Raw opened with the shot focused on the commentary table.
"Welcome everybody, to Monday Night Raw! I'm Michael Cole, alongside Byron Saxton and Corey Graves. Last night at Clash of Champions, Finn Balor defeated Seth Rollins to become the new WWE Universal Champion. That victory also meant that Stephanie McMahon was forced to resign as commissioner of Monday Night Raw. We expected that the position would be given to Mick Foley, but that's not what happened. Stephanie had found a loophole in the terms of the contract for the match, and had appointed her own successor before Clash of Champions, in the event that she lost. Now, before tonight's show gets underway, we need to bring you and update on what has happened earlier today involving our new commissioner, Bayley Martinez."
"As you may know," Saxton took over, "We have an ongoing referee strike on Monday Night Raw. The referees walked out in protest over unsafe working conditions, after several incidents where superstars inadvertently, or sometimes even deliberately, struck them while they were trying to officiate matches. The referees are also claiming that they are underpaid. It is our understanding that senior official Mike Chioda sat down with Commissioner Martinez earlier today to discuss negotiating a return to work. Those talks broke down after Martinez made guarantees regarding safe working conditions for Raw's officials, but refused point blank to offer any increase in pay."
"As well she should," Graves added. "If this is a sign of things to come, I'm very encouraged by the resolve shown by Bayley Martinez. Referees cannot be allowed to hold our show to ransom. The commissioner told Chioda that if he and his people continued to strike, scab referees would be brought in to officiate, as they did last night at Clash of Champions, and she warned him that any attempt to stop those referees coming to work would be dealt with in the strongest possible manner."
"And now we know what she meant," Cole said, not hiding his contempt. "We're now going to show you what happened just a short time ago, outside the arena."
The shot changed to show the picketing referees outside the arena. An equal number of burly security staff stood nearby, watching them in silence. A small bus pulled up to the curb, and five referees emerged. Upon seeing this, Chioda and his men moved to block the path to the nearby arena entrance door, intent on not letting the scabs get into the building. That was when the security staff sprang into action, walking over to the striking referees and attacking them without so much as a warning. The beat down only took moments, and the scab referees were then lead into the building.
"You see here, Bayley Martinez's security staff beating the hell out of our referees, in a truly reprehensible act of violence," Cole had narrated the action in disgust.
"They were warned," Graves reminded him. "They were specifically told that any attempt to prevent the scab referees from coming to work would be dealt with in the strongest possible manner. I say this is a good thing. Our new commissioner proved herself to be a woman of her word, and she showed that she is prepared to do what's best for Monday Night Raw."
"How is that kind of violence against our own employees what's best for Raw?" Saxton demanded.
"You think we'd have a better show without any referees?"
After the first match of the night was over, Mick Foley's music hit, to a generous ovation.
"Ah, now this should be interesting," Cole observed as Mick started to make his way down to the ring, looking distinctly unhappy. "There has been speculation today on what Mick Foley's status is on Monday Night Raw. When Finn Balor won the match last night, Mick must have thought that he had just secured himself the commissioner's position, but it wasn't to be. Now what does the future hold? There has been speculation that he might even come out here tonight to tender his resignation as general manager."
"Do you think Commissioner Martinez would want that to happen or not?" Saxton wondered. "We know that the two of them don't see eye to eye, but at the same time, there can be no doubt that Mick has done a good job booking matches since his appointment, and there's also an argument to be made for having some sort of continuity in Raw's management."
"If I was Bayley Martinez, I would be happy to accept Foley's resignation," Graves said. "I'd want to appoint someone I believed in, someone who didn't have their own agenda to peruse, which Mick quite obviously does. The way he got into conflict with Stephanie McMahon was about as far from professional as you can imagine."
Cole just gave a derogatory grunt in response to that.
In the ring, Foley was ready to speak, although he had to wait for some of the fans to finish chanting his name. "I admit it," he began. "Stephanie McMahon got one over on me. I assumed that if Finn Balor won the match against Seth Rollins and became the new Universal Champion last night at Clash of Champions, which is exactly what he did, that I would become the new commissioner of Monday Night Raw. Unfortunately, that's not what happened. There has been speculation today regarding my intentions, so I decided to come out here and tell you..."
He was interrupted by Bayley's new, slightly modified entrance music with the shorter intro sequence. The crowd booed her arrival quite aggressively as she quickly walked down to the ring, dressed as usual in an expensive business suit. Her jacket was unbottoned, revealing that she was wearing her Raw Women's Championship belt around her waist. The Raw logo pin had pride of place again on her lapel.
"Now things are getting interesting," Graves said, sucking up already. "Here comes the our new commander-in-chief. She's already shown tonight that she will take decisive action to ensure that Raw's best interests are served. Could we be about to see our new commissioner request the resignation of general manager Mick Foley?"
"I'm deeply concerned about this whole thing," Cole said. "I know it's Bayley's first night in charge, but what I've seen really does worry me. Could this be the start of a reign of terror that even puts The Authority to shame? Have we gone from bad to worse? And will Raw suffer against Smackdown as a result. A lot of questions need to be answered by Martinez about her plans to take us forward."
A further volley of boos came Bayley's way when she entered the ring and her music faded out. Foley was kind enough to fetch a microphone for her. Looking around at the unhappy fans with a look of disappointment on her face, she waited a moment before speaking.
"Thank you for that warm reception. I honestly expected better, given the fact that I'm the one who is going to lead Monday Night Raw to become the best wrestling show the world has ever seen. The reason I came out here, Mick, and I'll address you in a moment, is that I wanted to make it perfectly clear to everyone in the locker room, and the fans around the world, what my intentions are now that I am charge of Raw. I've already been fielding questions all day on what my policies will be. Will be I looked to continue in a similar vein to Stephanie McMahon's administration, or will I be looking to take Raw in a different direction?
"Well, I can tell you now that I will not be running Raw in the same manner that Stephanie did. I admire Stephanie in many ways, but the favouritism she displayed towards certain superstars was not professional, and neither was the conflict that developed between Stephanie and you, Mick. Neither of those things were in the best interests of Raw. That is what I am interested in. Whatever policies or decisions are best for Raw will be the policies and decisions that I implement, in order to make our show the most dominant force the world of wrestling has ever known. Make no mistake about it, Smackdown are our competition. It's time that we were focused on bettering them, rather than becoming absorbed in our own petty infighting. For that reason, Mick, I would like to offer you an olive branch."
She paused for a moment to let that sink in. Off microphone, Mick asked her what she meant by that.
"What I mean is that I want you to stay on in your role as general manager. While it's true that we fundamentally disagree on many aspects of how Raw should be run, I admire your talent for booking matches. In addition, there have been concerns raised about the possibility that I may seek to play favourites with certain superstars, particularly Seth Rollins as we are in a relationship. I offer you all a firm commitment that will not be the case, and to prove my sincerity, I would like you, Mick, to continue to work for me, and to continue to book Raw's matches as you see fit. We have a show to run, and I would like us to work together to achieve our common goal, which is to out perform Smackdown. What do you say?"
"She really is good," Roman said with genuine admiration. He and Seth were watching the action on a monitor in their locker room. Earlier in the day, Seth and Bayley had invited him to travel with them, now that he had changed up his travel routine to match theirs. It was an offer that he had very much appreciated, especially Bayley's part in it, and he had accepted immediately. Some women wouldn't have been nearly as considerate to either their boyfriend or his friends. Although he wouldn't have outright admitted it, Roman missed traveling with Seth. With Dean over on Smackdown and Seth on the road with Bayley, things had felt so different for him recently, unpleasantly so. Thankfully, that was now going to change for the better.
Knowing how nervous Bayley was about her new character, and also taking into account the backstage drama earlier in the day with Dana Brooke, Roman couldn't have been more impressed with her performance in the ring. She really was an extraordinary talent. He could see exactly what Hunter had spotted in her so early on in her time with NXT. Once she stepped through the curtain her natural talent really shone through, regardless of what she had been asked to do. She just went out there and delivered. Stephanie McMahon might have played a more convincing commissioner, but not by much of a margin, and this was Bayley's first night when all was said and done. If Roman had a job on the creative team, he would have pointed at the screen and announced that they were watching someone who was going to be one of the company's biggest stars in the not too distant future.
"She is," Seth agreed proudly. He was hooked on every word of the segment on the screen, feeling like the proudest guy in the world. His girl was something special in so many ways.
In the ring, Mick Foley had replied to Bayley by speaking out against the way that her security staff had treated the striking referees. He announced that in his opinion, ordering that kind of violence to be inflicted on employees was simply inexcusable under any circumstances, and if the strike came to and end without the referees getting at least a small pay increase as a show of good faith on the part of the management, he considered it to be a travesty.
"I have serious concerns about your style of management and some of your policies, judging by what I've seen and heard here tonight," he went on. "Having said that, I am encouraged by your guarantees regarding favouritism, or should I say the lack of it. What I came out here to say tonight was that I had decided not to resign, and that if you wanted me to go, you would have to fire me. Am I right in thinking you're not going to do that?"
"You are correct," Bayley nodded. "Like I said, I'd like to work with you, Mick. I believe that together we can deal with the problems that Raw currently has, and we can make it the undisputed flagship show of WWE. I'm not asking you to agree with all of my policies. I'm asking you to do is have the strength of character to stick with me and do your job as general manager. When Raw grinds Smackdown into the dirt, you can stand beside me and take your share of the credit for it. Work with me," she emphasised passionately, then held her out for Mick to shake.
Pleasingly to both people in the ring, there was a real mixed reaction from the fans. Whether they were cheering Mick, booing Bayley, booing her comments about Smackdown, or cheering those same comments, or even cheering because they wanted Mick to stick around, Bayley had her first divisive reaction - exactly what Vince McMahon had wanted for her character.
Mick had more to say before he would shake her hand, which she withdrew when he ignored it and started speaking instead. "I'm willing stay on as Raw's general manager, but I'm going to tell you exactly why and under what circumstances. If you agree to what I have to say, then we'll shake hands."
"Go ahead," Bayley allowed.
"The main reason I want to stay on is because I don't like some of the things that you've said and done tonight, Bayley. I also don't like some of the things you've been saying the last couple of weeks about how you see the roster, and how you think the structure of how people are paid should be changed to ensure that main event superstars are paid significantly more than those who are lower on the card. I see that as fundamentally unfair. It could lead to some superstars making a lot less than they do now, for doing the same excellent work."
A small portion of the crowd booed that, clearly agreeing with him that the policy sounded unfair.
"What I intend to do," Mick went on, "is give those people a voice, which I am fairly sure you will not. If you do wish for me to remain as general manager, I'll tell you now that I will speak out about any of your policies which I believe to be unfair. I can see the main event superstars quickly standing behind you, why wouldn't they when you're working to line their pockets as well as your own? I intend to be the voice of the other half of the locker room.
"My first condition of shaking hands with you is that anyone who has concerns about your management can come to me, and I can put those concerns to you for debate in public. I want everything to be out in the open. The second condition is that you formally hand over all responsibility for making matches to me. You say there will be no favouritism, I intended to make sure of it." He held his hand out for Bayley to shake, if she agreed to his terms.
"Who do you think you are, Foley?" Graves demanded. "Trying to lay the law down to Commissioner Martinez. She's the one who's in charge, not you. Is the responsibility yours if things go wrong for Raw? No. Is it on your shoulders if Smackdown beats us in the ratings? No. How dare you make demands like that?"
"Foley's conditions sound perfectly reasonable to me," Saxton countered. "Martinez says no favouritism, let's see her prove it."
"Very well, Mick. I'll agree to your conditions," Bayley announced, making it sound more like she had announced that she'd donated a million dollars to charity. She briefly shook his hand, then made to leave the ring, satisfied with her work, but Mick's voice stopped her in her tracks.
"Since I'm in charge of making the matches, I think that Women's Championship of yours needs to be defended." Bayley turned back to face him with an icy look in her eyes. "You've recently gained more than one cheap victory over Charlotte, thanks to other people who have been at ringside. I think it's time that Charlotte got a fair rematch, so at our next pay-per-view, Hell in a Cell, that is exactly what will happen. It will be Bayley Martinez going one on one with Charlotte, with everyone in the locker room barred from ringside. We're going to find out of you truly deserve to be the Women's Champion, or if you're just an over-inflated ego in a suit who's badly in need of an ass kicking."
The crowd went wild at that as Bayley looked at Mick as though she wished she could run him over with a truck, both for making the match, and for the insult. Foley's music began to play, and Cole began to summarise the segement for the viewers.
"Mick Foley is still the general manager of Monday Night Raw, and now has sole responsibility for making matches. Mick also appointed himself as a spokesperson for any superstars in the locker room who don't agree with the management of Bayley Martinez. I'm excited to see how that's going to pan out."
"You know what I can't wait to see pan out?" Saxton asked. "The fair match with Martinez that Charlotte's finally going to get at Hell in a Cell. As Mick said, there's an ass kicking with Martinez's name on it which is long over due."
"Can you stop being so biased?" Graves asked hypocritically. "You're talking like Commissioner Martinez has no chance in the ring with Charlotte, when she's already beaten her twice! I think Bayley is, and will continue to be a fantastic Women's Champion, and I think she's already doing a great job as commissioner too."