Date: October 4, 2021
Location: Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, TN 

The Big Takeaway — 

The non-title main event between Charlotte Flair and Bianca Belair ended in a disqualification after Becky Lynch interfered. 

Besides that, the draft continued which meant wrestlers switched brands for no discernible reason and there were a series of short and uneventful matches. 

The most notable “pick” was Gable Steveson being drafted to Raw with the brand’s final (televised) selection. (Ridge Holland and Carmella were drafted ahead of him.)

Show Recap — 

Jimmy Smith reiterated that the draft picks will not take effect until after Crown Jewel on October 21st. The announcers quickly discussed some of the picks that were made already. 

Smackdown Women’s Champion Becky Lynch entered to start the show. She received a big babyface reaction. 

Lynch mentioned it’s been about a year and a half since she was on Raw and it was good to be back. She was about to make the executives in the back unhappy by spoiling the first draft pick tonight: herself. “This is my show now.” The crowd cheered. (The announcers said it wasn’t official yet.) 

Lynch acknowledged that she was still the Smackdown champion and reminded us that she was the longest-reigning Raw champion and never technically lost that belt. Charlotte Flair was the Raw champion but Lynch thought it was time to be Becky Two-Belts again. 

Charlotte interrupted. She was greeted with “Becky Two-Belts” chants. She said Lynch used to be “Becky pre-show” until she made Lynch famous. She said they had unfinished business. 

Bianca Belair interrupted. She thought they both seemed threatened because they both took cheap shots at her. Belair said she was now the EST of Monday Night Raw. Charlotte told her to “shh.” Belair told her not to disrespect her and the crowd chanted “Charlotte sucks.” Belair told Charlotte that she doesn’t even go here anymore. 

Charlotte put over Belair’s accomplishments but she hasn’t reached her level yet and should be thanking her for paving the way. Lynch tried egging on Belair to fight Charlotte. Lynch didn’t have to beat Charlotte because she’s done it so many times already. 

Lynch wondered what would happen if Belair and Charlotte fought for the first time. Charlotte wasn’t interested in charity. Belair got in her face until Adam Pearce and Sonya Deville entered. Deville announced Belair against Charlotte in the main event tonight. 

Pearce also announced that Rhea Ripley and Nikki ASH would defend their tag titles against Natalya and Tamina. Deville announced Damian Priest against Jeff Hardy for the US title up next. 

******** 

(Pearce and Deville announced the picks.) 

WWE Draft Night Two – Round 1 

Raw: Smackdown Women’s Champion Becky Lynch
Smackdown: Smackdown Tag Team Champions Jimmy & Jey Uso 

The Usos were shown celebrated in the back. Paul Heyman was in the background and appeared to thank God for this news. 

Raw: Bobby Lashley
Smackdown: Sasha Banks 

******** 

Damian Priest defeated Jeff Hardy to retain the United States Championship (7:02) 

Priest hit a dive which led to break less than two minutes into the match. Hardy hit a Whisper in the Wind back from break for a nearfall. They traded counters until Hardy hit a Twist of Fate and Swanton Bomb for a nearfall. Priest immediately countered into a crucifix pin for the win. (This match was 7 minutes but most of it happened during the break.) 

******** 

Sarah Schreiber asked Hardy about being drafted to Smackdown. Hardy said he loved the crowd and was happy to be performing in front of them again especially after everything he’s been through. Going to Smackdown might provide the opportunity to see a new Jeff Hardy, and maybe show off a certain “ego” (this got no reaction). 

Austin Theory interrupted. He meant no disrespect by interrupting and said it was a dream come true being in the ring with Hardy. Theory claimed to be inspired by Hardy and asked to take a selfie. Hardy seemed amused and went along with it. Theory took the picture before attacking him. Theory took a selfie over Hardy’s lifeless body, which was funny. 

******** 

Kevin Patrick asked Randy Orton and Riddle about having to defend their titles against AJ Styles and Omos at Crown Jewel. Riddle was just happy to see Randy again. Riddle rambled for a while until Orton cut him off. Orton was ready for Styles and Omos, but before then, he had a proposition for tonight. Orton wanted Omos one-on-one. Riddle was shocked. 

******** 

WWE Draft – Round 2 

Raw: Seth Rollins
Smackdown: Intercontinental Champion Shinsuke Nakamura and Rick Boogs 

Nakamura and Boogs were shown in the back. They appeared to be excited. 

Raw: United States Champion Damian Priest
Smackdown: Sheamus

******** 

Shayna Baszler defeated Dana Brooke (1:20) 

Graves commented about Brooke that he was glad to see her get the opportunity to develop but didn’t think this match was a good idea. (Brooke has been in WWE for 8 years.) 

Baszler won quickly with the Kirifuda Clutch. 

Baszler was going to crunch Brooke’s arm after the match but Doudrop’s music stopped her. Doudrop and Baszler had a staredown until Doudrop decided to check on Brooke. Baszler gave her a cheap shot before leaving but Doudrop was unphased. Doudrop waited for Baszler to make another move but she didn’t. 

******** 

Patrick interviewed Heyman and the Usos. He wondered if Heyman had some influence in the Usos remaining on Smackdown. Heyman said of course (after remarking that Patrick was prettier than Kayla Baxton). Patrick wondered if his influence was also how Brock Lesnar was able to remain a free agent. The Usos were not happy to hear this. Heyman appeared sheepish. 

******** 

Byron Saxton plugged the Undertaker/New Day movie on Netflix. 

Angel Garza & Humberto Carrillo defeated Mustafa Ali & Mansoor (1:44) 

Garza pinned Ali after Carrillo slammed Ali’s head against the ring post as Garza distracted the referee. (Carrillo also prevented Mansoor from breaking up the cover.) 

Not only was this over in a hurry, they very quickly played Big E’s music and he entered as the announcers let us know that he’d be up next. 

[Second Hour] 

WWE Draft – Round 3 

Raw: AJ Styles & Omos
Smackdown: Shayna Baszler 

Raw: Kevin Owens
Smackdown: Xia Li 

******** 

Big E promo 

(This was a long segment that led to Big E and Drew McIntyre challenging Dolph Ziggler and Robert Roode to a tag match.) 

Big E was happy to be in Nashville but this past week was not without its challenges. For one, Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods were once again drafted to a different brand. (The crowd chanted “New Day rocks.”) Additionally, he had to take on Bobby Lashley but took him down to his knees and was still your WWE Champion. 

Big E said, in typical WWE fashion, someone immediately entered to declare himself the next challenger: Drew McIntyre. Big E invited McIntyre to the ring. 

McIntyre entered with his sword. He commented, “Nashville! It’s a Drew Day, yes it is!” McIntyre said he was screwed out of the WWE title by Lashley and MVP and has been waiting for a hero to free Lashley off the title. 

This is normally where someone would antagonize Big E but McIntyre wasn’t about to do that because he deserved to be champion. McIntyre noted how many people congratulated Big E on social media. McIntyre didn’t because he wanted to do it in person. He shook Big E’s hand and the crowd chanted for E. 

McIntyre noted that Big E did cash in on an injured Lashley, but nobody liked Lashley, so who cares. McIntyre couldn’t wait any longer. He challenged Big E to a title match. 

Dolph Ziggler and Robert Roode interrupted. Ziggler was happy for Big E, even if he didn’t return his text. Ziggler also noted that Big E didn’t thank him. Big E was confused. Ziggler showed footage of himself and Big E together as a unit in 2013. (They made sure not to include AJ Lee in the footage.) Ziggler said there was no Big E or New Day without him. 

Ziggler also reminded us of his history with McIntyre back in 2018. All he wanted from them was a thank you. McIntyre looked at Roode and sarcastically said that Ziggler sure did upgrade from them. Roode noted how great his physique was and said people call him “Big Bob.” Big E said nobody, not one single person, calls him that. 

Ziggler again asked for a thank you. Big E said all he was going to get was an ass-whooping. Big E suggested a tag match (and McIntyre referred to himself as “Big D”). 

******* 

WWE Champion Big E & Drew McIntyre defeated Robert Roode & Dolph Ziggler (10:17) 

Ziggler superkicked McIntyre on the outside which sent us to break. McIntyre headbutted Roode and made the hot tag to Big E who gave Ziggler overhead suplexes, a splash and STO but Roode broke up the cover. Big E tried spearing Roode through the ropes but Roode got his knees up and Ziggler hit a Zig-Zag. McIntyre broke up the cover and suplexed Roode on the outside. 

Ziggler tried to catch Big E off guard but Big E hit a clothesline and set up for the Big Ending. McIntyre tagged himself in and wiped out Ziggler with a Claymore for the pinfall win. 

Big E was slightly perturbed by McIntyre’s blind tag but was happy to win. He also gave Roode a Big Ending after he was about to attack McIntyre from behind. 

Big E offered McIntyre a title match at Crown Jewel. 

******** 

Reginald approached Pearce in the back because he heard Pearce wanted to talk to him about the draft. Pearce said he received bad info. It was a trap, of course. The Viking Raiders blocked the hallway so the usual 24/7 crew could go after him but he escaped anyway. He bumped into Apollo Crews and Commander Azeez before leaving. 

******** 

Kevin Owens segment  

The crowd cheered for Owens but before he could speak, Akira Tozawa entered to his music and grabbed the mic away from him. Owens was baffled. Tozawa welcomed him to Raw but he didn’t want to fight Owens tonight, he wanted to fight Reggie for the 24/7 title. Owens gave him a stunner and left. 

******** 

WWE Draft – Round 4 

Raw: The Street Profits 
Smackdown: The Viking Raiders 

Montez Ford and Angelo Dawkins were pumped up to be chosen for some reason. 

Raw: Finn Bálor
Smackdown: Ricochet 

********

The King of the Ring and Queen’s Crown tournaments will begin on Friday’s Smackdown and continue on next week’s Raw. 

******** 

Rhea Ripley & Nikki A.S.H. defeated Natalya & Tamina to retain the Women’s Tag Team Championship (4:12) 

Ripley had Natalya beat with a Northern Lights suplex but Tamina broke up the cover. Nikki wiped out both opponents with a flying crossbody on the outside. Ripley gave Tamina a Riptide and tagged in Nikki. Ripley put Nikki on her shoulders and Nikki hit a splash to pin Tamina to retain the titles. 

[Third Hour] 

WWE Draft – Round 5 

Raw: Karrion Kross
Smackdown: Humberto Carrillo & Angel Garza 

Raw: Alexa Bliss
Smackdown: Cesaro 

******** 

Goldberg / Bobby Lashley segment 

Goldberg entered. He wasn’t buying Lashley’s excuse, he knew Lashley’s actions were intentional. He invited Lashley to the ring so he could intentionally break his neck. 

Lashley entered. He said what happened at SummerSlam was a misunderstanding and Goldberg was out of his mind if he thought he would risk ruining his custom-made suit to whip Goldberg’s ass again. Lashley wanted Goldberg to apologize for attacking his character. 

Lashley knew Goldberg wanted a match so he was going to give it to him under one condition: it had to be no holds barred. Lashley also invited Gage to the event. Goldberg thanked him because no holds barred gave him the license to kill. Goldberg called himself crazy. 

Goldberg said if Lashley wanted an apology he was going to give it to him. He was going to apologize to Lashley’s kids for leaving his lifeless body in the ring at Crown Jewel, gasping for air. Goldberg told Lashley, “you’re next, and you’re dead.” 

They played Goldberg’s music but Lashley cut it off. He said if Gage got involved again, what happens to him would not be an accident. 

Cedric Alexander and Shelton Benjamin attacked Goldberg from behind but he fought them off and speared Benjamin. 

******** 

Patrick interviewed Seth Rollins. Rollins took less than one second to be as annoying as possible. He said he was back and better than ever. Patrick was about to remind him that a certain someone (Edge) was also drafted to Raw but Rollins cut him off. Rollins didn’t want to hear his name and said he would take care of that on Smackdown. Rollins was ready to party. 

******** 

Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods defeated Cedric Alexander & Shelton Benjamin (2:25) 

Like most of the matches tonight, there wasn’t much to this. Woods quickly picked up the pinfall win on Alexander after hitting a springboard elbow drop. (Woods yelled “crown me!” into the camera after the match, referring to the KOTR tournament.) 

The Street Profits entered after the match. Dawkins wanted to know how New Day escaped the Undertaker but Ford didn’t want any spoilers. Ford said they were back on Raw and they want the smoke. They offered Kingston a drink and he was happy to take it. 

******** 

They aired a short video for Finn Bálor, making sure we knew that “the demon” was coming with him. 

******** 

Randy Orton and Riddle entered. After a break, Orton called out Omos because he still hasn’t heard an answer. Orton wondered if Omos was Styles’ personal colossus or just a big bitch. 

Styles and Omos entered. He called Orton insignificant and said Riddle didn’t have enough brain cells left to help Orton retain the titles. Styles was happy they were all on Raw together so he and Omos could win the tag titles and brag about it every week. 

Omos was about to answer Orton’s challenge but Orton decked Styles while Omos chucked Riddle aside. Omos and Orton stared each other down until Orton laid out Styles with an RKO. 

The announcers claimed this was Orton’s plan all along. 

******** 

The announcers recapped Toxic Attraction attacking Raquel González on NXT. (They almost recap NXT on Raw outside of airing the regular commercials.) 

******** 

WWE Draft – Round 6 

Raw: Carmella
Smackdown: Ridge Holland 

Carmella announced her arrival backstage. Graves was happy. I heard some “who” chants for Holland. 

Raw: Gable Steveson
Smackdown: Sami Zayn 

They ran down Steveson’s accolades and called him a game-changer. 

Steveson was shown reacting to the pick at his home and celebrating with his family (like they often do with the NBA or NHL draft). 

(Saxton called him Stevenson and Graves berated him for it.) 

There will be more picks on Raw Talk. 

******** 

Lynch joined commentary. 

Bianca Belair defeated Raw Women’s Champion Charlotte Flair in a non-title match via DQ (13:10) 

They were having an even match until Charlotte sent Belair over the barricade which sent us to break. Belair fought back and hit an effortless delayed vertical suplex for two. She tried a handspring moonsault but Charlotte got her knees up. Charlotte showed off her own power by hoisting her up into a powerbomb following a schoolboy. 

Charlotte tried grabbing Belair’s braid but Belair clocked her with a forearm. Charlotte escaped a KOD attempt and hit a spear for a nearfall. Belair slammed Charlotte and went to the top but Charlotte knocked her off and hit the Andrade-inspired moonsault. Belair reversed a Figure Four into a small package for two. 

Belair hit the KOD but Lynch yanked her out of the ring for the DQ. 

Lynch laid out Belair. Sasha Banks attacked Lynch from behind and laid her out with a backstabber. Banks stood tall as the show ended.