WWE Monday Night Raw – 9.07.26

The very fabric of WWE was ever so slightly changed last night with Sunday Night’s Main Event. Most of that will be felt on SmackDown, but there was one Raw-branded match and now The Vision’s numbers have changed again. How will this affect us on the road to next week’s big show in Mexico City and on our path to Money in the Bank? I guess we better find out!

The last week: Raw / NXT / Evolve / Main Event / Impact / SmackDown / Lucha Libre AAA / Sunday Night’s Main Event

Then, Now, Forever, Together.

THIS is the Legacy Arena in Birmingham, Alabama, a site that once hosted Armageddon 2000. Its history with WWE dates all the way back to a March 1985 house show that was main evented by David Schultz vs Chief Wahoo McDaniel.

Arrivals! Jimmy and Jey Uso arrive, bandaged and with weapons. The Judgment Day and Stephanie Vaquer have also arrived for work.

Joe Tessitore and Wade Barrett welcome us to Raw before sending us to a video package on last night’s Oba/Bron match.

The Vision (WWE World Tag Team Champions Bron Breakker & Austin Theory, Logan Paul, Big Bronson Reed and Maxxine Dupri) are out first tonight. Bron and Maxxine are both in Money in the Bank qualifying matches, Joe and Wade tell us. As both briefcases hang over the ring, Bron tells us that The Vision is here, complete, and runs WWE. The fans chant for Oba who Bron says is not medically cleared. Bron tells us that he took his spot as the future of WWE all because of his brother and his best friend, the Tribal Thief Big Bronson Reed.

Big Bronson is in great shape. Bronson laughs out an Oba chant, yelling that he put Oba in the hospital. “Oba, you thought you were a force of nature until you felt the Tsunami.” Now that he’s back, he says there is no place for Oba on Raw. “We do not ask what happens around here, we decide it.” Logan Paul and whatever is going on with his hair says the crowd aren’t giving him respect and that even Alabama has to be able to tell this group is unstoppable. Well, unless the curse hits again. Theory also says words. Maxxine calls the fans “brokies” and says some thing about Theory before we are interrupted by the music of Alpha Academy.

Akira Tozawa is here and Theory laughs. Theory offers to whoop Tozawa’s ass again. Tozawa says Theory will be fighting, but not against him as the meat mountain that is Otis appears.

WWE World Tag Team Champion Austin Theory (with WWE World Tag Team Champion Bron Breakker, Logan Paul, Bronson Reed and Maxxine Dupri) vs Otis (with Akira Tozawa)

Otis slams Theory around as the fans chant “let’s go Otis.” The big man splashes Theory in the corner before Theory gets control and slowly works over Otis. We’re reminded by our Code Raw graphics that we have Joe Hendry vs JD McDonagh as well as a Women’s World Title match coming up tonight. Otis slugs Theory and scoops him up, Theory sliding out and running out to Maxxine. Otis comes after hhim and looks around at the rest of the Vision as we go to our first break.

We come back and Otis tries to get the advantage but Reed jumps right in for the attack, bringing about the DQ. The Vision swarm Otis and Tozawa as the fans chant for Oba. Bron spears Otis and that leaves poor Tozawa with a four-on-one disadvantage. Reed splashes him, drops him with a Jagged Edge and signals for a Tsunami. Oba Femi appears on the tron, shoving producers aside and heading to ringside.

Otis defeats Austin Theory by disqualification. The match was mostly not good, but it was all to get us to the next part anyway.

Oba Femi makes his entrance, no theme, and runs in to brawl. He delivers uppercuts to Bron and Bronson, taking them both down before encountering Logan. Theory appears with a chair attack which Oba no-sells and punches into his face, slinging Theory across the ring. Bron sneaks in with a spear to Oba’s taped ribs and hits a second before Bronson lands a running senton. The Tsunami parade begins with two tsunamis before the producers and refs finally appear, as late as ever because their dressing room is apparently at the very farthest point from the ring. Bron hits one more spear and Bronson drops another Tsunami.

Royce Keys, Bronco Nima and Lucien Price, now known as the group 946, tell us that nobody is safe.

Jimmy Uso and Jey Uso walk up on Jacob Fatu. Jey is fired up and says they’re going out to call 946 out now. Jacob asks why, saying this is exactly what they want them to do. He tells us in 946’s world, their opponents have nothing to lose. He’s from the same side where they’re from. He tells them to “lay low and play it slow.”

Joe Tess hypes up this weekend’s TripleMania 34. The great Niz will have full coverage right here on Blog of Doom dot com.

Stephanie Vaquer is warming up and gets a visit from Becky Lynch. Becky says they can make a plan together and Stephanie might return to Chile this weekend as champion. Becky correctly points out the numbers game of Judgment Day. Stephanie says she’s always done everything on her own because every time she trusts someone, they betray her. “Alright, go back to Chile as a loser then.”

Jackie Redmond is ringside with Matt Matthews who the internet tells me does farm-themed comedy. Celebrities, they love Raw! The Miz and Kit Wilson (!!!!) are here to interrupt, Miz saying that time is earned and for twenty years, he has been here but they’re giving his time to a yeehaw from Alabama instead. Kit tells Matthews to show some class and if you disrespect the Miz, you ARE TOXIC. Matthews says he thought Miz was retired (he doesn’t watch the shows) and Miz yanks him over the barricade, tossing him into the ring. He sends Kit and Matthews hits Kit with a headscissors. Miz flattens him with a Skull Crushing Finale and Kit yells that Matthews is Toxic. I do not know who this Matthews fella is and this didn’t make me want to go find any of his specials, but they finally gave me Kit Wilson on Raw so I give this show an A+++.

Money in the Bank Qualifying Match: WWE World Tag Team Champion Bron Breakker vs Ethan Page vs AAA General Manager & WWE Hall of Famer Rey Mysterio

As always with these triple threat matches, we have no disqualifications which means we are open to shenanigans. We learn that Bron speared Kit, Miz and the farm comedian during the break. Rey was in the 2011 and 2020 MITB matches and was once thrown off the roof of Titan Towers by Baron Corbin during a MITB match. He lived and a few months later had his eye pop out of socket in an Eye for an Eye Match against Seth Rollins. He had a rough 2020. Don’t worry, he has two functional eyes again. The Rollins stuff would also lead to Dirty Dom making his in-ring debut which would forever place Rey as the #2 Mysterio.

Bron takes over with attacks on Rey and Ethan. Rey gets a brief comeback but it doesn’t last as Bron continues to control, clotheslining Page over the announce table. Bron sits on the table and Rey appears from behind the barricade, hitting Bron with a West Coast Pop to send us to another DoorDash advertisement.

We come back to Page working over Rey in the ring and Bron down on the floor. Bron finds his energy and tries to climb in the ring, scooping up Page with a big slam. With Page and Mysterio outside, Bron gives us a smile and charges around the ring, both dodging so he hits the stairs instead. In-ring, Mysterio hits the usual Rey moves on Page before setting up 619, actually hitting it and going up top. Bron grabs his leg and Rey kicks him off, Page takes the opportunity to scoop Rey on his shoulders on the second rope. Bron leaps up and frankensteiners both of them before he clotheslines Page out and spears the soul out of Rey for the pin. And poor Rey has a match against Omos this weekend.

Bron Breakker qualifies for Money in the Bank by pinning Rey Mysterio. There were some neat spots here but a lot of this one didn’t really hit either. Just a weird combo.

Here’s yet another look at the Mr. T documentary on Netflix. I will have seen the entire documentary through Raw by the time it airs.

Raw General Manager Adam Pearce is backstage arguing with L.A. Knight as he does. Pearce tells Knight that once we get through Roman vs Penta, it’ll be time for Knight. Solo Sikoa comes up and Knight tells him to calm down and he can’t get himself caught up in the Royce Keys stuff while he’s going after Roman. Solo replies that he isn’t waiting any more and he knows how dangerous Keys is. “Do you have my back or not?” Knight says of course he does but they need to be smart about this. “We pick our spots, we pick the bones.” Solo tells him that he doesn’t know if he can wait.

Via video vignette, Penta tells Roman Reigns that he respects him but doesn’t fear him. In Mexico City, Roman is facing not only Penta but an entire country.

We take a look back at Ruca/Rodriguez from last week, a match Rodriguez won due to the help of our favorite bird lady.

We start a vignette on a woman’s feet before panning up to the face of Lola Vice. Congrats to Lola on her newfound Wikifeet rank jumping thanks to the members of the IWC. She dances and looks stunning as she usually does. “9.14: Everybody’s got a VICE.”

And now, the DiGiorno Fact of the Night: Every women’s Money int the Bank ladder match winner has successfully cashed in her contract.

Money in the Bank Qualifying Match: Sol Ruca vs Maxxine Dupri vs Lyra Valkyria

Lyra was in the 2024 MITB match. The crowd is entirely dead for the first stretch of the match as Lyra stomps away at Sol. Maxxine runs in with a suplex on Sol and finally gets the crowd to reawaken with some boos. Then we go to commercials. We come back to Maxxine leaping on both Sol and Maxxine before Sol springboards onto her two opponents. Sol stacks her opponents in the corner and splashes them before leaping in with a missile dropkick to both. Sol knees Maxxine for a two. Sol is our latest WWE women to have a bloody nose as she tries for Sol Snatcher but being stopped by Lyra. Maxxine scoops SOl up and drops her for a bridge, Lyra chopping out Maxxine’s knee to stop it. Tatum hits Sol with a roll-through DDT, Maxxine comes in to drop them both and cover Lyra for a two count. Sol shoulder breakers Lyra and smacks her nose in the process. Lyra catches Sol with Nightwing before referee Jessika Carr is pulled out of the ring by Bayley. As Lyra is shocked, Sol nails the Sol Snatcher for the pin.

Sol Ruca qualifies for Money in the Bank by pinning Lyra Valkyria. This was bad. Good to see Bayley back, but quite the disjointed match here.

As Sol leaves, Bayley heads into the ring and slowly walks up on the downed Lyra before the beatdown is on. Bayley scoops Lyra up on her shoulders and slams her to the arena floor before clearing the announce table. Lyra slithers away and scrambles through the crowd to the disappointment of the crowd.

946 are in the parking lot and Royce mentions that Jacob should “let the two bitches off the leashes.”

We respond with Jacob, Jimmy and Jey and Jacob again telling them to wait. Jey questions if they are supposed to sit back and be disrespected all night. Jacob tells them the play is not walking outside because blood will be spilled again.

Joe Hendry introduces a music video of the JD McDonagh story, which segues into singing a song about JD’s head size. He announces that JD’s father was a giant Funko Pop. I too remember Funko Pops, something that were big a few years ago and now still exist. They still have a fan base, but the fall off has been very real from their peak of a few years ago.

JD McDonagh (with AAA Mega Champion Dominik Mysterio) vs Joe Hendry

The video DID work as the fans chant “Funko Pop.” Did you know we had a big Dom/Hendry match in the preshow of SNME last night? Nobody else did either because they simply didn’t advertise it. JD hits Hendry with his large head and the music of Je’Von Evans hits, Je’Von dancing out wearing a large JD McDonagh Funko head. Sure. Why not. Je’Von headbutts Dom with the head and JD moonsaults, missing Hendry and landing the Sound Effect for the pin.

Joe Hendry pins JD McDonagh. This was a thing that briefly happened. I like Hendry and the song will probably grow on me, but sheesh.

Becky walks backstage and comes across Liv Morgan. Liv laughs and tells her to go home and be a good mommy. She calls Becky selfish and says no one likes her or her husband.

Paul Heyman is backstage and joined by The Vision. How will I ever miss Heyman if he never goes away? He hugs Reed and tells him that he is shaking up the WWE Universe. Heyman asks Bron if Oba is still breathing and walks off from Bron. Will Bron ever impress Heyman? Perhaps we can stretch this on for another four months to find out.

WWE Women’s World Championship: WWE Women’s World Champion Liv Morgan vs Stephanie Vaquer

We last saw this match at WrestleMania, where you may recall Liv won the championship and has defended it on television once since. The great Alicia Taylor gives us the championship introductions. I do have high hopes for this one being a highlight of an otherwise wreck of a show. You’ll note Liv doesn’t have any help at ringside which I’m sure will change later because we’re nothing if not predictable with the Judgment Day.

Steph catches Liv and headscissors Liv to the mat, rolling her up for a two. Vaquer backdrops Liv and lines up the Devil’s Kiss, Liv escaping and Vaquer diving on her on the outside to send us to commercials for Brad Pitt befriending a dog in the woods and fighting wolves?

We come back to Vaquer trying to fight back from a disadvantage. Liv knees Stephanie in the corner and drops her with a shotgun dropkick for a two. Liv hits all three Amigos and struts before running right into Vaquer’s boot. Stephanie sends Liv to her knees with headbutts, Liv bounces back with a lung blower. Stephanie dodges Liv in the corner and suplexes Liv, backdropping her for another near fall. Vaquer scoops Liv up for SBV, Liv escapes but still gets caught in the corner. Stephanie snaps Liv with the corner dragon screw and hits all ten beats of the Devil’s Kiss.

A Meteora gets Stephanie a two count as we go split-screen thanks to the fine folks at DiGiorno. Thanks, frozen pizza! Stephanie plays possum and pulls Stephanie to the apron, trying to sunset flip her. Stephanie drops a big knee on her instead and strips the announce table. It is a solid job being the person who sets up that table because you have plans three times a show. Liv pounds Stephanie’s head into the table and climbs, the fans booing Liv as Stephanie sweeps the leg. Stephanie hooks a second Devil’s Kiss, this one on the table. They head back in and Stephanie dives off the top with a beautiful crossbody, again only getting a two count. The fans chant that this is awesome. Well, it is better than everything else we’ve seen tonight by merely existing. Liv catches Stephanie with a nice power bomb but it isn’t enough to get the three.

Liv climbs again and Stephanie follows, hitting a superplex for a 2.5 count. Liv dodges a running Meteora and hits a Codebreaker from the top before running into a kick. Stephanie lands the Angel Wings and, of course, here are WWE Women’s Intercontinental Champion Raquel Rodriguez and Roxanne Perez. The referee tosses Raquel and Becky Lynch appears to help with that, tossing Raquel into the steel steps. As the ref is distracted by Becky and Raquel fighting deep into the crowd, Rox tosses the belt to Liv. Becky chases Rox into the crowd and the referee is busy yelling at the two women who are twenty rows back in the crowd, completely missing Liv decking Stephanie with the belt. Liv lands Oblivion and covers, retaining the championship.

Liv Morgan pins Stephanie Vaquer to retain the WWE Women’s World Championship. A very good match. The referee being distracted so much by two wrestlers not in the match in the crowd was a bit much, but we’ve gotta get to the tag team match and continue to tease tension and so on and so forth. Watch this one.

Big Cass talks to us via vignette, saying he is everything a champion should be.

Next week, we’re in Mexico City. Intercontinental Champion Chad Gable will defend against Dragon Lee, Kelani Jordan (!) faces Raquel Rodriguez and Lola Vice (!) in a MITB qualifier. Je’Von Evans, Large Cass and Austin Theory will also try to qualify. And, of course, Roman vs Penta.

And finally, our last segment of the night begins with The Usos (Main Event Jey and Big Jim) and Jacob Fatu heading to the ring. Jey calls out the men of 946 and we cut backstage to see a sea of security guys down in the parking lot. Bronco and Lucien smash the Usos’ car. At this rate, no airport insurance company will rent a car to the Usos. They douse the car in gas and Royce tosses a lighter inside. “Y’all said I was crazy. Nah. Like I said, ain’t nobody safe.” The credits roll as the fans chant for OTC and we see the car exploding in flames in front of the Legacy Arena. Well, they’re doing good stuff with this angle at least and have made Royce extremely credible in a short amount of time.

WWE just can’t seem to string several interesting shows together at a time. Sunday Night’s Main Event? Very entertaining! It was also 3/4ths SmackDown, which might mean something. Tonight’s Raw? Actively bad at times. Both MITB qualifiers ranged from a little rough to just bad. There’s some wacky Hendry stuff that I’ll probably come around on. There was a farm comedian? At least Kit Wilson was there.

With all the negative though, there are some good things happening. The Vision is continuing to be more entertaining than they’ve been in months and the Bloodline/946 stuff is genuinely great so far. We are building to what looks to be a much more interesting episode next week in Mexico City, complete with Roman’s first Raw match since the Netflix premiere in January 2025. We also have some interesting things going on on the women’s side with the return of Bayley and the incoming debut of Lola Vice (and Kelani Jordan?).

If you were to just hit play on the Women’s World Title match and watch to the end, you’ll be good. The rest is best consumed via the YouTube “Raw highlights” video or maybe even the “top 10 moments” video that pops up in a day or two.

Next week, Mexico City!