RAW In A Nutshell: Kansas City Cage Fight For The Title!

It’s another RAW In a Nutshell, and this week we are in Kansas City with a cage fight for the US title!

Talk about a big Labor Day edition of RAW!

It’s true. We have Bobby Lashley and The Miz in the main event, a Kansas City steel cage fight for the title.

Now, whether that main event ends clean or not? That remains to be seen, with Dexter Lumis…well…looming.

And, as we’ve been asking a lot lately…will anyone else big return this week?

We’ve all heard the rumors…but are any of them true?

By the end of the evening, we will know that answer and more.

After the Kansas City cage fight…will we have a new champion?

Or will some outside interference ruin the night?

It is time for us to find out…it is time for…

RAW In A Nutshell: Kansas City Cage Fight For The Title!

Let’s crack open this Nutshell and find out!

Best Match of the night:

Kevin Owens versus Austin Theory, for me was hands down the match of the night.

Lashley and The Miz was good too. Not sure it was the best of the recent United States title matches, but it was good.

Lumis at the end was the cherry on top.

Worst match of the night:

I am not sure which way to go on this one.

The non-title women’s tag match was only OK.

Rey and Damien Priest was….OK.

And while it was done to really build up the Monster Among Men…you do hate to see four top tag teams get jobbed out.

Crowd Chants of the Night:

KC fans were top notch.

Eddie’s son

You got knocked out

You got KO’d

The list goes on.

Star of the Night

I would be doing things wrong if I don’t at least give a mention to Kevin Owens.

Delivered a great promo, including shots at Theory “finding his first name”. And the match was top notch.

Spot of the Night:

Strowman’s running power slam through the announce table?

The somewhat awkward looking Tejada bomb from Raquel, which still involved her carrying Doudrop a bit of a distance before slamming her.

Jobber of the Night:

There are a few choices tonight.

I could opt for any of the 4 tag teams in the failed #1 contender match.

Or, the security that went in to try to stop the returning Braun Strowman.

Upset of the Night:

No doubt Rey and Edge are upset still.

Curious to see how this plays out, since we’ve long heard that neither Mysterio wants to fight the other.

I am guessing some minds got changed.

Holy Sh** Moment of the Night:

Yes it was spoiled last week, if you read the dirt sheets.

But, in case you missed it…Braun Strowman is back, and in a big way.

Botch of the night:

Theory called it Crown Jewel.

He blamed the oops on the sore jaw and annoying fans…but it was still a really big botch, and he had a few stumbles on the mic.

I mean, KO had one too, I think…but he’s a top talker, and Theory seemed to struggle a little bit.

Commentary of the night:

Can’t tell if the crew is enjoying themselves taking shots at each other.

Or, if there’s some legit heat there, because some of the zingers could go either way.

Like Graves telling Jimmy Smith to earn his take and not ask Graves to do his job for him.

Or this…

LOL Moment of the night:

For me, I think it was from Kevin Owens.

First, to Austin Theory, saying congrats for finding his name.

And then reminding him that he WAS the chosen one. But that the guy who made him that isn’t here anymore.

Noteworthy Moment:

Not that big of a shock, but Braun is going to show up on Friday too…

Also, not a huge surprise, but Ciampa is the latest Superstar to get his name back.

Overall lowlights:

There is good and bad here.

Good: Strowman is back and being built right back up.

Bad: His rebuild started at the expense of the entire tag team #1 contender’s match.

Unless this is paving the way for him to bring in his own tag partner and go after the titles?

I am not yet on board with the Dom turn. Perhaps because it seemed like it came too late?

We shall see how it goes, since some smarter than me made this point…and that could be a good outcome…

Overall highlights:

The jury is out (for me at least) re: the Dom turn.

Kevin Owens was exceptional.

Braun Strowman is going to be fun.

The cage match was good, and we finally saw Lumis get physical.

His reveal was well done too.

After the final bell:

Throwing this one out there, but does anyone else feel like we are going to see the MITB briefcase on the line at some point?

Between the aborted or interrupted cash-ins, to a number of Superstars calling him out…it just feels like someone is going to goad him into putting it on the line.

Don’t look now, but next week’s RAW has quickly gotten loaded up.

Of course, it makes a great deal of sense. Next week is the return of Monday Night Football…and while that isn’t always great to watch, it’s the first Monday of the season.

So…we’ve got the women’s tag titles, Edge and Dom, and the in-ring return for Johnny Gargano.

Anyone think this is the show we see Sasha and Naomi return?