WWE’s European tour continues with Monday Night RAW going down from Dusseldorf in Germany before they hit the UK later this week.
Let’s get into the results:
Je’Von Evans def. Bravo Americano
Number one contenders match for Women’s Tag Team titles: Liv Morgan and Roxanne def. Bayley & Lyra Valkyria and The Kabuki Warriors
Dragon Lee and Penta def. Austin Theory and Bronson Reed via DQ
Gunther def. AJ Styles
Notes:
The show starts with IYO SKY and Rhea Ripley walking to the ring holding their freshly won Women’s Tag Team titles. Their celebration promo is interrupted by Liv Morgan and Roxanne Perez. They obviously want the titles. Bayley and Lyra Valkyria followed suit and had the same problem.
The Kabuki Warriors turn up and drag the champions out the ring before all the challengers end up scrapping in the ring. Gee, I wonder where this is going… The champions clear the ring to close the segment.
Liv Morgan tears into Finn Balor backstage about not doing enough. Roxanne backs her up. Balor says “Just you watch, girls. Just you watch.”
Adam Pearce warns Paul Heyman that Bron Breakker should stay away tonight.
CM Punk hits the ring for a promo. He says he looks forward to finding out who his next challenger will be, which brings out Balor. The match is made for next week in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
Yes, the triple threat number one contenders match for the WWE Women’s Tag Team title did get made.
Becky Lynch vignette airs where The Man reveals she is being made to face Maxxine Dupri in a rematch for the Women’s IC title next week in Belfast. Really rolling the Irish stars out (even if they’re not Northern Irish). Dupri is interviewed shortly after and says she is going to break Lynch’s ankle. Moderrn day Ken Shamrock!
Raquel Rodriguez appears for an interview to explain why she attacked Stephanie Vaquer. The champ then turns up in a moon boot. Vaquer begins to talk to the camera as it appears that Rodriguez has left, but the Judgement Day star of course returns and beats her up.
Otis and Tozawa approach Jey Uso to ask for a title shot. Uso greets them warmly and thinks they’re joking at first, but changes his tune when Otis lets him know he’s serious.
Bron Breakker arrived to spear the luchadors out of their boots. Adam Pearce then showed up to confront Breakker. The Vision and Breakker did not care one bit and continued dismantling Lee and Penta.
Pearce got in Breakker’s face and said he’s not taking it anymore. Breakker grabbed the GM and manhandled him into the corner with rage in his eyes. The Vision stopped him before he made a costly error.
By the way, Breakker’s Spear on Lee saw him run the length of the ramp to hit it on the outside. It’s phenomental to watch.
Je’Von Evans offers his help to Penta and Lee backstage, seemingly targeting The Vision.
Pearce confronts Breakker again, suspending the young star indefintely for putting his hands on him. As Breakker leaves, Heyman makes the point to Pearce that he put his hands on Breakker first…
A very entertaining 20 minute main event between Styles and Gunter ends with Gunther low-blowing Styles after the Phenomenal One belived the Austrian had tapped out. A powerbomb followed for Gunther’s win.
Replays showed that Gunther did indeed tap on Styles’ leg, on the ref’s blindside.
Analysis:
A solid episode of RAW that did more to set up next week in Belfast than anything else.
WWE were talking about Lynch and Balor competing in Belfast like that’s their hometown and country – it is not. It’s the same island, thats about it. It has been that way for about 105 years.
Bron Breakker not being able to control his rage is a fun version to watch and superstars need that edge, it’s what made Brock Lesnar so appealing for so many years. One has to think he is still going to be annointed at WrestleMania, it’s just how do we get there?
It seems like a straight shoot out between Roman Reigns and Breakker for the Royal Rumble. Will Drew McIntyre still have the title by WrestleMania 42? If we are getting Rhodes vs Reigns III, will it be for a title?
We should all enjoy seeing Balor with a renewed vigour and purpose. It is good for main event stars to take a break from competing for titles from time to time; it makes fans miss them and new opponents tend to rise.
Balor hasn’t been a true solo star in a while and he really should be.
Interesting to have Liv Morgan and Roxanne challenge for Rhea Ripley and IYO SKY next. I can’t help but think the majority of that match are destined for world title contention by the time Mania rolls around.
Not a bad start to the European tour for RAW, not amazing.
