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WWE RAW PRIMER 7/16: Extreme Rules Fallout, Lesnar, Strowman-Owens Fallout, B-Team appears as Champions, Bliss, Ziggler-Rollins Fallout, Does WWE discuss Hulk Hogan

By Frank Peteani, PWTorch contributor

July 16, 2018

Curtis Axel (art credit Grant Gould (c) PWTorch)
SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...

WWE MONDAY NIGHT RAW PRIMER
JULY 16, 2018
BUFFALO, N.Y. AT KEYBANK CENTER
AIRS ON USA NETWORK, 8:00PM EDT
BY FRANK PETEANI, PWTORCH CONTRIBUTOR

Arena / Opening Thoughts

Tonight, WWE Raw will emanate from the KeyBank Center in Buffalo, N.Y. for the first time since November of 2016. We put Extreme Rules from last night behind us and begin to turn our attention not only towards tonight’s show, but SummerSlam to take place in just about a month.

There’s plenty to unpack from last night’s show. We did have two title changes, one of which was from the Raw side as the B-Team captured the Tag Team Championship from Matt Hardy & Bray Wyatt. I’ll talk more about that later. We had several “controversial” endings, some of which didn’t solve their respective rivalries. I highly recommend the PWTorch “VIP Post-PPV Roundtable Podcast” featuring PWTorch editor and founder Wade Keller, audio analyst and columnist Bruce Mitchell, and audio analyst Todd Martin to get more in-depth analysis on these topics, as well the “Wrestling Night in America” PPV post-show with columnist Greg Parks. Rather than expound on anything here, let’s dig in to what’s on the table for Raw tonight according to WWE.com.

Brock Lesnar and the Universal Championship

Raw G.M. Kurt Angle informed us last night that he “re-entered” negotiations with Paul Heyman in regard to his client, WWE Universal Champion Brock Lesnar, and his next title defense. Ultimately, Lesnar must show up tonight or at least agree to his next title defense. If neither of these items happens, he will be stripped of the Universal Championship. Tonight, we will see if Lesnar shows up or a title defense has been agreed to by both parties.

Here are some tweets from Paul Heyman this morning:

Bobby Lashley was victorious over Roman Reigns last night as Lashley utilized Reigns’ finishing move, the spear, to score the pinfall. This certainly has to play into the title picture as both men were originally supposed to be in the “multi-man” match that was scheduled for Extreme Rules. Reigns has long claimed he’s the “Uncrowned Universal Champion” because of what happened at the Greatest Royal Rumble. (Is there a belt for that?)

Thoughts: I commend WWE for finally doing something about the Universal Championship situation. If you’ve read previous primers, you’ll see I’ve been vocal about this situation. If you follow me on Twitter, I did tweet out one issue I had with Kurt’s announcement. What is the deadline for Brock agreeing to defend the title? Is it tonight? If he has to appear on Raw tonight or agree to defend the title shouldn’t the deadline be tonight? For me it just leaves the situation open ended and gives them flexibility which at this point, should not be an option. It’s either show up tonight, or let’s just move on and start the process of getting to a new Universal Champion. Again, I emphasize my issue is not at all with Lesnar. It is with WWE and their marginalization of the title and Lesnar himself. My other question is does Bobby Lashley’s victory position him as the #1 contender? They never made that clear about the match with Reigns, giving WWE the flexibility of still making Reigns the #1 contender if they want whether it’s by having another match between the two and/or others for that matter.

Strowman-Owens Fallout… After a Long Fall

Kevin Owens was victorious by a technicality last night in his steel cage match against Braun Strowman. As Owens was trying to escape the cage by climbing over the top, Strowman stopped him after breaking loose himself from handcuffs that Owens put him in moments earlier. Strowman choke slammed Owens onto one of the announce tables from the top, giving Owens the win as his feet hit the floor first. Strowman walked out with a sinister smile, while Owens was carted off on a stretcher. Strowman had this to say on Twitter last night:

Tonight, WWE will follow up on this rivalry.

Thoughts: I immediately thought of Undertaker and Mankind from King of the Ring 1998, when ‘Taker threw Mankind off the top of Hell in a Cell in what you may consider the first of the “OMG” bumps in WWE in this era. I know Jimmy Snuka jumped off the top of the steel cage in MSG onto Don Muraco, but that was 15 years earlier and we’ve had more of such bumps in the last 20 years. In a company that supposedly doesn’t offer health care, I find it strange they’re having their employees doing these stunt bumps risking their health. This felt more like an opportunity to do another stunt with Strowman, as I tweeted out last night. It was fun the first few times but has lost its luster at least for me. One should care whether or not he/she wins or loses a match.

B-Team Appears as Raw Tag Team Champions

The B-Team, Curtis Axel and Bo Dallas, captured their first Raw Tag Team Championship last night as they defeated champions Matt Hardy and Bray Wyatt. The match went about eight minutes. It ended when Bo shoved Hardy into Wyatt, followed by Bo hitting Hardy with a neck breaker off the top rope to score the pin. The B-Team celebrated in their usual animated fashion and continued to do with Charly Caruso in a post-match interview and with Renee Young and Sam Roberts later on during WWE Network’s Extreme Rules post show.

Thoughts: I am very happy for Joe Hennig (Axel) and Bo Rotunda (Dallas). They have been in WWE for quite some time. From a fan’s standpoint they have done everything asked of them, so it’s nice to see them rewarded with a push and a championship. Having watched and respected both of their fathers wrestling growing up, it’s nice to see these two gentlemen in a good place. For me everyone has a value on the roster, even people on the lower end of the card. They add depth and lengthen the roster. These guys and people like Chad Gable, Zack Ryder, Tye Dillinger, Shelton Benjamin, etc. all give you solid matches even if it is to put over the bigger stars. Wrestlers from the past who served in the same capacity are in the Hall of Fame.

Next for Raw Women’s Champion Alexa Bliss

Alexa Bliss retained her Raw Women’s Championship last night in an Extreme Rules match over Nia Jax. Mickie James was in Alexa’s corner while Natalya was in Nia’s. Suspended WWE wrestler Ronda Rousey “purchased a ticket” and was in the front row to witness the bout.
During the match Natalya was getting beaten down which Rousey could not stand to watch any longer, considering their friendship. She left her seat and went after Mickie, pulling her off Natalya. She threw her into the barricade a few times and gave her a spinning Samoan drop in the ring. Rousey then turned her attention towards Alexa and chased her around the ring at about 138.2 MPH (God rest his soul, Bobby Heenan may have had a better calculation). Mickie then stopped matters by hitting Rousey with a kendo stick. Meanwhile Alexa ultimately hit Nia with a DDT onto a chair to score the pin.

Technically Rousey’s “suspension” is up on Wednesday, so we shouldn’t expect her tonight. WWE is showing they will follow up on Alexa’s victory and where we go from here.

Thoughts: If Rousey was technically a fan last night, shouldn’t she have been arrested or at the very least hauled off by security for getting involved in the action? With that said I expect she will be in the Raw Women’s Championship picture heading into SummerSlam. I don’t know where Nia Jax stands at this point, but a triple threat couldn’t be a far-fetched thought even though she technically wasn’t screwed in any way last night and doesn’t deserve a re-match. WWE is NEVER in the business of giving championship re-matches to undeserving contenders RIGHT? Sarcasm aside, Natalya could play into the picture as well as Mickie James.

Ziggler-Rollins Fallout

With Drew McIntyre in his corner, Dolph Ziggler won an iron man match in sudden death last night over Seth Rollins retaining the Intercontinental Championship. Early on in the match, Rollins went up 3-0 when McIntyre attacked Rollins causing Ziggler to get DQ’d. Drew was ejected for his troubles by the referee and the match went on. Ultimately, Ziggler came back to go up 4-3 only to have Rollins tie it up with 13 minutes to go. Both men went at it with a plethora of near-finishes until Rollins hit his signature curb stomp with under 10 seconds to go. Rollins slowly made his way for the pin, but time ran out before the referee could count. The match was ruled a draw, and by “WWE rules” the champion retains the title.

Kurt Angle’s music hit and the Raw G.M. made his way out. He restarted the match under sudden death rules thinking the fans don’t want to see a tie. Well, WWE delivered alright. McIntyre almost immediately on the ring apron re-appeared but Rollins foiled his plans. Rollins couldn’t avoid a Zig-Zag from Ziggler though, and dropped a quick fall allowing Ziggler to retain the Intercontinental Championship. Tonight, WWE will follow up on this situation. Here’s Rollins following the match by the way:

Thoughts: I talked about the PWTorch VIP Post-PPV Roundtable earlier because of this match. I recommend giving it a listen if you’re a Torch VIP member and sign up if you aren’t just to hear this discussion. For me, there’s a lot to discuss but let me say I actually would have been fine with the draw. It allows Ziggler to walk out as a significant champion which considering his terrible run on Smackdown late last year/early this year would have been fine. Rollins can be the frustrated challenger and make an eventual win, if that’s the plan, more satisfying. Iron man matches are problematic in a lot of ways, so I could just do without them. Next, Rollins scored one of his wins via DQ. You can’t win a title via a DQ, therefore what’s the point in continuing the match at that point? Finally, how does the general manager allow that victory to stand if it involved a wrestler whom had already been ejected? In baseball when you go to extra innings do you get your relievers and position players that came out of the game prior to the 9th inning? Also, if the referee’s decision is final that’s fine. Todd Martin brought up a great point. Why did Constable Corbin force Angle to reverse the ref’s decision in the Moon/Sasha/Bayley vs. Riott Squad match several weeks ago?

Other Items

•Finn Balor defeated “Constable” Baron Corbin last night. There’s not much to unpack from this but Balor oddly tweeted this last night:

•Hulk Hogan was re-instated into the WWE Hall of Fame and signed to a new contract by WWE. It’s not clear what the terms of the contract are and if it means he will be on TV or to what extent his character will be used if at all. This certainly draws strong opinions considering the remarks that got him fired in the first place. I’ll stay away from offering any opinion, but what I will say is I certainly hope WWE calculated the worth in bringing him back to TV if that’s what they ultimately do. Everything has a risk and a potential reward.

Dark Matches / Wrestlers Advertised

Once again, a “massive” eight-man tag is being advertised. The KeyBank Center shows Roman Reigns, Braun Strowman, Seth Rollins and Bobby Lashley vs. Dolph Ziggler, Drew McIntyre, Kevin Owens, and Baron Corbin. They also advertise G.M. Kurt Angle, Women’s Champion Alexa Bliss, Nia Jax and many more live!
I just report what I read. They say date, time, and card subject to change without notice. No service charge applies at the box office, so you at least get a break with that.
Start time shown is 7:30pm but does not show when doors open.

Follow me on Twitter @FrankPeteani

NOW CATCH UP ON LAST NIGHT’S PPV REPORT: 7/15 WWE EXTREME RULES RESULTS: Keller’s PPV results and analysis including Styles vs. Rusev, Carmella vs. Asuka, Braun vs. Owens in a cage, Ziggler vs. Rollins, Lashley vs. Reigns, more

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