Almost Live, Definitely Half Assed Review of WWE Raw – 3 Sept. ’18

The Lincoln Theater. Saved from lincolntheatercolumbus.com.

I’ll note it’s pretty weird not being at this live event. Haven’t skipped a taping in Cbus in quite some time. The WWE starts us off with Braun Strowman, Dolph Ziggler & Drew McIntyre. This promo is the best way to get people to turn on Strowman. He needs the stink of Dolph Ziggler most of all. The Shield ends up coming through the crowd. Before they can attack, the locker room empties. The teams brawl some but are mostly held at bay. They get separated. Strowman, Ziggler & McIntyre get sent to the back. Seth Rollins breaks away. Dean Ambrose isn’t far behind. Roman Reigns gets lost in the renewed chaos.

The Bella Twins take on Liv Morgan & Sarah Logan of the Riott Squad. Ruby Riott is back stage. Nikki works over Logan’s arm early. Nikki with a Tornado Arm Bar DDT. Brie works over the arm a bit more before the inevitable baby face beat down starts. Brie comes back with the Daniel Bryan Kicks. Brie knees both of them in the face. Brie catches herself on the ropes before Logan can crack her to start a second beat down. Nikki gets the hot tag against Morgan. Logan breaks up a near fall. Brie needs to work on the suicide dive. Rack Attack 2.0 for the win.

Baron Corbin is on the phone with Stephanie McMahon. Finn Balor wants a rematch against Corbin. Balor challenges him to a straight fight. Balor smiles then goes straight face when he gets the match.

Chad Gable & Bobby Roode are a tag team now. Umm, interesting. It could be a good pairing. Tag team success has lead to singles success later in some cases. Both have been underutilized. They are taking on The Ascension. Naturally we have the “Team vs New Team” dynamic working. I was not expecting Roode to be the one to take the beat down. Gable gets the hot tag. He clears house. Rolling German Suplex into a bridge for the win. Roode looks like he’s found gold as Gable celebrates the win.

Elias is in the ring. He is really upset about being hit by Trish Stratus. She’s struggling with WWE standing for “Walk With Elias.” Of course he insults Buckeyes and sides with the Wolverines. Alexa Bliss ends up interrupting him. She is joined by Alicia Fox & Mickie James. She suckers the crowd into chanting “O H” “I O” then turns on them. She agrees with Elias that Columbus sucks. She then insults Stratus and Ronda Rousey. She comes out with Natalya since she’s the one actually wrestling. Natalya ends a flurry of offense with a basement drop kick. Bliss turns it around with a big right. Bliss gets Natalya to tap to the arm bar. Rousey chases her off to check on Nattie. Fox attacks from behind first. Bliss helps to double team Rousey. She still fights them off. The heels retreat.

Strowman, Ziggler & McIntyre want competition since The Shield got hauled away. They hint at beating up the Revival to get a chance at the B Team. Baron Corbin seems to be okay with this plan. Scott Dawson & Dash Wilder talk to Charley Caruso. Ziggler & McIntyre attack from behind. They lay them out. The B Team came out for their match not knowing what happened. Ziggler & McIntyre make their way to the ring. The B Team has looked more competent in this match than any of their other matches. Curtis Axel gets a hot tag. Axel even gets a Perfectplex on Ziggler. McIntyre breaks up the pin then assaults Axel. Ziggler super kicks Axel. Claymore into the Zig Zag for the win. Ziggler & McIntyre are the new Tag Team Champions. The Revival continue to get kicked around on the main roster.

Drake Maverick is now accompanying Authors of Pain. I guess the WWE wanted them to have a mouth piece again. He is their new manager. I’d be just fine if he dressed in a black suit similar to Paul Ellering. The AOP mini outfit looks silly. Akam & Rezar win with the Super Collider.

Nikki, Brie & Ronda try to console Natalya. The Bellas end up saying that she inspired them to come back. They tells her to come to them for outside help if she needs it.

Kind of bummed that I missed Shawn Michaels appearance. He sides with HHH in his upcoming match with The Undertaker. He ends up coming out. Now I’m really bummed. Oh well. Columbus has had a number of cool happenings recently. Ring Break with Strowman & Big Show. MITB. Both of these appearances. Taker thinks Michaels is just jealous that Taker took both him & HHH out previously. Michaels has stayed out of the ring out of respect for Taker. Taker wonders if it’s respect or fear of losing to Taker again. He then says he’s going to put HHH down in Australia.

Bayley & Sasha Banks are taking on Dana Brooke & Ember Moon. Interesting. Brooke gets distracted by bickering from Titus O’Neil & Apollo Crews. Roll Up by Banks for the win. Brooke yells at O’Neil & Crews and walks off.

Bobby Lashley was given a performance review. He is being made to take a class from Jinder Mahal. Lashley mockingly agrees with the decision. They meet in the ring after a break. As they chant, Kevin Owens attacks Lashley.

Finn Balor is taking on Braun Strowman in the main event. The match plays out similarly to their past matches with Strowman getting the early upper hand with power. Balor fights back with speed which includes dodging some charges. Balor flip dives onto everyone on the outside. Power Slam shortly there after for the win. Balor gets beat down after the match. The police sirens go off. The police wagon backs in. Reigns is driving. The heels stand their ground in the ring. The heels from the locker room attack The Shield. Rollins gets tossed into the police van from the ramp. Reigns gets the stairs dropped him a couple of times by Strowman. Ambrose just gets his ass kicked. Reigns gets power slammed on the floor. The heels stand tall. If that beat down doesn’t get Reigns more cheers, nothing can. – Kevin DiFrango

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