The Horror Show at Extreme Rules is over (read the full review here) and it was a bit of a mixed night, to say the least. Kairi Sane goes one on one with Bayley tonight, in what is rumoured to be Sane’s final appearance for WWE. Christian returns, after being injured by Randy Orton a few weeks ago, on the night Orton is set for an Unsanctioned Match against Big Show. Aleister Black takes on Seth Rollins, presumably in the hope of securing some retribution for Rey Mysterio’s eye.

I’m Amanda and this is the RAW review.

Match Results

Seth Rollins def. Aleister Black

Cedric Alexander, Ricochet, & Mustafa Ali def. MVP, Bobby Lashley, & Shelton Benjamin

Ruby Riott def. Peyton Royce

Street Profits def. Angel Garza & Andrade

Kairi Sane def. Bayley

Randy Orton def. Big Show

The Show

♦ Before the credits, we got a recap of Seth Rollins and Rey Mysterio’s Eye for an Eye match. Seth Rollins and Murphy opened the show proper. While they were making their way to the ring, commentary informed us that it is hoped Rey Mysterio will make a full recovery.

Rollins explained what Globe Luxation mean (eye out of the socket) and said he understood going into the match what the stipulation meant but what happened will stay with him for the rest of his life. It was disgusting, barbaric, and made him sick to his stomach. He said he has been asked if he regrets it, but he wants to know if the WWE Universe regret what they have done to him. It is the people’s fault and Mysterio’s because he asked for the match.

What happened to Mysterio was ugly but we cannot afford to dwell in the past. He started talking about how no one will stand in the way of the greater good now, then Aleister Black arrived to correct him.

Black told Rollins not to deflect any of the blame, it’s all on him, but Black is there to rectify all of it. Murphy had two separate attempts to prevent Black from getting to the ring, but Black sent him flying over the announce desk. Rollins got out of the ring as Black got in, and we went for a break.

Seth Rollins vs Aleister Black started during the ads. After fighting to build some momentum, Black put Rollins against the post to punch him but Rollins ducked and Black punched the post. It gave Rollins the opening he needed to take back control of the match and a focal point to punish Black with. Black guarded the injury for the rest of the match, but Aleister Black doesn’t need his hand for his finisher. Unfortunately when he hit it, Rollins was too close to the ropes and he couldn’t pull him back. Murphy came in a caused enough of a distraction for Rollins to roll out of the ring but took a Black Mass for his efforts. Black came close a couple of times after that, but couldn’t do quite enough with the injured hand. Rollins got the win with a Stomp.

He and Murphy left the ring but turned back to beat the hell out of Black. Murphy did the majority of the beating then Rollins shouted at Black and trashed his arm, finishing by delivering a Stomp to Black’s hand on top of the announce desk cover (on the floor), while Murphy held Black down.

♦ R-Truth lost the 24/7 Championship to Shelton Benjamin while he was talking to MVP and Bobby Lashley. I’m sure he’ll have it back in no time, but it looks like Benjamin has joined The Hurt Business.

He went with Lashley and MVP to the ring for MVP prattle on about how it didn’t matter if Crews turned up or not he would be champion anyway, and how he’s going to celebrate his “win” after they’d dealt with ‘Dumb and Dumber’, meaning Cedric Alexander and Ricochet.

Alexander and Ricochet arrived and told MVP that reference was funny in 2006 when MVP’s career was relevant and made it very clear they still weren’t interested in his services.

MVP pointed out there were now three of them and only two of Alexander and Ricochet and offered to let them choose which two they fought. Instead, they brought out Mustafa Ali for his return to RAW.

It got chaotic around then, and The Hurt Business vs Cedric Alexander, Ricochet, & Mustafa Ali started after a break. It’s great to see Mustafa Ali on RAW… although to be honest it’s just great to see Mustafa Ali on tv. If anyone at RAW has any sense they’ll throw him into something important, and quickly. Ali, of course, got his moment to shine in the match. He saved Alexander and Ricochet from Lashley with a suicide dive that sent Lashley over the announce desk. Shelton Benjamin took out Alexander, Ricochet took out Benjamin and himself, then a 450 on MVP secured the win.

♦ Randy Orton talked about the moments in time that changed his life. They’re not the big obvious moments, the one he’s thinking about is swinging the chair into Edge’s surgically repaired neck and severing the friendships that saved him from himself. It baffles him that a moment in his history could have brought so much pain to so many but brought him satisfaction. It felt good and it made him feel good to know he has ended his career and stopped Christian having one more match. And now he’s going to do the same to Big Show.

Big Show got a video package rather than a promo in response.

♦ Christian’s appearance was via satellite. Samoa Joe asked him how he was. Christian said Randy Orton is one of the best to ever step in the ring, but he didn’t expect him to weaponise Ric Flair and he’ll never look at either of them the same. He doesn’t know if he’ll ever be the same again. Joe asked if Big Show was walking into another trap. Christian agreed it probably was and said that his own healing process has been slow but he’d go through all the pain again if it guaranteed Orton would get what was coming to him. Big Show is ready and he can’t wait to watch him knock Orton out cold.

♦ Sarah Schreiber interviewed Bianca Belair about what to expect from her moving forward. Unfortunately, her answer was interrupted by an annoyed Peyton Royce. Ruby Riott joined to wind Royce up, and Belair had to stop them coming to blows before they made it to the ring.

Peyton Royce vs Ruby Riott was fine, but we’ve seen it recently. I’d much rather have seen Royce versus Belair. It did finally enable to Ruby Riott to get a single’s win over Royce though. She pinned her off a Riott kick.

♦ Charly Caruso tried to talk about the tension between Angel Garza and Andrade again. She got shouted down by Zelina Vega again. Street Profits attacked them while Garza was chatting up Caruso, again.

Street Profits vs Andrade & Angel Garza was just a really good match. The tensions between Garza and Andrade didn’t flare up during the match, but they lost to frog splash from Montez Ford to Garza, during which Ford had to change direction in mid-air.

Backstage, Zelina Vega yelled at them both but they weren’t yelling at each other.

♦ Sasha Banks is not the RAW Women’s Champion, whatever she might think and however often she holds the title belt above her head. She and Bayley talked a LOT about why she’s the rightful champion and why everyone else is wrong.

Asuka and Kairi Sane appeared and Asuka shouted about Banks not being ready for her and the title still being hers.

Stephanie McMahon appeared on the big screen. She congratulated Sasha Banks and Bayley on the tag titles and Bayley on the SmackDown title but told Sasha Banks and Asuka that neither of them technically won last night there will be a rematch next week. She ruled that the title can change hands on Pinfall, Submission, Disqualification or in the event of Interference, so if Bayley gets involved Banks will lose. Asuka and Sane rushed the ring and Bayley and Banks escaped to ringside for the break.

Bayley vs Kairi Sane happened after a break. It was very good and not too short. I hope it was the match Sane wanted if it was her last. She looked great, but she has done since she came back. Banks looked like she was losing faith in Bayley, and with good reason because Sane was firmly in control. Bayley fought her off that time and got her foot on the rope after an InSane Elbow, then kneed her in the face when she went for a spear. It looked like Bayley would win with an elbow drop of her own, but Sane kicked out. Frustrated, Bayley went for the Bayley to Belly and Sane countered and pinned her off a rollup.

Shayna Baszler was interviewed while watching from backstage about whether she has a vested interest in the match. Baszler said she has the same vested interest as a shark when it sees prey in the water.

♦ Drew McIntyre said Dolph Ziggler’s choice of the stipulation was brilliant. It completely swayed the match in Ziggler’s favour and he nearly had him. But almost doing things is the story of Dolph Ziggler’s entire career. The next big event is SummerSlam and McIntyre wants a worthy opponent.

Ziggler appeared and said he saw fear in McIntyre’s eyes last night and hyped up their match. McIntyre said he knew he was looking for a match but he beat him 24 hours ago so he can bugger off. When Ziggler kept going McIntyre said he was going to leave because he was starting to feel bad for him. Ziggler grabbed him when he turned away, so McIntyre headbutted him to the mat. But Ziggler still wasn’t done. He yelled after McIntyre and made him turn around then straight up begged for the match and said McIntyre could pick the stipulation. That changed Drew McIntyre’s mind but when Ziggler asked what the stipulation was, McIntyre said he’ll tell him immediately before the bell rings.

The match happens next week.

♦ Big Show has a last-minute promo. He said that in just a few minutes he’ll be facing Randy Orton with Ric Flair by his side. Orton is the most dangerous man in WWE right now, evidenced by what he did to Edge and Christian. Orton is systematically taking out all the people who pulled him out of a dark hole. Show knows what jeopardy his career and his health is in. He used to pray that the Legend Killer wouldn’t come back, but he guesses the voices in Orton’s head got too loud. Either Flair turning up the volume, or they got loud on their own, but they’re screaming at him to have no empathy and compassion and to take out everything in his way.

When they rode together, they nicknamed themselves hammer and chisel. They talked a lot about the pressures they were under and they bonded. But that’s changed now. Orton is the Legend Killer and has a boot with Bis Show’s name on it. He’s asked himself if it’s the end of his career tonight, and it might be, but he’s going to do anything and everything to make sure Randy Orton doesn’t write the end of his story.

Ric Flair did not come to the ring for Randy Orton vs Big Show’s Unsanctioned Match. It was very match-like for a while, then Andrade and Angel Garza came out and attacked Big Show. They threw him into a post before getting run off by The Viking Raiders, and after a break it was back to being mostly just a regular match. Regular-ish anyway. Big Show put himself through a table when Orton rolled out of the way but kicked out of the RKO. At that point, Orton got a chair and hit Big Show in the stomach with it before cracking him over the back a couple of times. A third chair shot and a draping DDT would probably have been enough, but Orton waited for Show to get up and delivered a second RKO to seal the win.

Once the match was over Orton waited for Big Show to get to his knees then punt kicked him in the head. Orton leaned over and said, ‘I told you. Just like all the others,’ as Show was laying on the mat.

There’s not much to say about this week’s RAW. It was ok. There is a lot of potential for some good stuff, but enough repetition that it feels very much like everything is in a holding pattern. How much of that is down to the current situation and how much is due to a lack of creative ideas, is anyone’s guess.