Monday Night Raw comes to us live tonight inside the FedEx Forum in Memphis, Tennessee!
Braun Strowman out of Royal Rumble
Strowman opened Raw tonight with a promo in the ring. He ended up attacking Baron Corbin in a limo with an assist from an Elias song. He broke the door off and smashed the window. Turns out, that’s Vince McMahon’s limo we saw him get out of at the very beginning of Raw. Vince was not happy when he discovered the wreckage. He stripped Braun of his Universal title match at the Royal Rumble. Strowman flipped over the limo and was then sent out of the building by security. I’m guessing Braun isn’t fully healed from his elbow injury.
Sasha Banks & Ronda Rousey vs Nia Jax & Tamina
First of all, is there any reason Rousey & Banks are tagging other than they both don’t like Nia and they’re baby faces? They’re having a match together on a PPV in two weeks, they should not be a team tonight. The match was okay at best. Sasha tapped out Tamina via bank statement, which was the best outcome for this match so credit to WWE for that at least.
The two had a promo after where things got heated. Banks cut a great promo saying she’s not the only woman who can tap people out. This promo furthered their story really well but the match was pointless.
Finn Balor is the new #1 contender for the Universal Title
After taking Braun Strowman out of the Universal title match earlier tonight, Vince McMahon came out to announce the new #1 contender. John Cena interrupted him before Vince had a chance to speak and tell Vince that he’s going to be a 17 time world champion after the Rumble. Drew McIntyre then interrupted Cena and told Cena that he’s got to go. Baron Corbin came out, then Finn Balor and everything broke down. After all that, Vince announced a fatal four way to determine the new #1 contender later tonight.
Jinder Mahal ended up staking his claim for the title as well and Vince said if he can beat Finn Balor tonight, he can take Balor’s spot in the match. Balor was blindsided early but turned it around to pick up the victory. Finn will go into the fatal four way hurt.
The fatal four way was Raw’s main event this week. All four men got offense in, hitting their signature moves at various points throughout the match. Ultimately, Finn Balor overcame the odds by pinning John Cena with a coupe de grace after already comepeting earlier in the night. At long last Balor is getting his Universal title match at Royal Rumble against Brock Lesnar.
Nikki Cross
Nikki Cross made her Raw debut tonight in a 6 woman tag, teaming with Bayley & Natalya against the Riott Squad. She looked fantastic tonight and I can’t wait to see what she can do on Raw and the main roster!
Intercontinental Championship
After Bobby Lashley attacked Seth Rollins during his title match against Dean Ambrose last week, we’ll do it again this week but this time with Lashley added to the mix. This was a good match. Lashley & Ambrose worked together for a while and Ambrose with Rollins briefly. Seth had a great showing as usual. The finish came when Lio Rush pulled Rollins over the top rope and Lashley hit a spear on Ambrose for the win.
This is great to see Bobby Lashley get the victory here. For the first time in Lashley’s career, he’s Intercontinental champion!
Women’s Tag Team Championships
During A Moment Of Bliss, Alexa Bliss announced that in five weeks at Elimination Chamber, three teams from Raw and three teams from SmackDown will compete inside the Chamber itself to determine the first ever Women’s Tag Team champions.
The teams are to be announced as of now but this is a huge announcement. This is something the Women’s division has needed for a long time and it’s exciting to think about what WWE can do with the belts.
Overall, this was a solid episode of Monday Night Raw. We have an new #1 contender for the Universal title, a new IC champion, several NXT stars showed up on tonight’s show as well as getting to watch Braun Strowman destroy a limo. New Women’s tag team titles were unveiled and the Women’s title feud is also heating up. Next week looks to be a must watch as it’s the go home show for the Royal Rumble.
Here’s to a great episode of SmackDown Live tomorrow night!
