Gunther Starts the Show, Bron Breakker VS Ilja Dragunov: Intercontinental Championship Number 1 Contender’s Match
Monday Night Raw kicked off this week with Gunther as The Ring General made it clear that he meant every word he said about Damian Priest last week. Gunther then proceeded to call the Green Bay fans “bums” before he called all of the members of The Judgment Day “street trash”. Damian Priest then arrived and simply took a shot at “The King General” before a massive brawl broke out that referee’s failed to break up. In fact, Priest found Gunther again backstage after the ad break as they were finally separated in the Parking Lot! This was well done, Gunther is amazing at everything he does whilst Damian Priest is doing great work as the World Heavyweight Champion.
Grade: B
It was then time for the first match of the night as Bron Breakker and Ilja Dragunov collided in an Intercontinental Championship Number 1 Contender’s Match! We’ve seen these two wrestle a few times on Raw recently, and I definetly think this was their best encounter (not including their match from NXT last year). Bron and Ilja are both so good at what they do, but it was the creativity that impressed me the most here, especially when Breakker dropped Dragunov onto the top of the LED ring post! I was almost certain that I was going to be talking about this match again at the end of the year, but that was then ruined by the finish as after Bron delivered a ridiculous mid-air Spear to The Czar (on the outside), the referee just called the match off as she deemed Dragunov to be unable to continue. I’m sorry, but Ilja Dragunov’s whole gimmick is that he is invincible and unbreakable, so this made absolutely no sense to me and ruined what was a heck of a match!
Grade: B-
Lyra Valkyria VS Sonya Deville, CM Punk Returns, The Final Testament VS Xavier Woods, Otis, and Akira Tozawa
Rhea Ripley was telling The Judgment Day that they need to handle some business, but she wasn’t impressed by Dominik Mysterio and Finn Balor saying they should go after Jey Uso. Xavier Woods then gifted Akira Tozawa a Birthday Cake (nice) before it was time for Lyra Valkyria to take on Sonya Deville. This was a decent little match, it was longer than last week’s contests, but I do feel like Lyra has dropped down the card since she lost in Saudi Arabia. After some shenanigans on the outside, Sonya took advantage of a distracted Valkyria to win with the Deville’s Advocate which is okay by me as Deville needs some wins!
Grade: C+
After Abby the Witch got her own little video (it didn’t really tell us too much), CM Punk arrived to announce that he is officially medically cleared (which is great news)! Punk then called out Drew McIntyre which Drew responded to, but The Scottish Psychopath made it clear that he didn’t want to fight in Green Bay! This annoyed CMP and the crowd before Adam Pearce arrived to announce that they have a match booked for Summerslam as long as they keep their hands off of each other. However, Pearce had another announcement as Seth “Freakin” Rollins’ music hit to a massive pop as The Visionary confirmed that he will be the Special Guest Referee for Punk-McIntyre at Summerslam! All of this was once again great, it should Main Event (but it won’t), and Seth Rollins getting involved as the ref is a really, really interesting one!
Grade: B+
The Judgment Day were looking for Jey Uso, but it was actually Liv Morgan who found Dominik Mysterio, and this really didn’t impress Finn Balor! Sami Zayn was then talking to Cathy Kelley about Bron Breakker before he ran over to save Jey Uso from a beatdown from Carlito and JD McDonagh! We then headed back to the ring as the trio of Xavier Woods, Otis, and Akira Tozawa teamed up to take on The Final Testament. This match was okay, the crowd didn’t care which was a shame, but to be fair, they did get very loud when their home favourite Otis tagged in and ran wild. Unfortunately, he didn’t do this for long as Karrion Kross got involved before he eventually dropped Woods with the Final Prayer to score the 3 count! I’m glad Kross won here because he really needed it! Anyway, after the match, Chad Gable and The Creed Brothers showed up and attacked Otis and Tozawa after they refused to align themselves with him before The Wyatt Sick6 showed up and it ended with Uncle Howdy dropping Master Gable with a Sister Abigail! All the stuff post match was done really well!
Grade: C+ for the Match, B for the Post-Match Promo/Angle
Bronson Reed VS Pete Dunne, Rhea Ripley Calls Out Liv Morgan, Zelina Vega VS Zoey Stark
The next match was supposed to be between Bronson Reed and Pete Dunne, but it never got started as Sheamus jumped in and attacked both before he floored Reed with a Brogue Kick to end the segment! Sheamus then said backstage that he will happily face Pete Dunne next week before Rhea Ripley got annoyed at Dominik Mysterio when Carlito revealed that he’d talked to Liv Morgan. Rhea then stormed out with Dominik down to the ring as she called out Liv Morgan. Liv then appeared in the crowd to say that she wants “Daddy” Dom to reveal his true feelings for her which is when Mysterio went off at Morgan, saying he hates her before he repeatedly swore at the Women’s World Champion in Spanish! This resulted in Morgan breaking down and walking off as Rhea kissed Dom on the cheek! Raw is utterly bonkers at times, but this story has been great, and Liv and even Dominik’s performance here was great, really well done to them both!
Grade: B+
After Zelina Vega cut a promo about her injured arm, the former Queen of WWE headed down to the ring to go one-on-one with Zoey Stark! This was a pretty decent match, but it’s not really a surprise given both women are very talented performers! However, the ending was a little questionable as after Zelina proved that she isn’t very smart (which is the opposite of how she was in NXT), Lyra Valkyria and The KC’s arrived to take out the Heels before Vega took advantage of this and bashed Zoey in the head with her elbow brace before she hit Code Red to score the win! Given Sonya beat Lyra, Zoey really should’ve beaten Zelina!
Grade: C
Adam Pearce gifted Xavier Woods a match with Karrion Kross for next week before Drew McIntyre made it clear to Pearce that he doesn’t think that Seth “Freakin” Rollins being the Special Guest Referee is fair! You’re right Drew, it’s not! Alba Fyre and Isla Dawn were then interrupted by Sonya Deville’s new faction before Gunther got another great video package where he took shots at Seth Rollins, Drew McIntyre, Damian Priest, and even CM Punk! Gunther is killing it once again!
The Judgment Day VS Sami Zayn and Jey Uso
And in the Main Event, The Judgment Day clashed with Sami Zayn and “Main Event” Jey Uso. Three of these guys are Champions, and the other is one of the most over men in the company so this was always going to be good. Sami and Jey just work so well together, and they even pulled out a little 1D to remind us of the past! Now in the end, it was the Intercontinental Champ and “Main Event” Jey that scored the win, but it doesn’t bother me as much as usual given the history between the two men (they also beat The Judgment Day in January 2023). After the match however, Zayn wasn’t standing tall as he got absolutely floored by a Bron Breakker Spear to close the show!
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