WWE invades the Scottrade Center in St. Louis, Missouri for the May 2nd, 2016 edition of Monday Night RAW. This is the first episode after Payback 2016, where Vince McMahon decided that Shane & Stephanie will have equal control over the show.
– After a video recapping Sunday’s Payback pay-per-view, Stephanie McMahon comes out to open the show. She is quickly interrupted by Shane, who she hands a gift to as a “peace offering.” It’s the photo of Shane and Vince that Vince stomped on shortly after Shane’s return. Stephanie says she wants to hear Shane’s ideas for tonight’s show, but before he can start he’s interrupted by Kevin Owens. Owens says he has an idea for tonight: Give him a title match against The Miz. He’s interrupted by Cesaro, who says he’s the one who deserves a rematch with The Miz. Shane tells them they’re going to fight over it tonight, and the winner gets a shot at The Miz’s IC Title.
– Cesaro def. Kevin Owens via DQ: The Miz and Maryse are on commentary for this one. Cesaro starts off on the offensive with a series of uppercuts. He beats Owens down at ringside, then throws him back in the ring for a cross body splash off the top for a 2 count. Owens comes back with a superkick and a senton splash for a 2 count. Cesaro hits a suplex on Owens off the top rope, but K.O. recovers and sends him to the outside. Owens comes off the apron with a frogsplash onto Cesaro on the floor at ringside. Back in the ring, Cesaro starts coming back, but Owens shuts him down with a German suplex and a cannonball in the corner for a near-fall. They brawl around ringside, and Cesaro gives The Miz an uppercut while he’s down there. He goes to swing Owens, but The Miz runs in and beats down Cesaro and the match ends in a DQ. Owens gets in Miz’s face, and the three of them start brawling. Sami Zayn hits the ring and joins the fight. Zayn hits a t-bone suplex on Miz, and a big boot on Owens.
– In the back, Dean Ambrose tells Stephanie he thinks her being nice to Shane is just an act. She tells Ambrose she’ll go on the Ambrose Asylum tonight and he can ask her anything he wants.
– R-Truth is in the back giving a pep talk to Tyler Breeze. He says he’s going to teach Breeze how to rap. Goldust confronts the new duo, and dares them to fight him. Goldust introduces his new partner, Fandango.
– AJ is in the locker room talking to Anderson and Gallows. They tell him he was “phenomenal” last night, and there’s no way Roman Reigns leaves Extreme Rules as the champion. And with that, Reigns walks in to confront AJ. He says after last night he has a lot of respect for AJ, but not his two friends. He challenges them to a 6-man tag match with him and The Usos, and AJ accepts.
– Tyler Breeze def. Goldust: Fandango comes out with Goldust, and R-Truth is accompanying Breeze. Breeze gets the roll-up from behind for the pinfall victory in a very short match, as Goldust was distracted by R-Truth’s antics at ringside.
– The New Day comes out to cut a promo on The Vaudevillains. He also talks about Enzo Amore’s injury he sustained at Payback, and showed a replay. The Vaudevillains interrupt and cut a promo on Enzo, saying a real man would have gotten back up from his bump last night. The Dudleys interrupt and say they didn’t beat anyone last night because the referee stopped the match. The Dudleys say to make it right, the tag team tournament needs to restart. Big Cass interrupts to hit the ring and everyone starts brawling.
– New Day & Big Cass def. The Vaudevillains & The Dudley Boyz: Cole explains that Shane & Stephanie made this match during the commercial break. The New Day gets lots of offense in on The Vaudevillains in the opening moments. Bubba eventually gets the tag and goes to work on Xavier, all while lexturing The Vaudevillians on what they should have done in the ring. The Dudleys and Vaudevillains take turns beating on Kofi until he gets the hot tag to Big Cass, who clears the ring. He hits a fallaway slam and a splash in the corner on English, followed up by a big boot and elbow drop. Big E hits a belly to belly suplex on Gotch on the floor at ringside. Kofi breaks up a 3D attempt on Big Cass, and Cass hits his finisher on D-Von for the win.
– They air a video showing the history between Ric Flair and Charles Robinson, who once was part of Flair’s entourage in WCW and wrestled in mixed-gender matches.
– Emma def. Becky Lynch: After several minutes of back-and-forth action, Emma takes control with a suplex and a boot to the face. Becky comes back with a flying forearm in the corner and a t-bone suplex. Emma pokes her in the hit and hits a piledriver for the win.
– Dean Ambrose and Stephanie McMahon are in the ring for the Ambrose Asylum, and Ambrose starts grilling Stephanie about why she’s being so nice. Stephanie says she’s not mad, but she is going to cancel the Ambrose Asylum. As Ambrose is leaving, Stephanie introduces Chris Jericho who will be returning to host The Highlight Reel. Jericho comes out and brawls with Ambrose until he hits the Codebreaker on him in the ring. Jericho smashes Ambrose’s houseplant over his head before heading to the back.
– Battle Royal for #1 Contendership for the U.S. Title: Titus O’Neil makes his RAW return as one of the competitors in this battle royal. Titus gets several eliminations in the opening moments. Sheamus eliminates Apollo Crews. Ziggler eliminates Corbin and Corbin beats him down at ringside for it. Sheamus eliminates titus, then Del Rio eliminates Sin Cara, leaving the final four of Sheamus, Rusev, Zack Ryder, and Del Rio. Rusev hits Sheamus with a superkick, then Del Rio superkicks Sheamus to the floor to eliminate him. Rusev throws Del Rio to the apron and Ryder dropkicks him to the floor for the elimination. Ryder and Rusev are the final two. Ryder gets in a missile dropkick off the second rope and a running knee in the corner, but Rusev overpowers him and throws him to the outside for the win. Winner: Rusev
– Ric Flair and Charlotte come out to the ring to say they did not screw over Natalya at Payback, and they bring out Charles Robinson to endorse their side of the story. Natalya comes out to confront them. Natalya drops Charlotte and kicks her out of the ring, then gets in Ric Flair’s face. Flair takes off his coat and his Rolex, then walks into a slap in the face and a Sharpshooter from Natalya. Charlotte drags Ric out of the ring for the save and Natalya steals his Rolex and Hall of Fame ring.
– In the back, Stephanie sets up a rematch between Charlotte and Natalya, with Ric Flair banned from ringside.
– AJ Styles, Karl Anderson & Luke Gallows def. Roman Reigns & The Usos: Styles and Reigns start things off. Gallows tags himself in and goes back-and-forth with the Usos. Anderson gets the tag and goes to work on Jey Uso. AJ gets tagged in, but then gets distracted by Gallows interfering. After lecturing Gallows to let him handle it, AJ walks into a superkick from Jey. Reigns gets the tag and clears the ring. Styles blocks a Superman punch with a Pele kick and Reigns tags in Jimmy Uso. Gallows and Anderson hit the Boot of Doom on Reigns at ringside. Back in the ring, AJ hits the Phenomenal Forearm on Jimmy for the pinfall victory.
– After the match, Anderson and Gallows try to gang up on Reigns with a steel chair, but AJ won’t take part. They hand AJ a chair to hit Reigns with, but AJ drops the chair. The Usos come from behind and lay AJ out of with a chair, then Superkick Gallows and Anderson out of the ring. AJ picks up the chair and gets his revenge on the Usos. Reigns gets up behind AJ and hits him with the Superman punch then beats him down at ringside. Reigns powerbombs AJ through the announce table to close out the show.