By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
WWE Raw (Episode 1,475)
Live from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma at Paycom Center
Aired August 30, 2021 on USA Network
[Hour One] Jimmy Smith welcomed viewers to the show and was joined on commentary by Corey Graves and Byron Saxton (Mike Rome was the ring announcer)…
U.S. Champion Damian Priest made his entrance for the open challenge. Priest addressed the crowd and said he feels alive. He spoke in Spanish briefly and then welcomed viewers to Monday Night Raw. Priest said he would show the U.S. Title the respect it deserves similar to the way that Rey Mysterio, Jeff Hardy, and John Cena did before him.
Priest said those wrestlers were not like Bobby Lashley, who ran away like a coward during the tag team match last week. Priest said he would handle the title right. Priest asked who it was going to be and said the open challenge starts right now.
Sheamus made his entrance with a mic in hand and referred to Priest as Damo. Sheamus said he agrees with Priest when it comes to Lashley running out on him last week. Sheamus entered the ring and told Priest that he was going to Brogue Kick the smile off his face and take back his gold.
Drew McIntyre made his entrance. He said that as much as he wants to see Priest beat Sheamus’s ass for the 500th time, the OKC crowd deserved something new. McIntyre said the U.S. Title has eluded him throughout his career. McIntyre entered the ring and proposed that he face Priest for the title. Sheamus was upset.
WWE Champion Bobby Lashley made his entrance with MVP. “The All Mighty wanted to hold an open challenge every single week,” MVP said before he was interrupted by Goldberg chants. MVP said that problem has already been dealt with, much like Lashley has dealt with the entire roster, so it doesn’t make sense for him to have an open challenge.
MVP said Priest wanting to have an open challenge was admirable, but not good for Priest’s business. On the other hand, MVP said Lashley beating Priest for the U.S. Title and becoming a co-champion would be good for business.
Randy Orton’s music played and he walked onto the stage while Riddle scooted along side him. A loud “RKBro” chant broke out. Orton said he didn’t want to put words in Riddle’s mouth, but he thinks everything MVP said sucked. Orton called Lashley a greedy son of a bitch who wants something he can’t have in a second championship.
Lashley said he wants a second championship, but it doesn’t have to be the U.S. Championship. “Maybe I should take your tag team titles,” Lashley said. Riddle said he had a great idea. Riddle suggested that he and Orton also hold an open challenge against Lashley and MVP. Orton said that’s now how an open challenge works. MVP cut off Orton and said they accept the challenge. Priest also agreed to face McIntyre.
Adam Pearce and Sonya Deville walked onto the stage. They announced Priest vs. McIntyre vs. Sheamus in a Triple Threat for the U.S. Championship, and confirmed Orton and Riddle vs. Lashley and MVP for the Raw Tag Titles.
Rhea Ripley made her entrance. The broadcast team hyped Ripley vs. Shayna Baszler as coming up next. A graphic showed Ripley and Nikki ASH along with Baszler and Nia Jax… [C]
Powell’s POV: There was plenty of star power in the opening segment. I guess this means the advertised main event of Lashley vs. Shemaus in a non-title match is off? I was looking forward to that match and it’s comical that the company apparently couldn’t stick with one of the three matches they advertised last week, but I suspect that most fans will see the two title matches as upgrades over the heel vs. heel match.
Ripley stood in the ring and introduced Nikki ASH as the person who would be in her corner. ASH entered to a flat crowd reaction. Baszler and Jax made their entrance…
1. Rhea Ripley (w/Nikki ASH) vs. Shayna Baszler (w/Nia Jax). Jax delivered a promo on the apron. She said she didn’t know what her tag partner would do, but she would splatter Ripley and ASH by the end of the match and would do the same to Charlotte Flair later in the show. Baszler placed Ripley’s hand under the apron and stomped on it heading into a break. [C]
Baszler continued to target Ripley’s hand Ripley eventually came back with a suplex into a bridge for a two count. Baszler went for an armbar. Ripley blocked it and then Baszler punched at her bad hand and wrist. Ripley reached the ropes with her foot to break the hold. Jax attacked ASH at ringside and gave her a Samoan Drop on the floor. Ripley was distracted by this and rolled into a pin, but she reversed it and got the three count.
Rhea Ripley beat Shayna Baszler in 10:30.
After the match, Jax entered the ring and performed a Samoan Drop on Ripley. Baszler didn’t look pleased after taking the loss. Baszler ended up storming away from Jax, who followed her toward the back…
Powell’s POV: An enjoyable match. I like the way that Baszler targeted the hand of Ripley, as it’s something we don’t see routinely during WWE television matches. Baszler continues to be annoyed by Jax, so it looks like the slow build to their split continues. I hope they get Ripley away from ASH. Ripley strikes me as more of a loner character and it’s hard to come off as edgy while hanging out with a kiddie character.
The Viking Raiders were backstage in front of their weird red light. They delivered a generic promo about inflicting brutality on their opponents and said “raid” repeatedly at the end… Saxton hyped the Viking Raiders vs. Jinder Mahal and Veer. The Viking Raiders made their entrance for the match… [C]
2. “The Viking Raiders” Erik and Ivar vs. Jinder Mahal and Veer (w/Shanky). A portion of the heel trio’s entrance was shown. Mahal tried to place Erik in the Khallas, but Erik avoided it and tossed him to the floor. Ivar took out Veer and Shanky with a dive from the apron. In the ring, Erik and Ivar hit the Viking Experience on Mahal and then Erik pinned him.
The Viking Raiders beat Jinder Mahal and Veer in 4:45.
Drew McIntyre was shown getting fired up and then looking at his sword backstage. The broadcast team hyped the Triple Threat match for the U.S. Championship as coming up next… [C]
Powell’s POV: The quick SummerSlam loss to Drew McIntyre and now Mahal takes the pin rather than Veer in this tag match. Ouch. By the way, a new AEW Rampage ad aired on DirecTV during the break. The ad spotlighted CM Punk being in AEW followed by footage of Miro.
The brief “NXT Coming” video aired… Sheamus was in the ring coming out of the break and then McIntyre and Priest made separate entrances…
3. Damian Priest vs. Drew McIntyre vs. Sheamus in a Triple Threat for the U.S. Championship. Mike Rome delivered introductions from ringside once all three wrestlers were inside the ring. Shemaus wore his face shield. The babyface duo teamed up on Sheamus to start. They action spilled over to ringside where Priest backdropped Sheamus into the timekeepers area. McIntyre stood in the ring and pointed at Priest, who smiled and nodded. [C]
An ad for Tuesday’s NXT and focused on Samoa Joe and Ilja Dragunov appearing.
[Hour Two] With Priest at ringside, McIntyre worked over Sheamus with a suplex. McIntyre went for a Future Shock DDT that Sheamus avoided. Sheamus sent McIntyre through the ropes and into the ring post. Priest returned and threw a spin kick at Sheamus and then hit both opponents with elbows in opposite corners.
Priest and McIntyre squared off briefly until McIntyre clotheslined Priest to ringside. McIntyre performed a flip dive over the top rope onto Priest and Sheamus on the floor. Back inside the ring, McIntyre put Priest down with a Michinoku Driver for a near fall. McIntyre set up for a superplex, but Sheamus returned and hit him from behind.
McIntyre was hanging in a tree of woe as Sheamus set up for a superplex on Priest. McIntyre sat up and suplexed Sheamus, who superplexed Priest in a good Tower of Doom spot. [C] Priest set up McIntyre for his finisher, but Sheamus blasted him with a Brogue Kick. Priest tumbled to ringside and then McIntyre rolled up Sheamus.
McIntyre counted down for his finisher, but Shemaus beat him to it with a big knee for a good near fall. A “this is awesome” chant broke out. Sheamus performed White Noise from the middle rope for another near fall on McIntyre. Priest returned and ducked a Claymore Kick from McIntyre that took out Sheamus. Priest ended up hitting The Reckoning on McIntyre and pinned him clean.
Damian Priest defeated Sheamus and Drew McIntyre in a Triple Threat in 21:30 to retain the U.S. Championship.
After the match, McIntyre got to his feet and approached Priest and eventually shook his hand in a showing of respect… An ad for Smackdown hyped Roman Reigns vs. Finn Balor for the WWE Universal Championship for Friday’s show… [C]
Powell’s POV: A great match and a huge win for Priest. I assumed that Priest would end up pinning Sheamus to win this match, but they gave him the much bigger win over McIntyre. Priest also did a nice job in that opening segment with his mic work. The creative forces seem to be really getting behind him at this point. This felt like an even bigger win for Priest than winning the U.S. Championship at SummerSlam did.
A video package recapped Bobby Lashley beating Goldberg and putting his son in the Hurt Lock at SummerSlam…
Footage aired of a WWE cameraman catching up with Goldberg at what appeared to be a garage. Goldberg limped and said he suffered ligament damage and needs surgery. Goldberg called Lashley a dirty son of a bitch. He said his son’s shoulder is jacked up and his neck hurts. Goldberg said his objective has changed. He said he’s not coming for the WWE Championship, he’s coming for Lashley’s soul and he will rip it from his chest…
Reginald’s park fetish continued. He was shown “earlier today” visiting another park. R-Truth had a blond wig on and was playing with Akira Tozawa, who was dressed in a dog costume. Reginald ran away and used his acrobatics to avoid his would-be WWE 24/7 Title challengers. Tozawa unmasked and told Truth that he told him that the costume wouldn’t work. Truth told him that every dog has its day…
Powell’s POV: Reginald could avoid this stupidity if he just stopped going to parks.
Eva Marie made her entrance… [C] WWE touted its Instagram follower count… A video package recapped the legendary Eva Marie and Doudroup storyline… Doudrop made her entrance…
4. Eva Marie vs. Doudrop. Doudrop attacked Eva from behind worked her over. Doudrop performed a running cross body block on a seated Eva, but the referee didn’t count because he never called for the bell to start the match. Doudrop made her own count. Ring announcer Mike Rome announced that Eva was unable to compete. Doudrop took the mic and named herself the winner…
Eva Marie vs. Doudrop never got started.
Charlotte Flair was walking backstage when Sarah Schreiber popped out of nowhere like a stalker and asked her about Nia Jax. Flair spoke about being the most decorated female in history and said long live the queen…
Karrion Kross stood on the stage with his weird bondage mask on and made his entrance. The broadcast team announced that Kross would face Humberto Carrillo after the break… [C]
5. Karrion Kross vs. Humberto Carrillo. Carrillo’s entrance was televised. Yes, Kross still had the weird gladiator suspenders. Kross dominated the match and won with a Doomsday Saito Suplex followed by the Kross Jacket…
Karrion Kross defeated Humberto Carrillo in 4:15.
Powell’s POV: Another dominant win for Kross, so at least they are getting that right. On the other hand, Kross’s gladiator attire is dreadful.
Backstage, Schreiber asked Jax if she was still confident that she could splatter Charlotte Flair. Jax said she would take Flair’s invisible crown and shove it up her behind. Jax made her entrance. Charlotte was shown lacing up her boots in the backstage area. Graves hyped the Raw Tag Title match for later in the show… [C]
The “NXT Coming” video aired again… Backstage, Riddle spoke about updating his resume and boasted that he went to high school and even graduated. Orton told him to do what he’s good at and he would do the same. Riddle started listing things he’s good at while Orton got annoyed… Charlotte Flair made her entrance…
6. Raw Women’s Champion Charlotte Flair vs. Nia Jax in a non-title match. Jax charged Flair, who ducked to ringside after the bell rang.
[Hour Three] Flair returned to the ring then she and Jax jawed at one another. Jax put Flair down with a spinebuster. Flair rolled to ringside for a breather. Flair returned to the ring. Jax charged and then Flair held the ropes open, causing Jax to go to ringside and land on her feet. Flair dove onto Jax and then played to the crowd. [C]
Flair performed the strangest looking inverted DDT ever performed for a near fall. Flair chop blocked Jax and then worked over her left knee. Flair shoved the back of Jax’s head and then shook her ass in her face. Flair went for her finisher, but Jax kicked her off. Jax performed a wicked powerbomb on Flair and pinned her clean…
Nia Jax defeated Charlotte Flair in 13:55 in a non-title match.
Powell’s POV: A rough match, especially down the stretch. This was surprisingly bad considering it involved two veterans. I also have no clue who the creative forces want fans to side with in this feud between heels. What a mess.
Footage aired from last week’s main event that resulted in Riddle pinning AJ Styles…
Backstage, John Morrison said he was supposed to have a match against The Miz, but he backed off or went back to Hollywood. He said he wanted to prove he was a bigger man and he still does. Morrison said he asked for a match against the largest human being he knows. The camera pulled back and showed that Morrison was talking to Omos, who said, “It sucks to be you.” Omos walked away. Morrison looked sad and said, “Yeah, I guess it does”…
Omos and AJ Styles made their entrance… [C]
Powell’s POV: So WWE advertised three matches a week out and technically didn’t deliver any of them. The closest they came was the Eva Marie vs. Doudrop non-match. You can’t make it up.
Imagery of Oklahoma including the Sooners was shown. No, they didn’t mention OU’s biggest fan because he works for AEW now… John Morrison made his entrance…
7. Omos (w/AJ Styles) vs. John Morrison. Morrison brought his stupid bucket of drip sticks to the ring with him. Ugh. Morrison approached Omos with a drip sick, but Omos swatted it away to start the match. Morrison stumbled while doing a parkour spot at ringside. Omos clotheslined him and then threw him back inside the ring. Omos used his Baldo Bomb finisher and scored the clean pin.
Omos defeated John Morrison in 2:05.
Powell’s POV: I was really hoping that we’d get a serious Morrison as a babyface. So far it’s just more of the same drip, moist, and drip stick silliness minus Miz. Let’s just get to Reggie vs. Morrison in the parkour showdown match and be done with it.
Xavier Woods made his entrance for a match against Styles… [C] The broadcast team announced Sheamus, Nia Jax, and The Viking Raiders as the guests for Raw Talk…
8. AJ Styles (w/Omos) vs. Xavier Woods. Styles set up for an early Phenomenal Forearm, but Woods rolled out of the ring on the other side to avoid it in what Graves called “a brilliant maneuver.” Styles dropkicked Woods through the ropes. Styles targeted the left knee of Woods. Later, Woods put Styles in a tree of woe and dropkicked him. Woods covered Styles for a two count. Styles rolled Woods into a Calf Crusher on the bad leg. Woods nearly reached the ropes, but he tapped out instead.
AJ Styles beat Xavier Woods in 7:05.
Randy Orton and Riddle made their entrance for the main event. Styles stood on the broadcast table and glared at them… [C]
Powell’s POV: A well worked match between two acts that have cooled off considerably. I really hope they give Styles another babyface singles run.
The “NXT coming” video aired again… Bobby Lashley and MVP made their entrance for the main event…
9. Randy Orton and Riddle vs. Bobby Lashley and MVP for the Raw Tag Titles. AJ Styles sat in on commentary while Omos stood behind him. Early in the match, MVP rolled to ringside. Lashley checked on his partner. Riddle performed a springboard moonsault onto them. [C]
Riddle was isolated and eventually made a hot tag to Orton, who worked over MVP. Orton struck the Viper’s Pose. Lashley tried to enter the ring. Orton spotted him, kicked him, and dropped him with a Draping DDT. Orton struck the Viper’s Pose again. When Orton stood up, MVP blasted him with a Mafia Kick.
Lashley tagged in and threw shoulder blocks at Orton in the corner and then played to the crowd for heat. Lashley executed a neckbreaker and then set up for the Hurt Lock, but Orton avoided it and went for an RKO, but Lashley stuffed it. Riddle tagged in and ended up hitting Lashley with a knee to the head.
Riddle followed up with a Floating Bro, but MVP broke up the pin. MVP tagged in and put Riddle down with another Mafia Kick. Riddle went for the Playmaker, but Riddle avoided it and knocked MVP down with a kick. At ringside. Lashley hoisted up Orton, who slipped off and shoved Lashley into the ring post. Omos grabbed Orton, but Riddle kicked Omos through the ropes. Styles went after Orton, who slammed Styles on the broadcast table. In the ring, Riddle caught MVP with a knee to the head and a Floating Bro before pinning him.
Randy Orton and Riddle defeated Bobby Lashley and MVP in 12:30 to retain the Raw Tag Titles.
After the match, Lashley speared Riddle. Orton returned to the ring and dropped Lashley with an RKO. Orton’s music played and then he and Riddle left the ring together to close the show…
Powell’s POV: An entertaining and well received main event with the expected finish of MVP taking the loss for his team. RKBro continues to be the most over act on Raw. It will be interesting to see how long they last as a duo, as they’re going to run out of credible challengers in a hurry given the state of the Raw tag division.
Overall, this show ran out of gas following the hot Priest vs. McIntyre vs. Sheamus match. WWE can’t fill three hours and right now they’re having a tough time filling two hours on Monday nights. It will be interesting to see if they do anything on next week’s Labor Day edition to hook viewers before Monday Night Football returns the following week. I’m not getting my hopes up. I will be back shortly with my weekly same night audio review of Raw for Dot Net Members. Let me know what you thought of the show by grading it below.
Fantasy football draft season is here! Check out MyFanatsyLeague.com if you’re looking for a host for your league. MFL is home to all of my leagues and I can’t recommend their service highly enough.
How come the announcers asked why Rhea Ripley was out there when they answered there own question?
Also, why are the announcers surprised that Nikki ASH is in Ripley’s corner when the graphic for the match had her in the background.
Btw, Jason, whenever I go to an article on the site, I get pop-up ads which is ok but there is no mute button on them. It’s very annoying.
I hate the pop up ads. I wish they upgraded the site to get rid of them. The video in the lower corner is the worst.
Easy solution for the ads. Sign up for membership and there are no ads on the members’ website and you’ll get a ton of audio content every week. I’m running a business here, gang. The ads are necessary to pay the bills.
Maybe you could at least consider getting some decent ones that can be muted or be closed after they pop up instead of what you got going now? Most other sites I know of that are businesses seem to do that.
Just use Firefox and turn on the blocked autoplay option.
I don’t mind having ads as you said, it helps pay the hosting fees among other things. As another poster wrote, if you could control certain ads that would be helpful. I struggle to read stuff with a giant ad playing that will not stop.
That there are still some mongrels out here with their phone media volume not defaulted to “mute” is more worrisome to me than half the country thinking the election was illegitimate.
Nia Jax is absolutely the worst wrestler in WWE right now. You can see the disgust on Charlotte’s face at Jax botching so many spots and losing track of what to do several times already.
Nia Jax is the drizzling shits. The only reason she has a job in WWE and wasn’t released long ago is because she’s Reigns’ cousin. I’m pretty sure Reigns doesn’t openly admit to that if he doesn’t have to. You would think due to the fact that Jax is a member of a wrestling family that she would be a lot better than she actually is, but this definitely is not the case. She was always awful and has never bothered to even try to improve which is just plain sad and pathetic.
So, wait, Raw doesn’t deliver the 3 matches that were advertised? And they wonder why Raw ratings are the way they are?
“This was surprisingly bad considering it involved two veterans“. Nia has worked for wwe for a while but she’s just plain bad. Charlotte is great but not everyone can get a match out of a broomstick like her Dad.
The broomstick was more athletic than Nia.
Maybe Charlette is not as good as she thinks she is?
Nia was trained by a broomstick. Well, actually broomsticks. She kept breaking them.
Nia Jax is related to Reigns and The Rock so unless they disown her and kick her out of the family for being a complete and total embarrassment and disgrace (which she truly is) , she unfortunately (or so it seems) has a job in the WWE for life. She’s hurt people and/or has ended people’s careers and yet she’s still employed in the company that should tell you something, she was always terrible and has never bothered even trying to improve it’s like she doesn’t have to as WWE would just assume go out of business than release her.
Kairi Sane – an act that most considered a cannot-miss – was smashed out of WWE by Nia Jax.
Vince McMahon chose a reckless, bad wrestler over a very good, loveable, skilled talent.
Why do people still watch Vince’s shows?
Kairi Sane was terrible. Just another teeny, tiny girl from Japan with no credible way to get over with any kind of meaningful audience. Jax is even worse, but Sane was only a “can’t miss” prospect to the same people that like Omega’s Japanese schoolgirl fetish booking of AEW’s women’s division.
They should have moved on from both.
” Sane was only a “can’t miss” prospect to the same people that like Omega’s Japanese schoolgirl fetish booking” – dude, you got problems.
What? She can do an elbow drop and nothing else. She’s 5′ 100lbs of nothing with a stupid gimmick. It’s literally just cosplay trash that appeals to neckbeard incels that slobber over the same tiny, shapeless, no talent hacks that Kenny pushed in AEW until Tony stopped letting him book the women.
Kairi Sane was never going to get over with enough of an American audience to matter.
What is your deal with height? She’s 5’1. Thunder Rosa is 5’3. Candice LeRae is 5’2. Toni Storm is a whole 5 inches taller at 5’6. Trish Stratus, one of the most over women WWE ever had, was 5’4. You really saying that 3 inches and 5 lbs makes some huge difference?
And Kairi can do a whole lot more than “just an elbow drop”, anyone making that claim may as well wave a sign announcing “I’m fucking clueless”, cause it accomplishes the same thing.
The only people who think Kairi was terrible are Cornette fanboys who can’t think anything is good unless Daddy Jim tells them it is(and before you lie and deny it, your use of his “Japanese school girl fetish” along with your other frequent use of the same nicknames and insults he uses already gave it away).
I actually started to convince myself it IS Cornette halfway through. Exact same verbiage, too. Kinda sad tbh
ZzzZzzzZzzz. Raw has no energy, just feels like they’re trying to get by.
Eva-lution is clear proof of the de-evolution of the women’s division. Might as well bring back bra and panties matches along with the stupid butterfly championship and “divas” moniker. They got rid of Wyatt, Killian Dain, Aleister, and Ruby Riot for Reggie, Jinder, Zelina and Eva. What a trade.
I wish they would bring back bra and panties matches. As long as Charlotte is not involved. At least they were entertaining and had a point unlike 99% of matches today.
If they were going to bring back the butterfly title, they would have done it with Nikki ASH
What a wonderful job they did following up Jeff Hardy’s win over Karrion Kross. If they were gonna have Hardy win that, why not at least make it the start of something meaningful? Instead that win did nothing good for anyone involved smh