WWE Monday Night Raw results and observations (10/03/16): The Boss is the champ once again

WWE decided to shake things up a bit Monday night by putting a one-on-one women's match in the main event of its flagship television program, Raw.

While that probably wouldn't be a big deal in other forms of sports and entertainment, in WWE, it is, and it made for a historic installment of television at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

Before I delve into my observations, here are the full match results:

- Brian Kendrick def. T.J. Perkins

- Braun Strowman def. Chase Silver

- Sami Zayn def. Titus O'Neil

- Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson def. The Golden Truth

- The New Day def. Kevin Owens & Chris Jericho

- Tony Nese def. Rich Swann

- Cesaro & Sheamus def. Raul White & Mark Carradine

- WWE Raw Women's championship – Sasha Banks def. Charlotte

Banks wins the title in the main event

For the first time in nearly 12 years, WWE put a one-on-one women's match in the main event of Raw.

Back in December of 2004, it was Trish Stratus defending her WWE Women's championship against Lita. This past Monday night, it was Charlotte defending her WWE Raw Women's title against Banks.

And like Lita did more than a decade ago, Banks dethroned the champion after a very memorable match.

Banks' victory made her champion for the second time, as her first title victory also came over Charlotte on an episode of Raw back in July. But that match was not the main event.

This one, however, closed the show.

So what made this match so special?

For one, it was very good. I don't think it was the best we have seen from either woman, but it was still very good. As expected, Banks and Charlotte took some risks with their bodies. Banks did yet another dive to the outside of the ring that didn't quite look right.

Charlotte upped the ante by doing a corkscrew moonsault from the top rope all the way to the floor. She barely landed the move, but the fact that she even tried it deserves some merit.

What made the match really special, though, was that it was put in the main event without any outside shenanigans or craziness. It was taken seriously as a championship match between two of the company's best female performers.

WWE played a stellar video package before the match and gave the women a significant amount of time to produce a good match — although the television audience watching at home got interrupted with two sets of commercial breaks.

The best part of the match, in my opinion, was the reaction from the Los Angeles fans to Banks winning. It was as loud as any crowd reaction any new champion has received all year.

I hope the match quality, the reaction of the fans and hopefully the viewership numbers tell WWE that a women's match ending the show could happen on regular basis and maybe even on pay-per-view.

WWE would be breaking new ground by doing so. UFC has already proven it is light-years ahead of WWE by having Rhonda Rousey headline multiple cards and having a women's fight (Amanda Nunes versus Meisha Tate) close out its historic UFC 200 pay-per-view — although that was not the promotion's first choice. Regardless, it still happened.

With that said, why not have Charlotte and Banks headline Hell in a Cell in a match that carries the event's namesake?

Charlotte is going to get a rematch anyway, so why not increase the stakes and make history by having the first women's Hell in a Cell match? I honestly don't see where else these two could go.

Sure, they could have another singles match and make it more epic than their previous encounters, but why not make a little bit more history, WWE?

Reigns vs. Rusev inside Hell in a Cell

Speaking of Hell in a Cell, Reigns and Rusev will presumably finally settle their issue inside of one for the United States title at the pay-per-view.

The feud that will seemingly never end will finally end … or at least that's what I think.

As I type this, I'm not really sure which way this match goes. I think it'd be easy to have Reigns retain the title and simply move on to another challenger, but something tells me that WWE is not going to have Reigns hold that title for very long.

New Day, Owens/Jericho segment was amazing

While the main event was what most people will remember about this program, I'll also remember the great talking segment between Owens, Jericho and The New Day.

Firstly, it was highly entertaining. I thought the exchange between both sides was hilarious. The line from Xavier Woods about not swimming had me on the floor laughing.

Jericho putting all three members of The New Day on the list had me in stitches as well.

Secondly, I also liked was the tiny seed of dissention that was planted between Owens and Jericho. It wasn't much and lasted no more than 30 seconds, but when Jericho and Owens looked at other for that short length of time, it was quality television.

The fans in Los Angeles recognized it, too, and helped the noise rise up a few decibels as a result.

WWE booking Anderson, Gallows in reverse

After having Gallows and Anderson lose to The New Day over and over and over and over again, WWE finally realized that Raw doesn't have a ton of depth in the tag team divisions on either Raw or Smackdown Live and probably shouldn't just repeatedly beat one like a drum for no rhyme or reason.

To rectify this, WWE booked Gallows and Anderson in an enhancement match of sorts against the oft-missing Golden Truth and even put together video package on the tandem talking about how dominant they have been — except the 12 times they lost to The New Day.

While having Gallows and Anderson collect a few victories is a sound strategy, it feels like they're being booked in reverse. This should have been the first step WWE took with these two after the brand split.

Instead, WWE sent them right after The New Day, had them try to be funny and lose about a dozen times.

Now, it is having Gallows and Anderson beat teams like The Golden Truth with the hopes that people forget all about those losses to the current WWE Raw Tag Team champions.

Kendrick beats Perkins?

WWE made a couple of mistakes with this one.

Firstly, it advertised this match as a championship match last week, only to change that at presumably the last minute.

Then, it had Kendrick defeat Perkins to put him in line for another title shot down the line.

Firstly, why is Perkins losing less than a month into his title reign? Sure, he has beaten Kendrick with the title on the line, but can we protect anyone in this company from taking a loss when they don't have to?

Secondly, there has to be a better way to put Kendrick in line for a title shot other than him beating the champion. There has to be, right? WWE does this throughout the company. It even said as much with Owens and Jericho saying they had to beat The New Day before they earned a title shot against The New Day.

I don't understand that logic and it does not help the champions remain strong, especially someone like Perkins who is carrying a title that was just re-introduced a couple of weeks ago.

But why not have Kendrick pick up a couple of wins against some of the other members of the cruiserweight division? Why not Cedric Alexander? Why not Lince Dorado? Why not Gran Metalik? If you're WWE, you signed these guys for a reason.

Nope. Let's have him beat the only person that makes the least amount of sense.

Now, we're probably going to get yet another match between these two at Hell in a Cell.