WWE Raw results, recap, grades: Rhea Ripley reels in Dominik Mysterio, Drew McIntyre ruins shot at CM Punk
Monday night was absolutely packed with drama as the march to SummerSlam continues
WWE brought the heat to Raw on Monday night with a show absolutely packed with big moments and meaningful story beats. At the center of much of the episode was the continued drama between Rhea Ripley, Dominik Mysterio and Liv Morgan.
But there was much more than the relationship drama going on during Raw. The Wyatt Sick6 story took a meaningful step forward with Chad Gable enlisting the Creed Brothers to fight by his side. Also, Drew McIntyre blew a shot to get his match against CM Punk when he couldn't simply apologize and Damian Priest's world heavyweight championship defense against Gunther at SummerSlam picked up some serious steam.
CBS Sports was with you all night with recaps and highlights of all the action from Nutter Center in Dayton, Ohio.
Rhea Ripley returns, appears to forgive Dominik Mysterio
Rhea Ripley opened the show, immediately putting her focus on women's world champion Liv Morgan. When Ripley demanded Morgan come to the ring, Dominik Mysterio came instead. Mysterio attempted to apologize for his interactions with Morgan during Ripley's absence due to injury but was cut off by video of Morgan on the Tron. This led to Ripley challenging Morgan for a match, which Morgan accepted for SummerSlam, saying again that her goal is still to take everything away from Ripley, including Mysterio.
Throughout the show, Mysterio would continually try to apologize to Ripley, eventually making a match with Jey Uso after Uso asked about Ripley being single and suggesting he was going to "holler at her." Mysterio further upset Ripley when he explained his motivations for making the match, saying he just wanted to prove to the world that she still belonged to him.
Jey Uso def. Dominik Mysterio via pinfall with an Uso Splash. During the match, Morgan ran to ringside to pull Mysterio out of danger. As Mysterio yelled at Morgan to leave him alone, Uso dropkicked him in the back, leading to Morgan stradling Mysterio at ringside. This brought out Ripley, which sent Morgan running. Ripley yelled at Mysterio and told him to finish the match, leading to him immediately losing and Uso signaling for Ripley to call him. Later, backstage, Ripley told Mysterio to get one thing straight, she doesn't belong to anyone. She isn't Mysterio's she said, Mysterio is his, leaving Mysterio smiling as she walked away.
Monday was one of those nights where seemingly everything goes according to plan for WWE. The big stories all had a lot of weight and felt meaningful, but it was the "love" triangle between Ripley, Mysterio and Morgan that was the center of the majority of the show. It is a bit funny to see arguments over who belongs to who when Ripley is a married woman outside of storyline but that's showbusiness, or whatever. Still, the story feels like it has momentum again and little things like seeing Ripley and Priest catching up on business or Priest's childlike joy at ever Mysterio misstep born from immaturity just add a little bit extra. Rather than just for this story, we'll give a grade for the full show today. Grade: A
What else happened on WWE Raw?
- Sheamus def. Bronson Reed via pinfall with a Brogue Kick. As Reed was about to attack Sheamus, Pete Dunne ran in to make the save. Dunne then refused a Sheamus handshake before attacking Sheamus, leaving him lying for Reed to hit a Tsunami.
- Sonya Deville def. Zelina Vega via pinfall after Deville's Advocate (a reverse DDT). After the match, Deville, Shayna Baszler and Zoey Stark beat down Vega until Kayden Carter, Katana Chance and Lyra Valkyria ran in for the save.
- Damian Priest def. Braun Strowman via pinfall with a South of Heaven chokeslam. Before the match, Priest and Gunther came face-to-face to discuss their SummerSlam match for Priest's world heavyweight championship. Gunther said he would prove that Priest is just a piece of street trash, which Priest responded to by saying Gunther is privileged and has no heart and will soon have to fight from the bottom like never before in his life. After Priest defeated Strowman, Gunther returned to the ring but was forced to retreat after a short brawl.
- Shayna Baszler & Zoey Stark def. Katana Chance & Kayden Carter via pinfall when Stark pinned Chance.
- Adam Pearce extended Drew McIntyre's suspension after teasing a match with CM Punk at SummerSlam. Pearce said he knows both McIntyre and Punk want the match and so do the fans. All it would take to do business would be McIntyre apologizing to the two referees he attacked at Money in the Bank. McIntyre refused and blew up at Pearce and the referees for screwing him over and over. Pearce said he had no choice but to extend McIntyre's suspension. McIntyre then shoved the two referees and got in Pearce's face before Seth Rollins ran in to attack McIntyre, with McIntyre escaping before getting stomped by Rollins.
- Chad Gable called out Bo Dallas. Gable spent the show telling anyone who could listen that he had figured out that Dallas was Uncle Howdy, which everyone already knew. Gable then told Pearce he would call Dallas out later in the night. When Gable did so, Dallas began walking to the ring when he was attacked from behind by the Creed Brothers. The trio put an extended beating on Dallas, with Dallas laughing the whole time. Finally, the lights went out and the rest of the Wyatt Sick6 made a slow walk to the ring. Gable and the Creeds bailed from the ring, leaving the Wyatts to pose in the center of the ring until the show went to commercial.
- Intercontinental Championship -- Ilja Dragunov def. Sami Zayn (c) via disqualification after being speared by Bron Breakker. Zayn told Dragunov he was giving him a title shot out of respect. This had Breakker upset but Pearce told him he needed to leave the building or he'd be suspended like McIntyre. Breakker agreed to leave but showed up during the main event, charging around the ring and delivering a spear to Dragunov when Zayn managed to get out of the way. Breakker then beat down Zayn and delivered another spear as the show went off the air.
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