again! Rhea Ripley was then out to stake her claim for a potential Women’s World Championship opportunity as she went one-on-one with Roxanne Perez! This was a good match, the best on the whole show in my opinion, I rate both of these women very highly! I said that Rhea Ripley will probably be in contention to become the next Women’s World Champion, but I feel like Roxanne Perez should be in that conversation too; she’s absolutely brilliant! Despite that, The Prodigy does tend to lose a lot, and that happened again here as Ripley managed to score the win with a Riptide before Raquel Rodriguez delivered a post-match assault! However, Iyo Sky then ran down to make the save, so her words mean nothing, apparently!

Grade: B-

Seth “Freakin” Rollins was firing up the rest of The Vision backstage before Asuka got absolutely livid at Iyo Sky! It was then time for more Judgment Day action as Finn Balor went one-on-one with AJ Styles! This was another good match; these two know each other inside out, and it’s crazy that we get this on a random episode of Raw in Birmingham! Despite a strong effort from Balor, AJ was able to score the win with a Styles Clash as he continues his pursuit of the Intercontinental Championship!

Grade: B-

Bron Breakker VS LA Knight

After Roman Reigns gave Jey Uso some advice, Bayley had another intense video, and Adam Pearce told Dominik Mysterio that he will be defending his Intercontinental Championship against AJ Styles next week, it was Main Event time as Bron Breakker looked to wipe out the threat known as LA Knight! Before the match could even begin, Roman Reigns took out Bronson Reed in the back before LA brawled with Bron to the ring! The match then got properly underway, and it was pretty decent stuff, nothing wrong with it at all! Seth “Freakin” Rollins showed up at one point to cause a distraction, allowing Breakker to deliver a pair of Spears to pick up a rather surprising victory! After the match, Jey Uso ran down to take out The Vision, but it was CM Punk who did that successfully! However, Punk and Knight then brawled until Jey left them both laying to the delight of the World Heavyweight Champion! There’s a reason they call Rollins “The Architect”!

Grade: C+