WWE Monday Night Raw comes waltzing back into our lives tonight (Aug. 19, 2019) from the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota, featuring all the latest build to the upcoming Clash of Champions pay-per-view (PPV) scheduled for next month in Charlotte.
Advertised for tonight: The King of the Ring tournament gets underway, Braun Strowman challenges AJ Styles for the United States championship, 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. 19
Girl, there are really no words strong enough to describe all my longing for love, I don’t want my feelings restrained. Oh babe, I just need you like never before, I just imagine you’d come through this door, you’d take all my sorrow away. But since we have to wait thirteen days before we’re together again, I’ll just have to content myself with liveblogging this here pro wrestling show for these folks.
The show opens with Roman Reigns making his entrance and the information that Corey Graves is off tonight and Jerry “the King” Lawler is at the announce desk in his stead.
A video package covering the attacks on Reigns over the last month or so follows, as ell as some tweets from Dolph Ziggler setting up our opening contest.
Ziggler makes his entrance and gets on the mic to tell Roman, man-to-man, that he’s glad he’s okay after all this, genuinely, but he doesn’t get why he gets all the attention for it. He complains about getting speared three times and thought the rules were that he could only do one spear every six months and about Maryse’s husband beating him with Ric Flair’s move.
He puts Roman over but says everybody knows it should have been him and superkicks the Big Dog!
Dolph Ziggler vs. Roman Reigns
Reigns sidesteps the charge and knocks Ziggler to the floor with a single right hand! Taking a moment to get his jaw back into place, Roman turns to Dolph and heads out on the floor after him, charging around, off the steps, Ziggler sidesteps and hits the Zig Zag to send us to break!
Back from commercial and Ziggler is in control, laying into Reigns with strikes. Charging in, back body drop over the ropes and to the floor! Drive-By lands true as Dolph is trying to recover, back inside, duck a lariat, off the ropes and the Big Dog hits a leaping lariat! Fired up, corner lariats and finishing with the big boot! Roman calling for it, Ziggler sidesteps the Superman Punch and gets two off of a schoolboy!
Big DDT... NOPE! Both men down and out, Zig Zag denied, sunset flip, still no! Fameasser... COUNTERED INTO A POWERBOMB ATTEMPT BUT DOLPH FLOATS OVER! Putting Reigns into the post, Zig Zag... SO VERY CLOSE BUT REIGNS KICKS OUT! Dolph fired up, tuning up the band, waiting for Roman to get to his feet but he catches the superkick... SUPERMAN PUNCH GETS A TIGHT TWO!
Big Dog to his feet, fired up, howling... SPEAR COUNTERED INTO THE FAMEASSER BUT IT’S NOT ENOUGH! Ziggler jawing at Roman, disdainful slaps, charging in...
Roman Reigns wins by pinfall with a spear.
Commentary hypes up some of our first round King of the Ring matches and we go to break.
Back from commercial we get an infographic of fun WWE 24/7 Championship facts.
We get a recap of Sasha Banks’ most excellent return from last week.
Becky Lynch gets a promo and says last week Sasha Banks beat her stupid with a chair and people want to know why she keeps inviting the locker room to come after her. Her answer is simple, she wants the best, most aggressive version of everyone coming after the title, and she wants to fight everyone at their best and most interesting, and that’s where Sasha Banks is now.
Four months ago she ran away from WWE crying and then came back hotter than ever, so what did she do on her four months of whinging vacation? Absolutely nothing, and it only took her a couple press interviews to make Banks what she couldn’t be herself, the greatest woman on the roster to never great. She can swing a chair and wear her dollar store glasses all they want, but she did more for Sasha than Sasha’s ever done for herself.
She said this is a cat and mouse game, and she’s going to give Banks something to run home and cry about.
Jerry “the King” Lawler is in the ring for his King’s Court with Sasha Banks, but first he wants to talk about King of the Ring, one of his favorite things in WWE. It’s a launching pad for legends like Bret “the Hitman” Hart, “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, and Brock Lesnar, and 16 top stars are going to battle it out to reign supreme. He makes predictions of Cedric Alexander and Ricochet as Raw semifinalists, and for SmackDown... the lights go low and Lawler sells it like he’s getting the hell out of Dodge because he knows the Fiend is coming.
Jerry makes it to the stage before the lights go all the way out and Bray Wyatt appears on the stage to lock the Mandible Claw on!
The lights go back up and we go to break.
Back from commercial we get a recap of what we just saw, because Raw is three hours long. (Three hours long.)
Vic Joseph joins the commentary desk to replace Jerry “the King” Lawler.
Baron Corbin & Drew McIntyre vs. Ricochet & the Miz
Miz and McIntyre to start, Ricochet tags in in short order, Awesome Clothesline into a springboard lariat. Off the ropes, big boot, standing moonsault and Drew goes to the floor! Taking Baron out after him, Miz with a dropkick through the ropes and the One and Only follows up with the kickflip moonsault to take both heels out and send us to break!
Back from commercial, Miz landing punches on Corbin but he gets decked with a back elbow when he comes off the ropes. Baron with mounted punches on the mat, hammering the A-Lister’s head as McIntyre looks on with pride! Tag made, Drew comes in with a huge belly-to-belly suplex out of the corner... NOPE! Big lariat, tag to Corbin, Miz fighting back with punches out of the corner, Baron out and back in, tag made, thrust spinebuster into a jackknife pin for two!
Drawing the A-Lister up, big chops but Miz snaps off the DDT for some breathing space! Tags made, Ricochet in hot, duck a lariat, step-up enzuigiri, clear the apron, charge in, back body drop to the apron. Right hand, springboard, nobody home, baseballs slide takes Drew out, land on his feet off a back suplex! Corbin out and back in, duck a lariat again, boots up, enzuigiri, rolling thunder dropkick for one!
Ricochet charging in, shoulder thrust, toe kick, springboard lariat! Running shooting star press... MCINTYRE BREAKS IT UP! The match breaks down, Drew boots Miz and gets hands on the One and Only and biels him across the ring as referee John Cone tries to restore order... RICOCHET COUNTERS CLAYMORE WITH A SUPERKICK! SKULL-CRUSHING FINALE! Baron takes Miz out with a chokeslam, the One and Only springboards into a goozle, reverses it only to get caught with Deep Six... NOT ENOUGH!
Ricochet charging in with a forearm, Recoil connects...
Ricochet and the Miz win by pinfall with Recoil from Ricochet on Baron Corbin.
And so we go to break.
Back from commercial, we see Sasha Banks taking a seat for a promo backstage.
Michael Cole introduces Booker T via Skype to discuss the Fiend taking out Hall of Famers and then talks about King of the Ring and predicts Drew McIntyre to win this year’s tournament.
AJ Styles (c) vs. Braun Strowman (WWE United States Championship)
Styles light on his feet and jawing at Strowman, laying a slap in across the big man’s face, goozle into the corner, sidestep, chop block to no effect! Off the ropes, Braun lays him out with a shoulder and AJ bails to the floor to regroup! Strowman out after him, charging around and back in, Styles cuts him off in the ropes with strikes but still gets caught.
Float over the chokeslam, kicks to the back of the knee, off the ropes, pop-up back body drop! Braun clearing the other OCs out at ringside, charging in, boots up in the corner, forearm from the apron, Styles calling for it, springboard... SWATTED OUT OF MID-AIR! Scooping Styles up, Luke Gallows is in the ring with a superkick! Referee Darrick Moore has no choice...
Braun Strowman wins by disqualification.
Post-match, the tag chams put Strowman into the post, big roundhouse kick from Big Hoot, into the post again afterwards! Thinking about Magic Killer... SETH ROLLINS WITH THE SAVE! Lariat takes Karl Anderson out, superkick for Gallows, Avada Kedavra for Machine Gun and he clears the ring! Turning to the monster among men, he helps the big man up and shakes his hand.
Braun refuses to let go at first but it becomes clear he’s just doing so as a friendly reminder of his power and presence as a smile plays across his face.
Samoa Joe is shown walking backstage to send us to break.
Back from commercial and Seth Rollins catches up to Braun backstage and says he sees how it’s going and he knows Braun is going to want to come after the title and if it was up to him, Strowman would be his next challenger.
But for right now he’s gonna see if he can get them a tag title match tonight. He asks if Braun is in and gets no response but takes it as a yes.
Samoa Joe gets an inset promo where he talks about how he’s not making promises about King of the Ring because he’s the truth. Cesaro gets a similar promo where he talks about how King of the Ring plays to his strengths and he’s gonna win.
Cesaro vs. Samoa Joe (King of the Ring 2019 First Round Match)
Cesaro in hard with an uppercut... ALMOST! Thinking straight suplex, Joe manages to block with body blows, chops get a knee lift, off the ropes and he lays the Swiss Superman out with a back elbow! Off the ropes, Cesaro gets the springboard corkscrew elbow, double leg pick, Samoa blocks and kicks him aside. Chop, pass into the corner, back elbow sets up the enzuigiri.
Swiss national to the floor, Joe off the ropes... SUICIDE DIVE KNOCKS CESARO INTO THE CROWD AND WE GO TO BREAK!
Back from commercial, Joe is in charge with jabs in the corner. Big chops, Cesaro fires his own back, off the ropes and he gets nearly turned inside out by a lariat! Standing neck crank to follow, shift to a wristlock, Jim Breaks Special sets up a jab! Samoa off the ropes with the senton but Cesaro rolls away! Uppercuts in the corner, letting loose, off the ropes with a Mafia kick... NOPE!
Looking for a suplex, jockeying for position but he can’t get Joe off his feet on the first try... STRAIGHT SUPLEX CONNECTS FOR TWO! Joe with chops, Cesaro cuts him off with an uppercut and he goes to the floor. Swiss Superman giving chase and landing a huge uppercut to throw him back in! Headed up top... DIVING CROSSBODY NEARLY DOES IT!
Charging in, Samoa nails him with the corner Rock Bottom and the senton connects this time but can’t put Cesaro away! Shove into the ropes, uppercuts, double leg... CESARO SWINGS JOE! Stepping through, Sharpshooter applied in the middle of the ring! Shift to the arm-trap crossface, reversed into a pin for two! Setting up the Neutralizer, back body drop, duck the lariat, springboard caught into the Coquina Clutch... IT’S OVER!
Samoa Joe wins by submission with the Coquina Clutch.
Commentary hypes up the rest of the show and we’re informed that Seth Rollins got the tag title match he wanted to send us to break.
Back from commercial, we get a YouTube clip showing Elias in the studio and Drake Maverick trying to win the WWE 24/7 Championship from him.
Elias is in the ring to sing us a song but he gets interrupted by noises like we’re listening to the SOD song “What’s That Noise?” He says we’re about to see his farewell performance and says he can’t risk being out here live every week as 24/7 Champion, but first he’s going to leave us with an emotional ballad we’ll never forget. He berates his tech and demands a change of guitars but the tech refuses to give it to him.
The lights come up and it’s R-Truth! Referee Dan Engler is handy, schoolboy for two! Small package, still two, big boot, off the ropes... ELIAS KICKS OUT OF THE SCISSORS KICK! Truth frustrated, he eyeballs the guitars but Elias books it before he can get hit with his own instruments!
Rey Mysterio is shown standing backstage to send us to break.
Back from commercial, Rey Mysterio is interviewed backstage.
He thanks Charly Caruso for her time and the forum to let everyone know what’s going on. He says he’s very fortunate to have his family and the career he’s had, and he remembers his uncle training him as a little boy and also meeting all kinds of folks that he calls not just his fans, but his friends. Recently things haven’t been clicking, and what Andrade “Cien” Almas did was a disgrace.
Rey talks about what an insult it is to have your mask ripped off but what hurts more is that he hasn’t been able to do anything about it. Usually in the ring he can see what his next moves are, but lately his body hasn’t been responding to that vision, and his biggest fear is that now his injuries have finally caught up to him.
He collects himself for a beat and says that he knows that this day comes to everyone at some point, he just didn’t expect it would come to him. But he understands now that it’s time for him to hang up the mask and let the new generation of stars make their wave. He starts taking his mask off when his son Dominic rolls up and asks him to hear him out.
Dominic says that Rey told him when he debuted he’d debut as his partner, and he wants to keep the chain unbroken from Rey Misterio, Sr. to Rey Misterio, Jr. and make his debut alongside his father. He asks his father to keep going and promises to make him proud. Mysterio says he’ll do it for him because he loves him and they embrace.
New Day make their entrance and we get a recap of the six-man they were in last week on SmackDown.
New Day (Big E & Xavier Woods) vs. the Revival (Dash Wilder & Scott Dawson)
Dawson and E to start, Big right in with a lariat! Passing Scott to the corner, shoulder thrust, off the ropes for a back elbow, cover for one. Putting Dawson in the corner, tag to Woods, assisted forearm, shoulder thrust, lariat, only two. Drawing him up, right hands, Scott with a handful of hair and the tag. Wilder with uppercuts and chops in the corner, Xavier fighting back but he gets smashed into the next turnbuckle anyway.
Uppercut, whip across, boot up on the charge, Honor Roll connects! Match breaks down, New Day clear the ring and they’re fired up to send us to break.
Back from commercial, Woods is up top and knocks Dawson down with a headbutt. Jockeying for position, perching, missile dropkick connects and gets Xavier some breathing room! Tag to E, belly-to-belly suplexes for everybody! Hip swivel, got Wilder down and out, off the ropes for the big splas! Fired up, scoop, Dash slips out and Scott knocks Woods off the top and to the floor.
Clubbing Wilder, E has him where he wants him, off the ropes... RKO OUTTA NOWHERE!
New Day win by disqualification, presumably.
Randy Orton stands tall with the Revival and jaws at Big E until Kofi Kingston makes the save! Taking Orton out, brawling with the Revival, diving double lariat but the Viper gets the RKO on the WWE Champion! Drawing him up after, Woods tries to make the save but gets caught by the Revival! Dawson figure fours Xavier’s legs, Orton directs traffic and pulls Kofi Kingston over so he can sit on him and make him watch... DASH WILDER OFF THE TOP WITH A STOMP TO BREAK XAVIER’S LEG!
Woods screams bloody agony and writhes on the mat as the Viper makes Kingston watch before taking his pose in the turnbuckles!
Sasha Banks is interviewed.
She thanks Michael Cole for the time and says she’d like to explain from the very beginning. Last week she looked in the mirror and she told herself that blue is her color and look at it, it’s all over social media how she looks good and she’s better than ever. She says she looks good and feels even better, to which Cole says nobody’s talking about her hair, but rather her return to WWE to attack Natalya and Becky Lynch.
She takes a minute to consider before leaning in and simply saying “You’re welcome” and leaving the interview chair.
Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross make their entrance, they’ll be in action after the break.
Alexa Bliss & Nikki Cross vs. Fire and Desire (Mandy Rose & Sonya Deville)
Deville and Cross to start, circling, Sonya in with a go-behind, takedown, front chancery, staying on Nikki as she tries to roll out but eventually she reverses with a double thrust to the throat and makes the tag. Deville with a series of pins, tag to Rose. Strikes set up a mat slam that gets two, Mandy blocks a right hand and fires her own back, scoop lift, Alexa floats out, waistlock, blocked, off the ropes with a cartwheel and Rose poses.
Duck a forearm, low dropkick, only two. Bliss gets her in the ropes, Nikki with the cheap shot and Rose follows after her to blast her with an elbow. Baseball slide from Alexa wipes her out, cover for two back inside. Short whip into the corner, tag to Cross, assisted corner splash, snapmare into a reverse chinlock. Shift to a Japanese stranglehold, ragdolling her, whip into the corner and a tag to Bliss.
Another assisted corner splash but Rose explodes out of the corner with the knee lift! Both women down and out, tags made, Sonya in hot with a lariat, an elbow, a kick combo, off the ropes, Mandy isolated and wiped out, she ends up set up...
Alexa Bliss & Nikki Cross win by pinfall with the fisherman neckbreaker from Cross on Sonya Deville.
Backstage, Seth Rollins tries to give Braun Strowman a strategy talk for their title match but Braun turns it around on him to send us to break.
Back from commercial in time for entrances and our obligatory “I’m going to win King of the Ring” inset promos.
Cedric Alexander vs. Sami Zayn (King of the Ring 2019 First Round Match)
Zayn with a waistlock and punches to the back of the head, whip across, a lariat gets one, double knee choke over the middle rope. Alexander with a big chop to get back into it but he eats a backbreaker for one. Sleeper hold applied, Cedric fights out but gets caught with the Michinoku Driver... NOPE! Another sleeper hold, Sami trying to choke the life out of him but Alexander gets to his feet and fights back with strikes.
Zayn with a boot, whip reversed, back elbow, off the ropes, flying forearm connects! Boot up in the corner, up and over, roll through, handspring headscissors, nope! Dropkick connects, Sami to the floor, off the ropes, tope con giro! Back inside, Neuralyzer connects...
Cedric Alexander wins by pinfall with the Lumbar Check.
Backstage the Street Profits are watching and looking over their brackets.
Montez Ford says he’s two for two and Angelo Dawkins tears his up and throws it away because he’s got Cesaro going to the finals. They talk up the rest of our first-round matches and Dawkins stops short to wonder why they don’t have a tag team Kings of the Ring tournament, and Ford says it’s because they’re already kings.
And so we go to break.
Back from commercial, we see the tag team champions complaining backstage about how unfair this title match is.
AJ Styles rolls up and tells them they’re right but this is an opportunity to show that the OC are great and Rollins and Strowman are no match for these motherlovers. They throw up the Too Sweets.
Natalya cuts a promo in a sling about how she just got done seeing the doctor again and how she expected this to be an emotional week but she didn’t expect Sasha Banks. She says Sasha was one of her closest friends and she can’t wrap her head around how she’d attack--
THE BOSS BLINDSIDES HER! She beats her up and tells her to go to hell and say high to her daddy for her before punctuating the attack by slamming her elbow inside a drawer!
Seth Rollins and Braun Strowman make their entrances to send us to break.
Braun Strowman & Seth Rollins vs. the OC (Karl Anderson & Luke Gallows) (c) (WWE Raw Tag Team Championship)
Gallows and Strowman to start, Luke jawing and Braun shoves him into the corner. Collar and elbow, two bull moose struggling for dominance and the monster gets Big Hoot in the corner to beat on him. Shoulder block, tag to Rollins, diving punch, shoulder armbreakers but Gallows swats him down and takes him in the corner. Working Seth over, tag to Anderson, smashing his face into the corner and punching away.
Rollins with punches of his own, whip reversed, front kick and a lariat and he gets some breathing room. Drawing Machine Gun up, suplex denied, O’Connor roll, blind tag to Big LG but he saw it coming and cuts him off. Diving knee to good ol’ Sex Ferguson on the floor but Luke drops him rib-first over the barricade not once, but twice to send us to break.
Back from commercial, Anderson has Rollins locked down but the Universal Champion fights back. Whip across, front kick, clear the apron, caught by the spinning spinebuster... NOPE! Karl sets him up top, right hands, jockeying for position, Seth with a boot and the diving blockbuster but his ribs are screaming agony and he can’t capitalize! Reaching for the tag, Gallows legal to cut him off, choking Rollins over the middle rope!
Strowman stalking AJ Styles at ringside when Big Hoot blasts him into the post from behind! Big boot, back inside, Rollins nails him with a superkick! Tag made, Sling Blade connects, charging forearms for both tag team champions! Float out of a slam, low bridge Sex Ferguson... SUICIDE DIVE! Back inside, Falcon Arrow lays Anderson low but can’t keep him down!
Seth up top, Styles cuts him off while referee John Cone is distracted! Gallows tags in, back suplex neckbreaker... NOT ENOUGH! Anderson tags back, Luke jawing at the champ but Rollins fights out of Magic Killer! Karl cuts him off, puts boots to him, draws him up and dumps him to the floor. Big Hoot drags Seth to his feet, Machine Gun gets Cone’s attention... STROWMAN FREIGHT TRAINS AJ!
Rollins lands on his feet on a suplex, tag made and Braun runs Anderson over! Stinger Splash, a lariat for Gallows, another Stinger Splash, he’s got Machine Gun, running powerslam, Seth in to hit Blackout on Luke...
Braun Strowman & Seth Rollins win by pinfall with a running powerslam from Strowman on Karl Anderson to win the WWE Raw Tag Team Championship.
The babyface team celebrates with the titles, but eventually Braun gets hands on the Universal Championship and we have a brief staredown.
That’s the show, folks.