Roman Reigns returned to WWE Raw after two weeks. (Source: WWE)
WWE Raw on Monday night at Ford Center in Evansville, Indiana kicked off with Roman Reigns staying true to his word of delivering a big surprise to the WWE Universe. As his music blared and he walked out to the ring, Roman talked one-by-one of his achievements in the ring before announcing himself as the No. 1 contender for the Universal Title at SummerSlam. That brought down Samoa Joe to the ring who is the current challenger for the title when he faces Brock Lesnar at the WWE Balls of Fire PPV next month.
It didn’t help Joe’s mood one bit either when Reigns referred to the title challenger as “that guy they call Joe”. It didn’t take long for Joe to set the record straight – first with words and then with action. He reminded the Big Dog that he was undefeated against him. But Reigns remained unimpressed which forced Joe to use another technique – his action.
Joe started by headbutting Reigns to the chin and then attacking him outside the ring. Reigns, somehow, avoided the Coquina Clutch and then made things slightly level with a Superman Punch but it was enough confrontation to bring out Kurt Angle and sanction a match between the two.
And if things didn’t start brightly for Reigns after two weeks on Raw, they didn’t get better in the match either. Joe survived narrowly not once but twice. First by getting his foot on the rope after being struck with a Spear and then barely made it back into the ring before the fall count. At this juncture, Reigns readied himself for another Spear but before he could deliver it, the Ambulance siren blared distracting Roman and the surprising sight of Braun Strowman. The Monster Among Men was speculated to be out for six months with injury and here he was. That was the opening that Joe needed to put Reigns into a Coquina Clutch and get the win.
This also allowed Strowman to swoop in and reminded Reigns that he wasn’t done with him by delivering a Reverse Chokeslam and left with a challenge of an Ambulance Match for Great Balls of Fire PPV.
If that much drama wasn’t enough for the night, it got even better as the show drew to a close. With Kurt Angle promising to find out who was behind attacks on Enzo Amore, he brought out the tag team partnership of him and Big Cass along with The Revival who were near every possible attack. Further, Big Show was called out as one superstar who can knock out Enzo and Cass with one punch.
With one athlete after the other denying their involvement, it came down to Corey Graves who rose not to deny involvement but to provide footage of who it was behind the attacks. The clip revealed Big Cass had feigned injury and gone about attacking his partner.
Cass then made his reasons clear: Enzo was the dead weight in the team. He said how he was done “putting up with his crap” and prolonged the controversy just to see if Enzo was smart enough to figure things out. Cass further claimed that he could have been a WWE champion had it not been for Amore. As Enzo burst into tears, Cass delivered a brutal boot to the face to bring the curtain down.
WWE Raw Results:
The Hardy Boyz def. Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson
Finn Bálor def. Bo Dallas
Bray Wyatt confronted Seth Rollins
Akira Tozawa def. TJP
Samoa Joe def. Roman Reigns
Maryse appeared on “Miz TV”
Raw Tag Team Champions Cesaro & Sheamus def. Apollo Crews & Titus O’Neil
Nia Jax def. Sasha Banks via Disqualification
Raw General Manager Kurt Angle cracked the case of who attacked Enzo Amore
