(Updated) WWE MONDAY NIGHT RAW PRIMER 8/31: Payback Fallout, Eye Can’t Believe Rey and Seth Go Again, Update on the Champ

WWE MONDAY NIGHT RAW PRIMER
ORLANDO, FL. AT THE THUNDERDOME IN THE AMWAY CENTER
AUGUST 31, 2020
AIRS ON USA NETWORK, 8:00 p.m. EST
BY FRANK PETEANI (@FrankPeteani), PWTORCH.COM SPECIALIST

Announcers: Tom Phillips, Byron Saxton, Samoa Joe

Afternoon Update

“Personal Note” is where I started today’s primer. WWE put up their preview, and added three items of emphasis in addition to what was advertised earlier:

• How will Keith Lee build upon his huge win over Randy Orton?
• How will Shayna Baszler & Nia Jax begin their reign as WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions?
• Who will step into Raw Underground next?

It looks like they’re just following up on the happenings of last night, and don’t want to announce any matches ahead of time most likely to get you to tune in.

Personal Note

I’m glad to be back in the saddle after a much-deserved weeks’ vacation for my family and me. I kept up with WWE matters, and what a crazy week it was.

Payback Results Pertinent to Raw

In lieu of the top three developments from last week, I give you the Payback results pertinent to Raw:

Kickoff Show:

• Ruby Riott & Liv Morgan defeated the IIconics (Peyton Royce & Billie Kay)

Main Show:

• Bobby Lashley defeated Apollo Crews to win the U.S. Championship.

• Shayna Baszler & Nia Jax defeated Smackdown Women’s Champion Bayley & Sasha Banks to win the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship.

• Keith Lee defeated Randy Orton.

• Rey & Dominik Mysterio defeated Seth Rollins & Murphy

Items Advertised by WWE for Tonight

We move on from an unusual couple of weeks in WWE having watched NXT Takeover XXX, SummerSlam, and last night’s Payback all within a span of eight days. We get back to normal so to speak and head towards Clash of Champions slated for September 27 in the Amway Center. WWE does not have their preview up yet, which is usually the case the day after a PPV. I’ll be watching to see if they post anything later. Here’s what’s advertised thus far for tonight:

• Rey Mysterio searching for further payback against Seth Rollins.

Rey Mysterio vs. Seth Rollins

It’s been round-and-round the dance floor for Seth Rollins and Rey Mysterio for lack of a better description. It all started when Seth shoved Rey’s eye into the ring stairs, prompting a months-long feud that led to an Eye for an Eye match at Extreme Rules: The Horror Show in July. Last week at SummerSlam, Rey’s son Dominik lost a 20+ minute match to Seth with Rey and his wife looking on. The night after on Raw, Rey and Dominik teamed up to face Seth and his disciple Murphy. The match ended when Retribution got involved and attacked Rey and Dominik, technically awarding them a victory via DQ (I don’t care that the referee doesn’t make that call anymore and the ring announcers don’t say anything).

Last night at Payback, Rey & Dominik defeated Seth & Murphy when Murphy inadvertently kicked Rollins in the head when the intention was to kick Rey. Tonight, in what could either be the end of the feud or a setup for a bigger match, Seth takes on Rey one-on-one.

Frank’s Analysis: It feels like I’m taking the easy way out here, but I’m tired of this feud. Having watched different iterations of matches between them and Murphy and Dominik recently, I don’t know what else there is to say. It’s a shame because these are two guys that could have had a hell of a run if not for all the eye nonsense. I just want to see a good match with an ending that makes sense and gives good talking points. We’ll see if they follow up on the issue between Murphy and Seth.

Drew McIntyre

As of yesterday, WWE updated Drew McIntyre’s condition on their website. They said he has a hairline jaw fracture because of the punt kicks from Randy Orton last week. Drew opened the show saying he wanted to give Randy Orton another WWE Championship match to allow him to use the Claymore Kick. After the promo, he was attacked by Randy. Later, after he interrupted a match between Randy and the debuting Keith Lee, Randy kicked him again, sending him to a local medical facility.

They will certainly update us on Drew’s condition tonight.

Frank’s Analysis: With the emergence of Keith Lee, I wonder if there may be real medical/other issues with Drew where they suddenly want to put the title on Lee. They could also funnel the title to Orton and then Lee down the line. Time will tell, but it’s interesting how they’ve given Lee such a big win so fast.

Other Match Results & Notable Segments from Last Week

• Smackdown Women’s Champion Bayley defeated Shayna Baszler via DQ when Nia Jax interfered.
• Aleister Black attacked Kevin Owens while being a guest on the Kevin Owens Show.
• Akira Tozawa defeated R-Truth, Cedric Alexander, and Shelton Benjamin in a fatal four-way to win the 24/7 Championship.
• Randy Orton was responding to Drew McIntyre’s promo when a debuting Keith Lee interrupted. They wrestled an impromptu match when Drew attacked Randy, technically giving Randy a win via DQ.  Here was Keith after a bittersweet debut:

• Montez Ford, of the Raw Tag Team Champion Street Profits, defeated Angel Garza.
• Bianca Belair & The Riott Squad (Ruby Riott & Liv Morgan) defeated Zelina Vega & The IIconics (Peyton Royce & Billie Kay)
• Apollo Crews defeated Bobby Lashley in an arm-wrestling contest which was moderated by WWE Hall of Famer Mark Henry.
• Natalya & Lana were attacked by Mickie James after they cut a promo saying she’s accomplished nothing in her career. (Remember when Michelle McCool & Layla used to torture Mickie back in the day?)
• Dolph Ziggler and Bobby Lashley fought in Raw Underground.
• Asuka defeated Sasha Banks in a SummerSlam rematch to retain the Raw Women’s Championship.

Final Thoughts

I’m enthusiastic after a pretty well-booked show last night. The put Keith Lee over, and I hope they take the right next steps with him and don’t slot him into 50/50 booking world. I’m curious where they go with Shayna and Nia holding the tag titles and how things progress with Sasha & Bayley. I’m growing less patient with Raw Underground and would be perfectly happy to see Retribution go. I sense enthusiasm amongst the fans, so we’ll see where things go.

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