WWE Raw Results: Winners, Live Grades, Reaction, Highlights After Money in the Bank
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Rhea Ripley and Natalya.WWE
Welcome to Bleacher Report’s live coverage and recap of WWE Raw on July 3 from the CFG Bank Arena in Baltimore.
This was the fallout show from Saturday’s Money in the Bank, meaning there was a significant amount of time spent recapping the pay-per-view and setting up the next big show.
Two new MITB holders were able to lord their briefcases over the current champions. Rhea Ripley was an even bigger target for Iyo Sky due to the fact that she was booked to defend her title against Natalya on Monday night.
Let’s take a look at everything that happened on this week’s episode of Raw.
Opening Segment
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The show started with a video recap of all of the major events that took place at Money in the Bank. When we went live to the arena, a victorious Seth Rollins came out to the entire crowd singing his music.
After The Visionary talked about MITB, Cody Rhodes made his way out to another huge pop. He was about to ask what we wanted to talk about before he was interrupted by Brock Lesnar’s music.
Rhodes jumped out of the ring and ran up the aisle to fight him. They brawled all the way back to the ring where The American Nightmare escaped an F5 and hit a Cody Cutter.
We got a tease for a title feud and an unannounced appearance from The Beast Incarnate to set up a rematch against Rhodes. All in all, this was a pretty effective opening segment.
After a break, Rollins was still in the ring. He began to speak but was interrupted again. This time it was Damian Priest alongside Dominik Mysterio and Rhea Ripley.
The Visionary got a kick out of the crowd booing Dom every time he tried to speak. He agreed to face Mysterio in a match later in the show.
Grade: B+
Notable Moments and Observations
It was nice to see a tribute graphic for Droz at the start of the show. It feels like Rollins just wants to see how long he can get each crowd to sing his music. He usually gets a solid 30 seconds out of them.
Damian Priest vs. Shinsuke Nakamura
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Priest stuck around after the opening segment so he could battle someone he faced in the men’s Money in the Bank match: Shinsuke Nakamura.
The match started with The Archer of Infamy focusing on The Artist’s right arm. He maintained the upper hand for a long time and dropped Nakamura on the barricade as the show went to a break.
Nakamura made a comeback as the show returned and hit a sliding German suplex. He danced toward Ripley and blew her a kiss, which Dom “intercepted,” before getting back into the ring and nailing Priest with a kick.
They picked up the pace and made the last couple of minutes the best part of the bout, but most of this will be forgotten before the show is over. Both guys did a good job. They just didn’t do enough to stand out, but that doesn’t have to be the goal of every match.
Priest hit a massive clothesline followed by South of Heaven for the win.
Winner: Damian Priest
Grade: B-
Notable Moments and Observations
The angle at which Nakamura landed on the barricade did not look fun. Ripley just oozes confidence. Even when she is just standing at ringside, you can’t help but notice her. The way Dom reacted to Nakamura blowing Ripley a kiss was pretty funny.
Rousey Confronts Baszler About MITB Betrayal, Women’s Tag Team Turmoil
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Ronda Rousey was about to speak when Shayna Baszler cut her off.
The Baddest Woman on the Planet said her teammate owed her an explanation for turning on her at Money in the Bank, and Baszler said she is the only reason Rousey is even in a WWE ring.
The Queen of Spades went on a rant about her former friend being entitled and said she plans to be the one to finally shut her up. Rousey kicked her off the apron and they started to fight. Baszler grabbed her in an ankle lock and held it for a long time before hitting a brutal running knee.
This was a great segment to officially kick off their feud. The crowd is behind Baszler, so WWE had better lean into that and make her the hero of this story in the end.
Grade: B+
Next up, Raquel Rodriguez and Liv Morgan came out to watch a Tag Team Turmoil match for a shot at their titles.
The teams included Sonya Deville and Chelsea Green, Kayden Carter and Katana Chance, Emma and Nikki Cross, Dana Brooke and Tegan Nox, Indi Hartwell and Candice LeRae.
Hartwell and LeRae started against Deville and Green. After Green and Deville won, Cross jumped them on behalf of The Poison Pixie.
Emma was unable to make the tag because Cross was distracted, so she ended up losing for her team. Nox and Brooke were eliminated during the break, leaving the former NXT women’s tag champs as the final team for Deville and Green.
Turmoil matches are always kind of tricky, but this one did a good job of making Deville and Green look like the best challengers for the new champions. The bout didn’t have anything memorable until Chance hit a hurricanrana to Green while she was on Carter’s shoulders.
Green picked up the win to earn herself and Deville a future shot at the women’s tag titles.
Winners: Sonya Deville and Chelsea Green
Grade: C
Notable Moments and Observations
The way Rousey sold the running knee from Baszler was great. She looked like she was out cold. A couple of these teams were competing for the first time as partners, but at least WWE is making an effort to build out the division. Cross is such a great character. It’s a shame WWE doesn’t use her more often. The hurricanrana spot from Chance and Green was great.
Alpha Academy vs. Viking Raiders
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Becky Lynch called out Trish Stratus and Zoey Stark.
The veteran came out with a protective facemask, and The Man started cracking up at how ridiculous she looked. This didn’t lead to anything but let us know this feud is continuing for now.
The next match was a six-person mixed tag team bout with Maxxine Dupri, Chad Gable and Otis taking on Erik, Ivar and Valhalla.
Professor Gable started things off against Erik, but it didn’t take long for Otis to tag in. He took out both Vikings on his own before the show cut to a commercial.
When Gable and Ivar were both down after the break, they finally tagged in the women. Dupri took Valhalla down a few times with an arm drag before hitting a suplex. She was able to get the win for her team with a sunset flip in the corner.
This feud has been better than it has any right being, and part of that is thanks to Dupri’s comic timing matching up well with Otis and Gable’s.
This match was never going to be a five-star classic, but it was fun for the live crowd and that’s the most important thing.
Winners: Alpha Academy
Grade: C+
Notable Moments and Observations
Stratus wore a similar mask many years ago, so this was a nice throwback gimmick for her. The way Samantha Irvin changes her voice for certain entrances is awesome. She did it for Green and for Dupri in this bout. The crowd went wild for Alpha Academy and Dupri. Her caterpillar needs some work, though.
Rhea Ripley vs. Natalya
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This match was supposed to take place two weeks ago, but Rhea Ripley attacked Natalya before the bell and it never ended up taking place. This week, we finally got their Night of Champions rematch.
Nattie ended up attacking Ripley on her way to the ring to get a measure of revenge against The Eradicator. The match got started because the champ said she could still compete.
They kept up the physicality and this quickly turned into a fight. Ripley turned things around and started dominating the veteran once she regained her bearings.
Both women pride themselves on their talent and power, so this was a solid match that showed off both of their numerous strengths. They might have outperformed their NoC encounter with this one.
Ripley tried to hit a frog splash but landed on a pair of boots. The Queen of Harts hit a running British Bulldog Powerslam before locking in the Sharpshooter. The Australian escaped and hit a powerbomb for the win.
Morgan and Rodriguez made the save when Ripley continued to attack Natalya after the bell.
Winner: Rhea Ripley
Grade: B+
Notable Moments and Observations
Natalya received some world record certificates from Guinness during Money in the Bank. They didn’t make a big enough deal out of that on WWE programming, though. Whenever Ripley is thrown into something, such as the steps or a table, she always throws her whole body into it. Ripley doing the crotch chop is going to create so many memes and GIFs online.
Matt Riddle vs. Giovanni Vinci
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Giovanni Vinci was out for revenge this week when he battled the man who put him on the shelf for a month, Matt Riddle.
Ludwig Kaiser distracted The Original Bro so Vinci could take control right after the bell. Riddle popped back up after a slam to hit some kicks, but Vinci put him back down with a springboard crossbody.
This ended up being a relatively short match that Riddle won with a roll-up, but the couple of minutes we got were good. It leaves the door open for a future rematch that will give them more time to work.
Drew McIntyre made the save when Imperium attacked Riddle after the bell. He looked right at Gunther before nailing Vinci with a Claymore.
Winner: Matt Riddle
Grade: C
Notable Moments and Observations
The birds that flew out of Riddle’s butt this week were eagles. Somehow, this didn’t seem as patriotic as WWE might have hoped it would be. Iyo Sky taunted Ripley with the briefcase backstage before this match took place. Vinci is low-key one of WWE’s best workers. Everything he does looks so smooth.
Dominik Mysterio vs. Seth Rollins
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The main event was the match that was set up during the opening segment between Rollins and Mysterio. Priest and Ripley were by the latter’s side as he faced the world champion.
They started off with some simple chain wrestling with takedowns and counters to get a feel for each other. The Visionary almost sent Dom flying over the top rope into Ripley before taking him out with a knee from the apron.
After a break, The Archer of Infamy shoved Rollins off the top rope while Ripley distracted the ref. This allowed Dom to hit a frog splash.
As Rollins prepared for a Stomp, Priest attacked him to cause a disqualification. He began decimating the world champion while Ripley held onto his briefcase.
The Visionary tried to make a comeback, but Dom hit him with the briefcase. He tried to tell Priest to cash in, but Finn Bálor showed up to attack Rollins and ended up knocking him into The Punishment. This caused an argument between the two members of The Judgment Day.
Rollins nailed Dom with a Pedigree on the floor before running away from the rest of the group.
The main event was a decent match, but it came nowhere near being the best thing on the card. Now that the seeds have been planted, Priest and Bálor will likely end up in a feud sooner than some may have expected.
Winner: Seth Rollins by DQ
Grade: B-
Notable Moments and Observations
The crowd continued to sing Rollins’ song well into the match. It immediately changed to an anti-Dom chant. The announcers almost went out of their way to ignore the previous history between Rollins and Mysterio.Dom has made some improvements, especially when it comes to his selling.
The Final Word
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This week’s show had to do things. It needed to break down what happened at Money in the Bank, and it also needed to begin the buildup for SummerSlam. It did both of those things pretty well, but it had some weak points.
The six-person mixed tag team match was fun, but the best thing we saw all night was the bout between Natalya and Ripley for the Women’s World Championship.
The BOAT looked as good in the ring as she has in a long time, but this is Ripley’s time and Nattie knew that, so she did a good job making the champion look strong.
Setting up another match between Rhodes and Lesnar was a good way to kick off the show.
As a whole, this wasn’t a bad episode by any means. It had some flaws, but there was more to like than dislike on Monday’s episode.
Grade: B
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