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Add FightsATW on GoogleToday’s WWE Monday Night RAW took place in the afternoon stateside as the European leg of WWE‘s tour continued in Turin, Italy, after last night’s ‘Clash in Italy‘ that saw Roman Reigns retain over Jacob Fatu in the main event of the show. Michael Cole made it clear on commentary at the end of last night’s match that Jacob would have to ‘acknowledge’ Roman on tonight’s episode of RAW.
Aside from that main event angle, both the King of the Ring and Queen of the Ring qualifiers begin tonight with fatal four-ways to determine the next potential heirs to the thrones, with world title shots awaiting the winners at SummerSlam.
ROMAN REIGNS NEUTERS THE ‘SAMOAN WEREWOLF’ JACOB FATU
RAW started with the “acknowledgment” segment between Roman Reigns and Jacob Fatu—actually, the first 10 minutes of the show were used for recap video packages and Roman’s entrance—following Roman’s win over his cousin in “Tribal Combat.” Fans have come to expect a certain hardcore feel from the ‘Tribal Combat’ matches, but that is not what they got at last night’s ‘CIP’ show.
Still, Fatu wore the battle wounds on his body, the most noticeable being the tennis ball-sized bruising on his face, and made his way down to the ring after a brief Roman promo. In that pre-Fatu portion of the segment, Jey joked that Fatu is new and ‘already late to the job.’ Fatu looked dejected, defeated, and he wore the entire stink of loss. He admitted defeat before getting on one knee to salute his ‘Tribal Chief.’ There was some bickering between Jacob and Jey, but the major takeaway was the complete 180 that Fatu’s character has now taken.
In the lead-up to his title match, Fatu felt strong and was a potential new face at the top spot after receiving a program with Cody Rhodes and Drew McIntyre. However, tonight’s segment ended with him looking more cringe than Jey Uso’s new character of Roman’s ‘hypeman.’ The story is still developing, though Solo’s place in it feels less interesting. There was a subtle hint from Roman about a potential Civil War.
He said there were ‘two sides of the table’ when acknowledging his place at the head seat, but that could refer to either Solo now or The Rock down the line.
SETH ROLLINS VS BRON BREAKKER—Main Event
They similarly booked this match in a similar way to how it was utilized at WrestleMania 42 because it was kept off the PLE in favor of the RAW after. WWE envisioned this as a major program, and it was until injuries derailed the momentum. The time between Breakker turning on Rollins, Rollins getting injured, Breakker getting injured, and both returning from injuries sullied the story.
It did not help that every member of the faction who joined before Austin Theory has been left on the injured list, but tonight proved that the quality of the talent in any given feud can overcome any setbacks.
The crowd was hot all night, and they turned it up a notch for this main event. There was no title on the line, and the winner of the match was not guaranteed any future championship aspirations. Instead, both men performed as if they wanted it more as their battle spilled out onto the outside. Plenty of near falls set the stage for the climax, but not before another Vision member potentially hit the IL.
Breakker reared up for many of his spots tonight, including a corkscrew elbow from the outside of the ring, but it was his patented spear through the timekeeper’s area that backfired the most. The young upstart was in control of the action early, but at this stage, Seth had rallied to find a spot to get his hands on Heyman.
As Breakker came barreling around the corner, Seth moved, and it was instead Paul who was pulverized through the barrier. Breakker looked shaken as Heyman lay motionless, and that is when Breakker attempted to hit Rollins with a spear inside the ring. Only, Seth had managed to get ahold of Breakker’s co-tag team belt and strapped it to his waist—Rollins pulled a Bret Hart and left Breakker looking like Goldberg.
Rollins picked up the win, and that was partially thanks to Montez Ford, who leaped over the turnbuckle from inside the ring and came crashing down onto Theory. Once Ford neutralized Theory’s interference, the two were left to finish a mostly clean match, though we are likely to see a teaming between Ford and Rollins. The crowd went nuts as Rollins celebrated in the ring with Breakker sitting in defeat from the outside.
This would be the perfect place to put this feud to bed, but the latest WWE blueprint will likely call for several more months of booking—maybe longer.
DRAGON LEE & REY MYSTERIO VS ETHAN PAGE & RUSEV—Tag Team Match
Rey Mysterio Jr. returned from injury a few months ago and has stayed busy since, becoming AAA’s General Manager and pulling commentating duty on weekly FOX Deportes shows. The faces picked up the win in this match, and it feels like a multi-man IC title match will manifest from all these intersected storylines.
KING OF THE RING QUALIFIER: SOLO VS OBA FEMI VS PENTA VS CARMELO HAYES
This was an incredible match that showcased every participant, but in the end, Oba Femi stood above the rest as both the match’s winner and standout performer. There was a double- and triple-team effort on Oba, while Talla Tonga played the assist whenever he received the ball.
The big spot was an entire sequence of offensive moves, with the crowd screaming for Oba; the chants for his name awakened the monster. He put Talla Tonga through a table after dismantling Penta and Melo, but the match ended when Oba put down Solo at the tail end of his rage mode finish.
QUEEN OF THE RING QUALIFIER: GIULIA VS IYO SKY VS LASH LEGEND VS ROXANNE PEREZ
Iyo Sky was the first to qualify for the QOTR tourney after defeating hometown girl Giulia, who received a huge ovation from the Italian crowd, as well as Legend and Perez. Legend had some big power spots, including a double powerbomb on Perez and Sky, but it was Giulia who was the most over with the crowd, popping for her biggest spots.
Sky was able to advance with a shot at her brand’s world titlist if she can claim the crown.
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