Opening segment
- Roman Reigns comes out with the IC title in tow and seems genuinely humbled. Outside of slinging the title belt over his shoulder. Naito tossed titles around and Dunne carries his with his teeth.
- He talks about his big week and says his title is the big one on Raw, and that everyone can get a piece.
- The Miztourage appear and bring out Elias to make the formal challenge. Reigns' retort is short and sweet.
Seth Rollins defeated Cesaro
6.75/10
- For some reason, Corey Graves can't understand why Booker T doesn't think a singles match puts you in line for a tag team title shot.
- Cesaro's front suplex onto the ropes is great, as is Rollins' sell.
- "I'm impressed with Cesaro's strength line": He catches Rollins midair with a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. I wish he would have caught it on Rollins' Blockbuster attempt.
- They mention Ambrose is on his honeymoon, which I guess is an excuse to wear his normal gear.
- I'm a fan of the Rollins guillotine legdrop that YA BOY used to do, and the Falcon Arrow that I didn't used to do.
- Rollins get the wins after 18 minutes. Excellent Raw match.
- After the match, Rollins brings up Renee Young and Ambrose being on their honeymoon. He says The Shield is staying together and they want their title rematch.
Backstage crappenings
- The cruiserweight babyfaces aren't happy about Enzo and his homeboys running roughshod. Angle admits things have gotten wild in the division and says they'll figure out a cruiserweight title contender.
- More Good Brothers promos for WWE Shop.
Samoa Joe defeated Titus O'Neil (w/ Apollo Crews)
5.25/10
- This is getting stiff in a hurry. These two beat the living shit out of each other.
- I mean like, damn bro. Swatting the shit out of one another
- That was as good as a Titus O'Neil match gets. He gets choked out. Then Crews right after.
Absolution
- I'm very interested to see how Paige looks in the ring. Mid 20s after neck surgery and this much time ahead of her is really uncharted territory for a woman in WWE.
- Okay, I laughed my ass off at Alexa Bliss saying "she's probably off taking a nap or something" when Mickie James didn't show up.
- Paige and company have taken out Bayley and Mickie James in the back. Paige is better on the mic than ever before.
- If you have to position Alexa as a babyface, I'd have her go at all three right now
- Why does WWE seemingly always put Paige in the position where she has to kill an absurd amount of time on the mic waiting on cues?
- We hear from Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville. They're called "Absolution."
- All three women kick the shit out of Sasha. Paige's finish looked good. Alexa took a hike earlier.
Bray Wyatt defeated Matt Hardy
5/10
- Bray Wyatt is Krampus or something. I dunno. Same old shit.
- We're all dead I guess.
- A lot of people are still holding on to what Bray Wyatt was in 2013 and what he looked like he could be. It's been four and a half years and WWE still haven't figured it out.
- Say what you will about TNA and Sam Shaw, but at least they pulled the trigger and straight up made him a serial murderer character. WWE has been playing hokey pokey with Bray Wyatt being some horror movie guy who is in the A/V Club for damn near five years.
- It's been almost 8 months and Hardy is still dying his hair blonde, so I don't think he's given up on using "broken."
- We join this match in progress. Hardy misses a moonsault beautifully. He loses.
- Matt Hardy straight up throws "delete" out there. Oh boy.
Cruiserweight title contender tournament
Rich Swann defeated Noam Dar, Ariya Daivari and Akira Tozawa
6.25/10
- Oh my god, Rich Swann cracked Tozawa in the head with his knee.
- This is fast and furious action that the Cruiserweight division should be built on.
- Swann rolls into a Daivari spinebuster. Cole references Starrcade and Arn Anderson.
- Corey Graves brings up the Cruiserweight Champion making more money than non-champions. Long overdue to establish that. The pay window and championships earning money are important.
- Rich Swann eats a double suplex on the floor.
- I'm over Tower of Doom spots for a while.
- Swann pulls a prone Tozawa out of the ring and hits his finish on Dar. Good stuff. They got about 13 minutes!
WWE Intercontinental Championship
Roman Reigns (c) defeated Elias (w/ Miztourage)
6.75/10
- Elias performs a song and welcomes El Hijo Del West Texas Rednecks. They lip sync harmonicas. It's phenomenal.
- It seems like they've been in "we really have to kill some time" mode tonight, and it's made for some fun TV.
- Elias is such an effective heel that he got "We Want Roman" chants.
- "It's time to play with the BIG DOG!" Stop it, Cole.
- Elias could be Seth Rollins' Jeff Farmer. Anxiously awaiting Shield in WarGames so this can come to fruition.
- I love Elias using a flying knee. I love the Miztourage being Elias' roadies as much.
- Axel gets speared outside. It causes enough of a distraction to gain Elias an advantage. He hits a huge Flying Elbow drop and an Electric Chair into a powerbomb.
- Roman Reigns' 2.9 count game is SKRONG. I went back and checked on all of them. He kicked out.
- This goes 15 minutes, and Reigns picks up the win. Elias looked great in this match, and Reigns is a giant part of why.
- After the match we see Joe strangling Roman Reigns. Cool, man. I'm down for this feud.
Asuka defeated Dana Brooke
- Asuka immediately armbars and beats Dana Brooke.
- Dana's mom had surgery this morning. Kind of sad.
- Absolution surround Asuka, but she slowly backs off.
Kane defeated Jason Jordan via countout, then loses to Finn Balor via DQ
- Backstage earlier, Jason Jordan and Kurt Angle are talking about Jordan's injury. JJ says he's good to go and gets KANE.
- Later, Jordan gets on the mic and explains his injury.
- Jason Jordan's uppercut sell is the best I've ever seen.
- Jordan feigns another knee injury. He gets counted out. I hope Jason Jordan wins the Royal Rumble.
- Booker T heels Jordan. It's so goddamn hilarious.
- Finn Balor comes out. So....Kane is kicking Jason Jordan's ass, Finn Balor intervenes....and there's a commercial during the entrance?
- A front dropkick to the outside of the ring doesn't make sense, and Kane hits Balor with a chair.
- Don't know if this is the place for Braun Strowman to beat up Kane and get a babyface reaction, but Braun finds a way to kind of do it.
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