Monday Night Raw Review - September 25, 2017

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Intercontinental Champion The Miz Hosted Miz TV with Roman Reigns

As always, Miz was super strong with his mic work and I will never not laugh whenever he takes shots at Jordan by bringing up his unborn child. I enjoyed the dynamic he had with Reigns here, and speaking of Reigns, this was one of his better promos in recent memory. I'm glad they got the Shield vs. Miztourage talk out of the way because that is definitely not the match I want The Shield to return for right now. Not only did this set up Reigns vs. Miz for later on in the night, it also tied nicely into the subsequent tag team match with Matt Hardy, Jason Jordan and The Miztourage.

Matt Hardy and Jason Jordan def. The Miztourage

Jeff Hardy is out injured for the foreseeable future and no timetable was given for his return, which was a bummer. Here's hoping Creative finds something meaningful for Matt to do in the meantime. As for this match, it was a pretty formulaic tag team outing. Matt and Jordan scored the win as they should have, but it didn't seem like Jordan gained any more supporters than he had before. Fans simply don't care about him at the moment, so a heel turn might need to happen sooner rather than later.

Elias def. Apollo Crews

These two had the exact same match on the No Mercy Kickoff match with the only difference being that Titus O'Neil was ringside this time and got involved. It was a forgettable bout, but at least Elias is continuing to build momentum with these wins. I would assume O'Neil will step up to face Elias next considering that was what was teased afterward, and obviously Elias would have to go over if that contest came to fruition.

Braun Strowman def. Raw Tag Team Champion Dean Ambrose

As I said last week, Hawkins has a good thing going with this lengthy losing streak of his and I hope it continues for a long time to come. Strowman destroying Hawkins and throwing him through the set on the stage was nothing short of glorious and effective in giving Strowman some of his heat back from his loss to Brock Lesnar at No Mercy. The match that followed with Ambrose was probably more competitive than it should have been, but it was fun for what it was and resulted in a clean win for Strowman.

Mickie James Attacked Raw Women's Champion Alexa Bliss

I expected Bliss calling out James on Raw Talk on Sunday to turn into a one-off outing on this show, but thankfully that isn't the case and instead should be a full-fledged feud. I couldn't understand for the life of me why James had been so underutilized since returning to WWE, so this was a step in the right direction. Granted, the crowd sat on their hands when she first came out, but they got behind her as the segment went along and the two of them had a solid exchange on the mic. James is a fine filler feud for Bliss before Asuka arrives.

Raw Tag Team Champion Seth Rollins def. Sheamus

We have seen plenty of Rollins and Ambrose against Sheamus and Cesaro in the last two months, but they always work well together and this was a decent albeit brief bout. Additionally, it made sense from a storyline standpoint since Sheamus wanted to avenge Cesaro after his mouth was messed up at No Mercy. By the way, how Cesaro was even at ringside for this match was beyond me. The guy is a legitimate superman.

Roman Reigns def. Intercontinental Champion The Miz (Non-title)

Reigns and Miz have decent chemistry together, so this was a well-wrestled match with The Miztourage constantly attempting to interfere but to no avail. Reigns pinned Miz clean anyway, and although I would usually be mad about a champion eating a pinfall loss for no reason, it was announced that Miz and Reigns will clash for the Intercontinental Championship next week. The post-match angle was well done with Miz and The Miztourage beating down Reigns, even if they aren't the biggest threat right now.

Finn Balor def. Goldust

Admittedly, I was a bit disappointed when Goldust seemingly turned face to fight Bray Wyatt on back-to-back episodes of Raw, but he's already back to being a heel, so that was short-lived. I can't complain, though, because Goldust is awesome as a heel. At any rate, this was a standard squash match, but what really bothered me was the confirmation afterward that the Balor vs. Wyatt feud is not yet over. Balor has beaten Bray twice, both as himself and as The Demon, so what is there left for them to do? Ugh.

Bayley and Sasha Banks def. Emma and Nia Jax

While these were the leftovers from the Raw Women's Championship match at No Mercy, it did make sense given that Bayley had unfinished business with Jax. They made the most of the time they were given and it was an average match while it lasted. The post-match backstage segment with Bayley and Banks planted the seeds for an eventual Banks heel turn, but that's been happening forever it feels like, so I'll believe it when I see it.

Neville Attacked WWE Cruiserweight Champion Enzo Amore

There is no doubt in my mind that Amore is a heel now, as he should be. I mean, how could he not be after he ran down the entire 205 Live roster and came off as cocky? That's the role that suits him best honestly, and Neville wasn't wrong when he said that Amore has made a mockery of the Cruiserweight division (though Amore was right too about the division being irrelevant). I loved Neville attacking Amore, and better yet, the no-contact clause that he went against might mean that Neville is finally moving back up to the heavyweights. One can only hope.

Overall Show

Yes, Raw actually ended with the Cruiserweights for a change, and no, it wasn't entirely terrible. In fact, this entire episode was pretty passable. As a post-pay-per-view show, it should have been hotter than it was, but it succeeded in setting forth a few stories and advertising two big matches for next week: Rollins vs. Strowman and Reigns vs. Miz for the Intercontinental title. This was far from a home run of a show, but everything mostly served a purpose and there wasn't anything that stood out as awful, which is appreciated.