This was a very efficiently executed event, and the first meaningful match of the night, besides the Cruiserweight match, featured a hometown boy in Cedric Alexander challenging AJ Styles for the United States Championship. An outsider looking in almost had to expect Alexander to win the title because it took place from his hometown in Charlotte, North Carolina. Another reason one might have expected Alexander to pick up the victory is because he has been receiving much more TV time as of late, and this is most likely because Paul Heyman (who is the executive director of Monday Night Raw) is extremely high on Cedric Alexander and intends to give him a “slow push” to the “top rung” of the proverbial WWE ladder. His in-ring talents are not to be questioned. He also used to be bigger in his past days with other companies, and this significantly helps him to be able to hang in the strength department with bigger superstars. However, despite the fact that what could have been anticipated didn’t happen, no one can ever complain about AJ Styles being a champion of any kind. I just figured that this may be a good way to propel Styles into the main event scene, and it would also be a way to allow an up-and-comer to elevate the United States Championship (maybe not to the level that John Cena did when he was champion, but close).
Being relegated to the pre-show will give AJ Styles something else to complain about. I can already hear him talking about how much of a workhorse he is for the company and how this is an insult. The main card was stacked though. Even Chad Gable and Baron Corbin have to have the final match of the King of the Ring tournament (which was supposed to take place at Clash of Champions) the following night on Monday Night Raw.
Seth Rollins and Braun Strowman were presented with the task of starting the main card of the show and setting the energetic tone for the night, defending their Raw Tag Team Championships against the team of Robert Roode and Dolph Ziggler. They took the loss, which served to further their Universal Championship storyline. This also gives Roode and Ziggler something meaningful to be involved in within the company. Rollins turned out to retain his Universal Championship, as he probably should have (after all, he did not sleigh the Beast twice to lose the title a month later). He will be challenged next by The Fiend Bray Wyatt for the Universal Title at Hell in a Cell from the Golden1 Center in Sacramento, California on October 6. Speaking of The Fiend, he is being booked to perfection, making short appearances that serve to make big impacts on the entire roster. His booking should continue exactly this way in the coming months leading to WrestleMania next April.
It was a brilliant idea by WWE to reunite Luke Harper and Erick Rowan – the two former Wyatt family members – after they have both been sorely underutilized for the last two years, approximately. It looks like Harper may have been the big reveal in the Roman Reigns storyline, so WWE may have something else planned for the premiere episode of SmackDown Live on FOX on October 4. Let’s hope this storyline serves to establish Harper and Rowan as upper-mid card heels. The direction WWE will most likely go in is towards having Harper and Rowan play the roles of the monster heels, and Roman Reigns will look to make up and ultimately team with Rowan’s former accomplice Daniel Bryan since Bryan was betrayed by Rowan. The two teams will likely square off at Hell in a Cell in three weeks.
The Raw Women’s Championship match between Sasha Banks and Becky Lynch added a level of intensity to the show that it had been lacking until that point. These matches that the crowd eats up are very rare. The entire WWE universe quite clearly connects with Sasha Banks on a very deep level.
One might have thought it may have been time for Randy Orton to win the WWE Championship again given that it’s been 2 ½ years since he last held the title (one would have to think, since he is only 39 years old, that he will hold the championship at least one more time). However, this is a sign for sure of just how highly Vince McMahon views Kofi Kingston if Vince trusts him to carry the richest prize in sports entertainment for six months.
The pairing between Sami Zayn and Shinsuke Nakamura should ultimately lead to an epic rivalry between them. This will be great because they have history in NXT (they had one of the greatest matches in NXT history at Takeover: Dallas in 2016. It was Zayn’s last NXT match and Shinsuke’s first). The WWE creative team reportedly envisions the storyline playing out similarly to the Kevin Owens – Chris Jericho storyline (we all remember that one #FestivalofFriendship). The Miz is still in limbo and creative is struggling to find a niche for him right now. That’s okay though, it happens to most everyone from time to time.
Bayley used classic heel tactics to pick up a victory by taking the pad off the bottom turnbuckle and smashing Charlotte Flair’s face into it. There was a feeling in the air that Flair was going to win the SmackDown Women’s Championship and become a 10-time Women’s Champion in WWE considering the Pay-Per-View took place in her hometown of Charlotte, North Carolina. From that perspective, WWE missed an opportunity.
Nikki Cross took the next step in the evolution of her character by picking up the victory for her team and shining as the standout performer (Corey Graves also was losing it with Mandy Rose and Alexa Bliss in the same match; he didn’t know who to root for).
It also needs to be added that The Revival deserve to be Tag Team Champions despite the fact that they used underhanded tactics to get the victory. That’s also number 6 of 10 complete for The New Day. It is (it may or may not still be) Vince McMahon’s goal to have The New Day break the record held by the Dudley Boyz of 9 Tag Team Title reigns, and they are well on their way.