Rhea Ripley Starts the Show, Bronson Reed VS Sheamus
Monday Night Raw kicked off this week with Rhea Ripley cutting her first promo in months as she fired a couple of warning shots at Liv Morgan before she demanded that the Women’s World Champion come down to the ring. Instead, Dominik Mysterio showed up and tried to apologise to Rhea before Liv Morgan appeared on the screen and once again messed around with “Dirty” Dom. Rhea then demanded a match with Liv at Summerslam which Morgan gladly accepted before the segment ended with both women threatening to put an end to one another! This was simple, and effective!
Grade: C+
After Rhea Ripley threw stuff at Dominik Mysterio (and Damian Priest) backstage, it was time for the first match of the night as Bronson Reed took on Sheamus. This was a pretty hard-hitting contest, and it was a decent match overall! Both guys are very good in the ring, and I honestly think WWE should be doing more with them (especially Bronson Reed). In the end, it was a knee to Reed that scored Sheamus the win before Pete Dunne intercepted Reed’s attempt to attack The Celtic Warrior! However, in a surprising turn of events, The Bruiserweight floored his former Brawling Brute partner to end the segment! Interesting!
Grade: B- (Overall)
Sonya Deville VS Zelina Vega, Damian Priest and Gunther Come Face-to-Face, Damian Priest VS Braun Strowman
Rhea Ripley asked a great question to Damian Priest about how and why Carlito’s allowed in The Judgment Day Clubhouse before Dominik Mysterio walked in and only made matters worse! Sami Zayn and Ilja Dragunov then had a good promo exchange backstage where they said they wanted each others’ best in the Main Event before Gunther had another great video package! That guy rules! It was then time for Sonya Deville to make her long-awaited return to in-ring action against Zelina Vega! This match was set up in a digital exclusive earlier in the show, and amazingly, that went longer than the actual match as after Shayna Baszler interfered, Sonya hit her new finishing move to score the win after less than 60 seconds! After the match, The KC’s and Lyra Valkyria ran down to “make the save”. What on earth was this?! Both Vega and Deville are so much better than this!
Grade: D
Dominik Mysterio tried to gain some advice from “his Dad” Damian Priest but this didn’t work out as Jey Uso walked in and expressed his interest in one Rhea Ripley! Chad Gable then proved he’s smarter than everyone else as he told Adam Pearce that he’d worked out that Uncle Howdy is in fact Bo Dallas before Damian Priest called out Gunther for a Face-to-Face confrontation! Gunther made it very clear that he hasn’t been impressed with Priest’s run as the World Heavyweight Champion before he upped the level of the feud by calling Damian (and the whole of the audience) “Street Trash”! Priest then fired back saying he will beat Gunther at Summerslam because The Ring General doesn’t have a heart before El Campeon called The Ring General a “privileged Scumbag” to end the segment! This was great, Damian Priest had yet another great segment as the World Heavyweight Champion whilst Gunther is just amazing at everything he does! I’m really looking forward to this match at Summerslam!
Grade: B+
After Jey Uso spoke to Adam Pearce and Bron Breakker threatened to ruin Pearce’s Main Event, we headed back to the ring for Damian Priest to take on Braun Strowman. This was a solid match, it could’ve been better, and I actually think it would’ve been smart to have the World Heavyweight Title on the line here! However, it’s not the end of the world, and the crowd were starting to get behind Damian Priest which is a big positive if that can keep going! In the end, El Campeon scored the win with South of Heaven before Gunther arrived again and a brawl started, with Priest standing tall! This was a weird match to have, but Priest won clean so that’s a good thing!
Grade: C+
Katana Chance and Kayden Carter VS Shayna Baszler and Zoey Stark, Drew McIntyre Returns, Dominik Mysterio VS Jey Uso, Chad Gable Calls Out Bo Dallas
Chad Gable got annoyed at the Alpha Academy for deciding to have Xavier Woods’ back but not his before Katana Chance and Kayden Carter were back as they took on Shayna Baszler and Zoey Stark. This match was pretty decent, everyone involved is very talented, and it was just a shame that the crowd didn’t seem to care one bit! After a competitive bout, Shayna and Zoey scored the win with their good Tag Team finisher, and yeah, give them the Tag Team Titles!
Grade: C+
We watched The Miz play Golf before Rhea Ripley spoke to Finn Balor and JD McDonagh about winning the World Tag Team Championships. Dominik Mysterio then walked in and said that Rhea “belongs to him” which was as smooth as Prince Ali in the 2019 Aladdin movie! Adam Pearce was then in the ring as he asked Drew McIntyre to make his way down to the ring! Drew came out, and both men agreed to let McIntyre face CM Punk at Summerslam. However, Pearce then decided to tell Drew to apologise to a couple of referee’s which he thankfully rejected before The Scottish Psychopath got suspended again! McIntyre was then about to attack the referees and Pearce again before Seth “Freakin” Rollins ran down to make the save! Some of this segment didn’t make much sense, but Drew did another good job!
Grade: C+
Erick Rowan appeared in the latest Wyatt Sick6 video as he talked about the pain he felt when he lost his two brothers in quick succession. This was really good, and it was important to the story too! Jey Uso’s music then hit as it was time for “Main Event” Jey to go one-on-one with Dominik Mysterio. The action here was decent, but it was all about the story as Liv Morgan decided to make her way down to ringside before she tried to kiss “Dirty” Dom once again! Rhea Ripley then arrived to make sure this wouldn’t happen before all of this distracted Mysterio and allowed Jey to hit a Spear to score the win!
Grade: C+
We got a great video package highlighting Ilja Dragunov before Damian Priest was once again joking around with Dominik Mysterio. Rhea Ripley then confronted Dominik and made it clear that she doesn’t belong to him, and in fact, he is her’s! Okay?! Chad Gable was then in the ring as he proved his genius once again by teaching the crowd about how Bo Dallas is indeed Uncle Howdy! Master Gable then called out Bo who did arrive, but he was actually attacked by none other than The Creed Brothers in a surprising moment! Gable and The Creeds beat the crap out of Dallas, but he was just loving it before the rest of the Wyatt Sick6 arrived as the technical wizards all left! This was all well done, and it had multiple big moments which is great!
Grade: B
Intercontinental Championship: Sami Zayn VS Ilja Dragunov
It was then Main Event time as Sami Zayn defended his Intercontinental Championship against Ilja Dragunov. Both of these guys are incredible in-ring talents, and this match could’ve and should’ve been great! However, it was honestly not long enough and the ad break in the middle really didn’t help the action! It was still fine, neither man put a foot wrong, but it could’ve been so much more! Oh, and the match didn’t even end clean as Bron Breakker wrecked Dragunov with a Spear to cause the DQ before The Badass ultimately stood tall to close the show! On a positive note, a Triple Threat for the IC Title at Summerslam could rule!
Comments