The latest weekly episode of World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), Monday Night RAW, saw the crowd upbeat as visuals of Universal Champion Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman were shared as the show started. It was No#1 contender Roman Reigns entered the ring, amidst mixed reaction from the crowd, as the weekly show went live.
Reigns tried to run-down Lesnar as the crowd cheered. It was just then, Heyman made his entrance, and the crowd was ecstatic, hoping to see Lesnar appear; however, they were disappointed. “If Lesnar does show up in Brooklyn, he’s going to send him back to the UFC but he’s not going back as The Beast, he’s going back as Roman Reigns’ bitch,” said Reigns before dropping the mic and signing off.
The first match in the night was between Finn Balor and Baron Corbin. Corbin eventually won the evenly poised contest. The next match was between Natalya and Alicia Fox, which saw a gradual build-up between Alexa Bliss and Ronda Rousey for their SummerSlam bout. The match saw Bliss’ intervention, with Fox taking advantage of it and pinning Natalya for the win.
Another interesting segment on the show was between Kevin Owens and Braun Strowman. During a match between Strowman and Jinder Mahal, Owens appeared out of nowhere and teased the ‘Monster Amongst the Men’ by trying to run away with his ‘Money In The Bank’ suitcase. The resultant chase saw Mahal win the match by count out.
There were several exciting matches in the night. Sasha Banks and Bayley teamed-up to beat The Riott Squad and Seth Rollins continued his rivalry with the duo of Dolph Ziggler and Drew McIntyre, in a losing cause though.
List of all WWE matches that took place at Monday Night RAW, on July 30, 2018:
Sr. No. | Matches | Stipulations | Results |
1. | Finn Balor vs. Baron Corbin | Singles Match | Baron Corbin |
2. | Natalya vs. Alicia Fox | Singles Match | Alicia Fox |
3. | Braun Strowman vs Jinder Mahal | Singles Match | (By Count Out) Jinder Mahal |
4. | Apollo Crews vs. Akam | Singles Match | Apollo Crews |
5. | Drew McIntyre vs. Seth Rollins | Singles Match | (BY DQ) Seth Rollins |
6. | The Revival vs. Matt Hardy and Bray Wyatt | Tag-Team Match | The Revival |
7. | The Riott Squad vs. Sasha Banks and Bayley | Tag-Team Match | Sasha Banks and Bayley |
Throughout the show there were clips shared, where Paul Heyman (Lesnar’s manager) was coaxing to make an appearance in the ring; failure to which, his contract would be terminated – RAW General Manager Kurt Angle had announced about it, earlier. Lesnar humiliated Heyman too.
Another segment during the show saw Angle receiving instructions from RAW Commissioner Stephanie McMahon to send Roman Reigns out of the arena for the night.
Just as when Angle was about to fire Heyman, for his failure to bring Lesnar in the ring, Universal Champion Lesnar appeared, much to the crowd’s delight. Lesnar hit his finishing move ‘F5’ to Angle out of nowhere and also grabbed Heyman, holding his mouth.
WWE Universe cheered for Roman Reigns; however, there was no sign of him in the main event. Monday Night RAW’s episode, on July 30, went off-air with Angle and Heyman recovering in the ring, as Lesnar marched backstage.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 31, 2018 09:43 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).