The July 15th edition of Monday Night Raw is live from long Island, New York.
The WWE Universe deals with the fallout of Brock Lesnar cashing in his Money in The Bank contract last night at Extreme Rules.
As expected the new Universal Champion Brock Lesnar starts off RAW.
It can’t be said enough, so here I go again. Paul Heyman is the master of the microphone.
Nice touch having him slip a line in about running the show.
We get a cross-branded “Top Ten” battle royal to determine the number 1 contender!
Seth Rollins
Randy Orton
Big E (!!!)
Cesaro
Braun Strowman
Rey Mysterio
Baron Corbin
Sami Zayn
Bobby Lashley
and
Roman Reigns (of course)
Also the Women battle it out in a fatal 4-way Elimination Match tonight to determine who will face Becky Lynch at SummerSlam.
Match #1: 6-Man tag match 2-out-of-3 falls:
Ricochet & The Usos v Robert Roode & The Revival
Why doesn’t Robert have his mustache? Shouldn’t he be Bobby again now?
These stupid 2 out of 3 falls matches suck. I hate how they have them work.
Ricochet gets the 1st fall way too early with a weak move. Now we’ll get a decent back and forth like a regular tag match, but the heels will get the 2nd fall before they do a quick 3rd fall after the commercials to finish up. Always the same…
Like clockwork The Revival get the 2nd fall. 3rd fall took a little longer, but always the same. Ring clears and the singles guys get a move in to finish it.
Match End: Ricochet pins Bobby after a 630° for the win. I hate these matches.
After the match The Club come out and Ricochet goes right after Styles. The Usos take out Gallows & Anderson. Everyone starts hitting moves, then Styles lays out Ricochet with a viscous Phenomenal Forearm. Gallows & Anderson gives Ricochet the Magic Killer then taunt over his body. More Club please!
Match #2: Tag Team Match:
The Viking Raiders v Local Talent (didn’t catch their names and really it doesn’t matter does it?)
Classic enhancement match here. The commentary team pumps the tires as they get their moves in.
Match End: Viking Experience=pinfall victory.
Hey, remember how awesome The Undertaker was last night? Thanks to the magic of recap focused tv I remember again.
Drew McIntyre and Cedric Alexander are going to fight. Drew says he’s going to humble him tonight. Yup, this should be a good match. Different. Different is good.
Match #3: Singles Match:
Drew McIntyre v Cedric Alexander
I like where this is going. Drew tosses Cedric around for a few mins. Alexander gets a few moves in but not the upper hand. Then a very crafty finish to get this feud going. Not sure how I feel having McIntyre going further away from a single title, but at least he’s still on tv.
Match End: Cedric Alexander rolls up McIntyre for the pinfall victory.
A very nice back and forth close camera promo before the next match. Finn Bálor talks about losing the intercontinental title last night and looking forward but Samoa Joe stands in his way. Samoa Joe answers back saying he’s going to hand Finn another loss. I liked that a lot. Simple and quick set up for a fight.
Match #4: Singles Match:
Samoa Joe v Finn Bálor
Both men have something to prove after last night’s losses. This should be fun…jusy not sure why these SmackDown stars are doing this on RAW.
Match End: Samoa Joe wins via pinfall. Not sure if that was supposed to happen.
After the match Joe tries to get Finn into his choke, but Finn fights him off and hits a coup de Gras.
Then the most amazing thing happened! Finn celebrated, then the lights slowly start to go out in stages. Creepy music plays. Then in the darkness we hear violence happening. Then two shaky spotlights shine on a masked man holding a lifeless Bálor. It’s BRAY WYATT wearing that creepy ass mask!! Yes! He hits Bálor with Sister Abigail and the lights go out again, this time with creepy laughter. Awesome!
Drake Maverick aka Mr. 24/7 Champion is finally going to consummate his marriage! Yes that’s a thing that’s happening now. R-Truth is lurking in the background though waiting to take back his title.
Street Profits are back to hype the rest of the show aka yell about their favourite wrestlers. Yell is the main word I’d use to describe what I just watched.
Match #5: Singles Match:
Zack Ryder v Mike Kanellis
Before the match starts Maria says she has be better chance at winning tonight eventhough she’s pregnant. Not sure where this whole thing is going, but it’s happening.
Match End: Ryder hits a Ruff Ryder for the pinfall victory in an announced “under 1 minute” Maria then continues to emasculate her husband.
Match #6: 6-man Tag Match (not 2 out of 3 falls thank goodness):
The Club v Lucha House Party
Welp, this is going to be exactly what you think it’s going to be. Poor Lucha House Party. Could be so much fun if they were given some respect. They get some decent spots in but Cole and Graves can’t get their names right. Respect…give them some damn respect. They did the work in the ring.
Ricochet runs out and takes out AJ Styles which for some reason doesn’t end the match in a DQ. Instead the match is “restarted” after a commercial. Lucha House Party hold their own, but it’s not enough.
Match End: AJ Styles submits Kalisto with the Calf Crusher then holds onto it long after the bell.
Match #7: Fatal Four Way Elimination Match winner faces Becky Lynch for the Raw Womans Championship at SummerSlam:
Alexa Bliss w/Nikki Cross v Carmella v Naomi v Natalya
Alexa Bliss spends the whole match outside the ring, but slips in to get a quick pin on Carmella to eliminate her.
The story of this match is Alexa taking her time and picking her spots while Natalya and Naomi have one hell of a wrestling match. The contrast is the lack of chemistry between Naomi and Alexa. Which gets the crowd chanting and booing in bad ways.
Natalya eliminates Naomi and this is now a singles match!
The crowd completely turned on this match and it was uncomfortable.
Match End: Natalya forces Alexa to submit to The Sharpshooter. She’s going to SummerSlam to face Becky Lynch!
Becky and Natalya save this match and crowd with a fired up promo. I hope they let Natalya loose so she can be a badass to match The Man.
MizTV with guest Dolph Ziggler (oh lord no):
More SmackDown on RAW for no real reason other than RAW is 3 hours long. Can’t wait for them to recap this tomorrow #sarcasm
Ziggler tries to get a rise out of Miz for what 5 minutes and it only works when he says something bad about his wife. That was awful. Why didn’t the crowd chant “this is awful” during this like they did the womans match? Do I even have to ask why. Gross.
After the break Drake Maverick is going to consummate his marriage. No this isn’t the attitude era. Yes that’s something I had to write and watch. Gotta respect the confidence of having a tv camera in the room for it.
R-Truth sneaks into the room and pins a tight whitey wearing Maverick in the very bed he was about to get busy in. For more recap on the 24/7 Title check out our “History of the 24/7 Title” here on allwrestling.com
Main Event: Cross Branded “Top 10” Battle Royal winner faces Brock Lesnar for the Universal Championship at SummerSlam:
Seth Rollins, Randy Orton, Big E, Cesaro, Braun Strowman, Rey Mysterio, Baron Corbin, Sami Zayn, Bobby Lashley, and Roman Reigns
Big E better be one of the last 4 in this match or I’ll be a little upset. Prediction: Seth Rollins doesn’t win.
All 10 men get their entrances and Braun gets to yell his catch phrase into a camera before his. After their all in the ring Brock’s music hits and he comes out to watch the show.
Battle Royals have a lot going on like you know, so I’ll just call the eliminations and huge spots.
Bobby Lashley eliminates Cesaro with a powerslam
Braun Strowman eliminates Bobby Lashley
Big E hits a big ending on Braun! Then gets RKO’d
Sami Zayn eliminates Big E (boo) then gets an RKO and a 619.
Sami Zayn is eliminated
Randy Orton goes through the ropes (not eliminated)
Corbin eliminates Rey Mysterio
Seth Rollins eliminates Baron Corbin (sweet)
Roman Reigns spears Seth on accident!
Seth Rollins eliminates both Roman and Braun as they were in the ropes.
Seth thinks he won, but Orton comes back in and tosses him over the rope but not to the floor. They fight on the apron. Vintage Orton into the ring. Lesnar stands up.
Rollins Stomps Orton after he took forever to get into his RKO dance.
Match End: Seth Rollins tosses Randy Orton over the top rope to win the final elimination and win a match with Brock Lesnar at SummerSlam for the Universal Championship.
Paul Heyman and Seth have a back and forth that will be recapped a million times on RAW and SmackDown for the next month.
That was fun. Let’s do this again next week.