KB’s Review: The Monday Night Delights

Over the last few weeks, WWE has gone a little insane with promoting multiple shows at the same time. Ignoring their regular efforts to promote the regular TV shows, they’ve been working to promote major shows like Hell In A Cell, Super Show-Down, Evolution and Crown Jewel. That leaves you with a limited amount of time to build towards every match when you have to talk about everything else that is coming up at the exact same time. It leaves the TV shows feeling rather different. That was the case this week, although in a rather different way.

This week on Monday Night Raw, all kinds of things changed in the same night, with turns, angle advancements and a variety of twists. There were multiple big angles taking place and therefore it seems that some of them are worthy of looking at a little more closely. I won’t be breaking down the whole show, but rather just the bigger things that happened on this week’s TV show. Today we’re going to look at the major events from this week’s Monday Night Raw, because they seemed to be game changers in some cases.

D-Generation X Reforms To Face Brothers Of Destruction

This is one that you knew was coming for a long time now but they finally made it officially this week. Shawn Michaels coming out of retirement is a big deal of course, but I wasn’t wild on the tag match they already had down in Australia. It seems that the Saudi money was just too much to be passed over and there’s nothing wrong with that. It’s a ton of money that you’ll never get anywhere else and if Michaels takes it, I really can’t complain that much.

What I can complain about is the way the story was put together. Michaels and Triple H went on a long rant about a lack of respect because of one post match attack. It was nothing that the four of them haven’t done before, so it’s kind of a stretch to call this some kind of a career changing attack. I don’t know of a way to build the match that much better, but it was still kind of a stretch. That being said, the promo delivery was very good and I do kind of want to see the match.

Shawn Michaels coming out of retirement as D-Generation X reunite: Raw, Oct. 8, 2018

However, later on in the show they aired a video on D-Generation X, focusing almost entirely on their comedy stuff. That was quite the change of pace as you had both guys being ultra serious earlier in the show and now we’re looking at their comedy. It didn’t make a ton of sense, but there’s a lot about this story not making a ton of sense so it’s pretty easy to write it off.

Kurt Angle Is Back

This is one of those things where you knew it was coming but the question was when it would actually happen. Angle entered into a battle royal for a spot in the World Cup of Wrestling and won by eliminating Baron Corbin. This was a bit of a surprise as Angle wore a Los Conquistadors body suit and only unmasked after the match (though the German suplexes and Angle Slam were kind of a giveaway). It was Angle’s return after about a month away due to being put “on vacation” by Stephanie McMahon.

I’m not sure what to think of this. You had to know that Angle was coming back one day, especially with rumors of Team Angle vs. Team Corbin for Survivor Series. I really don’t need to see Angle in the ring again but for some reason WWE decides that it’s ok to have him in the ring, even at the risk of his neck (or almost everything else) exploding at some point in the future. It was a fine angle, but Angle back in the ring probably isn’t the best idea in the world.

Baron Corbin's 10-Man Global Battle Royal: Raw, Oct. 8, 2018

I really can’t imagine Angle working for very much longer, but that’s been the case with him for years now. Angle can still offer something, but hopefully he’s done sometime after Survivor Series. The story they had on Monday was a good one, but they’re walking a thin line with Angle, who can barely stay healthy long enough to work a word search, let alone a full wrestling schedule.

The Bella Twins Turn On Ronda Rousey

This is another one where you had to know it was coming but that doesn’t make it any better. The Bella Twins turned on Rousey after they won a rematch from Super Show-Down by defeating the Riott Squad. This set up a Raw Women’s Title match with Rousey defending against Nikki Bella in one of the featured matches at Evolution. You know, because they’re both huge celebrities.

Now of course the problem here is kind of obvious: the Bella Twins would have issues giving Rousey a real challenge if they had her arms tied behind her back and were given a ten minute head start. Rousey even beat the two of them up for a bit before they finally got the better of her. I’m not sure why I’d want to see Rousey fight someone like Nikki on pay per view and I’m sure that watching Rousey actually sell for her is going to give me hives.

The Bella Twins attack Ronda Rousey: Raw, Oct. 8, 2018

That’s where the angle falls apart for me. I’m sure the explanation will be something like “we’re the real stars around here and you’re just some newcomer” but at the end of the day, it’s Nikki Bella with that lame forearm of hers, against Rousey. How in the world is that supposed to be an interesting match? I know it’s going to wind up being a focal point of one of the reality shows, but egads I don’t know if I can handle hearing about how AMAZING Bella is leading up to the match.

Bobby Lashley Turns Heel, Kevin Owens….I’ll Get Back To You

One of the hardest things in the world to pull off in wrestling is a double turn and we….might have gotten one on Monday. Lashley certainly turned as having Lio Rush chant for him the entire match was one of the most annoying things you’ll ever hear and a great way to make people hate him. Then he wrecked Owens’ knee after the match, which did feel like a face turn but I’m not sure I can imagine Owens as a face no matter what.

At the end of the day, Owens is one of the most natural heels I’ve ever seen. Now if you have him as the anti-hero who fights against the monster heels (which he’s pretty much done for the last few months anyway), there’s a future for him as he can work with anyone in the ring and talk his way in or out of anything, there’s a future there. I’m not sure about it, but it could work out.

Bobby Lashley vs. Kevin Owens: Raw, Oct. 8, 2018

Overall, Lashley certainly needed this more than Owens. At the end of the day, Owens is someone who can work very well as a face or a heel but egads Lashley has floundered as a face. I’m not sure who in the world decided that having someone who looks like that with that kind of a track record as a face should be a good guy again but it really wasn’t working. Lashley was a great heel in Impact Wrestling and letting him do that same stuff in WWE would work as well.

Dean Ambrose Walks Out On The Shield

In the main event of this week’s show, the team of Braun Strowman, Drew McIntyre and Dolph Ziggler defeated the Shield in a heck of a match. Ambrose took the pinfall (from McIntyre, as should have been the case) and after the match was over, walked out on Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins, seemingly disgusted with himself over the loss.

For a change of pace, this is something that has been teased for a few weeks now but I didn’t think they would actually pull the trigger. That being said, this is likely far from over as there’s little reason to believe that what we saw is what we’re going to get. My money is still on Ambrose turning heel on the team, which is probably the best solution for everyone involved.

The Shield vs. Braun Strowman, Dolph Ziggler & Drew McIntyre: Raw, Oct. 8, 2018

Of course this is also the show that had Owens quit about a month ago and come back a week later with nothing having changed. Hopefully this leads somewhere that can give us something fresh in the main event scene because what they’re doing now isn’t the most thrilling stuff in the world. The wrestling was good but the story is where the money is, and if it works well, it’s going to be very entertaining.

This week’s Monday Night Raw was one of the most packed episodes in a very long time. There were stories up and down the show and that made for a show that went by so much faster. You can only have the same boring episode week after week for so long and a night like this was needed. Just keep things from being that dull over and over and you might be able to make the show a little better.

Thomas Hall has been a wrestling fan for over thirty years and has seen over 50,000 wrestling matches. He has also been a wrestling reviewer since 2009 with over 5,000 full shows covered. You can find his work at kbwrestlingreviews.com, or check out his Amazon author page with 28 wrestling books. His latest book is the the Complete 2003 Smackdown Reviews.

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