Following the big news, a week ago of Paul Heyman and Eric Bischoff taking over Raw and SmackDown LIVE as Executive Directors, some optimism was in fans mind despite the slow turnover that is expected. In the first Raw since the news broke, the show kicked off with a bang and ended with one hell of a turn. Let’s dig into the Raw highlights.
Raw Highlights: Strowman and Lashley’s Rivalry Explodes
Braun Strowman and Bobby Lashley kicked off Monday Night Raw with their Falls Count Anywhere match. Their rivalry to this point has been hard-hitting to say the least and that only continued. The two men brawled around the arena with Lashley dominating a ton of the match. When they would get to the top of the stage, Lashley would hit a Suplex on Strowman for a near fall. He would then prepare for a Spear. As he would turnaround, “The Monster Among Men” tackled “The All Mighty” through the stage’s LED board where explosions would occur, and the two men would be left lying. They would be wheeled out on stretchers proving this rivalry is not dead and only getting better. It was a great way to kick off the show, all action no promo.
Raw Highlights: Street Profits Debut
Oddly enough, the NXT Tag Team Champions The Street Profits made their main roster debut on Monday Night Raw. Why it was odd was due to the fact that did not wrestle. They just had a backstage segment with the titles around their waist and then interrupting Paul Heyman in his own interview. Montez Ford and Angelo Dawkins were able to get their personalities across but considering how many teams SmackDown LIVE are lacking, it was weird to see them on Raw. Fun, but weird.
#AndNEW: Drake Maverick Wins the 24/7 Championship
Drake Maverick brought his wife backstage to Monday Night Raw in hopes of winning back the 24/7 Championship before going on their honeymoon. His wife made it clear that it was either her or the championship, which forced him to avoid pinning R-Truth on multiple occasions. Eventually, his wife would head to the bathroom before leaving. Truth would show up and turn his back, allowing Maverick to throw his suitcase at him. He would then pin Truth to win his second 24/7 Championship. He would immediately run with his wife to his honeymoon as the champion. There should be some fun content this week including this championship.
Raw MVP: The Club
The United States Championship is the most important championship on the main roster. Two straight weeks, the champion Ricochet has main evented Raw. And who has he faced both weeks? “The Phenomenal One”, AJ Styles. A week ago, Styles defeated Ricochet in a fantastic match. This week, Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson went out of their way to get into the mind of their friend Styles and Ricochet. “The Good Brothers” continued to get in Styles head saying that he just barely beat Ricochet last week and probably could not do it again. All night long it would lead to Styles getting angrier. He would even get into the face of Ricochet, challenging him to a match for the United States Championship in the main event. Following Ricochet accepting, Styles would slap him across the face, and he would do it back.
United States Championship: Ricochet (c) vs AJ Styles
Finally, the match would get going and these two were off. Styles would quickly hit the Phenomenal Forearm and get the pinfall to win the match. Ricochet got his leg under the ring however which led to another ref running down to the ring and helping correct the match. After the commercial break, Gallows and Anderson would be at ringside watching along. The match would continue before Ricochet would hit a clever pin to keep Styles down for the three count. Styles would be stunned and clearly agitated. Ricochet would prepare to help Styles with his Japan friends before Styles would quickly turn and strike the champion.
Styles finally had enough, and The Club was back. They would beat down Ricochet, leading to a Styles Clash from the top rope. Finally, Styles made the switch. The Club is officially back and are clearly going by with no rules. The three men would continue the beat down before hitting the “Too Sweet” in the middle of the ring as the show went off. This was the shot in the arm not only Raw needed, but the three members of The Club needed as well. Hopefully, these three can run Raw as this is now the best thing going.
These have been your Raw highlights from an incredibly fun edition of Monday Night Raw had Heyman’s hands all over it if you want to accept it or not. Shane McMahon was limited, and The Club will now ride again. Be sure to come back tomorrow to see if Eric Bischoff can get his hands on SmackDown LIVE this soon.
Stay tuned to the Last Word on Pro Wrestling for more on this and other stories from around the world of wrestling, as they develop. You can always count on LWOPW to be on top of the major news in the wrestling world, as well as to provide you with analysis, previews, videos, interviews, and editorials on the wrestling world. You can watch RAW and all WWE content on the WWE Network
