WWE Monday Night Raw: Sasha Banks wins WWE Raw women’s title

Sasha Banks wins the belt while Randy Orton stakes his claim to another.

Last week the focus continued with Bayley, Sasha Banks, and Drew McIntyre center stage. That continued for them and other members of the WWE roster for Monday Night Raw on Monday, July 27. One week removed from the most recent PPV, this night’s action featured titles on the line for Banks and a rematch between McIntyre and Dolph Ziggler.

The first match of the night was a tag team triple threat for a shot at the WWE tag team championship at SummerSlam. The Viking Raiders, Cedric Alexander with Ricochet and Angela Garza and Andrade. The match started with Andrade and Garza attacking the other two teams before the bell but would regain some semblance of normalcy shortly after. Garza and Andrade stayed on the outside while the other two teams battled amongst themselves. That worked until the other two teams turned their focus on Garza and Andrade, going on the four-on-two offensive.

Garza and Andrade suffered through a wealth of attacks from both teams, including all the high-impact offense thrown their way by the Viking Raiders. During the commercial break, Garza and Andrade got the upper hand on both teams. The end came when Garza and Andrade were able to isolate Alexander in the ring. Garza hit the Wing Clipper and pinned Alexander for the shot at the tag titles in three weeks.

Shayna Baszler and Nia Jax had to be pulled apart earlier in the evening. This resulted in a one-on-one match moments later. The ladies did not wait for and introductions as Baszler put her mouthpiece in and they started brawling. The bell may have rung, but this was not much of a wrestling match as they fought to a double-count out. Security tried to break it up, but the two ladies continued to fight until Baszler was finally forced out of the ring.

Bobby Lashley rag dolls Mustafa Ali

Mustafa Ali returned to Monday Night Raw last week and was welcomed a week later with a one-on-one match against Bobby Lashley. Ali stood face-to-face with Lashley but spent most of the match on the receiving end of Lashley’s power-based attacks. Akira Tozawa and his ninjas tried to attack Shelton Benjamin mid match. Even though they failed, that allowed Ali to get some space to recover and go on the offense. The change did not last long as Lashley got back in control of the match, battering Ali around the ring. Ali reversed the Dominator and looked to hit his 450 Splash, but Lashley rolled out of the way. The end came with Lashley caught Ali and locked in the Full Nelson for the submission win.

Bayley and Sasha Banks were out next for what was an important match in the women’s division. Asuka and Banks had a rematch from their Extreme Rules match with the Raw women’s title on the line. Banks was not the champion, but she has held the title since taking it from Asuka at the PPV. The belt was on the line, but any type of interference would cause Banks to lose the title she “held.” Kairi Sane did her part to run off Bayley before the match started and make sure this was a singles match for the belt.

Banks tried all her classic tricks to get Asuka disqualified, but none of them were flying in this match.  Asuka was landing heavy blows early in the match while Banks focused on submission maneuvers to wear down the current champion. Asuka and Banks are so familiar with each other they both had multiple counters planned throughout this match. Even though Bayley and Sane were not involved in the match, Bayley and Sane’s fighting backstage led to the finish. Asuka ran to the back to save Sane from Bayley but being counted out ended her reign as champion.

Buddy Murphy continues to do the bidding of Seth Rollins and that meant facing off with Humberto Carrillo. Carrillo came out on fire to start the match, battering Murphy all around the ring. Murphy looked pensive at first, but the assault that Carrillo was dealing out woke him up mid match. Murphy picked up the victory when he countered Carrillo coming off the top with a knee and transitioned into Murphy’s Law to get the pin.

The main event was another rematch as McIntyre and Ziggler locked up once again. McIntyre had the opportunity to pick the match stipulations and he went the route of an extreme rules contest. This time, it was McIntyre’s turn to batter Ziggler like he tried to do at the PPV the week prior. For a moment it looked like McIntyre was going to have his way with Ziggler, but the former cheerleader found a way to turn the tables on his side, starting a beatdown of his own on the champion. McIntyre got the finish when he hit a massive Claymore to put Ziggler through the table, followed by the pin fall.

July 27 Monday Night Raw Results

• Angel Garza and Andrade defeated the Viking Raiders and Cedric Alexander and Ricochet via pin fall
• Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler fought to a double disqualification
• Bobby Lashley defeated Mustafa Ali via submission
• Sasha Banks defeated Asuka via count out to become Raw women’s champion
• Buddy Murphy defeated Humberto Carrillo via pin fall
• Drew McIntyre defeated Dolph Ziggler via pin fall in an extreme rules match