CM Punk Gets Medically Cleared; Faces Drew McIntyre At SummerSlam

RAW was in Packers’ country this week, right across the street from the famous Lambeau Field, and the storylines were in abundance as we were promised CM Punk as well as The Judgement Day, including Rhea Ripley.

The Judged Men’s Day

In this week’s episode of ‘As the World Turns Face,’ the leader of The Judgement Day was clearly placed in the face role, which has been murky since winning the title at WrestleMania.

Gunther called Priest ‘street trash’ again, and they eventually brawled until WWE officials could separate them. They brawled to the backstage, and that was about it, but as great as these two have been, it feels like there is a missing element to this storyline. Sure, the title should be all the stakes necessary to give a feud all it needs to deliver, but the heavyweight title has been firmly placed in second position since Mania.

Ripley Or Live? Dom Picks And Gets Licked

Rhea and Dom came to ringside and were quickly joined by Liv Morgan, who admitted, again, that she is ‘actually in love with Dom,’ an admission that nearly caused Rhea to get physical despite allegedly not being cleared. Of course, Dom stops Rhea from chasing down Liv, who is positioned in the crowd to protect Rhea. Then, Dom decided to ‘hurt Morgan’ for Rhea as he got the mic and screamed, ‘I hate you, Liv,’ before bombarding her with a vicious tirade in both English and Spanish. It is easy to argue that Liv has been far too aggressive in her pursuit of Dom, but it is hard to argue that Liv’s actions have had anything but a positive effect on Dom and his faction—TJD.

He even called her a ‘pendeja,’ a Spanish profanity that offers many different English translations based on the context of its usage. But in this context, he was putting her down very aggressively. Liv crossed the line months ago, but Dom’s unassertive nature and unwillingness to make things clear to her left that door open, and now, with ‘Mami’ beside him, he finally has the stones to do what exactly? Belittle the women he himself led on with language that may have been triggering for many Spanish-speaking viewers who have suffered through domestic violence.

It is wrestling, so none of this should ever be taken too seriously, and I do not condemn the performers tonight, not at all. The issue is with WWE Creative, which has pushed the boundaries of a narrative for the sake of social media views and has been forced to up the ante each week. Liv was left devastated as she cried on national television on her way to the back as the fans saw ‘Mami’ lick the face of ‘Daddy Dom.’ The segment was over, and so was the feud until SummerSlam, and that is where the biggest turn in the company could be waiting to put the big exclamation on a terrific feud.

A Zany Yeet Man

As for the rest of the TJD faction, RAW tag team champs JD McDonagh, and Finn Balor took on the pairing of Sami Zane (IC CHAMP) and Jey Uso. The pairing of Zane and Jey should’ve been a no-brainer as both men have significant pushes ahead of them, but neither has encapsulated the brilliant performances from their days together in The Bloodline. These men worked well in a storyline that helped bring back the revolution of pro wrestling we are currently witnessing. Yet, they have only been paired sporadically despite their chemistry, and there is a sort of ying and yang to their interactions.

However, tonight, all four men in this match showed their ability to mesh, and the match almost felt like a PPV match at times, as the stakes seemed much higher than the non-title match it was. Zane and Jey took the win against the tag champs, and this should be further addressed next week, though with SummerSlam already booked for Zane, the pair may have to wait for this to develop. Before RAW went off the air and as Zane was still celebrating the win, Breakker, the now #1 contender of the IC title, came in and speared the champ to send RAW off air.

** Note**

Next week’s RAW, the go-home edition for SummerSlam, will be on the SyFy channel. In fact, RAW will be on the SyFy channel for the ‘RAW following SummerSlam’ as well, though the PLE is on a Saturday this year— perhaps the final single night SummerSlam in WWE’s history.

CM Punk Pulls Up On McIntyre, Insert Seth Rollins

It’s the old adage, CM Punk plans, Pearce laughs. That would best explain the Punk segment. After months of slow playing and so-so stake raising, Punk announced he had been cleared to compete following the rare Saturday appointment with his surgeon. So, Punk, the face(?) in the storyline, went out to the ring and opened with a metaphor stretch that would have impressed the Fantastic Four’s Reed Richards, and with tape in hand, he called out McIntyre for a fight.

Drew McIntyre, playing the role of heel, said ‘no’ after months of begging to fight Punk and made the (very true) statement that Green Bay was too small for a big money match like this. It is so out of character for the everyman from one country with a deep and proud fighting lineage to undergo a not-so-subtle transformation into Shane-O-McIntyre. If this fight didn’t ‘work for Drew tonight, brother,’ then was this all a play to make more money with an old fighter with commercial appeal? If so, I would not blame Drew, after all, boxers like Floyd Mayweather JR and MMA fighters like Jon Jones have all cashed in on the aging fighter. In fact, there is a long history of torch passing in every combat sport, but if that is the case, then it is NOT a blood feud. You cannot simultaneously tell the story of a blood feud for both while also standing on the ‘prize-fighting’ nature of the game.

The entire segment was used to bring Seth Rollins into the fray. With nothing for Seth to do at SummerSlam–many unconfirmed reports suggest Rollins is still not fully healed or may have suffered an undisclosed setback—WWE and RAW’s GM Adam Pearce decided to insert him as the ‘special guest ref.’

The role seems to excite Seth Rollins, for what reason is unclear considering he has issues with both men. This fact gives Seth the allusion of fairness, but truthfully, it sets up a situation where he will likely decide who to ‘sc*** over’ come fight night. This is not the most exciting addition to a feud that has lost much of its steam due to overexposure of a hurt player, but it is undoubtedly a ‘big money fight.’ One thing to consider is how much more this match would matter if the title were at stake. Sure, Priest has done well with what they have given him, but it hasn’t been much. His clunky, heel-to-face turn would not have been an issue if you had decided to give him the title later.

Wyatt Sicks Continues Rolling Out The Diagnosis

After the commentary team cut to a video package set up for Abby the Witch, the character has appeared mostly on live WWE TV since the debut of the faction.

Later, Chad Gable came out with his new crew to set up an alliance with the former members of his faction, now led by Otis, with Xavier Woods tagging along with his New Day brothers sidelined (it is a great pairing, and hopefully, they get enough time to learn from Woods who has plenty to teach as a vet in this game).

Soon after Otis declined, the lights hit, and fog filled the ring with Gable waiting inside the ring, while the Creed Brothers waited outside with chairs as a ‘first line of defense’ placement as they kept eyes on the Wyatt Sicks standing stage side. However, that left Uncle Howdy an opening to appear in the ring, and we received the first real look at the character in action as he hit his brother’s famous finisher–Sister Abigail–complete with a forehead kiss for the nod.

It was a solid segment, but it is concerning that WWE has yet to give Nikki Cross, the superstar portraying Abby the Witch, an actual arch, and there is certainly the chance that they decide to ignore the Cross connection and allow it to remain inexplicable. This is not new in wrestling, as repackages can take all sorts of shapes and sizes and are not relegated to continuity, but fans hate being treated like they’re dumb. It is a fine line WWE will have to walk, but first, they need to make the decision, and it is unclear they have.

Bron Breakker Back At The Front?

In a number one contender match for Sami Zane’s intercontinental title, Bron Breakker, and Ilja Dragunov in an amazing opening match. They went back and forth, and Dragunov showed he belonged, while Breakker proved his meteoric rise was not just a thing of nepotism.

Dragunov caught Breakker in some impressive counters and really took the fight to the 2^nd generation performer, but Breakker proved to be too much after hitting what Pat McAfee has dubbed the “Breakkin-Steiner,” a huricanerana from the top turnbuckle that his uncle, Scott Steiner, called the ‘Frankensteiner.’ Great marketing and a great win, but now Zane will be forced to do something no one else has done—beat Breakker twice.

Mario Mungia

Mario Mungia Jr. has a decade worth of experience as a combat sports journalist and correspondent which began with ThaBoxingVoice (TBV) as a podcast co-host, writer and editor-in-chief. Aside from his online resume, Mario spent a fair portion of his early career working for Spanish/English magazine Premier Round and the Mexican website Izquierdo. Mario has also contributed to NYFights while simultaneously working for MIC Sports Network as part of the broadcast crew covering local high school sports. Since then, he has launched his own podcast/live stream (Infighting/Work In Progress) and is covering pro wrestling for FightsATW.

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