WWE Monday Night Raw Review: 21/07

Linus O'Howell
Jul 22
5 min read

Gunther Interrupts CM Punk, Rusev VS Sheamus

After AJ Styles pretended to be The Judgment Day’s valet, CM Punk came out to kickstart this week’s edition of Monday Night Raw as he talked up his Summerslam match with Gunther! CM Punk said he realised that he does deserve to be World Heavyweight Champion, that he is ready to be a Champion again, and this brought out Gunther who put over reasons why both men are actually pretty similar! See, they both think they’re the Best in the World, they are both in the game for the same reason, and they both have massive egos! However, Gunther believes his ego is justified, that he backs it up in the ring, whilst Punk’s ego simply comes from the reaction of the crowd! This was simple, but also effective!

Grade: C+

Stephanie Vaquer attempted to talk about Chelsea Green and The Secret Hervice backstage before Naomi interrupted her to make it clear that she will see her in Paris! It was then time for the opening match of the night as Rusev and Sheamus went at it in a rematch from a few weeks ago! This match was solid; it was once again hard-hitting, but I don’t think it quite landed as well as their previous matchup! Still, it was decent enough; both guys had good showings, but in the end, it was Rusev’s attempt to use a shillelagh that proved to be his downfall, with Sheamus delivering a Brogue Kick to score the win!

Grade: C+

World Tag Team Championships Number 1 Contender’s Match: American Made VS The New Day VS The LWO, Becky Lynch Promo, The Judgment Day VS Bayley and Lyra Valkyria: WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships

El Grande Americano got into it with Dragon Lee backstage before Lyra Valkyria was then incredibly confused at Bayley’s idea to team up together to take on The Judgment Day for the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships! The New Day, American Made, and The LWO then clashed in a Number 1 Contender’s match for the World Tag Team Championships! This match was again totally fine, it felt pretty standard, but there were at least a couple of moments to note! See, El Grande Americano showed up at one point, but The Creed Brothers don’t seem to like him anymore before Dragon Lee arrived to help even the odds! All of these distractions seemingly helped The LWO out as they were able to shock Kofi Kingston to score a roll-up win and secure themselves a match with The Judgment Day down the line! Definitely didn’t expect this!

Grade: C+

Adam PErace told Dominik Mysterio that he wanted him to go to medical, but Dom said he’d gotten a text from Roxanne Perez and Raquel Rodriguez asking him to accompany them to ringside! AJ Styles was now acting as a janitor before The New Day got annoyed at him, only for Grayson Waller to just announce that A-Town Down Under is no more! I’m sorry, what?! Anyway, Becky Lynch then cut a promo calling Lyra Valkyria selfish, saying she doesn’t need to go after 2 Titles (which is a great use of irony), and this brought out Lyra who agreed to Becky’s terms of not having another shot at the Women’s Intercontinental Championship if she loses! However, Valkyria also added that this match will be no rules, anything goes, and this then led into the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships being on the line as Valkyria teamed up with Bayley to take on The Judgment Day! This match was chaos, it was a really odd one to put on, I can’t understand how WWE management agreed to this, let alone Lyra Valkyria! Anyway, the crowd also booed Bayley at certain points which is definitely something to keep an eye on, and then we had more comedy as Raquel Rodriguez accidentally booted Dominik Mysterio in the face, resulting in “Doctor AJ” coming down to make the save! All of this mess then spilled into the ring, distracting the referee long enough for Becky Lynch to take out Lyra, with Raquel eventually flooring Bayley with a Tejada Bomb to secure a successful retention! Too much happened here!

Grade: C+

Karrion Kross VS Sami Zayn, Iyo Sky VS Stephanie Vaquer

The Kabuki Warriors showed support to Iyo Sky backstage as Stephanie Vaquer finally got the rematch she was waiting for before Adam Pearce made it clear to Dominik Mysterio that if he doesn’t go to medical, he will take the Intercontinental Championship away from him! Sami Zayn then confirmed that he’s still not 100%, but that wasn’t going to stop him from going out there and going one-on-one with Karrion Kross! This was another solid match, the crowd were into it simply because they like both men, and Scarlett was trying her best to influence the result also! In fact, she at one point held onto the leg of Sami, and this led into Kross nailing Zayn with a steel pipe, enough to give Karrion his first major victory in years! The best part about this; the crowd cheered!

Grade: C+

AJ Styles and Adam Pearce were told that they would still have to wait to find out the true health of Dominik Mysterio, but instead, Dom just attacked AJ and said he’d see him at Summerslam! It was then time for the Main Event match of the night as Iyo Sky clashed with Stephanie Vaquer! These are two of the best wrestlers in the world, not just female wrestlers, wrestlers in general! Iyo is incredible, Stephanie has risen faster than almost anyone since arriving in WWE, and they were having another strong match until unfortunately, it once again ended in shenanigans! See, The Secret Hervice made their presence known as Chelsea Green got in the ring to cause the DQ, and despite being fended off, Naomi then appeared and took out both women! However, this just brought out Rhea Ripley who ran through all the Heels, eventually dropping Chelsea with a Riptide to stand tall! I would assume that a 6-Woman Tag will happen soon!

Grade: B-

Roman Reigns Returns to Raw

The final segment of this week’s edition of Monday Night Raw saw Roman Reigns return to Raw to confront Paul Heyman and his new crew! Paul said that with Seth Rollins being out for a long period of time, Roman could join them as their leader, that they could fix everything, but Reigns made it clear that Paul Heyman was the reason The Bloodline crumbled, that Heyman never helped him once when it came to keeping the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship for 1,316 days! All of this angered Bron Breakker who told Roman Reigns that he isn’t needed anymore, that he’s The Big Dog now, and this resulted in a brawl breaking out which eventually saw Breakker nail Reigns with a Spear! However, The Tribal Chief proved to not be alone as “Main Event” Jey Uso ran down to make the save, with both men delivering a Spear to end the show! We’re definitely getting a Tag Team match at Summerslam, and I have to say that Reigns-Breakker is money!