Welcome one and all to the RAW RECAP presented by THE REVELLEUTION! Money in the Bank is in the history books and it saw Smackdown’s Tiffany Stratton emerge as Miss Money in the Bank, which unless there’s a major swerve means a cash in on Raw and for the Women’s World Championship is unlikely. Will Liv Morgan have more issues to deal with as she finally gets to team up with her ‘beloved’ Dominik Mysterio to face the LWO’s Rey Mysterio and Zelina Vega? And what’s next for the women of the Red Brand as we head towards SummerSlam? Let’s get into it, and find out…
LIV MORGAN tormented Dominik Mysterio backstage, claiming she’d requested the Mixed Tag Match to make up for last week, and Mysterio reluctantly had to accept that the match was happening. That continued later in the show when Morgan did some close-contact ‘stretching’ to Mysterio, and was caught in the act by the rest of The Judgement Day.
NIKKI CROSS as Abigail delivered another Wyatt Sicks message to the announce desk.
JACKIE REDMOND handled interview duties.
SCARLETT and The Final Testament bragged that they’d put an end to The New Day.
DAMAGE CTRL had a promo video as DAKOTA KAI vowed they’d show the world who they were. KAIRI SANE spoke in Japanese with translated subtitles about how destruction brings change, and IYO SKY did the same to say that Damage CTRL had lost control, but would take it back tonight.
Six-Woman Tag Team Match
DAMAGE CTRL (DAKOTA KAI, IYO SKY & KAIRI SANE) defeated KATANA CHANCE, KAYDEN CARTER & LYRA VALKYRIA
A full team brawl started off the match, with Carter and Sane left in the ring as the others fought on the outside. After some counters, Sane taunted Carter but soon took a Hip Toss for her troubles and Sane tagged out Kai. Only for her to get a Hip Toss before she was pulled over so Chance could tag in and use her sliding trip to set up a Basement Dropkick by Carter. A vault-in Senton by Chance got a two count. Kai went for a move off the shoulders but Chance countered with an Arm Drag before she tagged out to Carter, only for her to instantly tag in Valkyria. Carter was whipped into a corner Splash before both Valkyria and Carter acted as stepping stools so Chance could hit a Poetry in Motion-style corner Meteora.
Valkyria got a near fall from the spot. Right after she did some flip counters, a Legsweep then a Basement Dropkick for a near fall. Things broke down as Carter and Chance came in to dump the other Damage CTRL members out. Double KC hit Baseball Slides to Sane and Kai while Sky took Valkyria’s Dropkick through the ropes.
After a commercial break, Chance was legal against Kai and hit a Codebreaker but the momentum sent Kai back to the heels corner so Sky could tag in. Sky cut off a tag when she knocked Carter off the apron but Valkyria ducked being hit, but still Chance was denied a tag until after a flip counter she got the hot tag. Valkyria went House on Fire with Clotheslines, a series of kicks and an Enzigiri. Sky escaped a Nightwing attempt only for Valkyria to deadlift counter into a Sit-out Doctor Bomb for a near fall.
Sky charged Valkyria to the heels corner so Sane could tag in and hit the Cutlass. Kai got a tag before she and Sane tried for a Double Team Suplex on Valkyria but Carter pulled her back down and it lead to the three versus three Suplex spot, with the faces able to hit the Triple Suplex onto Damage CTRL. Valkyria brought Kai back as Carter was legal and Valkyria hit a version of Nightwing on Kai to set up for The Cake Stand. Sky used a Springboard Missile Dropkick to hit Chance and send her back to break up the pin attempt by Carter.
Valkyria took out Sky with a Spin Kick and then got decked by a Flying Forearm by Sane. Carter hit a Superkick to Sane but right after Kai used a low bridge trick on the ropes to make Carter tumble to the floor. Carter was sent to the floor before Iyo used a toss to send Sane dangerously over the ropes to barely hit a wild Crossbody of sorts to Valkyria and Chance. Kai hit the Springboard Stomp to Carter before Sky was tagged in to hit the Over the Moonsault for the victory.
Right after the match, SONYA DEVILLE, SHAYNA BASZLER and ZOEY STARK hit the ring to attack Damage CTRL. Baszler hit the Low Knee Strike to Kai then the Arm Stomp. Deville hit her old Running Knee finisher to Sane then she and Baszler held Sky to take a Superkick from Stark who had yelled about how Sky had ‘taken everything from her’ in reference to the MITB match. Stark and Baszler hit the Alley-Ooop Double Team to Sky before hit Deville hit her version of a Final Cut called Deville’s Advocat. The new trio stood tall to end the scene.
The new trio would be interviewed backstage (and in the background Chad Gable was seen talking to IVY NILE and The Creed Brothers). Baszler said that they did what they should have months ago to show everyone who runs the division. Stark ranted that they’d been screwed twice at PLEs by people ‘who can’t lace our boots’. Deville bragged that she’s been trying to get the killers out of Baszler and Stark all along and that Damage CTRL was just the start.
ALBA FYRE and ISLA DAWN showed up and taunted the trio, reminding them that as long as they were Tag Champs that they ran the division. Deville claimed that wouldn’t be for long as the trio walked off.
CATHY KELLEY interviewed ZELINA VEGA and Rey Mysterio, as Vega stated she’d be Women’s Champion right now if it wasn’t for Dominik Mysterio.
Mixed Tag Team Match
Women’s World Champion LIV MORGAN & Dominik Mysterio defeated The LWO (ZELINA VEGA & Rey Mysterio)
The women started off as Vega hit strikes then escaped from a Bodyslam attempt before a rough kick led to the Alister Black-like chin raise with a foot then another kick for a near fall. A scramble of a tag brought the men in to work for a bit. Vega was tagged in to make the women legal again, but not before Rey Mysterio used a toss to send Vega into a Headscissors to take down Dominik and send him out of the ring.
Morgan clubbed down Vega to hit grounded strikes and then more in a corner. Morgan hit a corner Back Elbow but after the rollout Vega dodged the second one and hit a charge of a Shoulder Thrust. Vega hit nine corner punches and hit a X-Factor from the corner. Vega went for a move to a downed Morgan but Dominik came in to block. Rey hit a Dropkick to Dominik’s knee and it sent Dominik head first between Morgan’s legs for a compromising position. Dominik quickly left the ring but Morgan followed him out to say she was ‘OK with it’. She shoved Dominik aside as Vega lept off the apron to hit a Meteora on her, but Dominik still took a Seated Senton from Rey.
After a commercial break, the men were legal in the match. Eventually Rey tagged out to Vega to make both women legal, and Vega went House on Fire with Jumping Clotheslines, a corner kick, a low kick then a Headscissors Driver. A Meteora from the middle rope got Vega a nearfall. Morgan escaped from a Code Red attempt and did her version of the Three Amigos but when she went for ObLIVion Vega held the ropes to block. Double Clotheslines from both women led to tags out to the men.
While not legal, Vega came in and hit a low 619 to Dominik when he’d managed to block Rey’s attempt on him. Morgan would break up a pin attempt by Rey but she ended up failing to hit ObLIVion again on Vega who then hit a 619 on her. On the outside, Morgan sent Vega into the ringpost before she then slid a chair into the ring, distracting the ref so she could yank Rey’s leg and crotch him on the top rope. That set up Dominik to hit a Frog Splash and steal the win over Rey.
After the match, Morgan took advantage of an overzealous Dominik finally beating his father to jump on him and wrap her legs and arms around him before she used the grip to drag him to the canvas. Morgan even tried to haul Dominik into a kiss down on the mat.
RHEA RIPLEY made her return at that moment, storming to the ring and in pure fear Morgan ran through the crowd to escape her furious rival. Ripley then went into the ring to glare at Mysterio, telling him that Mami’s back but brushed him off when he offered a hug and stormed off with Mysterio following and trying to make good with her.
FINAL THOUGHTS:
The mixed tag itself was solid and wasn’t bogged down by too much comedy spots as sometimes is the case. Rhea Ripley’s long awaited return firmly puts her against Morgan at SummerSlam and we’ll now see what alligance that The Judgement Day has either to her or to Morgan. Elsewhere we got a very entertaining six-woman tag match. The tag title scene doesn’t exactly become more focused with Deville back in action but slightly more focused. It’s still a lot of heel teams and The Unholy Union are rather tweeners still. Along with the threat of Smackdown’s Bianca Belair and Jade Cargill who might bulldoze their way back into the title conversation. All we need is some proper focus to decide proper challengers and a direction for a possible SummerSlam match.
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!