Welcome to the RAW recap for the go home show to Extreme Rules. Just one pre-advertised match, ‘Constable’ Baron Corbin and Elias take on Finn Balor and Bobby Roode. We can expect the next instalment of the Bayley and Sasha Banks saga. Roman Reigns and Bobby Lashley will try to get more shots in at each other ahead of their match on Sunday. And Kevin Owens will still be trying to evade Braun Strowman.

Anyone hoping for a Breezango match at Extreme Rules is out of luck. Unfortunately, Fandango has sustained a shoulder injury – a left labrum tear – which requires surgical repair. He’s expected to be out for approximately six months.

I’m Amanda, and I’m here to guide you through RAW.

The Opening Segment

The show started with a recap of Roman Reigns and Bobby Lashley’s ongoing issues.

The opening live shots involved Roman Reigns walking through the backstage area. Bobby Lashley appeared and asked where he was going. Reigns said wherever he wants, but if Lashley has to know he’s going to ‘his ring’

Lashley told him he hopes he’s going out there to call him out because if he does he’s not coming to talk, he’s coming to tear him apart.

When Reigns eventually got to the ring, he said that after this week there’s a lot he could talk about, but he’s never had someone tell him to call them out. So he’s curious to see what ‘Bob’ can do. Then he called Lashley out.

Lashley came out and there was an intense stare-down, but Kurt Angle came to the stage with Baron Corbin and told them to save it for Sunday.

Reigns and Lashley ignored him and started beating on each other. Angle sent the locker room down to separate them while Corbin yelled at him.

They succeeded for a while, but Lashley kept getting free and diving at Reigns. On his final attack, Lashley knocked him down at ringside then threw him into the ring. The superstars tried to drag Lashley away, Roman Reigns dived over the top rope and sent everyone flying, then walked up the ramp with a group preventing him from going back after Lashley.

Just when you thought it was over, with Roman Reigns music playing, Reigns ran back down the ramp and jumped on Lashley one final time.

The Other Stuff

– Alexa Bliss and Mickie James were shown watching the chaos from backstage. They said it was nothing to the pain and destruction they were going to inflict on Natalya and Nia Jax.

– Alexa Bliss and Mickie James vs Nia Jax and Natalya – Pretty good match, but not helped by the fact it had an ad break and an Extreme Rules split-screen ad during it. Nia Jax pinned Mickie James after dropping her from over her head and delivering a leg drop. Bliss attacked Jax and Natalya with a kendo stick after the match then ran away when Jax took it off her and swatted at her before snapping it. Backstage, Jax said Bliss has tried everything but she can’t break her. She can break Bliss though, and on Sunday she’ll snap her in half like the kendo stick.

– After a recap of Braun Strowman pushing Owens off the stage in a porta-potty, Owens appeared in Angle’s office. Angle asked him why he was there, Owens said he’s there because he’s a professional and shows up to work, then accused Angle of allowing Strowman to torture him because he’s in with Stephanie McMahon. Owens produced a doctor’s note saying he’s not cleared to compete and told Angle he was going to stay in one place all night, Angle’s office.

– Mojo Rawley vs No Way Jose – The rematch actually happened this week after Rawley’s refusals of the last two weeks. It was decent. Mojo Rawley won with an Alabama Slam.

– Bayley and Sasha Banks had a counselling session with a different counsellor. On this visit, Bayley was talking about how she’s always supported Banks. But all Sasha Banks ever does is stab her in the back and she’s sick of it.

– Jinder Mahal approached Seth Rollins backstage and gave him a lecture on inner peace. Rollins said maybe when he’s burning it down he’s actually burning parts of his soul and asked Mahal for help. As soon as Mahal and Singh started chanting Rollins pulled a face and crept away.

– In the ring, Rollins said of his many nicknames he likes the current moniker, former Intercontinental champion, the least. But he has the opportunity to change that. He’s looking forward to the ironman match with Ziggler, he likes testing himself against the absolute best. Trouble is, Ziggler will bring McIntyre with him. Ziggler and McIntyre came out to the stage and used a lot of words to tell Rollins Ziggler was going to win and Rollins would get a glimpse of the future of WWE. Ziggler thinks Rollins is one of the best, just not as good as him. Rollins tried to undermine the relationship between Ziggler and McIntyre by asking why McIntyre was letting Ziggler lead him around on a leash and making some unsavoury (but funny) comments. Ziggler held McIntyre back, so McIntyre challenged Rollins to a match instead. Rollins accepted with more jokes then ran away when McIntyre and Ziggler rushed the ring.

– Bo Dallas vs Matt Hardy – Bo Dallas scared Curtis Axel in the locker room before the match by pretending to be Bray Wyatt. They cut a Deleters of Worlds style promo pre-match as well. Hardy and Wyatt did a promo of their own then appeared behind The B-Team in the blackout. Good match for the Extreme Rules build. Bo Dallas pinned Matt Hardy while Hardy was distracted by Wyatt dealing with Axel on the outside. After the match, Hardy and Wyatt attacked The B-Team.

– Lashley was asked by Renee Young about his mindset for Extreme Rules. He said he respects everyone he steps in the ring with, even Sami Zayn. But he has no respect for Roman Reigns and doesn’t like anything about him, except that he’s willing to fight him. Reigns will walk into Extreme Rules to fight, but he won’t walk out. And you can ‘Believe That’.

– Tyler Breeze tried to give Liv Morgan and Sarah Logan some fashion tips and t-shirts. They said they don’t do fashion, they riot. Then tore the shirts up and walked off with Logan giving Morgan a piggyback.

– The second visit to Sasha Banks and Bayley’s counselling session was without clear sound but showed Sasha Banks talking and Bayley appearing to listen.

– Alexa Bliss promo – She thought to be RAW women’s champion was the biggest joy in her life, but nothing was more exhilarating than hearing the sound of a kendo stick hitting Nia Jax flesh. That was just a small taste of pain, she’s saving the rest for Sunday. And what’s even better than that over-hyped rookie will be front and centre to watch and hear her end Nia Jax for good. Jax can say what she wants but after Sunday she will call her extreme RAW women’s champion.

– Ronda Rousey has been inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame.

– Ember Moon vs Liv Morgan – Liv Morgan apparently demanded this rematch, she seemed to be regretting it in the early part of the match and Moon had just followed her to the outside when we took a break. Morgan was in control by the time we got back. Another good match between both women. Morgan tried to roll Moon up after Logan interfered, but Ember Moon reversed it and got the pin.

– Bobby Roode crashed Finn Balor’s interview with Renee Young to talk them up as a tag team. Balor talked a bit about the insults Corbin has thrown at him then said they’d prefer to do their talking in the ring.

– Kurt Angle told Drew McIntyre and Dolph Ziggler that if McIntyre loses tonight he will be banned from ringside on Sunday. Ziggler argued, with some backup from Kevin Owens, but McIntyre said it’s fine because Rollins isn’t getting through tonight’s match.

– Elias said the reason he hasn’t performed for two weeks is he’s been in the studio recording his debut album. He sang an insulting song about Roode, Balor, and Boston, then introduced his tag partner, ‘Constable’ Baron Corbin. Corbin sang a song called Itsy Bitsy Balor to the tune (ish) of Itsy Bitsy Spider before Balor and Roode made their entrances.

– Finn Balor and Bobby Roode vs Elias and Baron Corbin – This was good and fun and all those nice things. Everyone did a great job. But I find it hard to invest in these non-tag-division tag matches. There was a sneak peek of what Corbin vs Balor might be like on Sunday (as if we haven’t seen it already). Baron Corbin pinned Bobby Roode with an End of Days.

– Braun Strowman came to Kurt Angle’s office. When Kevin Owens started freaking out Angle announced he was giving him and Strowman a match on Sunday, in a steel cage because Owens keeps running away. Strowman laughed, told Owens he reeked of fear, and sprayed him with air freshener.

– In the final visit to Bayley and Sasha Banks’ counselling session, there was still no sound but they were clearly arguing. They have to report back to Kurt Angle to tell him how it went.

– Roman Reigns was asked if it was reckless to provoke Lashley so close to their match. He said no, that’s what he wanted to do. They don’t respect each other, or he didn’t respect Lashley until tonight when he saw the fire in his eyes. But he’ll need more than that. Reigns has the killer instinct Lashley doesn’t. He’ll beat Lashley and move on to bigger and better things and Lashley will go and be ‘the guy’ somewhere else.

The Closing Segment – Seth Rollins vs Drew McIntyre

Drew McIntyre was keen to show his power early in the match and played a few mind games with Rollins as well. Rollins was briefly rattled, more so when none of his offences made much of an impact.

McIntyre grabbed Rollins from the suicide dive picked him up and slammed him back first into the apron.

Slow paced match. McIntyre controlled the pace to ensure Rollins didn’t get a chance to build any momentum. Even his biggest power moves weren’t enough to keep Rollins down though.

Seth Rollins managed to fight back and had McIntyre struggling. But a blockbuster, a falcon arrow, and a buckle-bomb all failed to get the three-count for him.

Rollins landed a Stomp on Ziggler when he interfered but took a Claymore kick from McIntyre and got pinned.

Drew McIntyre will be allowed at ringside on Sunday, but he finished this evening carrying Ziggler up the ramp slung across his shoulders.

That’s it for the RAW side of the Extreme Rules build-up. Not a bad show, but the split-screen ads during matches are annoying.

The RAW side of Extreme Rules is:

• Bobby Lashley vs Roman Reigns
• Alexa Bliss (C) vs Nia Jax – Extreme Rules match for the RAW Women’s Championship
• Dolph Ziggler vs Seth Rollins – 30-minute Iron Man match for the Intercontinental Championship
• Deleters of Worlds (C) vs The B-Team – Tag Team Championship match
• Finn Balor vs ‘Constable’ Baron Corbin
• Kevin Owens vs Braun Strowman – Steel Cage match