WWE Raw: Results, Highlights, and Grades for July 2, 2018

Bayley and Sasha Banks must undergo counseling, or they’ll be fired from WWE Raw. Photo Source: WWE.com

Bayley and Sasha Banks head to counseling at the request of GM Kurt Angle. Find out how everything unfolds this week on WWE Raw by following our live review.

Previously on WWE Raw, Dolph Ziggler needed some help from Drew McIntyre to defend the Intercontinental Championship against Seth Rollins. Bayley and Sasha Banks somehow made their relationship even worse. Braun Strowman declined friendship with Kevin Owens. And that whole multi-man match thing about finding a challenger for Brock Lesnar? Not gonna happen after all.

This week on Raw, the big story is the general chilliness between Sasha Banks and Bayley. After last week’s breakdown in a six-woman tag match, Kurt Angle issued an ultimatum to the former besties. Each woman is being ordered to undergo counseling to ease the tension — and if they don’t, they’ll be terminated from WWE Raw. How things turn out is anyone’s guess, but if Dr. Shelby doesn’t return it’ll be the ultimate lost opportunity.

Now that the multi-man number one contenders match is off the table, it looks like The Big Dog is headed towards another Shield reunion. Roman Reigns came to the aid of Seth Rollins after Drew McIntyre and Intercontinental Champion Dolph Ziggler launched a double team attack on The Architect. But is Bobby Lashley ready to let Reigns just walk away?

The tag team division is picking up steam, too. Not only did the Authors of Pain return — and draw the attention of Titus Worldwide — Curtis Axel picked up a huge win over Matt Hardy. The B-Team is scheduled to face The Deleters of Worlds at Extreme Rules for the Raw Tag Team Championships. Do Axel and Bo Dallas own the momentum heading into the big match?

Related Story: WWE Raw: 5 Predictions for July 2, 2018

Alexa Bliss, Nia Jax, Braun Strowman, Kevin Owens, Finn Balor, and many more also look to make their presence felt ahead of Extreme Rules. Be sure to follow along with our live WWE Raw review right here, starting at 8 p.m. ET.

Photo Source: WWE.com via Twitter

What About Bob?

Roman Reigns has been hanging around with Rusev too much, hasn’t he? See, I thought the Bulgarian Brute was the only one who could refer to a guy named Bobby as “Bob” around these parts.

In about 30 seconds, Rom (see, I can do it, too) puts down The Revival and lays all the blame at the feet of Lashley. After ripping on ol’ Bob for a bit, Dolph Ziggler and Drew McIntyre break up the proceedings for a quasi change of pace. Reigns gets the first shot in, but is quickly outnumbered until Seth Rollins makes the save.

Truthfully, I like this feud a hell of a lot more than the separate Ziggler/Rollins and Reigns/Lashley deals. It’s a shame Dean Ambrose is likely out for another month or so, because a six-man tag pitting The Shield against Ziggler, McIntyre, and Lashley could be something awesome. Of course, it could happen at SummerSlam, but either Reigns or Rollins should be facing Brock Lesnar for the Universal Championship there.

Backstage, Rollins and Reigns demand a match against Ziggler and McIntyre, and GM Kurt Angle agrees — but for next week. Reigns says nah, let’s do it tonight. Angle reminds him about his previously scheduled tag team match with Bob against The Revival, but the Big Dog cares not for this little hiccup. So Angle relents, and Roman pulls double duty tonight.

Photo Source: WWE.com via Twitter

Matt Hardy vs. Curtis Axel (w/ Bo Dallas)

Result: Curtis Axel defeated Matt Hardy via pinfall

Rating: 2.0 out of 5 stars

Look, if you would have told me that 2018 would feature a Curtis Axel undefeated streak on WWE Raw, I’d have told you to seek professional help. Sure, the guy is a former Intercontinental Champion, but that was during the time where, like, everyone was Intercontinental Champion at some point.

Regardless, here we are, and I see in my week off last week WWE has stuck with the B-Team cosplay, huh? Decent pipes on Bo Dallas, though, so it’s not all bad. Maybe someone should tell these guys what happens to associates of The Miz who dress up as other people all the time.

With Bray Wyatt out this week due to injuries sustained in a car accident over the weekend, Matt Hardy goes it alone against one half of the B-Team. In terms of show opening matches, it’s not really super exciting. There’s nothing especially wrong with it, but there’s nothing especially right with it, either.

Look at it this way — did anything about the match surprise you? We’re in the lead-up to a pay per view tag team title match. How has WWE built to those for the past hundred years? By having a series of singles matches between the participants. And the champions tend to lose more often than not, because reasons.

So here, we get Axel picking up the win via Dallas distraction, even though Hardy is like a billion-time tag team champ and should know all about distraction finishes. But the Axe Man decided to floss for his celebration, and Extreme Rules is roughly a fortnight away, so sure, whatever.

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Well, That Was… Something

If nothing else, this rivalry with Bob Lashley is making Roman Reigns look like Dusty freaking Rhodes on the microphone. Wow, Lashley is just beyond terrible, isn’t he? There’s more awkward pauses than a Sasha Banks promo, there’s forced insider jargon, and Lashley just looks generally uncomfortable while he speaks at all times. The one bright spot: before Lashley enters the scene, we get the on-camera announcement that Rollins and Ziggler have a 30-minute Iron Man match at Extreme Rules, so yay.

And speaking of Sasha Banks…

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What, You Were Expecting Someone Else?

Thank GOD someone was smart enough to realize if you’re going to do a “counseling” angle in WWE, you need to bring back Dr. Shelby. Immediately, this becomes the best episode of WWE Raw in 2018, no contest.

The rest of this thing is a steaming pile, though, as would be expected. Sasha and Bayley got double booked for their appointments! What a shock! They argue in the waiting room, making everyone around them feel uncomfortable! Oh dear, who could have seen that coming?

But the pair retreat into “The Friend Zone” with Dr. Shelby, and neither looks particularly excited to be there. And of course, nothing actually happens in this part of the video, because Raw is three hours long, and we need something to fill up hours two and three.

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Titus Worldwide (Titus O’Neil & Apollo Crews, w/ Dana Brooke) vs. Authors of Pain (Akam & Rezar)

Result: Authors of Pain defeated Titus Worldwide via pinfall

Rating: 1.5 out of 5 stars

Last week, the Authors of Pain returned from hiatus to demolish a pair of local competitors. The beatdown was so vicious it drew the attention of Titus O’Neil and Apollo Crews, so take one guess as to how that ended up.

Of course, the match is an extended squash, but not by much. O’Neil and Crews are a bit more formidable than local competitors, but they’ve been stopped and started so many times I’ll bet a bunch of people forgot they were even on Raw. It’s a shame, because Crews at least seemed to have everything needed to be a top superstar prior to his ill-advised and early call-up to the main roster.

Right now, though, everything seems to be geared towards Akam and Rezar. Now that they’re back on Raw, it’s clear they’re being groomed for a future title match. But there’s a set of challengers already in place for the Raw Tag Team Championships, so it’s a holding pattern for the AoP.

All we’ll get for the next few weeks is demonstrations of their unmatched strength and power in the tag division. They’ve beaten former SmackDown Tag Team Champions Heath Slater and Rhyno, and now Titus Worldwide. Maybe The Ascension and Breezango will be up next before a title match becomes clear?

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Seth Rollins & Roman Reigns vs. Dolph Ziggler & Drew McIntyre

Result: Seth Rollins & Roman Reigns defeated Dolph Ziggler & Drew McIntyre via disqualification

Rating: 3.75 out of 5 stars

This match was absolutely bonkers. By the time Rollins took the dive to the outside from the top of the ring post, I figured we were pulling in to the finish. But then there was a commercial break, and I looked at my watch — realizing it had been less than ten minutes of action to that point. I know this sounds like a criticism, but I swear I mean this in the most complimentary of ways: It felt like the match had been going forever by that point.

Seriously, so much was crammed into those first ten minutes that it felt like the match could have ended right there. You had the beatdown of Roman Reigns, followed by his creating an opportunity to make the hot tag. You had a Rollins suicide dive followed by a Reigns drive-by. Heck, you even had Bobby Lashley worriedly watching everything backstage, wondering if roman would be able to compete later in the evening.

Perhaps the best thing in the match was Drew McIntyre proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that he belongs in that upper echelon of superstars. Most of us knew it already, but watching him go toe to toe with Reigns, even briefly, was breathtaking. If anyone out there was still thinking of Drew McIntyre as a former member of 3MB, that should be out the window now.

But if I had one criticism of this, it was that there was too much going on in the match. Not only did we have everything from the first ten minutes, throw in The Revival costing Reigns a victory, and Rollins showing how quickly he can adapt to Ziggler’s offense. For the former, it’s great that Dash and Dawson are getting the push they clearly earned with their time in NXT, but to throw that into this match was a little overkill.

As for the latter? Watching Rollins reverse a second Fameasser into the Buckle Bomb was a thing of beauty. The fact that it happened within the same match makes the Iron Man match that much more interesting.

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I am the Law

You know what? Laugh at the title all you want. Say it’s a silly way to add yet another authority figure to the pro wrestling scene. All valid criticisms of the new “constable” role for Baron Corbin. But even factoring in all that, it’s been working out much better than I would have expected.

I think part of why it’s working is because Baron Corbin has excelled at being a hatable, smarmy scumbag. He could be the nicest guy on the planet for all I know when the cameras aren’t rolling. But when he screamed “Go back to Ring of Honor” at Apollo Crews in NXT, it fit his character because you could almost picture Corbin thinking that for real.

So being in a position of power, and logically justifying his actions (in his mind, at least) just makes him so easy to despise. And when his focus is on a fan favorite like Finn Balor, it’s even easier.

The trouble with this segment is twofold. First, and over-reliance on the “You’re little!” talking point hurts Corbin’s credibility a tad. Sure, he’s bigger than Balor, but to focus solely on that implies that if there was no height advantage, Finn could easily wipe the floor with the Constable.

The bigger problem is Finn being the latest example of a WWE babyface being the biggest jerk in the ring. And standing across from Corbin, that’s tough. But nah, let’s have the most popular guy in WWE who stands for total inclusivity make fun of someone for how he dresses and cuts his hair, that makes perfect sense.

Photo Source: WWE.com via Twitter

Ember Moon vs. Liv Morgan (w/ Sarah Logan)

Result: Ember Moon defeated Liv Morgan via pinfall

Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars

Morgan and Logan are sans leader this week, as Ruby Riott is out with a knee injury of unknown severity. Riott hurt the knee this weekend at a house show, but there’s no reason for an offseason, or less house shows, or any kind of protection for the superstars, right?

Anyway, somehow Elias gets Morgan and Logan fired up backstage by playing acoustic guitar. Personally, I prefer the soothing sounds of Yanni or Enya when it’s time to work out. Maybe some Kenny G if I’m feeling really saucy. But Elias must have done the trick, because this was Morgan’s best main roster performance to date, in my opinion.

https://twitter.com/WWEUniverse/status/1013962623694467072

It’s not enough to overcome Ember Moon, though. Surprisingly, Logan doesn’t get involved here, and it’s a clean victory via the Eclipse. Judging by the distance Morgan had on the rebound, she’s like The Rock selling a Stone Cold Stunner.

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Honesty Theater

Earlier in the night, we got the first way-too-predictable segment of Sasha Banks and Bayley undergoing counseling with Dr. Shelby. Now, things take another turn into the “saw this coming a mile away” territory with some role-playing.

If these segments included a “Harold” like the Team Hell No skits back in the day, there may be something here. Instead, trying to rely on solely the Banks/Bayley acting skills dooms this to failure. Maybe the third part will be better?

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The Revival (Scott Dawson & Dash Wilder) vs. Roman Reigns & Bobby Lashley

Result: Roman Reigns & Bobby Lashley defeated The Revival via disqualification

Rating: -5 out of 5 stars

The big story in this one: Roman Reigns continuing to play Superman and refuse to tag Bob Lashley into the ring. Despite already being in a match earlier in the show, and suffering not only punishment from his opponents but The Revival as well, Reigns started the match and refused to tag out.

Of course, this backfired tremendously, and Reigns got his rear end handed to him over and over. Eventually, Dash and Dawson were disqualified for wrestling too much, and Lashley walked out on Reigns. Bob never got into the match legally, only entering to clear a path for Reigns to tag out — which the Big Dog refused to do.

There’s a lot of things I find fault with every week on an episode of WWE Raw. Great episodes are few and far between these days, and even those rare events aren’t perfect. The mediocrity we’re usually blessed with are frustrating because you can sometimes see the forest for the trees, and get the idea behind the lackluster segments.

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But this? This was a turd sandwich, man. If the goal here was to build sympathy for Reigns, it was a miscalculation of epic proportions. He just comes off as a selfish, egotistical jerk, as opposed to a tragic hero. And any progress that had been made in terms of Roman’s crowd support was completely undone. There was zero reason for him to go it alone, and the crowd let him have it — rightfully so.

And what about Lashley? If he’s still supposed to be a babyface, why not be the bigger man? He already entered the match to help Reigns out. Save him from a double team beat down, then smack him yourself. Instead, you leave him high and dry? Doesn’t seem right from a man of honor.

It’s just a big cluster, and no one comes out looking good. Even Dash and Dawson don’t really benefit — shouldn’t they value a win here to build momentum from last week? Just awful, awful, awful stuff. But hey, at least there’s a match set for Extreme Rules now.

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No Way Jose vs. Mojo Rawley

Result: No contest

Rating: N/A

Not a good sign for No Way Jose, who’s inside the ring already. His entrance is like 90% of his gimmick, so taking that away is like remaking Breaking Bad with Walter becoming an ice cream man after he loses his teaching job.

Second bad sign? Mojo once again refuses to face Jose, because he’s a dancer? That seems a little unfair, since Mojo got his break in NXT — and then on SmackDown Live — as a party guy who did his fair share of dancing.

But because of “sacrifice,” Rawley decides Jose isn’t worth his time, and launches a sneak attack on the party guy. Then Mojo turns his attention to the conga line, and takes out one of the revelers. Not cool, bro.

No idea where this is going, but if it makes Mojo a legit secondary title contender in the near future — he had that great match against Seth Rollins about a month and a half ago — I’ll buy in. He’s come a long way since “guy who hits you with his butt,” so give him his due.

You Can Still Get Front Row Tickets for Extreme Rules?

Probably not the best sign, if Ronda Rousey can buy a front row ticket to Extreme Rules this late in the ticket sales. But since she’s suspended and can’t compete, Rousey will be in attendance watching. Oh, sorry… she’ll be “watching.”

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Mickie James (w/ Alexa Bliss) vs. Nia Jax (w/ Natalya)

Result: Nia Jax defeated Mickie James via pinfall

Rating: 2.75 out of 5 stars

Before the match, Nia Jax announces that Kurt Angle has decided her championship rematch against Alexa Bliss at Extreme Rules will be the elusive “Extreme Rules” match. It’s about time at least one match got the title stipulation, now that we’re less than two weeks from the show.

And since Jax knows Mickie James never travels alone, she brought backup — Natalya. Man, they’re really pushing this idea that Nattie is friends with everyone, aren’t they? I guess unity in the face of being anti-Bliss is all that really matters?

The match itself was pretty good. Simple enough story — Mickie James, a surefire future Hall of Famer, wrestled a smart match. Jax is bigger and stronger, so the smart move would be to take out the leg. And even as Nia tried to fight back, she exacerbated her weakened leg.

Of course, Alexa Bliss got involved, which got Natalya involved. But generally, it was a strong, clean win for Jax before Extreme Rules. You have to wonder if the leg injury will stick (or if it will magically affect her other side, like with Natalya a few weeks back).

Try “Goos Fraba” Instead

All night, Kevin Owens did his best to avoid Braun Strowman, only for Kurt Angle to put him in a match against the Monster Among Men instead. Trying to get out of the match didn’t work, so KO went to plan B — meditation breathing with Jinder Mahal. Charly Caruso scared the bejeezus out of him, so who knows if it worked?

Ricky Bobby Lashley, Folks

Lashley reminds me a lot of Will Ferrell as Ricky Bobby in Talladega Nights. You know, “I’m not sure what to do with my hands.” He even has the same delivery pattern as Ferrell in that scene, and what he says makes just as much sense.

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Kevin Owens vs. Braun Strowman

Result: Braun Strowman defeated Kevin Owens via count out

Rating: 0.5 out of 5 stars

The time for deep breathing is over. No more bribery with Shania Twain tickets. All that was left was to step into the ring and fight it out.

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Instead, Owens took one toss and ran like hell to the parking lot. So much for “If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em.”

Now, for a main event match, this was hot garbage. There was no match, so it would have been a pretty lackluster way for WWE Raw to have ended. In fact, the only good match this week was tarnished by a lousy ending and trying to fit too much into the match.

Thankfully (or horrifyingly, depending on your point of view), the match was not the end of this week’s episode. Instead, we got to witness the thrill of the chase, the joy of the hunt, and the agony of defeat all at once. I present the following with no analysis and relatively few jokes — I am dead serious here.

See, if you were paying attention when KO arrived at the arena, you might have noticed he parked next to a port-a-potty. So when he got to his rental car and realized he didn’t have his keys, he needed a hiding place. And he picked the crappiest one — LITERALLY.

Braun, meanwhile, is the smartest Wile E. Coyote that ever existed. Somehow, he literally smelled KO’s fear and found him in the john. He even hid his voice when he knocked on the door, because Owens is still in that post-Shania Twain concert glow and didn’t see it coming.
Then Braun used four pieces of duct tape to seal the toilet closed and dragged it to the arena — where it almost didn’t fit in the door, because why measure something like that before the show starts?

In the arena, Braun pushed the loo off the stage, earning a chant of “Holy S**T” that has never been more appropriate. Owens writhed on the floor in pain while looking like Tobias Fünke after he blue himself, and Braun laughed because PUNY HUMAN HURTING.

Next: Braun Strowman vs. Kevin Owens is One Fun WWE Feud

Like I said, I got nothing for this, folks. Draw your own conclusions about this segment, and the episode of WWE Raw in general. Besides Dr. Shelby’s return (the return, not what he did) and Reigns/Rollins vs. Dolph/Drew, the episode was a dumpster fire. It was a turd that needed to be flushed away, but Braun broke the toilet.