Monday Night Raw Review - July 2, 2018

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Intercontinental Champion Dolph Ziggler and Drew McIntyre Interrupted Roman Reigns

This was a fairly standard show-opening segment with Reigns discussing the events that transpired at the end of last week's episode before being interrupted by Ziggler and McIntyre, setting up the night's tag team match in the process. The mic work was solid, but otherwise, there was nothing worth noting about this at all. Rather, it was simply business as usual.

Curtis Axel def. "Woken" MAtt Hardy

I realize Bray Wyatt was hurt (here's wishing him a speedy recovery), but I didn't understand why Hardy had to face Axel for the second straight week when it easily could have been Hardy vs. Bo Dallas. Both matches would have been mediocre at best, but at least it would have been something slightly different. Nevertheless, this was a perfectly fine match that went way too long. If nothing else, it gave The B-Team an additional momentum boost ahead of Extreme Rules.

The Authors of Pain def. Titus Worldwide

Yes, Authors of Pain resurfaced on Raw last week, but there was no stopping WWE this week from taking them off television again. That said, I was happy they followed up on the match that was teased and allowed Authors of Pain to squash Titus Worldwide. It wasn't much of a competitive contest (it shouldn't have been anyway), but it did bother me that Apollo Crews was pinned and not Titus O'Neil (there is no point in protecting him at this point).

Intercontinental Champion Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns def. Intercontinental Champion Dolph Ziggler and Drew McIntyre by Disqualification

Reigns is always at his best whenever he's teaming up with one of his former Shield stablemates and that was certainly the case here. This was a very fun tag team match with a great sprint. Both tandems work well together and I'd be open to more matches between them in the future, especially considering this contest concluded with a non-finish. Speaking of which, I liked The Revival interfering because it was a nice segue into the other tag matchup Reigns was involved in later on.

Finn Balor Confronted Baron Corbin

I like Corbin and I like Balor, but both of them feel absolutely wasted in this program. It's almost as if Creative has nothing for either guy to do, so they stuck them in a program together, which should come as no surprise. It didn't help that the mic work in this segment was barely average and did nothing to get me excited for a future face-off. Worse yet, this feud feels like a poor rehash of Daniel Bryan vs. Big Cass from SmackDown Live, and even that wasn't too good.

Ember Moon def. Liv Morgan

Apparently, Ruby Riott was recently injured at a live event and could be out of action for the foreseeable future, which is super unfortunate. That explained why it was just Morgan and Sarah Logan here, who are doomed to flounder without out. However, I'm glad Moon is consistently getting television time as well as chances to shine. She's making the most of her opportunities by having strong showings every time.

Roman Reigns and Bobby Lashley def. The Revival by Disqualfiication

I'm sorry, but Reigns wrestling twice in one night was hardly a hook for me. It didn't help that this was the weakest of the three encounters the two teams have had in recent weeks and that the finish was horribly executed with The Revival getting disqualified for a dumb reason (they double-teamed Reigns in the ring for a few seconds, so what?). I guess the intent was to make Lashey look like a bad guy for walking out on Reigns afterward, but I'm not really sure and I don't really sure.

Mojo Rawley Attacked No Way Jose

As I've said countless times before, Rawley on his own doesn't interest me in the slightest and I hate that WWE is determined to push him as a singles act when they have Chad Gable at their disposal. This was another waste of a segment where Rawley refused to wrestle Jose and attacked him as well one of his conga line dancers instead. On a side note, Rawley's entrance music still sucks.

Nia Jax def. Mickie James

In all honesty, I was shocked this lasted as long as it did, as I assumed it would be over within a matter of minutes. I'm glad that it wasn't because it allowed James to score some offense, but Jax winning was logical since she'll be vying for the Raw Women's Championship at Extreme Rules. Additionally, I just really wanting the long-running rivalry between Jax and Alexa Bliss to be over. I realize it's a filler match while Ronda Rousey is out "suspended," but it's time to move on.

Braun Strowman def. Kevin Owens by Count-out

Does anyone know what Owens did to piss Strowman off? Because I have zero clue. It's been rumored for a while that they have a match against each other slated for Extreme Rules, so it was wise to not give away any of that here, but the angle with Stowman locking Owens in a portable toilet was stupid. The live crowd ate it up, sure, but it wasn't nearly as cool as some of the other stuff Strowman has pulled off in the past.

Overall Show

Unfortunately, it seems Raw is back to being in a boring holding pattern even though a pay-per-view is quickly approaching. Nothing must-see has happened on the show in some time (and no, I would not consider what we witnessed at the end of this episode to be must-see) and thus I can't imagine many fans have much of an incentive to tune in live. Many matches are already confirmed for Extreme Rules, which I appreciate, but the actual quality of Raw at the moment is pretty poor. This is another episode that can easily be skipped.