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WWE RAW PRIMER 7/8: The Power of Love, Club Rules, Shane & Drew vs. Roman & Who?, Booyaka Booyaka Rey is Back, Truth Wants His Baby Back Baby Back, Joe is “Flipped” Off

By Frank Peteani, PWTorch contributor

July 8, 2019

Rey Mysterio is reportedly dealing with an injury
Rey Mysterio (art credit Grant Gould © PWTorch)
SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...

WWE MONDAY NIGHT RAW PRIMER
JULY 8, 2019
NEWARK, N.J. AT THE PRUDENTIAL CENTER
AIRS ON USA NETWORK, 8:00 p.m. EDT
BY FRANK PETEANI (@FrankPeteani), PWTORCH CONTRIBUTOR

Announcers: Michael Cole, Corey Graves, Renee Young

LAST WEEK’S RAW RATING: 1.71 (0.05 INCREASE FROM PREVIOUS WEEK)

Arena, Items Advertised by WWE, and Show Start Time

WWE Raw emanates from a very familiar Prudential Center tonight in Newark, N.J. The arena opened in 2007 and is the home of the NHL’s New Jersey Devils and the NCAA’s Seton Hall Pirates. WWE has been a frequent tenant since 2009. We saw last’s year offering of Backlash in May which featured a few WrestleMania rematches and Roman Reigns vs. Samoa Joe in the main event. Last October’s Smackdown and 205Live also emanated from here.

Tonight’s show will be the Raw go-home edition for Extreme Rules as we get ready for the latest WWE PPV and start to turn our heads towards SummerSlam. Here’s what advertised for Raw as of this writing according to WWE.com. Look for amendments and additions later in the day as we get closer to the show:

Matches & Segments:

  • Andrade & Zelina Vega throw down the gauntlet
  • Roman Reigns & mystery partner to face Shane McMahon & Drew McIntyre before No Holds Barred Tag
  • Team showdown at Extreme Rules
  • Rey Mysterio returns to Raw this Monday night

Storyline Follow-Up

  • Is The Club taking over the red brand
  • R-Truth wants his “baby” back!
  • Will “Jealous” Joe get payback against the WWE Champion
  • What’s next for Braun Strowman after Falls Count Anywhere Match incident

The arena website shows a start time of 7:30 p.m. local time for the house with doors opening at 6:00 p.m. They show two matches:

  • Seth Rollins vs. Sami Zayn for the WWE Universal Championship
  • Becky Lynch vs. Lacey Evans for the Raw Women’s Championship

Given what’s advertised for the show either one of those matches are candidates for dark matches for the live crowd after the show.

Mixed Tag Team Match: WWE Universal Champion Seth Rollins & Raw Women’s Champion Becky Lynch vs. Andrade & Zelina Vega

The current WWE “power couple” of Seth Rollins and Becky Lynch have certainly had their work cut for them recently, and their plate isn’t lightening and time soon. Last week they faced Mike and Maria Kanellis in a mixed tag team match, which led to us finding out that Maria was pregnant. In less than one week at Extreme Rules, they take on Baron Corbin and Lacey Evans in a mixed tag that will have both Seth & Becky’s titles on the line in a winner-take-all Extreme Rules match.

This past week on social media, Andrade and his business manager Zelina Vega threw down the gauntlet, if you will, and challenged Seth and Becky to a mixed tag match tonight. There was some trash talk, as we would expect with Becky and Zelina:

Andrade and Zelina play the wild card tonight and come over to Raw to take on Seth and Becky in a mixed tag team match tonight.

Frank’s Analysis: When WWE gets a hold of something, they love to overdo it these days. We got a mixed tag match last week, we’re getting one tonight, and we’re getting another one at Extreme Rules. I understand Seth and Becky are a couple and they’re running with it right now, but I’d rather not see them wrestle every week together. The upside to this is when get a taste of Seth vs. Andrade, which is a match I’d love to see. We’ll see what kind of chemistry Zelina and Becky have. Who knows if she’s in mind for a program with Becky once she’s done with Lacey. Speaking of Lacey, you wonder what role her and Corbin will play in this match. I wouldn’t be surprised to see a screwy finish before a commercial break leading to god knows what.

Shane McMahon & Drew McIntyre vs. Roman Reigns and a Mystery Partner of Shane’s Choosing

At Extreme Rules, Shane McMahon & Drew McIntyre take on Roman Reigns & The Undertaker. We found out on last week’s Smackdown on the Kevin Owens show that the match is now No Holds Barred, according to Shane. This was following Undertaker appearing on Raw last week, interrupting Shane & Drew and proclaiming they would not Rest In Peace. Undertaker also recalled he and Shane’s Hell in a Cell match from WrestleMania three years prior, and that Roman never asked for his help.

We found out this past week that in advance of Extreme Rules, Shane & Drew will take on Roman and a partner of Shane’s choosing tonight on Raw. Shane had a little trash talk:

We’ll see who that partner is tonight.

Frank’s Analysis: First Baron Corbin gets to choose his referee at Stomping Grounds, and now Shane gets to choose his opponents’ partner in a tag team match. I wouldn’t want to be a babyface wrestler and work in WWE right now, I’ll tell you that. This has got to have Elias, via the wild card, written all over it given Elias’ history with Shane in recent times. It’s so obvious. If he picks someone else, I’ll be pleasantly (sort of) surprised. This is another case of overdoing it in advance of a PPV match. One question I have is if Dolph Ziggler isn’t chosen by Shane, will he complain that it should have been him? Heath Slater could use the match and the work as he’s got kids.

Rey Mysterio Returns

It has been a tough go for Rey Mysterio since WrestleMania. He came up short in an attempt to become U.S. Champion on the “big stage” as he lost quickly to then-champion Samoa Joe. He was able to win the title however at Money in the Bank, in a match that saw him score a questionable pin given Joe’s shoulder was off the mat. He was “injured” as a result of a post-match attack and was forced to surrender his championship back to Samoa Joe.

This past Saturday, WWE announced Rey is returning to Raw tonight:

Frank’s Analysis: Rey is always great to have on the show and I am thrilled to see him back. I would like to the feud with Joe have the quality match it deserves, and so we’ll see what happens following Joe’s challenge of Kofi Kingston for the WWE Championship.

The Club is Back

One of the stories weaved throughout the show last week was the reuniting of The Club.

Before joining WWE, A.J. Styles and The Good Brothers (Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson) were members of the famous Bullet Club stable in New Japan Pro Wrestling. Upon their arrivals in 2016, they reunited as simply “The Club” and had a brief run together before the roster split returned in July of that year. A.J. would go on to Smackdown and have multiple runs as WWE Champion and U.S. Champion. Gallows & Anderson had a brief run as Raw Tag Team Champions, but overall have not been heavily featured.

In recent weeks, A.J. had been trying to motivate Gallows & Anderson only to have them come up short in matches against the Usos and the Viking Raiders. Two weeks ago, A.J. defeated U.S. Champion Ricochet in a non-title match. Last week, Gallows & Anderson pushed A.J. into challenging Ricochet for the title in the main event. A.J. thought he initially won, but Ricochet’s foot was under the rope as was pointed out by a second official. After coming back from commercial break, the match was restarted and Ricochet this time picked up the win retaining his U.S. Championship.

Frustrated by coming up short, A.J. would attack Ricochet after the match turning heel for the first time in over two years. Gallows & Anderson would join in and in the end, the three of them stood over Ricochet acknowledging that The Club was back. We’ll find out what it means for them going forward. It was recently reported that Gallows & Anderson signed new five-year deals with WWE. Something may or may not percolate with the Revival based on this tweet:

Frank’s Analysis: Going back to the feud with Seth Rollins, you could sense a heel turn was coming for A.J. That’s not necessarily good or bad, but it seemed like it was coming, and it does give them a much-needed top heel for a show in which Baron Corbin has been featured in that position. As far as Gallows and Anderson are concerned, it’s hard to have much confidence in them given how they’ve been booked. Standing with A.J. and them signing new contracts could certainly help but it’s not a slam dunk. Time will tell.

R-Truth Misses His “Baby”

Last week on Raw, we saw that Drake Maverick had patched things up with his wife. They were seen talking about their upcoming honeymoon, but not without Drake being distracted by R-Truth and the 24/7 Championship. At one point, his wife said he must choose between her and the title. He chose his wife.

Later in the show, as Drake was making his way out the arena, the cavalry on 24/7 challengers did their usual pursuit of Truth only for us to find he was hiding. He briefly spoke with Drake, only to have Drake attack him with his suitcase. He screamed for a referee. Fortunately for him (and the cameraman), one was nearby and counted three. Drake regained the 24/7 Championship, and then his wife just happened to appear. He said, “we’re going to do it 24/7!”

R-Truth proclaimed he wanted his “baby” back, meaning the 24/7 Championship of course:

We’ll see what’s in store tonight.

Frank’s Analysis: If you’re interested, go check out Drake’s Twitter page to see how his honeymoon is going. They haven’t consummated the marriage yet. Perhaps if he got off social media while on his honeymoon, they would have but, what do I know? I don’t mind the 24/7 Championship story. I can’t stand the cavalry. It makes them look stupid, especially when nobody higher on the card joins in. Why wouldn’t the entire roster pursue the champion? The heavily scripted nature of last week’s segments was eye-rolling. The cameraman just HAPPENED to catch Drake and his wife talking, he just HAPPENED to catch the cavalry, he just HAPPENED to find Truth hiding, a referee just HAPPENED to be nearby when Drake hit Truth with the suitcase, and Drake’s wife just HAPPENED to show up after he won the title. You can’t make this stuff up.

Samoa Joe is “Flipped Off” After His Encounter with the Champion

We certainly were taken back to another era last week on Smackdown. Samoa Joe appeared via the wild card to discuss his upcoming challenge to Kofi Kingston for the WWE Championship at Extreme Rules.

Kofi accused Joe of being jealous of Kofi’s success while Joe accused Kofi of being insincere in regard to the WWE fans. At the end of the promo, Joe agreed not to attack Kofi or any of his loved ones in advance of their match so long as Kofi shook his hand. Kofi offered his hand alright and flipped Joe the “bird.” Somewhere WWE Hall of Famer “Stone Cold” Steve Austin must have cracked open a case of beer in jubilation.

Joe was likely not sincere in offering a “cease-fire” anyway, and thus we’ll see what he’s up to this week as they get ready for their championship match at Extreme Rules.

Frank’s Analysis: First on Raw we get staged electronics exploding, then we get the middle finger. I think someone here at PWTorch tweeted out something to the effect of next thing you know we’ll have half-naked women by the time they get to FOX. If you think about it, we’ll already got it earlier in the year with Alexa Bliss and that dressing on scene. At any rate, Kofi continues to show how much being a champion means to him and Joe continues to be the best heel promo in the company. It would be nice to see Joe get a title run at some point, but I don’t think it happens here. It’s not impossible he beats Kofi, but I lean more towards Kofi retaining.

Next for Braun Strowman and Bobby Lashley After LED Board Explosion

Who could forget the opening of Raw last week as we ushered in the Paul Heyman era. Braun Strowman took on Bobby Lashley in a Falls Count Anywhere match as had been previously advertised by WWE. Strowman and Lashley worked their way to the stage in front of one of the LED boards. As Lashley was raising his arms, Strowman speared Lashley into the LED board, setting off a chain reaction of “explosions” (for the perfectly positioned cameraman to film). Thankfully, once the explosions ended, a crew arrived with fire extinguishers (since a crew is always positioned as such just in case wrestlers are speared through LED boards).

Enough of my sarcasm. Here’s the WWE YouTube highlight of the “incident,” which sparked a “Holy sh*t!” from Corey Graves as the explosions were happening. The next video is unseen footage from a WWE.com exclusive:

 

Here’s Bobby Lashley in response to Braun Strowman:

WWE told us Strowman had a ruptured spleen as well as multiple fractures, but never confirmed his injuries. We’ll see what story they tell tonight as they follow up on the latest Strowman stunt.

Frank’s Analysis: I understand the desire for big and shocking angles, but where do you go from here? Do you have Strowman vs. Lashley in a Fireworks on a Pole match? Perhaps I’m being too harsh on the situation but things like this historically, at least for me, don’t work long term because there’s no real way to which you can follow up. Besides, we’ve seen stunts with Strowman far too many times for us to be moved or for me to moved at the very least. Can this company please just put on a simple and logical wrestling show?

Not Advertised for Follow Up

Big E & Xavier Woods defeated the Viking Raiders via DQ as a result of Samoa Joe’s interference. Joe and the Raiders then defeated all of New Day when Joe got Kofi Kingston to pass out to his Coquina Clutch.

Lacey Evans defeated Natalya.

The Miz defeated Elias in a two-out-of-three falls match.

Universal Champion Seth Rollins & Raw Women’s Champion Becky Lynch defeated Maria and Mike Kanellis. During the match, Maria announced she was pregnant. Mike questioned how she could be pregnant. You bigger problems if you can’t figure that out dude.

NXT Tag Team Champions the Street Profits made their debut on Raw and appeared a few times in backstage segments.

Carmella defeated Alexa Bliss, but then lost to Nikki Cross. Alexa challenges Bayley for the Smackdown Women’s championship this Sunday at Extreme Rules as a result of Nikki earning her a title match by defeating Bayley two weeks ago on Smackdown.

Overall Thoughts on Tonight’s Show

The show still needs improvement as the contrived two-out-of-three falls stipulations and reset and restart matches working around commercial breaks are annoying. Seeing the same six to ten people every week is repetitive and boring. Perhaps we see long-term changes as time goes on with Paul Heyman at the helm, but as long as Vince McMahon still has the final say over the shows, I don’t have much confidence. Hardcore fans are leaving the product.

Follow Frank on Twitter @FrankPeteani. Questions and discussion are welcome! Thank you for reading.

RECOMMENDED: 7/1 WWE Raw Results: Keller’s report on Lashley vs. Strowman, New Day vs. Viking Raiders, Extreme Rules build-up, Heyman Executive Director era begins

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