Monday Night RAW begins with the very welcome sound of a glass break, as Stone Cold Steve Austin comes out live on RAW, for the first time in over 4 years. The Dallas crowd comes alive on seeing the 'Texas Rattlesnake'and it is one of the loudest receptions one has ever seen in recent years.
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Austin comes out and plugs his WWE Network podcast with Brock Lesnar, set for later on, following RAW. Once done with that, he proceeds to introduce The Undertaker. The Undertaker comes out and cuts a short promo about his match at Sunday's Hell in a Cell PPV. In what appears to be midway through his promo, Brock Lesnar comes out and interrupts TheDeadman, who calls out 'The Beast Incarnate' to the ring. After a tease by Lesnar, both he and Heyman bail out and walk to the back.
John Cena & The Dudleys vs The New Day
The teaming up of Cena with the Dudleys makes sense as both had been laid out by The New Day last week in seperate attacks. The match is short, but New Day pick up a surprise win with Woods pinning a distracted Devon Dudley. Post match though, Woods gets his due in the form of an Attitude Adjustment from John Cena and a table bomb off the second rope from the Dudleys.
Nikki Bella & Alicia Fox vs Sasha Banks & Naomi: After a rather uneventful match, Nikki Bella picks up a win with a rack attack on Naomi.
Shawn Michaels in-ring segment with Seth Rollins
'The Heartbreak Kid' Shawn Michaels is in the house, for the first time since Wrestlemania this year. He comes out and talks about random stars including Roman Reigns, Brock Lesnar and The Undertaker when WWE World Heavyweight champion Seth Rollins comes out to interrupt.
The champ gets in HBK's face and tells him that his job was to introduce Rollins and not talk about random stars. HBK brings up the fact that he doesn't really do well with 'orders' and instead lets Rollins know that he is in a match next with Ryback.
Ryback vs Seth Rollins
In a short match, Ryback gets to pull off a couple of his power moves but is attacked by a flying dive to the outside by Rollins, which drives 'The Big Guy' into the announce table, seemingly injuring his ribs. Rollins capitalises with a Pedigree in the ring and picking up a win.
Cesaro, Neville & Dolph Ziggler vs Sheamus, Rusev & King Barrett:
The dream team of the IWC fans took on the heels everyone loves to hate. Neville did most of the selling for the heels and made the hot tag to Cesaro, who went on an uppercut spree. The heel team, however, picked up the win after Barrett picked up the win on a prone Ziggler, who got Brogue kicked in the head by Sheamus on the outside.
Ric Flair comes out next to introduce Roman Reigns, who agrees to team with Dean Ambrose, to take on the team of the Wyatts tonight. Following that, Bray Wyatt comes out with his whole posse, including the returning Erick Rowan in place of Luke Harper.
Reigns call in Wyatt for a sit-down chat in the ring, which Wyatt accepts. Wyatt sits across from Roman, who proceeds to call Wyatt a Bully for not fighting his own battles, among other things. The segment ends with Reigns swinging a chair on Wyatt, that brings out his teammates to help him, but Ambrose runs in with another chair to help Reigns even the odds.
Backstage, following a discussion with Triple H, HBK & Stephanie McMahon, Rollins takes up the offer to be the third partner with Ambrose and Reigns in their match with The Wyatt in the night's main event.
Kevin Owens vs Mark Henry
In a step up for Owens, this week, he takes on the World's strongest Man Mark Henry in singles action. After Henry imposes his will on Owens for a bit, the match ends with a super impressive spot where Owens hoists a pop-up powerbomb on a 400 pounder in Mark Henry. Following the match, Ryback comes in looking to get a piece of Kevin Owens, but Owens manages to bail again. But not too far as Henry sends him back into the ring, where Ryback powerbombs him.
Charlotte vs Brie Bella: In an entertaining back & forth match, Charlotte picks up the win with her version of the Figure Four submission move.
Roman Reigns, Dean Ambrose vs The Wyatt family
While the tension between the three former Shield members is palpable, Rollins stands with the team for the pre-match posing etc. However, mid-way through the match, Rollins expectedly leaves his team-high & dry and walks to the back, feigning a leg injury. When Braun Strowman gets hold of Roman Reigns in his chokehold, Ambrose causes a disqualification by hitting him with a kendo stick. The action spills to the outside after Ambrose's dive to the outside is intercepted by Strowman, who delivers a spine buster on the outside. At one point, Reigns executes an impressive dive outside the ring. The show ends with Reigns & Ambrose standing tall in the ring.
