Tonight, Monday Night Raw finalizes its respective Survivor Series teams and provides a ton of filler content a couple weeks before the biggest Pay-Per-View before the Royal Rumble.
Opening Segment
Kicking off this Scottish edition of Monday Night Raw is the commissioner of Monday Night Raw, Stephanie McMahon. After bringing out the four confirmed members of Raw’s male Survivor Series team (Kevin Owens, Chris Jericho, Roman Reigns, & Braun Strowman), she announces the fifth member of the team: Seth Rollins. They will be competing against SmackDown’s team of AJ Styles, Bray Wyatt, Dean Ambrose, Randy Orton, and Baron Corbin.
Team co-captains Kevin Owens and Chris Jericho try to order their teammates around, and it ends in Team Raw brawling with each other. Stephanie McMahon wants them to get this all out of their system, so she books the main event for tonight: Owens vs. Jericho vs. Rollins vs. Reigns vs. Strowman in a Fatal Five-Way match.
They also threw in the confirmed members for Raw’s tag team Survivor Series Team: The New Day, Sheamus and Cesaro, Golden Truth, Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson, and Enzo Amore and Big Cass.
Sin Cara & Rich Swann vs. Brian Kendrick & Noam Dar
This is the perfect time for Noam Dar to make his debut. It has been months since he has been announced as Raw’s Cruiserweight Division, and Raw is taking place in Dar’s home country of Scotland. Dar is more of a mat-based, technically focused wrestler whose signature maneuver is the kneebar, just like former Cruiserweight Champion TJ Perkins.
Sin Cara takes out Noam Dar outside of the ring, and Rich Swann rolls up Brian Kendrick to pick up the win. This is Swann’s second victory over Kendrick in just a few weeks, so he should be in line for a Cruiserweight Championship opportunity. Winners: Sin Cara & Rich Swann
In-ring Segment
The tag teams representing Raw at Survivor Series meet in the ring, and team captains the New Day take way too long in rallying the troops to work together against SmackDown.
Kofi Kingston & Big E (w/Xavier Woods) vs. Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson
Raw’s strategy of pitting their teams against each other is an interesting one, but it doesn’t seem like it is promoting team unity at all. It doesn’t help that most of these teams don’t like each other, but having matches against each other only makes matters worse.
To end a match that continues to keep the Glasgow crowd silent, Gallows and Anderson hit the Magic Killer (or the Crowd Killer tonight) on Big E. Winners: Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson
Backstage Segment
R-Truth tells Goldust that he traded their Survivor Series spot to The Shining Stars for a timeshare at the Shining Star Resort, also known as a huge scam.
Golden Truth vs. The Shining Stars
Since R-Truth is a Class A moron and doesn’t know that Primo and Epico are con artists, Goldust convinced Stephanie McMahon to make this match. The winners will have the fifth spot for the Survivor Series match.
Primo rolls up Goldust and steals the win and the Survivor Series spot. Winners: The Shining Stars
In-ring Segment
Now that two of the Raw teams are finalized, Michael Cole is here to announce the rest of the women’s team. Joining Charlotte, Nia Jax, and Bayley are Alicia Fox and Sasha Banks.
Bayley, Sasha Banks, & Alicia Fox vs. Nia Jax, Charlotte, & Dana Brooke
How are we supposed to believe that any team for Monday Night Raw is going to win, since all the team do is fight each other? Stephanie McMahon fuels the fire, then they are expected to just set their differences aside and win for the pride of their show. At least Kevin Owens and The New Day are trying to get their teammates to get along.
Charlotte focuses too much on Sasha Banks, and Bayley takes advantage to hit the Bayley-to-Belly on the Women’s Champion and she picks up the victory. Winners: Bayley, Sasha Banks, & Alicia Fox
Rusev (w/Lana) vs. Sami Zayn – #1 Contender’s Match (Intercontinental Championship)
This match is the only one on tonight’s card that has any meaning. On SmackDown last week, Dolph Ziggler issued an open challenge to Raw. He offered a free opportunity for any Raw Superstar to challenge him for the Intercontinental Championship. Whoever wins between Rusev and Sami Zayn will be that challenger.
Rusev goes to the top turnbuckle, and Sami Zayn hits a super Helluva Kick to win the match and get a chance to steal the show with Dolph Ziggler in two weeks. Winner: Sami Zayn
Kevin Owens vs. Chris Jericho vs. Seth Rollins vs. Roman Reigns vs. Braun Strowman
To end this… interesting strategy of pitting teammates against each other is the Raw men’s team competing in a Fatal Five-Way match. Perhaps the most interesting thing about this match is seeing how the new and improved Braun Strowman fares against Superstars who have been in the main event scene for months.
Rollins hits Jericho with a Pedigree, then Reigns hits Owens with a Superman Punch, leading to Owens landing on Jericho for the pinfall. Winner: Kevin Owens
