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Add FightsATW on GoogleWWE Monday Night RAW was live from the Save Mart Center in Fresno, California, with just two weeks until Crown Jewel in Saudi Arabia, where the RAW and SmackDown world champions in both the men’s and women’s divisions will face off for the “Crown Jewel belt.” With Survivor Series two weeks after the Riyadh show, weekly WWE TV has to pull double duty with its storytelling.
Unfortunately, the show began with bad news when GM Adam Pearce announced that Stephanie Vaquer couldn’t compete in her scheduled number one’s contender match against Becky Lynch. Pearce pivoted to an impromptu world title match between Becky and champion Liv Morgan.
LIV MORGAN (c) VS BECKY LYNCH—WWE Women’s World Title
The impromptu world title match follows Chelsea Green’s successful title defense over Roxanne Perez on last Friday’s SmackDown, but this one was at least in the main event spot, not ‘opening the show.’ Regardless, the crowd believed, and those who didn’t were convinced by the time the ‘match came around.’
These two superstars put on an incredible show filled with near-falls, including one where Becky kicked out of Liv’s “oblivion.” To Liv’s credit, she kicked out of Becky’s ‘The Man-Handle Slam’ for her own near fall, and the action stayed back and forth.
Becky locked in the “disarm her” elbow lock, but The Judgment Day’s Perez and Raquel ran out to offer their ‘support.’ The distraction helped Liv break the submission, but after Becky hit Liv with a second ‘man-handle slam,’ The Judgment Day decided enough was enough and gave up the interference DQ loss.
The beatdown on Becky continued until Chelsea Green ran down to take her place, and that is when Iyo Sky ran out to take the faction out with a single high-risk maneuver. Tiffany Stratton came out to pump fake another ‘MITB’ cash-in, hit her moonsault finisher, but The Judgment Day pulled her out of the ring before it could become official.
SOLO ACCEPTS ROYCE CHALLENGE
The show opened with a Bloodline recap from last week, but with Roman not scheduled for tonight, the only motion for this story was a pre-recorded video promo showcasing the ‘face’ version of Solo fully in on The Bloodline. Solo accepted the challenge Royce Keys offered earlier, and The USOs and Roman himself stood in the background, leaning on a ride for the ambiance.
SAMI ZAYN DEMANDS HIS FLOWERS… FROM WWE AND TKO?!
Sami Zayn came out to ringside after Pearce’s announcement to get some ‘grade A heat’ from the crowd after telling the crowd chanting “OTC” that Roman Reigns purposely skipped the date, adding that he did not blame the Tribal Chief and wished he, too, could ‘skip’ the Fresno date. Without a real feud and his Crown Jewel dance partner (for now) in the building, Sami had no storyline direction, so he dropped a visceral promo with underlying themes that chip at the 4th wall.
He called out WWE‘s business, claiming the company has benefited from its Netflix deal off the back of him joining “The Bloodline,” and pointed to the ratings boost from a fully fledged faction with Roman at the helm.
“They’ll thank everyone else; these executives will get down on their knees and go ‘thank you, Roman,'” Sami said in the ring, explaining how he is underappreciated.
Sami’s soft brag was brilliant, especially considering he’s always been undervalued in the soft-spoken, underdog role. But seeing him flex in a way that took his just due for playing a significant part in The Bloodline getting ‘over.’ The crowd reacted, and it felt like a solid direction, but it was sort of undone when Je’Von Evans answered for the promo.
In a moment when Sami was organically getting himself over, it became a chance for Je’Von to prove himself against the veteran. Evans asked for a title match, and Pearce eventually granted it, and the crowd went nuts for Evans’s opportunity. Then, you could feel the hope sucked out of the arena when he announced it for next.
SAMI ZAYN (c) VS JE’VON EVANS—WWE World Title
Zayn and Evans worked well against one another, but the match was destined to be a schmoz. When it seemed like Je’Von was trending toward a win, Sami tried to ditch the match. However, Penta came out with a ¼ entrance (the briefcase pyro is here to stay) before pump-faking the ‘cash-in.’
The swerve got Zayn back into the ring for Evans’s closest near-fall of the night, but The Vision eventually played spoiler after Breakker laid out Penta at ringside. They ended the segment with Breakker running through Evans spear. Later, in the back with medical, Evans and Penta lobbied Pearce for a shot at Breakker and The Vision.
BAYLEY VS LYRA VALKYRIA—Street Fight
A months-long program that spans several different layers of storytelling where Bayley and Lyra started as complicated friends before developing a real bond based on the ‘Big Sister/Little Sister’ narrative. Bayley was off TV after Lyra took her out—a move that culminated in her gimmick shift—and that stalled the story and affected the momentum.
Luckily, Bayley is one of the best in the business, and her former ‘protégé’ is pound-for-pound one of the best performers on the roster, and the two helped revive the feud into this anticipated finale. The bumps were big, almost as big as Lyra and Bayley stepped up, with chairs and kendo sticks scattered ringside.
Lyra was the MVP in the match after hitting a power spot on Bayley while standing on top of two chairs, after she attempted a moonsault on Bayley between two chairs—she hit nothing but chair. Lyra’s physique, grace in the ring, and work rate make her a future standout star in wrestling.
However, Bayley won the match and the fans after making Lyra tap with a kendo stick in her mouth, stretching her backward until she tapped. Bayley stood tall at the end of the match, and the crowd got their money’s worth, but you have to wonder if WWE even sees everything Lyra is and can be, especially with her constant 50/50 booking and underwhelming payoffs.
OTHER TIDBITS
– Iyo Sky picked up a win over Raquel Rodriguez in singles action, but the post-match was very much a 2v1 as Roxanne Perez ran out to help beat down the winner. Sadly, the face who always helps everyone got zero help from the face side of the roster.
– Ethan Page and Big Cas defeated Dragon Lee and Chad Gable in tag action. Page picked up the win over Lee after hitting the ‘Egoplex.’ Ethan Page is no Enzo on the stick, but he is certainly a talent upgrade from Big Cas’s original tag partner.
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