Welcome back to Mykel Night Raw! I’ll be taking over for Alex today, and I’m a little under the weather, so this will be more direct than other Reduxes I’ve done.
Our first sighting is one Stephanie McMahon who is not happy with Baron Corbin. She dresses him down for his choices, tells him to handle his business, or Kurt Anglee may be brought back sooner than later if he keeps messing up the church’s money.
Up next we have Finn Balor vs. Jinder Mahal, accompanied by their Mixed Match Challenge partners Bayley and Alicia Fox respectively. Both ladies get involved and Bayley even hits a Bayley to Belly on Sunil Singh after a hard forearm to the Foxy One! After the loss, Mahal, Singh and Fox get together in the ring, and meditate. Girl, I guess.
Next up is the match that’s had the IWC buzzing; the six woman tag. We recap the dog walking and monkey stomping of Nattie by the Riott Squad and how the Champion, Ronda, who is out on promo tour got a beat down at their hands and the Bellas made the save. Out first is Nattie, then here comes our favorite twins this side of Tia and Tamera, Mary-Kate and Ashley, the Bella Twins.
Enter the opposition. It’ll be Nikki vs Liv and Lv is overpowered comes back with a Thesz Press and a couple kicks. Nikki takes control with a clothesline and a back breaker for two. Tag to Brie, they hit “twin magic” for two on Liv. Then came the yes kicks that knocked Liv flat on her face, she gets her shoulder up and is literally dragged across the ring to tag Ruby Riott.
Riot with the advantage with a tight side headlock, Brie is whipped into a corner, Riott charged, meets a back elbow and a dropkick, Riott retreats to the third rope which sets up Brie’s patented knee to the face, and another two count. Things start to break down with a triple suplex. The Squad finds refuge outside while Nattie and the Bellas pose in the ring.
That’s short lived as Brie gets clobbered in the face as we head to break. We’re back with Valley of the Doll, Logan is grounding Brie. Brie tried to fight back, to be forearmed down, but Brie answered back in kind with a hit to Riott as Logan catapults Bella into her. Morgan has been sent to back, and Riott has a cravat cinched in.
They WIN, they RIOTT!
The #RiottSquad gets the better of @BellaTwins & @NatByNature heading into #WWESSD! #RAW pic.twitter.com/JPNG4PYPi8
— WWE (@WWE) September 25, 2018
Bella inches to her corner, Riott knocks Nikki off the apron to eat a running facebuster that Luna Vachon and Melina could be proud of. Nattie and Logan get hot tags, and Nattie takes it to Logan with two clotheslines and a German Suplex, followed with the Nattie by Nature. Her pin is broken up by Ruby, who intercepts an interfering Nikki. Irish whip to Nattie is reversed allowing Ruby to blind tag in. Nattie locks in the sharpshooter on Logan only to be met with a kick, then a Riott kick for the win!
Up next we see Triple H and birthday girl, Stephanie McMahon, in the ring describing WWE’s efforts with pediatric cancer. They have raised $2,000,000 through Connor’s Cure, so kudos to them. They then introduce Hope on Wheels ambassadors Carter and Elizabeth.
Triple H and Steph present the two superstars with belts, as the crowd cheers and tells them they deserve it, and Elizabeth gets a bit teary eyed. Zafar Brooks takes the mic and puts WWE and their efforts over, and sends a $200,000 check to them and Connor’s Cure, such a good moment.
Next we see Miss Nia Jax with Ember Moon against Alicia in her second appearance of the night, accompanied by Little Miss Bliss and Mickie James to HER OWN THEME. In a little segment during Fox’s entrance, Moon and Jax put over Jax’s game changer nomination.
The match begins as expected, Beel, corner splash, Beel, Bliss and James pull Fox out before she got pancaked again, only for Mickie to be sentoned from the apron by Moon. Jax rolls Alicia into the ring to be met with a knee, then a swinging neckbreaker for one, Fox with a rear chinlock with knees to the back. Nia powers out, but eats a boot to the face twice for two. Forearms by Fox who hits the ropes and eats a Samoan Drop and just like that, it’s a wrap.
Backstage there was an interview on WWE.com exclusive.
We also see Elizabeth sing “Happy Birthday” to Stephanie McMahon.
Brie @BellaTwins took to social media to address her actions towards @YaOnlyLivvOnce in their Six-Woman Tag Team Match on #RAW. https://t.co/58AAZdYZRF
— WWE (@WWE) September 25, 2018
And Brie Bella addressing her Bella Blunder on social media.
Thoughts: I’m over Nia’s moveset. It’s so repetitive and basic, and you can pretty much call her matches before they start. Call me Stevie Wonder because I just don’t see it for you. However, it was nice to see Alicia get some offense in, and it was outside of her normal bag of tricks.
Fox and Bayley accompanying their male partners, so I get it, I’m curious to see what Alicia and Mahal will do. I do like how commentary did make mention of Sasha, and maybe teasing a little Sasha/Bayley jealousy. Speaking of commentary, I’ve noticed Renee adds very little to the booth unless it involves “her girls” the Bellas or Dean Ambrose, I’m over the boot licking. I was glad to see Stephanie, she came, didn’t overstay her welcome, and left, perfect. Mickie and Ember deserve better than this. This was tragic on Greek proportions.
Now onto Brie. Girl, I get it was an accident, but it’s clear you’re not as ready as we’d like you to be. Daniel Bryan wants you to get more respect, but you’ve been a flop in the ring since your return and it pains me to say it. Thank goodness for Nikki, and kudos to Logan and Riott for continuing and picking up the victory. Liv is the real MVP. She was legit knocked out it appeared and still took that triple suplex, kudos. She’s currently suffering from memory loss, so she may be concussed, so I’m hoping for her speedy recovery! There wasn’t much in ways of storyline progression, but it looks like maybe there will be a Ruby/Ronda mini feud? Who knows? Raw is as it has been for a while, mediocre at best, a train wreck at its worst. Namaste! DayQuil and Vick’s VapoRub here I come!
By the way, so is Dana Brooke’s storyline dropped already? Inquiring minds want to know.
What did you think of last night’s episode of Raw?
