We hope everyone has enjoyed the fireworks, the food and has lived to tell the story. Welcome to Raw after Money in the Bank! Claire has returned to the chair doing her blog, and I’m here filling out the details.
Let’s talk about Raw!
One more way to cross …
Life after WrestleMania is not exactly fun for Becky Lynch. The Big Time master can’t get it right and falls short in his quest for what he thinks is his championship. Becky believes that Asuka is the author of all her pain. It was Asuka who made his rematch with Bianca Belair a triple threat to Hell in a Cell. And it is Asuka who is always on the lookout.
Asuka, on the other hand, seemed like her mission was to make Becky’s life miserable. Asuka thinks Becky is complaining too much and is a long way from the woman who awarded her the Raw women’s championship two years ago. If Becky is upset, Asuka is upset.
But it was Becky who called for a No Holds Barred match. And it was Becky who chose violence when she pulled a table from under the ring before the match began. These are touches that I love because they show up and don’t say it. Yes, I know Becky hates this woman, but illustrating her in a way that serves her character and the match is just good storytelling.
It turns out that the table was only part of the equation. Asuka and Becky also used bins, kendo sticks and chairs. Asuka threw a trash can at Becky as an opening salvo! Why throw or close your hip when you can take out the trash? The other two big moments of the match were courtesy of Asuka superplexing Becky on a pile of chairs and of course the end.
In a call back to his party that proceeded to the Hell in a Cell match, the ending involved an umbrella and a green fog. Asuka found an umbrella under the ring — really, who’s cleaning that place? —And Becky snatched it away. Asuka went to get the green mist, which Becky blocked with the parasol. Both women reach for the upper turnbuckle, with a table located directly below them. After a bit of a fight, Becky Manhandle hits Asuka across the table, getting the W and exorcising her demon.
That was a great way to end the show and a good ending to its story. At least for now. I’m not sure what will be next for Asuka. Maybe a change of scenery on Friday nights or a possible feud with Alexa Bliss, which the WWE foreshadowed tonight. But Becky wants Bianca’s title. With Carmella, and possibly Rhea Ripley at the helm, we’ll see David Bowie’s favorite move forward.
Extra curricular
Rey and Dom Phone at home
Judgment day tool. They started the match with a surprise attack, which has all the meaning in the world. They are bad guys; be bad. His furtive attack caused the people of Rey Mysterio and Dominik’s hometown to fully join in with the father and son by casting an ass on Damian Priest and a Finn Balor dressed as a member of The Revolution.
This is a weird place for Damian and Finn. This is their first real outing as a team and the first Judgment Day test as a unit without an Edge. But obviously they don’t beat Rey and Dom in their hometown.
The WWE split the baby and gave us a DQ finish. I would normally complain about that, but Rey used the Eddie Guerrero chair trick, took out the audience, got the W, while Damian and Finn keep their shoulders off the mat. We also had a brutal defeat after the match courtesy of Judgment Day. So yes, I’m happy.
Phenomenal balls
Miz, as a character, will never surpass AJ Styles. Miz’s only game is to beat Styles. For a moment, a very brief moment, Miz found that moment. He used AJ’s momentum against him and threw his head at a central tensioner. But AJ bounced back after Miz made a few hits and hit the W with a phenomenal forearm.
Ephemeral victory, however, because here the main thing is to talk about Ciampa. Once again, the black heart of NXT damaged Styles after the match, giving Miz a chance to make one last laugh. After Miz performed a Skull Crushing Finale on Styles, he and Ciampa shook hands. Soo … are they something? Officially? I don’t know what they are doing with Ciampa in the main squad. I’m not even sure they know what they’re doing to him. But at least that’s something and hopefully, with Miz, it will lead to something more.
Hopefully. I know, I know, let me dream.
Protagonism
Bianca Belair and Liv Morgan against Carmella and Nattie. Before we get to the results and who did what to whom, let’s talk about how we got here with as few words as possible.
Liv played the ring to celebrate her championship. Nattie interrupted and said Liv owes her because without the Sharpshooter injuring her Round knee, Liv is not there as a champion. Liv invited the smoke. Mella came down and said the focus is just big enough for her (weird insert here) and told Liv to get out of the ring. Liv, in short: “Make me.” Mella and Nattie made a double team, Bianca hit the ring to save, and we got a etiquette match.
Bianca played a secondary role here, as the focus was really on the new champion. Bianca and Mella continued their violent dance, while Liv, after getting a very hot tag from Belair, struggled to hit an Oblivion on Nattie and get her first W as champion.
A solid tag match that could give Liv her first contender while Bianca and Mella continue to hate each other.
This will leave a stain
I knew there were more. Ezekiel and Seth Rollins put on a ketchup stain. In fact, a very large ketchup stain. The WWE held its annual party on July 4 and Zeke sadly sprayed ketchup all over Seth’s white dress. Seth laughed like crazy after boiling for a few tense moments. Seth challenged Zeke to a match, to get revenge, and the two did a very good fight. But Elias and Rollins always worked well together in the ring.
Seth found an opening and got the W after Zeke scared him several times during the match. But I knew there were more. Seth returned to the ring for more revenge, only because Riddle appeared out of nowhere with an RKO to the man known forever as Franklin Rollins.
Riddle and Seth at SummerSlam sounds like a very fun time with the right story in place.
The pitcher
Wayne’s World fans know all about “lancer” and what it means. Some of you even know about the roller coaster named in honor of Wayne and Garth, “The Hurler.” Why am I raising random curiosities from the 90s? Because by the time Angelo Dawkins and Otis competed in a hot dog food contest, the launch was inevitable. Otis ate 23 hot dogs while Dawkins dropped 22. Neither man won, as Tozawa ate about 40. Anyway, that was before the two men competed in a six-man match. . Lashley joined the Profits while Theory joined the Alpha Academy.
Shocker, it was a fun match between six good fighters. Eventually, the match was broken, as the labels of six men usually do, and Otis was isolated. Now, throughout the match, Otis held his stomach. So you can guess what happened after the big man suffered a Lashley spear and a Montez Ford frog splash.
Okay, Otis survived the attacks and eventually her partner grabbed the pin after eating a massive Lashley spear. But after the match? Otis threw. And it was disgusting. But accessories to follow Chekhov’s hot dog.
Aside from that, the Profits are still very upset about how his Money in the Bank tag game ended, and Theory challenged Lashley to a rematch of the U.S. championship at SummerSlam.
The Sigh
Look, I know I’m not in the best mood this Independence Day because … well, choose yours, so I’m not the target audience for Gunther Vs. R-Truth. Truth, dressed as Uncle Sam, celebrated the film’s Independence Day and named the country’s true hero, Vivica A. Fox. And with that, good sir, we totally agree. That said, I don’t really feel like a black man comes out dressed like Uncle Sam right now. Because? Well, again, choose yours.
Anyway, this was the usual “let’s go abroad for the heat on July 4th,” which the WWE can’t leave in the 80’s. Gunther came out, was booed, the doorbell rang, he knocked Uncle Truth, rang the bell and left with the title in his hand.
All of this was a big “no” on my part. Well, minus Vivica’s scream. Watch it in this movie and dare not disagree.
Raw has given us good things this week. We have a SummerSlam table, with quality matches. I can always do without the obvious video packs that fill time and the less you say about this Gunther / R-Truth match, the better. That said, if there’s one big blow to the program, it’s that nothing really important happened. This was not a news program when I should be with SummerSlam still three weeks away. One of WWE’s weaknesses is maintaining the momentum of the stories during this time period. As a result, they usually rush to the look of the actual narration within a week of a big show, which is not ideal.
Grade: B-
This is my note and I am tied to it. Your turn.