The dog days of summer for WWE are in the back-9 of an aggressive event schedule that recently concluded NXT’s Great American Bash, WWE’s Saturday Night’s Main Event, and the 2nd annual all-women’s PLE Evolution. Tonight, in Birmingham, Alabama, RAW focused on the biggest storyline to come out of the weekend— a successful MITB briefcase cash-in during the Iyo Sky title defense against Rhea Ripley in last night’s main event.
Aside from that, the big RAW narrative surrounded the seriousness of Seth Rollins’ knee injury suffered Saturday in Atlanta during his match with LA Knight. The shakeup comes at a time when GM Pearce booked a 5-man gauntlet match for the right to challenge heavyweight champion Gunther at SummerSlam.
Rollins Reevaluated
Paul Heyman had the MITB briefcase in hand but without Seth Rollins in sight, and, in the backstage promo, Paul refused to answer reports of Rollins getting his knee reevaluated in Birmingham. Speculation ran rampant earlier in the day that the briefcase would be redistributed, but Heyman made it clear that Seth has until next July to cash-in; therefore, his health is ‘of no concern.’
Still, tonight’s 5-man gauntlet match would determine the next defense for heavyweight champion Gunther. It was not a huge concern for the squad, and that is because the odds-on favorite going into the match was Bron Breakker. Gunther cut a promo on the competitors ahead of the match where Breakker drew lucky number one.
HW Title #1 Contender Gauntlet Match/The Roman Return
Heyman set the match up with an in-ring promo involving champion Gunther and Breakker, but he had to face off with fan-favorite Penta first. After getting through Penta, Breakker pulled LA Knight’s card. Knight was a formidable challenge, but he eventually fell by the wayside.
Jey USO did not get his typical entrance from the crowd (and there were fewer ‘Yeeters’ in the crowd), but he took advantage of a warm Breakker. Jey did not fare as well as the others, but Breakker’s momentum at that point was too much to overcome.
CM Punk was the final lap for Breakker to not only pick up the #1 contender spot, but also successfully “run the full gauntlet.” Punk still has issues with Heyman and co., so their presence ringside was more than ominous. Bronson Reed stepped in one too many times, and Jey USO attempted to help his ‘face friend.’
Jey did not help much after the match, but it was enough to help Punk defeat Breakker. That angered Breakker and Reed, who had both Jey and Punk in full control as the crowd chanted “OTC” in the post-match beatdown.
That is when Roman Reigns’ music hit, and he came out to clear house. Roman landed spears and stood tall in front of an energetic crowd screaming “OTC.” Jey and Roman shook hands off the jump, but Punk and Roman circled the union as the crowd continued chanting, “Roman, Roman Reigns” in song.
WrestleMania Repeat
After losing to Jade Cargill earlier in the night, Naomi seized her opportunity by making the scheduled singles match between Rhea and champion Sky into a triple threat. The disruptive nature of her character arc perfectly fit the moment, so when she came out in the opening segment of RAW, she was cheered by fans despite months of heel work.
Rhea was out in no time to complain about Naomi ‘crashing her party’ and was then followed by former champ Sky. The match between Sky and Rhea last night has been universally praised by fans and online pundits, so it made sense that RAW GM Adam Pearce was eager to capitalize on this three-way combination of complementary styles.
Pearce announced the triple threat match for SummerSlam after asking the trio to raise the bar of the standard set last night. The crowd went wild, but it felt oddly similar to the booking from this year’s Mania, where Sky played the spoiler role on Rhea and Belair. Securing a show stealer this early on the card is smart, but they will have to dig deep to surpass the work done at EVO2.
Learning To Liv Again
Roxanne Perez and Raquel Rodriguez were successful in 4-way tag action last night by managing to make it out with the belts among the crowded field. The Judgement Day has managed to continue their belt collection despite losing Liv Morgan several weeks back in a fluke in-ring injury.
Tonight, Finn attempted to cement Perez’s place even deeper into the faction by continuing to nudge Dom Mysterio closer to Perez. He insisted that Dom escort the women’s tag champs to the ring in their match against the Kubaki Warriors (Auska and Sane). They defended their titles against one of the three teams they faced last night, but this time they had the ringside assistance of Dom. In fact, it was his direct involvement that led to Rodriguez and Perez successfully defending their titles. It was awesome seeing Dom take a stiff elbow from Auska, though.
Dom’s interference caused GM Pearce to take notice, and he scheduled Dom for a ‘revaluation’ of injury. If Dom passes the test, so to speak, the order has been made for Dom to defend his IC title at SummerSlam.
Bayley vs Lyra Valkyria— Best 2 out of 3 Pinfalls (#1 Contender For IC Title)
Bayley made it clear to Lyra that the loser of their match goes ‘to the back of the line,’ so it was do or die for both women. Bayley scored the first pinfall before Lyra tied it up, but the match was a continuation of the fantastic action from the triple-threat match involving champion Becky Lynch.
A ‘this is awesome’ chant broke out with Bayley in control, but Lyra managed to land a gutwrench sit-down power bomb for the near fall. Bayley managed to gain control, but Lyra was able to survive Bayley’s offense (that included an elbow drop to the back of Lyra from the top turnbuckle) and reversed herself into the pinfall victory.
Becky came out at the end to face off with Lyra, but, as for Bayley, her ‘losing streak’ continues.
Nikki Bella: One Last Run?
After a losing effort in last night’s #1 contender battle royal for a shot at the title booked for The Clash in Paris, Nikki Bella faced off one-on-one with Chelsea Green. Nikki picked up the win, but Green and her “She-Cret Service” attempted to beat down the Bella before Stephanie Vaquer came out for the save.
Nikki spoke of a final run, but it was contingent on winning the battle royal. But with Liv’s injury scrapping her initial plans, there is no telling how deep this run goes.
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