The July 29th episode of WWE RAW aired live from the Verizon Arena in North Little Rock, AR. Here are 6 takeaways from this week’s show:
Maria Kanellis Won The 24/7 Championship
R-Truth & Carmella faced Drake Maverick & Renee Michael in a Mixed Tag Team Match to kick off this week’s episode of RAW. The 24/7 Championship was on the line during the match. Several WWE superstars surrounded the ring for the match. Carmella slapped Maverick in the face and R-Truth slammed him to the canvas. R-Truth celebrated with the title as the rest of the superstars hopped up on the apron.
Everyone leaped onto R-Truth and the referee counted to three. Mike Kanellis rolled out of the ring with the title and ran backstage. All of the superstars chased Kanellis backstage as the segment continued.
Kanellis hid in a locker room and closed the door. Maria Kanellis showed up and said she wanted to see her husband. Maria threatened to knock down the door and kick Mike Kanellis in the vagina if he didn’t open up. Mike Kanellis opened the door to end the segment. Later on RAW, Maria demanded that she become the champion and pinned Mike. Maria walked around backstage shouting “pregnant champion!”.
Ricochet Will Face AJ Styles For The US Title At SummerSlam
Cesaro and Mysterio started off a Gauntlet Match to determine the #1 contender for the United States Championship. dominated early but Mysterio battled back and connected with the 619. Rey Mysterio then hit a Splash for the pinfall victory and Cesaro was eliminated. Sami Zayn then came down to the ring and was eliminated by Mysterio in a matter of seconds so RAW could go to a commercial.
Mysterio then squared off against Andrade in the Gauntlet Match. Andrade connected with a Dropkick and launched Mysterio to the outside. Andrade connected with the Hammerlock DDT to eliminate Mysterio.
Ricochet and Andrade battled in the final bout of the Gauntlet Match. Andrade controlled the match early but Ricochet wouldn’t give in. Ricochet slammed Andrade to the canvas and hit the 630 Splash for the pinfall victory. Ricochet will face AJ Styles for the United States Championship. After the match, Ricochet vowed to win the US Title and Styles was shown laughing backstage.
It was pretty obvious that Ricochet was going to win this match. There was no interaction between Styles and Ricochet during tonight’s show, which means there is now only one episode of RAW to build this match before SummerSlam.
Natalya Got Revenge On Becky Lynch
Alexa Bliss rolled footage of Becky Lynch attacking Natalya while Fit Finlay was teaching her counters to the Dis-Arm-Her earlier in the day. The crowd chanted “Becky!” and Bliss scolded them. Cross said that it seemed like Lynch wanted to take out Natalya before their match at SummerSlam. Becky appeared on the jumbotron and told Alexa to not get injured turning around to see her. Lynch vowed to beat Alexa bliss later on tonight.
Bliss squared off against Becky Lynch to start off the third hour of RAW. Nikki Cross was ringside for the match. Lynch mocked Alexa and threw her to the mat a few times to start things off. Becky connected with a Suplex and went for the Dis-Arm-Her but Bliss was able to escape.
Alexa distracted the referee and Nikki hit Lynch with a cheap shot. Bliss Dropkicked Becky out of the ring and then brought her back inside by her hair. Lynch got pissed off and hit a flurry of uppercuts and knee strikes. Becky knocked Alexa to the mat with a shoulder tackle and made her way to the top rope. Bliss tripped her up and Becky fell to the canvas. Bliss brought Becky to the corner and stomped on her several times as Nikki cheered on from ringside.
Becky went for a roll-up but Alexa kicked out and connected with a Clothesline. Becky once again went for the Dis-Arm-Her but Bliss countered into a cover for a near fall. Bliss connected with Double Knees to Lynch’s midsection for another two count.
Bliss unloaded several punches to Becky’s face and went for the cover once again but the champ kicked out at two. Bliss went for Double Knees again but Becky got out of the way and connected with a Dropkick. Lynch went for an Exploder Suplex but Bliss countered into a Russian Leg Sweep.
Lynch hit Alexa with a couple of Clotheslines and then the Exploder Suplex. Alexa grabbed her ankle in pain and started crying. The referee stopped the match and Mike Rome announced that Alexa is unable to continue and Becky Lynch has won the match. After the match, Nikki Cross challenged Becky and got her in the face as RAW went to a commercial break.
Nikki Cross and Becky Lynch then had a match as Alexa Bliss pretended to be injured outside the ring. Lynch quickly defeated Nikki Cross and was then attacked from behind by Bliss. Natalya got into the ring and locked in the Sharpshooter in the middle of the ring. Natalya was then interviewed backstage and challenged Lynch her to a Submission Match. She then apparently retracted the challenge because she doesn’t think Lynch will accept it.
I don’t get why Becky Lynch couldn’t just defeat Alexa Bliss without the fake injury angle. WWE is either protecting Bliss by not giving her a loss or coming up with the most ridiculous ways possible to get to a commercial break. Natalya’s backstage interview was bizarre as well.
Gallows & Anderson Captured The RAW Tag Team Championships
The Revival defended their RAW Tag Team Championships against The Usos and The OC (Gallows & Anderson) tonight on RAW. The OC dominated early and isolated Jey Uso in the corner of the ring. AJ Styles was shown backstage cheering Gallows and Anderson on throughout the match.
Jimmy Uso finally tagged in and hit Wilder with an Enziguri. Jimmy climbed to the top rope and went for a Crossbody but Dash caught him. Jimmy escaped and planted Wilder with a Samoan Drop for a two count. Dawson tagged in and Suplexed Karl Anderson to the outside.
Gallows leveled Dawson with a big boot and then turned around into a Tornado DDT from Wilder. Jimmy and Dawson battled on the turnbuckle and traded punches. Jimmy hit Dawson with a Superplex onto everyone outside the ring. Gallows tagged in as The Revival hit Jey with the Shatter Machine. Anderson and Gallows then planted Jimmy Uso with the Magic Killer for the victory. The OC are the new RAW Tag Team Champions. Gallows, Anderson, and AJ Styles then celebrated backstage.
The Revival’s title reign was poorly booked and it seemed like they lost every match they were a part of. Hopefully, WWE actually puts some effort into the tag team division for once and builds up The OC as dominant heel champions. I highly doubt that will happen, but that is what I’d like to see. It is pretty random that Gallows and Anderson won the titles tonight. I don’t understand why a storyline couldn’t have been developed that culminated at SummerSlam.
Brock Lesnar Brutally Attacked Seth Rollins
Seth Rollins faced Dolph Ziggler tonight on RAW. Ziggler trolled the crowd and came out to Shawn Michael’s music. Ziggler dominated early and knocked Rollins out of the ring as RAW went to a commercial break.
When RAW returned, Rollins was in control and hit Dolph with an elbow to the face. Ziggler rolled up Rollins and used the ropes for leverage but Seth was still able to kick out at two. Rollins battled back and hit a Falcon Arrow for a near fall. Dolph hit the Zig Zag and went for the cover but Seth kicked out at the last moment.
Rollins battled back and set up for The Stomp but Universal Champion Brock Lesnar interrupted. Lesnar and Heyman marched down the ramp as Ziggler grabbed Seth’s leg from behind. Lesnar sprinted to the ring and took Seth Rollins to Suplex City. Brock launched Rollins into the barricade and then hit him with another German Suplex outside the ring. Brock Lesnar followed that up with an F5 that sent Seth flying into the ring post.
Lesnar rolled Rollins into the ring and grabbed a steel chair. Brock hit Seth with the chair and then took a seat in the ring. Lesnar laughed as Rollins struggled to get up. Lesnar hit Rollins with two more F5s on top of the chair and Seth was bleeding from the mouth. Brock hit Rollins with another F5 and Heyman pleaded for him to stop.
Rollins was then stretchered out of the arena as Roman Reigns looked on. Samoa Joe and The OC then attacked Roman Reigns and beat him down as Rollins was loaded into the ambulance. Brock Lesnar stopped the ambulance and attacked Rollins once again. Lesnar stomped on Rollins’ ribs and then hit him with another F5 on top of the stretcher.
This was an awesome segment. The bumps that Rollins took tonight were absolutely insane. There wasn’t much buzz surrounding the Universal Championship match but that certainly changed tonight.
RAW Ended With A Brawl
Samoa Joe came down to the ring and announced that the Samoan Summitt has been canceled. Joe challenged Reigns to come down to the ring so he can finish the beatdown that he started in the back.
Roman Reigns marched down to the ring and traded punches with Joe. Reigns knocked Joe out of the ring and went after him. Reigns bounced Joe’s head off the apron but Joe battled back with a headbutt. Roman hit a headbutt of his own but Joe responded by throwing him into the steel steps.
Reigns picked up the steel steps and launched them at Reigns. Drew McIntyre tried to attack Reigns but Roman threw him over the barricade. Joe and McIntyre brought Reigns back into the ring and stomped on him. Cedric Alexander came down to the ring and hit Joe with a Clothesline. Cedric booted McIntyre out of the ring but turned around into a Clothesline from Joe.
McIntyre Suplexed Alexander into the screen on the entrance ramp as Joe brought Reigns to the announce table. The Usos made the save but The OC then attacked them from behind. Cedric Alexander took out everyone with a Crossbody off the LED boards and then continued to brawl with Drew McIntyre. Drew went for the Claymore Kick but Cedric countered with a Dropkick. Reigns hit Gallows and Anderson with a Superman Punch and delivered another one to McIntyre. The Usos hit Joe with a couple of Superkicks and Reigns Joe with a Spear to close the show.
I’m assuming this is leading to an 8-man tag match at SummerSlam, if not then this really didn’t make any sense. It was cool to see Cedric Alexander have a great moment tonight and hopefully WWE has plans for him moving forward.
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