RAW RECAP 10/3/16- SASHA BANKS IS THE BOSS AGAIN!! HELL IN A CELL LADIES MATCH?
By Tarron Coalson
MONDAY NIGHT RAW is coming to us live from the Staples Center in Los Angeles, CA is what was promised as an exciting card on last weeks show.
Opening up the show is an intensely booed US Champ, Roman Reigns who comes out and is promptly interrupted by the Ravishing Russian, Lana, who is out to challenge Reigns on the behalf of Rusev. But, of course, it devolves quickly and Lana tells Reigns to “go to Hell” which brings Rusev out and a brawl ensues which sees Rusev get the upper hand, kicking Reigns over the barricade and leaving with the United States Championship.
But, as WWE is now a days, the good guy superhero has to get the last word in and Reigns blind sides Rusev with a Superman punch and stands over Rusev saying that since Lana told him to “go to Hell”, that Rusev will get his rematch, at HELL IN A CELL in four weeks.
It was a decent start but again, why must the faces always end strong and leaving the heels weak, especially when the face already has the title. I don’t get it but Hulk Hogan did it for years….
The second Raw match of the night is a rematch, but not for the title, between Cruiserweight champ TJ Perkins and Brian Kendrick. These two had a stinker of a match at the last PPV and this one was some better, but not much. The end comes as Kendrick catches Perkins in his Captain’s Hook submission hold and Perkins taps out in his hometown, setting up a championship rematch. By the way, when did a rear chin lock become a finishing move??
Next up is a Raw taped interview segment between Michael Cole and Seth Rollins in which they’re comparing the career paths of Rollins and Kevin Owens and discussing Rollins rib injury.
The following match is Brawn Strowman verses Chase Silver, who at least, talked confidently. It was a squash match, although a better squash match than what Brawn has been having. He ends it with a Powerslam which looks nice.
Afterwards, Strowman is interviewed by Byron Sexton and he tells him to have Mick Foley give him some real competition next week or else. Can’t really think of anyone on the roster they’re not using now that could give Strowman a challenge. Maybe a spot for Sami Zayn?
A promo follows with Bayley wishing Sasha Bank well in her title match with Charlotte in the main event.
Next up in the WWE Universal Champ Kevin Owens with his good friend Chris Jericho and the banter between them is pretty funny. Jericho says they ought to challenge New Day since Jeri-KO is the best tag team in the WWE but Owens is hesitant which prompts Jericho to insinuate that he could go after Owens title if he didn’t want to challenge New Day and Owens says OK. New Day comes out and after bantering back and forth accepts the challenge.
Following that is Sami Zayn against Titus O’Neil who is debuting the Titus Brand or hashtag #makeit a win. Whatever? Where’s Darren Young and Bob Backland? Guess they dropped that angle.
Titus controls most of the match with power moves but then Zayn hits the Helluva Kick to score the win.
A promo follows with Sheamus/Cesaro and GM Mick Foley as Sheamus and Cesaro are still arguing and Foley blows his stack with them and tells them to go out and be dominant!
Next up is Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson going against the Golden Truth (Goldust and R-Truth) and it’s dominated by Gallows and Anderson, who hit the Magic Killer on R-Truth fairly quickly, match over!
A promo with Ashton Kutcher and Danny Masterson verbally sparring with Chris Jericho follows as Kutcher and Masterson are promoting their new Netflix series.
The New Day verses Jeri-KO is up with Kutcher and Masterson helping on ringside commentary (and still promoting the Netflix series), Kutcher’s not bad but sounded like Masterson’s mike had audio issues. It’s a good match and Seth Rollins comes out and interferes as the New Day pins Jericho and then Rollins pedigrees him while taunting Kevin Owens, who is outside the ring.
Promo follows with WWE Women’s Champ Charlotte, Dana Brooke and Bayley, where Bayley is trying to warn Charlotte to be at her best but Charlotte blows her off and leaves. Dana starts to push Bayley and Bayley slams Dana heads into an equipment case and Dana comes up holding her knee. It’s announced later that she’s getting medical treatment and won’t be at Charlotte’s side during the title match.
Finally, it’s the main event as Charlotte puts her title on the line against Sasha Banks. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, this could be the Ric Flair/Ricky Steamboat feud remade.
Charlotte playing the part of a confident, cocky champ, like her father and Sasha playing the determined challenger, like Steamboat. These two have great chemistry together! To be honest, Charlotte carried this match and I still don’t believe Sasha’s one hundred percent.
Charlotte nailed an incredible moonsault from the top rope to the floor but added a corkscrew to it. AWESOME! And then hit the Natural Selection but couldn’t score the pin. It was back and forth action and had moments of their previous encounters.
Charlotte started to lose it when she couldn’t pin Sasha as she did in her first title loss to Sasha. Sasha locked in the Banks Statement, which Charlotte reversed it into a pinning position, as she did when she won the title back from Sasha but this time Sasha reversed it back into the Banks Statement and had her body over Charlotte’s body and legs and their was no escaping as Charlotte tapped out and Sasha Banks becomes a two-time Ladies Champ!
This was a much better effort by RAW after the PPV and last week’s dud of a program. I’m sure the next three weeks will be the build up’s for HELL IN A CELL.
You could only think with the bitterness between Sasha and Charlotte, a HELL IN A CELL match would be appropriate. Can’t remember many Ladies cage matches but Sasha and Charlotte have spent the last two years kicking in barriers. I think it would be great! Stay tuned for the SMACKDOWN review this week as well!
