Welcome one and all to the RAW RECAP presented by THE REVELLUTION! We’re well on the road to Money in the Back event as the women’s match is filling up. Lacey Evans joins Dana Brooke in representing Smackdown with one spot left to fill, while Asuka, Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler are already filling out the competitors from Raw. And those three Superstars from Raw will this week face off in a major Triple Threat match. So who will get the bragging rights from this bout? Let’s get into it, and find out…
In a familiar trend, ZELINA VEGA interrupted the opening VIP Lounge segment with her clients, leading to a brawl between the men. She’d be ringside as Andrade, Theory and Garza faced Mysterio, Crews and Black. Vega would be stunned when Crews pinned Andrade. It led to a backstage interview with CHARLY CARUSO as Crews got a title shot against Andrade.
Triple Threat Match
ASUKA Vs NIA JAX Vs SHAYNA BASZLER never officially started
No Kairi Sane at ringside when Asuka made her entrance. They showed replays of the Sane versus Jax match from last week, including the dangerous choke spot into the turnbuckle. Asuka yelled in her native tongue and some English “Poor Kairi” and “I tapped out Nia Jax!” referencing their NXT wars from two years ago.
Baszler jump started the ‘match’, hauling Asuka out to attack her on the floor before sending her into a ladder at the ramp – taking advantage of the No DQ rules. Jax was caught on the outside by high kicks to the head from both opponents. Baszler floored Asuka with a Clothesline on the floor before she grabbed a ladder, setting it up at the ring steps like she did to her opponent last week. Asuka however sent Baszler into that ladder before she got decked with a Jax bulldozer body check.
Jax sent the ladder into the ring and used it to slam both opponents down. The match seemingly never officially starting as Jax stood tall, pressing the ladder over her head then dropping it behind her before her music played. Later on in the show Jax bragged about what she had done, saying no one could do anything about her actions.
LANA gave her husband a prep-talk backstage but Lashley told her to stay backstage, as Lashley said she was too distracting being ringside but he claimed that it was because she was too beautiful. Clearly just making an excuse as Lashley breathed a sigh of relief behind her back when she bought the lie.
Women’s Singles Match
LIV MORGAN defeated RUBY RIOTT
A rematch from last week as we saw some clips from the previous bout before the match. Riott pulled the hair early and hit her STO. Stomping Morgan in the corner, but a charge only ate a Drop Toe Hold into the buckle. Riott managed to dodge the Springboard Double Stomp by Morgan, then Morgan countered Riott’s vault back to slam Riott down to the mat.
After some counter work, Riott hit the Riott Kick but Morgan kicked out much to Riott’s complete shock with a great sell. Riott toyed with Morgan, and paid for it as Morgan reversed a whip to send Riott to the ropes. Hitting the Rebound Flatliner she now calls Oblivion (is she an Elder Scrolls fan?) for another impressive win. Morgan was interviewed after the match, saying that she was still trying to find herself. Vaguely saying that she was ‘going to figure it out’.
FINAL THOUGHTS:
The Money in the Bank segment worked but was still a bit underwhelming. I get that they didn’t just want to just throw away such a major match on a random edition of Raw, but I still felt they could have done something else as well with this. Meanwhile the WWE’s clear push for Liv Morgan continues – we’ll see if this translates into anything once MITB is in the history books.
That’s your lot for this week! Be sure to stop by in seven days time as we cover all the events from Raw with the next edition of the RAW RECAP! See you then!