Welcome one and all to the RAW RECAP presented by THE REVELLEUTION! Last week saw the long awaited return of Rhea Ripley when she stormed to the ring to break up an ‘oh my’ moment between her rival Liv Morgan and ‘her’ Dom Dom, Dominik Mysterio. What will the fallout be from that return? And what’s next for the Tag Team Division with the new unit of Baszler, Deville and Stark? Let’s get into it, and find out.
RHEA RIPLEY went to the ring to kick off Raw. Ripley said that Liv Morgan was walking around with something that belonged to her, and it was Dominik Mysterio but the World title. She said that she’d deal with Mysterio later, and then demanded that Morgan come out so she could rip her apart.
Of course, instead, Dominik Mysterio came out with a black rose. Ripley deliberately turned her back to him and didn’t want to hear him as the fans gave him the usual boos. Before LIV MORGAN appeared on the tron from backstage and implied that she had a ‘weak voice’ from being busy over the weekend in Mexico with Mysterio. Morgan bragged about being the champion and said her shoulder, unlike Ripley’s, was doing great with the title on it and claimed she never understood what Ripley saw in Mysterio before she piled it on thick.
Ripley ignored the remarks and mocked Morgan for being too scared to face her, saying it proved that Morgan knows her Revenge Tour would end when she stepped into the ring with Ripley. She made the challenge for the World title for SummerSlam. Morgan accepted the match and said she would finally beat Ripley, and said she wanted to see Mysterio in the match too. Morgan vanished from the screen but Ripley vowed not just to end the Revenge Tour but to end Morgan’s career. A mic drop before she mouthed ‘Watch Me’ to the camera and blew a kiss to mock Morgan. Mysterio’s attempts to make good were ignored as Ripley glared at him when he held the ropes open, and tossed the rose away as Mysterio followed her to the back.
That continued backstage as Ripley slammed the locker room door in Mysterio’s face then hurled the bunch of black roses into his face. Much to the amusement of Damient Preist. Later, Preist and Ripley would talk with the rest of Judgement Day (aside from Mysterio) in the room. She praised Priest for keeping the group together even with his World title situation ongoing. Preist left when Mysterio appeared and again tried to make good with Ripley. Just for Ripley to mock him for trying to reach her all week, but never during the months that she was out injured before she stormed off.
In an earlier today video, JACKIE REDMOND interviewed ZELINA VEGA as she claimed she’d be at the front of the line. SONYA DEVILLE, flanked by her new cronies SHAYNA BASZLER and ZOEY STARK barged in and claimed that not only were her group at the front of the line, but any line now went to them. Vega buried Deville with comments about her forehead and the other women having a moustache before she dared Deville to face her tonight.
Singles Match
SONYA DEVILLE w/h SHAYNA BASZLER & ZOEY STARK defeated ZELINA VEGA
Deville hit a round of Knee Strikes before Vega got in some shots. Deville countered a vault-back from the corner to catch Vega on her shoulder, but Vega countered that with a Tornado DDT. A Basement Dropkick by Vega set things up to hit the 619. The numbers game instantly came into effect as Stark distracted the ref and Baszler hit a version of the Arm Stomp on the apron to Vega. Deville then hit Deville’s Advocate for the cheap win in a short match.
After the match, the trio put a beatdown on Vega and went after the arm. Before KATANA CHANCE, KAYDEN CARTER and LYRA VALKYRIA rushed out to force the heels to back away.
Backstage Chad Gable tried to get his old Alpha Academy back on board with him, but instead MAXXINE DUPRI said her boys Otis and Tozawa would back up Xavier Woods in his feud against The Final Testament. Much to Gable’s outrage as he stormed off.
Tag Team Match
KATANA CHANCE & KAYDEN CARTER w/h LYRA VALKYRIA Vs SHAYNA BASZLER & ZOEY STARK w/h SONYA DEVILLE
Baszler and Carter started the match off, with Carter backed into a corner just to take a cheap shot, but Baszler took too long to taunt and took an open hand chop for her troubles. A Wheelbarrow spot just led to a somewhat messy shove down, before Carter managed to roll back to counter the Arm Stomp and take down Baszler by the leg to hit a kick to the head from the mat. Chance was tagged in and a combo of kicks got Chance a near fall.
Chance tried for a Headscissors but Baszler blocked, and moved Chance up to her shoulders before she backed up so Stark could tag in. So when Chance did a Victory Roll she was wide open for a Low Kick from Stark for a two count. The match went to in-picture so a movie trailer could play. Back to live action and while Stark countered a Headscissors attempt, Chance countered that (eventually) with an Arm Drag. Carter gave an assist from the apron, pushing Chance back into the ring when she’d been sent over by a vault, so Chance could then try for a Crossbody from the middle rope to Stark. Stark rolled through and clutched Chance but she countered that with a form of DDT.
A Dropkick by Chance sent Stark into the faces corner to allow for a tag. Carter used a Monkey Flip to send Chance into a Cannonball to Stark for barely a count of one. Both heels were sent to the floor and Chance was tagged back in just to hit a Senton-style Cake Stand from the apron to both opponents. After a commercial break, Baszler and Carter were legal as Carter tripped the leg and hit Baszler with a kick while down on the mat. Stark got a tag and prevented one attempt by Carter but after a shove off Chance got the tag.
A slide evasion led to kneeling Facebuster by Chance before she finally hit a Headscissors and then got some strikes in a corner. A Hooking Clothesline in the corner led to a Flip Kick for a two count. Stark used a Roll-up grip to set up a Low Knee Strike before a tag to Baszler led to a Corner Knee Strike for a near fall. Baszler tried for an Arm Bar out of a Double Underhook toss but Chance rolled back and stomped her way free. Before Chance hit a wild Double Knee Standing Moonsault with the flip started at Bazler’s head.
Carter took a tag so she could flip Chance onto Baszler with the Back Suplex toss for a near fall. Chance was tagged but when she went up top, Deville distracted her only for Valkyria to haul her from the apron. Stark decked her with a kick from the apron, but got hauled through the ropes by Carter so Chance could hit a Double Stomp to the back. Baszler hit a kick to Carter, before Chance got a Jackknife Pin for a two count on Baszler.
Stark got a blind tag and that allowed her to hit Like A Sniper on Chance before the Alley Ooop double team got the victory in a fantastic match.
Backstage Rhea Ripley claimed she was cool that Liv Morgan had helped The Judgement Day get the tag titles back since she had just ‘played games’ and they didn’t work. Once more Dominik Mysterio showed up and his attempts to ‘defend’ Ripley’s honour with a match against Jey Uso just infuriated her more.
During the match between Jey Uso and Dominik Mysterio, Liv Morgan got involved to haul Mysterio out of the ring. That led to Mysterio being knocked from behind into a compromising position on top of Morgan, who then rolled them over to make it even worse. Only to flee like a coward once again when Rhea Ripley stormed out. Mysterio’s night didn’t get better when he soon lost to match to Uso, and Ripley didn’t seem amused one bit by it. Neither did she make much of a reaction when Uso made a ‘call me’ motion to her before she left the scene and Mysterio behind.
Later, Ripley shoved a black rose into Mysterio’s chest and reminded him that she doesn’t belong to anyone, but he belonged to her.
NIKKI CROSS as Abigail would appear with the Wyatt Sicks after Chad Gable and the Creed Brothers had put a beatdown on Bo Dallas.
FINAL THOUGHTS:
The highly anticipated match is now official, and we’re on great build with the issues between Mysterio, Ripley and Morgan all ongoing. No doubt Mysterio will play a part in the outcome of the title match which should be a great one, and Morgan showing her colours to flee like a coward works great. We can only hope the build continues. Elsewhere Deville’s new stable got put firmly on the map with a squash win and an even better win from a great tag team match. The only slight issue that I have is that the tag champs were completely absent from all of this along with Damage CTRL (although it’s been rumoured that after appearing in a showcase match for Marigold this past week Iyo Sky along with Kairi Sane are on vacation in Japan). The tag champs should be front and center for any faction feud especially with all these teams after their gold. It wouldn’t have hurt to have even a promo video or a watching from backstage clip of them.
That’s your lot for this week! Be sure to stop by in seven days’ time for the next edition of the RAW RECAP! See you then!