WWE RAW Recap, August 7: Last Man Standing

An ultimate preview of SummerSlam’s main event, Bayley gives up her Championship spot, and two former best friends are still testing the waters of trust.

Must-See Miz TV

If your dad was Kurt Angle, former Olympic Champion and current RAW General Manager, wouldn’t you utilize that to your advantage at some point? It didn’t take Jason Jordan long to reap some of those benefits, as he was called out by the Miztourage on the frontman’s show. Last week, the Miztourage was suplexed all over the place by Jordan, on their own show. As determined as the Miz was to make sure that same thing didn’t happen again, he couldn’t have predicted that Angle had arranged a different guest for Miz TV — the Beast himself, Brock Lesnar.

In the best SummerSlam commercial that WWE has ever produced, Brock Lesnar threw all three members of the Miztourage around the ring like they were a rubber ducky and he was an overtired toddler. It’s not out of the realm of possibility that this exact scenario can happen next Sunday, except instead of Miz and two other chumps, Lesnar will be slinging the best of the best over his shoulders.

Why Can’t We Be Friends?

Seth Rollins still has a long way to go to prove to Dean Ambrose that he can be trusted, and whatever progress we thought they had made toward a rejuvenated friendship, after winning a Handicap Tag Team match two weeks ago against the Miztourage, then again when Ambrose attempted to save Rollins from a severe beating last week, has fizzled out. At least Sheamus got a non-contractually obligated rematch out of this feud, as he defeated Rollins, bringing the series to 1-1 in the last two weeks. The story got interesting after the match, when Rollins attempted to get even against the RAW Tag Team Champions, at least as far as post-match brawls go. Rollins leapt at Cesaro from inside the ring, and that was the last offense he would be capable of, as the champs were too much to handle for a lonesome Rollins.

Dean Ambrose was serious when he said he was staying out of this feud, as he told Rollins after his beatdown, and I believed Ambrose … until we found out he’d be fighting Sheamus’ partner later in the night. It’s the oldest rule in the book: If you’re fighting a member of a tag team after that tag team’s other member fought another guy who you share a story with, you’re involved in a feud.

Ambrose picked up the win against Cesaro, but had to pay for the sins of his “ally,” as he was immediately jumped after the three-count. Rollins, still on the path to righting the friendship (get it?), paid back the debt he owed to Ambrose by getting champs off of Ambrose’s back, as Ambrose attempted to do last week. As it turns out, this one decision was the entire path Rollins needed to take in order to sway Ambrose back onto his side. After the dust settled, it was Ambrose who, hesitantly at first, stuck out his fist, because that’s what bros do. Real bros. Rollins must have not thought that Ambrose would have forgiven him so soon and panicked, walking out of the ring while leaving Ambrose hanging. Whether that was a Rollins heel turn, or just a textbook example of cold feet, I’m not positive, but I do know that these guys will most likely be facing Sheamus & Cesaro at some point in the near future. Forget about winning the match — if Ambrose & Rollins can simply coexist for the entirety of it, I’ll be impressed.

Hugging Hurts

Bayley’s successful attempt to fight for a spot in the

RAW

Women’s Championship match at SummerSlam didn’t come without a serious price tag, one that is actually keeping her from competing for the championship. Nia Jax, also trying to get in that match against Alexa Bliss, really messed up Bayley’s shoulder, causing Bayley to have to give up her spot in that match. One person’s tragedy can sometimes be another person’s triumph, and since

someone

has to fight Alexa Bliss at SummerSlam, what better way to find out than an old fashioned six-woman tournament?

There would be two Triple Threat matches on RAW, where the winner of each match will face one another next Monday to determine who gets Alexa. The first match featured Sasha Banks, Alicia Fox, and Emma. Yes, it was obvious that Sasha would win (which she did), but as I mentioned before, this could also be considered a triumph for Emma and Fox, who got an unexpected spotlight that would have came no other way (at least not in the immediate future).

In the second match, more “triumph” for Dana Brooke and Mickie James, in the form getting beaten by Nia Jax. In my personal opinion, either Jax or Sasha would be a better choice than Bayley to face Alexa Bliss at SummerSlam, not because Bayley isn’t a formidable opponent, or unrealistic to imagine beating Bliss, but because Nia Jax and Sasha Banks are criminally underutilized by WWE, and when the bright lights are on, Sasha needs to be under them. But, in quite the conundrum, so does Jax. Next week’s RAW match could steal the show.

Last Man Standing

Really, WWE? You hear that people (not me, other people) are upset about you giving away too many great matches on non-pay-per-views, and you go and put Roman Reigns and Braun Strowman in a Last Man Standing match on RAW? Do you realize how upset people are going to be?!?! You might as well bring back Stone Cold Steve Austin to face the Rock on 205 Live. That’ll really piss people off.

Reigns and Strowman beating the bejesus out of each other every week has really helped cure my case of the Mondays. As with any feud, when you add weapons to the equation, whether it be stairs, tables, or even a 95 MPH office chair fastball thrown to the face, things are always going to get ugly. Things got Jimmy Ellsworth-levels of ugly on tope of the stage, where Roman hit a flurry of Superman Punches, punctuated by a ferocious Spear. It looked as if Reigns was going to take this one, in what some would consider upsetting fashion, but then Samoa Joe decided to use his only appearance on RAW to put Reigns to sleep with the Coquina Clutch, assisting Strowman with the win.

It bears saying that Strowman’s victory was not Joe’s intention as much as a coincidental happening as a consequence of Joe choking the life out of Roman Reigns. Also, semi-unrelated to this moment, but dear god, I can’t wait for the Strowman/Lesnar staredown during their match at SS. It’s going to be like Jon Snow meeting Daenerys Targaryen for the first time — times three million.

Highlight Reel

• Jason Jordan was originally supposed to face Curtis Axel, but after Kurt Angle orchestrated the complete destruction of the Miztourage by the hands of his Universal Champion at the top of the show, it’s no wonder that Axel wasn’t physically cleared to compete against Jordan. I’m not sure if Angle is a better GM than he is a father, but I’m pretty sure that like all other things Angle does, he does it at a five-star level. That’s why he called an audible for his son to compete against Jean-Pierre Goulet, a wrestler looking for his big break that happened to be in the right place at the right time. Turns out, he wasn’t ready for his big opportunity, and was easily trounced by Jordan. This felt a little heelish by both Angle and Jordan, and if that’s the case, here’s my wallet.
• Last time we saw Enzo, he was celebrating with Big Show, who had successfully knocked out Big Cass. It’s been pretty much the only bright spot in the past month or so for Enzo, including this week when news broke of Enzo getting the ole boot off the bus for his backstage antics. This week, Enzo continued relying on his friendship with the other 7-footer on the roster, this time by teaming with him to face Anderson & Gallows. The Club didn’t look great, but were the ones who had their hands raised thanks to a distraction by Big Cass. It wasn’t all bad for Big Show & Enzo, who for the second week in a row, left Big Cass knocked out. Later in the night, Big Cass asked Kurt Angle for a match against the Big Show, but wanted to make sure that Enzo stays away from the action by any means necessary. Naturally, Angle immediately thought of putting Enzo in a shark cage suspended above the ring, and Big Cass happily obliged (also naturally).
• Sometimes you kick fear in the face metaphorically, but sometimes, like Finn Balor did last week, you do it literally. Bray Wyatt’s attempt to intimidate Balor (rushing to the ring, turning out the lights, you know, the usual) seemed to have no effect on Balor, who was still able to fluff his coat lapels during their brief physical confrontation. I would have guessed SummerSlam would be the perfect venue (and Wyatt, a specifically great opponent for the occasion) to bring back the Demon, but with not even a mention of it, I have a feeling Balor didn’t take advantage of a uniquely perfect opportunity.
• Having nothing to prove to Ariya Daivari after defeating him on 205 Live, punching in his ticket to face Neville at SummerSlam for the Cruiserweight Championship, it was charitable of Akira Tozawa to accept this rematch, even without any real stipulation. Tozawa picked up the win again, and now that his shoulder seems fully healthy, continues to steamroll toward Neville. Neville has had quite a few great matches since becoming champion, even almost losing the belt a couple of times, but none have looked as good going into their match with the King of the Cruiserweights as Tozawa does, so don’t be surprised if he is the one with the belt over his shoulder at the end of the night.
• After a few sad weeks, The Golden Age is back! (No, really, I genuinely missed Goldust’s promos after their brief hiatus!) He didn’t mention anything specifically about R-Truth, so it’s not entirely obvious what his next intentions are (though he did say he will be unveiling his next masterpiece at SummerSlam, whatever in gold hell that means), but it’s damn good to see his painted, relic of a face on my television once again.