Welcome to Bleacher Report's coverage and recap of WWE Raw on September 19.
This week's show had two big matches advertised ahead of time, with one being for a belt that has been getting a lot of attention in recent months.
Bobby Lashley put his United States Championship on the line against Seth Rollins, and the other pre-advertised bout was Kevin Owens vs. Austin Theory.
Let's take a look at everything that happened on this week's episode of Raw.
Rollins made his entrance as soon as the show began for his U.S. title bout against Lashley. The entrances and official introductions took just over five minutes, so WWE was giving them plenty of time.
While The All Mighty had the upper hand in the power department, he was not fighting some cruiserweight. The Visionary is tall, strong, agile and a little faster than Lashley, so he kept the champ on his toes for most of the match.
However, the former MMA fighter kept finding ways to use his immense strength to counter some of Rollins' biggest moves. They did a great job booking the match so the challenger was in control most of the time in a believable way.
The crowd was hot from start to finish and the Superstars in the ring did not let them down. It's almost odd this wasn't slotted for the main event because management had to know it was going to be a great match.
Matt Riddle came out to distract Rollins, and that allowed Lashley to drill him with a Spear for the win. While it would have been nice to get a clean finish, the interference makes some sense given how WWE has built up Riddle vs. Rollins in recent weeks.
Winner: Bobby Lashley
Grade: A-
Notable Moments and Observations
WWE can turn Rollins babyface whenever it wants. He is already over with this gimmick and a lot of people cheer him anyway, so the transition would be easy and quick.
Lashley stopping the Stomp by simply being too strong for Rollins to power down to the mat was a fantastic spot.
Rollins hit two suicide dives in a row, but the second one had a bit of a rough landing.
Hitting someone like Lashley with a running buckle bomb is so impressive and really shows off how strong Rollins is.
Bayley, Iyo Sky and Dakota Kai came out for a special Women's Tag Team Championship celebration. They had plenty of streamers and a custom golf cart that Bayley drove to the ring. They were confronted by Bianca Belair, Asuka and Alexa Bliss, with Bray Wyatt's former muse challenging the former Hugger to a match on this week's show.
Once it was time for Owens vs. Theory, Theory attacked Owens as soon as he got on the apron, but it only seemed to give KO the motivation he needed to beat down his young rival.
The youngest Mr. Money in the Bank didn't go down easily and was able to regain the upper hand quickly. The Prize Fighter once again found himself on defense as the show cut to a break.
These two had a fun, physical battle that took them all over the ringside area. Theory is already a great athlete, but Owens elevates everyone just a bit more. Johnny Gargano showed up to prevent Theory from using the MITB briefcase, allowing The Prize Fighter to hit the Popup Powerbomb for the win.
Two matches in a row with distraction finishes is not ideal, but the booking makes sense, so it's hard to be completely mad about it. It's even harder to be upset when both bouts were highly enjoyable.
Winner: Kevin Owens
Grade: B+
Notable Moments and Observations
The way the camera followed Owens as he came out on the stage instead of filming him the usual way gave his entrance a unique feel.
Bayley is gonna be a legend in this business well before she retires. She has mastered being a heel, being a face, talking on the mic and working in the ring. She's as valuable as anyone on the roster in terms of skill.
The way it sounds whenever someone hits the steel steps is always great. The hollow interior makes it echo perfectly.
The crowd chanting "Who's your daddy?" at Theory was hilarious. Owens yelling back "I'm his daddy" was the icing on the cake.
Ridge Holland and Butch came out to give a promo about their plans to win the tag titles, but they were interrupted by Montez Ford and Angelo Dawkins. Some insults were thrown and a challenge was made that led to an impromptu match.
The two bigger competitors started for their teams, but Dawkins tagged in Ford as soon as he had control. Once The Bruiserweight came in, he began to take Dawkins apart with his signature brand of offense.
The Brawling Brutes had The Street Profits on the ropes as the show cut to a commercial. They maintained control for a long time before Ford and Dawkins hit a super blockbuster combo to make things a bit more even again.
After a highly competitive bout, Holland and Butch scored a clean win to give them some momentum heading into their title shot against The Usos.
Winners: Ridge Holland and Butch
Grade: B
Notable Moments and Observations
Maybe this is reading too much into it, but Holland did not use "Butch" when he referred to his partner. He just called him a bruiser. The commentators still called him Butch, so WWE moving back to the Pete Dunne name still seems a little unlikely.
Dawkins gets impressive height on his dropkicks, especially for a man of his size.
It's always nice when both tag teams in a match have coordinated gear. Teams that make no effort to look like partners are fine, but when two people go to the effort to match, it's more fun for some reason.
Somebody carrying a giant QR code was walking through the crowd at exactly 9:23 Eastern. Scanning it takes you to www.wwe.com/comewithme and shows a cryptic teaser video.
Dominik Mysterio, Finn Balor, Damian Priest and Rhea Ripley came out to give a promo about Dom joining the group before Riddle and Rey Mysterio came out to face Balor and Priest in a tag team match.
The Prince and The Archer of Infamy took control of The Bro early on, but Riddle didn't allow them to maintain it for long. He used his power advantage over Balor to hit a trio of gutwrench suplexes before tagging Rey for a double-team spot.
The second half of the bout had a bit of a faster pace and saw all four men hit some impressive moves, but it never quite reached the same level of the previous tag match with the Profits and Brutes in terms of intensity.
This bout had the most outside interference of any match on the show thanks to Dom and Ripley, so Riddle and Rey were fighting an uphill battle the whole time. Rollins tried to get involved, but Rey chased him off with a chair.
Balor was able to pin Papa Mysterio with the Coup de Grace. The match was good, but the amount of interference hindered it a bit. The good news is the father-son drama was done well enough to keep the story going.
Winners: Finn Balor and Damian Priest
Grade: B
Notable Moments and Observations
The crowd was giving Dominik some serious heat whenever he tried to talk. It was Vickie Guerrero "Excuse me" levels of heat. Even X-Pac was probably surprised by how loud it was.
Ripley was being louder than expected at ringside. Her presence added a lot to the match.
Ripley hitting Riddle with a back suplex on the floor was a fun moment.
Dominik daring his dad to hit him with a chair only for Rey to put it down and get in the ring was done well.
The Miz and Ciampa were out for an episode of Miz TV to talk about Dexter Lumis terrorizing him. This led to Lumis cutting his way through the ring with a huge knife to get to him. He tried to pull The Miz down with him, but Ciampa was able to make the save. This was fun but ultimately did not advance the story at all.
The next match was made earlier in the night when Bliss and Bayley agreed to a fight. WWE played a short video package hyping The Goddess before she came out with Asuka and Belair by her side.
Bliss was all over Bayley at first. She was jumping on her back and giving her no breathing room. She was being methodical with her offense and had a look of conviction on her face.
The leader of Damage Control was able to turn things around and cleared off the announce table, but The Goddess used it to her advantage to hit a rolling senton. They kept the rest of the match competitive with both women coming close to winning a few times before Sky knocked Bliss off the top rope so Bayley could score the win.
This week's show had a little too much outside interference, but the matches were all strong and we got some good storyline developments with a few teases for other things.
Winner: Bayley
Grade: B-
Notable Moments and Observations
The camera caught Belair bobbing her head to Bayley's entrance music in a funny moment.
They were in the same building where Bliss beat Bayley for the title about five years ago.
Bliss has some of the best facial expressions in all of pro wrestling. She is so expressive and uses it to her advantage.
Why would any wrestler add suspenders to their gear if they are just going to hang down? That is just giving your opponents a way to manipulate you.
