Happy Monday everyone, WWE is coming off of the King and Queen of the Ring event this past Saturday and it is now time for Raw.

The show opens up with Ludwig Kaiser in the ring to introduce the King of the Ring, Gunther, who defeated Randy Orton on Saturday to win the crown. With his win, Gunther now has a shot at the World Heavyweight Championship at Summerslam, however, his win had some controversy as it seemed like Orton had his shoulder up.

Gunther gloated about his controversial victory and turned his attention to the World Heavyweight Champion, Damian Priest. He said he admires how Priest has taken responsibility for Judgement Day since Rhea Ripley got injured. He respects a man who sees adversity and takes charge, just like he did with the Intercontinental title. The King of the Ring tournament lacked prestige and he raised it to new levels it had not seen before.

The King of the Ring. Credit: WWE

He compared the tournament to the World Heavyweight title, saying it also lacks prestige because Priest took a shortcut to win it with the Money in the Bank contract. That comment brought Priest out to the ring and said Gunther talks about prestige, but he did not even beat Orton since his shoulder was up. Priest cashed in because he earned the briefcase in a ladder match just like many before him have and he questioned if Gunther knows how things work around here.

Gunther said all he focuses on is the facts and he is the King of the Ring, so if Priest is still champion by Summerslam he will see him there. If Priest wants to teach him a lesson, he would love to see him try because since he came to WWE he has been waiting for someone to teach him a lesson after the bell rang. However, Gunther is more than happy to teach Priest a lesson about the great sport that he showcases weekly.

Summerslam? Credit: WWE

Priest said, as the World Heavyweight Champion, what could Gunther teach him? He then made the mistake of saying when they face at Summerslam, that sparked the interest of Drew McIntyre, who is challenging Priest for the title in three weeks. McIntrye said CM Punk has been back for months and he has been the biggest highlight of his return. He continued saying he would be the World Heavyweight Champion in three weeks, Gunther laughed at their exchange and made his way to the back.

McIntyre wants the best version of Priest, but Judgement Day continues to mess up and it is slowing Priest down. Drew is the only person from the UK to win the World Championship and the last time he competed at Clash at the Castle he broke Roman Reigns mentally. This time Clash at the Castle is in his home country of Scotland and the fans will break him. Since Priest became champion, he has been outshined by two injured people and next, Drew is taking his title.

Drew joins the party. Credit: WWE

Priest doesn’t worry about people getting under his skin, all of his career he has been proving adversity wrong. He then asked if Drew’s wife would be there in Scotland, Drew was instantly fired up, but Priest said he just wanted to show how easily he could get under Drew’s skin and if he had the balls to do something about it. This feud just got a lot more personal.

Braun Strowman vs. JD McDonagh

Strowman destroyed McDonagh, he ran through him and tossed him across the ring. On top of tossing him around he also landed several brutal chops, but McDonagh side-stepped a running attack from Strowman and sent him into the ring post before chopping Strowman’s knee. Despite the knee attack, it did not slow Strowman down all that much and he hit JD with the freight train. It was clear that Strowman was closing in on the victory so Finn Bálor and Carlito got involved, but Strowman sent them both flying before beating JD with the powerslam.

Bálor and Carlito tried to continue the attack after the match, but once again Strowman beat them off and he no-sold a chair shot from JD. With that JD, Bálor and Carlito ran for the hills.

Winner: Braun Strowman

Last week, Bron Breakker ran through the Raw roster to send a message to Adam Pearce. Ricochet was one of the people that got speared in half by Breakker, but he was cleared this week and demanded a match with Breakker tonight. Unfortunately for Ricochet, Breakker was suspended for the week by Pearce. Ilja Dragunov then paid a visit to Ricochet, thanking him for pushing him out of the way of the spear last week and telling him once he’s healthy they can go for round two. Ricochet wanted the match tonight, but Dragunov said he wrestles people and breaks them but he doesn’t face broken people. Ricochet assured he was healthy and Pearce made the match official.

Ricochet vs. Ilja Dragunov

Ricochet has much to prove after Breakker’s attack, but he was clearly not 100% and Dragunov quickly began to outwork Ricochet. He sent him flying with suplexes and delivered sharp elbows before slamming his injured ribs into the mat. A running knee and German suplex followed that before attempting the Constantin Special. However, Dragunov turned into a bicycle knee from Ricochet and he followed that with a suicide dive and moonsault to the outside.

Breakker is going to be a problem. Credit: WWE

Ricochet then went for a 450, but Dragunov rolled out of the way and then hit a big boot before connecting the Constantin Special. Dragunov hammered Ricochet’s chest with chops and power-bombed him into the mat. He now went for an H-Bomb from the top rope, but Ricochet caught him in mid-air with a superkick and then hit a Recoil. Ricochet then went back to the top rope and connected with a shooting star press, but as he got up Bron Breakker came through the crowd and speared him in half. Breakker then also speared Dragunov and for the second week in a row Breakker has sent a very loud message. Adam Pearce rushed out and followed Breakker to the back yelling that he was suspended. However, Breakker just laughed in his face.

Winner: No Contest

Earlier today, The New Day were trying to trick R-Truth into giving them a Tag Team title match tonight on Raw. However, The Miz stopped Truth from making any mistake and The Awesome Truth will not be defending. Karrion Kross then approached New Day, he had high praise for Xavier Woods and questioned why he sticks with Kofi Kingston. Kross believes WWE is all about the numbers game and Woods needs The Final Testament behind him because New Day doesn’t have much left in the tank. Woods was not too enthused with Kross’ offer and told him to watch next week to see how much New Day has left.

Authors of Pain (Akam & Rezar) vs. The Creed Brothers (Julius & Brutus)

AOP attacked the Creeds as soon as they entered the ring and Rezar drove Brutus into the corner with a Death Valley Driver. They then double-team Brutus until he was able to tag Julius in who entered the ring suplexing AOP across the ring. He then delivered a moonsault to Akam and the Creeds wanted the Brutus Ball, but Scarlett threw Ivy Nile into the steel steps at ringside. This distracted the Creeds and allowed the AOP to regain control. They dropped Julius with What a Rush to get the victory.

Winners: Authors of Pain (Akam & Rezar)

Sheamus has returned to Raw after losing to Gunther a few weeks ago, he said he was robbed of winning King of the Ring because of Ludwig Kaiser. Then while he was out injured, Kaiser was running his mouth about him nonstop. Kaiser then interrupted Sheamus from backstage on the screen and he told him to stop blaming him for his loss because he never stood a chance. He calls Sheamus a keyboard warrior and he cannot tell him what to do. Sheamus demanded Kaiser shut his mouth and instead of talking anymore, Sheamus decided to go find Kaiser.

He charged up the ramp and into the back, but was ambushed by Kaiser and the brawl was now on. The fight spilled into the arena and it took plenty of officials to separate these two. These men want to destroy each other and they are on a collision course.

An interesting message from Lynch. Credit: WWE

Lyra Valkyria was preparing for her match with Kairi Sane in the locker room when she was approached by Becky Lynch. Who told her, “We’ll keep winning or learning….until it’s time to walk away.” With all the contract rumours surrounding Lynch, this statement could mean more than we know.

Kairi Sane w/ Dakota Kai vs. Lyra Valkyria

Valkyria lost in the Queen of the Ring finals on Saturday to Nia Jax and tonight she was looking to regain some momentum. However, Valkyria was not 100% and Sane was doing damage to Valkyria’s injured ribs. She stomped on her ribs on the apron and then hung Valkyria from the ropes to land a diving stomp onto her chest. Sane now looked for the Insane Elbow, but Valkyria got out of the way and sneakily rolled Sane up to steal a victory.

Winner: Lyra Valkyria

When Sane and Kai returned to the back, Sky was outraged with them and destroyed their locker room before storming off.

Judgement Day was meeting in their clubhouse and Priest had a lot of questions for JD and Dominik Mysterio. Priest questioned where JD had been and why he was seen talking to Liv Morgan, but JD claimed he just told her she wouldn’t be champion for long. Priest then questioned what Dom was thinking on Saturday when he helped Liv win the title. Dom said he made a mistake and that he would talk to Mami.

Rey Mysterio w/ The LWO vs. Carlito

Carlito took control of this match early by overpowering Mysterio, but he then made an uncalculated move and slid into the ring post. Mysterio then took a run at Carlito only to be flipped and planted face-first into the mat. Carlito now deadlifted Mysterio from the ring apron into a superplex. He then attempted a second superplex, however, Mysterio blocked and delivered a diving seated senton to Carlito followed by a springboard moonsault.

He now went for another springboard and Carlito caught him with a dropkick. Finn Bálor now emerged from the crowd and attacked Dragon Lee at ringside, but Mysterio then dove off the apron to take out Bálor. Mysterio turned his attention back to Carlito to hit a 619 and splash to get the win.

Winner: Rey Mysterio

Instead of celebrating the LWO tried to attack Bálor and Carlito some more, hoping to put Bálor through the announce table. However, Priest now came through the crowd to stop the attack and take out Mysterio and Lee. He beat down both men before planting Mysterio with a South of Heaven, it seems like Priest is taking things into his own hands.

Bronson Reed vs. Otis w/ Chad Gable

Reed has a bone to pick with Otis after he got involved in the triple threat match on Saturday, so Reed began this match by hitting Otis with a running crossbody and driving him into the ring post. Gable started to scream at Otis, and he hit Reed with a crossbody of his own followed by a big body slam. Otis had Reed down and he wanted the Caterpillar, but Gable got up on the apron to stop him. He demanded for Otis to be serious, but Otis was feeling the energy. He ended up arguing with Gable for so long that he turned into a superkick from Reed and he followed that with the Tsunami to get the win.

Winner: Bronson Reed

Following the loss, Gable demanded for Otis to get back in the ring and he also called out Akira Tozawa and Maxxine Dupri for a team meeting. He started by telling Otis he costed him in Saudi Arabia and failed him once again tonight. Gable believes Otis lacks discipline and tonight he is going to show him discipline, he then pulls his belt off saying he doesn’t want to do this, but Otis made him do this.

Otis’ discipline. Credit: WWE

Gable told Otis to grab the rope and said Dupri and Tozawa had to watch this. He then winded up to hit Otis with his belt, but Dupri intercepted his arm to stop him. He told Dupri if this too much for her she can get the hell out of his ring. With Dupri gone, Gable wanted Tozawa to continue watching, but Sami Zayn now made his way out to the ring. Gable told him this was Alpha Academy’s business and he should mind his own business.

Zayn remained unbothered, telling Gable he is a weak little man who manipulated his way into championship opportunities only to come up short. He then blamed everyone else for his losses when at the end of the day he is the one who cannot get the job done. Gable disagreed saying Otis cost him on Saturday and that is why he needs his discipline. Gable tried to use his belt again, but Zayn ripped that belt out of his hands. Zayn then told Otis he needs to stop taking this from Gable and start listening to the fans and listen to his heart.

As Otis was listening to Zayn, Gable attacked Zayn, but Zayn began to fight back and that is when Otis pulled Zayn off of Gable. This allowed Gable to German suplex Zayn and continue his beat down. Otis was distraught standing behind Gable as he held up Zayn’s Intercontinental title.

Women’s World Championship Steel Cage Match: Liv Morgan (c) vs. Becky Lynch

Morgan defeated Lynch just two days ago to win the Women’s World Championship and Lynch wasted no time demanding her rematch which led to this steel cage match. Morgan wanted to prove herself as the champion and was utilizing the steel cage early on by slamming Lynch into it. She then attempted to escape the cage, but Lynch stopped her and ended up getting her face slammed into the cage again. Lynch had no answer for Morgan’s tactics as she stomped Lynch’s face into the steel.

Morgan now dropkicked Lynch into the steel three times, but she then went for a spear into the cage and Lynch moved out of the way. Morgan went head-first into the steel and Lynch then slammed her head into the cage. Lynch then dove from the top rope hitting a missile dropkick and baseball slid Morgan into the cage. Morgan battled back by lifting Lynch into the steel before trying to escape again. Lynch stopped her once again and then drove her into the mat with a superplex.

It seemed like Lynch would get in control, but Morgan pushed her head into the cage again and this time followed it with a big codebreaker. Morgan wanted to escape again and both women ended up on top of the cage, but they both fought their way back into the ring where Morgan power-bombed Lynch. Both women were down in the ring when Dominik Mysterio ran out to the ring and opened the cage door. Dom was telling Lynch to escape through the open door and that is when Finn Bálor and JD McDonagh came out to question Dom. With JD out at ringside, Braun Strowman also ran out chasing after JD and as he ran around the ring he hit Dom from behind into the cage door causing it to slam into Lynch’s face. Lynch was knocked out and Morgan just crawled out the door to retain her championship. Morgan passed Dom on her way up the ramp and planted a big kiss on a very angry Dirty Dom.

Winner: Still Women’s World Champion, Liv Morgan