One night away from the scene of the return of the Champions, the WWE returned to the Amway Center for Ronnie Thunderdam in Orlando. While the show shed light on story development, there were some meaningful matches through the night, including three bouts with the championship on the line.
Drew McIntyre started the show by openly challenging anyone who faced him for the championship. This would be a surprise return for the former NXT champion and a surprise win to retain the McIntyre title. During the show, there were also raw women and 24/7 titles, both of which did not change hands in the ring, although the 24/7 belt was able to change hands three times through the show.
CBS Sports was with you all night, bringing you recaps, highlights and grades of all the actions, which you can see below.
Drew M. Kintier has given an open challenge
Rick Flair, along with The Big Show, Christian and Shannon Michaels, all entered the ring before welcoming the WWE Champion Drew Me Contier into the ring. Before interrupting Randy Ort in the proceedings, McIntyre talked about his history with the four men and said that he would not be finished with McIntyre until he became the WWE Champion. Apparently before leaving the building, Ton Rton said he would not have to beg for a second title match, he would only be given one because he is Randy Orton, while also saying he would remind everyone that he was paid to cross. There is a price. . Mintier then said, surrounded by legends, he knew what kind of champion he wanted to be and he gave an open challenge later in the show which he had not yet defended.
WWE Championship – Dru M I Kintere (C) Def. Robert Rude by Pinfall Retaining the title after Claymore. Dolph Ziegler approached Adam Purse late last night to push the idea for a Challenger. Before the match, Ziegler introduced Robert Rude, returning as the man. Rude challenged the penalty enough, but got some help from Ziegler, who pulled McGintier out of the ring before pulling Ziegler into the ring, ready to attack before Rude hit the champ from the chop block. McIntyre continued to sell injured legs, providing openings for some rudder near the falls – including hitting the glorious DDT – McIntyre eventually hit Clamor to the finish. After the match, before the show aired, Randy Orton was disguised as a door backstage, removing a steel chair from his cart and “Legends Lounge” where Shaw, Flair, Christian and Michaels played poker before donating night vision goggles. He turned off the lights and heard several shots from the chair.
The opening part with the legends was awkward and a little hilarious, and Orton’s image in the late night vision goggles is foraging into the meme. Add to that the absolutely “blah” surprise opponent in Rudd and this was not the strongest night for the segments associated with the WWE Champion. The match was quite nice, but the tension with Champ and Orton seemed to be reconciled to the overnight stay. Grade: c
Mysterio family drama is on the rise
The Mysterio family was interviewed in-ring by Jerry Law Lawer, addressing a family drama last week. Alia Mysterio clarified that she was offended by her father for calling her naive last week, but Seth Rollins is a bad guy and anyone who hangs around with him is making bad choices. Rollins then appeared on the Titantron and showed a direct message between Alya and Murphy – whose phone Rollins picked up late at night. These messages were generally not harmful, with Murphy offering to hear if Alya needed to talk to someone and she sent him a “Happy Birthday” text. But that was enough to send Doknik Mysterio into a frenzy when he attacked in the rear stage and set up a match the night after a brawl with Murphy.
Murphy Def. Dominic Mysterio by Pinfall With schoolboy pin. Walking on the ring, Mysterio got angry and immediately led the fight to Murphy. Mysterio looked down at the ring and the two were arguing inside and outside the ring before Kendo found the stick. As he tried to get into the ring, Alya came over to the ringside and pleaded with Dominic. Distracted by Dominic, Murphy rolled him for the pin. Dominic gave a few shots with a candy stick before Alya swam back. Dominic called him naive, saying he was OK before his father slapped and attacked him.
The age difference between Alya and Murphy is an understandable sticking point for many. It’s not entirely clear if this is really the “romance angle”, but it has all the beats of the initial story being one. Dominic shines in the ring in the very early days of his career, but he and Alia performed some bad kind of “WWE acting” through the night. That rough edge may eventually be smooth, but that’s just the weak point of the young Mysterio’s game. Grade: B-
What else happened on WWE Raw?
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Raw Women’s Championship – Asuka (C) Def. Zelina Vega by submission With Asuka L.K. to retain the title. As in the case when the two met at the Clash of Champions, Vega made an enthusiastic effort, his attention returning to Asuka’s hand as he had the night. But Vega soon arrived when Asuka reacted to the lunar eclipse in Asuka Lok to end and retain his title.
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Keith Lee Def. Android by Pinfall After the soul bomb. After Vega’s match, Andrade entered the ring and ran down his former manager for pulling him past. After Vega left, Andred asked someone to come out and Lee’s string came. Lee did a relatively simple job of Android before hitting the spirit bomb for the win.
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The 24/7 Championship trades hands three times in one minute. A ninja r-truth reached the back stage. He gave the truth a note from Akira Tozwa, stating that he had been picked up by a shark – as indicated last week. The ninja then gave the truth a black belt, the truth was celebrated and Tuzawa set off from under the table to pin the truth to win a title. The first ninja then pinned Tuzwa to win the title, declaring himself to be Drew Gulak. Truth then pinned Gulak to win back the title.
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Mandy Rose and Dana Brooke Def. By Lynn and Natalya Pinfall When Rose Jumping hits Lana with the knee. Lana and Natalya claimed they should be given the women’s tag title after failing to defend Shayna Baszler and Nia Jax in the Clash Champion Championships. Adam Pierce said no such thing would happen, but the pair could move on to a title shot by facing the latest tag team on Raw: Rose and Brooke.
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Kevin Owens Def. By Alastair Black Incompetence. Before the match Blake cut a backstage promo while Orns was blamed for not being there for him when his eye was injured by Murphy and Rollins. The match was an all-out brawl between the two before Black accidentally hit the officer, drawing disqualification. After the decision was announced, Owens hit a catchy black on Erat Black.
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24/7 Championship – R-Truth (C) Def. By Drew Gulak and Akira Tozwa Pinfall After hitting AA on Gulak on Tozawa. After a quick firefight title change early in the night, a triple threat was made, in which Truth retained the belt in a match that was more fun than most “real” matches for a 24/7 belt.
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Apollo Cruz, Ricochet and Mustafa Ali Def. Hurt business by Pinfall After Ali hit the MVP with a 450 splash. At the start of the match, the lights flickered and the retribution logo appeared on the Thunderdom screens, but nothing came of it and the match did not run until Ali won a big victory.
