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WWE

With the Crown Jewel pay-per-view event in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, looming in just a mere three days, WWE Raw on Monday night paid a visit to the longtime pro wrestling hotbed that is St. Louis. Serving as the overall main roster go-home show with the final SmackDown offering having taken place this past Friday, Raw provided the final bits of build for some of the more notable angles set to blow off on the latest card set to go down in the Middle East. 

Once again, Raw on Monday night proved to be the workhorse show of the two main brands as the in-ring action was plentiful and exciting while stars on the rise for the flagship show were afforded the chance to shine. Yet amid all of that and the final build for Crown Jewel, the sole focus of Raw this week was centered around the love triangle that floated to the surface seemingly out of nowhere a few weeks ago. 

Let's have a look now at everything that went down on Monday's edition of Raw, the go-home episode ahead of the Crown Jewel event on Halloween. 

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'Divorce Court' chaos in main event segment

Lana and Bobby Lashley were shown sitting together backstage, and Lashley asked whether she would like him to accompany her to the ring later in the night for the "Divorce Court" segment. Lana declined, however, saying that she had to go at this alone and Lashley accepted that answer. A video package was shown later in the evening rehashing the entire angle from the beginning. 

It was time for "Divorce Court" with Jerry "The King" Lawler in the main event segment of the night. Lana began by ranting toward the fans about all the bullying she's been receiving for her affair with Lashley. She then wanted to reveal the truth to the fans, which turned out to be that Rusev was nothing more than a sex addict who only wanted to impregnate her. Lana explained that she had no desire to get pregnant because that would ruin her career as a model and fashion influencer. Next, Lana dropped another bombshell by claiming that Rusev had actually cheated on her, saying that Lashley was the one that informed her of Rusev's alleged affair. As Rusev became incensed at the allegation, Lashley made his way out and the brawl ensued. Rusev ended up getting the better of the exchange in the ring, but Lana provided a distraction when she entered with a kendo stick and began swinging away at her husband. This allowed Lashley to connect with a low blow, and another followed shortly after before Lashley and Lana made out over the prone body of Rusev to end Raw on Monday. 

I'll admit, I was skeptical when I began to realize that this was the main event segment of the Crown Jewel go-home episode despite the fact I've been on board with this angle from the get-go. But this turned out to be an outstanding (and hilarious) sports entertainment segment, and the reality is a lot of that credit has to go to Lana who put on maybe her best performance to date in the company. Rusev was terrific, as always, but his wife absolutely shined with the live mic. In hindsight, it was a good move to highlight this angle in the closing moments to maybe take some minds off the fact that there's another controversial Saudi Arabia show taking place in three days. Slowly but surely, week after week, this feud is building nicely while serving as a prime example of sports entertainment done correctly, and you're starting to even get the feeling that Rusev may emerge from all of this as popular as he's ever been. Grade: B+

What else happened on Raw?

  • Becky Lynch def. Kairi Sane via submission with the Dis-Arm-Her in a strong opening match. Paige was out to kick off Raw this week prior to the bout, and she attempted to realign herself with The Kabuki Warriors. That plan backfired, however, when Asuka spewed the green mist into Paige's face. 
  • Buddy Murphy def. R-Truth via pinfall after a knee strike. Prior to the finish, Truth was distracted by everyone in pursuit of the 24/7 championship as the Singh Brothers were being chased around the ring, giving chase himself before reentering the ring to eat the knee and the pin. 
  • The latest Authors of Pain vignette aired, where this week they discussed warfare being just as much mental as it is physical. 
  • The Street Profits were out to cut a promo in the ring, putting the tag team division on notice after their debut victory last week over The OC with Kevin Owens as backup. An instrumental version of their entrance theme played as they left through the crowd repeatedly singing, "We want the smoke."
  • Ricochet def. Drew McIntyre via disqualification after Randy Orton emerged and hit a ridiculous RKO outta nowhere onto Ricochet which drew a loud pop from his hometown St. Louis faithful. Hulk Hogan (with Jimmy Hart) and Ric Flair were in the corners of their respective competitors in this Crown Jewel preview match. 
  • The Viking Raiders def. The Chicago Cubs (Rizzo & Bryant) via pinfall in a non-title squash after the Viking Experience to Rizzo. Yes, WWE indeed dressed up two enhancement talents as Cubs players and named them after Chicago stars Anthony Rizzo and Kris Bryant to present them as natural heels in front of the St. Louis Cardinals fans. Was actually pretty clever, to be honest. 
  • Andrade def. Sin Cara via pinfall with a rollup while using the feet on the ropes for leverage. Sin Cara brought some insurance with him after what took place last week with Zelina Vega in the form of a masked woman named Catalina (Catalina Garcia from NXT), but still was not able to pick up the win. 
  • Natalya & Charlotte Flair def. The IIconics via submission when Natalya locked in the Sharpshooter on Billie Kay. 
  • Seth Rollins def. Erick Rowan via pinfall in a falls count anywhere match after utilizing the services of a forklift to keep the big man down for the three-count. These two battled all over the arena, eventually ending up brawling to the backstage area. After laying out Rowan, Rollins forced a forklift driver to lower a pallet onto Rowan to get the victory. Backstage with Charly Caruso prior to the match, Rollins vowed to end The Fiend at Crown Jewel by defeating The Fiend. 
  • Aleister Black cut a pre-taped promo where he said that one of two things will take place the next time he walks to the ring: 1) his opponent will have an intimate relationship with fear and 2) they will come knocking down his door ready to pick a fight. 
  • AJ Styles def. Humberto Carrillo via submission with the Calf Crusher in a non-title match. Afterwards, Styles faked Carrillo out with a handshake attempt and Carrillo fired back with a punch. The OC began the beatdown, but The Street Profits were out to make the save.