Under Siege – A Raw Recap for 10/23/2017

Monday’s Raw comes to us from Green Bay, Wisconsin.

So this Raw Recap is coming a little later in the week.  Here at The Dark Match, we generally post our recaps within 24 hours or even immediately after the event.  I’m moving this week so it threw everything a little out of wack.  The benefit is that I’ve had a lot of time to get my thoughts together.

Red Vs. Blue

Tonight’s Raw is all about setting up Survivor Series.  We’re getting a bunch of Champions Vs. Champions matches.  Of course, the first one was setup last week when Jinder Mahal issued a challenge to Brock Lesnar.  I’m curious if some of the champs will stay the same.  Almost all the champs are heels.  Switching out Baron for Dillenger might be a good choice.  As of now, I find it hard to get interested in any of these matches besides the Tag Team match.

As Kurt is making his announcements, The Miz confronts Kurt.  He’s still butthurt about Angle replacing Roman in the match the night before.  With Sheamus and Cesaro in tow, Miz demands another match.  But Angle is not getting back in the ring today, it’s only for special occasions.  Tonight, we have a SmackDown Superstar that’s sticking around for another night to join Seth and Dean: AJ Styles.

It was a great match.  Styles scored the pinfall on Cesaro after a Phenomenal Forarm while Seth and Dean hit Miz and Sheamus with dual suicide dives.  But the celebration wouldn’t last long.  Kane crashed the party and laid out all 3.

Under Siege

Of course, all everyone is talking about is the Invasion.  And who’s leading this invasion?  Why it’s the leader of the WCW invasion, Shane McMahon.

Earlier in the night, Angle invited Shane to Raw to talk about the upcoming Survivor Series matches.  They had a little friendly verbal sparring to claim which show is better.  No big deal.  Later in the evening though, Kurt was all set to announce the Raw Survivor Series teams when Shane show back up to utter the title of a Steven Seagal film: Under Siege.

“I’m just a cook.”

What followed was a beatdown of Raw talent, including backstage personnel (fun fact: I once edited a reality show audition interview for a dating show from one of the makeup artists fleeing the SmackDown women).  The strange part is that Shane is a face.  So is Becky, The New Day, and countless others.  You had Dolph and Tye Dillenger working together.  It was a strange sight indeed.  Some of the wrestlers had half decent explanations for this:

I just think you need to not look at it too closely.  Sure, it’s weird and silly.  I’m not a fan of The New Day beating down Titus Worldwide, but the whole invasion was fun to watch.

Everything Else

• After taking out Dean, Seth, and AJ, Kane brags about how he murdered Braun Strowman.  I think he forgot that Miz was the one that ordered that poor garbage man to compress Braun into mush.
  • Finn, fresh off his victory the previous night, is here to face Demon Kane as human Finn Bálor.  He loses.  It did take 3 choke slams though.
• Asuka defeated Emma.  Apparently you don’t need to spend $9.99 a month… It was a good match though.  They’re actually allowing Emma to be a threat on the roster.
• Alexa Bliss wanted a “You deserve it” chant.  She didn’t get it.  Shame on the Green Bay crowd for not coming up with something good.  Mickie James shows up and lays her out for…reasons?
• Elias draws major heat for making fun of the Aaron Rodgers snapping his collarbone.  It’s probably the loudest reaction he’s ever received and he’s gotten some loud reaction.
  • Jason Jordan is up to his childish actions yet again.  This time he stayed clear of the produce department.  Tonight, he’s resorted to messing with Elias’ microphone.
  • Jordan comes out for another impromptu match.  Elias is not having it tonight.  He smashes a guitar on Jason’s arm for an instant nasty welt.
• Paul Heyman accepted Jinder Mahal’s Survivor Series challenge while Brock did his bounce and smile thing.  Heyman basically makes fun of Jinder for being fake.
• Team Lucha Lucha (Kalisto, Cedric Alexander, Rich Swann, Mustafa Ali & Gran Metalik) def. The Zo Train (WWE Cruiserweight Champion Enzo Amore, Tony Nese, Drew Gulak, Noam Dar & Ariya Daivari)
  • With Enzo’s voice blown out, he wisely counts on the stylings of Drew Gulak to motivate his team and to ask the crowd, “How are you doing?”  It was great.  He deserves a run at the top at some point.
  • Why isn’t Gran Metalik pushed more than Kalisto?  He’s so much better.
• I debated actually making this next item it’s own story.  Angle put Sasha Banks, Bayley, and Alicia Fox in a match to determine the team captain of the Raw Women’s Survivor Series Team.  Now, I’ve sung the praises of Alicia Fox over the past few weeks, but I thought her being added to this match was simply so she could eat the pin.  I was wrong.  I think they’ve finally figured out Alicia Fox.  She’s the real lunatic fringe.  This was probably the best moment of Raw:

• Alicia Fox really stepped up.  And she had a great Gif and tweet to sum it all up.