WWE Monday Night Raw results and observations (10/23/17): Smackdown Live takes over

The fans in Green Bay, Wisc. saw a pretty eventful edition of Raw this past Monday, as WWE immediately pivoted away from Tables, Ladders and Chairs and went full steam ahead to building Survivor Series.

For the second in a row, Survivor Series will feature matches that will pit Raw against Smackdown Live and we surprisingly got a glimpse of that Monday night, and it made for an exciting end interesting end to the program.

Before I delve into my full analysis, here are the full match results from the Resch Center:

- AJ Styles, Dean Ambrose & Seth Rollins def. The Miz, Sheamus & Cesaro

- Kane def. Finn Balor

- Asuka def. Emma

- Jason Jordan def. Elias via disqualification

- Alicia Fox def. Sasha Banks & Bayley

- Gran Metalik, Kalisto, Mustafa Ali, Cedric Alexander & Rich Swann def. Enzo Amore, Drew Gulak, Tony Nese, Noam Dar, Ariya Daivari

Smackdown Live fired the first shot

Everything between Raw and Smackdown Live seemed all hunky dory heading into Monday night.

Within the framework of the story, the two brands have had a friendly working relationship. They came to an agreement on having Styles cross brands to replace Bray Wyatt at TLC.

Heck, color commentator Corey Graves now announces for both shows since John Bradshaw Layfield left the company.

But that all changed Monday night, as Smackdown Live commissioner Shane McMahon led a contingent of the brand's finest to bum rush Raw general manager Kurt Angle and the Raw locker room.

It all started in the final segment of the program when Angle was about to announce the participants for the men's Survivor Series match.

But before he get could get to the names, McMahon's music began playing. However, instead of walking out from the stage, McMahon entered the arena through the crowd with a slew of Smackdown Live stars behind him.

Among the Smackdown Live stars were New Day, Bobby Roode, Baron Corbin, Becky Lynch, Shinsuke Nakamura and even Styles.

Smackdown Live then took another page out of The Shield's playbook and surrounded the ring. McMahon then got into the ring, grabbed a microphone and simply said, "Under … siege."

That was enough to scare the bejesus out of Angle, who went scurrying backstage for what I assume were reinforcements.

The Smackdown Live roster followed him and commenced to destroying everyone and everything in sight. Among their victims were Titus O'Neil, Apollo Crews, Balor, Jordan, Matt Hardy, some random production intern, and even Rollins and Ambrose.

The Raw women got it, too, as Lynch, Natalya, Tamina and Carmella laid waist to Banks, Fox, Bayley and Mickie James.

The Smackdown Live stars then got a hold of Angle and dragged him to the ring, where McMahon told him to bring his gold medals and whatever is left of the Raw roster to Survivor Series to finish the fight.

In a vacuum, I must say that this segment was well done. The intensity with which Smackdown Live went about its attack reminded me of Nexus back in 2010.

But life isn't always seen in a vacuum, which means we also have to look at things on a macro level.

When I do this, I tend to think of all of the blemishes this leaves on WWE's overall narrative.

Firstly, we saw something similar to this last year when the shows invaded each other. I think it was better done this year, but I probably would have liked it even more if it wasn't done a year ago.

Secondly, it puts a lot of Smackdown Live's babyfaces in the position of being heels. The New Day were leading the charge in an all-out bum rush of the Raw locker room. I know a big part of their act is taking advantage of the fact that they are a trio, but the Smackdown Live roster is obviously a lot bigger than three people.

It felt weird seeing Nakamura just hanging out while watching his comrades destroy people. What about Styles, who was just teaming with Rollins and Ambrose earlier in the night only to beat the daylights out of them later on?

And for what? Because he is on a show that is blue? I'll never understand why a wrestler should be so loyal to their respective brand, especially when they can change sides on essentially on an annual basis.

It's one thing to compete against each other, but it's another to flat-out hate each other for really no apparent reason.

This time last year, New Day was waving the flag for Raw, but feel so strongly for Smackdown Live they're doing this?

What about Chad Gable? He was just in a tag team with Jason Jordan six or seven months ago, but on Monday, Gable was the first person to attack Jordan in the locker room.

Why? Because one was wearing a blue shirt and the other one wasn't? Smackdown Live loyalty overrides American Alpha loyalty? I guess.

I fully expect for their to be some type of revenge on Raw's part either on Tuesday's edition of Smackdown Live or in the ensuing weeks, and it will be just as strange to see Bayley ganging up on someone, just like it was last year.

Paul Heyman ran down Jinder Mahal

Besides a pair Survivor Series matches, the other major component to the upcoming pay-per-view will be the champion versus champion matches that will take place.

While I am most looking forward to seeing Rollins and Ambrose face The Usos, the marquee match among this group will be WWE Universal champion Brock Lesnar face Mahal, the current WWE champion.

Lesnar, along with his advocate Heyman, appeared on Raw Monday to respond to Mahal's challenge from last week.

In so many words, Heyman called Mahal a paper champion that was essentially unworthy of facing Lesnar, whom he believes to be the one true champion of WWE.

I expressed my issues with this match in my Smackdown Live recap last week, but at least we should be getting some quality microphone work from Heyman, as he provided some more Monday night.

With Heyman, it's not just what he says, it is also how he says it. On Monday, he took a match that in the grand scheme of things means very little and made it seem like there is some juice to a Lesnar-Mahal match after all.

That is exactly why Heyman is there to begin with.

Asuka remains undefeated

There seems to be some division among fans about how WWE has presented Asuka during her first two nights on the Raw roster.

Just to recap, Asuka is 2-0 on the main roster after winning two hard fought matches over Emma.

Those two victories are just the latest in her unprecedented winning streak that began when she signed with WWE/NXT two years ago.

WWE has made fans explicitly aware of Asuka's historic run in NXT, which included a 523-day reign as NXT Women's champion, through either vignettes or the announcers pumping her tires.

Yet, there are wrestling fans and pundits out there that believe that because she didn't completely destroy Emma at TLC, and eventually Raw, that WWE is hurting her in some way.

In my opinion, that could not be further from the truth.

The mystique with Asuka does not lie in how she wins her matches. It lies in the fact that she has never lost a match in WWE/NXT. The fact that she has a 0 in the loss column is the attraction. That is what makes her special.

I keep seeing people say that WWE needs to establish her. The thing is that she is already established by coming onto the main roster with a sterling win/loss record. It's literally perfect. That is what makes her special.

Sure, dominating Emma could help, but what would that do for Emma? Not to mention, it's not like Asuka steamrolled her opponents on her way to a 523-day title run.

In reality, she had competitive matches way more often then she had complete and utter squashes.

When it comes to Asuka, this is not about style points. The fact that she wins all the time is what is going to make her special in the eyes of fans that have never seen her before.

And don't talk to me about Goldberg and how he was presented when he first appeared in World Championship Wrestling in 1997. That was literally the first time anyone outside of WCW's Power Plant had ever seen Goldberg wrestle.

When Asuka showed up to TLC Sunday night, she had spent two years on WWE television establishing herself as a force to be reckoned with.

Goldberg did not have that when he showed up in WCW 20 years ago. He was a nobody that needed to be established.

Like I said earlier, Asuka is already established by virtue of never losing.

If an unfamiliar fan isn't impressed by someone that never loses, then I'm not sure what more WWE could do.

Kane being prepped for encounter with Braun Strowman

Speaking of losing, it doesn't look like Kane is going to be doing any of that any time soon since he is clearly on his way to a match against Strowman.

In theory, it's smart to build up Kane before that encounter, but does Balor have to be sacrificed in the mean time?

Twenty-four hours after having arguably the best match of the night against Styles, Balor was essentially fed to a wolf in Kane's clothing Monday night.

Kane choke slammed Balor not once, but three times before pinning him in the middle of the ring.

It was quite jarring to see Balor in that position after what he did Sunday night.

I understand that Balor isn't going to win all of the time, but I figured his losses would carry more weight than just a means of getting Kane some steam before he faces Strowman.

Gulak is a treasure

Full disclosure: Gulak and I went to the same high school here in Philadelphia. Although we never knew each other in high school, his younger brother, Rory, and I share a lot of mutual friends and experiences about our time at Northeast High School.

I have also come to know them over the years, so if I sound slightly biased toward either Gulak on social media, forgive me. It's a Northeast High School thing.

With that said, I don't think you have to be a fellow Viking in order to love what Gulak did on Raw Monday night when he read a prepared statement on Amore's behalf, as the now two-time WWE Cruiserweight champion has gone without his precious voice for at least the last two days.

Gulak read the statement in his usual monotone, mundane and boring way and it could not have been better. I thought it was wildly entertaining and I thought it was good to see Gulak get some time in the spotlight on Raw.

By the way, go Vikings!

Vaughn Johnson has a podcast with Nick Piccone called the Straight Shooters on WildfireRadio.com. Check it out here HERE.