WWE.com RAW's The Shield
The latest episode of Monday Night RAW is now airing on the USA Network. Here’s what’s happened so far:
11:15 – Strowman and Reigns win. They stand victorious as the show comes to a close.
11:10 – Ziggler and McIntyre take control early on, smashing Reigns with a DDT, but Strowman breaks up the pin and wails on the McIntyre. Ziggler and McIntyre proceed to stomp Reigns into the mat, however, and ref calls for the bell to DQ.
Braun Strowman & Roman Reigns vs Dolph Ziggler & Drew McIntyre
11:00 – Ambrose wins. We cut to commercial as the main event gets underway.
10:55 – Mahal chokes Ambrose against the middle ropes and drops several knees on his head, but the latter manages to fight out of a brutal headlock with some hits to the gut. Mahal tries hits a running knee to the face but Ambrose counters the Khallas and hits Dirty Deeds for the pin.
Dean Ambrose vs Jinder Mahal
10:40 – Lashley wins. Ambrose and Mahal set up for their match in the meantime.
10:35 – The Ascension gains the upper hand for a bit with some hard tags, but Lashley manages to fight back with a series of strong hits before clotheslining Konnor out of the ring. He finishes Viktor off with the Dominator.
The Ascension vs Bobby Lashley
10:25 – Natalya wins. Natalya, Stratus and Rousey celebrate backstage.
10:20 – Fox chokes Natalya against the bottom rope, causing Bliss and Mickie James take a few cheap shots outside of the ring. Rousey and Stratus chase them away. Natalya nails a clothesline before locking in the Sharpshooter on the pinned Fox.
Natalya vs Alicia Fox
10:05 – Elias plays a song after the break, but he’s interrupted when Trish Stratus’ music hits and she walks to the ring. She says she doesn’t like hearing him talk bad about Canada. Stratus talks about her upcoming match against Alexa Bliss, then Ronda Rousey’s music hits and she comes out to accompany Natalya to the ring.
9:55 – The Revival wins. They saw the RAW division is a joke because of The B-Team and say they have plans to change all that.
9:52 – Another stellar match. Dawson tags in at one point and kicks Dallas in the face for a narrow two count. Dallas counters with a rope-hung neckbreaker. After a series of devastating blows to both sides, Dash barely manages to break up a pin. The Revival manage to take out Dallas and hits the Shatter Machine for the pin.
The Revival vs The B-Team
9:33 – Rollins wins. Owens says “I quit” before dropping the mic and leaving the ring.
9:30 – To many people’s surprise, Owens holds his own against the masterful Rollins. He puts Rollins Seth on the top turnbuckle towards the end of the match, and while Rollins manages to counter with a bucklebomb, Owens answers right back with a superkick for a fall. Rollins miraculously recovers and nails the Stomp for the pin.
Kevin Owens vs Seth Rollins
9:10 – Seth Rollins comes out and talks about The Shield reunion last week. He says his match card is open, so he issues an open challenge for the IC title. Kevin Owens’ music comes on and he comes out to loud cheers. He says things haven’t improved for him since he moved from SmackDown, and not having his best friend Sami Zayn by his side is why he lost to Strowman at SummerSlam. He challenges Rollins and a match is set.
8:55 – Backstage, Jinder Mahal finds Dean Ambrose standing alone and tries to get him to do breathing exercises. Ambrose closes his eyes and threatens to beat up Mahal.
8:50 – Banks wins. She celebrates with Bayley as Titus and Apollo argue about what happened to Brooke.
8:45 – After Brooke gets off to a strong start, Banks hits a Meteora from the top rope and gets a near fall. She hits a pristine Bank Statement to do Brooke in.
Sasha Banks vs Dana Brooke
8:40 – Corbin wins. He celebrates as a defeated Balor lay sprawled out in the ring.
8:35 – A marathon battle between Balor and Corbin kicks off the episode in style. Both wrestlers deliver some brutal hits, but Corbin eventually gets himself disqualified when he hits Balor with a chair. Scrambling for a fix, he grabs a mic and says he forgot to announce this was a no DQ match and that it should be restarted. The bell rings and he hits Balor with the chair again. He hits The End of Days and pins him.
Finn Balor vs Baron Corbin
8:15 – Reigns then challenges Dolph Ziggler and Drew McIntyre to come out and face him and Seth Rollins, but Baron Corbin interrupts before anything can happen. He says Strowman vs Reigns has been approved. Corbin also challenges Finn Balor to face him right now.
8:07 – Strowman comes out and says he won’t cash in tonight because he knows The Shield would interrupt the match. He makes an offer to wait until Hell in a Cell to cash in his contract so that Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins can’t get inside the cage. Roman agrees and they shake hands to make it official.
8:03 – Roman Reigns comes out wearing a Shield t-shirt. He says he told Braun Strowman that he would meet him in the ring at the top of the show and he showed up as promised. He calls out Strowman and everyone else who wants to take a shot at winning his title.
Preview
The big story headed into tonight is the strained relationship between Roman Reigns and Braun Strowman. During a heated Universal Championship main event between Reigns and Finn Bálor last week, Strowman emerged with his Money in the Bank contract in tow in an attempt to cash it. Unfortunately for the Monster Among Men, Reigns’ Shield brothers Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose emerged to overpower Strowman and lay him out with a thunderous Triple Powerbomb right through the announce desk.
Strowman made it clear that he plans to be more upfront in his attack tonight. “I don’t need to surprise you to cash in #MITB. I promised to do it face to face,” he wrote on Twitter. “Face me in the middle of your “yard” on #Raw, Roman. And if you’re really a man you’ll come alone. #MonsterInTheBank.”
Reigns responded to Strowman’s threat, tweeting out: “You literally tried to cash in after I wrestled for 30 min last Monday, sounds like the only way u can take MY title is by surprise. Better luck next time Meat Shack. See u at 8pm.”
We also have the promotion of Constable Baron Corbin to RAW general manager. After suffering an attack at the hands of RAW Women’s Champion Ronda Rousey, Stephanie McMahon gave Kurt Angle an unexpected vacation and put Corbin in charge of the red brand. Tonight will be the first episode that Corbin runs by himself, and it will be interesting to see how he deals with The Shield, Rousey, and especially Balor and Bobby Lashley, the latter of whom defeated him in a match last week.
We also have the B-Team taking on the Revival after their victory against them at SummerSlam Kickoff Match. Tonight we’ll see whether the tag-team combo has what it takes to fight them off again.
Then there’s Ronda Rousey. The Raw Women’s Champion brutally attacked RAW Commissioner Stephanie McMahon after she tried to take credit for her victory at SummerSlam, and put her in an armbar similar to the one he applied to Alexa Bliss. While it remains to be seen whether Rousey will face repercussions for her actions, its likely that she’ll continue to disrespect her superiors in the meantime. One can only imagine what she has in store for Bliss. Tune in tonight at 8 p.m. EST.