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WWE Raw Results (8/26): Match-By-Match Recap

Check back often for results throughout the show

Dariel Figueroa

WWE.com

WWE Raw was live from Amica Mutual Pavilion in Providence, Rhode Island last tonight. Start time was 8/7 C on USA.

Randy Orton was looking to bring the smoke to Gunther. Uncle Howdy debuted in his first match against Chad Gable. Bron Breakker's Intercontinental Title needs a challenger and a tournament started tonight to find that opponent. CM Punk and Drew McIntyre have a strap match this Sunday at Bash in Berlin.

There's a lot going on in the WWE Universe (as usual) so strap in!

The show starts with a graphic memorializing Psycho Sid. What a legend. RIP.

Bron Breakker is walking to the arena with two massive dogs on a leash. That tracks.

Chad Gable is doing the same with American Made in tow. Braun Strowman and "Big" Bronson Reed are each shown walking in the back with their gear. A big fight feel is being set with these opening vignettes. Nice touch.

Judgment Day opens the show. Finn Balor rips open his jacket to reveal one-half of the WWE Tag Team Championship Titles.

Each member gets their turn on the mic. Liv Morgan says that if Rhea wasn't so egotistical none of this would have happened to her.

Dominik Mysterio gets the mic last and gets booed so loud it drowns out his voice. Carlito tells the crowd to shut up and let Dominik speak, in Spanish. Dominik continues, saying that he's going to win the IC contender tournament.

LWO comes out to confront Judgment Day, led by the returning Rey Mysterio. Dad and son stand face to face in the middle of the ring for a nice moment.

"You're a lost soul. You need help," Rey says. "At least when you were with Rhea, one of you had a set." Nice burn Rey.

Rey dares Dominik to hit him. JD McDonagh tries a cheap shot. Melee! Judgment Day powders out to ringside, but Dragon Lee is back body dropped high over the top rope onto all five of them! Wow.

Match #1: Judgement Day vs LWO

Cruz Del Toro, Dragon Lee, Joaquin Wilde, and Rey Mysterio start off with high energy offense in this eight-man tag.

LWO controls the action with a handful of high-flying double teams. Joaquin Wilde hits a picture-perfect assisted hip-toss rope rebound backflip splash. That move should have a name because that took too many words to describe.

Del Toro is getting a prolonged beatdown by Judgement Day. Wilde gets the hot tag and hits an X-Factor and DDT to McDonague who sells each move right on top of his head. Does anyone sell better on Raw than McDonagh?

Judgment Day retreats halfway up the ramp to avoid a triple dive, so Wilde gets an assisted rope launch dive! It looked like he cleared about 15 feet. That's one for the highlight reel.

Back from commercial and now Rey gets the hot tag. He's battling with his son and bringoing out his entire moveset. Both mysterios on the top rope. Rey Rey hits a top rope powerbomb on Dominik.

Dominik launched to the outside over the top rope. All members of Judgment Day on the outside. Quadruple dive to the outside hits!

Rey get Dominik back in the ring. Head-scissors to the 619 setup. He hits the 619 on Dominik! Goes from the top rope splash but Morgan drags Dominik out of the way! Dominik hits the magistral cradle for the win!

Nice opener that went almost 30 minutes.

The beatdown on Rey commences after the match. The Terror Twins emerge for the save! They corner Dominik once again but the numbers prove too much. Rhea and Priest turn the tide and get McDonagh and Carlito alone in the ring while Dominilk and Liv Morgan scatter.

Rhea hits a brutal clothesline on McDonagh that sounds like a baseball bat slamming into a slab of beef. Ripley and Priest hit tandem finishers on McDonagh and Carlito while Dominik and Morgan scream at them from the ramp.

Backstage Segment: The Miz & Bronson Reed

The Miz proclaims he'll win the tournament to crown the number one contender to the IC Title. "Big" Bronson Reed interrupts and says when he's done with Braun Strowman tonight, he's coming to finish Miz off. Miz looks scared. Poor Miz.

Backstage Segment: The New Day

Xavier Woods and Kofi Kingston pal around. They're glad they talked through their issues stemming from last week's tag match. Each has a slot in the IC contender tourney. Smells like a break-up is inbound.

Backstage Interview: Pure Fusion Collective

Sonya Deville, Zoey Stark, and Shayna Baszler brag about their favorite beatdowns before walking to the ring to face Damage Ctrl: Iyo Sky, and Kairi Sane.

Match #2: Pure Fusion Collective vs Damage Ctrl

Zoey Stark and Iyo Sky start off the match. Sonya Deville helps get the advantage with some outside interference.

Kairi Sane gets the hot tag and levels everyone with crisp strikes. Kairi goes to the top and hits a flying forearm on Baszler. Baszler grabs an ankle lock. Stark gets the tag and hits an amazing springboard dropkick on Sane. Stark has ridiculous hops.

Zelina Vega comes out from the crowd and smashes Deville! Sweet retribution!

Sky and Sane hit a stereo moonsault and insane elbow for the win. The faces celebrate. PFC are not happy.

Bo Dallas and Uncle Howdy Vignette

"The false prophet continues to reveal himself to the world," Dallas says, referring to Chad Gable. The vignette plays like a creepy VHS tape with Uncle Howdy's face superimposed onto Bo's in brief flashes.

Drew McIntyre In-Ring Promo

Drew McIntyre sits cross-legged in the middle of the ring, mocking CM Punk's infamous pipe bomb position.

McIntyre is money on the mic. He lambasts the crowd for "enabling" Punk, for giving him the confidence to face McIntyre in a strap match. Each scar he puts on Punk's back in the strap match will be on the audience's conscious.

He calls the bracelet a fifty-cent piece of trash.

Uh oh.

Punk's music hits and he ambushes McIntyre from the crowd! McIntyre steals the strap of Punk. Crazy brawl ensues. McIntyre gets backdropped high onto the announcer's table! McIntyre runs away and Punk takes his frustration out by whipping a bunch of "security guards" with the strap.

Well, that was unnecessary, Punk. Those guys have families.

The crowd goes crazy for Punk while McIntyre retreats to the back. Nice way to continue the drive to Bash in Berlin.

Match #3: Jey Uso vs Karrion Kross vs Kofi Kingston

This is the first IC contender tourney match. Give Karrion Kross a solid program for God's sake. He looks like a million bucks. The first one to get the pin wins.

Kross hits a nice powerbomb into a cloverleaf combo on Kingston. Jey hits a spear on Kross followed by a top rope splash for the win. Jey's moving on in the tournament. The crowd is solidly behind him. It's hard to imagine anyone but him winning this tournament.

Randy Orton In-Ring Promo

Randy Orton strolls to the ring. You want to talk about aura? This man has it. All of the aura.

He stops to autograph a sign for a young fan. Orton's career is in such an amazing place. The crowd loves him and you can tell he genuinely likes being in front of them.

Randy panders to the crowd. "You singing my music means the world to me. Even if it took you 15 years." He's not lying.

Orton talks about his history with the World Heavyweight Championship, how he became the youngest World Heavyweight Champion ever (against he-who-should-not-be-named), and how he was on the shelf with spinal fusion surgery when that title was reinstated. He wants that title back and he wants a new legacy.

The crowd chants "You deserve it."

Yes, he does.

Randy says he grew up in front of the WWE audience. He signed his first contract when he was 18 years old. He's been humbled time and time again in front of that audience and he's shared equal amounts of wins and losses with them.

Gunther has never had that experience. He came into the WWE when in his thirties. Gunther has not been humbled (RIP Iron Sheik). Randy is aiming to change that.

Randy is owning this promo. This is some of his best work on the mic in recent memory. He set the stage perfectly for his championship match against Gunther this Sunday.

Match #4: "Big" Bronson Reed vs Braun Strowman

Reed has this cool moment in his entrance where he stomps on the ring steps and the camera zooms in on his foot.

Strowman starts the match with a dropkick! Not a great one, but a dropkick nonetheless.

Reed reps 600 lbs. on the bench press, apparently. Nice stat, Cory.

Crossbody from Strowman! Crossbody from Reed off the ropes! Reed hits a suicide dive onto Strowman! Just put Lucha masks on these guys already.

There's an old-timer shoveling hay somewhere with a tear in his eye, groaning that they're not working like big men.

Back from commercial, Reed gets press slammed off the top rope. Reed is bumping around like a cruiserweight. His athleticism is really impressive.

Both behemoths battle to the back. Reed sets a trap with a trash can behind the curtain. This is a backstage brawl now.

Strowman chokeslams a skinny guy with a WWE shirt (i.e. local talent) through a table. Strowman chokeslams Reed onto a car. He barrels through Reed with a shoulder block that sends Reed sliding backward over a car, landing on the concrete parking lot head first.

That looked really bad. Reed is lucky he didn't break his neck or bust his head open.

They brawl onto some cargo boxes. Reed lays Strowman onto the roof of a car and then scales a tall concrete wall. Oh no.

Reed launches about seven or eight feet off the concrete wall onto Strowman below, busting out the car's windows. That was awesome and an incredible visual, but it felt like a momentum stopper for Reed and came off as excessive.

Finally, Adam Pearce and security show up, but the damage is done. Strowman is pancaked on the roof as Reed hobbles off.

When they come back from break, Pearce and co. are still peeling Strowman off the car.

"I can't feel my fingers," Strowman says.

Pearce responds with easily the best line of the night, screaming to someone off-camera, "He's talking about his fingers!"

You're a treasure, Adam.

Match #5: The Miz vs Xavier Woods vs Pete Dunne

Last tournament match of the night. Let's see who moves on.

Woods is wearing a "SID" black armband. He uses Claudio's big spin on Miz for some reason. Triple-threat matches are infamously difficult to pull off well, but this one is a bit sloppy.

Apparently there's no DQ in these triple-threat matches. That seems like new information.

The finish comes when Dunne hits the Bitter End on Miz.

It didn't seem like Woods had the same energy and snap he usually displays in his offense. He's also been breaking his falls strangely. Perhaps he's dealing with some injuries?

Dunne moves on in the tournament and joins Jey Uso in the second round.

Match #6: Chad Gable vs Uncle Howdy

Gable is out first and getting the requisite Kurt Angle "You suck" chants.

Lights go out. Cue the fireflies, slow piano music, eerie fog--Here come's Uncle Howdy.

Howdy spins around the ring with the lantern then blows it out. The crowd is really into this, continuing to stand on their feet, buzzing as the match kicks off.

Howdy does this funny spot where he holds Gable like a limp dance partner and sways him around the ring. That was brilliant.

Dallas hits a crisp snap powerslam to Gable. Gable powders to the outside, completely bewildered with his opponent.

After commercial, Gable takes advantage and eventually lands an Angle Slam on Howdy atop the announcer's table. Gable takes Howdy up the top rope and nails a head and arm superplex.

Gable attempts his Chaos Theory finisher, but Howdy avoids it and delivers a uranage.

Ivy Nile provides a distraction for Gable to grab an ankle lock. A ref bump and Howdy applies the manidble claw! Nice throwback to Mick Foley.

American Made lay the beatdown on Howdy. Lights go out and the Wyatt Sicks arrive to even the odds!

Gable misses a moonsault then runs right into Sister Abigail. Gable takes the bump right on top of his head and sells it like an absolute legend. Goodnight!

Howdy scores the pinfall.

Howdy/Dallas looked good. His timing was spot on. His moves looked devastating. And, above everything else, he was over with the live audience. WWE has a potential big money hit on their hands with Uncle Howdy and The Wyatt Sicks.

Overall a good Raw tonight. The in-ring action could have been a bit more polished but every segment flowed nicely into the next. One characteristic of Triple H's booking is how lean it is--everything means something and there is rarely any filler.

How do you feel about tonight's Raw? See you next week!

Published |Modified
Dariel Figueroa

DARIEL FIGUEROA

Dariel Figueroa joined On SI and The Takedown in 2024. He previously served as senior features writer at Uproxx, and has written for Heavy, Fansided, and Paste. Figueroa graduated with a double bachelor’s from Rowan University in journalism and multimedia production, respectively. You can follow him on X (fmr. Twitter) @figgyflow.

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