To put it simply, this episode was great with one thing to nitpick but again, a very good effort by WWE.
Seth Rollins Has An In-Ring Meeting With The Rest of RAW.
Rollins talked about RAW taking an L last night at Survivor Series and he wanted to bring up anybody that can speak up as to why RAW lost. Each RAW superstar slowly walks away and Kevin Owens showed up from behind.
Rollins passionately talked about his love for Monday Night RAW to which Owens stunned him with the stunner. After that, Seth challenged him to a match later that night in his short backstage interview with Charly Caruso. Let's just say that Seth is officially a heel right?
Bobby Lashley vs Titus O'Neil.
The match ended in a DQ because Rusev ran to the ring and beat the crap out of Lashley even when he was handcuffed and the reason for Rusev's arrest is because Lana put a restraining order on Rusev. Meh.
AOP vs Zack Ryder and Curt Hawkins.
The Authors Of Pain rocking their no sleeve attire which is obviously a different look for the dominant group. Oh, and AOP won with a double team move that I don't know the name of.
Andrade vs Akira Tozawa.
An okay bout. Andrade wins here with the hammerlock DDT. Two straight dominate wins on this episode.
Aleister Black wants somebody to PICK. A FIGHTA. WITH HIM A.
Buddy Murphy vs Matt Hardy.
An in-ring return for Matt Hardy. Cool to see him once again. Unfortunately, he lost to Murphy with a quick knee strike. Another one-sided match.
Murphy wants to pick a fight with Aleister Black and Buddy got his wish and Black kicked Murphy out of the ring. Give me this match like now maybe?
AJ Styles vs Humberto Carrillo For The United States Championship.
The match hasn't started because the good brothers attacked him from behind. Ricochet came out to check on Carrillo and challenges Styles instead for that championship. AJ says that he'll face Carrillo and Carrillo alone.
Out came Randy Orton and he wants to challenge Styles. AJ said that he doesn't want to prove to two guys that he already beat. Drew McIntyre showed up to challenge Styles as well as Rey Mysterio.
The champ says no and Ricochet had an idea of making a fatal four-way number one contenders match for the US title and the match was official.
This was basically if a fan described a WWE segment and you know, a bunch of guys coming out airing their reasons as to why they earn a championship match but I get that they're telling the audience how that multi-man match came to be. But how was the match though?
Ricochet vs Rey Mysterio vs Randy Orton vs Drew McIntyre. Number One Contenders Match For The United States Championship.
Mysterio took out Randy and Rey were fighting with Ricochet on the top rope. Orton caught Rey on the top rope and hits the suplex with the help of Drew McIntyre when Drew was stuck in the tree of work.
McIntyre and Orton had a chop off (sounds weird but it's true) and after a very good back and forth action between McIntyre and Ricochet, Randy hits the RKO and was about to win this whole thing but the good bros pulled the guy out of the ring.
Rey pulled off a hurricanrana and won this match. A very good match. The championship match started after this match so will see how was this championship bout.
AJ Styles vs Rey Mysterio For The United States Championship.
The referee kicked the rest of O.C out and Rey reversed Styles' baseball slide and instead it reached the ring post, hitting in between AJ's legs.
Rey hits the 619 to Styles but Styles accidentally knocked out the ref, however, Anderson and Gallows rushes to the ring and stomps on Rey to which Randy Orton managed to get rid of the good bros.
Rey delivered the 619 for the second time and Mysterio just became United States champion. He didn't win the WWE title but he damn sure won the US title. An enjoyable match.
Then, in a backstage promo, Kevin Owens cut a promo saying that unlike Seth, Kevin Owens knows who he is and calls Seth "an insufferable pr*ck". I'm sure everybody agrees with Owens (including myself to some extent).
Charlotte Flair vs Asuka.
Continuing their disdain from last night, both women had an effective back and forth between the empress of tomorrow and the queen. Asuka applied the Asuka lock but Flair turned it into a pin and Asuka had no choice but to kick out.
Charlotte Flair was about to lock in the figure eight but Kairi Sane distracted Flair leading to the green mist from Asuka to Charlotte and Asuka finally beat Charlotte.
Yes, Asuka won her match thanks to an interference but WWE is trying to stretch out this feud so I get it. Also, both women's chemistry is fantastic like they always deliver a great match every time they face each other.
Erick Rowan squashed a jobber once more. Whatever. AJ Styles tried to hold his tears in his interview with Charly Caruso and said one thing, "Randy Orton".
Another person Caruso interviewed was Lana and she is now feeling a dramatic experience and she's handling it.
Seth Rollins vs Kevin Owens.
Owens started off this match immediately with a stunner but Seth retrieved quickly. Moments later, Rollins brought up a chair but he put it away somehow.
Kevin did a rolling senton from the ring apron on Seth Rollins leading to a pop-up sitout powerbomb moments later from Owens.
Both guys hit a superkick on to each other and then, Kevin hits the stunner but AOP showed up and stomps on Owens to which Seth made a statement by delivering the stomp to Kevin Owens. The match itself was very good.
This heel side of Rollins was a long time coming and some might say that it should've happened a lot sooner but I would argue that having to pull off a heel turn when the NXT crew showed up during a Survivor Series build will diminish the impact of that turn if that makes sense so having to pull the trigger now when nothing is going on in the background actually fits.
So, to recap for all of you slow mofos.
Like: Seth's heel turn and his match with Kevin Owens, Charlotte Flair vs Asuka, Rey vs Styles, Fatal four-way match.
Didn't like: Nitpicking but I'm not a fan of the back to back squash matches and It should've happened separately.
What do you guys think about this episode of RAW? Sound off in the comments below. Follow me on the tweets @omartheplayaguy and follow this very blog for honest pro wrestling opinions. Anyway, stay safe smarks.
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