With a surprisingly satisfying Payback out of the way, WWE delivered a steady but enjoyable episode of Raw that set up a few new feuds and filled a bit of time. Oh, by the way, I’m Elliot and I watch Raw so you don’t have to.

Monday Night Raw began with a Alexa Bliss holding a coronation (although she pointed out that she’s not a queen, so odd choice of words there) in which all the women on thhe Raw roster were invited to the ring to watch her gloat after her title victory over Bayley at Paybacklash: End of the Line. She prefaced several times that they would all be in tag team action later, but regardless, after the brawl and break formula we’ve come to love, Michael Cole announced the match as an “impromptu 8-woman tag team match,” because he’s a stickler for being wrong. The heel team of Bliss, Emma, Nia Jax and Alicia Fox got the win thanks to an eye rake and DDT combo from the champ to Bayley.

SOME OTHER SHIT THAT WENT DOWN:
– Luke Gallows defeated Enzo Amore.
– Dar, Kendrick and Neese lost to Swann, Gallagher and Tozawa.
– Cesaro and Sheamus promoed on nostalgia having a shelf life. The Hardy Boyz ran to the ring with itchy deleting fingers, but the odd couple retreated.
– Apollo Crews defeated Heath Slater and celebrated with a #TITUSBRAND selfie.
– Both Roman and Strowman are “injured”.
– Bray Wyatt spouted some nonsensical shit at Kurt Angle.
– TJ Perkins was announced simply as “TJP” and throughout his match with Austin Aries, nary an “erkins” was heard. Theodore James Perkins tapped out to the Last Chancery, then handed Aries the obligatory post-match beat down.
– There’ll be a tag-team turmoil match next week to crown a new set of #1 contenders.

Last night’s runner was a story centered around the Intercontinental Championship and its current holder, Dean Ambrose, being a right ruddy zany wackadoo!
It began with Seth Rollins making his way to the ring after a cheeky roll-up win over Samoa Joe at Prayback: Hallelujah. The Kingslayer declared that his next endeavor would be taking the Universal Championship from Brock Lesnar. Finn Balor interrupted the self-issued pep talk to remind everyone that he never lost the Universal Championship and that the line starts with him. Dean Ambrose then made an appearance to malign Lesnar’s lack of appearances and title defenses, though upon hearing this, The Miz guest starred in the segment, suggesting that he was more of a fighting champion that Ambrose, who didn’t even defend the IC belt at Payback. A call from Kurt Angle set up a IC title #1 contenders match.
There were then some sprinkled in segments involving Dean interviewing the would-be challengers which were skippable.
The match itself was pretty great. It began with Miz retreating to the outside of the ring, calling for his opponents to settle their issues first. He also used his wife as a shield twice, which is just primo heel work. The bout also featured a cool dropkick/DDT set piece, a double blockbuster and a dreadful reverse 1916. In the match’s closing moments, Samoa Joe #outtanowhered Seth Rollins, while Bray Wyatt did the same thing to deliver a Sister Abigail to Balor. The Miz then crawled over to Balor to capture the win.