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WWE Raw 8/3/20 Report Part 2: Liv Morgan & Ruby Riott Together At Last

It's a night of promise on WWE Monday Night Raw. Vince McMahon was reportedly ripping up scripts all day. The pressure is on. Ratings are down. WWE needs to do something different. And something different they shall. But not yet. That comes later. Oh, yes, it comes later. Before that, we have part two of our Raw report (if you missed the first part, scroll down to the bottom for the table of contents).

WWE Raw 8/3/2020 Part 2 – The KO Show

Kevin Owens is in the ring. He mentions that Shane McMahon is here tonight, but that's not what he wants to talk about. He wants to talk about an issue going on over the last few weeks. He brings out Ruby Riott. Owens talks about Ruby beating Peyton Royce a few weeks ago and getting emotional afterward. Riott says she's had bad luck since she came back, without a singles win since February before that. And the Iiconics have been grinding salt into that wound. Ruby has dealt with girls like them, toxic and sad, raising themselves by putting others down, her whole life. But she finally got to shut Peyton Royce up and put an end to the Iiconics' bullshit. But the only thing that could have made it better is if Liv Morgan was there to celebrate with her.

Owens brings out Liv Morgan. Morgan says Owens convinced her to listen to what Riott has to say. Before she gets started, Owens says he's been watching them since they started with Sarah Logan. They had something special. Sarah has moved on, but what they built shouldn't just be done with. Owens says he's traveled the world with them and they bring the best out in each other. He speaks from experience, having done a lot of crappy things to a lot of people and lost friendships. He thought it was better for his career, but he doesn't know if it was really worth it. He's not saying they have to be friends, but it's worth hearing Ruby out. The crowd chants "hear her out."

Ruby, on the verge of tears, says when she came back, everything was different, including Liv Morgan. Liv was thriving and coming into her own and Ruby thought maybe she didn't need her. And she beat Ruby twice, and Ruby realized Liv didn't need her at all. And she wasn't ready for this world she came back to without Sarah Logan and without being needed and she took it out on Liv, and that was wrong. But every time she looks at her tattoo of the Riott Squad's debut debate, she gets emotional. The tears flowing now, Riott asks Morgan to reform the Riott Squad.

The Iiconics come out. Peyton Royce says everyone is sick of hearing these two babble-on. No one cares. Liv should have stayed in the bathtub. Billie Kay says she's tired of all the Instagram posts about Ruby's victory over Peyton. Peyton says the Iiconics have dominated the tag team division. They conquered WrestleMania, and they have been and always will be better than the two of them. If you look BFF up in the dictionary, you'll find a picture of the Iiconics. Liv says they're right. She and Ruby aren't friends like the Iiconnics. But one thing they'll always agree on is no one starts a riot better than them.

Owens suggests the Iiconics leave so they can carry on with their business. Peyton says the Riott Squad has nothing on the Iiconics. They want a match right now. As they argue over who should say their catchphrase, Owens asks for more technical difficulties. Peyton slaps him. Then Billie slaps him. Owens asks the Riott Squad for help. They attack the Iiconics. Raw goes to commercials.

During that whole segment, I didn't have time to mention it because I was transcribing furiously. Furiously. But the mics kept cutting out, more of these mysterious technical glitches. It also looks like they're really dragging this out after all. After the break, we see the mysterious man in the dark and the mysterious dressing room. Music is playing inside. Someone comes to deliver coffees, and the mysterious man glares at him.

The Riott Squad vs. The Iiconics

In the ring, Ruby Riott and Billie Kay are fighting. Kevin Owens has joined the commentary team. Owens has advice for Ruby: don't get slapped. Kay hits a neck breaker and tags in Royce. Royce works a chin lock on Riott and knees her in the back. Ruby fights back, but Peyton whips her to the ground by the hair and tags in Billie. The Iiconics hit some tandem kicks. Kay pounds on Riott. Riott kicks her in the face and tags in Liv as Billie tags in Peyton. Liv takes out Peyton with some clotheslines and a dropkick. Royce kicks out of a pin attempt and tags in Kay. Morgan rolls Kay up and gets the three-count. Royce attacks her. Ruby makes the save. They hit a double leg sweep takedown on Billie Kay and leave the ring victorious.

Winners: The Riott Squad

That was an emotionally resonant segment and match. Great job by everyone involved. The Riott Squad back together feels right. The announcers promise fallout from Randy Orton's attack on Drew McIntyre last week as Raw goes to commercials.

Tom Phillips sells Raw Talk on the WWE Network tonight (there's a free version now). You know, in case after three hours of this, you still want more. He sends us backstage to Charly Caruso, who reports that there was a report of a loud noise in the area and then a large box full of stuff fell over. There are rumors that there are people backstage claiming the boxes falling over was no accident and connected to the power outages. MVP arrives and complains about losing the championship earlier because of the weird technical glitches affecting the show. Charly says this is good timing. She tells him Apollo Crews accepted his challenge for SummerSlam. MVP feels better. Of course Apollo was gonna accept his challenge because he didn't want to disappoint his kids. Shelton Benjamin interrupts. Someone has stolen his 24/7 Championship. MVP goes with him to find it.

Raw Promo – Drew McIntyre

Drew McIntyre comes to the ring for a promo. He says Randy Orton has spent twenty years preying on vulnerability. He's not like Stone Cold Steve Austin or The Rock. According to Randy, he's better than those guys (does Randy own a football league?). He'll wait until you finish an Extreme Rules match, slither in, and hit you with an RKO out of nowhere. McIntyre says that's his own fault. Randy told him it was coming. But it will never happen again. McIntyre knows how motivated Randy is right now. He's just as motivated to take the title as Drew is to keep it. And the similarities don't end there. At one point in time, Vince McMahon looked at both of them and told them they were the chosen ones, the future of the industry. Things didn't quite go to plan. Drew says this wasn't Randy's plan A, or B, or C, or D. He didn't dream about this as a child and sacrifice everything his whole life. Everything was handed to Randy. Drew doesn't resent him for it, but he does find Randy's bragging about his early accolades interesting. Those accolades were fed to Randy on a silver spoon because of his father. Drew never rode in a limo with Evolution. He never had anyone cleaning up after him, as Evolution did for him. When Drew made mistakes, he was punished for them,. Fired for them. He's already said he deserved to get fired, but he's spoken to so many people and witnessed so much… Randy Orton should have been fired way more times than him.

Randy Orton's music plays. Orton comes out with Ric Flair. Orton says he's gonna stop Drew right there. He wants to ask him: is Randy's respect for him not enough? Last week, Randy Orton told the world Drew had his respect. But Drew has chosen to repay him with this speech tonight. If Randy didn't want to be here, why is he here? He made his money. He's here because he enjoys it. He enjoys hitting RKOs and punt kicking heads. He appreciates Drew's fighting spirit, which is why it's gonna be that much sweeter when he hits him with an RKO and punt kicks him in the skull and takes the title. As to whether Randy should have been fired, he says Drew is right. He should have been fired multiple times. But he wasn't. Why? Because he's more valuable to WWE than Drew ever will be. He's been given so many chances because he is the chosen one, then, now, and forever. Randy thinks it's cute that Drew is quoting legends like Edge, but he challenges Drew to come up with one opinion about Randy Orton of his own, keyword: original.

Drew lays down the title. He asks if Randy wants him to shoot with him. "Randy, I think you represent everything that is wrong with the WWE." Just like everyone else, he watched The Last Ride. The most interesting part to him was Randy. He talked about how The Undertaker reached down and pulled Randy up to his level and he didn't have to do that. Why did he do that? He loves this industry. He cares about the future. How many times can Orton say he's taken a moment to reach down and pull up anybody to his level? Drew says Never. Randy has never passed down the knowledge like Undertaker or Shawn Michaels or Triple H or Ric Flair. How about ten years ago, when Edge reached down and pulled Randy out of a hole. He remembers Randy walking past him in catering while Drew's world was crumbling around him. He was far away from home. His mother was sick. And he was self-destructing. Randy Orton might have changed his life, but he didn't do a damn thing. Randy isn't a leader. He's a selfish prick. At SummerSlam. Drew has a whole bunch of receipts to cash in. A bunch from him, from guys on the current roster, former roster, and legends Randy has kicked in the head. He's gonna rip off Randy's head and Randy is sure as hell gonna see it coming.

Incredible promo by both of these guys. I fully bought in. And Ric Flair didn't even say a word. And Raw, so far tonight, has been stellar. The best in recent memory. But soon, it will all fall apart. You have been warned. See you in part three.

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