It’s time again for WWE Raw. And as always, you can expect to see a live recap of the show as it airs right here. Following the Draft, we now have the go-home show for WWE Hell In A Cell 2020. Watch this space~!
We’ve got a new theme for this show and it’s the biggest departure from previous ones I’ve ever heard.
Alexa Bliss is in the ring. Says he’s heeeeeere. Let him in. And so out comes The Fiend. He takes his time coming to the ring, then he and Alexa hold hands. They stand perfectly still as Retribution’s music hits (they have music now by the way) and they surround the ring. Even as they enter the ring and surround them, Fiend and Alexa don’t move. Ali raises his hand up and the lights go down. Fiend and Alexa have disappeared. Now out come the Hurt Business, I really hope Retribution also phantoms on them and we just have an infinite loop. Hurt Business clears the ring, Cedric lays them out on the floor with a big tope.
Hurt Business vs. Retribution
Lashley and T-Bar open, Lashley clobbers him, shoulder tackle. Charging clothesline in the corner. Pummels him in the buckles. Bar with a boot up on the charge. Slapjack tags in, Lashley with a Delayed Vertical Suplex! Cedric tags in, stomps him. Slapjack takes advantage for a moment and tries a suplex but Cedric reverses with a Front Suplex, kick to the face for a 2 count! Takes him to the Hurt corner and MVP tags in, pounds him. Quick tags, Cedric with a wicked enziguri! Charging forearm, whips him but he spills to the outside. Mace distracts to help him back in the ring, Cedric is up top but another distraction allows Slapjack to attack him, arm drag takes him to the mat!
Tag to Ali, who comes in with a dropkick to the arm! Snapmare, kick to the back, 2 count. Pulls him up, Cedric shoves him away, right hand to the face! Charges, Ali takes him to the apron. Alexander with a forearm, wants a springboard but Ali trips him up! Chokes him against the bottom rope. Cedric powders, Ali slips through the ropes and slickly RAMS him into the barricade! The two groups confront each other out there, meanwhile the Fiend is watching on the screen. Commercial break.
We come back to see Shelton and Mace exchanging shots in the middle of the ring. Mace takes over, shoves him to the corner for forearms. Slides around the mat and charges but Shelton sidesteps him into the post, German Suplex! Running Pump Knee in the corner! Nearfall. Bobby tags in, clotheslines Mace to the floor, knocks Slapjack to the floor as well. Mace rushes back in but eats a Spinebuster, T-Bar tags in but eats a Spear, Ali breaks up the pin. Lashley pulls T-Bar up, he tries to fight out of the waistlock but Lashley cinches in the Hurt Lock and he taps.
Winners: The Hurt Business
Retribution is winless. Doing great! The Fiend appears afterwards just to make it worse and he starts demolishing them, Sister Abigail on the floor to Mace, Uranage sends Slapjack on the table. He tries to grab Ali in the ring, T-Bar interrupts but gets the Claw for his trouble, Sister Abigail.
AJ Styles makes his way out and the reports were correct, he now has Jordan Omogbehin by his side, the big bouncer from Raw Underground. AJ gets on the mic, says finally Raw has a true leader in him. Big man is atleast two heads taller than him as he stands behind him. AJ says the real redemption of Raw was the return of the prodigal son. He beat Jeff Hardy and Seth Rollins in a triple threat match to further prove that this never was Monday Night Rollins. And when he beats Matt Riddle tonight and shepherds Raw into the future, it’s more than the season premiere. It’s a new era. A new era that belongs to the Face That Runs The Place. Matt Riddle makes his way out.
Matt Riddle vs. AJ Styles
Referee deliberates with AJ and Jordan about the big man leaving the ring. He’s not budging. Ref says he’ll count to five and if he doesn’t leave AJ is DQ’d. He starts counting but Omogbehin grabs his wrist before 3. Ref is scared but still pleads for him to leave the ring. Eventually he acquiesces. AJ attacks Riddle but he quickly retakes the advantage, roundhouse kicks. Big Gutwrench Suplex, and he holds on for a second one. Aaaaand a third! Clothesline takes Styles to the floor. Leaps to the apron, wants the running kick but Omogbehin stands in the way and Riddle slips to the apron, stumbles into the ring. Kinda made him look cowardly, he doesn’t wanna dare kick this guy. Commercial break.
We come back to see AJ in control. Hit a Gutbuster during the break. Riddle fights up out of a chinlock, pulls him onto his shoulders but AJ elbows his way free. Riddle catches him with a Pele Kick. Charging clotheslines, Overhead Exploder! He goes for a PK but AJ avoids it, Riddle lands on his feet off a Standing Moonsault for some reason when AJ didn’t move, AJ gets the boots up on a Broton. They fight on their feet until Riddle surprises him with a Final Flash! AJ responds with a Pele Kick of his own but Riddle strong styles him into a German Suplex! Pulls him up but Styles counters with an Ushigoroshi for a nearfall!
AJ pulls him up for a Styles Clash, Riddle blocks. Fisherman’s Buster, into a cradle for a nearfall! Riddle goes up top for the Floating Bro but Styles crotches him. He goes up for a Back Superplex, Riddle knocks him to the mat. He stands atop the rope but AJ fights up, they both end up on the top and fight, they end up crashing – AJ in the ring and Riddle on the apron! Riddle stands up slowly, Omogbehin stands across from him and threatens him with a punch. Riddle slowly re-enters the ring but Styles pulls him from the mat for the Styles Clash and that’s that.
Winner: AJ Styles
Afterwards, a vignette recapping the Orton/McIntyre feud.
McIntyre has a promo. Says when he first met him at 20, it was always obvious to him that he was the most evil, sadistic, entitled, selfish individual in WWE. He’s very intelligent though. He says when he took the legends out, he thought it was for the hell of it. But it was calculated. McIntyre has a temper problem, he saw red, he was challenged for HIAC and he accepted. Now he sees the bigger picture. Hell In A Cell is a match built for injury, favors those with darkness in them. It favors Orton. Orton has won HIAC matches before, Drew has never had one. But he will go through Hell and put him through Hell to win. Says someone asked him why he’s all in black, looks like he’s going to a funeral. Maybe he is. Drew says Orton has an interview of his own later, claims he’ll show up. ‘
WWE Raw Women’s Championship: Asuka (c) vs. Lana
Lock-up. Asuka with a side headlock. This has already gone longer than I’d have booked it to. Lana shoots her off, Asuka with a shoulderblock. Lana takes her down, roll-through for a 2 count, Asuka chases her and she rushes to the ropes to force a break. Lana dodges a stomp and rolls her up for 2. Lana ducks a Spinning Backfist, kicks her to her knees, hook kick for a 2 count. Asuka with an elbow off a charge, roundhouse kick to the head. Exchange of forearms, Asuka ducks a kick, wants a German but Lana blocks with some elbows. Lana tries to escape her grasp but Asuka takes he rdown into the Asukalock, tap out.
Winner: Asuka
Shayna and Nia emerge afterwards and do I even need to recap this again? Shayna deals with Asuka whilst Nia Samoan Drops Lana through the announce table for the FIFTH time. Asuka fights back in the ring, drives the heels away and runs for the hills. This company is ridiculous.
Women’s Tag Champs in the ring cutting a promo. Nia says when she watches that replay, she sees teamwork. Shayna says she’d have used a better word like dominance. But it doesn’t matter what word they use, what matters is what they do. And what they do is come out and dominate. They own the women’s tag team titles. Nia says if anyone refutes that, do something about it. Mandy and Dana emerge. While they’re on their way out, Lacey Evans also enters, and it seems she’s allied with Peyton Royce. They seem to be getting in each other’s way in their entrance though. They already hate each other, great… Riott Squad are also here even though they got drafted, why not? Ref is in the ring, this looks like an impromptu four way tag title match.
Shayna & Nia vs. Dana Brooke & Mandy Rose vs. Lacey Evans & Peyton Royce vs. Riott Squad
Nevermind, it’s non-title. Somehow that makes this weirder. Fight spills to the floor, tons of dives, commercial break. Riott Squad have the advantage when we come back, double team on Lacey. Ruby with a cover for 2. Pulls her up, Lacey catches a kick, trips her to the back and has her in a spinning toe hold for a bit. Shoved away, Nia Jax and Mandy Rose tag in. Mandy escapes a bodsyalm, tag to Dana, double team on Nia, attempted Double Suplex but Jax is holding her ground. Reverses. But Nia gets taken down, Mandy with a pump knee, tag to Dana who comes off the top with her barely connecting Senton Bomb, pin broken up.
Royce with a few spinning kicks, Riott with an STO, Woman’s Right drops her, Brooke deposits Evans. Liv blind tags in, dropkick to Nia. Charging dropkick, Evans tags herself in, gets a drop toe hold. Liv with a double stomp to the back, tag to Ruby, Side Codebreaker into the Riott Kick, but Shayna pulls Riott to the floor for a Kirifuda Clutch! Throws her back in, Nia tags herself in, grabs Evans, Samoan Drop for the win.
Winners: Nia Jax & Shayna Baszler
Okay.
Elias is on the stage for his concert. Strangely the piped-in response is cheers. But then he asks who wants to Walk With Elias and there’s no singalong for that. He says next Monday his new album Universal Truth drops and the reason he calls it this is because there is a Universal Truth everyone knows and it’s that WWE stands: crowd says “Walk With Elias”, okay fine, they pipe it in then.
And then he starts singing a song called Amen aimed at Jeff Hardy. Says he tried to put him in the grave. Only time he takes his black hat off is when he does his show. It’s a surprisingly legit song. Not a great one but they actually did try with it. Moves on to more of an uplifting ballad. Elias thanks the WWE Universe, says goodnight, he loves none of them. Elias is about to come back for an encore but somebody in a hoodie is holding onto his guitar and starts riffing on it, and whaddya know, it’s Jeff Hardy. He swings it at him and Elias darts away.
Miz and Morrison talking backstage. Miz maintains that he saved Mandy Rose by taking her away from Otis and now she’s in a strong team with Dana. Tucker confronts them for trying to ruin Otis’ life. Says Miz got him drafted to Raw just like he got Mandy sent here. He accuses them of delaying the trial to drain Otis’ wallet. He will find a partner and ruin THEIR life. Miz denies his allegations but accepts, they laugh at the thought of him finding a tag team partner.
Backstage, Elias says he thought in his downtime people might stop interrupting him, he thought there’d be some reverence but no! He’s upset about it. Says he’s challenging Jeff Hardy to a match this Sunday at Hell In A Cell.
New Day in the ring. Kofi says for the first time in nearly four years, the New Day are your WWE Raw Tag Team Champions! But a lot has changed since then. A lot has changed in one year. Xavier says last year he tore his Achilles, 2020 started and it’s been a garbage fire and then he finally comes back and they get drafted away from Big E, Kofi tells him he just has to breathe, one step at a time.
Sheamus interrupts. He says he’s glad they finally stopped crying, that’s embarrassing. Been four years since the New Day have been on Raw, but E is on SD. So they’ll be on the receiving end of a Brogue Kick. Kofi says it just means E gets to hold it down for New Day on the blue side and Kofi and Woods will hold it down on Raw. So they’ll get to spread their seed! (Of positivy.) Sheamus tells them to look at reality. Power of positivity isn’t reality. New Day mock him for getting sent onto a car by Big E. Chant of New Day Rocks, even though Sheamus demands they don’t say it.
Sheamus vs. Kofi Kingston
Lock-up. Kofi with a hip toss. Sheamus shoots him off, shoulder block. Kofi with a dropkick, 1 count. Sheamus knocks him around, uppercut. Exchange of punches, Sheamus with a kick to the gut. Clubbering shot to the back. Kofi with a kick to counter a back body drop. Sheamus grabs him anyway, Kofi escapes from a Military Press, takes him to the floor, baseball slide. Wants a big dive but Sheamus catches him out of the air and slams him facefirst onto the apron! Commercial break.
Sheamus with a headlock as we come back, Kofi with a Jawbreaker. Sheamus with a clothesline. Ten Beats of the Bowery. Big E is watching in a ThunderDome screen, that’s cute. Kofi with some forearms, Sheamus with a body blow. High Angle Back Suplex for a 2 count! Kofi fighting his way to his feet, escapes a back body drop, charging double foot stomp! Actually a single foot stomp this time. Kofi with some Blade Chops! Dropkick, ducks a line, flying clothesline! Boom Drop follows! Charges at him but Sheamus side steps, Crossbody from the second rope for a 2 count. Kofi gets him with a Shuriken, goes up top, leaps at him but gets caught out of the air, Black Hole Slam! Nearfall!
Kofi kicks Sheamus away, Sheamus counters a dropkick with the Cloverleaf! He crawls a long way towards the ropes, Kofi manages to bridge up and roll him into a cradle for a nearfall! Kofi with a kick off a charge, tries for Trouble In Paradise but Sheamus catches him, Alabama Slam! Nearfall! Pulls him to his feet, takes him to his shoulders. Climbs up to the second rope for a Super White Noise! But Kofi escapes it, Russian Legsweep from the second rope! Cover for a nearfall! Kofi looking for SOS, Sheamus counters with a roll-up for 2. Irish Curse countered into a Crucifix for 2, Trouble In Paradise outta nowhere for the win!
Winner: Kofi Kingston
Good match! Big E willing Kofi to win from the ThunderDome screen is just adorable.
Backstage, Mustafa Ali says the Fiend and the Hurt Business made a big mistake. They think their only power is strength in numbers, no. The power is creating chaos. All he needs is a laptop, a cell phone and a secret. This past year while he was sitting at home because this company couldn’t make a buck off of someone called Mustafa Ali. He’s listened while everyone backstabbed each other to get ahead and he knows all their secrets. The Hacker months ago, it was him. Says because of greed and corruption, talented individuals are being forgotten, their dreams left to die. But he found them and united them and he promised them that their truth will be heard. So anyone, whether it be the Fiend or the Hurt Business or anyone on Raw, if they try to stop the truth from being heard, they will shut him down.
Titus O’Neil congratulates the Hurt Business. Thinks he’d be a hell of an addition. He dresses the part, looks the part. With his connections and public image, he could take this conglomerate worldwide. MVP says he’s a fine upstanding community service man and Ricochet doesn’t seem to be coming to his senses right now so they want to talk it over. Titus takes a step back, they pretend to deliberate, MVP says they’re in business. Titus starts shaking their hands but MVP makes it clear that THEY are in business, not him. They attack him.
Miz and Morrison in the ring making jokes about Tucker. He comes out and says he scoured the globe and found one of the world’s premiere luchadors. Out comes… clearly Otis in a mask, called El Gran Gordo. Miz says it’s Otis in a mask. Otis denies this with a terrible accent. Miz says he has the lunchbox! Tucker says he’s holding it for Otis! Morrison asks how he could’ve scoured the globe, the challenge was made 30 minutes ago! Tucker says he did it digitally, duh.
Miz tells him putting on a mask does not make him clever, he looks like he ate Lucha House Party. When he won the briefcase he stepped his game up and won the WWE title. Accuses Otis of spitting on everyone who ever won that briefcase. He doesn’t understand why he makes a joke of it and he realizes, that he is the joke. When they stand side-by-side, one of them looks like a WWE superstar. He’s been here for 15 years beating Hall of Famers, he is championship material!
But everyone boos him and cheers Otis because he’s the underdog story. Says when people call him an underdog, it’s code for feeling sorry for him and they will feel even more sorry when the court case comes because he plays the system. He separated him from Tucker and Mandy and he will separate him from the contract and bring prestige back to it. You can put a mask on a pig but it’s still a pig. Otis and Tucker charge the ring and drive the heels out. After that fiery heel speech, Otis is so furious that he’s still playing up the luchador shtick.
The Miz & John Morrison vs. Tucker & “El Gran Gordo”
Tucker with a crossbody off the second rope! But the heels take over quickly, double gutbuster. Miz with a kick to the jaw of Tucker. Snapmare, Morrison with a driving knee, Miz with a running kick, Morrison with a Standing Moonsault for a nearfall! Morrison with a Straitjacket hold on Tucker. He fights his way up, Miz blind tags in, Tucker nails Morrison but Miz catches him by the leg. Tucker kicks him away, dives for a tag and in comes Gordo. Series of clotheslines. Pancake to Morrison. Clothesline sends him to the floor!
Boot up on a charge, Gordo off the bottom rope for a big arm drag! Body slam, Morrison breaks it up. Tucker pulls him up, big slam but Miz kicks him out of the ring. Miz wants a Skull-Crushing Finale, but in rushes R-Truth through the ring with the 24/7 title. And yep Gulak and Tozawa are chasing him, Lucha House Party too but they turn and see El Gran Gordo with the Caterpillar. He goes to the second rope for the Vader Bomb and that is that.
Winner: Tucker & El Gran Gordo
Alright, that happened. It seemed like Lucha House Party was going to end up being offended by the luchador act but maybe we’ll see that later.
New Day celebrate with Heavy Machinery, Mandy Rose appears with a big ham! Xavier starts blaring the trombone.
Firefly Funhouse segment. Bray Wyatt pulls out some weird and dangerous looking toys from his box. He says it makes him sad to leave all his friends here on SmackDown. But he is excited to make some new friends here on Raw! Looks like we’re already off to a great start! Abigail asks him to keep it down, just wants to sleep. Apparently Rabbit has a wife, says Bray never asked. Bray apologizes but says going forward, he promises to be a better friend. Highlight reel of all the times the rabbit has been killed.
Bray says the past is in our heads but the future is in our hands, and he holds hands with Ramlin’. He says this means so much, all he ever wanted was a fresh start and then Buzzy eats him again. Bray says more like fresh meat! He hears a chuckle. Alexa Bliss enters from the door, she’s back to her Freddy Krueger cosplaying days and says the fun is just getting started!
Keith Lee vs. Braun Strowman
Big man brawl, spills to the outside, Strowman with his Locomotive Shoulder Block. Into the ring, hoists him on his shoulders, Lee falls on top of him on a Powerslam attempt, Strowman couldn’t keep him up! Lee with a big splash to his ribs, nearfall. Strowman fights back, Lee side steps a corner charge, hits the Pounce. Lee pulls him up but Strowman sneaks a low blow when the ref wasn’t looking. Charging big boot, and gets the pin.
Winner: Braun Strowman
Afterwards, Lee low blows him back and yells at him. Says the monster meets the dragon, he’s messing with the wrong one.
The Hell In A Cell cage lowers. Randy Orton makes his way out for his promo. He also makes sure to lock himself in, just to stay safe from McIntyre I suppose. He slides a chair into the ring. Orton sits in it, says he requested the Cell be lowered because he wanted to come out here and remember. Ever since he entered this company, he’s heard about Hell In A Cell. Says he heard everyone who competes in one leaves a small piece of themselves behind. Orton says he’s had seven of them and he’s never left a piece of himself, if anything he understood himself a bit better every time. He understood what he was capable of.
Orton says this Sunday he will face McIntyre in his eighth Cell match but right now, he remembers. Facing the World’s Strongest Man, surviving the Celtic Warrior… he remembers mutilating Jeff Hardy and beating Daniel Bryan. Facing John Cena twice, becoming WWE Champion twice. Says despite McIntyre saying he’s never earned anything in his life, he remembers standing in this Hell and looking the Deadman in the eye and earning his respect. Says everyone he’s listed, if not already Hall of Famers, will one day be. Says the first word synonymous with a Hall of Fame, is legend. But the word legend gets thrown around these days rather loosely.
Orton starts to explain that there are legends, and then there are legendary moments. Starts to talk about McIntyre having legendary moments, Drew makes his way out. They stand eye-to-eye but the cell door is locked. Orton says he’s not breaking in. Taunts him, says he’ll have to fight him on Sunday. Tells him to break the lock if he wants to get him. McIntyre laughs, goes over and grabs a pair of bolt cutters! Orton is panicking now! McIntyre breaks the chain as Orton slides into the ring and gets the chair! He yells at him to enter, already bending the chair off the mat. McIntyre slams the cell door shut as the show fades to black, hilarious.