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Bron Breakker Newest Star to Shine on ‘Raw’

Paul Levesque keeps adding different players into the Raw main event

Noelle Perry

A key part of the Paul “Triple H” Levesque era in charge of WWE creative is adding new talent into high-profile positions on Raw. That has especially been the case lately, where Liv Morgan, Rhea Ripley, Bo Dallas, and now Bron Breakker have all had an opportunity to close out WWE’s signature weekly show.

Here are the Top 10 takeaways from last night’s Raw:

10.) Rhea Ripley challenges Liv Morgan

Rhea Ripley kicked off the show after her shocking return at the end of last week’s Raw. She spoke about her goal to take the Women’s World Championship back from Liv Morgan, and called for Morgan to meet her in the ring so she could rip her apart. Morgan did not answer, but Dominik Mysterio came out, carrying a rose to apologize to his Mami.

Ripley was clearly unimpressed, but Mysterio didn’t get a chance to say much before Morgan interrupted on the video screen. Morgan described her relationship with Mysterio as being more real than what he had with Ripley, which Mysterio quickly denied. Ripley challenged Morgan to a match at SummerSlam for the Women’s World Championship, and Morgan accepted. After Morgan’s video feed ended, Ripley spoke directly to the champion, promising to end not only her revenge tour, but also her career at SummerSlam.

Mysterio followed Ripley backstage and tried to explain himself, denying Morgan’s account of the events of the last three months. He filled her dressing room with flowers and gifts to make things up to her, but she slammed the door in his face and threw everything back at him.

9.) Pete Dunne turns on Sheamus

Sheamus took on Bronson Reed in a hard-hitting, albeit a bit short, match. Reed was cocky last week when he told Sheamus he was the more deserving of the two for a shot at the Intercontinental Championship, but Sheamus put him in his place. While Sheamus celebrated his victory, Reed started towards him to attack.

That’s when former Brawling Brutes teammate Pete Dunne ran in to intercept. After Reed defeated Dunne in their match last Monday, he attacked his opponent, and Sheamus came to his defense.

It briefly appeared that Dunne was returning the favor, but he backed away when Sheamus extended his hand in friendship–then attacked him when his back was turned. He left Sheamus helpless in the ring for Reed to continue his attack.

8.) Sonya Deville’s return match

Zelina Vega was interviewed by Jackie Redmond, who asked her about the drama unfolding between Liv Morgan and Rhea Ripley. Vega told her that she would have won the Women’s World Championship from Liv Morgan if Dominik hadn’t interfered with their match, so once they wrapped up their beef, she would be first in line to challenge for the title. Sonya Deville, with Shayna Baszler and Zoey Stark, interrupted to tell Vega that she shouldn’t be so sure when their group is in the title picture. They began to argue and decided to settle it in a match, Deville’s first since her return to Raw.

With Baszler and Stark at ringside, it was hardly a fair fight. The two worked together to distract the referee and attack Vega, making her easy prey for Deville. It wasn’t long before Deville defeated Vega, and as soon as the match ended, Deville and her teammates descended on her opponent like vultures. The attack did not last, as Kayden Carter, Katana Chance, and Lyra Valkyria rushed to Vega’s defense, and Deville’s crew retreated.

7.) Gunther makes it personal

Damian Priest met face-to-face with Gunther ahead of the World Heavyweight Championship match at SummerSlam.

Gunther told Priest that it was admirable he had achieved his childhood dream of becoming the World Heavyweight Champion, but the reign itself had not amounted to anything. In order to spare Priest the embarrassment of losing at SummerSlam, Gunther graciously offered to allow Priest to just hand him the title right then and there. Priest believed that Gunther, who never aspired to be World Heavyweight Champion before, had been handed everything in his career, while he had to spend his whole life fighting and clawing his way to the top.

We saw a different, colder side of Gunther, who told Priest that it was a choice to live on the streets, that his parents did not care enough to provide for him, and that he would always be street trash. Priest responded by saying that while Gunther may have the skills it takes to become champion, he lacked the heart necessary to beat him. Gunther would have to fight for the first time in his life to have a chance of dethroning Priest. When Priest called him a boring, privileged scumbag, Gunther dropped his microphone and got in Priest’s face. Braun Strowman entered for his match against Priest before the two men in the ring could come to blows, and Gunther exited.

This segment showcased Gunther’s ability on the mic, and while Priest’s promo skills were not as strong as his opponent’s, the conversation cemented him as the babyface in this feud. Priest is a part of The Judgment Day, a heel faction, and Gunther has become a fan favorite despite his status as a heel due to the quality of his matches. A match between the two of them would have the crowd split, if not rooting for Gunther, but that changed after Gunther turned the audience against him by insulting Priest and compared him to the audience. Additionally, the feud up to this point had very little story behind it. Gunther was challenging for the title because he earned the opportunity by winning the King of the Ring tournament, and the dominant challenger was unlikely to lose. Now, it’s personal, and Priest made his case for why a Gunther victory is not necessarily a given.

6.) Damian Priest defeats Braun Strowman

The Judgment Day has been attempting to take care of their Braun Strowman problem for several weeks, to no avail. Priest was fed up that the issue had yet to be resolved, and finally decided that if he wanted the job done right, he would have to do it himself.

Priest was dwarfed by Strowman, a rare sight. While Strowman may have had a power advantage over Priest, the champion was not outmatched. He evaded attacks from Strowman, and targeted the big man’s bad knee to gain the upper hand in the match. Priest dominated for the remainder of the bout, and finally put Strowman away by remarkably lifting him up to deliver a South of Heaven chokeslam. With this impressive victory, Priest gained momentum towards his title defense against Gunther at SummerSlam.

After the match, Gunther returned to the ring to intimidate Priest, but Priest did not back down. Gunther escalated by slapping Priest across the face, and the two began to fight. Priest brought more of a fight than Gunther expected, and the Ring General retreated, leaving the champion standing tall in the ring.

5.) Shayna Baszler and Zoey Stark prove their dominance

Following their scrap earlier in the night, Kayden Carter and Katana Chance took on Shayna Baszler and Zoey Stark in a tag team match.

Baszler and Stark held control for the beginning of the match, keeping the pace slow. That changed when Chance tagged in, she used her lightning speed to her advantage and gained the upper hand for herself and Carter.

Sonya Deville, who was at ringside supporting Baszler and Stark, was not pleased by this and decided to get involved. Lyra Valkyria was in Carter and Chance’s corner, and she tried to stop Deville’s foul play but was met with a boot to the face from Stark. Stark and Baszler picked up the win, the second of the night for their group, and took another step in establishing themselves as a threat to the women’s division.

4.) Drew McIntyre blows up again

Though his suspension had yet to be lifted, Drew McIntyre appeared to discuss business with Raw General Manager Adam Pearce.

Pearce suspended McIntyre when he went on a rampage after CM Punk cost him the World Heavyweight Championship and the Money in the Bank briefcase, and Pearce and a couple of referees were caught in the crossfire. Last night, Pearce offered to lift McIntyre’s suspension and set him up a match against CM Punk at SummerSlam, to which McIntyre eagerly accepted. However, Pearce said that there was one condition. He brought out the two referees that McIntyre hurt in his blind rage, and told McIntyre that he would make the match official once he apologized to them.

McIntyre refused, as he believed himself to be completely justified in his actions. In fact, he was offended that Pearce would hold this over his head as Pearce oversaw the decisions that allowed Punk to repeatedly screw McIntyre over. Pearce had no choice but to uphold McIntyre’s suspension, and McIntyre responded by shoving the referees to the ground. Seth Rollins ran to the ring to attack McIntyre, coming to the defense of Pearce and the officials. McIntyre stormed off, while Rollins led the fans in singing his song.

3.) Chad Gable calls out Bo Dallas

The latest in a series of VHS tapes delivered to the Raw commentary team by the Wyatt 6 was discovered by Pat McAfee on the set of his podcast and aired during Raw.

Unlike the other tapes, it did not feature Bo Dallas or Uncle Howdy. Rather, it showed Erick Rowan being interviewed by a disembodied voice. He talked about how difficult the last few years have been since losing his family, referring to the Wyatt Family. After losing his brother, referring to Luke Harper, he had to pick himself back up and keep going. Just when he felt he was growing stronger, he lost another brother, Bray Wyatt. Rowan broke down in tears, describing the deep depression he fell into in the aftermath of this loss. Someone handed Rowan the sheep mask he wore during his time with the Wyatt Family and the voice asked him how it made him feel. He said it gave him hope, that at his lowest, “he” reached out and pulled him out of his depression, giving him purpose. The video concluded with Rowan saying they were going to take their broken hearts and make something beautiful, while images of the Wyatt 6 flashed across the screen.

Rowan harnessing the real-life pain of losing two of his dearest friends and embedding it into his character was incredible, giving motivation to push the story forward while paying tribute to his loved ones. The story of the Wyatt 6 so far may seem far less grounded in reality than others in WWE, with their eerie horror-movie inspired visuals and special effects, but the words spoken by the members of the faction in these videos reflect something very real that they have gone through. Wrestling has always blurred the lines between fiction and reality, but this story does so in a way that has never been seen before.

Later in the night, Chad Gable called out Bo Dallas after finding out that he was behind the Uncle Howdy persona. He invited Dallas to come out to the ring and confront him face to face.

Dallas walked towards Gable, unaware that Brutus and Julius Creed were running towards him from behind. The Creed brothers attacked Dallas and beat him mercilessly before offering him to Gable in the ring. Dallas reacted by laughing, and Gable and the Creeds took it to mean they had not finished their job. They continued the assault, but Dallas just kept on laughing. Gable grabbed Dallas by the ears and demanded he tell him what was so funny, but Dallas only responded with a gleeful “There you are!” before the lights in the arena powered down.

Fog filled the arena as the rest of the Wyatt 6 entered, their mere presence chasing Gable and the Creeds out of the ring.

2.) Jey Uso and Dominik Mysterio fight for Rhea Ripley’s affection

Earlier on Raw, Jey Uso interrupted a backstage conversation between Dominik Mysterio and Damian Priest. A very excited Uso asked if it was true that Rhea Ripley was single so that he could make his move on her. Priest, ever the instigator, encouraged Mysterio to fight for his woman and challenge Uso to a match.

Mysterio fought harder than he ever has before, a point commentary highlighted. Towards the end of the match, Uso finally managed to gain the upper hand, but Liv Morgan pulled Mysterio out of harm’s way. Mysterio argued with her, putting up more resistance than he had in the last three months. But it didn’t make a difference when Uso kicked him and he fell on top of Morgan, straddling her like we’d seen many times before. Mysterio tried to get up, but Morgan pulled him back down and turned him over so that she was on top of him. Ripley entered and Morgan immediately jumped up to run out of the arena as fast as possible. Mysterio returned to the match, only to be met with a spear from Uso. He hit a frog splash and pinned Mysterio for the win while Ripley watched, and she left looking disappointed.

Post-match, Ripley found Mysterio backstage and seemingly forgave him for not contacting her and messing around with Liv Morgan while Ripley was injured. As evidenced by the grudge she has held against Morgan, Ripley is not usually so easy to forgive and forget. Time will tell if this is true love, or if Ripley has ulterior motives.

1.) Intercontinental Championship match interrupted

Sami Zayn told Ilja Dragunov that he asked Adam Pearce to give Dragunov a match for the Intercontinental Championship, and told him he’d been watching him give his all in his matches. Dragunov was worried that Zayn gave him the opportunity because he helped Zayn in his fight against Bron Breakker last week, but Zayn assured him that he’d earned it. He was impressed by Dragunov’s passion and intensity, and believed him to be a worthy contender. Dragunov promised to give his all in the match, and that is exactly what he did.

Zayn and Dragunov seemed very evenly matched. Dragunov put everything he had into every shot he took, but Zayn was able to endure immense punishment. There were a couple of incredibly close near falls, and the two competitors looked spent. Dragunov came closer to beating Zayn than anyone during this title reign, but he was not able to get the job done. Bron Breakker, still bitter that he did not win the Intercontinental Title from Zayn in their match at Money in the Bank, ran in and delivered a devastating spear to Dragunov, causing the match to end in a disqualification. Breakker approached Zayn to attack him next, but Zayn fought back.

After expending so much during his match against Ilja, Zayn was no match for Breakker, who delivered another spear to Zayn and stood tall over the battered champion in the show’s closing shot.

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Noelle Perry
NOELLE PERRY

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