Tonight, Monday Night Raw has a pretty big show lined up to start getting fans excited for SummerSlam. To determine the #1 Contender for Brock Lesnar’s Universal Championship, Samoa Joe and Roman Reigns will face off in the main event. Also, Kurt Angle will finally make his big announcement.
Opening Segment
The Lunatic Fringe Dean Ambrose comes to the ring to address events that transpired from last week. During the Mizzies (Miz’s parody award show), The Miz insulted Ambrose and his former Shield brother, Seth Rollins. Ambrose and Rollins would both respond to Miz’s insults but not as a Shield reunion, but fighting a common enemy. When Rollins was attacked at the end of Raw last week by the Miztourage, Ambrose attacked them with a chair he named “Steely Dan.”
Ambrose brings Steely Dan to the ring and calls out the Miz, but instead, he gets Rollins. Rollins has one question for Ambrose: when he fights The Miz, will Ambrose stand in his way or by his side? Ambrose still doesn’t trust Rollins, so to prove that he has moved on from his past actions, Rollins gives Ambrose a free opportunity to hit him with a chair. Ambrose throws the chair out of the ring and they are interrupted by The Miz.
The Miztuorage grabs steel chairs and assaults the former Shield brothers from all directions. After disposing of Ambrose outside of the ring, Miz hits Rollins with the Skull Crushing Finale into the steel chair.
Bayley vs. Alexa Bliss
Last week in a tag team match, Bayley pinned Alexa Bliss. If Bayley can do so again, she could have a Raw Women’s Championship match in her future. Bayley lost her championship to Bliss and she failed to regain it when they competed in a Kendo Stick on a Pole Match.
Nia Jax comes down to ringside to give Alexa Bliss an advantage, but Sasha Banks attacks Jax to neutralize the threat. Bayley takes advantage of the situation to hit the champion with the Bayley-to-Belly for the win. Yet again, Bayley gets a win with the help of Sasha Banks. Winner: Bayley
Backstage Segment
Titus O’Neil is giving Akira Tozawa a pep talk regarding his pursuit of the Cruiserweight Championship. Ariya Daivari insults how Tozawa got his win over Neville last week and challenged him to a match later tonight to see if he has any honor.
Mustafa Ali & Gentleman Jack Gallagher vs. The Brian Kendrick & Drew Gulak
It seems like Raw has barely been paying attention to 205 Live and the Cruiserweight Division, but that changes tonight. Last week, Brian Kendrick continued his mockery of Jack Gallagher by assaulting him with his own umbrella. Mustafa Ali and Drew Gulak have been fighting over wrestling philosophies for weeks, but they look to settle things tomorrow night on 205 Live in a 2 Out of 3 Falls Match.
Once Mustafa Ali is tagged in, the match is practically over. Following up on Jack Gallagher’s headbutt to Brian Kendrick, Ali hits the Man with a Plan with an inverted 450 Splash to give his team the win. Winners: Mustafa Ali & Gentleman Jack Gallagher
In-ring Segment
For the first time since losing to Big Cass at Great Balls of Fire, Enzo Amore is making an appearance. He addresses Cass only how he can. He then pulls up the footage of Big Show assaulting Big Cass last week, and while calling him “SAWFT,” Cass interrupts and blames Corey Graves for all of this happening in the first place. He is tired of Amore “running his mouth,” so he threatens the shut him up. Amore knew this was going to happen, and he managed to already have a match set up with Cass taking on the Big Show.
Big Cass vs. Big Show
Enzo Amore decides to grab a front row seat for this match and even pulls a young fan beside him. Cass hits Big Show before Show could get into the ring, so the match never officially gets started and the two giants fight outside the ring. There is no referee; it is just a pure fight. Cass ends up getting the upper hand on Show and when Amore tries to help out, Cass lays him out with a big boot.
Backstage Segment
Kurt Angle approaches Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins regarding the confrontation with the Miztourage earlier tonight. Angle suggests a tag team match for next week: Rollins and Ambrose against any two members of the Miztourage. Ambrose instead suggests that they take on all three members and Rollins agrees. Next week, there will be a 2-on-3 Handicap Match.
Finn Balor vs. Elias Samson
A few weeks ago, Finn Balor defeated Elias Samson, but Samson still is not over the fact that Balor interrupted his song. Samson looks to play another song in the country music capital of Nashville, TN when Balor interrupts yet again.
The fight goes to the outside and Balor looks to finish the match. When he grabs Samson, the Drifter hits him right across the side of the head with his guitar. Samson gets disqualified and Balor is laid out with his head busted open. Winner (via disqualification): Finn Balor
While Balor is being tended to, Bray Wyatt appears on the Titantron. Wyatt says a lot without saying anything and the segment ends.
Announcement
Next week, Bayley and Sasha Banks will face each other with the winner challenging Alexa Bliss for the Raw Women’s Championship at SummerSlam.
Akira Tozawa (w/Titus O’Neil) vs. Ariya Daivari
To prove that he has honor, Akira Tozawa accepts Ariya Daivari’s challenge. Daivari claims that his ideals are better and worthy of the greats from his homeland like 2016 Olympic Gold Medalist Hassan Yazdani. Tozawa isn’t competing tonight at 100% after Neville targeted his shoulder on 205 Live last week.
Daivari was focused on Tozawa’s injured shoulder and Titus O’Neil asks the referee to stop the match. Since O’Neil represents Tozawa, he went through with the decision. Winner (via referee’s decision): Ariya Daivari
Kurt Angle’s Big Announcement
For weeks, there have been mysterious conversations between Kurt Angle and Corey Graves regarding some text messages both have received. After Angle realizes that the messages reveal something that could change his career forever, he decides to announce the news to the world himself.
Before making his announcement, he apologizes to the WWE Universe for being a distraction over the past few weeks. He thought this announcement would hurt his family, but both his family and WWE are supportive of him. Apparently, he dated a girl in college who gave birth to a son that he doesn’t know. This son of his is none other than American Alpha’s Jason Jordan. Graves knew of this since he was good friends with Jordan in his NXT days. With this announcement, Jordan is the newest member of Raw.
The Hardy Boyz vs. The Revival
After competing against Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson last week, The Hardy Boyz were attacked by The Revival. In an interview with Charly Caruso, The Revival said that they attacked the Hardys just because they were the Hardys, knowing that it would be impactful. While Matt and Jeff have been one of the greatest tag teams of all-time, Scott Dawson and Dash Wilder have been the greatest team of the past two years.
The Hardys hit Scott Dawson with Poetry in Motion, and while Matt Hardy hobbles out of the ring, Dash Wilder sweeps Jeff Hardy off of the top rope. Dawson covers Jeff Hardy while using the tights for leverage. It seems like Hardy might have gotten a shoulder up, but the referee didn’t have a clear view, so The Revival defeat one of the most decorated tag teams in WWE. Winners: The Revival
Roman Reigns vs. Samoa Joe – #1 Contender’s Match (Universal Championship)
Both men in this match have a good case for being the next person to challenge Brock Lesnar for the Universal Championship. Roman Reigns is The Guy (whether you like it or not) who defeated The Undertaker at WrestleMania. The only person to do that is Brock Lesnar. Samoa Joe is undefeated against Reigns, so he thinks he should be ahead of the line for the title shot. Regardless, they have to go at it again to decide who’s next.
Reigns and Joe are exhausted when Braun Strowman miraculously returns from being crushed inside an ambulance and interferes in the match. Strowman attacks Reigns and Joe, then all three men start brawling in the ring. Strowman lays both men out with powerslams before storming off. Result: No Contest
