There’s not much on the RAW preview again this week. Riddle has planned a Championship Celebration for Randy Orton to celebrate RK-Bro’s SummerSlam victory (read the full SummerSlam review here). John Morrison has Logan Paul as his guest on Moist TV. And Nikki A.S.H. will team with Rhea Ripley to face Nia Jax & Shayna Baszler.

I’m Amanda and this is the RAW review.

Match Results

Damian Priest def. Bobby Lashley (DQ)

Damian Priest & Drew McIntyre def. Sheamus & Bobby Lashley

Karrion Kross def. Ricochet

Xavier Woods def. The Miz

Mansoor def. Jinder Mahal (DQ)

Nikki A.S.H. & Rhea Ripley def. Shayna Baszler & Nia Jax

Riddle def. AJ Styles

The Show

♦ After a lengthy SummerSlam recap, Bobby Lashley and MVP took to the ring and showed footage of Lashley putting Goldberg’s son to sleep in the Hurt Lock after he rushed the ring.

MVP talked a bit about Goldberg being a worthy challenger but not knowing he would bring his son. He praised the shape Goldberg was in and gave him credit for getting a couple of two counts on the champ. Sadly, for Goldberg, he just made Lashley angry and Lashley made him pay. It’s not quite how it happened, but history is written by the victors.

What is accurate is Goldberg’s son attacked Lashley from behind and was in The Hurt Lock before Lashley knew who it was. Not that it would have made any difference. MVP explained that Lashley would have done the same to anyone. And if anyone wants an apology, they can go to hell.

Damian Priest came out and he looked angry. He had a few issues with their version of events, but he was there to challenge Lashley to a match. As MVP had called everyone cowards, Priest said Lashley was the coward if he didn’t accept.

Bobby Lashley punched him in the face. They had a little scrap then MVP granted Priest the match and Lashley went to put his ring gear on during the break.

Bobby Lashley vs Damian Priest was our opening match and it was great to have something we haven’t seen a dozen times already. Of course, Sheamus arrived a couple of minutes in and attacked Priest to cause a disqualification. Drew McIntyre ran down to get involved and dumped Lashley onto the announce desk while Priest put Sheamus over the barricade and into the crowd.

Damian Priest & Drew McIntyre vs Bobby Lashley & Sheamus, of course, started during another break.  It’s so WWE. Why give us a new thing when you could make it less interesting by giving us a slightly new twist on past and current feuds instead.

Lashley bashed Priest into the ring post so hard he still wasn’t moving when Lashley had broken the count and come back to fling him into the barricades and smash him into the ring post again. Somehow, he was back in the ring after yet another break, but he was struggling to fight off Sheamus and make a much-needed tag. Sheamus and Lashley kept him away from McIntyre long enough for McIntyre to be all kinds of fired up when the tag eventually happened. The crowd got to do McIntyre’s countdown for the Claymore, but Sheamus popped up on the apron and punching him cost McIntyre the chance to deliver it. He got planted into the mat by Lashley but avoided the spear. Sheamus came in and delivered White Lightning from the second rope, but McIntyre kicked out and ducked a brogue kick.

An unseen tag from Priest gave him the advantage, but he got distracted dealing kicking Lashley off the apron and took a knee to the face from Sheamus. That should have been the end of the match, but Bobby Lashley decided to leave. Sheamus watched him go instead of covering Priest. Priest tagged out and Drew McIntyre finished it with a Claymore.

♦ Doudrop had a chance to talk to Sarah Schreiber about what happened with Eva Marie at SummerSlam (she announced her as a loser and left wearing her robe). She said she made a mistake associating with Eva Marie. It helped her get her foot in the door at Monday Night RAW, but she didn’t sign up to be spoken down to. Eva Marie thought she was putting her down by calling her Doudrop, but she likes it and she’s keeping it. She was telling Schreiber what she was going to do to Eva Marie the next time she saw her when Eva Marie rolled a packing crate into her and smacked her face into it while calling her ungrateful. She declared it Eva-Lution and left. Doudrop called her a bitch.

♦ Karrion Kross vs Ricochet was slightly unexpected considering Kross is less than 24 hours out of an extremely physical match against Samoa Joe. Kross lost that match and the NXT Championship and got a rough send-off from the TakeOver crowd, so he had more anger issues than usual to work out. The new ring gear might well have added to that anger, it’s… interesting. He lost Scarlett and gained a mask and a makeover. The match didn’t last long, and Ricochet didn’t stand a chance. He took a powerbomb and a Doomsday Saito Suplex before he tapped out in the Kross Jacket. Kross put him to sleep anyway.

♦ Things are going from bad to worse for Baron Corbin. Sarah Schreiber abandoned her interview with him to speak to Big E and Logan Paul. When Corbin complained Logan Paul called him an asshole.

♦ The Viking Raiders were also chatting to Logan Paul backstage before his appearance on Moist TV. They gave him a shirt.

♦ Sheamus and Bobby Lashley argued backstage about Lashley abandoning him. Lashley threatened him with a beating and Sheamus said he’d love to get in the ring with him. MVP managed to prevent it from becoming physical.

♦ Moist TV happened. I’ve got to confess, most of the time I have no idea what Morrison is talking about and I tend to tune him out. Logan Paul got booed a LOT. I know who he is from people talking about him on social media, but I have no idea why they hate him. I’m old, ok.

The Miz turned up unannounced and uninvited and said Morrison had forgotten to introduce him. He thought he was Logan Paul’s favourite WWE Superstar, but he was corrected. Logan Paul is a New Day fan. Miz still did some hype stuff, then asked what round his brother was getting knocked out in this weekend. Paul got in Miz’ face and threatened him.

Morrison tried to diffuse the situation by saying he knows everyone would like to see Logan Paul kick Miz’ ass. Miz was outraged. Morrison said he makes everything about him and they argued. Logan Paul left them to it.

Xavier Woods arrived while they were screaming at each other, but they were a united-ish front by the time he got to the ring.

The Miz, with John Morrison, vs Xavier Woods was good but Morrison’s interference backfired twice. The first time Morrison turned the floor in front of the announce desk into a slip and slide with the Dripsticks, but it was Miz who took the ride into the steps. The second time, he fired a Dripstick at Woods, hit no one, but the ref was telling him off when Miz rolled up Woods and he didn’t get back in time. Xavier Woods grabbed Miz and pinned him as soon as Miz went back to him.

Morrison apologised and it looked like Miz had forgiven him because he sent him for Dripsticks. He beat him up when he came back but he took a few quiet moments after the Skull Crushing Finale to contemplate what he’d done.

♦ The Elias character is still dead. We got the tombstone vignette from last week again in case anyone forgot.

Later in the show, he explained that before WWE stood for Walk With Elias, it stood for World Wrestling Entertainment. He conquered entertainment, now he wants to conquer wrestling and become a champion. He’s still going to be called Elias though.

♦ Nikki A.S.H. has a positive attitude about losing her title. It’s time to pick herself up. She asked Rhea Ripley to be her partner tonight to lift her spirits because she enjoyed teaming with her last week. Ripley agreed that beating up Nia and Shayna would lift her spirits as well, so she’s in.

♦ Reggie gave R-Truth and Akira Tozawa ice creams in the latest 24/7 adventures.

♦ Randy Orton asked Riddle not to do anything stupid for their celebration. I think he knew he was fighting a losing battle though.

♦ Jinder Mahal, with Veer & Shanky, vs Mansoor, with Mustafa Ali, was a bit of a tall order for Mansoor. Ali wouldn’t exactly have been an equaliser against Veer and Shanky on the outside even if Mansoor hadn’t asked him not to get involved whatever happened. Mahal was also looking to work off the frustrations of defeat and Mansoor had a rough time of it. So rough, the ref disqualified Mahal for stamping on him in the corner. Frustrated and annoyed, Ali kept his word and turned his back until Mahal and his goons left, then shouted at Mansoor asking him what happened and talking about doing things his way.

♦ Damian Priest and Drew McIntyre had a nice respectful chat backstage. Priest thanked McIntyre for his help. McIntyre congratulated him on beating Sheamus. He’s taking Priest out drinking. Damian Priest might live to regret that.

♦ Charlotte Flair celebrated becoming 12-time champion at SummerSlam. It still annoys me that her NXT title run doesn’t count. Of course, she started with an I told you so and a lot of self-congratulatory stuff. She’s planning to hold onto the title for as long as she physically can because it’s all she needs. No friends, no family, and certainly not the WWE universe, just the title.

When she woke up this morning she saw the RAW Women’s Champion and she wanted to give the WWE Universe the opportunity to admire her. She’s here to restore order and she hopes everyone in the locker room is listening. She started the first women’s revolution and she’s starting a new one. We can thank her now or thank her later, as long as we don’t forget to bow to the queen.

Alexa Bliss and Lilly came to the stage while Flair was posing with the title. Bliss congratulated her and said that she and Lilly just wanted to say hi.

♦ Shayna Baszler was still annoyed about Nia Jax teaming with Charlotte Flair last week. She just wanted them back on the same page because they’re unstoppable when they are.

Nikki A.S.H. & Rhea Ripley vs Shayna Baszler & Nia Jax got underway with Baszler and Ripley. That’s a great pairing. Ripley threw A.S.H. onto Baszler, which was unplanned by the look on A.S.H.’s face, but it got her a two count.

It wasn’t long before Baszler turned it around. She stamped on A.S.H.’s arm before handing her off to Jax, then took Ripley off the apron to keep her out of the match. She was back up quickly, but she could only watch her partner get beaten up. Jax accidentally knocked Baszler off the apron with Nikki’s feet when she was trying to tag, and Nikki kicked her legs out from under her in the corner and left her hung in the ropes to tag in Ripley.

Jax splashed Baszler while trying to break up a pin. A.S.H. took Jax down with a crossbody from the top and Rhea Ripley put Baszler down with the Riptide.

Ripley didn’t look too sure when Nikki A.S.H. jumped into her arms post-match, but she couldn’t help smiling at her enthusiasm. Commentary… well, Byron Saxton, kept saying what an amazing team they were. I could live with it.

♦ Backstage Morrison said there’s no more Miz and Morrison. No more Miz TV or Dirt Sheet or music videos (I want that promise in writing please). He’s ending it next week when he gets Miz in the ring.

♦ No one has ever given Randy Orton a more enthusiastic introduction than Riddle did for the championship celebration. Orton looked very uncomfortable about the balloons and red carpeting in the ring. He couldn’t pose in the corner because the balloons were in the way. Riddle got them announced as the new tag team champions and had a load of pyro go off. Orton went from unimpressed to pissed off.

Riddle told him friendship was just as important as championships and he’d bought him a present. It was a scooter with purple sparkly tassels on the handlebars.

AJ Styles appeared before Orton had a chance to react. Omos wandered out behind him. He pointed out Orton hadn’t got Riddle anything, but he’d got a Phenomenal Forearm for him. He’s beaten him every time they’ve gone one on one and he’s going to do it again and again until they get their rematch and get the titles back. Starting now. Riddle accepted.

Riddle, with Randy Orton, vs AJ Styles, with Omos, was our main event of the evening. Decent match. AJ Styles had the best of Riddle for the early going, but Riddle weathered the storm and fought his way back into it. Orton and Omos both had cause to look nervous on the outside, Orton more so and more often, but he was invested. When Riddle was caught in the calf crusher, Orton put himself in his eye line and kept encouraging him. Riddle turned it into a Bromission, but Styles got free.

Omos intimidated Riddle on the top rope and allowed Styles to take advantage. Orton sacrificed himself to try to take Omos down, but would up in a heap on the floor. Riddle bridged out of Styles next pin attempt and Styles was incredulous. He got him in position for a Styles Clash, but there was a distraction at ringside.

Orton made use of his gift, battering Omos with it. Riddle grabbed Styles while he was still watching it unfold and pinned him with BroDerek.

Randy Orton gave Styles an RKO after the match when he made the mistake of getting to his feet.

Not a bad episode of RAW this week. There are some new storylines on the horizon, including the prospect of a focused and serious John Morrison. We’ll see if that’s what we get next week. Also next week, Bobby Lashley faces Sheamus and Doudrop gets her hands on Eva Marie.