Monday night again and another RAW on the way to Extreme Rules. This week we’re getting The Revival versus Bobby Lashley and Roman Reigns, for the third week running. Bayley and Sasha Banks have their first counselling session. And there will be more from Kevin Owens, Alexa Bliss, and The B-Team. Earlier today WWE announced that Seth Rollins and Dolph Ziggler will have a 30-minute Iron Man match at Extreme Rules. Also announced earlier, Bray Wyatt and Ruby Riott will not be at RAW due to injuries. Riott injured her knee at a live event and Wyatt was in a car accident.

I’m Amanda, and I’m here to guide you through RAW’s high spots and low points.

The Opening Segment

The show opened with a recap of Roman Reigns and Bobby Lashley versus The Revival from last week and Reigns saving Rollins from the Dolph Ziggler and Drew McIntyre beatdown. Unsurprisingly, Roman Reigns began the show proper.

He said The Revival are extremely talented, but he never thought he’d have to say he lost to them. However, he did have the worst possible partner in Bobby Lashley. Kurt Angle wants them to team up again but he doesn’t want to team with Lashley, he wants to fight him. If Angle doesn’t want them to do it at Extreme Rules then they should just do it now. He doesn’t like Lashley, who he kept calling Bob, he thinks he’s an egomaniac. Lashley thinks he’s the man, but Reigns is the man etc.

Dolph Ziggler and Drew McIntyre appeared and called Reigns out on suggesting someone else is an egomaniac. He calls Ziggler’s ring ‘his yard’ and wants everything to go through him. And he just had to play the hero last week.

That’s why they were there. As Reigns got in their business last week, they wanted to return the favour.

Reigns struck first, before McIntyre even got his coat off, but the numbers soon caught up with him. Rollins, obviously, came to make the save.

Backstage, Rollins and Reigns spoke to Kurt Angle. They asked for Ziggler and McIntyre and Angle said next week because of the scheduled match with The Revival. They protested, Kurt Angle conceded. Reigns will fight twice.

The Other Stuff

– Matt Hardy vs Curtis Axel – Another parody video from The B-Team before the match. Bo Dallas impersonating his brother will never cease to amuse me. Not a bad match. It’s quite nice seeing The B-Team grow after looking less than credible as The Miztourage. Axel had the best of large portions of the match and showed some resilience when Hardy was in control. He also got the win after sending Hardy face-first into the turnbuckle then slamming his face into the canvas.

– Locker Room segment with Lashley interrupting Rollins and Reigns talking about Extreme Rules. Rollins left after checking with Reigns. Lashley said Reigns had a cheek calling him an egomaniac. He thinks Reigns is a trouble-starter because no-one likes him except Rollins. They argued about the match with The Revival, Reigns said he’d do everything, and Lashley told him to focus or he’d hold him responsible.

– A recap of Bayley and Sasha Banks last week led into Bayley sat waiting for her first counselling session. Sasha Banks arrived and they argued. Turns out they are having friendship counselling with Doctor Shelby – Team Hell No’s counsellor. He took them through the ‘seven tenets of friendship’. Thankfully, that was all we saw.

– Titus Worldwide vs Authors of Pain – Akam and Rezar don’t look as massive next to Titus Worldwide as they do next to some teams, and O’Neil and Apollo have the athletic edge. Authors of Pain still have the power advantage though and finished Apollo with the Last Chapter.

– Kevin Owens was shown arriving and refused to give the valet his keys. He put his hood up and looked around for monsters before he entered the building.

– Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns vs Dolph Ziggler and Drew McIntyre – Lots of hype from commentary for Rollins and Ziggler’s ironman match, and their opening portion of the match was fun. After McIntyre tagged in Reigns wanted in. Lashley was shown watching as Reigns got distracted by Ziggler and flattened by McIntyre. Really good match. Rollins almost pinned Ziggler from a frog splash but McIntyre intervened. Reigns dealt with him, Rollins threw Ziggler to the outside then launched himself off the top rope onto them. The latter stages of the match focused on Rollins trying to get back to Reigns. When he was almost there, The Revival attacked Reigns and ended the match by DQ. The Revival beat up Reigns while McIntyre and Ziggler beat up Seth Rollins. This was the perfect moment for a Dean Ambrose comeback… but it didn’t happen.

– Kevin Owens spoke to Kurt Angle in his office and told him he had to do something about Braun Strowman. Angle offered him a match. Owens said no, send Strowman to counselling, or suspend him, or fire him. Angle said no, they were having a match.

– Baron Corbin said Stephanie McMahon made him constable to help Kurt Angle be a better general manager and to help the superstars achieve their full potential. But Finn Balor is too proud to take direction. He talked everyone through a very skewed version of him and Balor imploding as a tag team last week. Balor’s behaviour was inappropriate and unprofessional so, to help Balor get his career back on track, Corbin invited him to the ring to apologise. There was a lot of fake apology banter and insults. Corbin punched Balor when he said he’d stopped deserving respect the day he became Stephanie McMahon’s stooge. A slingblade and a dropkick through the ropes soon had Corbin retreating up the ramp.

– Backstage segment with Elias playing his guitar. Liv Morgan and Sarah Logan asked him if he was performing tonight. He said not for the crowd, but he played a little something for them while they destroyed the backstage area.

– Ember Moon vs Liv Morgan – First outing for Morgan, accompanied by Sarah Logan, without Ruby Riott. They looked confident though. Morgan has grown into her main roster role and Ember Moon is fantastic. Really good match and it was going quite well for Liv Morgan until she started trash-talking Moon. One Eclipse later, it was all over.

– Back to the counselling again. This time Dr Shelby had them play a game called ‘Honesty Theatre’ where they were supposed to put themselves in the other’s shoes. What actually happened was they did sarcastic impressions of each other then argued again. Dr Shelby tried to break them up, got told to shut up, then roared, ‘enough’, to close the segment. It definitely was enough.

– The Revival vs Roman Reigns and Bobby Lashley – Reigns started things off despite having had a match and a beatdown already. Lashley quickly wanted in but Reigns was too stubborn and ended up being dominated by The Revival for the majority of the match, refusing to tag Lashley in even when he was in trouble. Lashley came in and sorted the Revival out anyway, but Reigns still wouldn’t tag him in. The Revival were disqualified when they wouldn’t stop double-teaming Reigns. Lashley walked away and left Reigns to take another beatdown.

– Kevin Owens tried again to convince Kurt Angle to cancel his match, even offering him Shania Twain tickets (check out Owens’ social media for the significance). Angle refused.

– Roman Reigns went to Angle’s office to ask what he had to do to get Lashley. Kurt Angle informed him the match has been set for Extreme Rules.

– No Way Jose vs Mojo Rawley – Once again Rawley said he doesn’t think Jose deserves a rematch. He sacrificed everything to get where he is and No Way Jose just dances. Jose tried to hit him, Rawley ducked and knocked him down, then attacked a member of the conga line. No Way Jose intervened and Rawley slammed him back first into the apron and left.

– Another long recap of the events leading to Ronda Rousey’s suspension before Rousey’s interview with Renee Young. Rousey said she’s excited for Alexa Bliss’ match with Nia Jax at Extreme Rules. She’s not suspended from the PPV so she’ll be buying a front row seat.

– Mickie James vs Nia Jax – Mickie James came out to Alexa Bliss’ music. Bliss was with her but it’s still weird. When Jax appeared she told Bliss she thought she’d put her behind her at WrestleMania and at Backlash. This needs to end and Kurt Angle has informed her that their match at Extreme Rules, will be an extreme rules match. Then she brought Natalya out for ringside backup. Decent enough match. Jax dominated at the start, James got back in it by taking out Jax’ leg and working on it. Jax delivered a sit-out powerbomb after catching James’ leg when she went for the Mick-kick. It would have been enough, but Bliss distracted the ref. Natalya dragged Bliss off the apron and Jax finished James with a Samoan drop.

– Jinder Mahal was teaching Kevin Owens inner peace before his match. He had a pre-match interview and was told he seemed a little shaken up. He said he’s not, he’s glad the match is still on. He’s going to show the world how you destroy a monster. He wasn’t convincing.

– Bobby Lashley was asked for his reaction to the announcement of his Extreme Rules match. He said Roman Reigns has only made his name while Lashley has been gone because he was gone. If he’d been there Reigns would never have been ‘the guy’.

The Final Segment – Kevin Owens vs Braun Strowman

After the initial lock-up, Kevin Owens rolled out of the ring, stared at Strowman for a moment, then ran out of the arena. Strowman waited for the ref to count Owens out then chased him.

Kevin Owens got to his car but didn’t have his keys. He hid in a portable toilet cubicle. Strowman came searching for him. The crowd were chanting porta-potty. Strowman somehow got the message. He put on a high-pitched voice and asked if anyone was in there. When Owens answered, Strowman taped the toilet shut and dragged the whole cubicle into the building, through the backstage area, and back into the arena with Kevin Owens begging him to stop the entire time.

Strowman dragged it across the stage then, with the crowd’s encouragement, shoved it off the other side. He stood and watched as medics and officials pulled Owens out of the toilet, covered in blue liquid. Braun Strowman laughed on the ramp as he was announced as the match winner to end the show.

The RAW side of Extreme Rules is shaping up nicely. Seth Rollins versus Dolph Ziggler for the Intercontinental Championship. Roman Reigns versus Bobby Lashley. Alexa Bliss versus Nia Jax for the RAW Women’s Championship in an Extreme Rules match. And the Deleters of Worlds versus The B-Team for the RAW Tag Team Championships. I wonder what will be added by next week.