The show kicks off with a invigorated Kurt Angle, following his reveal of long-lost son Jason Jordan. Cute. Leading into the insanity between Samoa Joe and Roman Reigns with the inevitable interference from Braun Strowman. The latter of whom interrupts the RAW GM and demands the title bout against Brock Lesnar at SummerSlam. Crowd loves this, and loves it more as Samoa Joe comes out, and wouldn’t you know it, demands the same thing. Finally, Roman Reigns comes out, the cheers turn to boos, and Reigns decides to remind us all why “they” call him The Big Dog… Except by “they” he means himself. He sure is embracing the hate. Every time he mentions retiring The Undertaker, wow, I’m fearful for his life. He is hated.
To make things simple, Kurt Angle books a Fatal Four Way with all of them for SummerSlam. Guess this is how Brock drops the title without being pinned?
The segment concludes with a pretty crazy brawl, and Braun Strowman looking unstoppable. The Monster Among Men hurls a “security guard” clear out of the ring. I mean, CLEAR over the ropes and crashing to the arena floor. Hope the guy isn’t paralyzed.
Busy Braun's having big fun! pic.twitter.com/AvNZQMota9
— TDE Wrestling (@totaldivaseps) July 25, 2017
Elias Samson defeats Finn Balor
Stumped? How does this happen? It’s when Bray Wyatt distracts Balor and fells him with the Sister Abigail, allowing Samson to get the pinfall. Have to say, Samson looked good in this match, and decent move by WWE to keep Balor from looking weak here with having Wyatt interfere.
Backstage: Angle seems like a new man, until interrupted by Emma who offers herself to Jason Jordan. Uh, ok? In return, Angle books her against Nia Jax.
Big Cass defeats Enzo Amore
They had Cass look indestructible tonight. It was against Enzo, so looking strong didn’t take much. Post-match, Big Show attempts to save Enzo, but he is clobbered by Cass also. Man, they really want to push Cass as the new big man?
Where does Enzo go from here?
Backstage: Alexa Bliss is confident Sasha Banks and Bayley will end their friendship tonight.
Nia Jax defeats Emma
As if there would be any other result.
Backstage, because we need more shots of a staged locker room, Akira Tozawa improves his English and demands a match against Davari. Suddenly, a wild Titus O’Neal appears! He had Angle cancel his match per doctor’s orders, but Tozawa doesn’t care. Storming the ring, calling out Davari, but gets Neville instead. Neville taunts, and Tozawa strikes! Davari comes in and lays out everyone. Interesting.
Backstage: Jason Jordan is really excited.
Backstage: Dean Ambrose is really excited… but not when Seth Rollins shows up. Now he’s really suspicious.
Bayley defeats Sasha Banks to become the #1 Contender for the RAW Women’s Championship
Hot damn what a match! Sure, some spots looked akward, but honestly their match was better than the entire Battleground PPV. The result is interesting, because we’ve already seen Bayley vs. Bliss, but perhaps Banks will be waiting in line for the next shot.
When will Nia Jax get her opportunity?
Jason Jordan defeated Curt Hawkins
I got nothing.
The Revival defeat The Club following interference from The Hardy Boyz
This is a picture I wouldn’t have thought possible. Revival vs. Club, sure, but the Hardy Boyz? Geez this is getting nuts. The live crowd seemed a bit torn who to cheer for, we hate both teams, but Revival is just too good, while The Club seemed to flounder. The arrival of the Hardyz helped elevate the feud which will likely exclude The Club at some point.
Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins defeat The Miz, Bo Dallas, and Curtis Axel
Hey! This was a solid main event match! Some tension between Ambrose and Rollins, the final few moments were fast and furious as Ambrose and Rollins rolled on with some big moves and flying dives. Miz nearly had the win, but a combo attack by two-thirds Shield sent Miz down for the count. Post-match, Rollins thought he could buddy-up with Ambrose, but the Lunatic Fringe “appeared” too psyched to notice Rollins motioning for the old Shield fist-bump.
Good episode of RAW, and while I understand it is difficult at times to fill in three-hours, lighten up on the backstage jibber jabber.
Next week Jason Jordan will be guest on MizTV, while the proposed main event will feature Samoa Joe vs. Roman Reigns vs. Braun Strowman. That should have been a PPV bout.
Lots of push on Jason Jordan. I really hope WWE knows what they are doing. Chad Gable… hope he has a future as well.
