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WWE Monday Night Raw- Oct. 15, 2018

By Mark Rodriguez

It's time for Monday Night RAW. This time the recently reunited D-Generation X, Triple H and Shawn Micheals await a response from The Brothers of Destruction, Undertaker and Kane. Also Ronda Rousey will address how the Bellas jumped her.


Braun Strauman shows up with Ziggler and McIntyre and start bragging it up. We see clips of how they won against the SHIELD last week and Dean Ambrose walked off upset. The team have matches with Rollins and Ambrose that will qualify them for the World Cup Tournament at Crown Jewel and Ziggler and McIntyre discuss how they might end up facing each other.

The SHIELD arrive, minus Dean Ambrose. Rollins assures their team is alright, and he will personally defeat McIntyre onight. Ziggler jokes about how Ambrose is missing. Rollins assures them that Ambrose operates at his own time but he will show up. He says he should start his qualifying match with Drew and he agrees.


Match 1- Seth Rollins VS Drew McIntyre (World Cup Qualifier) 

Drew got Rollins in a vice grip until he managed to get out and gain momentum. Rollins tried a suicide dive out of the ring but Drew slammed in a belly to belly slam. Drew exposed the steel under the ring apron but Seth managed to shove him against it instead. Ziggler came to distract the ref and Drew took this chance to crawl under the ring. Seth tried to pull Drew back out, but Drew yanked Rollins arm up against the steel under the apron and injure his arm.



After the break, Rollins managed to land a Superkick to the face of Drew to knock him down. Rollins lands a Blockbuster on Drew but he kicks out of the pin. Rollins got MicIntyre trapped on the ropes, but the Scottish Psychopath threw him off him. Rollins grabbed him before he could jump off the ropes and hit him with a Super Plex and a Power Bomb, but he would still kick out of the pin.

Rollins would get ready for The Stomp, but Ziggler would yank down the ropes to trip Rollins out of the ring. Just then Ambrose would show up and attack Ziggler. McIntyre would attack Ambrose but Rollins would hit him with The Stomp outside the ring. With time running out, Rollins managed to get into the ring on time to beat the ten count. Rollins will advance to the World Cup tournament.

There's a scene afterwards with Ambrose taking offense to Rollins saying he operates on his own time. He says they only need him to bail them out and he leaves.

Undertaker and Kane

After a replay of the events of Super-Showdown and the return of D-Generation X, we see a vignette of The Undertaker and Kane in a creepy area that would make Freddy proud. The accept their challenge and say D-Generation X will Rest in Peace.


Second Match- Ember Moon and Nia Jax VS Dana Brooke and Tamina

Ember Moon and Brooke grappled for a bit until Tamina was tagged in. Tamina would overpower Ember until Nia was tagged in. Now with the two powerhouses facing each other, they would try to out muscle each other. Surprisingly, Tamina was able to lift up Nia Jax and hold her up for a few moments before slamming her with a Samoa Drop. Brooke was tagged back in but Ember Moon hit her with the Eclipse and won the match.


 Afterwards, Tamina would get into Nia's face and surprisingly, Ember helps Tamina toss Nia over the ropes. Ember then tries to throw Tamina out but both women wrestle for control. Dana Brooke throws both women out of the ring and stands triumphant over all.

There will be a Battle Royale at Evolution with the winner getting a title match. The surprising this is that Torrie Wilson will also be taking part.

The WWE nostalgia trip continues!


Rhonda Rousey segment

Rhonda shows up to talk about how the Bella Twins betrayed her last week and she wants an explanation. The Bellas show up. The Bellas talk about how important they are to the Divas and how much they have done for the Women's Revolution, and how the belt Rousey wears is because of them. Rousey says they thought they were alright but now sees how talentless they really are. The Bellas say they have kicked down doors during their career. Rhonda mentions all the things she's went through to get to the WWE and says the only door Nikki kicked down was the door to John Cena , and now he's kicked her out of that door.

The Bella contain themselves from rushing into the ring to attack Rousey and instead hold back and send their own security guards after them. Rousey destroys the security guards and the Bellas run away


There is a small segment of Kurt Angle being welcomed back by some of the guys in the back. Corbin is not happy with him and sets him up in a handicap match against AoP.

Third Match- Dean Ambrose VS Dolph Ziggler- World Cup Qualifier

Dean would go for several quick pins and Ziggler would kick out of them. Dean tried to do a Colverleaf but Ziggler managed to kick him away before he could lock it in. Dean tried to jump off the rope but Ziggler would avoid it and grab him for a slam. It seems Ziggler hurt his leg during this move as both men are down.



After the break Ziggler did a Slingshot, throwing Ziggler face first into the ringpost. Ambrose finally got Ziggler in the Cloverleaf submission hold but Ziggler grabbed the ropes. McIntyre comes in to attack Dean and Rollins appears to take him down. Ambrose jumps off the post to take down McIntyre. Rollins tried to help him get back into the ring but Ambrose showed Rollins to the ground. As Ambrose climbed in, Ziggler hit him with a Superkick to the face and won the match.

Ambrose rudely shoves Rollins aside as he walks out of the ring. Rollins follows him and they both argue as Reigns tries to break it up between them. Corbin arrives and says to help the SHIELD hash out their differences, they will have yet another rematch with Strauman, McIntyre and Ziggler.

There's a backstage segment with McIntyre and Ziggler being excited to have the SHIELD divided. They tell Braun to focus on Rollins and Ambrose. Strauman says if Ziggler and McIntyre fail, he will come after them instead.

Fourth Match- Fin Balor VS Jinder Mahal 


Jinder outmuscles Fin but his opponent uses his speed and running dropkicks to his advantage. With The Maharaja down, Fin hits him with the Coup de Grace and wins in short order.

Just then Bobby Lashley arrives with Lio Rush. Lashley poses in Fin's face as Lio hypes him up. Balor and Bayley leave as Bobby prepares for his match.

Fifth Match- Bobby Lashley VS Tyler Breeze

Bobby would do a lot of poses as Lio cheers him on, with Breeze wondering if they're going to start the match or not. Breeze is no match for Lashley who is able to get him in an impressive one-handed Vertical Suplex. Breeze would try to fight back with some punches, but a few impressive slams was enough for Bobby Lashley to put him away.



Trish Stratus and Lita segment

Lita starts to hype up Evolution, but Alexa Bliss and Mickie James show up to talk trash. They comment on how Trish and Lita have been out of the ring for a long time while Alexa and Mickie have been wrestling all this time. Lita calls them out and Alexa and Mickie pretend to run into the ring, but decide to leave the fight for now.


There is a short scene of the Riott Squad picking on Bayley. It's announced that Natalya will be facing Ruby Riott next.

The Conquistador VS AoP Handicap Match

The Conquistador never stood a chance against these two. Kurt Angle couldn't do the Calf Crusher right and he was picked up by both men and slammed down for the win. Corbin enjoyed the show until AoP took off the mask, showing it wasn't Kurt Angle, but some random guy. Kurt Angle showed up and slammed Corbin down. Still wearing his vacation clothes, Kurt walks off as Corbin lays on the ground.


Seventh Match- Natalya VS Ruby Riot



Nattie announces she won't walk into the ring alone since Ruby has her buddies with her and brings in Bayley and announces the return of Sasha Banks to help her out. After a short match, Natalya got Ruby in the Sharpshooter, but before Ruby can tap, Sarah Logan runs in and attacks Nattie. Natalya wins due to disqualification and all of the women come in to fight each other. Sasha and Bayley are thrown out and all the Riott Squad attack Natalya. Sasha and Bayley come back, taking Liv and Sarah out of the ring. Ruby tries to attack but Natalya grabs her in a German Suplex. Natalya, Bayley and Sasha stand victorious.

Elias segment

Elias comes back out to play his music and talk trash on John Cena. Apollo Crews surprisingly shows up to interrupt him. He actually admits that since everyone seems to interrupt Elias, he figures it was his turn.

Elias tries to attack but Apollo hits him with a spinkick and then lifts him up for a press. He slams Elias down and the musician walks off.

Main Event- The SHIELD VS Strauman, Ziggler and McIntyre

Strauman insisted that Ziggler go first to prove his worth. Ziggler faced off with Rollins, but all three members of the SHIELD took a shot at him. Ziggler, while on the ground, managed to kick Rollins into Ambrose. Ambrose and Rollins got into each other's faces again and Reigns tried to calm them down. Strauman knocks all three men out of the ring. Ziggler almost got Reigns but he kicked out of the pin.



After the break McIntyre is in control of Reigns and Ziggler is tagged in. Reigns got out of his hold and McIntyre was tagged back in only to eat a Superman Punch. Strauman gets tagged in and keeps Reigns from tagging in his buddies. Strauman and McIntyre argue over who can get things done better and Strauman gets picked up by Reigns and slammed by a Samoa Drop.

Eventually Ambrose managed to get McIntyre with the Dirty Deeds and was set to do the pin. Ziggler pushed Rollins into Ambrose again, causing them to argue. During the fight, McIntyre accidentally did the Claymore Kick on Strauman. Ambrose returned to help Rollins and Reigns do the SHIELD Bomb on McIntyre and Ambrose would get the final pin to win the match.

The SHIELD are a unit again and they walk off in victory. Strauman is enraged and he grabbed Ziggler for a Power Slam. Just then McIntyre hits him with a Claymore, this time on purpose. McIntyre walks off making a new enemy with Strauman.


The Highs of Tonight's RAW

Rollins VS McIntyre- Pretty good match and it sets up the mood and the tensions between both teams which escalate to the main event.

-That Main Event- These guys still offer new after seeing the same match every time. This was almost a low because its the third time we've seen this match, but it was really good. What makes this work is the in-team dynamic, not just for the SHIELD but for the bad guys as well. It's exciting to see who will turn heel first, Ambrose or Ziggler, and despite everyone betting on Ambrose, McIntyre was the first to turn on his teammates. It's interesting to note that even though Ziggler gets on McIntyre's nerves, he is quick to attack Strauman whenever he attacks Ziggler.

Rhonda's bombshell on Nikki Bella- Despite all the talk, the Bellas fail to admit that the Evolution started to get rid of them, not to celebrate them. Rhonda tells it like it is, but the real bombshell was shoving her personal problems with Cena in her face. I'm not sure if the Cena/Nikki breakup is real or just kayfabe (this segment might just prove it's kayfabe), but still, Rhonda dropped some truth on those talentless Bellas. I only wish AJ Lee was here to further rub it in their faces.

The Return of Tamina, Sasha Banks and Apollo Crews- It's good to see them again, I just hope WWE does more with them. At least we got more of a Nia Jax VS Tamina match, but we really need to see these two go in a singles match sometime. 


The Lows of Tonight's RAW-

So much damn filler and pointless matches- What was the point of Fin Balor beating Jinder Mahal in about 2 minutes? Then Lashley posing in his face, with nothing coming from it. And him equally squashing Tyler Breeze? The Conquistador VS AoP, a total waste of AoP's time. Why not give Elias and Apollo a decent match? No wonder they focus so much on the SHIELD VS Strauman's team, it's the only feud worth caring about on RAW. Didn't we already see Alexa and Mickie talk trash to Lita and Trish last week?

Must both World Cup Qualifiers be related to the SHIELD/Strauman feud? Why not make the tournament so varied? It's now purposely set up for it to lead to Orton VS Jeff and Rollins VS McIntyre. Was there no one else they could have used for a qualifier? It's further proof the only feud worth caring about on RAW is the SHIELD/Strauman feud. 

The Riott Squad is useless- When are these girls going to pose a threat? They have much more skill than they're being allowed to portray here. Even now that they don't have to deal with the unstoppable Rhonda Rousey, Ruby can't beat Natalya? Sure, we got the return of Sasha Banks, but we could have still had Ruby beat Natalya and have Liv and Sarah keep Bayley and Sasha out of it. It makes the Riott Sqaud look more like annoyances than actual threats, they're basically the Team Rocket of the Women's Division. The commentary keeps saying that Ruby wants to be champion someday, let her show that she has the tools to do it. 



My Overall Opinions

The SHIELD feud is the most interesting story going on right now, but it sadly makes everything else seems unimportant in comparison. The main event was just awesome and I'm looking forward to see what will happen between McIntyre and Strauman next week.

They keep teasing the Ambrose heel turn and now that McIntyre turned, I hope they can back off of that for a while. Hopefully their feud with Strauman's squad ends at Crown Jewel and they can move on to other opponents before Ambrose finally does his much awaited turn, hopefully at something major like Survivor Series or Royal Rumble. I have to say, Vince's plan is working since people have been cheering Roman lately, even chanting his name to get out of Ziggler's hold.

Again, the other feuds just aren't that important. They just seem like random matches. And for the Mixed Match challenge, how many times are Fin and Bayley gonna face Jinder and Alicia before they can move on to another team? I know this was a singles match, but couldn't they face anyone else? With Owens out due to injury, there goes any chance of a feud against Lashley so they just feed Breeze to him, and thus he has no real direction now and no real feud. Bobby Roode only had a cameo talking with Kurt. They don't even bother to do anything with him.

I guess the only other feud to care about is Kurt Angle and Baron Corbin, but they gotta move on from all these cheesy antics and pranks. And what will happen to Corbin when he's no longer Acting General Manager?

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