WWE RAW recap, July 17: Kurt Angle’s truth is revealed; Braun Strowman crashes the party

While a new No. 1 contender for the Universal Championship wasn’t officially crowned, we finally learned what Kurt Angle has been hiding from the world for years.

Good Day For a Bad Idea

Dean Ambrose’s music was not what we wanted to hear to kick off RAW  — the Kurt Angle storyline has kept me holding my breath all week; I think I’ve been legally dead since Wednesday — but it did lead to some interesting developments in Ambrose’s “friendship” with Seth Rollins. Rollins, ever the desperate man for a storyline these days, even made the mistake of calling Ambrose “brother.” At that moment, whatever anger Ambrose had toward the Miz seemed to get temporarily redirected right at the heart of Rollins, who broke up the only brotherhood the two of them had been a part of, The Shield.

Rollins’ desperation hit its peak when he told Ambrose to hit him in the back with Steely Dan, the steel chair Ambrose taken to the ring to call out the Miz, who interrupted Rollins’ plea after Ambrose had thrown the chair out of the ring.

There was no shortage of steel chairs under the ring, we learned, as the Miztourage began surrounding the two former best friends. Probability won this scenario, as the three-man entourage led by The Miz gave the two guys opposite them beat downs with steel chairs, holding the chairs high over their heads after leaving Ambrose and Rollins writhing in pain. The Miztourage quickly scurried into the night, but they didn’t escape getting put into a Handicap match next week, as all three members will face Ambrose and Rollins, who actually seemed willing to put their differences aside to defeat this odd crew of Miz, Curtis Axel and Bo Dallas.

Kurt’s Angle

Just when it seemed Angle was starting to get cold freakin’ feet, and was thinking of withholding whatever information he’s been teasing for weeks, he overcame the fear and made the announcement we’ve been all fantasy booking.

Would Dixie Carter be coming to WWE? Has Kurt Angle been having an affair with Stephanie McMahon? Did he use PEDs during the ’96 Olympics, or even more unethically, during his training to fight Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania XIX?

Unfortunately, it was none of these.

I didn’t think RAW would have a moment that outweighed any emotions we all felt during Sunday night’s episode of Game of Thrones, but then Angle told us that he had a son he’s just learned about after all these years. The son was none other than Jason Jordan, one half of the former NXT and SmackDown Live Tag Team Champions.

Whattttt?!?!

I get that Jordan and his former American Alpha brethren Chad Gable could potentially both thrive separately, but did either guy really need — or want — this? Predicting the endgame for whatever WWE’s creative team has up its sleeves can sometimes be tougher than rolling The Rock up a mountain — not A rock, but THE Rock — and this program between Jordan and Angle is in that category.

Will Angle have Jordan fight all of his battles? Will Angle’s bias toward his son affect his general managerial responsibilities? Will this be seen in the rear view mirror as worse than Bayley and Alexa Bliss’ “This Is Your Life” segment? (“That’d be great; It could; I really hope not,” are my three responses.)

Brock’s Next Meal

Somehow, the losers of the two biggest matches at Great Balls of Fire had themselves a match where the prize, if you want to call it that, is a chance to be Brock Lesnar’s entrée at SummerSlam later next month. Samoa Joe has lifted RAW by its waist and has been tossing it about effortlessly since his debut in January. He’s also done the same to every opponent he has faced, even if he somehow doesn’t always win the match in return.

Joe beat the hell out of Brock Lesnar at GBOF and then beat the hell out of Roman Reigns during this match. At the first sign of Roman turning the tides of his No. 1 Contender match against Joe, Braun Strowman came out to finish whatever business it is that he and Reigns still have.

Samoa Joe, never the innocent bystander, had no direct beef with Strowman until he interfered in the match. After Strowman bodyslammed both these guys like they were plush toys sold at a garage sale, he blew the Universal Championship conversation wide open, as we still don’t have an official challenger for Brock’s title. If the obvious guess actually comes true — the obvious guess being Brock will defend his title in a Fatal Four Way match against all three of these guys — we could be in for the biggest match in SummerSlam history … and I mean “biggest” quite literally.

It’ll be up to Kurt Angle to make this match happen, so all we can do in the meantime is hope Angle doesn’t show us his best Doc Rivers impression by putting his son in the main event.

Next: 15 WWE Superstars who could take on White Walkers

Highlight Reel

• Bayley, coming off a huge week where she pinned the RAW Women’s Champion in a tag team match, got another chance to do the same this week. Unlike last time, this would be a one-on-one match against Alexa Bliss; anytime you remove Nia Jax from the opposition, it definitely increases your odds of winning the match. Jax’s presence was still felt throughout the match by Bayley, as she was ringside supporting Bliss, her only ally as of late. Normally, when Jax decides to make her impact, there’s nobody who can stop her. This time, Jax tried to get in the way — and in the head — of Bayley, but Sasha Banks came out to even the odds by taking out Jax. One Bayley-to-Belly later, and the champ found herself getting handed another loss by Bayley. Later in the night, Kurt Angle made a match for next week between Bayley and Banks, with the winner going on to SummerSlam to fight Alexa Bliss for the RAW Women’s Championship. Nia Jax will get her shot at the title in due time; I just wish that time was now.
• In Cruiserweight tag team action, Mustafa Ali and Jack Gallagher combined forces to take down both of their rivals, Drew Gulak and The Brian Kendrick. After loud headbutts and emphatic flips by the good guys, they picked up the win much to the happiness of the Nashville crowd. Kendrick and Gallagher’s feud is just starting to get good — Kendrick dressing up like a proper Englishman is peak Kendrick — while Gulak and Ali are getting ready for a brutal finale on 205 Live when they fight in a 2-out-of-3 Falls match.
• Enzo … what are you doing, man? Seeing him call out Big Cass after WWE’s version of getting dumped at prom was cringe-worthy and ultimately a complete backfire by the spitfire. Enzo’s plan was to get Cass in the ring and have his buddy Big Show come beat up the only other guy on the roster who can look him in the eye without a step stool. This all went according to the Certified G’s plan, until the actual violence started, and Big Cass took it to Big Show like he was next step in the evolution of the 7-footer. I hope Enzo finds his own path one of these days — or at least after Big Show eventually faces Big Cass in a match —  either as a manager, or perhaps he will give being a Cruiserweight a chance. Whatever he does, and whatever happens with the Big Show, Big Cass has already run away with this feud, and is putting himself over every second he is on television.
• Would it kill Finn Balor to let Elias Samson finish a song? His voice impressed even the tougher music critics of Nashville, Tennessee. Maybe if Balor had let Samson end his ballad on his own terms, Samson wouldn’t have smashed a guitar over Balor’s head. Sure, he was justifiably disqualified from the match, as Balor was justifiably hit over the head by Samson’s six string, but the impact was felt. To add insult to injury, Balor got a taste of his own interrupting medicine when Bray Wyatt’s face appeared on the Titantron. Wyatt said more of the same mysterious banter we’ve come to adore him because of, and while it hasn’t been blatantly mentioned, thoughts of Elias Samson joining his family is enough to hold my attention. Next week, Balor takes on Samson in a No Disqualification match. If Samson can locate 67 not-yet-broken guitars under the ring, I like his odds.
• In the second 205 Live commercial of the night, Akira Tozawa took on Ariya Daivari. Tozawa has been putting on some great matches as of late, and this one looked to be no different. It ended up being Titus himself who cost Tozawa the match, but some would say it was the smartest move O’Neil has pulled yet. Tozawa’s shoulder was getting hurt throughout the match, so O’Neil threw in the towel before anything resembling a clean ending. Tozawa was more upset than I can remember seeing him, but when his shoulder works properly during his Cruiserweight Championship rematch against Neville (or, even sooner, during his rematch against Daivari on 205 Live), O’Neil could be the recipient of a post factum “thank you.”
• Last we saw the Hardy Boyz, they were on their backs thanks to the Club, followed by the Revival coming out to pick at the bones. This week, Matt & Jeff got a chance at some revenge against Scott Dawson & Dash Wilder, and couldn’t even wait for he bell to ring to get it started. The Revival could be considered as having a polar opposite style than the Hardy Boyz (very similar to the opposition hat Drew Gulak has with Mustafa Ali, with Gulak staying on the ground and Ali using flight to his advantage), but they still combined for a fun, old school tag team match. It ended up being Dash & Dawson who had their hands raised, but it wasn’t controversy-free as Dash grabbed Jeff’s tights in order to gain the pinfall. (Also, Jeff totally kicked out.) The Hardy Boyz are feeling like punching bags of late. It’s almost as if they need to catch a ‘break’ before they come ‘obsolete.’