WWE RAW was live from Knoxville, TN, days following the BackLash PLE from Saturday and the aftermath concerning Roman Reigns‘ win and subsequent beatdown at the hands of Jacob Fatu. The PLE had a major announcement concerning the upcoming “John Cena Classic” event, pitting NXT and WWE superstars against one another for one night of showcases—similar to the Saturday Night’s Main Event booking that was John Cena’s final match.
Tonight, the main storyline revolved around Jacob Fatu’s failure to acknowledge Roman Reigns after their match. Faut threw a post-match beatdown on Roman, but Roman’s performance in the match came across as heelish in its own way.
With SNME, AAA’s big show involving the ‘Mask V Mask’ storyline, and Clash in Paris all booked for the remainder of the month, there is plenty of booking ahead of us.
ROMAN DEMANDS ACKNOWLEDGMENT; JEY PLEADS w/JACOB FATU
Roman Reigns was clear with GM Pearce that Jacob will acknowledge Roman before any punishment is issued—Pearce threatened termination for Jacob throwing around WWE officials, Pearce included.
As for Jey and Jimmy, both felt like things had reached a boiling point, and that is why Jey was determined to reason with Fatu before things blew up in the night’s final segment. So, when Jacob arrived he made a B-line for the ring as Roman had already made his entrance alongside Jimmy.
Jey was taken out by Jacob in Gorilla, and then he took out Jimmy in the aisle before reaching the ‘final OTC.’ The two went at it in the ring before the violence spilled to the outside. Roman had the initial momentum in the melee, but when he went for his spear, the tables turned—literally and figuratively.
Fatu put Roman through the commentary desk by way of a powerbomb, but he used the Tongan Death Grip and several headbutts to soften up Roman. The segment ended with WWE officials attending to Reigns as Jacob held up the hw title, standing tall in the ring—he licked the belt, and that was certainly a choice.
BRON BREAKKER, JAKE PAUL, AUSTIN THEORY VS STREET PROFITS w/JOE HENDRY
The six-man tag followed a RAW-opening promo from The Vision’s own Paul Heyman. He said that following Breakker’s win on Saturday and after tonight, there would be no reason ever to mention Seth Rollins again, so, of course, Seth showed up to interfere in the match.
The tag champs were booked for a defense against The Street Profits at the upcoming Saturday Night’s Main Event show, but the dynamic between the former champs and Seth Rollins is still murky. Rollins’s interference in the match allowed for the Profits’ Dawkins to pick up the pinfall on Theory—giving them the momentum over the tag champs heading into their match.
Still, Montez Ford has continued to beef with Rollins, telling him to ‘stay out of their way.’ The disagreement spilled into the back as Ford’s frustrations with Rollins continued.
DOM MYSTERIO VS OG EL GRANDE AMERICANO—AAA MEGA CHAMPIONSHIP
The announcement of the first-ever two-night AAA Mania card in September set the table for the upcoming Mask vs. Mask match between the two El Grande Americanos. Mysterio continues to push a narrative about his father, Rey Mysterio Jr., but his feud with Finn Balor has dominated his WWE TV bookings.
Eventually, the match was booked between OG Grande and Dom Mysterio for Mysterio’s AAA mega title in a match pitting heel vs heel. The match was made to further the El Grande V El Grande booking, as Ludwig’s version of the character provided a distraction that Mysterio capitalized on in a successful defense of his title.
IYO SKY VS SOL RUCA
Before the match, Iyo had a tender moment with Auska after her former mentor admitted she was indeed leaving the WWE, though the word “retirement” was never used. Auska attempted to retcon the entire nature of her program with Iyo—a feud based on Auska’s attempt to control and emotionally manipulate both Sky and the recently released Kairi Sane.
Auska said that she was looking for someone, Iyo, to take over for her and keep the ‘flag’ she planted in WWE—Auska was the first female Japanese wrestler to be signed to the company since Bull Nakano in the mid-90s. They had another heartfelt moment, but unlike the one at BackLash, this felt less organic and more detrimental to the overall program/story they had been telling.
Iyo defeated Sol Ruca when the NXT upstart attempted a ‘Soul Snatcher,” only to have it countered by Sky for the win. In the match’s aftermath, Becky Lynch mocked Ruca’s loss, which could lead to an IC feud between the two.
OTHER TIDBITS
– Oba Femi’s open challenge almost went unanswered, and when his segment came up, Pearce was the one who had to inform him of the lack of volunteers. So, Oba went to the back and grabbed Loz Garzas and squashed them in a 2-on-1 handicapped match. It was a great segment getting over Oba in a way that remains creative, but it is also difficult to further sell an open challenge that nobody wants to take—after all, Oba is not a champion, so the risk/reward ratio is minimal. That said, Oba Femi was promoted for next week’s RAW with the ‘open challenge’ still in effect—maybe Omos could be ‘imported’ from AAA to take on the big man.
– Penta cut a promo that Ethan Page eventually responded to when he came into the ring demanding an IC title match. Page pinned the IC champion in a tag match last week, and the partners in that match, Rusev and Je’Von Evans, eventually made their way out to the ring. Page claimed that Evans was dismissive of Rusev’s right to receive an IC title match, and that set up a match between Evans and Rusev. Evans won the match, but Page won the night when it was announced that he would receive an IC title shot against Penta (in singles action) at SNME.
– The women’s side of The Judgment Day delivered a beatdown on the women’s tag champs Paige and Brie Bella. Liv and crew held up the tag titles, setting up a future showdown with the veteran tag team that debuted as a pair at WM42.
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