WWE Monday Night Raw recap: Extreme roles to play

It seems like Stomping Grounds was only yesterday, yet here we are with yet another go-home edition of Monday Night Raw ahead of Sunday’s Extreme Rules pay-per-view.

Another week, another WWE pay-per-view ahead, another episode of Monday Night Raw to get through first. What will the red brand have in store for us after the Paul Heyman-tinged edition last week that featured explosions, non-PG content and Maria Kanellis announcing her pregnancy?

A lot less excitement, for one. It all felt like everyone had roles to play this week and were merely following the plot points.

Let’s get on with the go-home Raw for July 8.

Becky Lynch and Seth Rollins vs. Zelina Vega and Andrade

Getting right to the action, this week’s show opens with the promised mixed tag elimination match, with Becky Lynch and Seth Rollins facing Zelina Vega and Andrade.

Lynch and Vega — who is making her Raw in-ring debut — start things out. A tag to Andrade brings Rollins in, despite Lynch’s desire to mix it up with him (remember, she tapped out Mike Kanellis with the Dis-Arm-Her last Monday). No Tessa Blanchard-Sami Callihan action here; WWE isn’t in the intergender business right now.

Andrade and Rollins put on a quick-paced display of back-and-forth, with both men well-matched in their experience, styles and talent levels.

Rollins hits Andrade with a pair of dives, allowing Lynch and Vega to get back into things in the ring. Lynch quickly locks in the Dis-Arm-Her and Vega taps out. This makes it a one-on-one match between Rollins and Andrade (mixed-tag elimination rules are a bit weird).

Meanwhile, Lacey Evans, Lynch’s biggest rival, appeared at ringside and the two brawl before Rollins separates them. It’s then time for a commercial break to reset the match.

When we return, Vega and Lynch remain at ringside but Evans has been dispatched. The quality work between Rollins and Andrade that we saw earlier in the match resumes. Andrade hits an impressive double-stomp and attempts Three Amigos, but Rollins countered with a (beautiful) Falcon Arrow.

Things devolve into chaos as Lynch and Vega fight on the outside of the ring, Andrade accidentally striking Lynch and Rollins’ emotional distraction gives Andrade an upper hand. Everything eventually comes to a close with Rollins hitting Andrade with the Stomp; Lynch and Rollins are the winners, avoiding any confusion that would have resulted if Andrade had pinned Rollins. Would the match have been a draw?

Evans and Baron Corbin attack Rollins and Lynch after the match, ahead of the four colliding in a winner-take-all extreme rules match at … Extreme Rules. Backstage, Evans and Corbin discuss their being the company’s new “power couple,” and that business relationships are preferable to personal relationships.

Let’s check in with Paul Heyman

Paul Heyman strolls to the ring while Rollins and Lynch are still recovering — don’t forget that Heyman’s charge, Brock Lesnar, holds the Money in the Bank contract and likely has his sights set on Rollins’ Universal Championship.

After the break, Heyman gets down to business: He reminds us who he is (advocate) and what Lesnar is (Money in the Bank contract holder). He then talks about Extreme Rules, his knowledge of all things “extreme,” particularly extreme things in Philadelphia. Heyman announces that Lesnar is indeed going to cash in on Sunday, against either Rollins or WWE Champion Kofi Kingston.

This is either a spoiler, or a mind game that Heyman (and Lesnar) are playing with Rollins and Kingston. This served as a useful segment to remind us of Lesnar’s MITB status, helped put over Sunday’s pay-per-view and, of course, gave us some time with the best talker in the game.

Dislocated pelvis?

They announce that Braun Strowman and Bobby Lashley will face off in a last man standing match at Extreme Rules. So much for Strowman allegedly suffering a dislocated pelvis and lacerated and/or ruptured spleen in last week’s LED ‘Tron explosion. Shrug.

The Miz and The Usos vs. Elias and The Revival

The two-out-of-three falls revolution continues, this time in a six-man variety that features The Miz and The Usos facing Elias and the Raw Tag Team Champions, The Revival. Elias and The Revival took the first fall thanks to a Shatter Machine.

During the break, Elias, following being attacked by The Miz, walked out on The Revival, leaving the Raw tag champs in a two-against-three situation. The Usos dominate The Revival — or rather, Jey Uso does, as Jimmy and Miz are both incapacitated on the outside of the ring. Eventually, The Miz gets back on the apron and Jey makes the tag. He hits a Skull Crushing Finale on Scott Dawson almost immediately, and the two teams are tied with one fall apiece.

There’s no break before the third fall, and The Usos hit Dawson with a stereo superkick and an Uso Splash and the match is over, The Usos and The Miz the winners.

Drake Maverick’s honeymoon tour of Raw continues

Drake Maverick and Renee Michelle are backstage at Raw because he cannot fully enjoy his honeymoon — or his 24/7 Championship — outside of the confines of a WWE television production. Renee is being patient with Maverick. We’ll see where this leads.

Rey Mysterio Open Challenge

Rey Mysterio has been out of action with a shoulder injury for six weeks, an injury that forced him to relinquish the WWE United States Championship (to Samoa Joe). He’s back this week and has issued an Open Challenge.

Mysterio says how hard it was to surrender said belt, but it motivated him to rehab harder and he’s back sooner than the doctors had told him. He’s ready — and thus, the aforementioned open challenge. Out comes Bobby Lashley, he of the “bodied into two dozen explosions” a week ago.

Tonight, it was Mysterio who was bodied, with Lashley defeating him quickly and convincingly. The point? Apparently so the announcers can put Lashley over as “superhuman” ahead of his matchup with Braun Strowman.

Lashley tries to throw Mysterio through the LED board — he’s transfixed by it. Referees stand in his way, so he throws Mysterio into the referees. Lashley, per Lashley, “will be the last man standing,” in his last man standing match with Strowman.

Meanwhile, AJ Styles “doesn’t owe anyone an explanation,” the big giveaway that a heel turn is, indeed, a heel turn.

No Way Jose vs. Cesaro

Last week, No Way Jose and Cesaro were set to meet one-on-one, but the match was interrupted by 24/7 Championship shenanigans. When the dust cleared, Cesaro simply beat up Jose and left, without the match officially starting. Jose would like to see if an actual match with Cesaro could have a better outcome.

Jose gets some pre-bell beating in on Cesaro to mirror last week’s Cesaro attack. Once the match begins, Cesaro mostly dominates and comes out the victor in relatively quick fashion via Sharpshooter.

https://twitter.com/tde_wrestling/status/1148400697752391681

Mid-show plot points

Backstage, The Street Profits have returned to Raw. They put over the Extreme Rules match pairing Roman Reigns and The Undertaker against Shane McMahon and Drew McIntyre and remind us that McMahon will be picking Reigns’ partner in his match tonight.

Mike Kanellis is also backstage with his wife Maria and apologizes for everything that happened the week before. He brings her flowers and she requests ice cream and pickles. You know, because she’s pregnant.

In a split-screen interview, Bayley again tries to warn Nikki Cross that Alexa Bliss is using her. Cross and Bayley will be in a beat-the-clock challenge (Bayley vs. Sarah Logan, Cross vs. Dana Brooke), the winner picking the stipulation of Bliss’ match for Bayley’s SmackDown Women’s Championship at Extreme Rules.

In more backstage developments, R-Truth and Carmella are searching for 24/7 Champion Drake Maverick. Eventually, Maverick and the crew of pursuers run by Truth and Carmella, who then take off in the other direction.

The Viking Raiders vs. Local Talent

Those pieces of backstage business out of the way, it’s time to get back to the ring. The next match features The Viking Raiders facing local talent in a squash match. Clearly, The Vikings Raiders win with The Viking Experience. Also: Did we get yet another name change with these two. The whole world heard Michael Cole refer to “Ivar” as “Arvar.”

Maverick and company and R-Truth and Carmella do some running around the ring post-match.

Ricochet vs. Luke Gallows

Ricochet has found himself in a feud not just with AJ Styles but also The Club after the latter convinced the former to turn heel and re-align together. The United States Champion faces one of the Good Brothers, Luke Gallows, this week.

Ricochet isn’t stupid — he knows that Karl Anderson and Styles will somehow interfere in his match with Gallows. He’s ready for them, but still, a three-on-one disadvantage is a three-on-one disadvantage. Indeed, Styles and Anderson accompany Gallows to the ring.

Surprisingly, Anderson and Styles don’t interfere and Ricochet comes away with the win. But Styles is displeased; he refers back to Ricochet’s comments that he could take on all three of them and challenges him to a match with Anderson.

Ricochet vs. Karl Anderson

Styles does interfere this time, causing a distraction that gives Anderson the upper hand (via uppercut). Ricochet then focuses on taking out Styles and Gallows so he can get some actual one-on-one time with Anderson. This works, Ricochet hits the 630 and wins.

Styles beats down Ricochet for his troubles. The Club also hit a Magic Killer on Ricochet for good measure. Ricochet then defies Styles’ demand to “stay down,” and thus eats a Phenomenal Forearm. Styles and Ricochet will meet on Sunday with Ricochet’s United States Championship on the line.

EVOLVE 131 on Saturday

Raw spent a number of segments to hype up EVOLVE’s 10th Anniversary Celebration/EVOLVE 131, which will air on the WWE Network on Saturday. It’s worth mentioning here because it’s worth watching — EVOLVE is an important pipeline for WWE talent and one of the top independent promotions in the nation. If you have a Network subscription, this one is worth watching and comes highly recommended.

Meanwhile:

Also, Shane McMahon and Drew McIntyre have apparently found a tag partner for Roman Reigns, Gary, an arena janitor. He will wear a mask and also be paid $5,000 for agreeing to the job. No way this doesn’t backfire on McMahon and McIntyre.

Beat the Clock: Bayley vs. Sarah Logan, Nikki Cross vs. Dana Brooke

Up first in the Beat the Clock Challenge is Bayley vs. Sarah Logan in the pace-setting match. Logan gives Bayley a considerable amount of trouble, in the sense that it’s a women’s match on Raw, Bayley is the SmackDown Champion and it goes longer than two minutes.

In fact, at 4:32 seconds, when Bayley gets the pin, it might have been the longest match of the night thus far. Now, Nikki Cross has to beat Dana Brooke in under 4:32 in order to pick the stipulation of Alexa Bliss’ match against Bayley; failing to do so (or losing) means Bayley picks the stip.

Brooke immediately rolls out of the ring, a smart strategy and one she’s employing because she’s allied herself with Bayley. Eventually, though, Cross beats the clock with 1:50 left, via neckbreaker.

After defending her friendship Bliss, Cross makes her choice of stipulation: a two-on-one handicap match, with Bliss and Cross versus Bayley. Could Cross and Bliss become … co-SmackDown Women’s Champion(s)? Cross also instructs Bayley to maybe find a friend of her own; could Sasha Banks finally make her way back to WWE on Sunday?

Personal relationships update

The weird psychosexual drama between Mike and Maria Kanellis continued, with Maria stating that she’s not sure if Mike is really the father of their child. Ooookay.

Corey Graves conducted a backstage interview with Seth Rollins and Becky Lynch and focuses on whether their personal relationship could be an issue at Extreme Rules. Lynch does all the talking and Rollins defers to her comments. So, more and additional psychosexual drama.

Shane McMahon and Drew McIntyre vs. Roman Reigns and ???

Shane McMahon and Drew McIntyre do a good deal of talking before introducing Roman Reigns to his hand-picked partner for him tonight, Gary (the GOAT), the janitor with a limp we were introduced to earlier in the night.

Reigns starts out against McIntyre and when McIntyre dispatches him with a head butt, he drags Gary into the ring. He begs off until McMahon drags him back into the ring. Gary puts together some professional-looking offense and it’s clear that whoever is under the mask is no arena janitor.

A Claymore from McIntyre stopped the flurry from Gary and McMahon gets the pin. Post-match, Reigns clears the heels out with a Superman Punch. “Gary”s mask comes off and it’s Cedric Alexander and not a random janitor.

What exactly this accomplished ahead of Reigns and The Undertaker facing McMahon and McIntyre at Extreme Rules is anyone’s guess. But maybe it will signal something good ahead for the underutilized Alexander, who has most frequently been recently seen chasing after the 24/7 Championship and tweeting about how much he misses 205 Live.

Clearly, this week’s Raw was not as exciting or unpredictable as what we saw a week ago. It mostly established the Extreme Rules match card and didn’t introduce anything particularly new. Perhaps once we get on the road to SummerSlam business will pick up and stay that way. For now, Cedric Alexander ultimately main-evented Raw, so that’s something.

What are your thoughts on this week’s show? Let us know in the comments below.