5 Ups & 7 Downs For WWE Raw (8 Sept - Results & Review)

1. AJ Lights It Up

Seth Rollins and CM Punk have been feuding off-and-on for nearly two years at this point, and in the span of eight days, it all suddenly feels fresh and invigorated.

The moment Becky Lynch aligned with her husband to cost Punk the World Heavyweight Championship, it opened the floodgates to AJ Lee returning to WWE, adding a new wrinkle to this rivalry and breathing life into a Raw main event scene that’s desperate for a shot of adrenaline.

Lee made her return to Raw and spoke about her journey during the past decade before deciding to come back to WWE. She lamented that she and Becky have a lot in common and could have been friends, which brought Lynch out to rant and rave about how AJ was wearing her Intercontinental Championship.

AJ was fantastic here. During her last run, she played either the deranged, unhinged woman or the quirky nerd. Monday, she updated her character to be quirky and mischievous, bringing elements of her past run forward without the obvious politically incorrect baggage. She talked about how she wore the IC title around the house all weekend, slept with it on, but it got weird when she was getting dressed Monday morning…

When Becky took off her ridiculous sunglasses and screamed, AJ noticed her black eye and wondered aloud whether it was “one of my tiny fists of fury” that did that. She apologized, noting that “Sometimes I go feral and blackout.” Rollins came out to defuse the situation, but when he entered the ring to retrieve the title, AJ stepped in front of the belt and playfully blocked him (like Lynch did to Punk last week).

All of this led to Rollins being run off by Punk and agreeing to a mixed tag match at Wrestlepalooza. Great stuff all around, but the real story here is that AJ felt like she was fully part of the show again, not a special guest star. She was authentic on the mic and comfortable mixing it up. This bodes well for the coming weeks and months.