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WWE Monday Night Raw comes waltzing back into our lives tonight (Aug. 13, 2018) from the Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, North Carolina, featuring the go home show to the upcoming SummerSlam pay-per-view (PPV) scheduled for this Sunday night in Brooklyn.
Advertised for tonight: The B-Team vs. The Revival vs. The Deleters of Worlds in a tag team title match, Renee Young guests on commentary, and more!
Come right back here at 8 p.m. ET when the Raw live blog kicks off once the show starts on USA. It will be below this line here. (REMINDER: NO GIFS OR PICS ARE ALLOWED IN THE COMMENTS SECTION. OFFENDERS WILL BE BANNED.)
WWE RAW RESULTS AND LIVE BLOG FOR AUG. 13
The dust is gathering where I stand, now I know there’s a crack in this plan. After a while there just ain’t no more magic, man. I got a need, I got to know, give me the truth, who is running my show? Tell them I’m sorry but I just had to go, because it’s time for me to liveblog this here pro wrestling show, folks.
The show opens with Ronda Rousey making her entrance and getting in the ring to cut a promo.
She begins by mentioning the passing of Natalya’s father, Jim “the Anvil” Neidhart and says that any loss is heartbreaking, but to lose a father, our fathers are pillars of strength in a hostile world, reassurance that everything is going to be okay, but when that reassurance is ripped away we have to face the fact that our fathers raised us to be the pillars our families need when they’re gone.
She tells Nattie to stay strong and that we all love her and mentions how Alexa Bliss cheated to beat her time and time again, and on Sunday, she’s going to become the new Raw Women’s Champion. And speaking of segues, she introduces the superstar that’s going to beat Alexa tonight, Ember Moon!
Shortly after she enters, Bliss and Alicia Fox come out and the champ says she’s glad she’s making friends because the good times are about to come to an end. She recounts her own credentials and calls Ronda an overhyped rookie, and SummerSlam is going to be her utter humiliation. While she’s at it, she’s sick and tired of hearing about her and seeing the dumb look on her face week after week.
It’s six days until SummerSlam and she’s not taking the chance of having her arm yanked out of socket, so she spoke with the only fair authority around, Constable Baron Corbin, and he suggested she hire her own security, which she calls to her side now. They head in the ring and Alexa takes a cheap shot on Ember as she speaks with Ronda! Rousey heads into the ring hot and security get between her and them...
RONDA ROUSEY CLEARS HOUSE ON THREE OF FOUR SECURITY GUARDS AND THE LAST GUY RUNS FOR THE HILLS! Alexa bolts and Foxy takes an arm drag for her trouble!
And so we go to break.
Back from commercial and the match is in progress!
Alexa Bliss vs. Ember Moon
Ember with a wristlock, grounding the champ, headscissors applied as a counter, kip-up escape, arm drag into the armbar and we go out for a picture in picture ad. When we come back, Bliss is jawing at Ronda and Ember takes advantage, legsweep into a reverse STO, only two and Alexa rolls to the floor! Baseball slide catches her true, Moon throws Bliss back in the ring, snapmare into a reverse chinlock.
Alexa escapes, smashes her arm into the mat, dropkick connects and we go to break.
Back from commercial, Bliss has a wristlock applied and is throwing kicks for a nearfall! Mat slam counter, roll-through into double knees and she locks a reverse chinlock on. Nearfall on the escape, right back to the hold, Ember struggling, fighting, rolling her off, side cradle gets two! Dropkick from the champion, trading pins, big right from Alexa!
Disdainful slaps, Moon fills with resolve and lets out a primal scream before dropping her with lariats! Kick combo knocks the champ down, charging back elbow, up top, tornado suplex... NOPE! Alicia Fox goes to interfere and Ronda Rousey takes her out! Bliss attacks Ronda and throws her into the barricade! Back in, hooking the DDT, Moon shoves her off and hits a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker!
Up top... ECLIPSE! BUT FOXY BREAKS IT UP!
Ember Moon wins by disqualification.
Alicia presses the attack but Rousey comes in and arm drags her to hell!
Commentary hypes up our tag title three-way and we go to break.
Back from commercial, commentary hypes up SmackDown 1000 before tossing to a recap of recent events involving Brock Lesnar, with some new footage from Renee Young’s interview with Paul Heyman, revealing that he nearly gave a caveat on Brock’s victory.
Backstage, Kurt Angle and Baron Corbin are bickering. Baron went over Kurt’s head on some matches and he has to go to the ring. Dolph Ziggler & Drew McIntyre roll up and Dolph needles him about Seth Rollins not being here yet and Angle says he had PR work in China and has had some delays but he’ll be here tonight and they can go wait for him somewhere else.
Constable Baron Corbin makes his entrance for the match he was teasing, and we go to break.
Back from commercial in time to see Corbin’s opponent is Tyler Breeze.
Constable Baron Corbin vs. Tyler Breeze
Collar and elbow, Corbin overpowers Breeze easily but gets caught in a wristlock, reversed, big uppercut, into the half nelson chinlock to lock Tyler down. Breeze posts to his feet, throwing in the ropes, kick combo, off the ropes with a dropkick and Baron is sent to the floor! Tyler to the apron, diving, caught, and Corbin throws him chest-first into the barricade and gives himself a round of applause!
Back inside, Constable drawing him up and punching him down, putting boots to him, overhead elbow and right back into the half nelson chinlock he goes. Slamming him to the mat on an escape, but Breeze has the werewithal for an upkick and to knock Corbin off the apron after! Plancha comes up empty, but he lands on his feet on a back suplex and clocks Baron with an enzuigiri!
Back inside, shoulder thrust from the apron, slingshit up and over, off the ropes... DEEP SIX! IT’S OVER!
Constable Baron Corbin wins by pinfall with Deep Six.
He gets on the mic after and talks about how good he is and how he’s gonna beat Finn Balor up on Sunday, and now it’s time for Finn to wrestle his opponent, Jinder Mahal. He and Sunil Singh come down, Baron shakes their hands and goes to leave but remembers he forgot that Finn is such a big man and a big start that he’s gotta be happy fighting two guys at once in a handicap match, and his other opponent is Kevin Owens!
KO makes his entrance, and we go to break.
Back from commercial in time for Finn’s entrance.
Kurt Angle makes his entrance before the match can actually begin and says he can’t technically cancel the match, but he can add to it, and he makes it a straight tag team match, and Balor’s partner is...
(RRROOOAAARRR!)
BRAUN STROWMAN!
Braun Strowman & Finn Balor vs. Jinder Mahal & Kevin Owens
Balor and Mahal to start, circling, collar and elbow, Jinder backs him into the corner and breaks clean with his mantra. Go behind, side headlock, to a wristlock, Finn rolls through but can’t quite reverse until he kips up and Mahal cracks him across the face with a right hand. Back to a side headlock, Balor posts to his feet and shoots him off but get clobbered by the shoulder block.
Off the ropes, sunset flip, Finn pops up into a basement dropkick but Jinder cuts the tag off and Owens tags in and puts boots to Balor. Kneeling armbar, breaking occasionally for punishment, and eventually tagging Mahal back in. Snapmare, knee to the back, leg pick, quick tag back to KO. HOT TAG TO BRAUN AND HE CLEARS HOUSE! Owens runs off, hiding in the crowd so he gets into with Jinder, clubbing him with impunity.
Stinger splash, off the ropes, shoulder block, clubbing him down and Finn tags back in... BRAUN SLAMS HIM ONTO MAHAL FOR TWO! Jinder gets a jawbreaker but runs into a dropkick, Off the ropes, Owens tries and fails to grab Balor’s leg and Strowman stalks after him! Finn off the ropes... HE TAKES BOTH OF THEM OUT WITH A TOPE CON GIRO AND WE GO TO BREAK!
Back from commercial, Mahal is in control of Balor with a half nelson chinlock, tag to Owens, in with elbow drops and mounted punches, jawing at Braun, asking what he’s gonna do about it (seems like a bad thing to ask a man that threw you off a twenty foot wall, Kev, but what do I know?) and grabbing a rear chinlock. Finn to his feet, shoved down, but he dodges the senton! Crawling... Jinder tags in and cuts him off!
Boots up in the corner, throwing forearms, rushing for the tag, reaching, but Mahal puts him in the corner! Boots up again, pass Jinder to the floor, crawling... and Owens cuts him off again after tagging in! Balor off the ropes, Sling Blade, both men down and out and the Monster Among Men is fired up... TAGS MADE! Braun heads Jinder off with shoulder blocks, right hand knocks KO down, thunderous lariat takes Mahal out!
To the floor, around, HE PICKS UP SUNIL SINGH AND USES HIM FOR EXTRA VELOCITY TO POUNCE KEVIN OWENS! Back inside, Jinder manages to get a knee off but Braun hoists him up...
Braun Strowman & Finn Balor win by pinfall with a running powerslam from Strowman on Jinder Mahal.
Post-match, Strowman chases Owens to the back and Corbin ambushes Balor with End of Days!
Commentary hypes up the rest of tonight’s announced festivities, including the contract signing for the Intercontinental Championship.
We cut backstage with Kurt Angle, who’s on the phone trying to reach Seth Rollins and failing. Drew and Dolph roll back up and McIntyre speculates that Rollins is scared, maybe they finally broke him! Ziggler says beating Seth up has done wonders for their brand, and they wonder what happens if he can’t sign the contract, to which Kurt says he will be here.
Dolph wants to look at the contract and Angle obliges, leading Ziggler to screw with him by suggesting he misspelled his name.
We see Bobby Lashley warming up backstage and go to break.
Back from commercial, a local singer named Ricky Roberts (played by former PWX World Heavyweight Champion John Skyler, who, if you’re not familiar with him, is great and his year-long blood feud against former tag team partner Corey Hollis is very recommended) is introduced.
He says his favorite musician in the world is Elias. He says one day he’s gonna be in the hall of fame and Elias will come to his face and say those magical words-- he’s cut off by Elias’ entrance. Elias grills him on how big a fan he is and tells him he can impress him tonight if he beats and humiliates Bobby Lashley. The Drifter talks about how well his career is going and all the engagements he has coming up, and says he’ll perform his greatest song at SummerSlam.
He runs Greensboro down on his way to a song and is interrupted by Bobby Lashley. Bobby gets on the mic and tells Ricky they’ve already got one no-talent clown who plays guitar, and when he turns around... ROBERTS WITH THE EL KABONG! Lashley shrugs it off and hits a spinebuster!
The B-Team are backstage and Bo Dallas is upset because the odds of them winning are even lower. Curtis Axel tries to reassure him, but Dallas frets and says they only have a 33.333333% chance and it doesn’t matter how you do the math, they’re in trouble. Axel says math didn’t get them where they are, teamwork did. Even if this fails, it’s been the best run of their lives, and they’re gonna run for their lives.
And so we go to break.
Back from commercial, McIntyre and Ziggler are reading the contract backstage.
B-Team (Bo Dallas & Curtis Axel) (c) vs. Deleters of Worlds (Bray Wyatt & Matt Hardy) vs. the Revival (Dash Wilder & Scott Dawson) (WWE Raw Tag Team Championship)
Dallas and Wilder to start, Dash gets Bo in the corner and tags Dawson in. Scott with a chop in the corner, snap suplex, float into a pin, only one. Drawing him up, tag back to Wilder, whip, Dallas bowls him over and Hardy tags in, smashing Dash’s face into the turnbuckles over and over again. Corner lariat, bulldog blocked but the Side Effect connects... NOPE!
Diving elbow to the back of the neck, calling for Wilder’s deletion, kick to the gut, Twist of Fate blocked and Dawson’s legal... HART ATTACK! ONLY TWO! Punching Matt in the ropes, referee Darrick Moore backs him off but he comes right back in with hard, measured strikes. Whip to the corner, boot up but Hardy runs into a lariat! Tag to Dash, atomic drop-assisted leg drop gets two and we go to break.
Back from commercial, Hardy gets away from Wilder and tags Wyatt in! Freight train on a fresh Dawson, and big Rock Bottoms for everybody, except Axel! Bray gets a waistlock, Scott off the top with a sunset flip on both! Wilder puts Wyatt outside and dives... CAUGHT INTO A ROCK BOTTOM INTO THE APRON! DALLAS DIVES OFF THE STEPS TO WIPE BRAY OUT!
Hardy to the apron, he climbs up top, Scott cuts him off with a right hand, jockeying for position... DAWSON SUPERPLEXES HARDY ONTO EVERYONE ELSE ON THE FLOOR! Slowly order from the chaos, the Deleters throw Dawson inside but he’s got life enough to fight Wyatt and Curtis tags in over him! Bray with both Revival men in Sister Abigail, they slip out, Shatter Machine, Axel picks the bones...
The B-Team win by pinfall with a lateral press from Curtis Axel on Bray Wyatt to retain the WWE Raw Tag Team Championship.
Backstage we see Roman Reigns moseying along when the B-Team roll up celebrating and excited. Reigns looks on with an eyebrow cocked and continues on his way as we go to break.
Back from commercial, Drew McIntyre and Dolph Ziggler bring the contract back and Dolph asks about Rollins being entitled to a cornerman, and Angle says that’s standard, but he could take it out and send Drew to the back, too. Ziggler says that’s fine, none of it matters and Rollins isn’t gonna be here to sign anyway.
In the arena proper, Roman Reigns makes his entrance.
He gets on the mic and talks about leaving this place better than he found it, and how he tells himself to do that every day. The truth is, he’s never gonna be able to do that with Brock Lesnar here. So that means it’s time for Brock to go. He’s sick and tired of hearing about him, talking about him, looking at him, the lies, the rumors, and it ends at SummerSlam.
He’s taking his Universal Championship back, and he’ll send Brock so far back into the UFC that he’ll find his head stuck in Dana White’s ass.
Enter Paul Heyman. He’s exuberant and says it’s a new day, to borrow a line from SmackDown, and says if he’s gonna borrow a line, it really should be from the Usos, who are the future of the tag division, and Roman is the purported future of the Universal Championship. Reigns wants to make history, why wait until Sunday? He can make history tonight!
He brings up the caveat revealed from earlier and says the “unless” in “Roman can’t beat Brock unless” is having Paul Heyman telling him each and every one of Lesnar’s dirty big secrets! He can do that! With Paul Heyman in his corner, knowing, a guarantee, not a prediction, but a spoiler than he’ll beat Brock Lesnar on Sunday and become Universal Champion.
Roman says he knows it all, he doesn’t need his insight or tools and he beat Brock in Saudi Arabia, and it would have ended a lot quicker than that if it wasn’t for him. Paul admits that he’s guilty as charged, no excuses, and hopefully the sins of this father won’t be visited on his children, but he’s not here to talk about the past. He’s here to talk about the future, one week from now.
After he slays the Beast at SummerSlam, check this out, side by side-- Roman won’t cooperate so Paul asks him to just imagine while he does his usual schtick but says he’s the advocate for Roman Reigns. A small smile plays across Reigns’ face and Heyman extends his hand, the crowd’s into it... Roman admits he’s trying but he says it’s not good enough, and he’s been groomed from a young age to be in this business, to spot the sharks, and to avoid the drowning sharks...
And Paul is a drowning shark that’s not worth saving. The Big Dog wishes him the best of luck in his future endeavors. Paul says he’s right, he’s drowning... drowning in the knowledge he learned as a teen riding with Roman’s father and uncle. His dad taught Heyman something he taught all his sons in Samoan. Paul speaks Samoan! He says he’ll make it easy, he prepared an agreement.
No pressure, no games. Just please, please, look it over, he says. No answer tonight, give him the answer on Sunday at SummerSlam. Reigns takes the agreement and gives it a glance... PAUL E HAS MACE?! HE’S SPRAYING ROMAN WITH MACE! BROCK LESNAR’S HERE AND ROMAN REIGNS IS BLINDED! KNEE LIFTS IN THE CORNER, INTO HALF NELSON KNEES, CRUMPLING REIGNS TO THE MAT!
Guillotine choke applied! Brock leaves Roman coughing... and decides to come back and finish the job! Fireman’s carry... F5!
On that note, we go to break.
Back from commercial, we got a recap of what we just saw, because Raw is three hours long. (And okay, yeah, it was pretty monumental.)
Authors of Pain (Akam & Rezar) & Mojo Rawley vs. Bobby Roode & Titus Worldwide (Apollo Crews & Titus O’Neil)
Crews dodges a charge, gets a pair of enzuigiris off and Rawley tags in. Back suplex, Apollo lands on his feet and tags Roode in. Bobby up top, diving lariat, clear the apron, corner lariat, whip reversed, boots up, diving blockbuster but Rezar breaks it up! O’Neil clotheslines him out of the ring, Mojo blasts him, Bobby is right on him...
Bobby Roode & Titus Worldwide win by pinfall with the Glorious DDT from Roode on Mojo Rawley.
Backstage, medics are tending to Roman Reigns while Kurt Angle looks on.
Commentary informs us we’ll celebrate the life of Jim “the Anvil” Neidhart after the break.
Back from commercial, we get the promised (and excellent, as always) video package on the life and times of Jim “the Anvil” Neidhart.
Commentary hypes up B-Team vs. the Revival as an addition to the Survivor Series card before running through all the rest of the previously announced matches.
A recap of our opening segment follows.
Sasha Banks makes her entrance, she’ll be in action after the break.
Back from commercial in time for Ruby Riott to make her entrance.
We get a handcam promo from the Riott Squad mocking Sasha and Bayley for making up and wondering if their friendship can withstand a riot.
Ruby Riott vs. Sasha Banks
Collar and elbow, Banks with an arm wringer but Riott clocks her with a forearm! Disdainful shove, off the ropes, Sasha with a hip toss, off the ropes, Sarah Logan runs interference but the Boss gets an O’Connor roll for a cover and then moves into a kneeling armbar. Ruby leveraging her hair to try and break but failing, shot off, into a schoolboy but Banks reverses to the crossface!
Riott gets the ropes, goes outside, Sasha slides out after and kicks her in the face before jawing with the Riott Squad. When she turns around Ruby throws her into the steps and superkicks her hand into the hole in the steel steps! Back inside, roundhouse kick, working the wrist, Banks trying to get a flash pin but Riott kicks her wrist and turns it right back around, knee to the injury and then we go to break.
Back from commercial, Riott is in control with a kneeling armbar, wrenching on Banks’ hand, wrist, and fingers. Shift to a top wristlock, but Sasha rises up and throws wicked palm strikes! Step-up arm drag, From Dusk ‘Til Bank Statement attempt but Ruby shrugs it off and the Boss dives on the Riott Squad! A knee to Ruby’s face, Liv Morgan takes Banks off the apron and Bayley plays equalizer!
Riott with a kick to the bad hand as Sasha tries to crawl back in...
Ruby Riot wins by pinfall with a schoolboy pin.
Backstage, Kurt Angle is sweating and a crew member comes up to tell him there’s no sign of Seth Rollins. Baron Corbin berates him for waiting to make it official and says Stephanie McMahon isn’t going to be happy, telling him all he has to do is make matches and he can’t even do that right.
Kurt leaves, and we go to break waiting for Seth Rollins.
Back from commercial, Kurt Angle is in the ring for the WWE Intercontinental Championship contract signing.
First he wants to talk about Paul Heyman’s heinous attack. First off, Roman Reigns should be good for SummerSlam, second, he’s not suspending Brock Lesnar, because he wants Roman to kick his ass. He starts to run Lesnar down and Dolph Ziggler and Drew McIntre interrupt.
They say Seth isn’t coming, time to wrap it up, and having lost one title match already Kurt can’t afford to suspend Brock and lose another, and even if Reigns is blind and stumbling, Angle will prop him up to keep his job. Ziggler asks if he has to defend or not, and says if he’s free he might have time to do a stand-up set. Kurt introduces Rollins...
...and nothing happens. He tries again...
Still no. Ziggler demands he call it, and McIntyre says Seth’s travel issues might be that he can get away from them fast enough after all the beatings they’ve handed out to him. Dolph says Seth was a great champion, but he can’t win so he quit. Drew agrees, and says they respect Rollins, and they formed their alliance to effect change and root out complacency.
You have to reach out for the brass ring, and some of the folks in the back think if they’re here they’ve made it, but Rollins fought every week to prove that he’s the best, so they want to prove they’re better, and Seth is the Architect of his own demise. Ziggler says Rollins’ mistake was busting his ass for the fans, they love when Seth burns it down, but they forget they used to love himself stealing the show.
But it’s all meaningless, because the second we feel slighted or disappointed, we all turn our back. We did it to Ziggler, and we’ll do it to Rollins, and the next guy (Johnny Gargano?), and the next guy (Matt Riddle?), and the next guy (Anthony Henry?) and the next guy (Mance Warner?). For the first time in his life, someone truly has Dolph’s back, not just rides his coattail, but McIntyre pushes him to outdo himself every single night.
He doesn’t care about any of us or stealing the show, because they don’t care about anything but taking over. So let’s forgo the conclusions and formalities, hand him the contract, and they’ll make it a Seth Rollins forfeit. Angle gives him the contract, and Ziggler signs...
ENTER SETH ROLLINS! He’s really sorry we had to sit through that therapy session, but he hasn’t been completely honest. He’s been here for a while but he didn’t want to come out until Dolph signed the contract because he was worried he’d change his mind once he had to hear what he had to say. The truth was he was dealing with travel issues, but... not exactly HIS travel issues.
That clause about having someone in his corner? Well, that was put there for a very particular reason, he’s gotten sick of going 2-on-1, and since Drew’s gonna be in his corner, well... HE’S GOT A LUNATIC IN HIS!
DEAN AMBROSE IS BACK AND SPORTING A HELL OF A BEARD! THE SHIELD BOYS TAKE ZIGGLER AND MCINTYRE OUT TOGETHER! SUPERKICK! DIRTY DEEDS!
They stand tall together in the ring.
That’s the show, folks.