WWE Raw results, Oct. 30, 2017: Braun Strowman returns to take out the trash

The "busy" Captain of the Raw Women's Traditional Survivor Series Team opts to replace herself in a match against Bayley with Nia Jax.

Last week, Alicia Fox hit Bayley with her own move en route to defeating The Huggable One and Sasha Banks to become the Women’s team captain for Raw at Survivor Series. This week, instead of competing in her initially scheduled contest with Bayley, Miss Fox decided instead to scout talent, swapping herself out for a returning Nia Jax under the pretense of focusing on her duties as captain.

Jax’s return was a world of trouble for Bayley, especially after an early onslaught that seemed to spell an early end for the former Raw Women’s Champion. Tripping up Nia on the ropes allowed Bayley a good bit of breathing room, but Nia powered out of a guillotine to bulldoze her opponent with a low shoulder block and a running leg drop to the throat. Nia’s emphatic victory impressed Fox, who immediately gave Jax a place on her squad at WWE’s fall classic.

After missing SmackDown's raid of Raw last week, Samoa Joe makes it clear that he has returned with a vengeance when he clashes with Titus Worldwide's Apollo Crews.

On a night full of comebacks, it’s safe to say Samoa Joe was a little excited for his own Raw return: Not only did he not even wait for Nia Jax to exit after the previous match before his music hit, but both his savage condemnation of the WWE Universe and the results of The Samoan Submission Machine’s first match back proved he hadn’t lost a step despite a two-month layoff.

The brave soul to challenge the two-time NXT Champion was Apollo Crews, who was looking for some redemption after being the first Superstar felled in the SmackDown LIVE siege last week. Crews took advantage of Joe’s rust with a display of athleticism that briefly put the big man on his heels, but a failed attempt at the Spinning Sit-out Powerbomb allowed Joe to power his way to a match-ending Coquina Clutch on Crews for the tapout victory. And then, he locked in another one on Titus O’Neil when the former WWE Tag Team Champion attempted to step to Joe after the bell.

Kurt Angle puts The Miz into an Intercontinental Title Match against Matt Hardy, hoping to replace The A-Lister in the Champion vs. Champion Match against Baron Corbin at Survivor Series.

Conspicuous by his absence from Raw’s opening gathering (and last week’s siege, for what it’s worth) was The Miz, who chose to arrive “fashionably late” and was placed into an Intercontinental Title defense by Kurt Angle for his troubles. The opponent? Matt Hardy, and while The A-Lister’s casual disrespect of Angle certainly landed him in more hot water than he would have liked, he put on an impressive show for the General Manager who called him nothing less than a coward.

Initially, it seemed the key to Miz’s victory would be the reunited Miztourage, who threatened to interfere early on and succeeded in doing so in the later goings of the match, landing cheap shots on the former Raw Tag Team Champion to slow him down. But The A-Lister sealed the deal without his cronies’ help, rolling under the ropes after a Twist of Fate, bouncing Hardy gullet-first off the ropes and closing the match with a devastating Skull-Crushing Finale.

The Undefeated Empress of Tomorrow looks to continue blazing a path through Monday Night Raw.

Give local competitor Stacie Cullen this: She is very, very brave. Scouted off the streets of Baltimore to face Asuka, the young Miss Cullen put up as good a fight as can be anticipated. Which is to say, not all that effective of one. The undefeated former NXT Women’s Champion decimated her opponent with reckless abandon; Cullen barely landed so much as a punch before The Empress of Tomorrow chopped her down to size and put her away with the excruciating Asuka Lock. The streak continues.

One week after a painful loss to Kane, Finn Bálor looks to redeem himself against The Swiss Cyborg.

Finn Bálor’s foray against a Machine didn’t end so well last week, but he fared much better against a Cyborg. Raw’s resident "extraordinary man" rebounded from his trouncing at the hands of Kane by defeating Cesaro in a thrilling singles contest that was nonetheless overshadowed by another late-game appearance from The Devil’s Favorite Demon.

Bálor’s victory was certainly hard-earned, as The King of Swing unleashed the full bounds of his power against his much quicker opponent. Finn turned the tide at record speed, taking out his foe and the lurking Sheamus with a dive to the outside before ending the bout with a top-rope double stomp to the back of Cesaro’s head. And then Kane emerged to attack Bálor atop the ramp, dropping him with a Tombstone Piledriver on the stage moments before the arrival of The Shield, whose Seth Rollins was scheduled for a bout with Kane next.

With his Shield brother-in-arms Dean Ambrose lurking at ringside, Seth Rollins goes to war with The Big Red Machine.

Once upon a time, Kane was Seth Rollins’ bodyguard, backup and Director of Operations. These days, he’s Rollins’ tormentor.

Minutes after ruthlessly attacking SmackDown General Manager Daniel Bryan (another former ally), The Devil’s Favorite Demon showed no mercy to Rollins in a singles bout on Raw. Kane all but shut out The Kingslayer’s offense save for a late stretch that stymied The Big Red Machine momentarily, or at least until Cesaro & Sheamus jumped Dean Ambrose at ringside, causing Rollins to take his eye off the ball.

The Architect paid for his distraction with a Chokeslam that cost him the match, and a 3-on-2 assault of The Shield by Kane and The Bar nearly cost him much more than that, as The Big Red Machine administered a ruthless Tombstone to Ambrose. When Rollins attempted to crawl atop his partner to protect him, The Devil’s Favorite Demon Tombstoned him as well.

Two of Monday Night Raw's toughest tandems create a true horror show in a knockdown, drag-out brawl where anything goes.

With all apologies to Drew Gulak, Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson may have won Halloween with their tag team costume as Southpaw Regional Wrestling's Tex Ferguson & Chadd 2 Badd. That said, they were unable to win the WWE tradition of an All Hallow’s Eve Trick or Street Fight against Heath Slater & Rhyno, who dressed as Santa and Mrs. Claus for the occasion. (Proving he would not be upstaged by Tex and Chadd, The Man Beast did not spare the blush.)

Give the good brothers credit for their creative — haunting, even — offense, but they got a little too cute for their own good when they put pumpkins over their own heads. Alas, Anderson’s impeded his vision and Gallows put his on backwards, allowing The Man Beast to catch Anderson off the turnbuckle and plunge him through a table with a spinebuster. A win for him and Slater, and plenty of candy for the kids.

Jason Jordan looks to change Elias' tune in painful fashion.

How does one retaliate after a guitar is smashed over one’s shoulder? For Jason Jordan, he had to settle for a symbolic gesture of retribution against Elias. But what a gesture it was.

The sinister singer was in the middle of debuting “The Ballad of Jason Jordan” when the former SmackDown Tag Team Champion rushed the ring for some payback. The ensuing throwdown caused Elias to lose his grip on his guitar, leading to a tussle between the two Superstars that Jordan eventually got the better of. Elias was forced to leave his brand-new six-string behind as he made his exit, and Jordan made sure his foe wouldn’t get it back, stomping the instrument into splinters.

With WWE Crusierweight Champion Enzo Amore keeping a close eye on the action, Kalisto takes his high-flying attack to the outspoken Drew Gulak.

Last week, Drew Gulak did Enzo Amore’s talking for him. This week, he did the WWE Cruiserweight Champion’s fighting for him against Kalisto.

And while 205 Live’s resident reform artist can produce a heck of a PowerPoint presentation, all his know-how and speechifying (“There’s only one word to describe you … S-O-F-T-SOFT!”) was useless against the dazzling offense that nearly carried Kalisto to a WWE Cruiserweight Title win over Enzo last week. An emphatic Salida del Sol finished off Gulak, but The King of Flight still ended the night on a sour note, as Amore rushed the ring and beat the luchador down after the bell.