The Bloodline are coming to RAW this week for a match against The New Day, which has everything to do with The Bloodline attacking Big E backstage on SmackDown and “nothing” to do with AEW beating RAW in the ratings two weeks running. The New Day also have a championship celebration for Big E planned, but that doesn’t seem likely to go well. Natalya and Tamina have a tag title defence against Nikki A.S.H. and Rhea Ripley. Shayna Baszler and Nia Jax work out their issues with a match. Jeff Hardy tries to earn an opportunity at Damian Priest’s United States Championship, in a one on one against Sheamus. If Hardy wins Sheamus vs Priest, at Extreme Rules on Sunday, becomes a Triple Threat.

I’m Amanda and this is the RAW review.

Match Results

The Bloodline def. The New Day

Doudrop def. Eva Marie

Randy Orton def. AJ Styles

Shayna Baszler def. Nia Jax

Angel Garza & Humberto Carrillo def. Mustafa Ali & Mansoor

Nikki A.S.H. & Rhea Ripley def. Natalya & Tamina

Jeff Hardy def. Sheamus

Roman Reigns def. Big E and Bobby Lashley

The Show

♦ The New Day opened the show with Big E’s Championship Celebration. Big E was emotional before he got anywhere near the mic. The crowd gave him a ‘You Deserve It’ chant, because he does.

He said he was there to give thanks. Thanks to everyone who chanted “New Day Rocks,” and he forgives everyone who chanted “New Day Sucks.” Thanks to everyone who supported him while he climbed the ladder and grabbed the contract. And he’s beyond grateful to all of us who lost our minds when he became our new WWE Champion. He’s thankful for everyone below the heavens and one incredible friend above. The crowd broke out in a ‘Brodie’ chant, which was beautiful.

Tonight they have business with Jimmy and Jey Uso and their cousin, The Tribal Chief, Roman Reigns. But RAW is their show and they’re going to send The Bloodline packing.

The Bloodline arrived during the New Day Rocks chants and the match started after the break.

I’m really surprised that The New Day vs The Bloodline was the opening match. What the hell do they have planned for the main event? The first match tends to get a decent amount of time though, and I’m never going to complain about this match. The Usos and The New Day have had some all-time great battles. Roman Reigns got involved heading into the ads, absolutely destroying Kofi Kingston at ringside.

We did get Reigns and Big E in the ring together. Big E had the best of him before the interference of an Uso, and he caught Reigns out of a spear and slammed him. He couldn’t get the Big Ending though, and took a Superman punch after he’s tagged out.

I was wondering how they’d do this without a decisive finish and the answer was Bobby Lashley. He ran down and took out Big E, Kofi Kingston, and both Usos. Xavier Woods looked out of the ring at the carnage and never saw Reigns’ Spear coming.

After the match, Reigns took a Spear from Lashley, and he didn’t see that one coming either. Big E saw it coming when Lashley speared him through the barricades into the timekeeper’s area, but there was nothing he could do to stop it.

After the break, Lashley went and yelled at Adam Pearce and Sonya Deville. He wants Big E and Roman Reigns, individually or together. He’s still convinced he’s the real champion and it’s still the Almighty Era.

MVP wasn’t with Lashley because Randy Orton’s RKO on him last week broke a rib. He’s out indefinitely.

♦ Riddle tried to give Randy Orton a motivational talk before his match against AJ Styles. Orton hasn’t punched him in the face yet, which is a testament to patience I never knew he had. He told Riddle to keep Omos busy while he does his best to break a few of AJ’s ribs.

♦ Eva Marie vs Doudrop happened again. I’m loving seeing Doudrop with her self-confidence back, but I want to see her wrestle an actual match. Eva Marie went in for some appearance-shaming, for which she can fuck all the way off, then ran away until she was in danger of being counted out. She tried raking Doudrop’s eyes, just like last week, and was put down with a senton and crossbody… just like last week.

Doudrop declared the Eva-Lution dead and left with a smile. Please let her be right.

♦ Big E demanded Adam Pearce and Sonya Deville give him Bobby Lashley and Roman Reigns tonight. I guess that’s what they’re doing about the main event.

Paul Heyman came to see them after a break. He and Pearce yelled at each other until Sonya Deville told him there is going to be a triple-threat, Roman Reigns vs Big E vs Bobby Lashley. Pearce told him to let Roman know it was official.

♦ Randy Orton, with Riddle, vs AJ Styles, with Omos, was pretty great. Riddle is an excellent cheerleader. Omos tripped Orton, but made it too obvious and was ejected from ringside. Riddle probably shouldn’t have started the crowd singing at him. If he hadn’t, Omos wouldn’t have punched him in the face and sent him a few feet into a barricade. And AJ Styles wouldn’t have thrown Orton out of the ring and launched himself over the top rope onto him.

They were back in the ring after a break, with Omos gone and Riddle back to cheerleading. Orton tried to counter the Phenomenal Forearm into an RKO but ended up backing into the corner to dislodge Styles’ sleeper. Styles’ Pele kick might have got him the win if the cover hadn’t been so lax, but it was only worth two. He didn’t learn his lesson for the moonsault either. After thinking he’s avoided the RKO by backing off from a Phenomenal Forearm that Orton was ready for, Styles took one anyway and got pinned.

♦ Shayna Baszler vs Nia Jax has been a long time coming. They were an efficient team, but they were open from day one about not liking each other. Jax said some ridiculous stuff about making Baszler and there was more talking than fighting at the start. Ninety percent of the words came from Jax. Baszler did her talking with her knees and a Kirifuda Clutch that Baszler kept locked on through Jax dropping backwards and right until the ref declared Jax unconscious.

There was a look on Baszler’s face, just before she launched the vicious post-match attack, that could have been regret. It was back when she slipped Jax’s hand into the hole for lifting the steps and stamped on her arm. And she looked near to tears as she stood on Jax’ hand while she begged her not to stamp on her elbow. She did it anyway, but Jax’ screams and sobs seemed to hurt her.

♦ Mustafa Ali & Mansoor vs Angel Garza & Humberto Carrillo was unexpected but pleasant. Garza and Carrillo are cousins and they’ve decided to team up because they’ve realised no team is stronger. If I remember correctly, Garza gave Carrillo hell last time they were both on RAW. Anyway, the match was very good and as chaotic as you’d expect. Humberto Carrillo got the pin on Mustafa Ali after Ali had been thrown like a ragdoll into the post and taken a vicious double team.

♦ Karrion Kross is going to make everyone Fall and Pray… or fall about laughing at his outfit.

♦ Nikki A.S.H. and Rhea Ripley talked about Connor’s Cure. Ripley really struggled with the emotions behind it, but Nikki got her through. They dedicated their tag team title match to the kids and everyone affected by paediatric cancer, and to everyone who supported Connor’s Cure. And they led the crowd in making the V for Victory pose that forms the basis of this year’s campaign.

Natalya & Tamina (C) vs Nikki A.S.H. & Rhea Ripley – WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship match – saw A.S.H. isolated and alone in Tamina and Natalya’s corner for most of the early parts of the match. Ripley was on the floor courtesy of Tamina after Ripley was forced to make an early save. She wasn’t back when Nikki went for a tag and Tamina tried to pull her off the apron when she finally got back up.

That turned out to be a decisive mistake. Nikki A.S.H. caught Natalya in a small package while she was watching Tamina take a Riptide on the apron. We have new champions.

♦ Charlotte Flair was Alexa Bliss’ guest in Alexa’s Playground. Flair was condescending. Bliss called her the fun police and tried to give Charly back to her. Flair wouldn’t take her. She doesn’t want dolls and she doesn’t want to face this fake child. She wants the Alexa Bliss of old, five feet of fury, the one who used to be a contender.

Flair had a lot to say about some of the characters in the locker room, using her boast/insult/boast formula. She’s going to beat the sense back into Bliss and asked whether she wanted her to do it tonight or on Sunday.

Bliss was entirely unimpressed. She wanted to know if Flair got sick of hearing the same thing over and over like the rest of us do. And, as they were getting personal, who is Charlotte Flair without a title? Nobody knows because Flair doesn’t know. If she doesn’t have a title, she has nothing. Bliss doesn’t have to play mind games with her to expose her insecurities because they’re stamped on her forehead. What would she even say to the crowd if she wasn’t a champion? Charly wasn’t a gift to play mind games. She was a pity gift because even a narcissistic self-centred bitch like her deserves happiness.

Flair can call her whatever she wants. She doesn’t care because at least she knows who she is, and she doesn’t have to grasp at titles to stay relevant. She can call her crazy tonight, but at Extreme Rules, she will call her champ.

Charlotte Flair shoved Bliss’ face and Bliss leapt on her. After putting Bliss down in the scrap pulled Charly’s head off. She went for Lilly as well, but took a DDT before she got close. She was still ripping Charly to pieces as she walked up the ramp.

♦ Drake Maverick hatched an elaborate plan to catch Reggie, involving Drew Gulak, Akira Tozawa, R-Truth, and a net. Gulak ended up in the net. Reggie escaped.

♦ The Miz is on Dancing with the Stars.

♦ Sheamus vs Jeff Hardy took place with Damian Priest joining commentary. Sheamus’ mask came off and his nose was bleeding well before the end of the match. It looked like Sheamus might have foiled Hardy’s plans when he got his knees up to meet the Swanton, but somehow Hardy slipped off his shoulders when he picked him up and flipped him onto his back for the win.

Sheamus blamed Priest for Hardy being in the picture in the first place, and they had a fight that a whole bunch of officials declined to get in the middle of.

♦ Big E vs Roman Reigns, vs Bobby Lashley, is one hell of a main event on any card. Reigns was only accompanied by Paul Heyman. Big E left Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods backstage. And with MVP out, Lashley has no friends left.

Lashley and Big E got straight into it. Reigns was a little more reserved early on, picking his moments then standing back. He got Big E with a drive-by as we went into the ads, but it was Big E and Lashley again when we came back.

Lashley met Reigns’ drive-by attempt with a punch in the throat. Big E survived a Samoan Drop and went on to create a tower of doom in which Lashley took the painful top spot. Lashley was still down after a break but came back to pull Big E from the ring and run him into the barricade. His delayed vertical suplex on Reigns was impressive, but not enough for the win. Big E’s splash on both opponents got him two on Lashley.

Reigns missed a Superman punch and took a Big Ending, but Lashley pulled Big E off the cover and put him through the announce desk. He was back in time to break Lashley’s post spear cover and Reigns saved him from the Hurt Lock with a Superman punch. Reigns took a suicide dive from big E and a Big Ending, but Lashley smacked Big E with a chair while he was trying to pin him. Lashley kept hitting him with the chair until Roman Reigns speared it out of his hands and pinned him.

Tonight’s RAW was stacked to the rafters and easily one of the best episodes this year. I’d like to think we’ll see more from The New Day and The Bloodline at Survivor Series, but who knows how it will pan out after the WWE Draft has taken place. In the meantime, Extreme Rules looks like a potentially good show, but so far there doesn’t seem to be a huge amount of Extreme. Still a few days for that to change though.