WWE Raw Results: Winners, Grades, Reaction and Highlights from July 18
WWE Raw Results: Winners, Grades, Reaction and Highlights from July 18
Welcome to Bleacher Report's coverage and recap of WWE Raw on July 18.
Following the events of last week's show, Carmella was given another shot at the Raw women's title against Bianca Belair on Monday.
We also heard from Logan Paul as he continues his feud with his WrestleMania tag team partner, The Miz.
The biggest party of the summer is right around the corner on July 30, so WWE is in full planning mode.
Let's look at what went down on this episode of Raw.
Bianca Belair vs. Carmella
After Titus O'Neil delivered a speech about WWE to open the show, Becky Lynch came to the ring for a promo. She was soon joined by Belair and Carmella, which led to a fight before we went to the first break.
Belair was down when the commercial started, so Carmella had a slight advantage when the match began. It took a minute, but The EST regained her composure and started dominating Mella.
Lynch sat with the commentary team and talked a lot of trash. Mella ended up using some dirty trick to get an unfair advantage again, but Belair kept finding ways to survive.
The EST ended up scoring the win with the K.O.D. to cap off a solid match. We certainly didn't need to see this again, but they worked well and made this feel different from their previous encounters.
Winner: Bianca Belair
Grade: B-
Notable Moments and Observations
- O'Neil did a good job with the speech, but it would have meant more if the owner of the company was not currently under investigation.
- Belair always looks great. Her jacket this week was unique but also matched her gear perfectly. A lot of pro wrestlers are turning into style icons.
- The way Carmella dumped Bianca onto the steps from inside the ring looked nasty in a good way. Belair sold it perfectly.
- Belair catching Mella as she jumped off the rope and then turning it into a beautiful vertical suplex is a testament to both women's skill. It takes two to do stuff like that, and Mella made it work just as much as Belair.
Rey Mysterio vs. Damian Priest
Following another edition of "The Kevin Owens Show" with Riddle as an invited guest and Seth Rollins as an uninvited guest, we saw Rey Mysterio take on Damian Priest.
The match got started during the break, so we returned to see Mysterio in control as he hit a slingshot splash for a two-count. Priest quickly turned the tables with a punch and several kicks in the corner.
Both men used their strengths to their advantage. Priest would have short bursts of offense based on his power, and Mysterio would counter that with his high-flying arsenal.
While it's always fun to watch a living legend like Mysterio do his thing, most of this match felt very paint-by-numbers. It was good, but not memorable. After a few close calls, Priest was able to get the win with his version of a Razor's Edge.
Dominik ended up agreeing to join Judgment Day as long as they stopped attacking his father with a chair after the match. They turned him down and beat him with the chair instead.
Winner: Damian Priest
Grade: B-
Notable Moments and Observations
- Mysterio's gear was the exact same shade of green that Nickelodeon uses for its slime.
- It's starting to feel like WWE has lost some of the faith it had in Dominik. He has not been wrestling on TV nearly as much as he used to.
- Rey does so many things with more precision than should be possible. His skills might qualify as a sixth sense because he just always knows how to be in the right place at the right time with every move.
Ezekiel vs. Seth Rollins
After appearing earlier during "The KO Show," Rollins ended up in a match with Ezekiel. While it may have been a competitive exchange, Zeke controlled most of the first couple of minutes.
The longer the match went, the more Rollins began to take over. He came close to hitting the Stomp right after a commercial break, but Zeke avoided it. However, he was unable to avoid it a few minutes later. Rollins was able to get the win after a decent back-and-forth fight.
Zeke might not win all of his matches, but getting the chance to show off more of his physical abilities than he ever did when he was Elias has opened a lot of eyes to how talented he is.
Winner: Seth Rollins
Grade: B
Notable Moments and Observations
- The stuff with Corey Graves always mocking Byron Saxton hasn't been funny in a long time. It was especially noticeable during this show.
- The way Rollins crotched Zeke on the top turnbuckle looked legitimately painful.
- The way Zeke picked Rollins up into an electric chair position was an impressive bit of power. He just stood right up like it was nothing.
Omos and MVP vs. Street Profits
We have been seeing The Usos and Street Profits in singles and tag matches for the past several weeks, so it was nice to get a change of pace with Omos taking on Angelo Dawkins.
Unfortunately, the match ended by disqualification after just a couple of minutes when MVP tripped Dawkins and the ref saw it. Adam Pearce came out and turned it into a tag team match instead.
The Profits ended up winning by DQ after The Usos attacked them. This led to Montez Ford and Angelo Dawkins being taken out by Jimmy, Jey and Omos.
This was all right but not up to par with the other performances we have seen from the Profits in recent months.
Winners: The Street Profits
Grade: C
Notable Moments and Observations
- Pearce is the new Teddy Long, and it's great.
- The gear Omos has been wearing lately is much better than his old stuff. It's simple but unique to him in many ways.
- You almost forget how tall Dawkins is until you see him next to a giant like Omos. Dawkins is a big dude.
AJ Styles vs. Theory
Theory came to the ring and spoke about how he would cash in his briefcase at SummerSlam, but AJ Styles soon interrupted him. This led to a match after a break while Dolph Ziggler watched from ringside.
As anyone would expect with these two competitors, this match had a quick pace and felt more competitive than most of the other bouts from this show. Both guys looked great.
As annoying as Theory is on the mic, he has the physical aspect of this business down. When he is on offense, he looks good. When he is on defense, he sells well. His character is just grating at this point.
Ziggler nailed Theory with a superkick while the ref had his back turned, and it led to Styles getting a count-out win. The ending was not ideal, but everything leading to it was solid.
Winner: AJ Styles
Grade: B+
Notable Moments and Observations
- You can tell Ziggler is a babyface now because he shaved.
- Yes, that is a joke.
- Do you remember that thing from the Mysterio vs. Priest section about Mysterio being so precise? Copy and paste that here about Styles.
- The vertical suplex into a neckbreaker that Styles used looked perfect.
Asuka, Brooke and Bliss vs. A.S.H., Tamina and Doudrop
A six-woman tag match took place with Asuka, Dana Brooke and Alexa Bliss taking on Nikki A.S.H., Doudrop and Tamina.
About two minutes into the bout, Akira Tozawa appeared from under the ring and pinned Brooke to win the 24/7 title. Nikki pinned him to win the title, and then Bliss pinned her to win the belt. Doudrop immediately hit a crossbody to win it for herself before Tamina superkicked her to take it from her.
Brooke rolled her up to win it back before she ran away to the back. Even though Bliss pinned Nikki for the title, it apparently did not stop the six-woman tag match. This allowed Asuka to win with an armbar on Nikki.
This was a mess and not funny at all. If they aren't going to give us R-Truth, then the 24/7 stuff needs to stop.
Winners: Asuka, Brooke and Bliss
Grade: F
'Miz TV' with Logan Paul
The Miz hosted an episode of "Miz TV," but he was also joined by Logan Paul. He told Paul he was trying to teach him a lesson at WrestleMania, but Paul wasn't having it.
They went back and forth with their own verbal jabs as things got tenser, but The Miz kept turning down Paul's challenge until Paul mocked his tiny balls. That made The A-Lister accept the fight out of anger.
He tried to attack the social media star, but Paul sent him out of the ring. Ciampa attacked Paul from behind and held him for The Miz to take a free shot. Paul kicked him away and rolled out of the ring to avoid it.
This was neither great nor terrible. It was what it needed to be, but there might be mixed reactions to it among fans.
Grade: C
Notable Moments and Observations
- Say what you want about The Miz, but he knows how to put people over on the mic.
- Can we stop with the tiny ball jokes? If this show is going back to TV-14, we are probably in for a lot more of this kind of humor.