Happy Monday everyone! Tonight’s Raw kicks off the Joe Tessitore WWE era as he has officially taken over the announce desk alongside Wade Barrett.

Joe Tessitore has arrived in WWE. Credit: WWE

The show begins with a recap from Bash in Berlin this past Saturday, ending with Gunther retaining his World Heavyweight Championship by defeating Randy Orton.

Also in Berlin, Rhea Ripley and Damian Priest defeated Liv Morgan and Dominik Mysterio, Ripley made her way out to the ring on Raw. She was bragging about their victory and brutalization of The Judgement Day, but she promised that they are just getting started with J-Day. Ripley also pointed out that she pinned the Women’s World Champion and wants her title opportunity.

Once Ripley brought up the title, Dom emerged from the back with a terrible black eye on his face. He let Ripley know that Morgan is still recovering and that she and Priest took advantage of him and Morgan. They were not 100% in Berlin, but Morgan will accept her challenge and she is not afraid of Ripley. Morgan has beaten Ripley before and she will beat her again, while Dom is going on to become the Intercontinental Champion.

Ripley told him how stupid he was and that she would take on Morgan any place, any time. Just like that Morgan rushed through the crowd and attacked Ripley from behind. With the help of a Dom distraction, Morgan got Ripley hung up in the ropes upside down by her ankle. Morgan then kicked at Ripley’s knee causing injury until Priest ran out from the back to make the save.

American Made (Ivy Nile, Julius Creed & Brutus Creed) w/Chad Gable vs. Alpha Academy (Maxxine Dupri, Otis & Akira Tozawa)

The Creed Brothers began this match by trapping Tozawa on their side of the ring and double-teaming him. They had him on his heels until he battled back to tag Otis in, however, Otis was greeted by two stiff knees to the jaw from Julius. He then attempted a diving crossbody, but Otis caught him mid-air into a slam. Otis then used Tozawa as a battering ram swinging him around the ring into Julius and Brutus. Dupri now took flight as she dove to the outside onto all of American Made with a crossbody.

Brutus was the one to get his team back into the mix when he hit Tozawa with a standing moonsault, but then Otis got back into things. Otis destroyed both Creeds with back elbows and strikes before hitting Julius with a Caterpillar. Tozawa followed that with a German suplex to him and a suicide dive to Brutus, but Julius then took out Tozawa with a belly-to-belly on the outside. Brutus took Otis out with a Brutus Ball from the top and all four men were down.

It all came down to the women and Dupri was rolling as she attempted the reverse caterpillar to Nile. However, Gable got up on the apron with the distraction and Nile locked Dupri into the dragon sleeper to get the victory.

Winners: American Made (Ivy Nile, Julius Creed & Brutus Creed)

Following the match, Gable grabbed a microphone to address The Wyatt Sicks following his loss to Uncle Howdy last week. Gable blames all the outside chaos on his loss and he now challenges The Wyatt Sicks next week to an eight-man street fight!

Uncle Howdy has arrived at Raw, letting them know that his suffering is real and the silence is deafening. His life is no longer his, so if this is what Gable wants who is he to stop him, The Wyatt Sicks are happy to collect the debt of Gable’s wrongs. The street fight is on!

Zelina Vega vs. Shayna Baszler w/Pure Fusion Collective

Vega missed the last month of her career due to an attack from the Pure Fusion Collective and tonight she looks for revenge. She drove Baszler’s head into the turnbuckle and hit her with a 619 to the knee, but Baszler quickly battled back with an arm submission. To break the hold, Vega dropped Baszler with a stunner, spike DDT and a diving moonsault. The Pure Fusion Collective then involved themselves drawing Vega’s attention. As Vega went to get back into the ring she was hit with a brutal knee from Baszler that was enough for the finish.

Winner: Shayna Baszler

The Pure Fusion Collective tried to attack Vega after the bell, but Lyra Valkyria rushed out to make the save. However, Valkyria and Vega were still at a disadvantage and they both ended up knocked out in the middle of the ring.

Damian Priest was looking to get revenge for Rhea Ripley and wanted a match with Judgement Day. However, Finn Bálor refuses to face Priest one-on-one, he says a tag match is the only option. Priest was struggling to think of a tag partner, so Ripley said she had the perfect guy in mind. YEET.

At Bash in Berlin, CM Punk knocked off Drew McIntyre in an action-packed strap match and finally got his bracelet back. Punk said that was one of the toughest matches he has ever been a part of and now that McIntyre is out of the way they can get down to business. He came back to the WWE, not to make friends, but to make money. Speaking of Berlin, there is one other person who had a tough battle and came out on top, Gunther!

Punk wants some gold. Credit: WWE

Punk saw Gunther put Randy Orton through hell, pushed him to his limit and went past that. However, Punk said nothing can replace the chip on his shoulder except the World Heavyweight Championship. He congratulated Gunther on being the champ and told him to enjoy it because he is going to enjoy taking it away from him. Gunther is the target and the World Heavyweight Championship is the goal.

Punk then began celebrating with the fans as his music played and he stood up on the announce table. It was then that Punk’s legs were swept out from under him by Drew McIntyre sending him crashing onto the table. McIntyre isn’t done with Punk yet and he beat the hell out of him. Wade Barrett tried to get involved to stop McIntyre, but he got around him and drilled him in the face with a Claymore. McIntyre threw Punk into the ring to hit him with another Claymore and stomp on Punk’s skull.

He then grabbed Punk’s wrist to remove his bracelet and McIntyre took back the bracelet that Punk worked so hard to get back. However, this time McIntyre didn’t take the bracelet with him, instead he snapped the bracelet, shoved the beads into Punk’s mouth and hit him with a third Claymore. Officials had to drag McIntyre from the ring and Punk was forced to leave on a stretcher. As Punk was being wheeled on the stretcher, McIntyre attacked him again on the stretcher with blood pouring from Punk’s mouth.

Intercontinental Championship Number One Contenders Tournament Triple Threat Match: Dominik Mysterio vs. Dragon Lee vs. Ilja Dragunov

Lee was flying to begin this match as he flew to the outside and sent Dragunov flying with a hurricanrana. However, Dom then tripped him up and hit a diving senton, but Dragunov then began sending everyone flying with German suplexes. We went into the commercial break with a double German suplex and all three men down on the mat. Lee and Dom ended up battling up to the top turnbuckle and Dragunov pulled Lee down with a powerbomb followed by an H-Bomb. As he went for the pin, Dom came flying from the top with a frog splash onto both men.

Dragunov did not stay down and dropped Dom with a Death Valley Driver on the apron before Lee flew over the ropes sending Dragunov to the floor with a hurricanrana. Lee wanted to beat Dom, but Carlito came through the crowd and interfered which drew Damian Priest out from the back. Priest chased both Carlito and Dom out of the arena leaving Dragunov and Lee to battle. These two men were putting on a wrestling clinic with a great chain of reversals and strikes that ended with a powerbomb from Lee. He then dove off the ropes, but Dragunov caught him with a forearm in mid-air before drilling him into the corner with another Death Valley Driver.

Dragunov moves on. Credit: WWE

Both men then went to the top rope and Lee hung Dragunov up before diving onto him with a double stomp followed by a running dropkick to the head. However, he could not keep Dragunov down and he then caught him with a brutal headbutt to get the win and advance in the tournament.

Winner: Ilja Dragunov

It was announced earlier today that Bronson Reed will be unable to compete tonight because he tested positive for COVID-19. Adam Pearce has been looking for a replacement and Braun Strowman stepped up. Strowman was put through a car last week with a Tsunami from Reed, so it is absurd that he is even able to walk this week. Nonetheless, Pearce agreed to let Strowman into the match.

Jade Cargill and Bianca Belair became two-time Women’s Tag Team Champions on Saturday when they defeated Isla Dawn and Alba Fyre. They were live at Raw tonight to find out who their first challengers will be.

Women’s Tag Team Championship Number One Contenders Match: Damage Ctrl (Iyo Sky & Kairi Sane) vs. Alba Fyre & Isla Dawn

Damage Ctrl was on fire to get this match started as Sane drilled Fyre with a back fist and Sky then dove onto her with a springboard moonsault. Sane continued the offence with a spike DDT to Fyre before tagging Sky into the match. Sky went through both of her opponents taking them both out with a double dropkick before hitting Fyre with double running knees. She then dropped Fyre with a brutal backbreaker and a German suplex. At the same time, Sane tried to dive to the floor onto Dawn, but Dawn grabbed Bianca Belair into the line of fire and Sane hit the champ.

Jade Cargill was angered by this and took out Sane leaving Sky on her own in the ring. At the disadvantage, Sky got hit with the Gory Special-Facebuster combination and suffered the loss.

Winners: Alba Fyre & Isla Dawn

The World Heavyweight Champion, Gunther continued his reign on Saturday when he beat Randy Orton by putting him to sleep. Gunther was looking to celebrate his victory because he defeated one of the best of all time and the greatest version of Orton. That victory adds another chapter to his legacy, Gunther was then interrupted by the last man to defeat him, Sami Zayn. At WrestleMania, Zayn ended Gunther’s historic Intercontinental Championship reign. He would go on to lose that title to Bron Breakker and I guess he now looks towards Gunther again.

Zayn found it funny that Gunther was talking about legacy and it got him thinking about his IC title reign. When that title gets mentioned people forget to mention all the greats that used the IC title as a stepping stone to the world championship, the same way Gunther did. So, now Zayn is looking to do the same thing as well. He is coming after the one title that he has yet to win in the WWE, he wants the World Heavyweight Championship!

Gunther acknowledges how Zayn is resilient and when things go wrong for him he always comes right back to the middle of the ring. Zayn has passion and fire in his eyes, so Gunther tells him if the world title is what he wants more than anything else, he still cannot have a match. Gunther then laughed in Zayn’s face and walked out of the ring, but Zayn said he’s never backed down from a fight so why is he backing down from this one? Zayn thinks it is because he is the last person to beat him in the middle of the ring and that got Gunther’s attention. Zayn promised that no matter what he is coming for that title and he will become a world champion.

Jackie Redmond caught up with Jey Uso backstage to chat about the IC title tournament, but he was interrupted by the IC Champ, Bron Breakker. He reminded Jey that no member of his family has beaten a member of his, so Jey should save himself from the embarrassment and walk away from the tournament now. Jey has no interest in doing that, he promised Bron that he will win this tournament and then beat him for the title.

Intercontinental Championship Number One Contenders Tournament Triple Threat Match: Braun Strowman vs. Sheamus vs. Ludwig Kaiser

Sheamus and Kaiser instantly attacked each other brawling out to the floor and Strowman chased after them with some massive shoulder blocks. He then made the mistake of taking a run at Sheamus, but it was sidestepped and the already injured Strowman went through the barricade. Sheamus and Kaiser were left to fight and Kaiser drilled Sheamus with a sliding dropkick and then attempted to run around the ring for another dropkick. However, he was cut off halfway by a flying chair that Strowman threw his way.

Strowman emerged from the ashes to chokeslam Sheamus, but Sheamus then attacked Strowman’s injuries with a bicycle knee and the 10 Beats of the Bohdran. Strowman was out of the mix again and Sheamus now drilled Kaiser with a Brogue Kick.

It seemed like the match was over, but Sheamus was pulled from the ring by Pete Dunne! Dunne has been after Sheamus for over a month now and he hit Sheamus in the spine with a shileleigh of his own. That left Strowman the opportunity to hit Kaiser with the running power slam to get the victory and advance.

Winner: Braun Strowman

Damian Priest & Jey Uso vs. The Judgement Day (Finn Bálor & JD McDonagh)

Bálor continues to avoid facing off with Priest, so McDonagh begins this match and is quickly getting beaten down by Priest and Uso. They hit him with a plethora of strikes, but McDonagh caught Uso with a jawbreaker and J-Day had Uso trapped on their side of the ring. Both men were now attacking Uso and he struggled to make a comeback. However, he finally side-stepped a couple of attacks and sent both members of J-Day out to the floor. Uso now took flight over the top rope landing on both Bálor and McDonagh on the outside.

That spurt of offence from Uso didn’t last too long and J-Day regained control as Bálor hit a slingshot senton and McDonagh a springboard moonsault. McDonagh followed that with a headbutt, but Uso responded with an enzigiri and finally tagged in Priest. At the same time, Bálor was tagged in and Priest could get his hands on his former friend. Priest unloaded on his former teammates with running back elbows, a roundhouse kick to Bálor and a brutal lariat. He followed that with a double clothesline to both opponents and tagged Uso in to hit a double-diving crossbody.

Uso continued by hitting both men with a superkick and spearing McDonagh in half, all that he needed was a Uso Splash. However, Bálor distracted the referee while Liv Morgan pulled out Uso’s legs causing him to fall on the top rope. Bálor then hit Uso with a sling blade, shotgun dropkick and a Coup De Grace. McDonagh followed that with a diving moonsault, but Priest broke up the pin to keep the match going. Rhea Ripley now made her way out to get her hands on Morgan, she stumbled down the ramp on one leg and attacked Morgan with her crutch.

Morgan had no choice but to escape through the crowd and Ripley stood at ringside to watch Uso spear Bálor and Priest drop McDonagh with a Razor’s Edge. Uso finished the job with a Uso Splash to get the win.

Winners: Damian Priest & Jey Uso