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Add FightsATW on GoogleAfter a week of Tom Brady slapping Logan Paul, Cody Rhodes “kicking” footballs, and other celebrity X WWE collabs, tonight’s RAW capitalizes on a huge week in branding. The Fanatics Fest went hand in hand with the Saturday Night’s Main Event show live at Madison Square Garden this weekend.
Aside from Cody Rhodes and CM Punk coexisting, NYC fans were treated to Roman laying a show-ending beatdown on Seth Rollins with the “help” of Jalen Brunson of the NBA champion Knicks. That final segment saw the return of Tyreese Haliburton, though neither NBA superstar got physical—that was left to Karl Anthony Towns in the Danhausen match against JD McDonaugh,
With a huge weekend behind them and SummerSlam fight week beginning in a mere 7 days, tonight’s show was the perfect time to profit off of the amount of eyeballs the product attracted in NY on Saturday.
SETH, SOLO, FATU, KNIGHT, THE USOS… THE DOOMSDAY OF WWE
The Doomsday trailer dropped today after months (years) of speculation and anticipation, but we had already seen it. We had not seen it with our eyes, but with the amount of leaks before it was launched. The trailer did something that comic fans have understood for some time—it showcased the convoluted nature of the current MCU narrative.
Similarly, Solo, Jacob Fatu, The USOs, and LA Knight have been involved in a storyline that is not just confusing but, in some ways, betrays the very nature of some of these characters. Solo came out tonight telling Seth Rollins that he could ‘watch his back’ ahead of his SummerSlam showdown with the heavyweight champion, Roman Reigns.
Solo compared him watching Seth’s back at SS to how Seth had Cody’s back ahead of his match at WM 41 when ‘The American Nightmare’ finished the story. Jacob Fatu came down to chase down Solo—the directive given to him by his Tribal Chief several weeks ago—and Seth caught Fatu with a super kick as Solo made his escape.
Seth and Fatu met up backstage, where Rollins begged Fatu to ‘hit him’ before acknowledging that Roman gave orders not to touch him ahead of their match. Seth further pushed Jacob by asking whether he would get Roman’s title and his bag boy should he be victorious at SummerSlam.
However, things got even more convoluted in the main event when LA Knight faced off with Jacob Fatu, only for a schmoz on top of another schmoz to end the night. Fatu won the match by pinning Knight, but that was after Jey and Jimmy came to ringside to battle it out with Royce Keys and Solo Sikoa.
The show ended with The Bloodline’s Jey, Jimmy, and Jacob standing tall over Royce, Solo, and Knight with their ‘ones’ in the air in salute of their Tribal Chief at home watching.
THE VISION STILL BEING WRITTEN…
Once upon a time, The Vision was the kind of act that could open the show and command the show’s main story week after week based on the idea of the faction representing the future. Fast-forward to today, and the current tag team champions are without Paul Heyman and far from creative’s ‘main characters.’
Theory and Breakker defeated Je’Von Evans and Dragon Lee after hitting the latter with their recently debuted double team finisher, but it was the match’s aftermath that continued their main storyline as Otis and Tazawa came down to aid the faces. Otis was able to provide some relief before Breakker cut him in half on the outside with a ‘charged up’ spear.
They hit Otis with their double team move inside the ring as Maxxine Dupri watched on from the top turnbuckle.
DANHAUSEN GIVES AWAY HUMAN MONIES, JUDGEMENT DAY PROTESTS
This month-long program continued on RAW TV tonight as The Judgment Day’s Liv Morgan, Dom Mysterio, and JD accosted Danhausen over the ‘stolen money’ they claim he took. Danhausen agreed to ‘find’ the money, and in a later segment he showed up with a brown bag supposedly filled with TJD’s money.
TJD came down to confront Danhausen by taking the money, and that is when Joe Hendry came down to make the save. The scene exploded later in the back when JD discovered the money was fake, and that is when Oba Femi stepped in after being pelted with the fake currency. GM Adam Pearce immediately booked Oba VS JD and Dom VS Hendry for the show.
Joe Hendry VS Dom Mysterio
This match was much better than the expectations of two guys without the familiarity that equates to quality in-ring work. That said, they put on a solid match where Danhausen ended up being the difference maker when he hit Mysterio with a ‘death drop’ for Hendry to capitalize.
OBA VS JD
Oba Femi squashed JD in a match mostly meant to remind fans that he will be locked into Hell in a Cell with Brock Lesnar at SummerSlam as the Nigerian yelled no more BS into the camera, claiming the “silly sh**” is over at SummerSlam. It was announced later in the show that Oba and Lesnar will have a faceoff next Monday before their showdown.
OTHER TIDBITS
– Big Cass was given a video vignette ahead of his 8/3 debut promoted online and at the end of his video package. Clips of problematic headlines with a voiceover claiming that the prerequisite for falling far from grace is not based on the heights you climbed. It was a poignant message, though it is an odd narrative to bring in Cass, especially if he is to be paired with Enzo… he is being paired with Enzo, isn’t he?
– Darius Rucker will perform the National Anthem on Sunday, night two of SummerSlam.
– Penta will defend his IC title against Chad Gable at SummerSlam, and they had a ‘faceoff’ this past weekend as WWE pushes the match as a major promotion (it deserves the consideration). The future opponents teamed up to defeat Ethan Page and Rusev in tag action tonight.
– Next week’s WWE RAW will feature a faceoff between Seth and Roman ahead of their match on that Saturday.
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