WWE Raw 9/14 Results: Roman Reigns retains against Penta, Chad Gable takes down Dragon Lee – POST Wrestling

Results

1. El Grande Americano & Stephanie Vaquer def. Liv Morgan & Dominik Mysterio (DQ) (13:23)
2. Je’Von Evans def. Austin Theory & Big Cass (Money in the Bank Qualifier Triple Threat) (9:43)
3. Chad Gable def. Dragon Lee (WWE Intercontinental Championship) (15:39) (Recommended)
4. Lola Vice def. Raquel Rodriguez & Kelani Jordan (Money in the Bank Qualifier Triple Threat) (10:10)
5. Roman Reigns def. Penta (WWE World Heavyweight Championship) (22:25) (Recommended)

New champs Vaquer, Americano agree to team up for impromptu mixed tag opener

This week’s episode of WWE Monday Night Raw, a high-profile lineup from the Arena CDMX in Mexico City, Mexico, opened with a video package hyping tonight’s world title showdown between Penta and Roman Reigns. Penta had to work his way through an eight-man luchador tournament and now gets the big title opportunity in his home country.

We then went into the arena, where wrestling legend Rey Mysterio opened the show. This red-hot crowd gave Mysterio quite the warm welcome. Mexico has been loud for AAA and WWE events all weekend, and this was no exception.

Wearing a neck brace due to the brutal attack he suffered from Omos at TripleMania Night 1, AAA booker Mysterio told General Manager Adam Pearce that tonight would be historic. Mysterio brought our attention to the big screen, where a clip from Saturday night’s house show in Chile played.

Chile’s own Stephanie Vaquer captured the WWE Women’s World Championship at the event, dethroning Liv Morgan. The broadcast noted that Club WWE members can watch the full match. The clips we saw showed that it was quite the atmosphere, with the crowd going nuts for their countrywoman.

Mysterio then brought out the new champ, Vaquer. While Chilean, Vaquer spent a large chunk of her career in Mexico and, thus, was unsurprisingly given a loud reception. After a quick promo from an elated Vaquer, this was interrupted by former titleholder Liv Morgan and partner Dominik Mysterio. Once both champs, Mysterio and Morgan walked to the ring with no gold around their waists.

Morgan said that she was screwed on Saturday, saying guest referee Becky Lynch was the only reason she dropped the title. Dom, who generated some nuclear heat from the crowd, called Rey & Vaquer “a deadbeat and a cheater.” To rub Dom’s title loss from TripleMania, Rey played a clip of the result on the big screen.

An upset Dom threw out the idea of these four facing off in a mixed tag match tonight. Raw GM Pearce said that’s definitely not happening due to Rey’s injury. So, who came in as a replacement, new AAA Mega Champion El Grande Americano, who beat Dom just last night! The crowd was off the charts by this point, with many top stars in the same segment. Pearce wasted little time to match this match official!

Judgment Day stands tall following DQ loss

We came back from commercials with El Grande Americano & Stephanie Vaquer vs. Dominik Mysterio and Liv Morgan already underway. Americano got a hot tag, getting a two-count after coming out of the corner with a blockbuster. After a slight distraction from Morgan, Mysterio got Americano caught up in the ropes and dropkicked him out of the ring as the show went to another break.

Vaquer got back into the match and had a hot tag run against Morgan as the show returned. The champ connected with a dragonscrew then transitioned into her Devil’s Kiss move. Vaquer hit a meteora in the corner, but had her momentum paused after noticing Mysterio getting into the ring.

Americano rolled into the ring and helped line up both Morgan and Mysterio against the ropes for a 619 from Vaquer. Just as the babyface team were looking for dual moonsaults, the rest of Judgment Day arrived at ringside and attacked them. Interference from the group caused a disqualification finish to this one in 13 minutes.

A huge brawl involving everyone in the match plus JD McDonagh, Roxanne Perez, Raquel Rodriguez and Rey Mysterio took place. Americano dropped Dom and was trying for a move, but instead ran into a huge flying headbutt from McDonagh. A beatdown from the faction ended with Dom giving his father a top-rope frogsplash.

This match was some fun fanfare involving many of the biggest names for WWE’s Mexico market. Considering Judgment Day were coming off two huge losses over the weekend, having them stand tall here was the right move.

Je’Von Evans earns spot in MITB match

The second week of qualifying matches for this year’s Money in the Bank PLE got started next, with Je’Von Evans, Big Cass, and Austin Theory facing off in a three-way.

Evans tried for a dive over a barricade at ringside early on, a move he has done many times before. He was instead caught by rival Cass, who chokeslammed him into Theory, who was in the timekeeper’s area. This didn’t look as cool as they had hoped, I think.

In an impressive feat of strength, Theory lifted Cass up for a Blue Thunder Bomb as the show came back from a break. Evans followed up with a huge frogsplash onto Theory. Theory rolled to ringside, where Evans met him with a huge dive over the top – the airtime he can get with his high-flying moves is unreal.

Evans rolled back into the ring but walked into a huge Black Hole Slam from Cass. A distraction from Maxxine Dupri nearly allowed Evans to give Cass an OG-Cutter, but Cass prevented the move. After a roll-up attempt, a second OG-Cutter from Evans to Cass was countered mid-air with a punch.

Cass dropped Evans with a big boot to the head. Theory threw Cass out of the ring and tried to steal his pinfall win from him, but Cass pulled him out of the ring to stop that from happening. The fight went to ringside, where a dive from Evans was seemingly botched, as the Young OG had quite the painful-looking fall.

Back in the ring, Evans gave Theory a cutter onto a downed Cass. A third OG-Cutter was dodged by Cass, but a fourth attempt finally landed on him for the pinfall victory in just under 10 minutes. I was pleasantly surprised to see Evans get the win here. More interestingly, I’m kinda shocked that Cass, who they have been trying to build up since returning, took the pinfall loss clean here. Evans is an underrated name on the midcard who could steal the show in a ladder match, so this is a fun move. We’ll see him in New Orleans next month.

Chad Gable retains against Dragon Lee in thrilling IC title showdown

Backstage, The Usos said they want to attack Royce Keys and OTM after they vandalized their rental car last week. Jacob Fatu once again warned them to be careful about when they strike the rival faction. Fatu said that if Keys’ group takes them out, that would clear the way for the trio to interfere in Roman Reigns’ title match later on. The Usos, not wanting to back down, asked Fatu what they should do. Fatu said they needed to stick together.

The first of two title matchups was next, with Mexico’s Dragon Lee challenging Intercontinental Champion Chad Gable. This was a return to Mexico for Gable, who was coming back to the country for the first time since his amazing mask-versus-mask match.

Lee sent Gable out of the ring for a huge tope con hilo early on. Gable countered a crossbody from Lee into a pin attempt, then hit an exploder suplex. A springboard move from Lee was reversed into a suplex mid-air from Gable. They were hitting some sneaky-fun spots early on.

Lee positioned Gable on the commentary desk, then came through the ropes with a high-speed tope suicida which sent them both crashing to the floor. Quite the impressive move as the show went into a break.

Gable regained control during the break and scored a top-rope Olympic Slam as the show returned. These two were going all out in this match. A fun series of counters ended with Gable scoring a sit-out powerbomb for a two-count.

Lee put up his feet to counter a top-rope moonsault from Gable. Lee came across the ring with a Hidden Blade-esque running elbow strike for his own near fall. An Operation Dragon was reversed by Gable into an Ankle Lock. Lee was quick to work his way out of the submission move.

The fight went into the corner, where a double-stomp from Lee sent Gable off the turnbuckles and onto the ring apron. Lee and Gable both narrowly avoided a count-out. Back in the ring, Gable reversed a second attempted Operation Dragon with a release exploder suplex into a set of turnbuckles.

Gable came out of the corner with a moonsault, but it still wasn’t enough to end the match. A series of German Suplexes were escaped by Lee, who scored a knee strike to the back of Gable’s head then finally connected with Operation Dragon. Gable survived with a kickout at two, a moment which brought the Mexican crowd unglued.

A Styles Clash from Lee was escaped by Gable, who transitioned into an Ankle Lock. Lee kicked Gable in the head repeatedly to try and get out of the move, but Gable toughened it out. Lee rolled out of the submission and transitioned back into a Styles Clash, but it caused yet another two-count! A super fun sequence.

Gable re-applied the Ankle Lock. Lee was writhing in pain as he crawled near the ropes. Lee was inches from the ropes but the hold became too much, causing him to tap after 15 minutes. Incredible match from these two; they had the crowd convinced that Lee was going to take the title and made this a real nail-biter near the end.

We saw a pre-taped promo where Bayley said she will show Lyra Valkyria why she’s still the standard in the division.

Lola Vice takes MITB spot in Raw debut

A qualifying match for the women’s Money in the Bank match was next. The bout included Intercontinental champ Raquel Rodriguez, NXT Women’s Champion Kelani Jordan, and Raw’s newest signing, Lola Vice.

The main focus here was on Vice, since they had teased her call-up to Raw for weeks. However, it’s worth noting that this was Jordan’s first time on a main roster weekly program. Her sole main roster appearance before this weekend was a spot in this year’s Royal Rumble.

Rodriguez, playing a powerhouse role against the two smaller opponents, came off the apron with a crossbody to the floor as the show went to a break. Vice went on a run of moves after the break, including running hip attacks in the corner to both of her opponents.

Jordan came off the top with a five-star frogsplash to Rodriguez, but was dropped by a spinning head kick from Vice right after. Rodriguez broke up a follow-up pin attempt.

A 450 Splash out of the corner from Jordan was countered by Vice into a triangle choke submission. Rodriguez came off the top with a huge senton to break up the submission. Rodriguez tried for a Tejana Bomb to Vice, but Vice locked in a rear naked choke to prevent the move from being completed. Rodriguez slammed her way out of the hold.

Vice dodged a head kick from Rodriguez, causing her to instead wipe out Jordan, who was on the ring apron. Vice then rolled up Rodriguez for the pinfall win in 10 minutes. Vice takes a spot in this year’s MITB women’s ladder match in her Raw debut. Decent showing for her, she’ll fit in on this roster well I feel.

Roman Reigns defends world title against Penta in lengthy headliner

The final match of the night saw Penta try to take down WWE World Heavyweight Champion Roman Reigns. We saw a tease before the break that Royce Keys and OTM could get involved, upping my expectation of a title change ever so slightly (I entered this as a skeptic that Penta could win). Penta had quite the epic entrance with a massive outfit and overwhelming support from his home country fans.

Penta had control early on in the match, following a reeling Reigns to ringside with a tope con hilo before a commercial break. Reigns regained control during the break, but Penta started to mount a comeback as the show returned.

Penta earned a near fall after catching Reigns with a backstabber. Another two-count emerged after he nailed the OTC with a DDT off the ropes. Penta grabbed Reigns’ right arm and snapped it back for “The Sacrifice.” Reigns would sell an injured arm for the remainder of the match beyond this point.

Penta looked for a Penta Driver, but Reigns was able to escape and instead scored a Uranage before the show went into another break. A lot of the early goings in this match took place during commercials.

Reigns started setting up for a Superman Punch after the break, but his injured arm gave out before he could connect with the move. Penta tried for a DDT on the ring apron, but Reigns countered into a back body drop.

At ringside, Reigns powerbombed Penta on a commentary desk, which didn’t implode until they actually left the area. Back in the ring, Reigns tried again for the Superman Punch, but it was countered into a Penta Driver! Reigns kicked out at two…

Penta tried for a Mexican Destroyer, but Reigns countered into a Superman Punch. Penta survived with a kickout at two. Penta hurdled over Reigns to avoid a spear, then connected with a Mexican Destroyer! Using the momentum of the Destroyer, Reigns got back up to his feet and hit a spear upon second attempt. Still, Penta kicked out in time to survive!

Reigns uncharacteristically grabbed a mic mid-match and asked the live crowd to acknowledge him. He came running off the ropes for another spear, but Penta countered into a superkick then connected with a springboard Mexican Destroyer! Reigns kicked out at two. The crowd was on their feet at this point.

Reigns and Penta went back and forth with strikes. Penta scored a trio of superkicks, sending Reigns into the ropes. Penta came off the ropes for a move, but Reigns caught him mid-air with a Superman Punch. Reigns followed up with a spear to seal the deal in 22 minutes.

Incredible match between these two. For Penta to go this deep in a title match against Reigns, especially in front of this crowd, made for quite a spectacular headliner. While Reigns retaining felt like somewhat of a given, as they clearly have long-term plans for him with the title, they did quite a great job at making it seem as though Penta had a shot at winning the title.

Final thoughts

This was, overall, one of the better episodes of Raw in some time. We had numerous strong matches, and the filler was kept to a minimum. This episode was built more like a TV special than just another week of Raw, and really felt like it too. You obviously can’t recreate this atmosphere everywhere you go, and it’s hard to have a card this big each week. But, I do hope they can try to keep some of this momentum into their stateside return next Monday.