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WWE Raw Report – Michael Cole Gets on Board the Retribution Train

It's time for that part of WWE Monday Night Raw; that's my favorite every week: the ending! Yes, this is the fourth and final part of our Raw report. Thank goodness.

WWE Raw Report for September 7th, 2020 Part 4

When we left off in Part 3, Kevin Owens was facing Aleister Black in a Raw Underground match; Owens suplexed Black outside the ring, and commercials happened. It is unclear whether the match is still going on, or whether the suplex won it. Since Raw Underground has no clear rules, it's impossible to tell.

I guess it's over because Adam Pearce is apologizing to Randy Orton backstage for not getting rid of Drew McIntyre tonight. McIntyre gave Orton the Claymore when he was about to beat Keith Lee. Lee is really pissed at Pearce.

Shayna Baszler comes to the ring with Nia Jax. They are both taking turns fighting the Riot Squad in handicap matches, which seems like a really dumb booking decision. Either the Riot Squad, which just reformed, jobs out in two handicap matches, or the tag champs lose against a team of essentially jobbers, ruining whatever momentum they were starting to build. I guess the third option is these matches end in shenanigans between the tag champs, which I guess would be for the best.

Shayna Baszler vs. Riott Squad

• Baszler kicks Ruby Riott's ass until Ruby desperately tags out.
• Then Baszler kicks Liv Morgan's ass.
• Baszler is doing so well; she starts taunting Jax.
• She tries to do Nia's Samoan Drop on Liv, but Liv rolls her up and gets the pin.
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3srddc0Nh1E

Okay, that ended as harmlessly as possible. Next up is Nia's turn, after Raw takes a commercial break.

Kevin Owens vs. Aleister Black – Raw Underground Match

• Okay, so apparently, this match is still going on after all.
• We are to believe that no Raw Underground match has lasted more than 2 minutes so far, but this one has lasted through two commercial breaks? Right.
• After some grappling in the ring, they brawl outside again and start knocking out bystanders.
• Shane McMahon tries to get them back in the ring, and I guess this match will continue later?

Okay then. The next match is in progress.

Nia Jax vs. Riott Squad

• Ruby and Liv are doing better in this one. They're getting tags and beating up Nia in the corner. As a bonus, no one has been injured yet.
• The same thing happens here. Nia gets the upper hand on Ruby but gets distracted by trying to taunt Shayna.
• Liv Morgan gets a blind tag as the lights start flickering.
• The lights go out, and I guess the match is over.

Retribution logos (every non-political Antifa anarchist group has gotta have a logo) appear all over the Thunderdome. The members of Retribution, standing in a dark room, cut a promo with voice modulators.

"This Thunderdome is only a facade," says one. "Behind this mountain of screens is the same foundation, the same WWE as before. (that's true) The same behemoth that discarded and disowned us, leaving us to survive in an unfair world. Where the powerful deliver to grow while we are left to feed on nothing but the scraps of contempt."

"But contempt is a powerful motivator," says the tall one with a deep voice. "We are driven to destroy; to lay waste to every superstar and every fan. Blinded, you cannot see what you do not have. So the locusts of contempt will feed upon all of you. The darkness of Retribution will seep into the pores of every superstar and all of your so-called universe. We are Retribution!"

Raw goes to commercials.

Michael Cole explains the history of Retribution and recaps their mission statement. "It's gonna be interesting to see what Retribution has in store for us in the days and weeks to come." And just like that, Retribution has lost whatever appeal it had left.

Sarah Schrieber interviews the Mysterio family backstage. She asks Rey about Murphy's threats earlier. Rey says Murphy wants Dominik alone, and he's trying to scare them. But the Mysterio family will be in Dominik's corner tonight, and if Murphy tries anything, they know how to handle themselves.

Kevin Owens vs. Aleister Black – Raw Underground

• Yes, this is still going on.
• Owens punches Black and headbutts him, staggering Black.
• Black kicks
• Dabba-Kato gets in the ring and gives Owens a spinebuster.
• Black tries to take advantage, but Dabba-Kato slams him too.
• Dabba-Kato is declared the winner.

Hahahahahaha. What a joke.

Randy Orton, holding his jaw, drags his suitcase backstage. Charly Caruso starts to interview him, but McIntyre attacks him again. He tosses him in a half-assembled ring and hits the third Claymore kick of the night. Raw takes a commercial break.

Michael Cole shows us replays of all the Claymore kicks Drew McIntyre gave Randy Orton today. Orton leaves Raw in an ambulance, bringing things full circle.

Dominik Mysterio heads to the ring with his family. They are all carrying kendo sticks. Commentary shills for next week's big matches: Street Profits vs. Cesaro and Shinsuke Nakamura. Asuka vs. Mickie James for the Raw Women's Championship. Murphy comes to the ring.

Dominik Mysterio vs. Murphy – Street Fight

• The bell rings, and the fight spills outside.
• Murphy tosses Dominik over the announce table. Then he goes to stare at the Mysterio family, giving Dominik a chance for a comeback. Dominik throws Murphy over the announce table.
• They fight into the Thunderdome virtual crowd area. Dominik jumps off some of the screens to hit a crossbody as Raw takes a commercial break. Well, you can't step on real fan's heads to attack your opponent, so here's one way Thunderdome is better than live crowds.
• More brawling. Murphy slams the back of Mysterio's head onto the steel entrance ramp. Is that a shot at AEW?
• The fight returns to ringside, and Murphy wants to gouge Mysterio's eyeball on the steel stairs, but Dominik avoids it. Murphy tosses him into the virtual crowd.
• Murphy beats up Mysterio with a chair at ringside. Then the fight gets back inside the ring.
• Murphy applies the well-known street fighting move, the abdominal stretch.
• Dominik armdrags Murphy over the top rope.
• Murphy comes back in and misses a splash, but ends up tossing Dominik shoulder-first into the ring post.
• Murphy ties Dominik up in the ropes and grabs the kendo stick. But Dominik kicks him in the face. Then Rey steals the kendo stick.
• Murphy goes outside to get a new weapon, but Angie and Aalyah free Dominik from the ropes. Dominik runs and hits a sunset flip powerbomb to the outside, sending Murphy through a table that magically appeared there.
• Dominik hits the frogsplash, but Murphy kicks out.
• Murphy ties Dominik up in the ropes. Rey gets in with a kendo stick. "Seth! I hope you're watching messiah!" They take turns beating on Murphy. "Payback is a bitch!"
• Aalyah and Angie get in the ring and also hit Murphy with kendo sticks. Murphy gives up.

After the match, the Mysterio family continues to beat the crap out of Murphy with kendo sticks. Damn, that's gonna be a lot of welts tomorrow. Raw goes off the air.

So, a mixed bag of an episode. What I liked: things happened. Cedric Alexander finally turned. Angel Garza and Andrade may finally be on the way to a long-overdue breakup. We got a little bit of closure to the Iiconics breakup. Drew McIntyre got revenge on Randy Orton. And the street fight was good. What I didn't like: Retribution's first promo, which further eroded any cool factor they had left, first by debuting a logo — why would they have a logo?! — and second, because Michael Cole is no longer afraid of them, he just wants to see what they have in store for the WWE Universe in the coming weeks. Kiss of death. Raw Underground was a clusterf**k. Anything else I've already forgotten about. Thanks for reading our WWE Raw report.

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