Monday Night Raw Review - July 15, 2024

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Dominik Mysterio and Women's World Champion Liv Morgan Interrupted Rhea Ripley

Advertising the returning Ripley for the opening segment was a smart call. It was a hell of a hook coming into the show and it was a great segment despite being brief. Ripley came across like a total star and Mysterio and Morgan replayed their respective roles really well. Ripley issued the challenge to a match with Morgan at SummerSlam, so I assume that's where we'll find out if Mysterio is actually loyal to Ripley or if he'll officially align with Morgan.

Sheamus def. Bronson Reed

First and foremost, it's terrible that Sheamus has become the latest Superstar to have his entrance theme butchered by def Rebel. Why bring back "Written in My Face" only to take it away three months later? Ugh. As for the match, I was looking forward to it knowing it had potential to be an awesome hard-hitting affair. It didn't quite live up to my expectations, but what we got was good. I liked that Pete Dunne turned on Sheamus afterward because hopefully it means he's in line for a renewed singles push.

Sonya Deville def. Zelina Vega

Surely something else before this went long and that's why this only lasted a minute. While I'm glad Deville won decisively in her in-ring return, it made Vega look like a loser for being beaten so quickly despite recently challenging for the Women's World Championship two weeks ago. I'm glad she's gotten plenty of television time lately and I hope this isn't a sign that'll be changing.

World Heavyweight Champion Damian Priest and Gunther Went Face-to-Face; Priest def. Braun Strowman (Non-Title)

The verbal exchange between Priest and Gunther actually exceeded my expectations. They both delivered their best promos in recent memory and successfully got me more excited for their match at SummerSlam than I was previously. The subsequent match between Priest and Strowman felt unnecessary in that it came out of nowhere and could've been saved for another time, but it was decent while it lasted.

Zoey Stark and Shayna Baszler def. Katana Chance and Kayden Carter

This wasn't much better than Deville vs. Vega from earlier. It went a little longer, but not by much, and it was actually worse in a way because at least Vega is somewhat over whereas none of these four women are over. The match was fine yet pretty pedestrian stuff. I don't mind their alliance with Deville, but I don't understand how any of this is supposed to make the masses care about the women's tag team division.

Seth "Freakin" Rollins Attacked Drew McIntyre

Adam Pearce told McIntyre he would give him a match with CM Punk at SummerSlam if he held himself accountable for his actions at Money in the Bank, but because he didn't apologize to the two officials, Pearce didn't book the bout. I'm confident we're going to get it regardless, but it is strange they're waiting to confirm it. This was a solid segment to move the story along and keep Rollins involved. All signs point to him factoring into the match in some form or fashion.

Jey Uso def. "Dirty" Dominik Mysterio

Uso has flirted with Ripley at ringside before, so I found it funny that he asked The Judgment Day about whether she was single earlier in the episode. No, that shouldn't go anywhere, but I appreciate the attention to detail. This was a nice match, but it was more about what was going on with Ripley and Morgan at ringside than the action itself. Uso racks up another win but still doesn't have clear direction.

The Wyatt Sicks Saved Bo Dallas From Chad Gable and The Creed Brothers

We finally got Gable linking up with the Creeds, but it received zero reaction from the crowd because it wasn't the focus of the segment. Rather, the focus was on The Wyatt Sicks making the save for Dallas and the crowd was certainly into that. It marked the first time that the group has appeared in the ring together and it was a cool visual. Do we get Gable vs. Dallas at SummerSlam or a six-man tag team match?

Intercontinental Champion Sami Zayn vs. Ilja Dragunov Ended in a No Contest

I knew this would be hindered by at least one commercial break (if not multiple) and by a likely non-finish, but I was still excited for it when it was announced, nonetheless. Sure enough, they had an entertaining main event in the time they were allotted. The finish played out predictably with Bron Breakker laying out both men at ringside, which is why I thought it was strange this closed the show. Do we get Breakker vs. Zayn again at SummerSlam or does Dragunov get added to make it a Triple Threat?

Overall Show

Raw has managed to maintain momentum for the last month or so with this being the latest enjoyable episode. A lot of stuff is keeping my interest, and although there are some storylines that feel like fillers on these shows, Raw has largely been a strong show as of late. There wasn't a whole lot of worthwhile wrestling, but the storyline progression and build for SummerSlam were well done.

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