RAW Results and Recap: Reigns and Strowman Make HIAC Official

Kimberly Schueler
Roman Reigns struggles to tag in Braun Strowman. (source: WWE)
Monday Night RAW – August 27, 2018

Results for Monday Night RAW – 8/27/18

  • Baron Corbin def. Finn Balor, in a No Disqualification match
  • Sasha Banks def. Dana Brooke
  • Seth Rollins (c) def. Kevin Owens, for the WWE Intercontinental Championship
  • The Revival (Scott Dawson & Dash Wilder) def. The B-Team (Curtis Axel & Bo Dallas)
  • Natalya def. Alicia Fox
  • Bobby Lashley def. The Ascension (Konnor & Viktor), in a Handicap match
  • Dean Ambrose def. Jinder Mahal
  • Roman Reigns & Braun Strowman def. Drew McIntyre  & Dolph Ziggler, via Disqualification

The show picks up where we left off with the Universal Championship picture last week: Roman Reigns enters the ring and Braun Strowman confronts him. The Monster says he’ll cash in his Money in the Bank contract at the Hell in a Cell pay-per-view, in a cage where The Shield can’t help Reigns. Reigns agrees to the match and they shake hands.

Later in the show, we see Strowman cash in his contract for September 16, to make the match official.

After his signature record scratch, Dolph Ziggler enters the arena with Drew McIntyre to add a wrinkle to that story. Ziggler says he and McIntyre need a new challenge before he rematches with Seth Rollins for the Intercontinental Championship and challenges Reigns and Strowman to a tag team match.

RAW Acting General Manager Baron Corbin—in his first act in this authority position—approves Reigns vs. Strowman for the PPV and also sets up that tag team match for tonight’s main event.


Corbin then puts himself in a match against Finn Balor—and specifies NOT as the Demon—and starts it immediately to catch Balor off-guard. Corbin ends up getting disqualified from that match when he hits Balor with a chair, but he abuses his power as GM by restarting the match with a No DQ stipulation—which he claims he “forgot” to announce originally. He further attacks Balor while he’s down, hits him with the chair and some of his signature moves, and wins the restarted match.


With Ziggler and McIntyre occupied by the upcoming main event, Seth Rollins enters the ring to issue an open challenge for the Intercontinental Championship. Kevin Owens answers that challenge, saying that his life has been a living hell since he came back to RAW, and he’s not leaving Toronto without a championship. Rollins defeats Owens to retain his title in an aggressive match in which both men pull out all the stops in front of an extremely hot crowd.

After the match, the dejected Owens sits in the ring for a while, declares, “I quit,” and leaves the arena.


The segment that sets up the RAW Women’s Championship match for Hell in a Cell and the all-women Evolution pay-per-view is, oddly, kicked off by a man. Elias enters the ring to play guitar and cut a promo on Toronto, and WWE Hall of Famer and Toronto native Trish Stratus enters to defend her city. She and Elias exchange insults until Stratus finally slaps The Drifter.

Ronda Rousey and Natalya enter for Nattie’s match against Alicia Fox, and Alexa Bliss (seconding Fox) cuts a promo on all the women in the ring. She calls Stratus “irrelevant” and says she’ll show why she’s replaced her, during their match at Evolution. She also invokes her rematch clause against Rousey for Hell in a Cell.

Bliss also brings out Trish’s old rival (and recent Bliss henchwoman) Mickie James, but James doesn’t end up getting involved in the upcoming match.

Surprisingly, none of the other women get involved when Natalya proceeds to defeat Alicia Fox. She taps Fox out to the Sharpshooter, and poses with Stratus and Rousey afterwards.

Backstage, the Bellas announce that they’ll be returning to the ring next week. Later in the show, we find out this will be against the Riott Squad.


Before the main event, we see Reigns and Strowman have a tense conversation about their upcoming tag and HIAC matches, leaving viewers wondering how they will work together. They end up defeating Ziggler and McIntyre via disqualification, but Reigns definitely doesn’t leave the arena feeling like a winner.

During the match, Reigns doesn’t tag in Strowman for a long time despite the Monster’s urgings. When he finally does tag Braun, Strowman stares down McIntyre, but doesn’t actually enter the ring. Ziggler and McIntyre beat down Reigns until it gets the match thrown out, and Strowman doesn’t help his tag partner. Instead, after the bell rings, he grabs Reigns and yells: “I told you, I’m not finished with you!”

He, Ziggler, and McIntyre beat up Reigns until Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins run out to make the save, But Ambrose and Rollins were clearly taken by surprise, and The Shield falls to the divide-and conquer strategy. Strowman, Ziggler, and McIntyre pose to close the show, and it looks like the feud between Reigns and Strowman will only heat up as we approach Hell in a Cell. Rollins vs. Ziggler certainly won’t cool off either.


Also on RAW…

WWE legends and Hall of Famers—including Ric Flair, Mick Foley, and Christian—weigh in on the upcoming “Last Time Ever” Triple H vs. Undertaker match at the Super Show-Down in Australia.


Dana Brooke wrestles her first singles match in nine months. She (with Titus Worldwide in her corner) loses to Sasha Banks (with Bayley in her corner) after tapping out to the Banks Statement.


Dean Ambrose defeats Jinder Mahal, pinning him after hitting a Dirty Deeds. In the ring and in backstage segments, we see more of the testier, more serious version of Ambrose that returned from injury a few weeks ago.


The Revival defeat the B Team. They pin Curtis Axel after a Shatter Machine, then hit another on Bo Dallas after the match is over. They grab the tag titles and cut a promo on the RAW Tag Team Champions. Later in the show, we find out a title match between these two teams has been set up for next week.


Bobby Lashley defeats The Ascension in a handicap match.

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