The final Raw before SummerSlam featured Sami Zayn & Seth Rollins against Damian Priest & Dominik Mysterio, plus a Cody Rhodes-Brock Lesnar segment.
This week’s Raw took place at the Toyota Center in Houston. SummerSlam is five days away on Saturday, August 5th.
Logan Paul started the show with an in-ring promo. The fans were booing him loudly while Logan trashed Ricochet, who interrupted with a confident promo. Logan made it personal by saying that Ricochet’s fiancee Samanta Irvin will announce that Logan is the winner at SummerSlam. That led to a brawl. They exchanged moves, Ricochet went for a springboard attack and Logan nailed a punch to the jaw to end it.
Match #1: Ludwig Kaiser defeated Matt Riddle. – There were plenty of nearfalls for Riddle, but Kaiser stopped his momentum with an enziguri kick. Kaiser hit a neckbreaker/DDT combo for the pinfall win. Intercontinental Champion GUNTHER shook Kaiser’s hand after the match.
There was a lengthy video package summarizing the Cody Rhodes-Brock Lesnar rivalry that started on April 3rd. Cody won at Backlash, Lesnar won at Night of Champions and their next match is at SummerSlam.
Match #2:Maxxine Dupri defeated Valhalla. – It was Maxxine’s first singles match. Maxxine one by putting Valhalla on her shoulders and falling backward into a pin for the win.
The Judgment Day foursome did an in-ring promo bragging about their recent dominance. Dominik Mysterio was booed the loudest as usual. Raquel Rodriguez showed up to brawl with Women’s World Champion Rhea Ripley. Raquel dominated Ripley all around the ring until Ripley hit a chop block to Raquel’s injured left knee. Ripley also kicked Raquel in the knee. Later in the show, Adam Pearce told Rodriguez she can face Ripley when Rodriguez is cleared.
Alpha Academy and Imperium exchanged words backstage. Chad Gable agreed to a five minute challenge with GUNTHER later in the show.
Match #3: Shinsuke Nakamura defeated Tommaso Ciampa. – Nakamura got a rollup with his weight on Ciampa’s legs and Nakamura grabbed the trunks for the cheap pinfall win.
Brock Lesnar did a promo in the ring about how it was “fight week” ahead of his match at SummerSlam. Cody Rhodes went into the ring and shook hands with Lesnar. After Lesnar left the ring, Cody hit him with a suicide dive. Lesnar came back to dominate the segment using the steel steps to his advantage. Lesnar hit an F5 in the ring to stand tall to end the segment.
Match #4:GUNTHER defeated Chad Gable. – After Gable survived the five-minute challenge, Gunther called for more time to make it an offiical match. Gable was impressive and nearly won, but Gunther put him away with some chops and a hard Powerbomb for the win.
Becky Lynch called out Trish Stratus for a match with Adam Pearce making it official. The bell rang and Zoey Stark attacked Lynch for the disqualification. Lynch beat up both women around ringside. There was no real match.
After a break, Adam Pearce told Trish Stratus she’ll face Becky Lynch on the August 14th Raw in Winnipeg. It was originally rumored to be a SummerSlam match, but it won’t be on the card.
There were separate videos featuring Ronda Rousey and Shayna Baszler talking about their rivalry. Baszler revealed she was Godmother to Rousey’s daughter. It was announced that their SummerSlam match will be MMA Rules.
Match #5:Seth “Freakin” Rollins & Sami Zayn defeated The Judgment Day’s Damian Priest & Dominik Mysterio. – Late in the match, Priest wanted to cash in Money in the Bank on Rollins and Finn Balor was reluctant to hand Priest the MITB briefcase, but Balor did do it. Rollins kicked the briefcase in Priest’s face, Zayn hit a Helluva Kick on Balor and Rollins hit The Stomp on Priest to win.
WWE Raw Was The Second Last Stop Before SummerSlam
There were no matches announced for next week’s Raw although we did learn Becky Lynch will face Trish Stratus on the August 14th edition of Raw.
It appears as though the final SummerSlam card is set with the following eight matches:
- Tribal Combat Match (Anything Goes) For the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship: Roman Reigns (c) vs. Jey Uso
- Brock Lesnar vs. Cody Rhodes
- World Heavyweight Championship: Seth “Freakin” Rollins (c) vs. Finn Balor
- WWE Women’s Championship: Asuka (c) vs. Bianca Belair vs. Charlotte Flair
- Intercontinental Championship: GUNTHER (c) vs. Drew McIntyre
- MMA Rules: Ronda Rousey vs. Shayna Baszler
- Logan Paul vs. Ricochet
- SummerSlam Battle Royal