Monday Night Raw – October 22nd 2018

On the first episode of Raw following the Super Show-Down in Melbourne, Australia, Kurt Angle had announced that the traditional battle of the brands would be taking place at Survivor Series. The two highest profile matches on the card would be the five on five contests – one for the men and one for the women.

Kurt had then gone on to name his teams. The women's team he had selected was Elena D'Agostino, Becky Lynch, Natalya, Bayley and Ruby Riott. He had gone on to add that the first name he would have picked, had he been able to, was his Raw Women's Champion, Ronda Rousey. However, Zelina Vega had informed him that she was ruling her client out of selection, saying that The Arm Collector owed nothing to him or anyone else on Raw. Naturally, that announcement had been heavily booed by the fans.

Kurt had made the unusual decision to put his chosen five women in a match against each other that night. It was a battle royal, with the right to captain the team on the line. It had been won by Becky Lynch, to the delight of most of the audience.

The following week, the five women from Smackdown's team, led by their captain, the Smackdown Women's Champion Sonya Deville, had shown up at Raw and attacked the Raw women in their locker room. A savage beat down had been inflicted, leaving all five women lying.

Now, the week after the attack, Becky had called her team together in the locker room for a discussion about what had happened to them the previous week. There was a loud cheer from the fans watching on the big screen in the arena when the women were shown. None of them looked happy in the least, especially the captain herself.

"Ladies," Becky said, "since last Monday night, I've done nothing but think about those bitches from Smackdown having the barefaced nerve to come to our arena, to our locker room, and assault us all. I'm sure you've had it on your minds, too."

"Oh, it's been on my mind alright," Ruby Riott said over murmurs of agreement from the others. "So what are we going to do to get back at them?"

"Right," Bayley said in agreement. "You're the captain, Becky. Let's hear your plan for revenge."

"It's not revenge that concerns me," Becky explained. "We've got to be smarter than that. What matters is winning the match at Survivor Series, and ladies, I'm concerned by Kurt's team selection."

"Meaning what?" Elena D'Agostino demanded, standing with her hands on her hips.

"Meaning we're without the most dominant woman on Raw right now. We're without the Raw Women's Championship. Don't get me wrong, I don't like Ronda Rousey," Becky clarified. "None of you like Ronda. Kurt doesn't like Ronda, and he doesn't like Zelina Vega. But," she said, holding up a finger to emphasise the coming point. "Imagine what those Smackdown women would be thinking if we managed to get Ronda on the team."

The other four women looked around at each other. "I know what I'd be thinking if I was them," Bayley said with a little shudder and an instinctive touch of her arm that had at one time been broken by The Arm Collector.

Natalya said, "Whether we agree that the team would be better with Ronda or not, Vega told Kurt no. Plus we already have five people."

"We can cross that bridge when we come to it," Becky said. "But first, I'm prepared to go and speak to Zelina and ask her to reconsider Ronda being on Team Raw. Those in favour, raise your hands."

Becky raised her own hand, then looked around at the others. Natalya sighed and raised hers.

"Fine," Ruby grumbled, reluctantly raising her hand.

Bayley followed suit, looking a lot less than happy about it.

"Daga?" Becky asked as all eyes turned to the Italian, who had been in a rivalry with Rousey since her debut.

It took a moment for Elena to relent and go along with her teammates. "Alright, I do it for Raw," she said in her usual awkward English, putting her hand up.

"Then it's decided," Becky proclaimed. "I will go and speak to Vega, and we'll see what happens."

A short time later, Becky was shown approaching a locker with Ronda Rousey's name on the door. She didn't look thrilled about the task at hand, but she resolved herself to knock on the door.

After a few seconds, the door was opened by Zelina Vega, who looked irritated by the intrusion. "What?" she demanded impatiently.

Becky got straight to the point. "As the captain of Team Raw, I'd like you to reconsider your decision to rule Ronda out of selection. We would like her on the team."

"You would like her on the team," Zelina repeated slowly, as if she was trying to comprehend the sentence. Then her expression hardened. "You think I care what you would like?" she spat. "You think it has any relevance to me whatsoever? Let me tell you, it doesn't. The Arm Collector owes you nothing. The Arm Collector owes nothing to anyone on Monday Night Raw. So am I going to make her available for selection? No! Now get lost before I bring Ronda out here and have her send you into Survivor Series with one arm."

The two women glared at each other for a moment before Becky turned and departed, shaking her head in disappointment.

For the episode's main event, Becky and Elena had been booked to team together in a tag team match against Liv Morgan and Sarah Logan, two women who had missed out on the Survivor Series team.

After a contest lasting just over ten minutes, it appeared that a fairly routine win was coming the way of Becky and Elena when the Italian lined up a Virtuosa Kick on Logan. Ronda and Zelina were shown watching on a monitor backstage, not looking impressed by what they were seeing.

Some booing from the crowd was the first indication that something was wrong. The reason soon became apparent. The entire Smackdown women's team had come through the crowd and were rushing the ring.

"Smackdown are here again!" Clementine called on commentary. "Where are security? Get them out of here, for God's sake!"

"And the beat down is on again," Cole said heatedly as the five new arrivals quickly swamped Elena, beating her down to the mat, attacking her like a pack of dogs.

Too late, Becky returned to the ring from the outside, only to immediately catch a vicious kick to the side of the head from Sonya Deville, the Smackdown captain and Women's Champion.

"There's your Raw women!" Sonya yelled at the crowd, hyped up by the damage she had inflicted on Becky.

The Smackdown women moved on to beating the hell out of Logan and Morgan, for no other reason than to prove a point.

Ronda and Zelina were shown for a second time. Zelina shook her head, finding the Raw performance embarrassing. "Come on, let's get out of here," she said to her client as she turned to lead the way away from the monitor.

In the ring, the four Raw women were being decimated. Logan and Morgan were discarded over the top rope so that Becky and Elena could be targeted more ferociously.

At last, the crowd were given something to cheer about. Bayley, Ruby and Natalya came running onto the stage and down the entrance ramp.

"Here comes the cavalry!" Clementine cried. "The rest of Team Raw are coming to save Becky and Elena!"

"Yes! Get 'em, girls!" Coach shouted.

The three Raw team members slid under the bottom rope. Bayley took down Carmella with a clothesline, while Ruby immediately hit a Riott Kick on Asuka, drawing a loud pop from the fans. Natalya started exchanging blows with Charlotte.

The element of surprise had helped the Raw women initially, but it didn't take long for the numbers game to catch up to them. Billie Kay was the final member of the blue brand's team. She ran at Bayley and almost took her head off with the Shades of Kay. It took all energy out of the crowd, who were resigned to seeing a massacre.

"Our women are getting torn apart here, for the second week in a row," Clementine said. "This looks very bad for us ahead of Survivor Series."

The shot changed to show the arena's parking garage. Ronda and Zelina walked into the shot, approaching a car that was waiting for them. Zelina reached the car first and opened one of the rear doors.

Before getting in, she hesitated, a thoughtful expression appearing on her face. She turned slowly to face Ronda, who stood emotionless beside her. A cheer started to go up as the fans watched on the big screen.

After a second, Zelina seemed to have a change of heart. She slammed the car door shut and said, "Back inside, come on," before leading her client back towards the arena.

The shot returned to show the ring, where Natalya had been put in a Figure Eight by Charlotte. The fans in the background didn't seem to care anymore. They were all on their feet, looking towards the stage, certain that Ronda was going to come out. There was a real buzz about the place.

"Guys, Zelina Vega is bringing Ronda Rousey back into the building!" Coach exclaimed. "Is Rousey going to come out here and get involved in this fight?"

"It sure looks like Becky Lynch was right earlier tonight. Team Raw needs the Raw Women's Champion," Cole said.

As he finished speaking, Ronda's music began to play. All of a sudden, it sounded more like a superhero's music than a villain's. The crowd erupted, apparently feeling exactly the same vibe.

"And here she comes!" Clementine yelled. "Ronda Rousey on her way to the ring! Let's hope she's coming to help Raw, not to finish them off!"

Ronda had stormed ahead of Zelina on her way down the ramp. Seeing the threat incoming, Sonya had dispatched Billie Kay to prevent Rousey getting into the ring. It went about as well as could have been expected. As Billie came running towards her, Ronda broke into a jog of her own and swung a devastating clothesline that connected flush with the Australian's jaw. It was like someone being hit in the face with a tree branch, and it had the same effect.

"Oh, what a clothesline!" Clem yelled as the fans erupted. There was now no doubt: Ronda was there to help Team Raw.

The remaining four Smackdown women had stopped beating down the other members of the Raw team and were awaiting Ronda.

It didn't put Rousey off at all. She slid under the bottom rope and immediately started swinging away with right hands at Deville and her team, who all rushed her at once.

"Down goes Asuka!" Clementine yelled. "Down goes Carmella! Down goes Deville! Rousey with those bone-shattering right hands, laying waste to Team Smackdown!"

Charlotte had tried to play it clever while Ronda had been dealing with the others. Picking what she thought was the right moment, she ran at Rousey. It didn't work out as she planned. Ronda was able to scoop her up on her shoulders and deliver her Samoan Drop Slam.

"Charlotte taken out by Ronda!" Cole called. The crowd erupted at the impact.

Carmella was the next one to get up. She was scooped up onto Ronda's shoulders and slammed down with the same move, to another huge reaction.

"Rousey is on fire!" Coach cried.

Asuka and Sonya were both getting, back up, but so was Becky Lynch. Becky grabbed hold of Sonya, getting her in position for a Bexploder suplex, while Ronda scooped up Asuka onto her shoulders. Both women hit their finishers at the same time, putting and end to the Smackdown women.

The fans were giving Ronda a standing ovation. While the massacre had been taking place, Zelina had walked around to the ring announcer's area. With a microphone in hand, she climbed up the ring steps and stepped through the ropes. She approached Becky and delivered a simple message. "You wanted Ronda available for selection for Team Raw. She's available."

"Yes!" Clementine cried in delight as the fans went wild and Ronda's music hit. Message delivered, Zelina started leading her client out of the ring.

"Ronda Rousey is available for Team Raw!" Coach shouted. "Becky Lynch has gotten what she wanted, but can she make it work?"

Becky was shown with a happy, but thoughtful expression on her face, pondering the same question that Cole put out there. "But how will the captain make it work? Team Raw can only have five women. For Rousey to be added, someone's going to have to step down or be kicked out. Who is it going to be?"