Monday Night Raw was live last night in Cincinnati, Ohio. Who is going to SummerSlam to face Brock Lesnar for the Universal Championship?

   Raw kicks off with Vince McMahon, Stephanie McMahon and Triple H joined by the entire locker room at the top of the stage. Earlier in the week, social media reported that Stephanie McMahon would make a historic announcement.

   After thanking the superstars both male and female on raising the bar of professional wrestling, the attention went to all of the female superstars.

   Over the past few years, the women of the WWE have made countless marks in WWE history with the first ever women’s Hell in a Cell, first Women’s Royal Rumble, first Women’s Money in the Bank and countless others. Really revolutionizing women’s wrestling from the once divas.

   The historic announcement was of the first ever all women’s pay per view, Evolution. A huge congratulations to all women of WWE for truly changing the face of women’s wrestling.

Raw Tag Team Championship: B-Team (Bo Dallas & Curtis Axel) v. The Woken Warriors (Matt Hardy & Bray Wyatt)

   In the opening match of the night, the B-Team defend their newly won Tag Team Championships against the former champions the Woken Warriors. In a good contest between the two teams, The B-Team was able to prevail still as tag team champions after Bray Wyatt accidentally ran into Matt Hardy, which allowed Curtis Axel to roll up Matt for the win.

   After the match, in which seemed to a show of respect turned into an attack as the Woken Warriors attacked the B-Team. Is this a heel turn? Really hard to judge but this seems to be leading to a match at SummerSlam.

Sasha Banks & Bayley v. Local Talent

   After weeks of fighting, the friendship is back together. Bayley & Sasha showed their partnership in this quick tag team match versus local talent. This direction for these two is not what many was expecting to see with Sasha & Bayley.

Braun Strowman Sends a Message to The Universal Champion

   Braun Strowman stated that no matter who wins and faces Brock Lesnar at SummerSlam, Braun already has an opportunity with the Money in the Bank briefcase.

   Kevin Owens and Constable Baron Corbin came out to confront Braun’s actions at Extreme Rules when he threw Kevin off a steel cage through an announce table.

   Constable brings out Jinder Mahal to control the anger of Braun. Instead of controlling it, he raised his anger and Braun destroyed everything in his path.

   Backstage, Kevin met with Stephanie McMahon, where the match was made for SummerSlam. Kevin Owens v. Braun Strowman where if Kevin win, he becomes Mr. Money in the Bank.

Mickie James v. Natalya

   With Raw Women’s Champion Alexa Bliss at ringside, Mickie James took on Natalya. It had been reported that the #1 Contender for Alexa’s Championship, Ronda Rousey will return to Raw next week after her suspension ends.

   The constant interference of Alexa became too much for Natalya as Mickie picked up the victory. What will Ronda have in store for Alexa next week?

Titus Worldwide (Titus O’Neil & Apollo Crews) stand up to the Authors of Pain (Akem & Rezar)

   AOP came out to demand respect and a greater team to challenge them from the Raw brand. However, Titus Worldwide entered to state that respect is earned in the WWE. Titus then clear them out of the ring which means another match up between the teams.

Mojo Rawley v. Tyler Breeze

   In another match between these two, Mojo yet again picked up another win with an impressive sit-down Alabama Slam. Mojo is picking up wins but it seems like nothing new is coming from him.

Seth Rollins & Finn Balor v. Drew McIntyre & Dolph Ziggler

   In what began as Drew McIntyre v. Finn Balor, formed into a tag team match as Dolph interfered and Seth came down to help Finn. In a great contest between these two teams, Seth was able to pin the Intercontinental Champion Dolph Ziggler after hitting the Stomp for the win.

   Backstage, Seth announced that at SummerSlam, he gets another shot to regain the Intercontinental Championship against Dolph Ziggler.

Ember Moon v. Liv Morgan

   In a short contest, Ember was able to hit the Eclipse for the win. This is the third time Ember has faced Liv in a matter of weeks. I would like to see different competition for Ember to show her impact on the Raw Women’s division.

Elias’s First Album Released

   Earlier in the day, Elias’s first album was released called “Walk with Elias.” Elias throughout the night tried to make light of the release of the album but was constantly interrupted. However, he was able to finally get time to sing, but his hatred of Cincinnati stopped him from singing.

Bobby Lashley v. Roman Reigns

   In a massive back and forth contest, each men knew the opportunity on the table in this match. Each man gave everything they had in this big main event.

   Bobby attempted to hit his second spear of the match on Roman, however Roman was able to hit a spear of his own for the win. Roman Reigns will face Brock Lesnar (again) for the Universal Championship at SummerSlam.

   Bobby just a week ago beat Roman at Extreme Rules, yet that win meant nothing because Roman is #1 contender.

Conclusion

   Really confusing booking going into SummerSlam. No new match-ups and no new challengers. Not looking forward to Roman v. Brock  for the third time this year for the Universal Championship. The only matches that seems to be interesting is Ronda Rousey v. Alexa Bliss and Braun Strowman v. Kevin Owens because of the ramifications of each match.

   Even being at the event in Cincinnati, it still left me confused on why they went with Roman v. Brock for the main event of SummerSlam.

David Jacobus
Intern