Monday Night Raw Review - July 31, 2023

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Logan Paul Attacked Ricochet

​We've reached that stage in the build to this bout where there isn't anything left for them to say, so although they were basically repeating themselves here (including the footage of their interaction from the Royal Rumble), it still served as a good final push for their SummerSlam match. Ricochet has stood tall more often than not, so Paul getting the better of him made sense, but hopefully this doesn't mean Ricochet is winning. Paul needs the victory much more than he does.

Ludwig Kaiser def. Matt Riddle

Riddle has been feuding with Imperium for months and I thought we had seen the last of him against them after he lost to Gunther for a second time two weeks ago, but unfortunately not. On one hand, Kaiser and Giovanni Vinci lose a lot and I'm happy Kaiser scored a rare singles win here, but on the other, the loss isn't an encouraging sign for Riddle, who has racked up many wins since returning after WrestleMania. That said, this was a really good match and I'm glad it got an ample amount of time.

Maxxine Dupri def. Valhalla

These crowds sure have gotten behind the Alpha Academy stuff and it's cool to see, but personally, I'm tired of seeing them work with The Viking Raiders. Dupri has been the focal point of the program, so we should've known this singles match was hoping at some point. I didn't have high hopes for it, but it ended up being perfectly fine. With Dupri winning, let's move on, please (and also start to get some of the other women on the show in their place).

The Judgment Day Attacked World Heavyweight Champion Seth "Freakin" Rollins and Undisputed WWE Tag Team Champion Sami Zayn Before Women's World Champion Rhea Ripley Attacked Raquel Rodriguez

It was business as usual with Judgment Day addressing their opponents later in the night and thus was nothing out of the ordinary, but Rodriguez returning and going after Ripley was notable. She had the upper hand until she was outnumbered and ultimately attacked again by Ripley. I thought we'd get the announcement that Ripley would defend the Women's World Championship against her at SummerSlam, but Pearce said the match would happen when Rodriguez was "cleared." I'm sure she's fine and WWE just wants to hold off on it so the SummerSlam card doesn't have more than eight matches, but it's a bummer that Ripley won't be defending for the second straight pay-per-view. They couldn't have put this or Becky Lynch vs. Trish Stratus on the card and relegated LA Knight to a talking segment instead? I'm not complaining, but it's an interesting choice.

Shinsuke Nakamura def. Tommaso Ciampa

Bronson Reed cost Ciampa his match against The Miz three weeks ago, which led to Ciampa costing Nakamura his match against Reed by disqualification the following week, and then Nakamura's distraction cost Ciampa his match against Reed last week. Got all that? Nakamura seems to be going heel since he won by holding the tights here. He's so popular that I don't think that'd be the best idea, but it's not like it would make much of a difference given his spot on the card. This was well wrestled, but the crowd didn't seem to care.

Brock Lesnar Attacked Cody Rhodes

We finally got to hear Lesnar speak for more than a sentence, but it was essentially more of the same from him. Why happened to dynamic babyface Brock? He's been lame since he went back to being a heel. This entire feud with Rhodes has been wash, rinse and repeat. I loved the video package they put together hyping their SummerSlam match, but even after four months, we still have no idea why Lesnar attacked Rhodes in the first place. This segment was solid, but announcing a stipulation also would've helped generate more excitement.

Intercontinental Champion Gunther def. Chad Gable (Non-Title)

This started out as a five-minute challenge and I would've been disappointed if that was it because it never got out of first gear. Gable hung with Gunther for the full five minutes, but to avoid being embarrassed, Gunther agreed to turn it into an actual match and won clean. That was when they kicked it up a notch and had the great matchup we know they're capable of. I'd love for these two to run it back at some point because they had strong chemistry as expected.

Becky Lynch def. Trish Stratus by Disqualification

When Lynch beat Zoey Stark last week, she earned her opportunity face Stratus in a rematch. They didn't say when, but we all assumed it would be SummerSlam and I figured they'd make it official here. Instead, Adam Pearce came out during their verbal exchange and said it'd be an impromptu match, only for Stark to attack Lynch as soon as the bell rang and cause the disqualification. They should've just announced it for that Canadian Raw in two weeks in the first place. It would've been cool for it to happen at SummerSlam, but the card already has eight matches, so I understand it being left off, especially since the storyline hasn't been white-hot, anyway.

World Heavyweight Champion Seth "Freakin" Rollins and Undisputed WWE Tag Team Champion Sami Zayn def. The Judgment Day (Damian Priest and NXT North American Champion Dominik Mysterio)

Yes, we've gotten several variations of this match in the last month, but these guys always work well together and have entertaining matches, so I had no issue with what we got here. With the babyfaces outnumbered, I assumed they'd lose and give the heels a momentum boost before SummerSlam, but then again, Priest and Mysterio won't be in action at the event, so I understand having Rollins pick up the pinfall win. There was another tease of tension between Finn Balor and Priest with Balor hesitating to give Priest his Money in the Bank briefcase to cash in right before the finish. I'm more convinced now than I was a few weeks ago that WWE could swerve us by having Balor take the title and prolong the Priest cash-in, so we'll see on Saturday.

Overall Show

This wasn't a standout show by any means, but as a go-home edition of Raw, I thought it was successful in terms of building toward SummerSlam and delivering quality final hype for the red brand's matches on the card. I'm looking forward to the event, if only because WWE simply hasn't missed on pay-per-view this year (in addition to being there live for it). Honestly, the best parts of this episode were the two vignettes/interviews with Ronda Rousey and Shayna Baszler promoting their upcoming MMA Rules match. Those were excellently produced and WWE definitely needs to do more of that sort of stuff in the future. 

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