WWE RAW PRIMER 9/2: King of the Ring Second Rounders Joe vs. Ricochet and Cedric vs. Corbin, Booyaka Booyaka Rey is Back, Banking on Sasha, We Braullin’

WWE MONDAY NIGHT RAW PRIMER
BALTIMORE, MD. AT THE ROYAL FARMS CENTER
SEPTEMBER 2, 2019
AIRS ON USA NETWORK, 8:00 p.m. EDT
BY FRANK PETEANI (@FrankPeteani), PWTORCH CONTRIBUTOR

Announcers: Michael Cole, Corey Graves, Renee Young

Arena and Items Advertised by WWE

Labor Day has arrived and therefore the grills are running for perhaps the last time this summer, pools are getting their final swimming, and school supplies have been purchased and children await (or dread) the upcoming first day of school. It’s also time for another edition of WWE Raw as they pull into the Royal Farms Arena in Baltimore, MD. The building opened in 1962 and was also known as the Baltimore Arena, 1st Mariner Center, and the Baltimore Civic Center. There is a rich history of wrestling between Jim Crockett Promotions (eventually WCW) and WWF/WWE. Numerous Great American Bash events have emanated from here including one in July of 1989 which featured a who’s who of WWE Hall of Famers (Sting, The Fabulous Freebirds, Ricky Steamboat, and the Road Warriors). In the main event, Ric Flair retained the NWA World Heavyweight Championship over Terry Funk. As far as WWF/E events, you name it it’s taken place here ironically including the 1994 King of the Ring event. That night saw the return of the late Jim “The Anvil” Neidhart as he helped his late brother-in-law Owen Hart win the crown and become the “King of Harts.”

That was all then, and this is now of course. We are in the thick of the 2019 offering of the King of the Ring. In addition, we continue to get ready for Clash of Champions, speaking of old Jim Crockett and WCW events. The two second round matches unfold tonight as well as:

• Can Ricochet repeat history in King of the Ring quarterfinals?
• Cedric faces down Corbin … but there’s a problem
• Banks’ statements
• Rey Mysterio returns
• Monday Night Braullins

Matches & Segments:

King of the Ring Tournament Second Round Matches: Ricochet vs. Samoa Joe and Cedric Alexander vs. Baron Corbin

We roll onto the second round of the King of the Ring tournament. Last week, Ricochet advanced to the second round by virtue of defeating Drew McIntyre while Baron Corbin did the same by beating the Miz.

Tonight, Ricochet goes up against Samoa Joe. The winner will advance to the Raw finals and face the winner of the match between Cedric Alexander and Baron Corbin. There is recent history between Ricochet and Joe as it was Ricochet who took the U.S. Championship from Joe at Stomping Grounds. It would be a short reign as he would lose the title to A.J. Styles at Extreme Rules. Nonetheless, he continues to attempt to add an accolade to his resume by beating Joe against whom he had a big victory a little over two months ago. Here’s Ricochet on Twitter:

https://twitter.com/KingRicochet/status/1167880785107415042?s=20

As far as Cedric vs. Corbin this will be the first time they wrestle since Cedric’s move to Raw from 205Live. Two weeks ago, Cedric defeated Sami Zayn to advance and then defeated Cesaro last week as they renewed their short but recent feud. Cedric did “suffer an apparent leg injury” during the match when Cesaro applied a half crab, so that will play into tonight’s match given WWE is emphasizing it. Corbin defeated the Miz and then walked up to and sat on the throne, put on the crown, and cut one of his usual crowd-demeaning promos.

We’ll find out tonight who advances to the Raw finals.

Frank’s Analysis: Hey Corbin, don’t you know wearing the crown and sitting on the throne is the kiss of death? When a hockey team wins their conference finals, they don’t “touch the cup.” I learned this when my New York Rangers advanced to the Stanley Cup Finals In 2014. They refused to touch the Conference Finals trophy. It didn’t work because they lost in the finals, but enough about that! Maybe it’s a good thing for all of us as it’s a sign he may not win. I have said, cynically, that this tournament has Corbin written all over it. Perhaps now it doesn’t. Let’s see if WWE gives us what we’d love to see and that’s a Ricochet vs. Cedric Raw final. With the discussion of the leg injury, Corbin could advance to the Raw finals, but we’ll see. It at least tells me they care about protecting Cedric, so that’s good.

Rey Mysterio Return

Several weeks ago, Rey Mysterio lost a two-out-of-three falls match to recent & frequent opponent Andrade. To make matters worse, he lost the first two falls consecutively. On the same night, he questioned if he still had it anymore and started thinking about his family.

Two weeks ago, he teased retirement and nearly took off his mask when his son Dominic appeared. He talked him out of retirement, saying he wants his first match to be with his father. He wanted to be able to tell his future children about teaming up with their grandfather, the great Rey Mysterio. Here’s that segment from two weeks ago and also Rey on Twitter:

Family is the most important thing in my life. It was a conversation between my son @35_Dominik and I that kept me from making a major decision. The @WWEUniverse in Latin America this weekend was amazing … and I’m returning to #Raw next week. #Booyaka https://t.co/5u6MWW3M6J

— ♛Rey Mysterio❔ (@reymysterio) August 29, 2019

You can check out Rey’s Twitter account as he includes photos from him getting a stem cell application recently. The man who is arguably the greatest of all time to wear a mask returns to Raw tonight. We’ll see what’s in store for him.

Frank’s Analysis: The inclusion of Dominic in this story is interesting. He has been training to be a wrestler over the past year and has had a stellar trainer in Lance Storm. I don’t know nor have I heard that he’s ready to compete, but if he is a tag team match is a good way to go. This does have Dominic turning on Rey written all over it, but if they do it, I hope it’s not just for the sake of doing it. Tell a story that supports a son turning on his father.

Storyline Follow-up

Banks’s Statements

Last week on Raw, Sasha Banks opened the show discussing her recent time away from WWE. She acknowledged throwing a fit, crying at WrestleMania, and taking her ball and running home. She said she was relegated to a tag team match nobody cared about (you know, defending the vaunted WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship) while Becky Lynch got to headline WrestleMania. She said she was waiting for the right moment to return and found that when Natalya was discussing the anniversary of her father’s death the night after SummerSlam. Natalya would come out and brawl with Sasha.

Later in the evening, Sasha defeated Natalya with her signature Bank Statement. Corey Graves acknowledged we may be seeing the true colors of Sasha Banks after being hard on her for quite some time. Becky Lynch has taken credit for Sasha’s renewed relevance. She wasn’t on last week’s show, but we’ll see if there’s some exchange tonight as Clash of Champions looms in less than two weeks. Bayley is set to defend the Smackdown Women’s title against Charlotte Flair that night. It’s not crazy to expect Becky to defend the Raw strap against Sasha.

Monday Night Braullins

In a pre-taped interview last week with Sarah Schreiber, Braun Strowman challenged his Raw Tag Team Champion co-holder Seth Rollins to a Universal Championship match. Rollins of course accepted. Schreiber also discussed how they would be defending their Raw tag titles as well, forcing them to have two matches in one night. Later in the evening, they learned their opponents will be the newly formed team of Dolph Ziggler and Robert Roode. They won a tag team turmoil (gauntlet) match over Heavy Machinery (Otis & Tucker), Zack Ryder & Curt Hawkins, The Revival (Dash Wilder & Scott Dawson), Lucha House Party (Lince Dorado & Gran Metalik), Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson, and the Viking Raiders (Erik & Ivar). Gallows & Anderson and the Viking Raiders worked to a double DQ, so they could be entering into a short-term feud.

Strowman came up short in his attempt to gain the U.S. Championship from A.J. Styles in the main event. He was holding a chair he used to fight off Gallows & Anderson who had been supporting Styles. Styles fell and sold that Strowman had hit him with the chair. The referee bought it and DQ’s Strowman.

WWE acknowledged that Rollins was revealed as number on in the 29th annual Pro Wrestling Illustrated 500:

Joining a very small group of men who’ve topped this list twice is a very humbling honor. Thank you @OfficialPWI and thank you to everyone who supports our industry. #4yearslater #PWI500 https://t.co/lcMbF3CfHn

— Seth Rollins (@WWERollins) August 29, 2019

Other Match Results and Notable Segments from Last Week

• Gallows & Anderson complained that Rollins & Strowman got a Raw Tag Team Championship match out of nowhere, but they had to wrestle in a tag team turmoil match to earn the titles they had just lost. I can’t disagree.
• WWE hyped NXT moving to the USA Network beginning September 18.
• Smackdown Women’s Champion Bayley defeated Nikki Cross in a non-title match.
• Elias lost and eventually regained 24/7 Championship at a Fox Sports event.
• Dolph Ziggler and Robert Roode did a bunch of yelling after earning the right to challenge for the Raw Tag Team Championship.
• A video was shown talking about the short history of the Firefly Funhouse.

Follow Frank on Twitter @FrankPeteani. Questions and discussion are welcome! Thank you for reading.