WWE remained in Saudi Arabia after Crown Jewel 2024 for a pre-recorded edition of Monday Night Raw, where Damian Priest has emerged as Gunther’s next opponent for the World Heavyweight Championship. He did this by winning a Fatal Four Way against Sheamus, Dominik Mysterio and Seth Rollins, who was taken out of commission by Bronson Reed giving him a Tsunami through a table. Dragon Lee defeated Chad Gable to cause American Made more misery after Ivy Nile distracted her teammate by fighting Zelina Vega, and the War Raiders continued their winning streak with a victory over The New Day while Kofi and Xavier’s problems Woods continued.
Liv Morgan continued her winning streak by eliminating Bianca Belair and Jade Cargill from a Number One Contender’s Battle Royal for her championship, with Iyo Sky becoming the new challenger for the Women’s World Championship. The Wyatt Sicks released disturbing footage of the kidnapped Miz, and Sami Zayn will go to SmackDown with The Usos to talk to Roman Reigns after their physical exchange at Crown Jewel.
Iyo Heaven
Iyo’s Babyface run goes from strength to strength
After overcoming the competition and eliminating Lyra Valykria, Iyo Sky is Liv Morgan’s new number one World Championship contender. Damage CTRL has had a friendlier performance in recent months, with Iyo’s frenzied pointing at herself with both hands after pulling off a move that surprised the crowd being particularly captivating. What comes next will be fascinating.
Time will tell what story Morgan and Sky will tell, but the prospect of something new for the Raw Women’s World Championship is welcome. Raw has been dominated by Rhea and Liv since Ripley’s triumphant return. This opens up the field a bit before the Eradicator returns.
Father Damian
Everyone rise to the new challenger
All signs pointed to Dirty Dom or CM Punk’s return, but instead, Damian Priest will be the next challenger for Gunther’s World Heavyweight Championship. The Main Event of Raw saw Seth Rollins, Dominik Mysterio, Sheamus and Priest in a Fatal Four Way to become number one contender and Priest would emerge victorious after Bronson Reed returned to take another pound of flesh from Seth Rollins.
Going back to the World Heavyweight Championship match at SummerSlam, Gunther and Damian Priest have enough history and bad blood between them to make this match intriguing. It’s hard to imagine Priest regaining the title that Gunther took from him, not to the level that CM Punk seemed like a viable threat, but these two are always guaranteed to deliver, so it’s a smart creative choice.
Wyatt’s patients
During an argument between The New Day on Raw last week, The Miz was seen being kidnapped by The Wyatt Sicks. This week, they hijacked the broadcast to show footage of The Miz as hostages tied to a chair in a warehouse. That was a welcome dose of something new from The Wyatt Sicksthe spooky, grainy Saw-style aesthetic added a much-needed layer of intensity to proceedings.
As Miz begged for his release and distanced himself from Final Testament, Uncle Howdy Revealed Miz Was Intentionally Hunted. It’s an interesting dynamic to have the coldest, most horror-friendly act of the cast combined with the usually rubber-faced Miz. This angle won’t be silly. It will require something entirely new from The Miz, a performer who has proven himself up to any task.
Liv Morgan
Red-hot work from the women’s champion
Rhea Ripley’s unfortunate injury has left a giant hole at the top of Raw’s women’s division. Luckily, Liv Morgan can laugh with lemonade when life hands her lemons. As she opened the show to celebrate her victory at Crown Jewel, Bianca Belair and Jade Cargill interrupted her. Morgan’s mic work is in great shape, Liv created an immediate buzz around her dislike of the Women’s Champions.
After Bianca dropped Morgan with a right hand, Adam Pearce intervened to set up a Battle Royal to determine a new number one contender for the Women’s World Championship. Iyo Sky won, but Morgan and Rodriguez were responsible for Cargill and Bianca’s elimination. Looking at the bigger picture, Belair and Cargill represent credible opposition to Morgan (Especially with WWE’s move to Netflix on the horizon). His victory dance right in their faces was pitiful and delightful. Adaptable to any situation thrown at her, Liv Morgan is on fire right now.
The Road to Survivor series
Sami Zayn and The Usos begin their journey to WarGames
It has long been expected that the original Bloodline would reunite to fight Solo Sikoa and his group at Survivor Series. Sami Zayn put an end to that with his accidental Helluva Kick on Roman Reigns. After speaking to the crowd in Arabic, Sami and The Usos enjoyed a segment that was a vintage Bloodline filmand reminded everyone why the Bloodline story is still going strong after so many years.
While Jey vouched for Sami, and Zayn admitted that fighting alongside Roman and The Usos was good and just like old times, Jimmy ostracized the former Honorary Uce, reminding him that he’s not family. Everything is ready for an explosive episode of SmackDown and that’s before anyone has thought about what Sami and Roman burying the hatchet will do to Kevin Owens off the rails.
Seth Rollins
Bronson Reed returns with devastating fashion
When Seth Rollins fell out of the ring after his hard-fought victory over Bronson Reed at Crown Jewel, both men were caught in a downward gaze that let you know this wasn’t over. Seth was caught saying “what’s wrong with you?” while Reed stared at Rollins like Bowser stared at Mario was one of the highlights of the night, so when Bronson Reed jumped the barricade to attack everyone in the matchit was Rollins who had the most to fear.
And so it happened, as Bronson Reed delivered Seth a devastating tsunami through the announcer’s deskleaping off the barricade with reckless abandon. This put The Architect out of the fight and took away his chance to be the World Heavyweight Champion. There’s a lot of talk about CM Punk vs Rollins at WrestleMania, but Seth will have to get past one of his toughest opponents in years to get there.
Jade Cargill and Bianca Belair
Failure brings a glimpse of your future
It was a very good weekend for the women’s doubles champions. Belair and Cargill successfully defended their titles against four different teams at Crown Jewel, but something seismic happened at Raw Battle Royal. Shining like stars, Bianca and Jade were among the last four women left in the ring, with the pair throwing Iyo Sky and Lyra Valkyria onto the ring apron, but not onto the floor. Jade and Bianca came face to face in direct competitionwhile everyone held their breath.
Both women would be eliminated soon after, but any doubts about star power and the validity of a match between these two women were just out of town. Jade Cargill vs Bianca Belair is a marquee match waiting and only the provocation seemed monolithic. Belair may have spent 2024 playing Obi-Wan, but you better believe Darth Cargill is in his future.
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Saudi Arabia becomes the eleventh country to host Monday Night Raw.
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Bianca and Jade’s tribute to Deadpool (Jadepool?) was pretty cool, as was the Jaded/KOD double spot.
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The back of Chad Gable’s body falling off the ring apron to the outside on Dragon Lee was out of this world.
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“The main event features three worthy competitors and Dom”. Gunther’s improvement on the microphone continues.
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Chad Gable has just one win since July.
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The last Raw Women’s Battle Royal took place on the April 22, 2024 episode of Raw, when Becky Lynch won the vacant Women’s World Championship.
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Iyo Sky and Liv Morgan have never met in singles competition.
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Despite his appearance, there was no mention of Adam Pearce being RKO’d by Randy Orton at Crown Jewel.
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This is the first time the War Raiders have won three consecutive games since November 2022.