Raw: The Dogs are Barking

Joseph Casciaro

Raw: The Dogs are Barking

Happy Monday everyone! Tonight’s episode of Raw begins by showing us the recently formed relationship between Dominik Mysterio and Liv Morgan while Rhea Ripley was out injured. However, Ripley returned to close out last week’s Raw and is opening up the show tonight.

Mami’s home! Ripley acknowledged the reason she missed the last three months of her career was Morgan. She has been forced to sit at home watching Liv carry something of hers, and she said not Dirty Dom because she will deal with him later. Liv is walking around with the Women’s World Championship that Ripley never lost. Morgan likes to think she broke Ripley, but she only pissed her off and Ripley wanted Morgan to come to the ring so she could rip her apart.

However, instead of Morgan, Ripley got her Dirty Dom who came with a black rose. Ripley turned her back to Dom, but Morgan appeared on the screen before he could say anything. Morgan said she wasn’t sure when we would see Ripley again and she wanted to take everything from her. At first, she went after Dom just to piss Ripley off, but that slowly became very real. She got to look into Dom’s eyes, kiss him and have him all to herself. So, even though Ripley is back, Liv is finally on top.

Ripley was not surprised Morgan only talked to her through a screen because Morgan knew once she stepped in the ring her revenge tour ended. Ripley decided to throw out the challenge, Summerslam her versus Liv for the championship.

Morgan always knew the end game would be facing Ripley and she would not run from that. However, she is not the same Liv Morgan and she is going to beat her at Summerslam. She also hopes to see her Daddy Dom there too.

Ripley promised at Summerslam, she will not only end her revenge tour and title reign, but she is going to end her career. She then slapped Dom’s rose out of his hand and Dom chased her into the back.

He did eventually catch up to her saying it wasn’t what it looked like and when Ripley opened her locker room she found a dozen black roses. She said what the hell is this, slammed the door and then opened it again to throw all the roses at Dom. He is in the dog house.

Sheamus vs. Bronson Reed

Reed took Sheamus off his feet early to drill him with a rolling senton and he followed that with several strikes. Sheamus responded with a shoulder tackle that knocked Reed out of the ring, but when Sheamus joined him out there Reed threw him over the announce table. There was now a brawl on the table and it ended with Sheamus delivering the 10 Beats of the Bodhran over the table.

Both men were now challenging each other to throw their best shots in the ring and it was Sheamus taking Reed down with a lariat. He followed that with the White Noise to the 330-pound Reed, however, Reed then caught Sheamus in mid-air before hitting a sit-out powerbomb. Reed then went to the top rope and attempted a diving moonsault, but Sheamus rolled out of the way. Sheamus now drilled Reed with a bicycle knee to get the victory.

Winner: Sheamus

Dunne wants revenge. Credit: WWE

After the match, Reed tried to attack Sheamus from behind, but he was cut off by a running kick from Pete Dunne who came from the crowd. Sheamus tried to thank Dunne, but he wanted none of it and then he attacked Sheamus from behind. Dunne left Sheamus out in the ring for Reed to dive onto him with a Tsunami. What a double swerve from Dunne.

The Judgement Day was now in their locker room, Damian Priest and Ripley were catching up, but they were interrupted by Dom. He wanted to apologize to Ripley and tell her he’d been trying to reach her all week. Ripley wanted none of it because he might have tried to reach her all week, but what about the last three months while she was out injured? Dom remains in the dog house.

Sami Zayn is set to defend against Ilja Dragunov tonight. They met backstage:

We got another fantastic video package from Gunther:

Jackie Redmond was trying to catch up with Zelina Vega about her pursuit of the Women’s Championship, but she was interrupted by the newest faction. Sonya Deville, Shayna Baszler and Zoey Stark want to put themselves front of the line. This led to a match tonight between Vega and Deville.

Zelina Vega vs. Sonya Deville

Deville began the match by drilling Vega with knees, but she was then caught with a tornado DDT from Vega. That was followed by a 619 from Vega, but Stark and Baszler now got involved. Stark distracted the referee while Baszler stomped Vega’s arm into the ring apron. Deville now hit Vega with her finishing move to get the victory.

Winner: Sonya Deville

Following the match, Deville, Stark and Baszler tried to continue the beat down, but Katana Chance and Kayden Carter came to her aid.

Dirty Dom continued his chase for Mami, this time questioning Damian Priest about why he didn’t warn him last week. Priest tried to warn Dom, but he was too busy with Liv instead of worrying about Mami. Amid their conversation, Jey Uso interrupted to find out if Mami is single. This led to a match being made for later tonight between Dom and Jey, so Dom can prove who Mami belongs to.

Adam Pearce was found backstage by Chad Gable, who just now realized that Uncle Howdy is Bo Dallas. Gable wanted to know what Dallas said to Pearce last week and he also wants to know what Pearce will do about The Wyatt Sicks. Pearce let Gable know that Dallas is here tonight if he wants to chat with him, so Gable said he would call Dallas out!

Damian Priest is defending his World Heavyweight Championship against the King of the Ring, Gunther at Summerslam. However, before Summerslam, tonight they will go face-to-face in the ring. Gunther began by saying Priest has been carrying Raw while living the dream as World Champion. He has been paying close attention to Priest and his assessment is that Priest is not living up to the title, his reign has been nothing. He thinks he and Priest are not cut from the same cloth and he wants to take that weight off Priest’s shoulders. So, to spare Priest the embarrassment at Summerslam, he said to hand him his title now.

Priest said everyone heard Gunther in that video, this was never his dream and he had everything handed to him in Europe. Priest crawled his way from the streets to become champion, so if Gunther is just here for a paycheck he is not needed. He earned his championship and Gunther is the last person that will take his title. Gunther said Priest being on the street was a decision, it’s not his fault that his parents didn’t want to provide for their offspring. Gunther’s parents gave him everything he needed and the WWE has been calling him to come save their company. This all falls onto Gunther’s shoulders again, he needs to beat Priest and bring prestige back to the World Heavyweight Championship.

Gunther is also surprised that the fans do not cheer Priest because no matter what he achieves, he will always be street trash. Priest said Gunther is so smart, but he doesn’t see what is coming his way. The reason Gunther lost at WrestleMania and the reason he will lose at Summerslam is because he has no heart. For the first time in his life, Gunther will fight from the bottom because he has nothing. So, we will see if he has what it takes or if he is just a privileged scum bag.

Bron Breakker is livid about Ilja Dragunov getting an Intercontinental Championship tonight when that match should be his. Adam Pearce doesn’t see how that is Breakker’s business considering he lost his title opportunity at Money in the Bank. Breakker said since he wants to make a title match without him he is going to destroy everyone in that match. To avoid that, Pearce had Breakker escorted out of the building by security.

Damian Priest vs. Braun Strowman

Priest laid into Strowman with kicks to begin this match, but it did no damage and Strowman launched him across the ring. He knocked Priest out of the ring and tried to start the train around the ring, however, Priest sidestepped him and Strowman went flying over the barricade holding his left knee. Priest took full control following that, but Strowman did slowly battle back. He attempted a chokeslam and Priest slipped out before chopping Strowman’s knee. Priest now delivered three spin kicks to Strowman’s head, a back elbow and finally the South of Heaven Chokeslam.

Winner: Damian Priest

Following the match, Gunther returned to the ring and began trading blows with the World Heavyweight Champion. This ended with Priest hitting Gunther with a clothesline that sent him packing to the locker room.

Chad Gable was looking for backup before calling out Bo Dallas later tonight and turned to his former members of Alpha Academy. Unfortunately for him, they had no interest in helping him and instead they offered their help to Xavier Woods against The Final Testament.

Katana Chance & Kayden Carter w/Lyra Valkyria vs. Zoey Stark & Shayna Baszler w/Sonya Deville

Deville was rag-dolling Carter, but she and Chance then used their quickness to gain control in the match. The high-flying was working for them, Chance and Carter worked together to send Chance flying to the outside onto their opponents. Chance continued by hitting Stark with many strikes, but Stark then caught her with a brutal knee. Baszler followed that with a knee of her own to Chance only to get hit with a flipping double knee strike from Chance. Carter and Chance were closing in on the win when Deville involved herself in the match. The distraction allowed Stark to hit Chance with a springboard missile dropkick and then send her into a knee strike from Baszler for the victory.

Winners: Zoey Stark & Shayna Baszler

JD McDonagh and Finn Bálor were apologizing to Rhea Ripley for having Liv Morgan help them win the tag titles. Ripley accepted their apology because at least they have the titles. Dirty Dom then interrupted once again, he told Mami that he got a match with Jey Uso since he was talking crazy about her. He wants to teach Jey a lesson and show him that Mami belongs to him. Mami was not happy to hear Dom say that she belongs to him. In the dog house, he stays.

Adam Pearce invited Drew McIntyre back to Raw tonight to discuss his being reinstated to have a match with CM Punk. Pearce feels the WWE is on the cusp of something special with McIntyre and a match with Punk can be very special. He wants the match, the fans want the match and Punk wants the match, but does Drew want the match? McIntyre wants the match more than anything in the world.

So, Pearce said we need to leave the anger and the irrational outbreaks in the past. McIntyre knows Pearce had no choice but to suspend him and that was his fault. Despite everyone wanting the match, Drew said nobody’s opinion matters except the WWE Universe. Drew asked the fans if they wanted him versus Punk at Summerslam and the crowd erupted. He told Pearce to make the match official and Pearce said he would as long as Drew apologized to the referees for his actions at Money in the Bank.

Drew felt Pearce was being unreasonable and he did not want to apologize, he felt as though he was being embarrassed by Pearce. He refused to apologize because of all the things the referees have done to him over the years. All the times Drew has been screwed have happened under Pearce’s supervision and Drew snapped again. He told Pearce he deserved the elbow he hit him with and everyone is trying to screw him. Even Seth Rollins thinks he can get his hands on Punk before him.

Pearce was fine with McIntyre’s decision and told him that he is therefore still suspended! Drew was outraged and pushed both referees to the ground before turning his attention to Pearce. At that moment, Seth Rollins’ music hit and he charged the ring saving Pearce and fighting McIntyre off. Rollins may get his hands on Punk before McIntyre.

Earlier today on the Pat McAfee show, The Wyatt Sicks invaded the show and a box was dropped off for McAfee with another VHS tape. The contents of that tape featured Rowan which can be seen below:

Dominik Mysterio vs. Jey Uso

Dirty Dom wasted no time attacking Jey in the middle of his entrance, giving himself the advantage as the match began. He hit Uso with a dropkick, several jabs and locked Uso into a chin lock. He released the hold to deliver the three amigos to Uso and then attempted the 619, but Uso ducked it. Uso now went for a suicide dive only to be caught with a forearm from Dom and then sent flying into the ring post.

Uso did eventually make a comeback and he hit Dom with several slaps followed by a running hip attack. He now went to the top rope for the Uso Splash, but Dom was pulled out of the ring by Liv Morgan! Morgan saved Dom and Uso then dropkicked Dom from behind sending him falling on top of Morgan. With Dom on top Morgan rolled herself on top of him and went to kiss him once again, but that is when Rhea Ripley’s music hit! Morgan jumped off of Dom and ran through the crowd to escape from Mami.

Mami was outraged and Dom tried to plead his case, but she told him to worry about finishing his match. Dom entered the ring and was hit with a Spear from Uso and that was followed by an Uso Splash to finish the job.

Winner: Jey Uso

Following the match, Ripley tells Dirty Dom she does not belong to anyone and she is not his. But he is hers! Dom has somehow made it out of the dog house.

Chad Gable cracked the code that Bo Dallas is Uncle Howdy, even though everyone has known this for weeks. He is tired of everything The Wyatt Sicks has put him through and he has officially called Dallas out. Dallas began to walk down to the ring when he was attacked from behind by The Creed Brothers! Julius and Brutus beat the hell out of Dallas and they have officially aligned themselves with Gable.

Dallas was lying at the feet of Gable and The Creeds when he began to laugh, Dallas found the pain amusing. So the three of them continued to beat Dallas down, but the laughter did not stop. The Creeds hit him with a new finishing move and Gable followed that with a German suplex. But despite all that, Dallas continued to laugh and Gable screamed in his face asking why he was laughing. Dallas simply responded, “They’re here.”

They’re here. Credit: WWE

The lights suddenly went out and The Wyatt Sicks music sounded, they had arrived at Raw. The four other members of Wyatt Sicks made their way down to the ring, but Gable and the Creeds decided to escape the ring before it was too late. Dallas slowly crawled to the centre of the ring laughing once again with The Wyatt Sicks standing behind him. What an image to close this segment.

Intercontinental Championship Match: Sami Zayn (c) vs. Ilja Dragunov

These two men got the main event started by trading chops and forearms, it was Dragunov knocking Zayn down with a forearm. However, Zayn got right back up to knock Dragunov out of the ring and hit him with an Arabian press moonsault to the outside. Zayn continued to attack with uppercuts and Dragunov responded with the Constantine Special. He then attempted a powerbomb that Zayn slid out of and Zayn caught Dragunov with a stiff lariat.

Zayn now hit Dragunov with a Blue Thunder Bomb, but it was not enough and Dragunov hit Zayn with some big boots. Dragunov followed those boots with a German suplex, however, he then ran into an exploder suplex from Zayn. The Helluva Kick was next, but he was cut off by a boot from Dragunov and then planted with a powerbomb. Dragunov next attempted an H-Bomb only to leap into a boot from Zayn.

Dragunov got right back up to deliver an enzigiri, a running knee and a diving H-Bomb off the apron onto the floor. He threw Zayn back into the ring and dove across the ring hitting Zayn with a coast-to-coast. Dragunov saw Zayn reeling and went to the top rope for a diving senton, but Zayn got his knees up. Zayn then drilled Dragunov with a Helluva Kick through the ropes sending him to the floor. Zayn went outside the ring to try and get Dragunov, but as he did that Bron Breakker came from the back and he sprinted around the ring to destroy Dragunov with a Spear ending the match in disqualification.

Breakker turned his attention to Zayn as he threw him with a belly-to-belly and then bounced off the ropes to break Zayn in half with a Spear. He promised to destroy both men in this match and he did just that.

Winner: No Contest

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