By Tarron Coalson
Tonight, MONDAY NIGHT RAW comes to us from Oklahoma City, OK & opens up with all six competitors; Alberto Del Rio, Sami Zayn, Chris Jericho, Cesaro, Kevin Owens & Dean Ambrose all sitting on top of ladders plugging their upcoming match at the Money In The Bank Pay Per View, when all of a sudden Teddy Long, the former SMACKDOWN General Manager comes out acting like he’s in charge of all, talking to all the playa’s!
However, Stephanie McMahon comes out & dismisses Teddy, questioning how he even got in, & announces that all six competitors will be in action that evening in singles matches against each other.
The first match is Cesaro vs. Chris Jericho which is an OK match finally ending after Jericho locks in the Walls of Jericho & Cesaro reverses it into the Giant Swing & then hooks Jericho in a Sharp Shooter to earn a Tap Out victory.
Then, they have a recap of the John Cena/A.J. Styles situation which is followed by the Roman Reigns/Seth Rollins story. This promo was from Seth Rollins perspective & told the history of The Shield, Rollins turn on The Shield, his win at Wrestlemania over Reigns & yes, the ACL/MCL/Meniscus tear (OUCH!) & subsequent rehab, having to watch Reigns win at Wrestlemania this year, & culminating in his return at EXTREME RULES. It was a nicely done piece of the story.
Next up is US Champ Rusev with The Ravishing Russian, Lana vs. Jack Swagger with Titus O’Neil doing ringside commentary. A mostly forgettable match which ended with Rusev & Swagger outside the ring brawling & Rusev pushing Swagger into O’Neil & rolling in the ring to beat the ten count, earning a count-out victory. O’Neil & Swagger return to chase off Rusev & both stand in the ring & do the “WE THE PEOPLE” chant. Please, no…..
John Cena is out for his rebuttal of AJ Styles & The Club’s attack last week & becomes the first WWE Superstar to screw up & say “The Bullet Club” instead of The Club, which was pretty amusing! Cena goes on to say he’s only felt that energy in the ring with The Rock before & AJ resorts to a semi shoot line that’s been used on Cena for years, implying that he’s an entertainer, but not a very good wrestler.
It ends with another three on one attack by the Club, but WWE Tag Team Champs, The New Day, make the save & make it a four on three situation.
Following a commercial, it’s The Vaude Villains vs. Enzo & Big Cass & they recap the Enzo injury at the hands of the Vaude Villains. First of all, it’s amazing how much more fluid The Vaude Villains look with Enzo & Cass than they did with The New Day. Not sure where the fault is there.
In a twisted script that I personally didn’t like, The Vaude Villains try the same move that injured Enzo except this time, Enzo slides out but he still hits his head on the mat & feigns the concussion like symptoms.
First of all, he is hitting his head on the mat, so his personal safety could be at risk. Secondly, in this era of concussion sensitivity, it’s hard to believe WWE is signing off on this, but Big Cass goes bonkers attacking the Vaude Villains & refusing to listen to the referee, causing him to be disqualified & everyone is saying that this is a side of Big Cass that’s never been seen, protecting Enzo. It wasn’t that over the top vicious as far as “vicious wrestling attacks” go, but they’re obviously going somewhere with it.
PROMO up next with Sami Zayn & Alberto Del Rio, talking about their upcoming match & del Rio just totally dismissing Zayn, calling him “boy” & “perro” & Zayn seemingly just sitting there taking it. I AM NOT A FAN of the backstage interupting promo’s.
Blame it on my age or being old school, but in my day, if a heel confronted a babyface in their dressing room or vice versa, punches have to be thrown. The way that WWE does it makes no sense. Zayn should’ve smacked him one across the face for good measure. I just don’t get it….
Next up is Teddy Long again, lobbying for the SMACKDOWN GM position, in Stephanie McMahon’s office & telling her that she’s blowing it by not being creative & that he would have a FATAL FOUR WAY match at MONEY IN THE BACK for the WWE Tag Team Championships with The New Day, Enzo & Big Cass, The Vaude Villains, & Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson. Stephanie dismisses Teddy again & then prompty calls “marketing” to announce that she has a new match for MONEY IN THE BANK.
After that is Alberto Del Rio verses Sami Zayn & I gotta admit, Del Rio looks like the type that when you wrestle him, you’re in for a tough, stiff night. This was the closest thing I’ve seen to a jobber match in a while with WWE & even though Zayn hit his head on the ringside pole. Del Rio got the clean win after the Foot Stomp from the top after Zayn got one spot the whole match.
Another backstage interview spot with Dean Ambrose & Kevin Owens that I don’t care for that’s followed by the Reigns/Rollins story, this time from the Roman Reigns perspective.
Next up is Dean Ambrose verses Roman Reigns & OK, I’ll admit it, I’m not a big Dean Ambrose fan. This much was pretty much standard fare, although Owens did hit the Bullfrog splash on the floor on Ambrose, who recovers & hit the Dirty Deeds for the win.
As much as I don’t like Ambrose, I will say that his Dirty Deeds is kinda like Jake Roberts’s DDT…when he hits it, he usually gets the win, which is a good thing in the lost art of selling & finishers in wrestling.
Afterwards, Ambrose gets a ladder & starts to climb up to the MONEY IN THE BANK briefcase & is promptly knocked over by Kevin Owens who stands in the middle of the ring looking at the case.
Following this is a MAKE DARREN YOUNG GREAT AGAIN spot with Life Coach Bob Backland, who has stolen Young’s keys & tells him to walk briskly to the next town they are to be in…an eight hour walk..
Next up is WWE Women’s Champion Charlotte along with Dana Brooks, who starts out with an apology to her dad, the Nature Boy Ric Flair, which seems heartfelt, saying she still wants Ric personally in her life, but not professionally. Apparently, they (WWE or Charlotte) think they went too far in the spot a couple of weeks ago.
Anyway, out comes Natalya & Becky Lynch, saying Charlotte’s talk is a load of crap & trying to tell Dana Brooks that Charlotte is not to be trusted. Brooks seems to be listening until she gets behind Natalya…& the beatdown starts & Natalya & Lynch are left laying in the ring.
Another terrible Shooting Star promo follows….& then another Tyler Breeze with Fandango (Breezango) match verses R-Truth with Goldust (Golden Truth) match that just ends in a four way mess of a brawl with no winner ever announced as Teddy Long comes out & says to restart it as a Tag match.
At this point, security comes out to escort Teddy Long out of the building who is being tongue lashed by Stephanie who’s telling Teddy that there’s no room for his old bones at WWE.
This is followed by a tribute to Muhammad Ali, showing his history with Professional Wrestling from Gorgeous George influencing his mic work, to his battles with Gorilla Monsoon & Antonio Inoki & being a special referee at the original Wrestlemania. Pretty nice tribute. WWE Hall of Fame 2017?? I would’ve thought he was there already, but he’s not.
Finally in the main event, it’s The New Day verses The Club, which starts in a brawl before the match officially begins & Xavier Woods gets Styles Clashed on the floor & leaves with medical staff making it a 3 on 2 affairs, which despite New Day’s best efforts ends with a Phenomenal Forearm to Kofi Kingston’s skull for the win. Following the win, the attack continues bringing John Cena to the rescue!!
They’re definitely going to build Cena/Styles & New Day vs. The Club for the short term future. It’ll be interesting to see how MONEY IN THE BANK goes in a couple of weeks!
