Welcome to Bleacher Report’s live coverage and recap of WWE Raw on July 3 from Baltimore, MD.
This is a fallout show from Saturday’s Money in the Bank event, and that means there’s always a good amount of time spent summarizing the pay-per-view and preparing for the next big show.
Two MITB holders were able to bag their bags on the current champions. Rhea Ripley was a bigger target for Iyo Sky due to the fact that she was booked to defend her title against Natalya on Monday’s show.
Let’s take a look back at everything that happened on this week’s episode of Raw.
The show began with a video recap of all the major events that took place at Money in the Bank on Saturday. When we went live to the arena, a victorious Seth Rollins walked out in front of the entire crowd singing his music.
After talking about MITB for a bit, Cody Rhodes made his way to other pop megas and the crowd is singing his music. He was about to ask what we wanted to talk about before Brock Lesnar’s music interrupted him.
Rhodes jumped out of the ring and ran down the aisle to fight him off. They brawled all the way to the ring as Rhodes escaped with an F5 and hit Cody Cutter.
We got contented over a title dispute before we got an unannounced appearance from Lesnar to set up a rematch against Rhodes. Overall, this opening segment was very effective.
After a break, Rollins was still in the ring. He started to speak but was cut off again. This time it was Damian Priest alongside Dominic Mysterio and Rhea Ripley.
The Visionary got a kick out of the crowd as they booed Dom every time he tried to speak. He agreed to face Dom in a match later in the show.
degree: b +
Notable moments and notes
- It was nice to see a Droz tribute sketch at the beginning of the show.
- It seems like Rollins just wants to see how long he can get every audience to sing along to his music. He usually gets 30 seconds out of it.
Priest held on after the opening segment so he could fight the man he faced in the Money in the Bank match, Shinsuke Nakamura.
The match started with The Archer of Infamy focusing on Nakamura’s right arm. He kept the upper hand for a long time and dropped Nakamura to the barricade as the show stopped.
The King of Strong Style returned with the return of the show and hit a sliding German suplex. He danced towards Ripley and kissed her before returning to the ring and nailing Priest with a kick.
They pick up the pace and make the final two minutes the best part of the match, but most of this will be forgotten before the show is over. Both men did a good job. They just didn’t do enough to stand out here, which shouldn’t be the goal of every game.
Priest hit a massive clothesline that followed South of Heaven for the win.
winner: Damian priest
degree: B-
Notable moments and notes
- The angle from which Nakamura landed on the barricade didn’t look very interesting.
- Ripley just explodes with confidence. Even when you’re standing ringside, you can’t help but notice her.
- The way Dom responded to Nakamura blowing a kiss to Ripley was pretty funny.
Ronda Rousey came out and was about to speak when Shayna Baszler cut her off. Ronda said Chyna owed her an explanation and Chyna said she was the only reason Ronda was even in a WWE ring.
Chyna went on a rant about Rhonda’s entitlement and said she plans to be the one to shut her up in the end. Ronda kicks her off the apron and they start to fight. Baszler caught it with an ankle lock and held it for a long time before hitting a brutal running knee.
This was a great part to officially start their feud. The crowd is behind Baszler, so WWE had better go along with it and make her the hero of this storyline in the end.
degree: b +
Afterwards, Raquel Rodriguez and Liv Morgan came out to watch the Tag Team Turmoil match for their titles.
The squad included Sonya Deville, Chelsea Green, Kayden Carter, Katana Chance, Emma, Nikki Cross, Dana Brooke, Tegan Nox, Andy Hartwell, and Candice Larry.
Indy and Candace started against Sonya and Green. After Green and Deville win, Cross jumps them on Candace’s behalf.
Emma couldn’t make the tag because Nikki was distracted, so she ended up losing to her team. Nox and Brooke were eliminated during the break, leaving the former NXT Tag Team Champions as the final team of Deville and Green.
Turmoil matches are always a bit tough, but this one did a good job of making Deville and Green look like the best opponents for the new champions. The match didn’t have anything memorable until Katana hit Hurricane Green while on Carter’s shoulders.
Green picked up the win to earn herself and Deville a shot at the women’s titles in the future.
Winners: Sonya Deville and Chelsea Green
degree: c
Notable moments and notes
- The way Rossi sold Basler’s running knee was great. She looked like she was cold.
- Two of these teams were competing for the first time as partners, but at least WWE is making an effort to build this division up.
- Nikki Cross is an amazing person. It’s a shame WWE doesn’t use it much.
- The hurricane spot from Chance and Green was great.
Becky Lynch came out and called out Trish Stratus and Zoe Stark. Trish comes out with a protective face mask and the man begins to question how ridiculous she is. This did not lead to anything but told us that this dispute is ongoing at the moment.
The next match was a six-man mixed tag team match where Maxine Dupree, Chad Gable and Otis faced Eric, Ivar and Valhalla.
Professor Gable started things against Eric, but it didn’t take long for Otis to step in. He directed both Vikings on his own before the show went into a commercial.
When Gable and Ivar both went down after the break, they finally tagged in the women’s match. Dupree took Valhalla down several times with an arm pull before hitting him with a suplex. She was able to secure the win for her team by reflecting the sunset into the corner.
This feud has been better than any proper being, and part of that is thanks to Dupree’s comic timing matching so well with Otis and Gable. This match wasn’t a five star classic, but it was definitely fun for the live crowd and that’s the most important thing.
Winners: Alpha Academy
degree: c +
Notable moments and notes
- Trish wore a similar mask many years ago, so this is a nice gimmick for her.
- The way Samantha Irvin has changed her voice in certain entrances is awesome. I did it for Chelsea and I also did it for Maxxine in this match.
- The crowd was going crazy for Alpha Academy and Maxxine. Her caterpillar needs some work though.
This match was supposed to take place two weeks ago, but Ripley attacked Natalya before the bell and it didn’t end up happening to her. This week, we finally got that rematch at Night of Champions.
Nattie ended up attacking Ripley on her way to the ring to get some measure of revenge on The Eradicator. The match started because the champion said she could still compete.
They maintained their physical strength and this soon turned into a fight. Ripley turned things around and started dominating the veteran once she got her bearings back.
Both women pride themselves on their talent and strength, so this was a very strong match that showed off their many strengths. They may have outperformed the NoC encounter with this one.
Ripley tried to hit a frog splash but fell on a pair of shoes. Natty hit a running British Bulldog before closing into the Sharpshooter. Eradicator escaped and hit a powerbomb for the win.
Morgan and Rodriguez countered when Ripley continued to attack Natty after the bell.
winner: Rhea Ripley
degree: b +
Notable moments and notes
- Natalia received some Guinness World Record certificates during Money in the Bank. They didn’t make a big enough deal on WWE programming.
- Whenever Ripley is thrown into something like steps or a table, she always throws her entire body into it.
- Ripley’s crotch cut would create many memes and gifs online.
Giovanni Vinci was out for revenge this week when he fought the man who had put him on the shelf for a month, Matt Riddle.
Ludwig Kaiser distracts The Bor so that Vinci can take control right after the bell. Riddle popped up again after a slam to hit some kicks, but Vinci brought him back down with a cross jumper.
It ended up being a relatively short match that Riddle won with a roll-up, but the two minutes we got were good. It leaves the door open for a rematch in the future that will give them more time to work.
Drew McIntyre made the save as Imperium attacked Riddle after the buzzer. He looked straight at Gunter before Vinci nailed Claymore.
winner: Matt Riddle
degree: c
Notable moments and notes
- The birds that flew out of Riddle’s back this week were eagles. Somehow, this didn’t sound as patriotic as they hoped it would.
- Io Sky taunted Ripley with the briefcase backstage before this match took place.
- Vinci is one of the best workers in WWE. Everything it does feels so smooth.
The main event was the match that took place during the opening segment between Rollins and Mysterio. Priest and Ripley were by Doom’s side when he faced the world champion.
They started with some simple wrestling with takedowns and counters to get to know each other. Rollins nearly sent Doom flying over the top rope into Ripley before knocking him out with a knee from the apron.
After a break, Priest pushed the top rope roll while Ripley distracted the ref. This allowed Dom to hit Spot the Frog.
As Rollins was preparing to Stomp, Priest attacked him to cause a DQ. He began to eliminate the world champion while Ripley was carrying his briefcase.
The Visionary tried to get back, but Dom hit him with the briefcase. He tried telling Priest to cash in, but Finn Bálor showed up to attack Rollins and ended up punching him in Priest. This caused an argument between two members of Judgment Day.
Rollins nailed Doom with a Pedigree to the floor before he escaped from the rest of Doomsday.
The main event was a decent match, but it didn’t come close to being the best thing on the card. Now that the seeds have been planted, it’s possible that Priest and Balor will end up feuding sooner than some might expect.
winner: Seth Rollins by DQ
degree: B-
Notable moments and notes
- The crowd kept singing Rollins’ song well into the match. It instantly changed into a chant against Doom.
- The announcers almost went out of their way to ignore Rollins and Mysterio’s past history.
- Doom has made some improvements, especially when it comes to selling it.
This week’s show should have done things. He needed to break down what happened at Money in the Bank, and he also needed to start promoting SummerSlam. It did both pretty well, but had some weaknesses.
The six-person mixed tag match was fun, but the best thing we saw all night was the match between Natalya and Ripley for the World Women’s Championship.
The boat looked as good in the ring as it had in a long time, but this is Ripley’s time and Natty knew that, so she did a good job making the champ look tough.
Setting up another match between Rhodes and Lesnar was a good way to kick off the show. Overall, this was by no means a bad episode. It had some flaws, but there was more to dislike about this week’s episode.
degree: B
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