WWE Monday Night Raw Report Card - July 16, 2018

Either Roman Reigns o
Either Roman Reigns or Bobby Lashley will face Brock Lesnar at SummerSlam...

We are now officially on the "Road to SummerSlam" with the conclusion of WWE Extreme Rules on Sunday evening. The main event of SummerSlam was made known almost immediately as General Manager Kurt Angle announced that the winner of two triple threat matches this week would face off and the winner faces Brock Lesnar for the WWE Universal Championship.

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While Extreme Rules was a mixed bag of a pay per view, Lashley defeating Reigns was definitely refreshing. It was also great to see Rusev perform well in his biggest match with AJ Styles for the WWE Championship as that was my match of the night.

Though we are still just under five weeks until SummerSlam, another match was penciled in for the WWE Raw Women's Championship when Alexa Bliss will be forced to put up her title against Ronda Rousey.

As far as Monday Night Raw goes, it was one of the better Raw's in a while, but it was a really low bar. The two triple threat matches really helped that out because those matches were better than almost every match that was on the Extreme Rules card.

As always with my report card series, the best grade that a segment or match can earn is an A+, but on the flip side, the worst grade that can be earned is an F.

We kick things off with General Manager Kurt Angle and six men who think they're worthy to face Brock Lesnar...


#5 Opening segment with Kurt Angle / first triple threat match

The ring filled up
The ring filled up with WWE Superstars wanting a piece of Brock Lesnar...

The evening started out with Kurt Angle demanding a response from Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman coming out to answer. Loved how Angle stood his ground against Heyman and forced Lesnar to defend the WWE Universal Championship at SummerSlam.

One by one, a total of six WWE Superstars came out to the ring to lay their claim to Brock Lesnar at SummerSlam. This led to Angle announcing that there would be two triple threat matches, the winner of each will face each other on Raw next week.

The opening segment was good, but instead of two triple threats, they should have had a Fatal-4-Way with Bobby Lashley, Elias, Drew McIntyre, and Finn Balor and subtracting Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins who lost their matches at Extreme Rules.

GRADE: B

The first triple threat match was between Reigns, McIntyre, and Balor and it was a damn good 22-minute match. The best match of the night.

Ever since Dolph Ziggler won the WWE Intercontinental Championship, I've had this pipe dream that McIntyre would be the one to take the title off of Lesnar, but unfortunately, that logic was not used and Roman Reigns predictably won the match.

Minus the predictability, it was a great match and for that...

GRADE: A

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#4 Bobby Roode is tired of sitting on the sidelines

Bobby Roode
Bobby Roode looked to be the next in line for Dolph Ziggler's WWE Intercontinental Championship...

Dolph Ziggler would come out and brag about winning the Ironman Match against Seth Rollins for the WWE Intercontinental Championship. It's great to see him get a bigger role, the pairing with Drew McIntyre has helped them both out tremendously.

Bobby Roode came out and said he was tired of sitting on the sidelines (didn't have a match at Extreme Rules) and wanted to challenge Ziggler. Even though Ziggler agreed, he snuck in that this was not for his championship.

The match itself was very solid and went for about 15 minutes. Roode would tweak his knee and that was the opening that Ziggler needed to hit a Superkick and get the victory.

GRADE: B

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#3 Ronda Rousey forces Kurt Angle's hand once again

You cou
You could say that Ronda Rousey doesn't look pleased...

Alexa Bliss and Mickie James came out to the ring to gloat as only Bliss and James do after Alexa retained the WWE Raw Women's Championship against Nia Jax in an Extreme Rules Match.

The crowd started to stir part way into the promo as Ronda Rousey was standing in the aisle way of the crowd. Bliss and James tried to escape, but Rousey cut them off at the top of the ramp.

Rousey got a piece of both James and Bliss and was about to break Alexa's arm when Angle came out and added another week to her 30-day suspension from Raw. Very effective segment overall.

GRADE: B+

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#2 Quick Grades for other Monday Night Raw segments

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Sarah Logan in control of Ember Moon...

Mojo Rawley d. Tyler Breeze

The heel push of Mojo Rawley continued, this time against Tyler Breeze (who will be without his tag team partner Fandango for six months). It was a very quick match to put over Rawley some more, and I think he's starting to show promise as a midcard heel. GRADE: C-

Sasha Banks & Bayley v. Dana Brooke and Alicia Fox ends in a double count out

This was more about the angle than the match where Sasha Banks admitted to Bayley that she loves her. I think it's Banks luring Bayley into a false sense of security leading up to a SummerSlam match, at least it was better than those counseling sessions. GRADE: C

B-Team d. The Ascension

Very quick match to put over the B-Team's undefeated streak. We learned that they will face Matt Hardy and Bray Wyatt next week in the title re-match. GRADE: D

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Authors of Pain d. Titus Worldwide

I am not sure what the WWE is thinking with AOP right now. They're not being booked in a matter where people care, and I think they would have been better suited to stay in NXT and feud with the War Raiders. GRADE: D

Sarah Logan d. Ember Moon

The major news story on this match was Logan got her first WWE singles win of her career in what was a decent match to pass the time until Ruby Riott returns. We did get a decent, but quick match here. GRADE: C

#1 Another great triple threat to close Raw

Seth Rollins
Seth Rollins, Elias, and Bobby Lashley compete in the main event...

Roman Reigns won the first triple threat to open Monday Night Raw in spectacular fashion, and Seth Rollins, Elias, and Bobby Lashley did not disappoint in the main event match for their own triple threat.

Rollins hit his patented side kick into the stomp on Elias and it almost seemed like we were going to get a battle of the former Shield members next week, but Lashley would break up the pin at the very last minute.

In the end, Lashley would hit his spear finisher on Elias for the victory, setting up a rematch with Roman Reigns next week. I have a feeling we're not going to get a finish on that match setting up a triple threat at SummerSlam.

GRADE: A-

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