Every Match Ranked & Reviewed

One week before WWE heads to Mexico, the promotion took over the Legacy Arena at the BJCC in Birmingham, Alabama for the September 7 edition of Monday Night RAW, featuring all of the fallout from the recent Sunday Night’s Main Event. The show featured the first qualifying matches for the upcoming men’s and women’s Money In The Bank ladder matches, plus a big Women’s World Title match between Liv Morgan and Stephanie Vaquer, and more!

TheSportster’s rating system will take a look across the entire episode of this week’s Monday Night RAW to determine the best match of the night, the weakest on the card, and how everything else stacked up in between.

5

Joe Hendry Vs. JD McDonagh

Overall Rating From TheSportster: 4.5/10

Joe Hendry’s issues with The Judgment Day continued on Monday Night RAW this week, taking on JD McDonagh in singles action. McDonagh began this match with a flurry of offense, taking aim at Hendry’s leg and using fast-paced and agile work to take control.

Hendry finally rallied, struggling through the pain dealt to his leg, dishing out a Fallaway Slam before McDonagh came back with a big headbutt. Je’Von Evans emerged with a JD McDonagh Funko Pop mask on his head to mock the size of the Judgment Day member’s dome, causing a distraction and allowing Hendry to hit a Sound Effect for a quick win. This whole thing was laughably poor.

4

Otis Vs. Austin Theory

Overall Rating From TheSportster: 5/10

After several months of issues between Alpha Academy and The Vision, a singles match between respective members Otis and Austin Theory took place on Monday Night RAW this week. Otis, in his first match since July, took early control in front of a hot crowd as he beat down Theory. The heel attempted to fight back, leading to the pair trading momentum throughout.

Otis absorbed much of Theory’s offense, and attempted to nail his signature Caterpillar move… only for Bronson Reed to pull the same thing he did at Sunday Night’s Main Event by entering the ring and attacking Otis, causing a frustrating and bland disqualification ending that helped no one.

3

Liv Morgan Vs. Stephanie Vaquer (Women’s World Championship)

Overall Rating From TheSportster: 5.25/10

In a rematch from WrestleMania 42 when Liv Morgan won the Women’s World Championship. Vaquer had an early rally with a crossbody to the outside, but it wasn’t long until Morgan slowed the match down and took control of the action. A strike exchange finally allowed Vaquer to conjure up some momentum, dishing out some vicious headbutts, the Devil’s Kiss, and a Dragonscrew, giving her a target of the leg (which she didn’t follow up on, for some reason). Things heated up after a slow start when Vaquer hit another Devil’s Kiss on the announce table, which perked up a quiet crowd.

The pair dealt some bigger moves as the action progressed, but it wasn’t long until Judgment Day arrived to run some interference. Becky Lynch also came out to chase away the pair of Raquel Rodriguez and Roxanne Perez, but this chaos allowed Morgan a cheap victory thanks to her use of the title belt as a weapon. Unfortunately, a lot of the in-ring work in this match was a little sloppy and didn’t look great, as the chemistry between the two women was off. They might have gotten more time than they did at WrestleMania, but the match was not any better.

2

Sol Ruca Vs. Lyra Valkyria Vs. Maxxine Dupri (Money In The Bank Qualifying)

Overall Rating From TheSportster: 6/10

In the first qualifying match for the women’s Money In The Bank, three former Intercontinental Champions did battle on Monday Night RAW in Sol Ruca, Lyra Valkyria and Maxxine Durpi. The match struggled to develop much momentum early on, with the fans not overly invested in the action, even with some explosive offense from Ruca and decent sequences here and there.

The bad blood between Valkyria and Ruca was a focus, following up on Valkyria costing Ruca in an Intercontinental Title match last week. In the latter stages, Bayley shockingly returned to RAW to cost Valkyria the match, enabling Ruca the opening to hit the Sol Snatcher to escape with the win.

1

Bron Breakker Vs. Rey Mysterio Vs. Ethan Page (Money In The Bank Qualifying)

Overall Rating From TheSportster: 8/10

Bron Breakker, Ethan Page & Rey Mysterio battled it out to become the first wrestler to enter the men’s Money In The Bank ladder match. Breakker refused an alliance with Page, dealing out a double beatdown to his opponents to kick off the contest. This prompted an unholy partnership between Mysterio & Page to form (briefly), attempting to work together a couple of times to try and halt the momentum of the dominant powerhouse… but it wasn’t long until Page and Mysterio broke down and began going at it with one another.

Breakker continued to exert control, slamming Mysterio into the barricade and dishing out a big clothesline on Page over the announce table. Both Page & Mysterio would dodge a spear on the outside, sending Breakker crashing into the steel steps. They went back-and-forth for the next couple of minutes until Breakker hit a wild double frankensteiner on both men, before nailing a decisive spear on Mysterio for a massively impressive win.