WWE Raw Results, Highlights, and Grades: Brand warfare loses the plot

Charly Caruso has a slew of breaking news

Backstage, we got a slew of breaking news from Charly Caruso. She first announced that AJ Styles will defend his United States Championship against Humberto Carrillo next week. In a brief interview, Carrillo said he was very happy, humbled, and excited about the opportunity.

Caruso quickly changed gears with more breaking news, and sent things to Paul Heyman. The Advocated for WWE Champion Brock Lesnar said he was asked to tell the story behind the main event of WWE Survivor Series, and proceeded to recap some of the saga between Mysterio and Lesnar that has led to Sunday’s match.

Heyman said there has been speculation about Brock’s condition, but that their public position is “Brock is just fine” and will be ready for WWE Survivor Series. He pointed out persisting rumors about Brock still being weakened or hurt, and said he’d make things more interesting by announcing the WWE Championship Match at WWE Survivor Series will now be a No Holds Barred Match.

Heyman laid out a spoiler for Sunday, saying either Rey Mysterio pulls of a miracle and wins the title while also avenging his family’s honor, or Brock Lesnar will massacre Mysterio so badly the footage will never be shown again because of how graphic the “public torture session” will be.

Things cut back to Caruso, who had Rey Mysterio there for an interview. Rey Mysterio first called over Humberto Carrillo, encouraging him to keep doing what he’s doing and expressing his vote of confidence in Carrillo against AJ Styles next week. Mysterio then cut a promo about how Lesnar made the biggest mistake of his life.

Mysterio said the mistake wasn’t just attacking Dominick, but also the mistake was making their title match a No Holds Barred Match. Mysterio had the steel pipe he’d used on Lesnar previously in his hand during this promo, saying that the old Rey Mysterio would demand an apology but instead he’ll take the WWE Championship from him on Sunday. Mysterio finished things by saying “this is for you, son.”

Grade: A+, So much great storytelling here between two storylines. Mysterio giving a great nod to Carrillo, while further building up the Mysterio vs. Lesnar clash and adding the intrigue of it being No Holds Barred. This is easily one of Mysterio’s best runs ever. 

Asuka vs. Natalya

Up next, we got more women’s action with Asuka taking on Natalya in singles competition. Natalya took control early, but Asuka fought back and shoulder tackles by each of them put things at a stalemate early. Asuka went for a big hip attack, but Natalya caught her, only for Asuka to roll it into a pinning combination.

Asuka hit a big spinning backfist moments later to garner a near fall before locking on an armbar to continue wearing down Natalya. After rolling out of it, Natalya hit a dropkick only to be met with a headlock by Asuka that kept one-half of the WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions in control.

Natalya nailed a discus clothesline a bit later, but it only earned her a near fall. After action spilled to the outside for a moment, Natalya rolled Asuka back into the ring. Kairi caused a brief distraction as Natalya was getting back in, allowing Asuka to deck Natalya with a huge kick in the blink of an eye to score the pinfall.

Grade: B, Solid match here, but a lackluster finish. Things also feel weird, because Natalya had a big moment tapping out Asuka recently, and now that’s seemingly been nullified and means nothing.