This week Raw episode saw a lot of progress in one particular feud: Brock Lesnar and Cody Rhodes and much more.
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Here is a summary and post-show analysis of WWE Raw on July 17 in Atlanta, Georgia. WWE is in full planning gear to organize all of the matches for the event as SummerSlam approaches quickly. This week saw a lot of progress in one particular feud: Brock Lesnar and Cody Rhodes. This week, tag team play also received a lot of attention.
Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez competed against Sonya Deville and Chelsea Green for the women’s tag titles, and Alpha Academy faced The Viking Raiders in a Viking Rules match. Additionally, Matt Riddle finally had the opportunity to wrestle Gunther without Ludwig Kaiser and Giovanni Vinci present. Let’s review what transpired in Monday’s Raw show.
In order to address Lesnar, who he immediately called out, Cody Rhodes first spoke to the audience for a short while. The American Nightmare begged the audience to recognise his mother in the first row because The Beast failed to appear. Lesnar’s music started playing as Rhodes was getting ready to leave, and he got ready to fight. The music faded out and then came back. When The Beast hit Rhodes with a chair, he marched backstage and then returned wobbling.
In front of his mother, the former world champion then completely destroyed The American Nightmare. Lesnar accepted the obligation to bring the sequence to a close at SummerSlam. It was wise to open the presentation with this because Rhodes is so unpopular in his native Georgia. It increased pressure on Lesnar and served to effectively maintain their enmity.
In a Money in the Bank rematch, Riddle and Gunther faced off, only at this point, The Bro were not concerned about Kaiser or Vinci engaging because they were barred from the audience. The IC champion suddenly found himself on defense and had to quickly defend against a few submissions. Gunther brought Riddle down with a body slam and a massive chop to flip the bout around while Riddle fled the ring to regroup.
The Ring General attempted to knock Riddle’s spirit out of his body, but The Bro stayed in the fight and endured all of those vicious shots to the chest. Riddle put up a terrific fight, but a powerbomb prevented him from kicking out. Both the parallels and the differences between the two guys were on display in this hard-hitting contest. The Ring General was treated like the evil he is by the enthusiastic throng.
Rodriguez became an ideal opponent for Green and Deville in their title match when Rhea Ripley attacked her and hurt her knee. We observed the game in progress when we came back from a break. Quick tags from Green and Deville kept Morgan segregated, but Rodriguez quickly tagged in to assist her partner. Nobody could have expected how competitive this game would end up being.
As the match progressed, the crowd became visibly more engaged, but many of them were angry when Deville pinned Morgan and the belts switched hands. Despite the fact that the women’s tag team division may never be fully developed, the teams that WWE has been supporting recently are doing a decent job of keeping the bouts entertaining.
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In an effort to put Erik and Ivar’s feud to rest once and for all, Chad Gable and Otis competed against them in a Viking Rules bout. Before the referee could ring the bell, Otis sent Gable into the Vikings as they made their arrival. The game had very few rules, so it was chaotic the entire time. All four of the men in the ring made sure that this was taken as seriously as possible despite the props and wooden ship being a bit excessive.
Maxxine Dupri was delighted to get her Alpha Academy jacket, but her joy was short-lived as Valhalla forced her through a table. Otis put on a strong display, but the final blow was a double powerbomb from both Vikings. This was a lot of fun and the ideal summary of what sets WWE apart from other businesses.
As soon as the bell rang, Nikki Cross immediately pursued Shayna Baszler, but The Queen of Spades quickly caught her in the Kirifuda Clutch to win by submission with ease. From the audience, Ronda Rousey teased Shayna, and the segment concluded with Rousey promising to run into Baszler at SummerSlam.
In this week’s show, Bronson Reed and Shinsuke Nakamura added yet another chapter to their conflict that has taken place multiple times in recent months. To keep the large man at bay, Nakamura relied on his striking prowess, but Reed absorbed most of them and kept coming up with new strategies to defeat him.
They battled through a break and into the next episode. The longer the contest lasted, the more Reed seemed to have the advantage—the exact reverse of what you would think based just on their physical attributes. Tommaso Ciampa attacked Reed, which led to Nakamura kicking him in the face, and ultimately led to Nakamura being disqualified.
The tag title bout that took place earlier in the evening served as the main event of the evening. Judgement Day’s Priest and Mysterio were given the opportunity to challenge Zayn and Owens. Rollins suddenly appeared and attacked Balor before the match could begin. They sprinted away, leaving Judgement Day with just one man. For a while, Priest was able to take charge, but as soon as Dom tagged in, the champions were able to corner him and use double-team combinations to finish him out.
Although the match was terrific, it felt like one we had already seen several times. Judgement Day has been the only person with whom KO and Zayn have had much contact since leaving The Bloodline. Even though it never seemed as though the titles were in danger of changing hands, the crowd was enjoying the action, and everyone did a wonderful job of making this a strong main event. To prevent Ripley from becoming involved, Morgan chased after her and attacked her. As a result of the confusion, Zayn was able to defeat Dom with a Helluva Kick.
A lively audience will always enhance a successful performance, and this week’s gathering in Georgia was among the greatest we have recently witnessed. The most shocking event on the programme was perhaps the transfer of the women’s tag titles. The organization of SummerSlam bouts seemed to be the focus of everything else. Lesnar vs. Rhodes is undoubtedly the most significant addition to the card out of the few new matches that were confirmed for the PPV.
From an entertainment perspective, Alpha Academy and The Viking Raiders may have had the best performance of the evening, but Gunther and Riddle undoubtedly put up a good show for the crowd as well. Overall, the red brand had a successful week. As the PPV approaches, let’s hope the pattern holds.
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