0 out of 8
Welcome to Bleacher Report’s coverage and recap of WWE Raw on July 4th.
Saturday’s Money in the Bank pay-per-view show had a few different outcomes that changed the WWE landscape quite a bit.
Not only did Theory and Liv Morgan win their MITB matches, but Morgan actually got paid the same night to defeat Ronda Rousey and win the SmackDown Women’s Championship.
Before Theory could claim his bag, Bobby Lashley defeated him for the United States title. The two of Raw dealt with all of the PPV fallout as the SummerSlam buildup kicked in.
Let’s take a look at what happened during Monday’s show.
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Raw opened with Lashley coming out wearing the new United States Championship. The crowd started chanting his name as he tried to speak, and he seemed to be a little moved before talking about Independence Day.
It didn’t take long for Theory to come out and brag about becoming Mr. Money in the Bank and how he beat the odds to win. He even had the audacity to compare himself to Tom Brady and Michael Jordan.
Theory said he wants to get his US title back before he wins the Undisputed World Championship at SummerSlam, so he’s basically advertising his money early on, or at least teasing it. Theory attacked Lashley with the bag, but Lashley recovered and sent him outside the ring to finish the part.
This was fit and helped both men build the kind of heat they need at the moment.
Class: c
Memorable moments and notes
- Lashley said no one in any department or any promotion was a fun little nod to The Forbidden Door, but it wouldn’t mean anything in the end because WWE would never open that door.
- Had Theory tried to compare himself to MJ in Chicago, he wouldn’t have made it out of Illinois.
- It looks like Kevin Patrick has joined the commentary table, at least for this week. Jimmy Smith wasn’t at the table, but Corey Graves and Byron Saxton were.
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Before Ray and Dominic Mysterio started against Finn Balor and Damian Reverend, Doomsday attacked Mysterius’ team for an early advantage.
Although Ray and Dom were able to return at the end of the match, Priest and Balor dominated the action.
This sounds like a random tag match, and it was, but the back and forth motion was a bit more entertaining than a lot of bouts, especially because it ended with Eddie Guerrero’s famous chair trick.
While Balor was preparing to hit Ray on a chair while the Reverend was distracting the referee, Ray fell onto the carpet and acted as if he was already injured. The reference turned around to see this and called for disqualification.
DQ endings usually get boos from fans, but Rey taking a page out of the playbook in Latino Heat got a big bang from the crowd.
Winners: mystery
Class: B
Memorable moments and notes
- Balor’s new gear definitely fits in with the set’s aesthetic, but there will be some fans who don’t like the leather pants.
- Seat position wasn’t the only reference to Guerrero in this match. Nice to see Ray ready to honor Dom’s real father.
- Do we need to specify that the last sentence was a joke?
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The feud between The Miz and AJ Styles continued this week with a singles match. There is no title or potential title depicted on the line in this story. They just don’t like each other and want to fight. It’s a simple yet effective way to build a runner.
An A-Lister took over after the initial exchange, but it didn’t take The Phenomenal One to fire a blow from Pele out of nowhere.
Although Styles may have had a little more control over the pace, it was a very competitive match. Both men came close to winning a few different times and used every signature move in their repertoire.
Styles managed to secure a clean win with the massive forearm, but that’s unlikely to be the end of their story. While he was celebrating his victory, Styles was attacked from behind by Ciampa. Miz took the last shot when he hit The Phenomenal One with the Skull Crushing Finale.
winner: AJ . Styles
Class: B
Memorable moments and notes
- Remember when Styles chipped the Miz’s teeth in one of his first matches in WWE after his debut at the 2016 Royal Rumble.
- Before the game, we saw Street Earnings throwing the 4th of July party. Chad Gable and Otis appeared and mocked them for losing Money in the Bank.
- We’ve also seen a backstage attack by Doomsday on Mysterios. The priest looked as if he wanted to remove Ray’s mask, but officials kicked him out.
- The Ciampa we knew in NXT would never team up with The Miz, even on heels.
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Liv Morgan came to the ring to celebrate not only winning the MITB Women’s Match and the SmackDown Women’s Title, but she wasn’t alone for long. Natalia came out and seemed to want the first shot. Carmella showed up and said she should go to SmackDown and leave Monday for Raw’s locker room.
After a fight broke out, Bianca Belair came out to the rescue. This resulted in Adam Pearce pulling Teddy Long and booking the tag team match that started during the break.
After a long game with a lot of excitement, Morgan managed to get the pin for her team. This match won’t be talked about much, but it was fun and gave the women plenty of time to work.
Winners: Liv Morgan and Bianca Belair
Class: c +
Memorable moments and notes
- You have to wonder if Mila and Nati coordinated their gear on purpose because they knew they were going to be in this match together.
- Natalya seems to hesitate when she hits a disc washer line as she spins, so it doesn’t always look so smooth. She really needs to throw her weight into it to make it look like her father’s move.
- Morgan continues to improve. You can see a noticeable improvement in the way she’s been moving around the ring over the past six months. She obviously spends a lot of time training, is working on getting better and it has paid off.
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During a Fourth of July party, Ezekiel accidentally sprinkled ketchup all over the napkins Rollins was wearing as a shirt, leading to a match.
The reason for this match was kinda stupid, but the match itself was actually pretty good. Rollins is one of the best players in the game, so it wouldn’t surprise anyone to hear that he did a great job.
What may shock some is how Zeke kept pace with Rollins and may have ended up producing one of the best matches of his career in the process. This was not the Year’s Best Candidate match, but may only be remembered for being the strongest performer in this episode.
After Ezekiel got close a few times, Rollins pinned him with The Stomp to score the pin.
winner: Seth Rollins
Class: a-
Memorable moments and notes
- The shirt that Rollins wore to the party seemed to breathe well, but it could also be uncomfortable.
- Zeke’s picking Rollins over his head to strike a punch in the press was an impressive show of strength. It seemed like it was too easy for him.
- The blow of the rotating force that struck Ezekiel looked clean.
- Riddle’s RKO doesn’t look right. He always hits it when he has to, but there are plenty of other people out there who can do a better cut than him. Murder is someone who might be as good as Randy Orton when he hits him.
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Theory teamed up with Alpha Academy to face Lashley and The Street Profits in a six-player doubles match. While we’ve seen all of these guys compete before, this particular mix of Superstars isn’t the kind we’ve seen often, so it was a nice change of pace.
This match had the usual setting for the six-man competitions. The heels dominated most of the action while the kids’ faces came back occasionally before the heels took over again.
Looks like we haven’t seen Otis in the ring lately, so it was great to remember what an athlete he is. For a man his size, he has a lot of variety.
Lashley wasn’t in the game much until he got the hot card from Ford and started cleaning the house. Lashley managed to take out Gable with a spear to get the pin for his team.
This was a solid performance from six men who were already known to be able to count on them. The Lashley and the Profits seem to be working very well together.
Winners: Bobby Lashley and The Street Profits
Class: B
Memorable moments and notes
- Dawkins doing the top rope flips and landing on his feet has looked impressive in his last two games, so this would probably make for a regular spot to hit him.
- There was a funny moment when Ford threw Gable off the track and then realized he was too close to his corner and was back in the middle of the track. This eventually made the hot tag to The All Mighty.
- The way Dawkins criticized the theory for sending him over the ad table sounded amazing.
- Lashley doing a lap after his spear is a nice touch. It doesn’t always make it seem like he’s hitting them hard, but it’s a nice way for him to get back on his feet and make the movement unique to him.
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R-Truth came to the ring dressed as Uncle Sam and spoke for a bit before Gunther and Ludwig confronted him.
Intercontinental Champion Truth wrestled while still wearing his uniform. The match ended in about two minutes and ended with Gunther Boerbomb beating for the win. There wasn’t much to this, so there isn’t much to say about it.
winner: Gunther
Class: Dr
Memorable moments and notes
- It would have been better for R-Truth to make a lot of money because he does literally anything WWE asks of him. It is the definition of a loyal employee.
- Ludwig needs to wrestle more. He’s pretty good, and just being friends with Gunther isn’t good enough for him.
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The main event on this week’s show saw Asuka and Becky Lynch look to end their feud with a No Holds Barred match. As soon as Lynch reached the ring, she grabbed a table and put it back when the show began to break.
This feud has been going on for weeks, but every time they meet, they put on a great match. It’s hard to complain about repetition in this case because every encounter was different.
They used tables, chairs, litter boxes, and whatever else they found to punish each other. After a long fight, Lynch put Asuka through the table with a Super Manhandle Slam.
This was a great way to close the show. The crowd was a part of it and the Superstars did their best to make sure fans were sent home happy. This week’s Raw was easier than usual, and the main event was a big part of the reason.
winner: Becky Lynch
Class: b +
Memorable moments and notes
- Big Time Becks grabbed a table and a set of chairs before Asuka immediately stepped in to set the tone for the rest of the match.
- Asuka has a bit of a pop when she hits people. Some wrestlers seem to be pulling punches. Asuka doesn’t have this problem most of the time.
- Asuka was hitting Lynch with a rocket kick when she was carrying a trash can on her head. They made it look so good.
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