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WWE

WWE concluded its four-night visit to Rosemont, Illinois, for the 2019 Survivor Series festivities with Monday night's presentation of Raw from the Allstate Arena. On the heels of the eventful and overall entertaining Survivor Series event which took place on Sunday night, it was time to put the brand supremacy angle in the rearview mirror as perform a a reset on the flagship program as we march toward the end of the year and into 2020. 

The reset was evident on Monday night as an anticipated heel turn by one of the top stars seemingly commenced right off the bat as a bit of a twist was added in to close the show, and we even witnessed a hot title change that presented Raw with a number of interesting directions to head in going forward each week. 

Let's now have a look at everything that went down on Monday's edition of Raw. 

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Seth Rollins heel turn seemingly begins

The post-Survivor Series Raw began on Monday night with Seth Rollins holding a "Town Hall" as fellow superstars surrounded the ring. He first addressed the CM Punk chants from the crowd, jabbing back that Punk is too busy sitting behind a desk in Los Angeles to show up and make the changes that he always talks about. Rollins said it breaks his heart that NXT cleaned house at Survivor Series before telling his co-workers they all sucked on Sunday night. "We went from being the A-show to being the C-show," Rollins said. He asked for superstars to speak up, calling out Randy Orton, Charlotte Flair and Rey Mysterio for their failures before everyone eventually walked out on the former two-time universal champion. As Rollins watched his peers leave him high and dry, Kevin Owens showed up on the apron behind him. Rollins then ranted on Owens, telling him that he was lazy and just wanted to be Seth Rollins. Owens, without having said a word during the segment, simply delivered a Stunner to Rollins and walked off. Backstage with Charly Caruso, an enraged Rollins said that it'll be him vs. Owens in the ring later tonight. 

Later in the night with Caruso, Owens said he heard every word Rollins said about wanting to make Raw better. The difference between them, though, is that Owens has never tried to be something that he's not -- not even when people tried to order him to be something different. "I am Kevin Owens, I will always be Kevin Owens and I will always be fine with that," Owens said. He promised Rollins that the second Stunner he received tonight will turn Monday Night Rollins into the Kevin Owens Show. 

Seth Rollins vs. Kevin Owens ended in a no contest: AOP hit the ring near the conclusion of the match, and Akam and Rezar began to beat down Owens after he was the first to attempt to fight back. When the duo was done manhandling Owens, they teased turning their attention to Rollins who was huddled in the corner and welcoming the challenge. Instead of delivering Rollins a beatdown, though, they simply walked up the ramp. Rollins nailed two Stomps to a prone Owens to close the show while again screaming that he wanted to make Raw better. 

Well, the decision has clearly been made to lean right into the vitriol that Rollins has been receiving from the fans of late -- both on the TV shows and on social media. There's been a sense for weeks that a Rollins heel turn was coming, but a potential pairing with AOP, whom Rollins called out earlier in the night during his show-opening speech for not competing at Survivor Series on behalf of Raw at all, adds an interesting little twist to his likely full turn to the dark side. The theme of kicking off his heel turn seems to be centered around improving Raw, and bringing along AOP for this crusade has the potential to be a fun ride with the red-hot Owens playing the role of foil as the top babyface on the brand. Grade: B-

New United States champion crowned

The scheduled matchup for the United States championship between the champion AJ Styles and challenger Humberto Carrillo never began as Carrillo was attacked from behind during his entrance by The OC. As Styles gloated, Ricochet, Randy Orton, Drew McIntyre and Rey Mysterio all emerged to stake their claim to a title shot. Ricochet proposed the four men have a fatal-four way match to determine who would challenge Styles for the U.S. title tonight, and given the fact that the winner would have to compete in back-to-back matches, Styles accepted those terms. 

Rey Mysterio def. Ricochet (via pinfall), Randy Orton & Drew McIntyre in a fatal four-way match: Mysterio earned the victory with a small package on Ricochet. 

United States Championship -- Rey Mysterio def. AJ Styles via pinfall to win the title: The OC, who were ejected to the back earlier, reemerged later in the match after the referee had been inadvertently knocked out. Orton came out for the save, however, and nailed Styles with an RKO off the 619 from Mysterio, who then followed up with the Frog Splash for the title-winning victory. Post-match, Dominick Mysterio was out to celebrate the victory with his father. 

Later in the night ahead of the main event, Styles was asked about his loss, but the only words he was able to speak out of frustration were, "Randy Orton."

With Brock Lesnar and the WWE championship presumably on hiatus for a bit, the United States championship has once again become the top singles title on the Raw brand for the time being by default. That was made crystal clear as virtually the entire 9 p.m. ET hour was devoted to the title and featured some of the biggest names on the brand -- with one of the most legendary performers in history coming away with the strap one night after challenging Lesnar for the WWE championship. The segments also created a lot to look forward to such as the Orton-Styles feud reigniting with the heel and face roles reversed and the plethora of challengers that will be gunning for Mysterio which includes a dream one-on-one match (in WWE) with Ricochet. The Allstate Arena crowd was absolutely on fire for the title change as well, which was just the icing on the cake. Grade: A-

What else happened on Raw?

  • Rusev emerged from the crowd and attacked Bobby Lashley during the latter's bout with Titus O'Neil. He pummeled Lashley all the way up the ramp as Lana looked on, but was arrested before he could put Lashley through a table because he was served with a restraining order earlier in the day. He was, however, able to escape long enough to knock Lashley off the stage and kick over a steel pillar onto him for good measure as the police hauled him to the back. Lashley was shown being taken off on a stretcher following commercial. Later in the show, Lana said that she'll make sure "her Bobby" will be OK, and then she sarcastically thanked Caruso for asking how she was doing. 
  • AOP def. Curt Hawkins & Zack Ryder via pinfall in their return to in-ring action after a powerbomb/neckbreaker combo finishing maneuver. 
  • Andrade def. Akira Tozawa via pinfall after the Hammerlock DDT. 
  • Aleister Black cut a pre-taped promo on Buddy Murphy in which he told him there are repercussions for knocking on his door. While Murphy has a scheduled match on Monday night, Black said that he will come to collect. 
  • Buddy Murphy def. Matt Hardy via pinfall after a Kamigoye knee strike. Post-match, Murphy was about to tell Black that he was here to pick a fight, but before he could finish, Black rushed to the ring and sent him off following a brutal rebound running knee strike of his own. 
  • Asuka def. Charlotte Flair via pinfall with a rollup in a fantastic television match after again spewing green mist into Flair's face.
  • Erick Rowan def. Kyle Roberts (enhancement talent) via pinfall after the Iron Claw Slam.