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Add FightsATW on GoogleWWE Monday Night RAW was live on NETFLIX from the Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, with an earlier start time of 6 pm ET/3 pm PT after Friday’s episode of SmackDown was broadcast from Toronto. Punk successfully defended his title against Canada’s own Kevin Owens while tonight’s show is centered around the contract signing between Bron Breakker and Oba Femi—not to mention, coming off the heels of Solo Sikoa standing up to Roman Reigns as Jacob Fatu ‘stood down’ in the corner.
Action was plentiful on tonight’s episode as the two semifinal matches took place to crown the finalists in the lucha libre tourney meant to solidify a #1 contender for Roman’s heavyweight title—a match scheduled for the RAW in Mexico City on September 14th.
LA KNIGHT AND SOLO ON THE SAME SIDE
The ‘Not-Bloodline’ duo of LA Knight and Solo Sikoa continued to cook on Mondays, and they kicked off tonight’s show together, or on the same side, at least. They took turns mocking Jey’s gimmick, and the ‘pew-pews’ might be merch line-over. The USOs eventually came out and threatened to ‘drag both’ Knight and Solo to ‘The OTC.’ Jey is clearly off the rails in this whole program, but there is an insanity that comes from repeating an action with the expectation that the end result will change.
The challenge was eventually made and accepted to match The USOs against Solo and Knight, but it was all just a distraction as the bigger ‘play’ was at hand. As the tag action commenced, the finale played out as a schmoz DQ finish with no resolve as three men covering their faces jumped the two teams.
It was revealed to be Royce Keys behind the attack as he revealed himself alongside OTM (Out The Mud), a group from NXT with ties to Keys – as Cole said on commentary, “in the hood in Oakland.” Bronco Nima is one half of OTM, but he is also part of Los Perros del Mal, which makes the attack rather confusing for anyone looking at the full landscape of the product.
Keys and his crew beat down on the faces and heels indiscriminately around the ringside, at one point ordering OTM to put Jimmy Uso through the commentary desk. The fans booed Keys and OTM to bring RAW to a close, but after Solo and The Bloodline were getting organically over in their feud the last several weeks, it feels like this finish only convolutes a story that felt much simpler before RAW ended.
OBA FEMI-BRON BREAKKER CONTRACT SIGNING
It feels like we have gotten our fair share of contract signings this summer, but Oba Femi having just come off his Lesnar feud gives credence to the upstart as a genuine attraction by continuing the continuity of these ‘prizefighter segments.’ Oba looked more like a star at first glance, sporting a thin gold chain and a black satin shirt with a red rose print—almost a 70’s-style swag—to Breakker’s all-black outfit, highlighting his merch line.
The segment was well-produced, and Oba came out on top, but they had one of the best promo battles of both of their careers. Breakker accused Oba of getting opportunities while Oba suggested that Breakker is just ‘unfortunate’—as in, it is “unfortunate” that Breakker exists in the same era as Oba and there can only be one future king of the mountain top.
Oba called Breakker a nepo-baby in so many words, and Breakker responded by eventually calling Paul Heyman Oba’s “daddy,” a line that popped the ‘ooouuus’ out of the crowd. The whole thing turned into a car wreck after Breakker took a cheap shot, leading to Oba taking out Theory through the table. Oba signed the contract that Breakker had already signed to close out the segment.
LUCHA LIBRE TOURNAMENT (#1 Contender for Heavyweight Title)
DRAGON LEE VS REY FENIX—SEMI FINAL
This potential matchup was clocked by fans from the moment the bracket was announced, and the assumption was that the winner would face off against Penta in the finals. It would be easy to explain why fans were hoping to see this matchup, but it would be difficult to give proper credit to both Luchadores for going above and beyond.
The ‘lucha libre tourney’ has produced some of the more exciting matchups on weekly WWE TV, but the match between Lee and Fenix went beyond the usual parameters of ‘TV matches’ that can sometimes act as shackles on matchups featuring high-level talents. These two masked men produced the kind of excitement that shatters the usual ceiling on a non-PLE match.
In one spot, Dragon Lee delivered a ‘cannonball’ from the outside onto Fenix positioned atop the commentary desk. It was a violent collision that looked brutal on Fenix, but he was able to reverse momentum later in the ring. The final sequences of the match were incredible and worth a few stars on their own, but Fenix landed a super kick and lariat to finish with a ‘Fenix Driver.’
Fenix picked up the win and advanced to the finals to be decided later in the evening, but it was presumably a great feeling for the AAA cruiserweight champion to be able to sit and watch his finals opponent.
PENTA VS LA PARKA
This match was better than fans probably expected, considering just about everyone predicted this side of the bracket correctly. Despite Penta being the -100000000 favorite, La Parka certainly treated the live crowd to some solid action. Penta won the match as expected and will now go on to face his brother Rey Fenix in the finals.
In the post-match spot, the camera followed Penta down the aisle to the end, where Fenix was positioned, waiting for his brother. The two slowly stared one another down before offering the semblance of respect, but this matchup has the potential to be one of the best matches of the year.
OTHER TIDBITS
– Stephanie Vaquer made her long-anticipated return to the ring after injuries held her out of action for the last several months. She defeated Roxxane Perez in singles action, but the interesting part was when Becky Lynch ran down to ‘make the save’ against Liv and the rest of Judgment Day. It was announced that Stephanie will be getting her title rematch against Liv Morgan in two weeks, and she proved tonight that she is fully recovered.
– After weeks of sneak attacks, Big Cass and Je’Von Evans faced off in singles competition. Je’Von’s evening started chaotically after he took out The Judgment Day’s Dom Mysterio and JD McDonaugh on behalf of Rey Mysterio Jr. Big Cass defeated Evans cleanly in a match that saw Je’Von take a nasty fall from the top turnbuckle, spilling to the outside after Cass broke his balance. In the post-match, JD and Dom came out to beat down a beaten-down Je’Von, using the ‘frog splash’ to put an exclamation point on the punches and stomps.
– It was announced that Sol Ruca will receive her title rematch against Raquel Rodriguez on next week’s episode of RAW. The announcement was followed by a strange interaction between the IC title challenger and Lyra Valkyria as she attempted to ‘run it back’ with Sol following her loss last week against her in singles competition.
– Ethan Page and IC champion Chad Gable offered fans the potential for a future program after they crossed paths in a backstage segment. Gable defeated Rey Mysterio Jr. last week in a successful defense of the title he won at SummerSlam, but now is the time to engage his next feud.
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