WWE Monday Night Raw Review: 27/10

CM Punk and Jey Uso Come Face-to-Face, Penta VS Rusev: Intercontinental Championship Number 1 Contender’s Match

“Main Event” Jey Uso arrived to start this week’s edition of Monday Night Raw, saying that he has so many different people in his ear! However, Jey doesn’t care about what any of them think about him, and this led to CM Punk coming out for a face-to-face confrontation! CM Punk continued to ask Jey just how far he is willing to go on Saturday to reclaim the World Heavyweight Championship, and Uso made it clear that he’d do whatever it takes! This was a totally fine segment, both men delivered their lines well, but I can’t lie and say that I’m that excited for this match because I’m really not!

Grade: C+

Credit: WWE

After the rest of The Judgment Day told Dominik Mysterio that he needs to handle his own problems alone, Rusev and Penta faced off in the opening match of the night to determine the next challenger for Dominik’s Intercontinental Championship! This was a really good match I thought, I think both guys are very good at what they do, and the crowd seemed invested throughout! This was pretty hard-hitting, which makes sense, and we got a great near-fall as Penta kicked out despite getting nailed with a mid-air Matcha Kick! It then looked like Penta had things won following a Penta Driver, but Rusev somehow kicked out (in what was probably an even better near-fall), before the match was subsequently thrown out after The Americanos arrived and attacked both men! Eventually, Rusev and Penta were able to chase El Grande and his goons out of the ring, but yeah, this ending wasn’t too surprising given what’s been happening recently!

Grade: B

Nikki Bella VS Roxanne Perez, Bron Breakker VS LA Knight, Sheamus VS JD McDonagh

LA Knight made it clear that he wants the winner of this weekend’s World Heavyweight Championship match between CM Punk and Jey Uso, before Paul Heyman told a fired-up Bron Breakker that he will face The Megastar later on tonight! We then got a great video package recapping the legendary WWE career of Asuka before The Judgment Day’s request for a World Tag Team Titles rematch instead turned into a challenge from Sheamus! Anyway, a match 12 years in the making took place next as Roxanne Perez took on one of her heroes, Nikki Bella! I’m still not really sure what the point of having Nikki Bella on the show is, I don’t feel like it’s benefiting anyone, but maybe that’s just me! However, I’m sure this was a pretty special moment for Roxanne, who eventually scored the win with a brilliant Pop Rox! After the match was over, Perez and Raquel Rodriguez continued their beatdown on Bella, only for Stephanie Vaquer to run down and make the save! A Tag Team match was later confirmed for next week’s show, and I’m guessing that’s when Nikki’s going to turn on Vaquer!

Grade: C+

Asuka was pretty furious with Lyra Valkyria backstage, something Bayley couldn’t care less about, before Jimmy Uso ripped into Jey Uso over his antics last week, questioning Jey’s self-confidence! The Vision were then out next as Bron Breakker was set to take on LA Knight in a match that could determine future challengers for the World Heavyweight Championship! I thought this was another good match; it flowed well, and I will always enjoy watching Paul Heyman’s facial expressions whilst watching from ringside! Bronson Reed definitely made his presence known throughout this match, getting involved multiple times, and eventually, it paid dividends for his Vision stablemate as Breakker nailed Knight with a terrific Spear to get the win!

Grade: B-

Adam Pearce wasn’t at all thrilled with The Americanos ruining the Number 1 Contender’s Match between Rusev and Penta, and Pearce made it clear to Dominik Mysterio that as a result, Dom will have to defend his Intercontinental Championship against both men in a Triple Threat Match! Jey Uso then made his feelings known to Jimmy Uso in a reversal of their earlier interaction, before Sheamus went one-on-one with JD McDonagh in an all-Irish affair! This really was all about the Irish as Finn Balor was in the corner of his Tag Team partner, and I have to say, this was probably the match of the night! There was a lot of good wrestling on this show, but I felt like there was something extra to this one! JD is incredible at what he does, a criminally underrated talent, whilst Sheamus is an icon in this business! I firmly expected Sheamus to win this match; that was the more likely outcome, but that didn’t come to pass as after Finn Balor nailed Sheamus with his shillelagh, McDonagh delivered a breathtaking Spanish Fly to pin The Celtic Warrior for one of the biggest singles wins of his Main Roster career!

Grade: B

Maxxine Dupri told Adam Pearce that she needs to get some help from someone first before she’s truly ready to dethrone Becky Lynch for the Women’s Intercontinental Championship, and this then led to Asuka making it clear to Alexa Bliss and Charlotte Flair that she and Kairi Sane want the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships! Charlotte was more than happy to give The Kabuki Warriors an opportunity down the line, and on the men’s side, AJ Styles and Dragon Lee were feeling the exact same way about The Judgment Day getting their rematch for the World Tag Team Championships!

WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships: Alexa Bliss and Charlotte Flair VS Bayley and Lyra Valkyria

And in the Main Event of the final Monday Night Raw before this weekend’s Saturday Night’s Main Event, the unique team of Alexa Bliss and Charlotte Flair put their WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships on the line against a fellow unique duo in the form of Bayley and Lyra Valkyria! All four of these women are more than capable of being singles Champions, in fact, they already have been (many times), but I didn’t mind this match as it created an intriguing story! Honestly, I wasn’t sure which team was going to get the win here; I could’ve easily seen Bayley and Lyra capture Gold together after what happened at WrestleMania earlier this year, and I felt like the losing team might end up resulting in a Heel turn by the end of the night! However, that didn’t happen, and after another very competitive contest on this week’s edition of Raw, it was Alexa and Charlotte who managed to pull off another successful Title retention following a dual Natural Selection! After the match was over, The Kabuki Warriors quickly attacked the Champs, as well as Lyra Valkyria, and it was Bayley who came to her partner’s aid as Asuka and Kairi Sane scampered! I think I’ve just worked out what this year’s Women’s WarGames Match is going to be!

Grade: B