RAW: #DIY reunited at last

Joseph Casciaro

RAW: #DIY reunited at last

WWE Raw was off to a quick start, the show opened with Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler brawling on the stage. The battle ended in the ring with Jax getting the upper hand, but Raquel Rodriguez then made her way out looking for revenge on Jax. Unfortunately for Rodriguez, Jax was able to take her down too. With Jax standing tall the Women’s World Champion, Rhea Ripley returned to attack Jax who injured her a few weeks ago.

It took more than a dozen security to separate these four women, and it was Mami left standing tall in the ring. Ripley was in an awful mood, and she grabbed a microphone to say Jax isn’t the only thing she’s here to deal with. She then called the rest of Judgement Day out to the ring, but only Damian Priest and Dominik Mysterio made their way out. Dom looked quite disgruntled on his walk out, he lost his NXT North American Championship to Trick Williams this past weekend.

Mami takes everyone out. Credit: WWE

Ripley said J-Day has no leader, but somebody needs to find a way to keep the group together and Mami is that person. She said while she was out injured she left that responsibility to Priest and he failed her, Finn Bálor is now out injured and Priest isn’t medically cleared for his match tonight. Priest was supposed to be there for Dom on Saturday too and he couldn’t do that, and now Cody Rhodes and Jey Uso aren’t even scared of J-Day.

Priest said screw Rhodes and Uso and screw the idea that there are issues in J-Day, he then threw a cheap shot by asking Ripley where Dom-Dom’s title is. Ripley then turned to Dom to let him know she got him a rematch for his title tomorrow night on NXT, but she said if he doesn’t come home to her with the title, he shouldn’t come home at all.

Mami warns her Papi. Credit: WWE

‘Main Event’ Jey Uso now made his way to the ring, he welcomed Rhea back saying that everyone missed her. He then called her the new Tribal Chief of Monday nights, but Priest did not want to hear anything he had to say and attempted to get in the face of Jey. However, Dom blocked Priest and said Priest is not medically cleared to take care of J-Day business so he will take care of Jey himself. Priest and Ripley left Dom in the ring with Jey, and Jey super-kicked Dom right in the jaw.

That is when JD McDonagh attacked Jey from behind and it was a two-on-one assault for Dom and JD. Priest was just about to join the attack when Cody Rhodes ran out to even the odds, together they were able to take out Dom and JD. Adam Pearce then announced that Priest and Bálor will be defending the Undisputed Tag Team Championships this Saturday at Fastlane against Jey and Cody!

Alpha Academy vs. Imperium

Why is this match happening again, I thought this feud ended like three weeks ago. Nonetheless, there seem to be some serious issues between Vinci and Kaiser as they could not get on the same page to start this bout. They did get in somewhat of a groove as the match carried on, but Kaiser then upset Vinci by tagging himself in. Then when Kaiser needed a tag, Vinci was nowhere to be found and Kaiser was left to deal with Otis.

Otis was attempting to hit Kaiser with an avalanche fall-away slam, but Vinci pulled Otis’ leg out and shifted his weight. This caused Otis to take a bad fall and Kaiser hit the Enzigiri to get the victory. Vinci has proved himself to Imperium tonight.

Winners: Imperium

Tegan Nox was supposed to get an opportunity for Becky Lynch’s NXT Women’s Championship tonight, but Lynch is not medically cleared. Since Nox’s title match has been postponed, she instead wants to face Chelsea Green.

Bronson Reed vs. Cedric Alexander

Reed has been on a hell of a run recently and even with Alexander using his quickness it did not take long for Reed to beat him with the Tsunami.

Winner: Bronson Reed

It was now time for the Intercontinental Championship match contract signing between Tomasso Ciampa and Gunther, this match is scheduled to take place next Monday. Ciampa said the morning he wakes up to fight for the title, the world will look a bit different and only two people in the world will matter. He said Gunther has been handed everything since his debut, but he has had to claw his way to the top.

Next week, Ciampa will have his entire family sitting in the front row, but he will be fighting for his five-year-old self who wanted to be the champion more than anything. Ciampa then signed the contract and demanded Gunther to sign. Gunther replied by saying the way Ciampa showed up to this contract signing says everything he needs to know about him.

Gunther says he fights for the thing that means the most to him, his Intercontinental title because he is the longest reigning champion of all time. Ciampa said Gunther is way too confident and he needs to sign the damn contract. Gunther said he should never interrupt him again and he needs to take a look at the title because it’s the closest he will ever be to the title.

Ciampa then said since Gunther hasn’t signed the contract yet why don’t they change some words and make the title match official for tonight? Gunther said he wants to let Ciampa prove it, this match is taking place tonight!

Xavier Woods vs. Ivar

This New Day and Viking Raiders feud has been going on forever and it’s just the same thing over and over. Tonight Woods got the opportunity to showcase his impressive strength lifting Ivar a few times in the match. Woods was able to steal a win over Ivar with a roll-up, but after the match, Ivar took out both members of New Day. He stacked Kofi on top of Woods and went to the top rope splashing onto them both with a moonsault.

Winner: Xavier Woods

The World Heavyweight Champion, Seth Rollins was now out to address Shinsuke Nakamura ahead of their title match this Saturday. Michael Cole was in the ring to interview Rollins and he questioned if Rollins knew what he was getting himself into with this last-man-standing match, especially with his injured back.

Rollins turned the question back on Cole, he said in 26 years as a commentator he has only missed two shows. He said Cole gets it, they are both addicted to what they do and they love being a part of the business. Rollins said the ring put a roof over his head, and food on the table and gave him his wife and daughter.

He then continued saying as World Heavyweight Champion he has to be the change, and he needs to leave it all in the ring. Nakamura now appeared on the screen, he questioned if the back injury was all a lie to feel sympathy. As Rollins was watching the screen, he was attacked from behind by Nakamura and hit with a Kinshasa. Nakamura’s recorded video then began to count to 10, just like a last-man-standing match, but Rollins got up at six. So Nakamura decided to lay into Rollins with dozens of chair shots into the injured back of Rollins, and he then tried the count again, but once again Rollins got up.

Now Nakamura dropped Rollins with a side slam onto the chair and then a second Kinshasa, this time Rollins could not get up before the ten-count. Nakamura then stood tall holding up the World Heavyweight Championship.

Chelsea Green vs. Tegan Nox

Nox wanted to prove herself as championship material against one-half of the Women’s Tag Team Champions. Green had the advantage over Nox with Piper Niven in her corner, so out from the back came Natalya to even the odds. This allowed Nox to hit Green with the Shiniest Wizard and get the victory. It seems like Nox has earned the respect of the veteran Natalya.

Winner: Tegan Nox

Drew McIntyre was scheduled to be on MizTV tonight, but he cancelled the show because had to get something off his chest and didn’t want The Miz in his business. Everybody has been wondering what’s going on with Drew and his recent change of personality. He said he’s done getting involved in fights that he didn’t start, and everyone in the back is a bunch of hypocrites.

Drew with a new attitude. Credit: WWE

Drew then said he feels like he’s living in a “Cody-verse” and any forgiveness of Jey Uso is just a sign of weakness. The Miz then interrupted Drew with some complaints, but Drew told him to keep his mouth shut. Miz then continued on and told Drew to be his real self, and Drew said everyone wants him to be the bad guy, but that’s not who he is.

Drew said he would rather rack up wins and earn his way to a title shot, he then challenged Miz to match right now. Miz said they aren’t even dressed to compete, and he said Drew is just showing guilt for what he’s done recently and he plays both the good and bad sides of the company. He said Drew chooses to be good or bad based on how it benefits Drew, this really got Drew fired up and he wanted a fight. Miz pretended to walk away, but as soon as Drew turned around he attacked him from behind. Drew no-sold the attack and proceeded to beat the hell out of Miz. Following a commercial break, a match was made official.

Drew McIntyre vs. The Miz

Miz was forced to compete in his three-piece suit and he looked like no match for Drew on this given day. Drew tried to use his sword which distracted the referee, he then exposed the turnbuckle and smashed Miz’s face into the steel. He then hit a Future Shock DDT and got the victory, this really looks like the Drew of old and it seems like he’s beginning to have some broken dreams.

Winner: Drew McIntyre

Jackie Redmond was now joined backstage by the brand new NXT North American Champion, Trick Williams! This was Trick’s first appearance on the main roster and he introduced himself to the world. He was then interrupted by Dirty Dom, Mami and JD; Mami let Trick know that tomorrow night Dom is not coming alone for his rematch.

Intercontinental Championship Match- Gunther (C) vs. Tomasso Ciampa

Ciampa was looking vicious to start this main event, he was hitting Gunther with all kinds of strikes and he then threw Gunther into the ring post. He then quickly locked in the Sicilian Stretch, but Gunther escaped to the outside of the ring. Following a commercial break, Gunther was laying into Ciampa’s chest with some chops, but Ciampa kept fighting back.

He began to fight back with slaps to the chest of Gunther, but Gunther ducked a slap and got Ciampa into a sleeper hold. Gunther released the hold to hit Ciampa with a brutal big boot, but Ciampa then got some reversals in and locked in the Sicilian Stretch again. But once again, Gunther pulled himself outside the ring. Ciampa followed him to the outside only to be met with a flurry of chops and then a backbody drop onto the apron.

Back in the ring, both men were exchanging chops, but Gunther placed Ciampa on the top turnbuckle and pushed him down by choking him with his foot. They were now on the outside again and Gunther went for a massive chop, but Ciampa moved and Gunther slammed his hand into the table. Ciampa then hit a bicycle knee and a diving knee, he then began to target Gunther’s right hand. He was slamming it into the steps and the announce table, Ciampa was then able to hit Willow’s Bell, but Gunther kicked out at two!

Ciampa continued the attack on Gunther’s hand, kicking it repeatedly before stomping on Gunther about 20 times. He then went for the running knee, but he was caught halfway with a missile dropkick from Gunther. He then attempted a powerbomb, but his injured hand gave out and Ciampa hit a reverse DDT followed by a running bicycle knee. Gunther now blocked a Fairytale Ending and hit Ciampa with a sleeper suplex dropping him on the top of his head.

He then went for a massive lariat, but Ciampa reversed into the Sicilian Stretch and this time he had the hold in deep. Against all odds, Gunther was able to get his foot on the bottom rope, but Ciampa stayed on the attack hitting plenty of chops. The champ then began to respond with some chops of his own and even with the injury he got Ciampa up for two back-to-back powerbombs. He then locked Ciampa into a sleeper hold and Ciampa did not tap, but he passed out. Gunther’s historic title reign continues!

Winner: Still Intercontinental Champion, Gunther

Following the match, Kaiser and Vinci beat down Ciampa and Gunther left them in the ring to attack him. With the two-on-one attack, Imperium was thriving, but then out from the back came the returning Johnny Gargano! He rushed to the ring to the aid of Ciampa, hit Kaiser with a slingshot spear and then Vinci with a superkick. Ciampa was now back on his feet and with Gargano, they hit Vinci with Meet in the Middle! #DIY is back and they are coming after Imperium!

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