Monday Night Raw Review - July 18, 2022

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Titus O'Neil Addressed the Audience; Raw Women's Champion Bianca Belair def. Carmella

O'Neil's promo was long enough that I thought it was worth acknowledging here, and although it was heartfelt stuff, the timing was terrible in light of everything that's come out about Vince McMahon over the last month. It just screamed tone-deaf to me. Belair vs. Lynch was once again solid, but I'd be content if I never saw them have another one-on-one match again. The stipulation stated that if Belair lost by count-out, she would have lost the title, so that added some suspense down the stretch even though the outcome wasn't in doubt.

Seth "Freakin" Rollins Attacked Riddle on The KO Show with Kevin Owens

It was nice to see Owens return after being gone from TV for a month. He alluded to the rivalry he was having with Ezekiel prior to his absence, but it doesn't appear that's going to have an actual payoff, which is disappointing. Riddle and Owens were entertaining together and I wouldn't mind them having a full-fledged feud eventually. Rollins attacking Riddle put more heat on him ahead of their newly-announced SummerSlam match.

Damian Priest def. Rey Mysterio

Yet again, Judgment Day attempted to recruit Dominik Mysterio, and although he technically accepted afterward so they would stop beating down his father, they attacked him, anyway. Priest vs. Mysterio was an enjoyable affair, but I don't blame people for not caring about any of this. What's sad is that a win over Rey means virtually nothing with the way he's been booked this year and next week's 20-year anniversary of his WWE debut should mean more than it does.

Seth "Freakin" Rollins def. Ezekiel

Yes, we saw this exact same match two weeks ago. Rollins won decisively that night, so if you're wondering why they'd run it back so soon, it's because this company is obsessed with killing television time and this accomplished that. They had another well-worked match, but it's official: WWE has clearly run out of ideas for Ezekiel, and that's coming from someone who's largely dug what they've done with him so far. This was one giant waste of time since Rollins already appeared earlier in the episode.

Angelo Dawkins def. Omos by Disqualification; The Street Profits def. MVP and Omos by Disqualification

Omos pinned Dawkins in last week's six-man tag team match on Raw, so Dawkins had a chance to avenge that loss, but MVP interfered and caused the contest to be cut short. Street Profits vs. MVP and Omos was fine, but it was obviously filler with The Usos interfering and causing that match to be thrown out, too. The build to The Usos vs. Street Profits heading into Money in the Bank was surprisingly better than this.

AJ Styles def. Theory by Count-Out

Similar to Ezekiel, I get the feeling WWE has no idea what to do with Styles right now. It looked like he might be involved in the stuff with The Miz and Logan Paul at SummerSlam, but evidently not. He's just being used to elevate others at this point and he still has so much more to offer than that. This was a quality contest, but the count-out finish was really lazy. The talking segment that preceded it was designed to kill television time much like everything else on this episode.

Asuka, Alexa Bliss and 24/7 Champion Dana Brooke def. Nikki A.S.H., Doudrop and Tamina

I'm glad Brooke is doing a lot better after being involved in a car accident last month, but I certainly did not miss the 24/7 Championship. This was a random six-woman tag team match that didn't last long and a majority of it consisted of the 24/7 title changing hands with everyone winning it at least once (except for Asuka, and Akira Tozawa won it at one point as well). It was another waste of time that honestly made Bliss and Asuka look like total losers for having been a part of it.

The Miz Accepted Logan Paul's SummerSlam Challenge

This is the sort of stuff that gets saved for last when your world champion isn't active every week and there aren't many other compelling rivalries on the show at the moment. It was hard to tell what kind of reaction Paul got from the audience (unless some of the cheers were piped in?), but I maintain it makes way more sense for him to be a heel. Rooting for someone as unlikable as him is going to be difficult, no matter how skilled he is in the ring. Miz's rant to close the show was the best part of this entire segment.

Overall Show

It's no secret how bad SmackDown has gotten since last October's Draft, but personally, I've been much higher on Raw for the most part in 2022 because there was stuff that grabbed my attention, the storylines were a bit better and the three hours would fly by. Unfortunately, none of those things can be said about this episode. Plain and simple, it sucked. The two disqualifications and one count-out were ridiculous and there was way more filler than usual. Am I any more excited for SummerSlam after watching this show? No really, but here's hoping they can have a strong show next Monday in Madison Square Garden right before the pay-per-view.

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