WWE Monday Night Raw recap: NXT TakeOver redux

This week’s Monday Night Raw retraced the steps of Friday’s SmackDown as we lumber our way to Survivor Series at the end of the month.

In a world overrun with pro wrestling shows, this week’s Monday Night Raw sure was one of them. With all WWE talent now back from being briefly stranded in Saudi Arabia, it was back to the script, the unpredictability of Friday Night SmackDown giving way to more rote brand versus brand versus brand Survivor Series build that felt like a watered-down retread of what we saw on Friday rather than anything new.

Much of Raw was stuck in this wash-rinse-repeat cycle. Natalya and Charlotte Flair teamed up again, this time against The Kabuki Warriors and this time it was Asuka tapping out to Nattie’s Sharpshooter. Buddy Murphy faced Cedric Alexander again. Andrade and Zelina Vega defeated Sin Cara and Carolina, rather than Andrade with Vega defeating Sin Cara with Carolina, as was the case last week.

The Rusev-Lana-Bobby Lashley saga continued on, this time with Drew McIntyre standing in for Lashley in-ring versus Rusev because Lashley “had” a “torn groin” which was just a setup (the highlight here was McIntyre figuring this all out post-DQ and just shrugging and walking away, realizing that he doesn’t want any part of this mess). The Viking Raiders defeated more themed local talent (East Hampton Polo Boys?) and The O.C. continued their feud with The Street Profits and Humberto Carrillo.

Even the main event was same-but-different from Friday’s, with NXT Champion Adam Cole putting his title on the line yet again, this time against Seth Rollins, albeit without the same clean outcome.

Monday’s NXT invasion didn’t go as well as Friday’s, with the Raw roster at full strength and back in the States, which led to a chaotic melee between the red and the black and yellow brands and no finish to the Rollins-Cole main event. And it also featured the twist of Triple H offering Rollins a spot back in NXT — hence the match with Cole, which Rollins suggested because he will only go back to Full Sail if he’s the champion — that Rollins didn’t quite answer but doesn’t have to, because he’s kind of positioned himself as Mr. Raw and will likely be the brand’s men’s team’s captain.

So those moments did provide a bit of a change of pace from SmackDown in a sense, but it was also less exciting than what happened on SmackDown, too.

There were two fresh moments, at least. The first was WWE Champion Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman making good on their promise to leave SmackDown and head to Raw, in order for Lesnar to get his hands on Rey Mysterio. Remember when Nikki Cross and Alexa Bliss were traded to SmackDown as part of last month’s draft for “future draft considerations?” Welp, that’s Lesnar, who apparently also is the only Superstar to have such a flexible contract, per Heyman. Just to note.

Lesnar went on a hunt for Mysterio, which ultimately led he and Heyman to the Raw announce desk to accost Jerry Lawler, whom they believed knew about Mysterio’s whereabouts. Dio Maddin interjected and was F5’d for his trouble, but this left Lesnar open to a sneak attack by a pipe-wielding Mysterio. Mysterio got the better of Lesnar by taking out his leg with said pipe and, later on, challenged Lesnar for the championship, a match that will take place at Survivor Series.

The other, also Survivor-Series related, was a sit-down interview with Becky Lynch, conducted by Charly Caruso. Caruso is quickly supplanted by NXT Women’s Champion Shayna Baszler and the two had a war of words and a stare down — no fisticuffs, which was refreshing — ahead of the two, plus SmackDown Women’s Champion Bayley, going head-to-head-to-head at the pay-per-view.

So, yeah, that was Raw for this week. Share your thoughts in the comments below. Anyone else feeling deja vu (again) from WWE weekly programming?