Welcome one and all to the RAW RECAP presented by THE REVELLEUTION! We’re just days away from the Money in the Bank event and the multi-Superstar WWE HQ match for the briefcases. Both the men and women’s matches will seemingly happen at the same time, with could result in an unfortunate cluster with too many people involved at the same time. But who from the Raw brand will get the last laugh before the event rolls around? Let’s get into it, and find out…
MVP hosted a VIP Lounge with ASUKA, NIA JAX and SHAYNA BASZLER. Jax gave a flat answer, saying she just needed to be ruthless, while Asuka ranted in her native tongue with shards of English referencing ‘Poor Kairi’. Asuka called Jax ‘Big Booty! Not VIP!’ which seemed to disgust Jax. Baszler just said she just let actions do the talking. The segment ended with Asuka and Baszler kicking Jax to send her crashing half through, half over the short table she had been sitting on.
LANA was seen backstage hyping her man Bobby Lashley but she seemed upset as he ignored her, and once again she wasn’t at ringside as he competed.
ZELINA VEGA accompanied her client Angel Garza as part of the Last Chance Gauntlet Match.
CHARLY CARUSO conducted an in-ring interview with Seth Rollins.
CHARLOTTE FLAIR went to the ring for a promo. Bragging about working Mondays and Wednesdays. Patronising Io Shirai saying she’d make her ‘dream’ come true by losing. Surprisingly, LIV MORGAN came out as she taunted Flair for having a silver spoon in her ‘A… Ah, mouth’. Morgan was condifent, trying to provoke Flair with remarks about her Father before saying that if she had to take out ‘a couple of back stabbers’ or dethrone a Queen in order to become Champion “Then Blessed Be”. Unamused, Flair dismissed the insults but Morgan didn’t back down. Demanding a referee to see ‘what happens’.
Non-Title Women’s Singles Match
NXT Women’s Champion CHARLOTTE FLAIR defeats LIV MORGAN
Flair easily overpowered Morgan in the early going. Burying Morgan by outwrestling her and even countering a drop down by stopping at the ropes to kick Morgan. Morgan eventually came back with a Dropkick to send Flair into the corner, then following up with a Running Headscissors. That rally was shut down with a Clothesline from Flair. Morgan tried to keep control, hitting her double bounce Springboard Dropkick, but again Flair shut her down soon after with a Hiptoss into the corner followed by stomps.
Morgan’s destruction continued after a commerical break with the face slams in a Headscissors spot. Morgan came back with a House on Fire rally ending with a Running Facebuster. Following with a Shining Wizard-like strike then the Double Stomp to the back at the corner for a near fall. Flair countered a slide-in Sunset Flip by just stomping away at Morgan. Soon after, Morgan held Flair’s head, bouncing off the ropes for a Codebreaker of sorts.
Morgan went for another Headscissors but paid for it, as Flair countered into a Sit-out Powerbomb for a near fall. Then Flair countered another repeat move of the Dropkick, countering to a Boston Crab but Morgan got to the ropes. Later, Morgan rushed up to Flair on the middle ropes, hitting a rough looking Codebreaker from that postion for a two count. Morgan went for ObLIVion but Flair dodged, rolling Morgan to the mat and locking in the Figure Eight quickly for the instant tapout.
FINAL THOUGHTS:
The WWE’s odd on/off push with Morgan continues. Trying to sell the story of Morgan putting in good matches when she comes up short, but it still looks like she can only beat lesser opponents as she’s lost to big stars like Asuka and Flair. The WWE is so strange in thinking loss equal a push, and wonder why there isn’t support from fans (granted, there are no fans right now of course in the building) for losers. It was a very good match and Morgan did well aside from a couple scrappy moments. But Morgan needs a solid, big win before it’s clear the WWE is pushing her. The VIP Lounge segment did nothing for me and it was another clear case of the WWE realising last minute they needed to hype the match and just tossed this one out there.
That’s your lot for this week! Be sure to stop by in seven days time as we have all the fallout from Money in the Bank with the next edition of the RAW RECAP! See you then!