BUILDING BEMUSEMENT FOR BASH IN BERLIN

Ft. Lauderdale, Florida was the home to this week’s Monday Night Raw, and while it won’t go down as the most memorable Raw of all time, it laid some good groundwork for the upcoming Bash in Berlin PLE.

 

The show opened with Randy Orton explaining how he’s going to creep closer toward immortality when he dethrones Gunther and becomes a 15 time world champion. It does not take long for Gunther to come out and the two men go nose to nose. As things heat up, Ludwig Kaiser gets involved and the numbers game proves to be too much. Gunther and Kaiser stand tall above Orton to start the show. Orton will get his chance at revenge when he goes one-on-one with Kaiser in the main event. 

 

SHEAMUS VS. PETE DUNNE

 

Sheamus knows that “Sneaky Pete” (let’s get that on some merch, please) is going to be targeting his injured arm, but Sheamus calls himself the “one armed bandit” and is ready for another banger.

 

The match was hard hitting, as is to be expected between these two. Sheamus’s arm doesn’t seem to be a factor early on in the match, but a stomp to his injured wrist on the steel steps changes the tone of the match. Later, Sheamus attempts to deliver Ten Beats of the Bodhran, but Dunne manipulates the injured hand to get out of the situation and deliver some blows himself. There was a very creative spot when Sheamus gets his hand caught into the turnbuckle and Dunne attacks it while it is “trapped.” However, Sheamus is able to take the buckle completely off of the ring post and hit a Brogue Kick on “Sneaky Pete” for the win.

 

Backstage, Kofi Kingston talks to Xavier Woods about bringing Odyssey Jones into the New Day. Woods feels like Kofi is replacing Big E. Kofi insists that nobody is replacing Big E. He says simply that he remembers how they struggled when the New Day was just starting up, and how they wished a veteran would take them under his wing and show them the way. Kofi is just trying to do that for Jones. Woods seems to understand and appreciate that. The heartfelt moment is broken up by Jones aggressively hugging Woods. Xavier is still moderately bothered by the whole situation. 

 

MAXXINE DUPRI “VS” IVY NILE

 

After last week’s betrayal by Ivy Nile, Maxxine is ready to get a measure of revenge on her former friend. Before the match even begins Maxxine goes on the attack and ends up hitting a gorgeous Fisherman’s Suplex on Nile on the outside of the ring. Ivy quickly regains control but before the match can really get going, the lights go out and Nikki Cross/Abby the Witch enters the ring. American Made comes to Ivy’s rescue, but the Wyatt Sicks appear and they get Gable alone in the ring. Uncle Howdy hits Sister Abigail on Gable. The crowd loves it and chants “one more time.” You’re sick, Ft. Lauderdale! Think of Gable’s family! 

 

Next, CM Punk comes to the ring, and hes wearing a very heavy strap around his neck. He gives a lot of love to the fans, and says that WWE is on a hot streak because of the love the fans give the performers. He gushes about the Panthers winning the Stanley Cup and about getting to make up for losing 10 years of experiences with the WWE fans. Personally, it still feels strange to see Punk in this pure babyface role. It doesn’t suit him. 

 

Punk turns from love to hate as he brings up Drew Mcintyre. McIntyre appears and Punk lets Drew know that he spoke to Adam Pearce and they will have a strap match in Berlin. Punk offers to let Drew hold the strap until then if he gives Punk his bracelet back. Drew refuses and says “AJ and Larry are better off being closer to me.” and leaves. All-in-all it was a pretty weak promo given what these two have delivered in the past. 

 

FINAL TESTAMENT VS NEW DAY AND ODYSSEY JONES

 

The New Day comes out in some awesome TMNT gear in order to promote the new cross-branded toys that are coming out. This is why the New Day should never break up, they’re the best at this kind of stuff. 

 

The match is a pretty standard 6 man tag until Kofi starts receiving a beatdown. He goes for the hot tag and both Jones and Woods have their hands out. Kofi ends up tagging Jones which visibly upsets Woods. To be fair, Odyssey was slightly closer to Kofi, but I don’t think Woods is going to buy that excuse. However, Woods is a team player above all else, and is able to take out Razor. Kofi neutralizes Karrion Kross, and Odyssey Jones is able to hit the Journey’s End on Akam and gets the win for his team. Kofi and Jones are clearly more excited about the win than Woods is, and the Final Testament continues to just flounder in obscurity. 

 

MIZ VS BRONSON REED

 

Asking for this match to be no disqualification was a great move on the Miz’s part. He knows he’s outmanned in this match, so why not try to use foreign objects as the great equalizer. We love to see logical booking like that. 

 

Bronson Reed takes immediate advantage in the match, and knocks the Miz to the outside. Miz wisely starts throwing everything he can find into the ring. Chairs, kendo sticks, trash cans, and finally a table gets brought into the ring. It’s starting to look like an old school ECW show here. 

 

After using all of the other weapons in the ring have seen some action (including a kendo stick that Reed snaps over his knee like a toothpick), finally it’s time for the table to come into play. Both men get close calls with it until Reed finally delivers a Death Valley Driver to Miz, putting him through the table and hitting a Tsunami for the win. After the match, Reed goes to deliver another Tsunami but Braun Strowman comes out and chases him off. 

 

Backstage, Bron Breakker is cutting a promo, and is doing the classic “it’s not my fault” routine, which is great for a young, brutal champ. He’s aware of the upcoming tournament to find a new #1 Contender for the IC title, but he isn’t worried. This was a very standard, generic promo but Breakker delivered it well. 

 

DOMINIC MYSTERIO “VS” DAMIEN PRIEST

 

For the second time on this show, a match is called off before it even begins. The Judgment Day try to jump Damien Priest as he makes his way to the ring, but he’s able to thwart all of them single handedly (not a great look for the Judgment Day). Rhea Ripley comes out and her and Priest begin to beat up Daddy Dom. Rhea makes her second attempt to hit the Riptide on Dom, but for the second week in a row, Liv saves the day, this time with a chair shot. This allows Judgment Day to take advantage and beat down the Terror Twins. If Rhea doesn't get to hit Riptide on Dom in Berlin, it's going to be such a letdown.

 

DAMAGE CTRL VS PURE FUSION COLLECTIVE VS FYRE & DAWN

 

The Ft. Lauderdale crowd was treated to a triple threat match for the Women’s tag team titles. Love seeing titles regularly defended on TV. Even if they rarely change hands, it’s always intriguing when a title is on the line. 

 

The match began rather awkwardly as Kairi Sane nearly biffed it going for a springboard move to the outside, but was able to recover and actually turn it into a pretty cool spot. The match is a typical paint-by-numbers triple threat match, with one team being “incapacitated” on the outside while the other two get their spots in. This time, it was the champs, Fyre & Dawn, who spent most of the time on the outside, allowing Damage CTRL and Pure Fusion Collective (horrible name) to spend the majority of the match as the legal participants. 

 

If you’ve watched triple threat matches before, you should know how this ends. The team that spent the majority of the time outside of the action got the win. While that was predictable, the ending sequence was well executed and a great visual. Shayna and Kairi were the legal participants, but when Kairi went for her InSane Elbow, Isla Dawn tagged herself in. Baszler was able to counter the elbow attempt and locked Sane in the Kirifuda Clutch. Dawn then tags Fyre and hits a backstabber on Shayna while she still has the clutch locked in on Kairi. Alba Fyre then comes off of the top rope to hit a swanton bomb on Shayna (who still had the clutch locked in) and gets the pinfall. Fyre and Dawn retain their titles and deliver the coolest in-ring spot of the night. 

 

Backstage, Jey says that Sami Zayn is taking some time to recover and regroup after losing his title to Bron Breakker, and he declares his entry into the IC Title #1 Contender tournament. Given his closeness to Sami, it makes total sense for Jey to be in this tournament. Expect him to AT LEAST make it to the finals, and most likely win the whole thing. 

 

RANDY ORTON VS LUDWIG KAISER

 

This week’s main event sees Randy Orton try to destroy his enemy’s right hand man, as classic of a build-up match as there ever was. Despite this match being a bit lackluster on paper, the two men stepped it up and delivered a very solid main event. Randy Orton hit a fall away slam on Kaiser that would make Scott Hall very proud. Eventually, the action spills to the outside of the ring. Orton goes to slam Kaiser on the announce table, but Gunther’s distraction allows Ludwig to hit the offensive move instead. He follows that up with a running dropkick to Orton’s knee, smashing it right into the steel steps. Kaiser keeps control and focuses nearly all of his attention on Orton’s legs. Surely this will play into Gunther’s strategy for Berlin. 

 

Eventually, Randy is able to regain control and hits a gorgeous superplex and follows that up with a “vintage Orton” DDT. He ramps up for an RKO, and while Kaiser is able to avoid the first attempt, he doesn’t see the second one coming right after it, and Orton is able to hit the RKO “outta nowhere” for the win. Raw goes off the air with Orton and Gunther exchanging punches in the ring.