WWE Raw Results: Winners, Live Grades, Reaction and Highlights from July 24

Welcome to Bleacher Report’s live coverage and recap of WWE Raw on July 24 from Tampa, Florida.

SummerSlam is less than two weeks away, so a lot of time was spent on building up the feuds that will make up the show.

Seth Rollins and Finn Bálor signed their contract for a match at the pay-per-view on August 5, Logan Paul appeared to build up his bout against Ricochet, and Gunther and Drew McIntyre had a confrontation.

We also saw Bronson Reed take on Tommaso Ciampa, while Becky Lynch battled Zoey Stark in a match with an interesting stipulation.

Let’s take a look at what happened on Monday’s show.

Opening Segment

Raw opened with Rhea Ripley, Damian Priest and Finn Bálor in the ring.

Announcer Samantha Irvin introduced them before they each spoke for a bit. They bragged about running Raw before bringing out Dominik Mysterio with his new NXT North American Championship.

As usual, the crowd booed Dom as loud as it could when he tried to speak. They played some video packages recapping their recent successes.

Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn got a huge pop when they interrupted The Judgment Day. KO yelled at Dom and told him to shut his mouth forever.

Zayn goaded Ripley into agreeing that Dom would defend his title on the show against him.

This segment did some table-setting for the rest of the show, but it was relatively bland for the most part. It felt like they could have accomplished the same thing with a one-minute backstage segment or interview.

Notable Moments and Observations

• It was smart to open the show with The Judgment Day already in the ring. We will probably see their entrance at some other point during the show, so we don’t need it here, too.
• Owens trying to keep himself calm is hilarious. We need a promo exchange with him and Eddie Kingston someday.

Becky Lynch vs. Zoey Stark

Lynch was out first for her match against Stark, but this wasn’t just any singles bout.

If The Man lost, she would have to get Trish Stratus’ name tattooed on her chest; if she won, Lynch would get another match against the WWE Hall of Famer.

The Man may have had more on the line, but both women were aggressive from the get-go. We were barely two minutes into the match before Stark uncorked a springboard dropkick that sent Lynch head over heels.

Stratus ended up interfering and hitting a headbutt with her protective mask, but Lynch managed to kick out at two.

The Man made a comeback and hit the Manhandle Slam for the pin and the win, which means she and Stratus will likely have their final confrontation at SummerSlam.

This was another impressive performance from Stark and Lynch. They have already developed chemistry as opponents, so it wouldn’t be surprising to see WWE keep them in the same orbit for a while.

Winner: Becky Lynch

Grade: B

Notable Moments and Observations

• Stratus still had the protective mask on even though her nose has had more than enough time to recover. Pretending injuries last longer than they do is a hallmark in pro wrestling. Bob Orton did it the best.
• The headbutt Stratus hit would have looked so much worse from any other camera angle.
• Lynch had a nice transition into an armbar at one point.
• Stark landed on her feet when The Man avoided a phoenix splash, but the more impressive part is how Stark made it look like no big deal to do a corkscrew flip from the top rope.

Dominik Mysterio vs. Sami Zayn (NXT North American Title)

Cody Rhodes came out to the usual ovation to talk about his upcoming match with Brock Lesnar at SummerSlam. The promo wasn’t too long and went uninterrupted.

When The American Nightmare was done, Sami Zayn came out for his match against Dominik Mysterio.

They started off with a standard lockup and ran the ropes a bit. Zayn was the first one to hit any major offense when he clotheslined his rival out of the ring and hit a huge dive over the top rope to send us into a commercial.

We returned to see Zayn still firmly in control despite Rhea Ripley having hit him with a cheap shot during the break, which was shown in a replay. The referee ended up booting Kevin Owens from ringside because he was trying to stop Damian Priest from interfering.

A moment later, the ref removed Priest and Ripley, too.

Dom hit a sloppy counter to the Blue Thunder Bomb to take Zayn down, but he recovered and hit it anyway for a near-fall. As Zayn was preparing to hit his finisher, Ripley and Priest were seen attacking KO on the stage. Dom took advantage and rolled Zayn up for the pin.

Despite a couple of mistakes, this was a decent match. Zayn definitely helped carry the load, but Dom had some good moments, too.

Dirty Dom wasn’t going to lose the title and having him beat Zayn clean wasn’t an option, so the finish wasn’t the worst way to end the match.

Winner: Dominik Mysterio

Grade: B-

Notable Moments and Observations

• Even if you are not a Rhodes fan, it’s hard to dislike a guy who puts over his mom like he did.
• It’s always weird when WWE starts a match and then immediately throws it to a commercial within two minutes.
• Zayn has a smooth Michinoku driver.
• It was hard to tell what was supposed to happen when Dom countered the Blue Thunder Bomb. It was an awkward botch that, thankfully, did not lead to anyone getting injured.

Tommaso Ciampa vs. Bronson Reed

Bronson Reed and Tommaso Ciampa have been on a collision course since last week, so Adam Pearce booked them in a match for Monday in an attempt to settle their differences.

Before the bout, Ciampa was shown telling Shinsuke Nakamura that he doesn’t want him to interfere despite having his own issues with Reed.

Ciampa went right at the big man after the bell, but the Australian easily overpowered him and threw him out of the ring.

The 38-year-old hit an inverted DDT to give himself a little breathing room, but Reed was back to his feet pretty quickly. They traded some chops as Ciampa began building up a head of steam.

Ciampa tried in vain to pick Reed up a few times throughout the match, but the 34-year-old was just too big to lift until he was finally able to get him up for an air raid crash to score a two-count.

Nakamura casually walked down the aisle, and Ciampa spotted him right away. He told The Artist to leave, but the distraction allowed Reed to hit a shoulder block from the apron. He rolled Ciampa into the ring and hit the Tsunami for the win.

Other than the spot when Ciampa got Reed up on his shoulders, this was much tamer than expected. Both guys seemed like they were out for blood during backstage promos last week, so it was surprising that this wasn’t a more physical encounter.

Winner: Bronson Reed

Grade: C+

 

Notable Moments and Observations

• We saw a backstage segment with The Judgment Day, Akira Tozawa and Apollo Crews before the match. Tozawa still being scared of RIpley is hilarious.
• A lot of people see a guy like Reed and think his weight and size are his biggest assets, but it’s actually his strength. He makes picking up a grown man look like it’s nothing. Not all big guys have that kind of power, so it stands out.
• Ciampa hitting a Fameasser was kind of surprising.

Logan Paul and Ricochet Agree to a Match

As Liv Morgan was making her way to the ring for her match against Rhea Ripley, The Eradicator attacked her from behind.

She beat down the former women’s tag champ and used a steel chair for extra damage when she stomped on her arm. Officials came down to check on Morgan and kick Ripley out of the ring, so the bout never happened.

After another commercial break, Ricochet called out Logan Paul, saying “It’s time for you to show your stupid face.” As The One and Only continued to talk trash, the YouTuber attacked him from behind out of nowhere.

He accepted Ricochet’s SummerSlam challenge and talked down to the crowd before the high-flyer popped up to his feet and hit a kick to the face followed by a standing shooting star press.

This segment did its job of setting up the forthcoming match between them, but it was probably the least interesting of their encounters so far. At least Ricochet looked cool hitting the shooting star press.

Grade: C+

 

Notable Moments and Observations

• The headbutt Ripley hit on Morgan looked awesome.
• The crowd didn’t seem to care too much for the Ricochet-Paul segment until things got physical.

Damian Priest vs. Apollo Crews

After a confrontation backstage, Apollo Crews and Damian Priest ended up booked in a singles match against each other.

These two have only had one singles match and one tag team contest before this week, so they went into this without much experience working together.

The Archer of Infamy nailed Crews with a kick to the face as soon as the bell rang, but it only took him down for a couple of seconds. He was right back up and hitting a moonsault off the apron in no time.

Priest regained control and hit South of Heaven for a clean and decisive win. With The Judgment Day relying so much on interference, it was nice to see someone from the group do things by himself.

The match was a little short, but both men did a good job with the time they were given.

Winner: Damian Priest

Grade: B-

Notable Moments and Observations

• Crews should be a much bigger star. He has all the tools necessary to be successful. It feels like he is just waiting for that one special feud that will take him to the next level.
• If Priest threw his kicks with just five percent more speed, they would look so much better. They look fine now, but his legs being so long means it seems to take him longer to swing them around when he is kicking people.

Ludwig Kaiser vs. Drew McIntyre

Drew McIntyre and Imperium had an in-ring segment, with The Scottish Warrior challenging The Ring General to put his title on the line right then and there.

Of course, Gunther refused but offered an alternative. He said he would beat McIntyre at SummerSlam.

The exchange led to the Scot and Ludwig Kaiser agreeing to face each other, so a ref was brought out during the break and we returned to see the match get going.

Kaiser was giving up some size to his opponent, but not much. The German grappler is just as tall, but he doesn’t quite have the muscle mass of McIntyre, so the Scot was able to control the pace until Giovanni Vinci gave his partner an unfair advantage with a distraction.

McIntyre hit White Noise from the middle turnbuckle when we returned from a commercial. A few minutes later, he finished Kaiser off with a Claymore. Gunther and Vinci attacked him until Matt Riddle ran down to make the save.

This ended up being a really solid performance from everyone involved. Gunther vs. McIntyre could end up being the Match of the Night at SummerSlam.

Winner: Drew McIntyre

Grade: B+

Notable Moments and Observations

• McIntyre putting over Kaiser in the promo was cool. The German is a great talent who has been stuck playing second fiddle for his entire WWE career so far.
• Corey Graves’ impression of Kaiser was funny.
• McIntyre has some of the stiffest chops in WWE. His opponents don’t even have to sell for him because they are probably in so much real pain as it is.
• The way Kaiser sold White Noise was great. His facial expressions and body movements were so convincing.

The Final Segment and Final Word

Raw closed with the contract signing between Seth Rollins and Finn Bálor for their World Heavyweight Championship match at SummerSlam.

However, nobody was in the ring to oversee the signing. It was just Rollins, Bálor and the table, so they handled their business by themselves.

They traded the usual insults and talked about their history together, but as they spoke, the rest of The Judgment Day showed up around the ring. Bálor said he has been slowly going insane for seven years and it’s all Rollins’ fault.

The champ tried his best to overcome the inevitable attack by striking first, but the numbers game was too much for him. Bálor and Priest had a quick staredown when it looked like the latter might want to cash in, but Sami Zayn ran down with a chair before anything else happened.

The Judgment Day took out Zayn before all four members beat down The Visionary to end the show.

This was predictable, but it was done well. The Judgment Day is clearly a priority for WWE, and it is doing a good job pushing them as the most dominant faction now that The Bloodline has all but dissolved.

Grade: B

Overall, this was an average episode of Raw, which is not a bad thing. We saw a couple of decent matches, a few bouts were set up for SummerSlam, and we had a few laughs along the way.

McIntyre and Kaiser stole the show, but Zayn and Mysterio put on a contest that was better than expected going into it.

While none of the non-wrestling segments stood out above the others, they all accomplished something, whether it was booking a match or advancing a feud.

SummerSlam will be upon us before you know it, so it’s good that WWE has already confirmed a handful of matches to get fans excited for the show.

Grade: B-