WWE also announced overnight that Erik of The Viking Raiders has signed with Raw as a free agent and Tamina, Billie Kay, and Zelina Vega have signed with SmackDown.
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After tonight’s Raw went off the air, an additional round of draft picks was announced on Raw Talk.
Lana, Riddick Moss, and Arturo Ruas were selected by Raw in the last round of the draft. Natalya and The Riott Squad (Ruby Riott & Liv Morgan) were selected by SmackDown.
Lana won a dual-brand number one contender’s battle royal in the main event of Raw tonight and will challenge Asuka for the Raw Women’s Championship on Raw’s season premiere episode next Monday. Natalya said she was done with Lana earlier in tonight’s show and appeared to have the battle royal won, but Lana returned and eliminated Natalya to get the win. Lana had been put through a table by Nia Jax during the battle royal but was never eliminated.
Andrade, Erik of The Viking Raiders, Billie Kay, Tamina, and Zelina Vega were in the night two draft pool but weren’t picked tonight. Mickie James hasn’t been drafted from the night one draft pool. Shorty G and Gran Metalik & Lince Dorado also weren’t originally drafted from the night one draft pool, but it was announced prior to Raw today that Shorty G has been selected by SmackDown and Metalik & Dorado have been selected by Raw.
Andrade and Vega were laid out by stereo Sister Abigails from “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt and Alexa Bliss on tonight’s Raw. Wyatt and Bliss were both selected by Raw in the draft.
The updated rosters for Raw and SmackDown following this year’s draft are listed below:
Raw —
WWE Champion Drew McIntyre
Raw Women’s Champion Asuka
The Hurt Business (MVP, United States Champion Bobby Lashley, Shelton Benjamin & Cedric Alexander)
AJ Styles
Naomi
Women’s Tag Team Champions Shayna Baszler & Nia Jax
Ricochet
Mandy Rose
The Miz & John Morrison
Raw Tag Team Champions Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods
The Women’s Tag Team title match that was originally scheduled for Clash of Champions has been rebooked for tonight’s episode of Raw.
WWE has announced that Women’s Tag Team Champions Shayna Baszler & Nia Jax will defend their titles against Ruby Riott & Liv Morgan on Raw tonight. The match was supposed to take place at Clash of Champions on September 27 but was pulled from the card. WWE announced that Baszler & Jax weren’t cleared to compete.
Dave Meltzer reported last week that Baszler & Jax did not test positive for COVID-19 but both were in contact with someone who did test positive.
Jax tweeted last night that she and Baszler would be returning on Raw: “Guess who is going to be on #RAW tomorrow night, kicking some ASH, retaining some titles, with a fresh weave and looking DAMN GOOD! I’ll give you a hint…NOT my tag partner. I mean, she will be there, but she won’t have a fresh weave.”
Baszler & Jax became the Women’s Tag Team Champions by defeating Bayley & Sasha Banks at Payback this August. Riott & Morgan were set up as their Clash of Champions challengers by defeating Peyton Royce & Billie Kay in a number one contender’s match.
Mandy Rose & Dana Brooke defeated Natalya & Lana on Raw last week and did an interview later in the show saying they’re coming for the Women’s Tag Team titles after Riott & Morgan get their title shot.
A six-man tag match with Drew McIntyre & The Street Profits facing Randy Orton, Dolph Ziggler & Robert Roode has also been announced for tonight’s Raw. Plus, WWE is hyping that Kevin Owens has invited Bray Wyatt to Raw tonight to appear on a KO Show segment. Owens will face The Fiend on SmackDown this Friday.
Peyton Royce and Billie Kay lost tonight to The Riott Squad tonight on Raw after Billie Kay was pinned following a pinfall counter by Ruby Riott. Per the stipulations of the match, The Riott Squad will now receive a shot at the WWE Women’s Tag Team titles. But the IIconics, as a result of losing, will now have to split up.
It was reported on the August 10, 2020 edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that during a recent backstage meeting, Vince McMahon saw Peyton Royce and Bianca Belair as potential stars.
The IIconics started to team together in 2016 on NXT. The two were called up as a team the day following WrestleMania 34 under the name The IIconics. The following year, the two were part of a Elimination Chamber match that would determine the first WWE Women’s Tag Team champions. That match was won by Bayley and Sasha Banks. The duo would later win the titles at WrestleMania 35.
After spending most of 2020 off of WWE television, The IIconics resurfaced in May and had spent the summer feuding with both Liv Morgan and Ruby Riott, which eventually led to the reformation of the Riott Squad.
Two matches have been announced for Raw’s go-home show for WrestleMania 35.
Ahead of WrestleMania, Ronda Rousey, Becky Lynch, and Charlotte Flair will team up on next week’s Raw. They’re facing The Riott Squad (Ruby Riott, Liv Morgan & Sarah Logan) in a six-woman tag match.
WWE has announced a stipulation where Rousey, Lynch, or Charlotte will forfeit their place at WrestleMania if they betray their team against The Riott Squad.
Rousey will defend her Raw Women’s Championship against Lynch and Charlotte in a triple threat match in the main event of WrestleMania.
Next week’s Raw is taking place at the Capital One Arena in Washington D.C. Kurt Angle’s farewell tour will continue, with him facing Rey Mysterio on the episode. Universal Champion Brock Lesnar is also set to appear.
Angle has defeated Apollo Crews, Chad Gable, and Samoa Joe on his farewell tour thus far and has a match against AJ Styles on this week’s SmackDown.
Baron Corbin has been announced as the opponent for Angle’s farewell match at WrestleMania. Mysterio will challenge for Samoa Joe’s United States title at the event.
Two matches have been announced for today’s Raw tapings in Manchester, England.
Sasha Banks, Bayley & Natalya will face The Riott Squad (Ruby Riott, Liv Morgan & Sarah Logan) in a rematch from Evolution. Banks, Bayley & Natalya won the matchup when it took place at the all-women’s pay-per-view.
On last week’s Raw, Banks, Bayley, Natalya, Trish Stratus & Lita defeated The Riott Squad, Mickie James & Alicia Fox.
Finn Balor vs. Bobby Lashley is also set for the tapings. Balor defeated Lashley by disqualification on Raw last week, with Lashley attacking Balor after the match and being added to the World Cup tournament at Crown Jewel as the storyline explanation for John Cena not wrestling in Saudi Arabia.
Balor also defeated Lashley on the October 22 episode of Raw.
WWE is advertising that Ronda Rousey will respond to Becky Lynch tonight ahead of their non-title champion vs. champion match at Survivor Series later this month. On last week’s SmackDown, Lynch cut a promo saying she was going to rip Rousey’s arm off at Survivor Series.
After a rough week of travel for the roster, the Labor Day edition of Raw takes place at the Schottenstein Center in Columbus, Ohio tonight.
Since the August 26 house show in Rochester, New York, the Raw wrestlers have been in Toronto, London, Osaka, and Shanghai for events over the past week before flying home for TV. Tonight’s show will feature Nikki & Brie Bella’s return to televised in-ring action, a Tag Team title match, and an appearance by Shawn Michaels.
Nikki & Brie will be teaming up against two members of The Riott Squad. In the Raw Tag Team Championship match, The B-Team will defend against The Revival after Scott Dawson & Dash Wilder defeated them in non-title action last week.
Michaels’ appearance will be to build up Triple H vs. The Undertaker at Super Show-Down in Melbourne, Australia on October 6.
Plus, the build to Hell in a Cell will continue after Braun Strowman aligned with Dolph Ziggler & Drew McIntyre last week.
Our live coverage begins at 8 p.m. Eastern time.
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Cole welcomes us to Raw on Labor Day before Braun Strowman comes down with Drew McIntyre and Dolph Ziggler. Renee Young returns to commentary with Corey and Cole. Bruan is mid-ring with a big grin on his face and demands that they air a replay of his beating of Roman last week. We see that alongside the proper context of it being a response to the Shield powerbomb Braun through the announce table two weeks ago.
Braun tells us that he gave Roman a chance to just face him for the title, but he had to get his friends involved – and that just showed him how weak Roman was. Dolph and Drew are his pack and this is now his yard.
Drew talks about how great they are before Dolph says this group will be more dominant than the Nation of Domination, DX, and especially The Shield. The Shield comes down, but Corbin sends mid-carders down to stop them. The Shield topple them before surrounding the ring, so Baron calls out more goons who get beaten up, so even more come down and then with several dozen folks out, they separate them. The fans chant “let them fight” and Seth breaks out and he and Roman run backstage.
The return of Shawn Michaels and the Bella Twins are hyped, before we get a recap of the opening segment.
Backstage, Baron has the Shield arrested.
The Bella Twins defeat The Riott Squad
The Riott Squad gets a jobber intro. The Bellas come back with Jojo essentially giving them a press release as a ring introduction. After that, the announcers talk about how they’re two of the busiest people in all of Hollywood. Renee is non-plussed at her husband’s recent arrest, but is excited to see the Bellas return. Liv runs from Nikki before Sarah overpowers her. Nikki is trying to gain the advantage with her chain wrestling skill. I sense a flaw in her plan. Logan grinds away on the arm of Nikki, but Nikki gets a tornado divorce court for 2.
Brie tags in and hammerlocks her mid-ring. Sarah reaches out for a tag and gets it, leading to a long Liv chinlock. Logan comes in while Cole talks about her being a viking and Corey talking about Logan actually making her own belt. Brie hits the yes kicks before nailing two Brie Mode knees. Sarah attacks Brie on the floor. After a break, Logan armlocks her. Nikki comes in and sends Logan out, leading to Brie faceplanting off a tope and Nikki beating Liv with the Rack Attack 2.0.
Nikki and Brie team with Ronda to face the Riott Squad at Super Show-Down.
The B-Team vs. The Revival is hyped up alongside HBK’s return. Corbin tells Stephanie that Raw is back on track. Finn Balor meets with him and demands a rematch. Baron gets his manhood insulted, so he grants him his rematch in the main event spot. .
Bobby Roode and Chad Gable defeat The Ascension
Chad shines more than he has in two years on the main roster by German suplexing everyone and looking impressive while doing so. Roode comes in for chops and gets 2 off a suplex. Viktor gets a long chinlock on Roode and a slick Hawk-esque fistdrop for 2 before Konnor gets a long chinlock and then tags Viktor in for a long modified chinlock.
Gable blind tags in and runs wild with crossbodies and hits a cannonball off the apron before landing a missile dropkick. He hits Chaos Theory and wins it. Elias is backstage with a guy showing his album off on iTunes.
Elias comes out and says he’s done dealing with crazy chicks and if Christopher Columbus knew his name would be used for his city, he’d have turned his ship around. He also can’t stand the buckeye, and it’s far inferior to Michigan’s wolverines.
Alexa, Mickie, and Alicia come down while Alexa gets a ton of cheers being in her hometown. Alexa says she graduated high school in the very building they’re in and does her high school chant before insulting the fans for doing it and being overjoyed that she got out of this place when she did. Alexa gets in a fantastic “hi zombies!” line at the crowd. Alexa hits on Elias before Ronda Rousey’s theme hits and Nattie comes out to face Alexa.
Alexa Bliss defeats Natalya
Alexa stalls to start before Nattie flips around and outwrestles her on the mat. Basement dropkick gets 2 for Nattie. Alexa slugs her before she distracts the ref so Foxy and Mickie can choke Nattie on the rope. Alexa DDTs her and gets an armbar and Nattie taps out. After the match, Ronda goes for a Karalen lift to Alexa, but Foxy jumps in and gets thrown around before Alexa chopblocks Ronda and throws her into the steps. Ronda slugs away and sends Alexa packing. Ronda helps Nattie up and helps her out of the ring.
A recap airs of the Shield being arrested earlier. Renee strangely says that the Shield’s arrest was justified, even with that involving her husband. We get an update that the Shield has been fingerpinted. Corbin tells a stagehand to get his Rolex cleaned. Braun tells Baron to find he and his friends some competition.
Drew and Dolph want a tag title match and threaten that the Revival will be taken out. Braun tells Baron he wants competitoin tonight too. The Revival are interviewed by Charly about The B-Team and they call them a mockery. Drew and Dolph attack them. The Revival could’ve prevented this beating if they just watched the show at a 90 degree angle like everyone else.
The B-Team comes out, but The Revival doesn’t. Instead, Drew and Dolph take their place.
Dolph Ziggler and Drew McIntyre defeat The B-Team
Axel gets a backslide for 2 after Bo low-bridges Drew. The heels regroup on the floor for an ad break. Drew dominates Axel for a while, but Bo gets a desperation tornado DDT. Axel comes in with Dolph, who eats 2 off a Perfectplex. Dolph superkicks him before they win with the Claymore/Zig Zag combo.
After the loss, Cole talks about how good the B-Team were while Drew and Dolph celebrate with their belts amid blue lighting. They did a good job presenting both men as bigger stars with the revamped lighting.
The Authors of Pain walk backstage with Drake Maverick in AOP garb.
Authors of Pain defeat Jobbers
AOP walks out with Drake Maverick, who Cole and Corey talk about as the 205 Live GM. Drake talks about being the GM of 205 Live and now being the manager of AOP and he’ll make them the tag team champions. Rezar hits the corner death valley bomb before they hit the super collider and win.
Corey says that with AOP, Drake Maverick may just be the most dangerous person in all of WWE. There’s putting people over and there’s saying ridiculous stuff like that. HHH vs. Taker is hyped up. Last week’s hall of famer-filled video airs for their match at Super Show-Down.
Ronda and Nattie chat backstage before the Bellas come in and Nattie leaves because she doesn’t feel good. The Bellas call Ronda the greatest women’s champion ever and the only reason they came back was for her. In a comedy highlight for the ages, they offer to train Ronda Rousey, and the Olympic medalist and former UFC World Champion accepts the offer.
HBK comes out and says that HHH has more in the tank than Undertaker does and still picks him to win. Undertaker comes down and says that over the last 20 years, he’s taken the best both HHH and HBK had and put them both down. He took a part of them, but their egos can’t accept and he chose HHH because he took his career from him
HBK says that he stayed retired to keep his integrity and out of respect for Undertaker. He always hears the chant for one more match, but can’t do it. He hears the fans want it, and half the roster wants it – and it’s been nearly a decade with him turning down millions of dollars for one match.
Taker asks if it’s respect or fear that keeps him retired. Taker tells him that if he came back, it would be for a match against him – and HBK knows just like the fans do, that he would put HBK down again. He’ll put HHH down in Melbourne too, and they did an outstanding job building up both the HHH vs. Taker match and especially a Taker vs. HBK match if they ever do one.
Sasha Banks and Bayley defeat Dana Brooke and Ember Moon
Mike Rome sends a tweet out on The Shield – they have been charged with inciting a riot and already met with a judge. Sasha Banks comes down with Bayley for a tag match. Dana Brooke comes out with Titus and Apollo to team with Ember Moon. Odd to have two babyface agaisnt a babyface and a heel. Sasha and Bayley dominate Dana in the corner before an ad break.
Ember tags in and hits a springboard crossbody on the face before tagging Dana in. She goes for a kick, but Sasha catches her foot and boots her in the face. Take 2 works better for Dana and she lands an enzuiguri. Sasha gets a victory roll out of hte corner to win. Dana is tired of losing and leaves Titus Worldwide.
Jinder comes down to medidate with Bobby Lashley, but before things can truly begin, Kevin Owens jumps Lashley. He hits the apron powerbomb while the fans chant “one more time!”
The Purge presents a recap of John Cena defeating Batista at Extreme Rules with a roll of duct tape.
A recap of the HBK-Taker segment airs and we’re told that HHH will be on Raw live next week as will Mick Foley. Corey updates us on The Shield being released from jail. Finn Balor comes down before Braun does with his guys. Drew and Dolph do Braun’s roar now – which is great.
Braun Strowman defeats Finn Balor
Braun headbutts and boots Balor, but Finn gets a brief edge off a sleeper. He stomps Braun and sends him to the floor for an ad break. Braun cranks the neck before clubbing his chest. Braun goes to steamroll him on the floor, but Balor counters with a slingblade. Braun goes for a corner charge, but eats a boot before landing it the second time.
Braun eats a shotgun dropkick and is locked in another sleeper before Bruan throws him in the corner. Braun misses his corner charge and his shoulder hits the post, sending Braun outside. Balor hits a flip dive onto everyone. Finn Balor locks on a triangle choke, but Braun hits a Rampage bomb and the powerslam to win.
Dolph and Drew send Balor in for another powerslam. They go to keep beating up Balor, but the Shield returns in the police van. We get a staredown between these groups before KO and more mid-carders come down to attack the Shield. Braun hits Roman with the steps twice. Dean is set up for a big boot by Drew on the ramp while Dolph superkicks Seth after he goes into glass and comes up bloody – covering one of the Ascension guys in blood.
Braun powerslams Roman on the floor before the heels roar to close the show.
More matches have been added for October’s WWE Super Show-Down event in Melbourne, Australia.
Right after Raw went off the air, a match pitting The Shield against Braun Strowman, Dolph Ziggler and Drew McIntyre was announced on Twitter. This came after Strowman turned on Roman Reigns in their tag team match against McIntyre and Ziggler on Raw. After not helping Reigns as he was being assaulted by his opponents, Strowman turned, laying out Reigns with a headbutt. The rest of the Shield arrived to make the save, but this time the numbers were even. Strowman ended up laying all three members of the Shield out with powerslams.
Also made for Super Show-Down is a six-woman tag team match with Ronda Rousey teaming with the Bella Twins to take on the Riott Squad. It was announced on Raw that the Bellas would be making their televised in-ring return next week against the Riott Squad.
Here is what the card is looking like so far for Super Show-Down, which will take place at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on October 6:
The Undertaker vs. Triple H
John Cena and Bobby Lashley vs. Elias and Kevin Owens
Ronda Rousey and The Bella Twins vs. The Riott Squad
The Shield vs. Braun Strowman, Dolph Ziggler and Drew McIntyre
Daniel Bryan vs. The Miz with the winner getting a future WWE title shot
A Tag Team title match and Nikki & Brie Bella’s return to televised in-ring action are set for next week’s Raw.
After Scott Dawson & Dash Wilder defeated them in a non-title match tonight, The B -Team (Curtis Axel & Bo Dallas) will defend their Raw Tag Team titles against The Revival next week. Nikki & Brie facing The Riott Squad in a tag match has also been announced for the episode.
The B-Team retained against The Revival on the SummerSlam pre-show when Dawson tried to pin Axel with a cradle and Dallas getting knocked backwards reversed it. The Revival got the better of them on Raw the past two weeks, with Dawson defeating Dallas and Wilder defeating Axel last Monday and The Revival winning tonight’s non-title match.
The Bellas were in action at Sunday night’s Raw-brand house show in Rochester, New York and made an appearance during a backstage segment where they celebrated with Ronda Rousey, Natalya, and Trish Stratus on tonight’s show. They teamed with Ember Moon to defeat The Riott Squad in Rochester. Brie is set to team with Daniel Bryan against Maryse & The Miz at Hell in a Cell next month, and Dave Meltzer reported last week that Rousey vs. Nikki is the working idea for October’s Evolution pay-per-view.
The Schottenstein Center in Columbus, Ohio is hosting next Monday’s Raw. Shawn Michaels is also set to appear on the episode to promote Triple H vs. The Undertaker at WWE Super Show-Down in Melbourne, Australia.
Two tag team matches have been announced for tonight’s episode of Raw.
In a video on Instagram yesterday, Kurt Angle announced The B-Team vs. The Revival and Sasha Banks & Bayley vs. The Riott Squad for the show. Curtis Axel & Bo Dallas vs. The Revival appears to be a non-title match.
Scott Dawson & Dash Wilder interrupted a segment between The B-Team and Matt Hardy & Bray Wyatt on last week’s show, which led to The Revival defeating Hardy & Wyatt. The Revival have been positioned as the strongest challengers for The B-Team’s Raw Tag Team titles.
Wilder tweeted about the matchup yesterday: “The Revival vs The B Team tomorrow night on Raw. We’re not second generation superstars. We weren’t guaranteed anything since birth. But someone let B Team know that we’re the best tag going and we’ll always bring our ‘A’ game.”
Banks & Bayley vs. Liv Morgan & Sarah Logan is a rematch from last week. Banks & Bayley won the first meeting after hitting a backstabber into a Bayley-to-Belly suplex on Morgan.
Tonight’s show from Jacksonville, Florida is being built around Ronda Rousey making her Raw in-ring debut against Alicia Fox. Bobby Roode vs. Mojo Rawley is also set.
Ruby Riott has suffered a knee injury, leaving her currently on the shelf.
WWE announced shortly before Raw that Riott was injured during a house show over the weekend. They didn’t clarify what kind of knee injury it was or how severe it is. Her last match was back on June 29 at a house show in Rapid City, South Dakota where she wrestled Dana Brooke.
Riott and the rest of the Riott Squad, which consists of Sarah Logan and Liv Morgan, have been featured on Raw over the last several weeks, with backstage segments showing them throwing things around and causing mischief. They’ve also served as a backdrop for the Bayley/Sasha Banks feud.
Riott last wrestled on TV last Monday, with the Riott Squad defeating Sasha Banks, Bayley and Ember Moon, which led to the angle where Bayley assaulted Banks.
An MRI scheduled to determine the extent of the injury was scheduled for earlier today. There is no word on how long Riott may be out for.
The Raw women’s division got four new additions in the 2018 Superstar Shakeup.
The Riott Squad (Ruby Riott, Liv Morgan, and Sarah Logan) first moved over from SmackDown, interrupting a match between Sasha Banks and Bayley. Banks had the Banks Statement locked in and Bayley was reaching for the ropes when The Riott Squad attacked them both.
Riott, Morgan, and Logan were called up from NXT and debuted as a group on SmackDown last November. They arrived the night after Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville debuted on Raw and aligned with Paige, who was announced as the new on-screen general manager of SmackDown last week. The women who are joining SmackDown will be announced on tomorrow night’s episode.
Later on Raw, Natalya appeared during a backstage segment with Kurt Angle and Ronda Rousey and was revealed as another new member of the show’s roster. Natalya and Rousey hugged, with Rousey mentioning that they’ve trained together. Angle said Natalya would be in a match later.
