By Brandon Albright, @B_Rock1978
What's up gang! Another week in wrestling begins with this week's Monday Night RAW! Last week WWE Universal Champion Brock Lesnar and his opponent for WWE Great Balls of Fire, Samoa Joe, had their first face to face meeting and had to be separated by officials and the RAW locker room. We move within three weeks of the pay per view when The Beast meets The Destroyer for the title! Sheamus and Cesaro, meanwhile, retained their WWE RAW World Tag Team Championship against The Hardy Boys in a 2 Out of 3 Falls Match, however, it was left undecided as both teams were counted out to end the last and deciding fall. Will we see another meeting between the two teams soon? All that and alot more this week as RAW was live in Evansville, Indiana.
** This Weeks Card **
- Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson battled The Hardy Boys.
- Finn Balor battled Bo Dallas.
- Akira Tozawa battled TJ Perkins.
- Samoa Joe battled Roman Reigns.
- WWE RAW World Tag Team Champions Sheamus and Cesaro battled Titus O'Neil and Apollo Crews in a non title match.
- Nia Jax battled Sasha Banks.
- Roman Reigns returned to announce his plans for this year's Summer Slam pay per view.
- Elias Samson came face to face with The Demon.
- Seth Rollins and Bray Wyatt continue their feud.
- Kurt Angle promised to reveal who's been attacking Enzo and Big Cass.
- The Miz and Maryse returned with another edition of Miz TV.
** RAW **
- Roman Reigns Promo: Reigns says he can't be beaten in a one on one match, just ask all his past victims. Reigns says he's the #1 Contender for the WWE Universal Championship at WWE Summer Slam, because this is his yard and he makes the rules. Samoa Joe interrupts and heads to the ring. Joe brings up the fact that his name isn't on Reigns' list of past victims, because Reigns has never beaten Joe and introduces himself to Reigns as the true #1 Contender and next WWE Universal Champion. Reigns says he agrees with Paul Heyman, Samoa Joe will never be considered Samoan, he'll always be considered just Joe. Joe lands a head butt on Reigns and a brawl begins. Joe tosses Reigns into the barricade twice, face first into the apron and then back into the ring. Joe goes for the Coquina Clutch submission, but Reigns counters with a Superman Punch sending Joe outside. Reigns and Joe have a stare down to end the segment.
- Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson vs. The Hardy Boys: The match closes out with Gallows getting a near fall boot on Matt. Jeff takes out Anderson as Gallows traps Matt in the corner. Jeff tags in as Matt hits the Twist of Fate on Gallows. Jeff hits the Swanton Bomb on Gallows and scores the pinfall.
Winners: The Hardy Boys, by pinfall. - We get another Shattered Dreams Video with Goldust inviting R-Truth to Los Angeles next Monday to star in his latest film The Shattered Truth.
- Elias Samson Promo: Samson is in the ring with his guitar and mocks the city of Evansville. Samson goes to perform a song, but has to tune his guitar first. As Samson tunes the guitar, Finn Balor interrupts. Balor and Samson go face to face, but Samson backs down and leaves the ring.
- Finn Balor vs. Bo Dallas: The match closes out with Balor sending Dallas into the barricade and then back into the ring. Balor hits Slingblade and then the running drop kick into the corner on Dallas. Balor hits Coup de Grace on Dallas and scores the pinfall.
Winner: Finn Balor, by pinfall. - At the announcers table Corey Graves receives another text message, leaves and heads backstage.
- Backstage, Corey Graves finds Kurt Angle and tells him about the text message he received. Enzo and Big Cass walk in and Angle demands Enzo to tell him why he's talking trash to Conor McGregor on Twitter. Cass says that's not important, what's important is wanting to know why Big Show is attacking he and Enzo. Angle promises that he will reveal who's been doing it by the end of the night.
- Seth Rollins Promo: Rollins brags about being on the cover of WWE 2K18. Bray Wyatt suddenly interrupts on the TitanTron and mocks Rollins. Rollins says he's been around some of the most egotistical people in the business, but Bray has been the worst. Rollins says that Bray may be a God in his world, but he's nothing in Rollins'. Bray warns Rollins that anyone using his name in vain will be punished and now it's time for a sacrifice. Bray's music hits and Bray heads to the ring. Rollins suicide dives onto Bray taking him out and then leaves to end the segment.
- Corey Graves returns to the announcers table and he praises Kurt Angle as an excellent General Manager.
- Backstage, Finn Balor wants to get back the WWE Universal Championship. Elias Samson suddenly attacks Balor from behind and beats him down. Samson tells Balor to never upstage him again.
- Akira Tozawa vs. TJ Perkins: Neville arrives at ringside to watch the match. The match closes out with Titus O'Neil giving Tozawa orders. Perkins pleads with Tozawa to stop, but gets in a sucker punch. Perkins with a near fall gutbuster. Tozawa counters the Detonation Kick and slams Tozawa. Tozawa goes to the top rope and hits a Swanton Bomb to score the pinfall. After the match, Titus says that Tozawa will be the next WWE Cruiserweight Champion and the money will flow. Neville interrupts and calls Titus a peasant. Neville warned Tozawa not to disrespect the king. Titus says Neville isn't a king, he's a scared little boy.
Winner: Akira Tozawa, by pinfall. - Backstage, Kurt Angle is questioning The Revival about the attacks of Enzo and Big Cass.
- We get another What's Up Production Video from R-Truth. Truth accepts Goldust's challenge for next week.
- Backstage, Curtis Axel is trying to cheer up Bo Dallas. The Miz interrupts and offers them an entourage job so he can turn them into the stars they deserve to be.
- Backstage, Samoa Joe promises that Roman Reigns is leaving a broken man tonight. Joe promises to teach Reigns some respect and then he's going on to defeat Brock Lesnar for the WWE Universal Championship.
- Samoa Joe vs. Roman Reigns: The match closes out with Joe going for the Coquina Clutch submission, but Reigns counters and spears Joe for a near fall. Joe rolls to the floor for a breather then gets back in the ring. Reigns goes for another spear, but an ambulance suddenly backs into the arena. The back doors bust open and Braun Strowman pops out. Reigns gets distracted allowing Joe to lock in the Coquina Clutch submission. Reigns passes out and Joe wins. After the match, Strowman hits the ring, tells Reigns that he promised that he wasn't done with him and then slams Reigns to the mat.
Winner: Samoa Joe, by submission.
- Miz TV with The Miz and Maryse: Miz has two bears with signs that say "Please Forgive Me" and "I'm Sorry", a big red box in the ring and then calls Maryse to the ring. Maryse comes to the ring but doesn't look like she's accepting Miz's apology. Miz apologizes and shows Maryse inside the red box is the grandfather clock she bought him completely repaired. Miz says Maryse is his heart, his soul, his everything and Dean Ambrose is trying to get what he can't have, the WWE Intercontinental Championship. Miz begs Maryse for forgiveness and she finally does as Dean Ambrose interrupts. Miz accidentally dumps champagne on Maryse and accidentally breaks the clock again going after Ambrose. Maryse storms off and Ambrose tosses Miz outside. The two bears suddenly attack Ambrose and reveal themselves as Bo Dallas and Curtis Axel. Dallas and Axel beat down Ambrose and then Miz hits the Skull Crushing Finale on Ambrose to end the segment.
- Backstage, Kurt Angle is questioning the Big Show about the attacks on Enzo and Big Cass.
- Sheamus and Cesaro vs. Titus O'Neil and Apollo Crews: The match closes out with Crews hitting a standing moonsault on Sheamus for a near fall, as Cesaro breaks up the pinfall. Crews tosses Cesaro outside. Sheamus distracts the referee, allowing Cesaro to come back and land a cheap shot on Crews. Sheamus and Cesaro hit a double team finisher and score the pinfall.
Winners: Sheamus and Cesaro, by pinfall. - Nia Jax vs. Sasha Banks: Alexa Bliss is on commentary for this match. The match closes out with Emma arriving and confronting Alexa at the commentary table. Alexa shoves Emma forcing Emma to chase Alexa. Alexa hits the ring and hides behind Nia. Nia steps aside and tells Emma to have at her. Emma delivers a kick, but Alexa ducks causing Emma to hit Nia for the DQ. After the match, Sasha tries to help but gets taken out and double teamed by Alexa and Emma. Dana Brooke and Mickie James hit the ring but get laid out by Nia. Bayley hits the ring and drops Alexa and Emma. Mickie and Dana get shoved away by Nia, but Bayley gets a bulldog in on Nia. Bayley, Dana, Mickie and Sasha finally clear the ring to end the segment.
Winner: Nia Jax, by DQ. - Kurt Angle Promo: Angle says he's here to solve the mystery of who's attacking Enzo and Big Cass and calls them to the ring. Cass promises to take care of who's doing it. Angle calls out The Revival and Big Show. Angle tells Show to be straight with him about it. Show says we all know him better than that and he'd just punch Enzo and Big Cass in their face if he had a problem, not attack them from behind. Show says that maybe he doesn't need to have Angle as his boss anymore if this is what Angle thinks. Show walks off, but Cass still thinks Show did it. Angle questions The Revival, who argue over the accusations. Angle tells them to calm down because he knows they have reasonable alibis. Corey Graves suddenly interrupts and says he talked to the WWE Medics and they stated they never once treated Cass when he was attacked.
Cass says it was EMTs that treated him. Graves continues and says that he has footage. Footage is shown of Cass backstage that week staging his whole attack and laying down on the ground. Graves announces that Cass was Enzo's attacker. Cass finally admits it was him all along. Cass says he was sick of Enzo running his mouth all the time, but he never did anything about it because he felt bad for Enzo because everyone thinks he's one big joke. Cass says it felt really good that day when he attacked Enzo from behind and he enjoyed it. Cass says he's put up with enough of Enzo's crap in NXT and on RAW. Cass calls Enzo dead weight and he's dumber than he looks. Cass says he's where the money is and Enzo's mouth writes checks that his ass can't cash. Cass finally lays Enzo out with a big boot to the face before walking out. Angle checks on Enzo as the show closes out.
