WWE Raw Results: Highlights, Analysis, and Grades for September 18

Source: WWE.com

Follow along with our live Raw review.

Previously on WWE Raw, Braun Strowman once again proved he is the best thing going in WWE. Brock Lesnar tried to take him to Suplex City. But Braun decided to hop off the train – no selling Brock’s suplex and destroying the Universal Champion.

Later in the night, Strowman lost to John Cena, but there’s a pretty big asterisk next to it. Yeah, Strowman lost – because he got himself disqualified. Not content with just annihilating Lesnar, The Monster Among Men ended his first ever match against Cena by powerslamming him onto the steel ring steps.

Finally, Cena continued his epic war of words with Roman Reigns. After The Big Dog had ridiculed Cena for taking 20 minutes to beat “a rookie” in Jason Jordan, Reigns himself struggled to put Jordan away. Cena was quick to point this out, and eventually the two superstars argued about ticket sales. It was… weird.

This week, it’s the final show before No Mercy. Championships will be defended this weekend, rivalries will come to an end (or continue for months at a time, whatever). So Raw this week will be devoted to getting the card to finalize.

In a match announced last week, Nia Jax gets her one on one match with Alexa Bliss. The Goddess of WWE forged a friendship with Jax, but Nia decided to strike out on her own. With a Raw Women’s Championship fatal four way match coming up at No Mercy, Bliss needs to do everything in her power to survive. Can Jax shake Alexa’s confidence before Sunday?

There’s also a sort of cross-brand rivalry brewing between Enzo Amore and The Miz. Last week, Enzo verbally attacked The A-Lister’s unborn child. That set Miz off, and he got himself disqualified so he could just obliterate the 205 Live competitor. Can Enzo get retribution this week?

Related Story: Should Finn Balor Finally Form The Balor Club?

Join us for our live Raw review right here starting at 8pm EDT.

Source: WWE.com via Twitter

Kurt Angle ands The Miz Face Off

The Raw GM comes down to run down the No Mercy card. I gotta admit, the whole “two WrestleMania-worthy matches” selling point may not be as impressive as WWE thinks it it. Why would you give away WrestleMania on a mid-year B-show? It’s strange.

Thankfully, The Miz comes down to interrupt the proceedings. Before things get too far along, Angle makes a match for tonight. There’s a fatal four way between Matt Hardy, Jeff Hardy, Elias, and Jason Jordan. The winner gets an Intercontinental Championship match at No Mercy.

And that’s when things turn into “I’m a better dad than you” argument. It’s a little absurd, in all honesty. But The Miz’s schtick for the past year-plus has been to feud with the retired wrestler general manager of the show he’s on. So something needs to happen to further the Miz/Angle feud that’s been brewing for weeks.

The Miz suggests that Bo Dallas and Curtis Axel deserve a title match more than the four competitors in the match. After he calls Angle a deadbeat, Jason Jordan makes his way out to defend his dad – and put Miz in his place. Jordan also demands that Axel and Dallas be added to the match tonight, making it a six-pack challenge. One more crack from The Miz leads to a physical confrontation.

Backstage, Angle tries to talk some sense into Jordan. He tells his son, “Sometimes it’s harder to not fight back than it is to fight back.”

Source: WWE.com via Twitter

Alexa Bliss vs. Nia Jax

Result: Nia Jax defeated Alexa Bliss via pinfall

Rating: 2.75 out of 5 stars

In the early goings, this match was all Nia Jax. The size advantage looked to be too much for The Goddess to overcome. Just look at what happened when Nia was able to lift Alexa up – one-handed – and slam her back down.

After spending some time trying to come up with a strategy to win the match, Bliss changed her priorities. Early on, she tried to utilize her speed to avoid Jax. But eventually, she seemed to be less concerned with winning than she was about surviving. Looking to make it to Sunday’s fatal four way in one piece, Alexa tried to get out of Dodge – she headed to the ramp to run backstage.

As she headed towards the stage, Sasha Banks made an appearance and headed towards Bliss. Alexa decided to head back to the ring – and walked right into a clothesline from Nia. With the tide turned, Sasha stayed at ringside to observe.

No matter what Alexa did back in the ring, Nia was just too strong. A high risk maneuver from Bliss resulted in Nia catching her, then slamming her to the mat for a victory. Yes, NIA JAX HAS PINNED THE RAW WOMEN’S CHAMPION.

Sasha attacked Nia after the match, but Nia quickly overpowered her and looked to put a hurting on her opponents for Sunday. And that brought out Emma, the fourth competitor in the fatal four way to even the score!

Ha! Of course that didn’t happen. Emma was nowhere to be found in this segment, for some reason. Instead, hometown hero Bayley made her return from injury to save Sasha (and Alexa, by default). The trio took Nia down, and celebrated in the ring – until Sasha and Bayley also took out Alexa.

Source: WWE.com via Twitter

Previewing Brock vs. Braun

It’s almost unfair to have to try and write up all these terrific video packages WWE’s production team puts together. The running joke is that if the booking was half as good as the video production, WWE would be the greatest television product of all time.

But this Lesnar/Strowman video package may honestly be the best one yet.

It starts with a look back at Brock Lesnar’s debut and early dominance. Shout out to Paul E. with the skullet, too. Brock as “The Next Big Thing” was a sight to behold in the early 2000s. He was definitely something special, even if he didn’t quite have the same aura he possess now.

But things turned around when it got to the Strowman portion of the video. Somehow, the production team made him look even more vicious and even more terrifying than usual. I can’t figure it out, it’s staggering to me.

The Universal Championship match at No Mercy is going to be ridiculous. Just the little bit of confrontation between Lesnar and Strowman we’ve already gotten has been unbelievable. Now we get it stretched out to 15 minutes or more? It’s going to be something you don’t want to miss.

But there’s going to be a sit down interview with Michael Cole, Lesnar/Heyman, and Strowman tonight? OH MAN, IT’S HAPPENING…

Source: WWE.com via Twitter

Sheamus & Cesaro vs. Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson vs. Dean Ambrose & Seth Rollins

Result: Sheamus & Cesaro win the triple threat tag match

Rating: 3.25 out of 5 stars

The scheduled match was Sheamus and Cesaro vs. Gallows and Anderson. Before the match, The Bar takes to the mic to wax nostalgic about when nostalgia didn’t rule the world. Okay, sure! But the latest nostalgia kick has everyone clamoring for more of The Shield – or The Shld, since it’s just 2/3 of the popular faction. Throw in Cesaro mocking the “What” chants, and Sheamus calling San Jose “San Josie”, and you got a heck of a pre-match promo.

Rather than Gallows and Anderson coming down for the scheduled match, the Raw Tag Team Champions Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins come out. And it’s a master class in WWE Terrible Babyface Behavior, because Rollins makes fun of their kilts and jackets.

By the time Gallows and Anderson make their way to the ring, it’s a terrible segment. Apparently, Dean Ambrose loses his mind if you call him a nerd? That doesn’t make any sense! Up until now, Raw had been fairly good. But this promo meeting of three teams was a steaming pile of terrible.

After the commercial break, it turns out the match has been made a triple threat tag match, with all three teams involved. Sure, why not? When all was said and done with this part of the show, it was a three segment segment. It wasn’t bad per se, but it was just strange. Gallows and Anderson did next to nothing, since they’re not in the match at No Mercy.

The finishing sequence was really good, but after nearly thirty minutes of this segment and a pair of commercial breaks, everything about it is just exhausting. This could have been condensed a bit and had much more of an impact overall.

Source: WWE.com via Twitter

The Miz Rallies The Troops

Wow, if Bo Dallas thinks your inspirational speech is bad, you must be doing something wrong. Thankfully for the Miztourage, their fearless leader seems more preoccupied with Jason Jordan than anything else.

Source: WWE.com via Twitter

Icon vs. Icon

Once again, WWE hits it out of the park with a video package. It’s not exactly a surprise that the Reigns/Cena feud has plenty of material to work with. For the past several weeks, both men have taken shot after shot after shot at the other. Blurring the lines of reality and fiction, the two biggest names in WWE have done everything in their power to make people want to watch their fight.

By highlighting the parallels between their careers, it shows that Cena and Reigns aren’t as different as one would believe. (Of course, the parallels are creatively drawn, since liberties were taken with the timelines here.) Any time the hero and villain – or opposing forces, as the case may be – are more alike than different, it leads to a more compelling story.

Interestingly, I feel like Cena was presented as more of the “bad guy” in this one. It may be just how I’m reading into it, but it seems like this feud is the one designed to finally get the fans on Roman’s side. Personally, I don’t think it’s going to work.

But the match at No Mercy is going to have a lot of hype to live up to. It’s most likely going to deliver, but sometimes I worry if the build will prove to be the best part of this encounter.

Source: WWE.com via Twitter

Dustin Rhodes Wants a Match

Apparently, Goldust is no more for the moment, after what Bray Wyatt did last week. The man behind the paint wants a chance to avenge the golden one. Kurt Angle obliges.

Source: WWE.com via Twitter

Curt Hawkins vs. Apollo Crews (w/ Titus O’Neil)

Result: Apollo Crews defeated Curt Hawkins via pinfall

Rating: 2.0 out of 5 stars

Hawkins is facing the facts that he’s in a bit of a slump. His aim tonight? To end his more than 100 match losing streak. Ouch. As Michael Cole said, Hawkins is less like the Cleveland Indians and more like the Mets – Curt’s own favorite team. (And mine, so I know they’re god awful.)

The “challenge” issued by Hawkins was answered by Apollo Crews. Prior to being off television for what seemed like forever, Crews wasn’t exactly tearing things up either, you know. But the inaugural member of Titus Worldwide looked ready for combat from the early going.

The whole match was basically Hawkins attempting to cheart his way to a victory. Needless to say, it didn’t work. Holding the tights in a last gasp effort to steal a win failed, and Crews hit the toss powerbomb for a much needed victory. Meanwhile, Hawkins keeps his losing streak intact.

Maybe the Hawkins Star Factory should reopen for a bit? It’s gotta be better than whatever he’s doing now, right? But good for Curt Hawkins, playing up the fact that he was basically hired back to lose every match of his life.

Source: WWE.com via Twitter

In Their Own Words

First things first, whoever was in charge of lighting design deserves a raise for this. Lighting up Strowman like the damn boogeyman is the greatest decision anyone in WWE has made in years.

As far as the content of the interview, Heyman does his job to perfection. He puts Strowman over, but never makes it seem like Lesnar is scared or worried. The best thing Paul Heyman ever does is make Lesnar’s opponents seem to be the most terrifying force in professional wrestling. Too many superstars talk down about their opponents, and it’s so counterintuitive. Beating an impressive opponent is way better than beating someone you think is a scrub.

Strowman holds his own in a words battle with Paul Heyman, which is amazing to even consider. Of course, Heyman is definitely the best part of this segment because of the yeoman’s work he does putting everyone involved over the top.

Well, Heyman is the best part until the very end, when Lesnar cuts him off to issue his own message. The sheer calmness in Lesnar’s measured response is such a juxtaposition to everything around him. And Brock just nails what he’s going for at the end.

My only complaint? We were promised a sit-down interview – which we got – but neither guy was in the same room. It’s such a cop-out having the interview take place via satellite, but it is what it is. Surely Sunday at No Mercy will make up for that.

Source: WWE.com via Twitter

Bayley Added to Women’s Title Match at No Mercy

After recapping what happened earlier in the night, we learn that Bayley is now in the Raw Women’s Championship match on Sunday. Poor Emma. So now it’s a fatal five way, and why can’t we just put some of the women superstars in other matches instead of cramming them all into one? Hopefully Asuka is healthy enough by Sunday to just destroy all five competitors.

Source: WWE.com via Twitter

Roman Reigns Tends To His Yard

ROMAN REIGNS BREAKING OUT THE BIG GUNS TONIGHT FOLKS.

First, he drops more profanity than a sailor on a three day pass. Then he name drops Alex Riley (!) as a guy that got canned because he looked too much like John Cena. What, no love for Tyler Reks and the Burning Hammer controversy?

To top it all off, Reigns busts out the hypocrite card. We get a recap of a Cena promo from the leadup to WrestleMania 28, when Cena took on The Rock in “One In A Lifetime, Part One of Two.” You remember, it was the one where Cena ranted about Dwayne being a part timer and a movie star. You know, just like Cena now.

Boy, they’re really trying to push Roman as The Guy here, and it still just isn’t landing. I really feel bad for Reigns because it’s not like he asked for this. He can’t very well turn down the biggest opportunity of his career. And he’s phenomenally talented, so it’s not like he doesn’t deserve the push. It’s just not what the fans want, so they rebel. Hopefully Sunday will be a good thing for him moving forward.

Source: WWE.com via Twitter

Hardyz Prepare

Haha, the Hardy Boyz say they’ve been fighting forever. Why do people always assume that no one thinks brothers never fight? I love my brother but we’ve had our fair share of dust-ups. It’s what we do!

Source: WWE.com via Twitter

Bray Wyatt vs. Dustin Rhodes

Result: Bray Wyatt defeated Dustin Rhodes via pinfall

Rating: 3.0 out of 5 stars

Man, things were stiff at the beginning of this one. The barricade almost broke under the weight of these two. You could hear the punches and strikes from a mile away.

And you know what? The match was really good, at least for what it was. Everything in this match was predicated on passion. Rhodes was passionate about taking Wyatt down for scrubbing his paint last week. He was willing to go in as himself, and not his famous character/alter-ego/

Wyatt, on the other hand, was adamant about taking out “men” as opposed to “creations.” And the whole match showed it. Just pure power and aggression, until the end.

What I really loved was how Rhodes was hell-bent on dishing out punishment, but smart enough to not get disqualified. He went for Shattered Dreams – a move not seen in a long time – but was smart enough to kick the thighs instead of the groin. It’s the little things, you know?

Wyatt wins with a Sister Abigail out of nowhere, then is confronted by Finn Balor on the Titantron. Balor asks, “If The Demon is a creation of a man, who is more dangerous?” It’s a great way to look at things, in all honesty.

Source: WWE.com via Twitter

RIP Bobby The Brain Heenan

There’s not much to say about Heenan that we haven’t already said here on Daily DDT over the past 24 hours. The video tribute was beautiful, and you can tell that the current broadcast team really respected everything The Brain did before them.

Source: WWE.com via Twitter

Enzo Amore, Meet Braun Strowman

If you want my thoughts about this segment, just listen to Corey Graves throughout everything. Literally everything that came out of his mouth had come out of mine just seconds earlier. So if you’re reading this, Corey, I have one thing to say to you: GET OUT OF MY HEAD!

Anyway, Enzo comes out and talks about how good he’s doing. I know I rag on Enzo a lot these days, but he was perfect in this segment – even before he got leveled by The Monster Among Men. The second Braun’s music kicked in, the change in Enzo’s demeanor was pitch perfect.

And, oh man, how great was it watching Enzo rag doll around when Strowman tossed him from pillar to post? The toss into the ring? Like a fine wine. The chokeslam that almost pulled Enzo out of his shoes? More picturesque than a Monet.

After Braun finished just beating Enzo up for the sake of it (hey, we’ve all been there), Neville comes out to a) pick the bones, b) gloat, and c) have a match. It’s a great visual watching Neville come down next to Strowman. The size difference is tremendous – especially considering that Neville is one of the largest cruiserweights on the roster.

Backstage, Enzo was being tended to by the medical staff. He told Charly Caruso that he wasn’t doing so good, but he vowed to take the Cruiserweight Championship at No MErcy on Sunday.

Source: WWE.com via Twitter

Neville vs. Gran Metalik

Result: Neville defeated Gran Metalik via submission

Rating: 3.0 out of 5 stars

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Hey, look at that: put Gran Metalik on Raw, and we have one of the best cruiserweight matches on Raw in recent memory. Go figure!

Let’s face facts here. Neville is far and away the King of the Cruiserweights. It’s not just a nickname – he really is the best of the bunch. But Metalik is no slouch, and he’s gradually closing the gap. Well, now that he’s actually getting time on screen to work with, at least.

Lots of good stuff in this one. Metalik brought out the traditional lucha libre style, which is always a crowd pleaser. Neville showed his mean streak, trying to remove the mask. As Graves pointed out, that’s a big no-no (in case anyone out there is new to the lucha scene). I’m pretty sure the rip in the mask was a mistake – I highly doubt anyone in WWE in this day and age would be so blatantly disrespectful.

Okay, now that I wrote that, I see how dumb it is. Maybe it was intentional.

But Metalik got to shine a bit here, which builds him up for when Neville’s feud with Enzo is done. And Neville looks strong heading into No Mercy, while Enzo just got run over by a Braun. Good stuff in the cruiserweight division this week.

Source: WWE.com via Twitter

Elias vs. Matt Hardy vs. Jeff Hardy vs. Jason Jordan vs. Bo Dallas vs. Curtis Axel

Result: Jason Jordan defeated Curtis Axel to win Six Pack Challenge

Rating: 3.0 out of 5 stars

The bell for this one started with just about seven minutes left before the overrun. Seven minutes. And, less than sixty seconds into the match, we go to commercial. Some main event!

Right before the commercial, Jeff tried to schoolboy Matt for a quick win. Boy, they’re really pushing the “every man for himself” thing, huh? Or, are the Hardy Boyz being BROKEN up. (I’ll show myself out.)

Back from the 4-5 minute commercial break, the three heels seemed to be in control. Elias took care of Jordan, Axel worked over Jeff, and Dallas focused on Matt. Before too long, it became a more back and forth affair. And, hey, it wouldn’t be a WWE multi-man match without some kind of Tower of Doom spot.

Jason Jordan started stringing together a series of offense, but The Miz eventually got involved to try and prevent a victory by the young man. With Jordan out of the ring, Jeff Hardy looked to pick up a win after a Swanton Bomb to Axel – but Miz again interfered.

Jeff got Miz out of the ring, but Axel looked to be in line for a victory – until Jordan came back in to snake a victory. After the match, Miz feigned sincerity in complimenting Jordan, then tried to attack. Jordan sidestepped and got the upper hand until the Miztourage came to and saved their boss. Some trash talk from Miz ended the episode.

Next: 25 Greatest WWE Entrance Themes of All Time

Raw had some pretty good matches this week, and the build to No Mercy was strong. The pay per view this Sunday looks like a great show. What did you think of this week’s episode?