Cody Rhodes and Brock Lesnar under one roof.
WWE Raw, the go-home show for SummerSlam, advertised Seth Rollins and Sami Zayn vs. the Judgment Day, Logan Paul live and Maxxine Dupri’s in-ring debut against Valhalla. On the day where Cody Rhodes’ documentary premieres, Raw also advertised Cody Rhodes vs. Brock Lesnar under one roof.
Last week’s broadcast of WWE Raw garnered 1.818 million viewers.
Ricochet has gotten progressively better on the mic by being allowed to cut promos ever week in front of live audiences. To all those IWC
After a largely respectful exchange, Logan Paul had one last parting shot when he told Ricochet that his fiancee Samantha Irvin would be the one to announce him as the winner. It was a great heel line.
Ricochet and Logan Paul’s highly athletic brawl felt like a fight between two furious ballerinas.
WWE is already beginning to tease dissension between IMPERIUM as GUNTHER expressed disappointment in both Ludwig Kaiser and Giovanni Vinci. Especially Kaiser.
Sadly, Corey Graves did not reprise his Ludwig Kaiser impression.
Ludwig Kaiser won a very good match, putting his dissension with IMPERIUM on hold, while Riddle’s descent into obscurity continued.
WWE aired a great video package for Cody Rhodes and Brock Lesnar. They followed up later with an awesome video package for Ronda Rousey and Shayna Baszler, who talked about their days together on The Ultimate Fighter.
Even though this was a singles match, Alpha Academy got in the ring and the Viking Raiders interfered as well. This was like a glorified six-man tag team match, right down to the matching gear.
It’s wild to think that once upon a time, Max Dupri and Maxxine Dupri were brother and sister in a dead-in-the-water gimmick. Fast forward to today, and both are getting over on SmackDown and Raw.
Rhea Ripley got the anti-Dom reaction as fans chanted her name the second she began speaking.
Given the reactions for the Judgment Day, positive and negative, I’m only further convinced that Finn Balor should win the WWE World Heavyweight Championship.
Rhea Ripley and Raquel Rodriguez brawled and Rhea took out her knee. It was later noted that Raquel is not cleared to compete, so apparently Rhea Ripley will go another PLE without an opponent.
Crowd reaction was few and far between for this match, which seemed designed to promote the SummerSlam Battle Royal.
Nakamura won out of nowhere with a rollup while grabbing Ciampa’s trunks. Ciampa is almost guaranteed not to win the SummerSlam Battle Royal.
There were a lot of UFC references throughout this show, from Ronda Rousey and Shayna Baszler telling their story to Lesnar reading off his accolades. It’s got to be the Endeavor effect.
Brock Lesnar played into “what” chants by speaking in short sentences.
Rhodes was all business, despite being in full gear and not a suit. He didn’t pose at all, not for the “whoas” or the pyro.
After shaking hands with Brock Lesnar, Rhodes performed a suicide dive on Lesnar only to take steel steps to the face. Cody’s adversity tour continued when Lesnar pummeled Rhodes yet again with the steel steps and hit an F-5.
I don’t care what anybody says, this was the official return of the Whiteboy Challenge.
This reminded me of Spike Dudley vs. Rodney Mack’s Whiteboy Challenge, when Spike fought the monster tooth-and-nail and held out until literally the last second before tapping out to a submission hold.
The time limit expired within five minutes, and Chad Gable was announced as the winner. GUNTHER then changed the rules of the Whiteboy Challenge. Leave it to the white man to change the rules when the Whiteboy challenge doesn’t work out.
GUNTHER finally won the actual match they had.
Trish Stratus took an obligatory shot to the Houston Astros and got major heat for it.
Adam Pearce announced an impromptu match between Trish Stratus and Becky Lynch, not for SummerSlam, but for Raw. That’s two major women’s matches that have been moved to TV.
Zoey Stark immediately pounced on Becky Lynch when the match began. The rematch will happen in two weeks in Manitoba, Canada.
There may have been more commercials than ring time in this match.
Coming out of break, Seth Rollins had an incredible hot tag where fans sang along throughout.
After hitting the Razor’s Edge, Damian Priest once again teased cashing in the Money in the Bank contract. Finn Balor hesitated before giving Priest the briefcase, and Priest was unable to cash in as a result. Finn has to win on Saturday.