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Hey there everyone Winfree here, Tony Acero is taking a vacation so I’m tagging in. I, who get no vacation and have no life, will be covering RAW tonight and next week. Hopefully I don’t kill the traffic too much. Tonight we’ve got a few things going on, Cody Rhodes will respond to Brock Lesnar (and his fayse), Becky Lynch will set up her presumptive match with Trish Stratus at Sweet Sweet Saudi Blood Money. Shinsuke Nakamura takes on The Miz, Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez defend the women’s tag team titles against Chelsea Green and Sonya Deville, and most importantly Gunther arrives. The Intercontinental champion is looking for his first title challenger on the RAW brand, so to that effect there will be a Battle Royal to crown his first victim. Plus I’m sure Seth Rollins will talk, with the same template he’s used for the last 3 or so years, because we know he’ll be meeting AJ Styles at the Saudi show for the World Heavyweight Championship, but I’m also like 65% sure Roman Reigns crashes the party of whoever wins that and takes the big gold belt just because he can. Speaking of our Tribal Chief, we got word on Smackdown that Roman will team with Solo Sikoa to take on Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens in Saudi, so if there’s going to be something to get the belts off of Owens and Sami before then they need to start that now though with Syria and Saudi Arabia resuming diplomatic relations a little bit ago Sami’s travel issues might not be the hurdle they used to. At any rate the champs will probably have something to say about their next title defense. But that’s the preamble, let’s get to the action.

Up first, Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn. As they head to the ring we get a recap of Roman running down Jimmy and Jey on Smackdown, Jimmy still not getting how much peril they’re in while Jey apologized on their behalf. Jey still being willing to fall on the grenade for Jimmy is a perpetual wrinkle for the Bloodline. Back to Sami and Owens, Sami is excited because they found out on Friday about their title defense at Saudi Blood Money. On paper that’s a big threat to their titles, but they see it as a gift because they’ll finally get a shot at revenge against Roman Reigns. Owens should have beat Roman for the Universal title, and Sami knows he had Roman beaten at Elimination Chamber, but Roman continues to cheat his way through years of his title reign, but at Night of Champions they’re going to check Roman. Roman doesn’t know when to stop, he’s crumbling the Bloodline and now he’s pushing too hard and too far, he’s pushing the Usos away, and now Roman wants more belts. It’s not enough to have WWE title, or the Universal title, or a 1,000 day reign, now he wants the tag team gold, and Sami tells Roman that he can’t have them. Judgement Day is here, for some reason, to interrupt. Owens cuts off their music and is happy the Judgement Day is here because he’s sick of the Bloodline, and he knows they want a fight and Owens wants to fight. Sami slows his roll and says he started out at a 10 and while Owens is up there too, Sami knows they don’t have an issue with Judgement Day, maybe they’re not here to fight? Well gentlemen, and Dom, feel free to talk. Priest says Owens is right, he’d love to fight, but now Balor plays peace keeper and say they want to talk. They’re just here to wish them good luck, but last week they claimed to be done with the Bloodline, but now they’re back to getting beaten up by Roman. But, if by some miracle Sami and Owens retain Judgement Day are first up to challenge them. Ripley claims they run RAW. Sami says they made some good points, but Sami wants to hear from Dom, setting him up for a chorus of boos. Dom can’t get a word in and Owens says no one can hear Dom so this is pointless, he just wants to punch him in the face. Sami says why not and Ripley, with the power of TV standards and practices, stands up to Owens. Priest with a cheap shot to Sami, and we get a brief beat down but Sami gets a chair and chases off the Judgement Day. Well that happened.

Shinsuke Nakamura heads to the ring, he’ll be in our first match right after this break.

We get a hype job for the AJ vs. Rollins match, still hoping Roman walks out with that belt just for the hilarity of it all. Also tonight we’ll get Owens and Sami vs. Finn Balor and Damian Priest. Tag team match playa.

Anyway here comes Miz.

Match #1: Shinsuke Nakamura vs. The Miz

Miz tries to beg off and asks for a handshake, Nakamura kicks his hand away and implores him to “come on”. Knees and kicks from Nakamura drop Miz early then a knee drop. Nakamura with more knees to the body then some Good Vibrations in the corner. Miz blocks a corner charge and misses a couple of kicks but Nakamura sells them anyway. Nakamura tosses Miz out of the ring, then hits a baseball slide and a knee lift as Miz is on the apron. Knee drop to the back of Miz’s head now from Nakamura then he tosses Miz back into the ring. Miz fights back with a neckbreaker through the ropes then a running kick on the floor. That sends us to break.

Nakamura lands a flurry of strikes as we come back, then unloads with more kicks as Miz stands. Enziguri from Nakamura, then the knee lift on the top rope for a 2 count. Miz tries to fight back with a cross chop then an O’Connor Roll but Nakamura counters into an armbar. Miz stacks up Nakamura in a pin to break the hold then hits a kneeling DDT for a 2 count. Now Miz lands some kicks but misses a Buzzsaw kick, then Nakamura lands a spinning kick. Nakamura tries the reverse exploder, but Miz lands on his feet then misses a Skull Crushing Finale. Nakmaura avoids a corner attack and drills Miz with a sliding German suplex. Time for the Kinshasa, but Miz runs away and grabs the ring skirt. That allows for an eye poke from Miz and a Skull Crushing Finale, but Nakamura gets a foot on the rope to break the pin. Small Package from Nakamura for 2, then he lands the Kinshasa for the pin and the win.

OFFICIAL RESULT: Shinsuke Nakamura won

Rating: 3 stars
Thoughts: Good match, especially since they’re looking to rehab Nakamura a bit now that he’s on RAW.

Our next video recap is Raquel Rodriguez and Liv Morgan defending their titles against Dakota Kai and Bayley on Smackdown.

In the back Chelsea Green and Sonya Deville whine about not getting their title shot because Liv Morgan is injured. Sonya brings up that the titles should be vacated and handed to them. Raquel is sick of their crying, but she’s willing to take on Chelsea Green in a singles match tonight. That’s official.

Elsewhere in the back, Gunther walks with the rest of Imperium. Tozawa briefly walks into frame, sees Gunther, and does an about face. That sends us to break.

Post break we get a hype job for Seth Rollins, mostly highlights of an interview between Rollins and Graves. Rollins brings up winning the first NXT title, he had the vision to take the reigns and change the industry. The Shield comes up next, they wanted success and change and wouldn’t take no for an answer. Naturally Rollins breaking up The Shield is next, they’d beaten everyone and if you want to reach ultimate success you have to take risks and if hadn’t done what he did entire future might be different. Apparently we’ll get more of this later. Yeah, they’re not struggling with filling 3 hours at all.

Here comes Gunther along with the rest of Imperium. It was smart to keep Samantha Irvin with Imperium, she adds tremendous flavor to their introductions. Gunther walks over and stands on the announce desk, because he can. Ludwig Kaiser has a mic and demands we show gratitude for Gunther. I’m grateful for him, I think he’s the best wrestler in the world if we’re just talking bell to bell ability. Kaiser hands Gunther the mic, Gunther thinks he might have to introduce himself. He’s the undefeated and undisputed Intercontinental champion, the longest reigning of the modern era. He’s here to continue his mission on RAW, and since there’s no clear next challenger for him, and no one back in the locker room who he respects, tonight there will be a Battle Royal to determine his next challenger. The winner will get their shot at Night of Champions. Ricochet comes out next as our Battle Royal participants start to come out. Bronson Reed follows, and sends us to break.

Post break, Apollo Crews gets an entrance. Good for him. Matt Riddle follows, and gets into a minor altercation with Imperium.

Match #2: Battle Royal

Usual Battle Royal start as everyone starts throwing hands. Corbin eliminates Tozawa, then Lumis clotheslines Corbin out of the match. Mace dumps Lumis, then both Mace and Mansoor square up with Otis and Chad Gable. Mace is tossed, but he catches Mansoor only to drop him as Lumis is staring daggers at the models. JD McDonough takes out Humberto but Dolph Ziggler super kicks him out. Von Wagner grabs Ziggler and just launches him out of the ring. JD attacks Ziggler post match to set up their program. That sends us to break.

We come back to the Viking Raiders more or less in control. Erik and Ivar eject Cedric Alexander then beat down Zion Quinn and toss him as well. Shelton Benjamin goes after Erik and Ivar, he does OK for a bit before getting beaten down and tossed out. Gable and Otis square off with Erik and Ivar and we’ve got a brawl. Erik avoids elimination, tries to suplex Gable out of the ring but they wind up on the apron together. Knee from Erik drops Gable but Otis eliminates Erik. Ivar then eliminates Gable leading to Otis and Ivar trading strikes, only for Bronson Reed to toss both of them. Everyone left jumps on Reed. Gargano and Ali wind up squaring off, Ali hits the rolling neckbreaker but Gargano wont go out of the ring. Gargano with the slingshot spear but Ricochet crushes him with a running Shooting Star Press. Riddick Moss catches Ricochet with a fall away slam, then Reed crushes Moss. Elias knees Apollo but can’t eliminate him. Apollo gets rid of Elias, then Reed eliminates Apollo. Reed runs wild, slamming Gargano onto Ricochet. Riddle with strikes to Reed but Reed swats him away only to eat a Floating Bro. Moss runs over Riddle but gets tossed out of the ring by Riddle. Gargano kicks Riddle, but Riddle takes Gargano out of the ring with a hurricanrana. Riddle is on the apron where Kaiser and Vinci attack him to set up Reed eliminating him. Ricochet goes after Reed, he lands a knee strike, then a dropkick but even with the help of Ali they can’t get rid of Reed yet. Reed hangs on, Ricochet keeps kicking him until Reed grabs Ricochet on his shoulders, only for Ali to dropkick both of them out and to the floor and win.

OFFICIAL RESULT: Mustafa Ali won

Rating: 2.5 stars
Thoughts: So Mustafa Ali gets to be run over by Gunther, that’s fine. I expect the match to be good, but there’s almost no chance Ali gets the win even with the Saudi influence.

Next, a video recap of Cody Rhodes beating Brock Lesnar at Backlash then Lesnar attacking him to set up the rematch. That sends us to break, we’ll hear from Becky Lynch when we come back.

Post break here comes Becky Lynch. While she’s getting a mic we get a recap of Becky showing up last week to attack Trish Stratus. Becky plays with the crowd, then says she’s been going through some stuff recently. We all put on the best face possible to keep going forward, and when it all becomes too much you have to ask for help and Becky asked for help from Lita and Trish. Lita was great, they won titles together, then Trish showed up and still hadn’t missed a beat. Well Trish wasn’t here to help Becky, she was here to help herself. Despite that Becky did want to come out here and thank Trish, but not for all the reasons Trish listed but because when Trish hit her in the back of the head it turned on a light in Becky that had been off for a while. And when Trish called Becky’s daughter stupid it reminded Becky about standing up for the people that matter, and now Trish is the target of all the negativity in Becky’s mind. Trish used to be the top of the business, well now that’s Becky and she doesn’t even need a title to prove it. She’s willing to show Trish just how thankful she is when she kicks her head in at Night of Champions. Solid enough promo.

In the back Rhea Ripley watches TV at an odd angle before being asked about Natalya coming to RAW. Ripley warns Natalya to stay in her lane, then here comes Natalya to interrupt. Natalya expected better from Ripley than a post match attack on a beaten woman. Ripley calls BS, Natalya just wanted her own shot at the belt to try and make people care about her. Ripley warns that if Natalya ever interrupts her again she wont boost her career, she’ll end it. Ripley walks off with Dom, who showed up at some point.

Back to the ring, here comes Xavier Woods for some wrestling. He’ll take on Dominik Mysterio after this break.

In the back Mustafa Ali talks about being positive to Alpha Academy and Maxxine Dupri. He then walks into Imperium. Gunther congratulates Ali on his win, then feels regret for Ali. Ali will travel halfway around the world to take the biggest loss of his career, and the beating that goes along with it. They shake hands, then Ali says Gunther will have to travel just to lose his title. Ali just made Gunther smile, and he’s happy that Gunther is positive, then walks off.

Back to the ring, there’s a Fast X promo before Dominik Mysterio walks to the ring. Dom has a mic and tries to talk on his way down, he brings up Xavier Woods trying to convince himself that he’ll beat Dom. Woods gets a mic and tells Dom that he knows he doesn’t have anyone to watch his back right now, but Woods can stand on his own two feet while Dom can’t fight his own battles. Dom resumes walking to the ring with Ripley.

Match #3: Xavier Woods vs. Dominik Mysterio w/ Rhea Ripley

They tie up, Woods grabs an arm wringer and they start trading counters with Woods getting the better of it. Woods starts firing up with strikes while commentary becomes a tad insufferable. Low dropkick from Woods. Dom with some stomps in the corner, then Woods fires back with a dropkick. Woods hits a suplex, and Dom rolls out of the ring and hides behind Ripley and the power of TV executives not waning male on female violence. The distraction sends us to break.

Dom lands an elbow as we come back. They head to the top rope, Woods headbutts Dom down then hits a dropkick. Woods with some strikes then hits the ropes and lands an elbow, sort of as Dom was out of position. Corner attacks from Woods, then Dom runs into a boot and Woods hits a rolling clothesline. Dom sends Woods out of the ring, then lands a knee and drags Woods into the ring for an attempted 3 Amigos, he actually hits them then climbs the ropes. Woods blocks a Frog Splash and tries a cover for 2, then a military press into a gutbuster for 2. Woods goes for the rope walk elbow drop, but Dom is pulled away by Ripley, so Woods dives onto Dom on the floor. Dom hits a baseball slide, then Ripley whacks Woods setting up Dom to grab an Alligator Clutch for the win.

OFFICIAL RESULT: Dominik Mysterio won

Rating: 2 stars
Thoughts: Slow, a pointless retread, and the finish felt like there were serious timing issues.

Video promo for JD McDonagh, not bad.

In the back JD walks and gets asked about attacking Dolph Ziggler. JD wanted to make a statement, and Ziggler was the perfect choice for that, and everyone should know better than to bet against an ace.

Elsewhere in the back Indus Sher walk, they’ll have a squash match after this break.

Post break, here are Indus Sher.

Match #4: Indus Sher (Veer and Sanga) w/ Jinder Mahal vs. Levar Barbie and Drake something

Veer with a cheap shot then a jumping clothesline to Levar. Sanga tags in, and hits a boot. Almost no reaction. Sanga demands the other guy tag in, he does but gets tossed around. Veer back in and squashes Drake in the corner then tags in Sanga. The Demolition Decapitation follows and that’ll do it.

OFFICIAL RESULT: Indus Sher won

Rating: Hubbard squash
Thoughts: Boring squash that went on too long, and the crowd just did not care about any of this.

Post match Jinder speaks some Hindi, then gets on commentary to say they run RAW and their future will be written in gold. More Hindi from Jinder on a mic, and again just 0 crowd reaction.

In the back Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens talk, but here is Imperium. Gunther wants to make clear that he wont tolerate the disrespect they showed his men last week. Owens wants to fight them next week in a six man match. Imperium is amenable.

Cody Rhodes gets off of a bus in the back, he’ll talk after this break.

Post break, here comes Cody Rhodes. Cody gets a mic, and wants to know what we want to talk about. The reaction from North Carolina for a Rhodes is about what you’d expect, pretty darn big. Cody knows this arena, the very first home of Starcade, a wonderful memory and mutual respect, respect not shared by Brock Lesnar who is not here tonight. But the crowd is fun, and wants to tell us all Aesop’s fable about the scorpion and the frog. He recounts said fable then says it’s Lesnar’s nature to hunt. But if Lesnar is hunting, well, he asks how Lesnar’s face is doing. Lesnar sees an alpha when he looks in the mirror, but he should also see the black eye and staples, while Cody sees the man who did that to Lesnar when he looks in the mirror. Cody isn’t going to bring up the backstage stuff with Lesnar, Lesnar has been on top forever because he’s better than 99.9% of the people who step into this ring. But at Backlash Lesnar was not better than Cody. How cheap was it of Cody to use a wrestling move in a wrestling ring to get a win? This isn’t about how quick Cody won, this is about who’s the big thing on RAW. That prompts a pretty decent “Cody” chant. The used to call Lesnar The Next Big Thing, and they were right. But eventually people just say “next”. Lesnar has conquered WWE, but now Cody needs Lesnar to step aside because he’s no long the big thing, he’s just in Cody’s way. Pretty good promo from Cody, felt like a few parts got a little tied up but the emotion was solid and the crowd was with him.

In the back Zoey Stark talks around Nikki Cross, then Candice LeRae shows up to talk with Stark. They set up a match for next week. Well that happened.

Back to the ring and here comes Raquel Rodriguez, she’ll take on Chelsea Green after this break.

Post break Chelsea Green gets an entrance. Good for her.

Match #5: Raquel Rodriguez vs. Chelsea Green w/ Sonya Deville

Raquel opens with a big boot and trash talks Sonya. Some corner work from Raquel, then Sonya gets on the apron to distract Raquel and allow Green to hit a Backstabber, then stomps Raquel into the corner. Green with corner work then a chop block. Low angle Flatliner from Green gets a 1 count. Rest hold from Green, Raquel powers her up and hits a Snake Eyes. Green hits a drop toe hold then a low dropkick. Green wants an Unprettier, Raquel counters into a reverse Alabama Slam that sends Green into the ropes. Raquel fires up with clotheslines, then hits a fall away slam and another one. A third fall away slam from Raquel, then the twisting Vader Bomb. Raquel hits a Tejana Bomb and we’re done.

OFFICIAL RESULT: Raquel Rodriguez won

Rating: 2.5 stars
Thoughts: This was a little too close to a squash to be either an effective match or an effective squash.

On the entrance stage Ronda Rousey and Shayna Baszler jump Raquel. Ronda has a mic, and demands Raquel defend her titles and she and Baszler are going to beat her down every week until Raquel and Morgan defend the belts. Baszler then hits a knee to lay out Raquel. Well it’s nice to see Ronda and Baszler both healed up after what happened at Mania.

Another commercial for Fast X sends us to break.

In the back Imperium is here, Gunther shakes hands with Paul Heyman, then Heyman calls Roman Reigns.

After that, who isn’t just chomping at the bit for part 2 of that Seth Rollins interview? I mean, I’d rather not but they’re showing it anyway. Graves asks about all the iterations of Rollins and the current one, he says his hands are off the wheel as he’s just in a synergistic experience with the fans. For the first time he’s not forcing the change, the WWE universe is forcing the change in him. He thinks things need to change again, no one at the top wants to take risks anymore, they’re about protecting themselves than pushing the industry forward. Oh that’s rich coming from Rollins. Asked about Roman, well we’ll have to wait for next week for that answer. I’m not sure I can live with the excitement.

Commentary runs down next week, Lesnar and Cody will be under the same roof, Trish Stratus and Becky Lynch will have a contract signing, and we’ll get the trios match between Imperium and Owens and Sami with whatever third man Sami and Owens can find.

To the ring, here comes Judgement Day. After this commercial break for Fast X we’ll get the entrances for Owens and Sami.

Post break we get a video for Apollo Crews, he wants respect after earning his way back onto the main roster. He’s done everything while being a man his children can be proud of, your bad Nigerian accent disagrees sir but I appreciate the sentiment.

Back to the ring, here come the champs.

Match #6 – Tag Team Match: Judgement Day (Finn Balor and Damian Priest) vs. Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn

Sami and Balor start us off. They tie up, Balor hits a mat return and then stands off. Balor goes for an arm wringer, Sami counters into one, then he blocks Balor’s counter and grabs a hammerlock. Balor lands a back elbow to get out of the hammerlock. Into the ropes, Sami hits some arm drags but Balor tags in Priest who unloads on Sami with strikes. Sami rams Priest into the corner and hits an elbow. Owens tags in now and lays into Priest with strikes. They trade kicks then Owens low bridges Priest, ejects Balor, and Balor calls for assistance from the back. Ripley and Dom show up as we head to break.

We come back to Sami getting worked over as Balor tags in. Balor with some shoulder strikes in the corner then a chop. Sami comes out of a corner with a clothesline that floors Balor. Both men tag out and it’s Owens who gets to run wild for a bit. Priest rolls out of the ring but Owens follows him and clotheslines him down then hits a senton. Ripley tries to hit Owens, who avoids her and runs over Balor and Dom because he’s not allowed to hit Ripley. Back in the ring Owens with a superkick to Priest then a cannonball senton in the corner for a 2 count. Dom trips up Owens, allowing Priest to hit him from behind. The ref saw that though and ejects Dom and Ripley. Sort of super kick from Owens then a kick to the head of Priest. Woods jumps Dom on the entrance stage and chases him into the back. Now Paul Heyman saunters onto the entrance stage, as if this isn’t overbooked enough. That sends us to break.

Owens and Priest are trading strikes as we come back, Heyman is still on the entrance stage. Priest whacks Sami leading to Balor tossing him into the ring steps. Balor tags in, then tags Priest back in. Priest with a kick to the head then a leg drop for a 2 count. Priest puts Owens on the top rope, not a good idea because it just allows Owens to headbutt him down then drop him with an elbow. Owens with a Swanton Bomb but he’s too beaten down to cover. Sami crawls back to the apron and wants the hot tag, he gets it and Balor tags in as well but Sami is the proverbial house on fire. Michinoku Driver from Sami gets a 2 count. Sami heads up top but takes too long and he has to bail but Balor hits him with a Sling Blade, then runs into a Blue Thunder Bomb from Sami that gets another near fall. Imperium show up ringside, because overbooked. Balor hits Sami with the Bloody Sunday but Owens breaks up the pin. Priest eats a Stunner from Owens, Balor tosses Owens but Sami hits Balor with the corner exploder then the Helluva Kick but Imperium distract the ref. Owens attacks Imperium but that allows Priest to chokeslam Owens on the apron. Sami dives onto Priest, Priest mostly fails to catch him. Back in the ring Gunther trips up Sami to allow Balor to hit a John WOOOO, then the Coup de Grace and Balor gets the pin.

OFFICIAL RESULT: Judgement Day won

Rating: 2.5 stars
Thoughts: Overbooked to hell, which hurt the match a lot. There were plenty of times when the attention was on everything except the actual match. The work itself was fine but the Judgement Day is really stale as we’ve seen this same paint by numbers stuff from them consistently.

Post match all the relevant factions engage in a staring contest while commentary reminds us again about the show next week.