WWE Raw: 4 shockers & surprises from the night after Extreme Rules (July 15, 2019)

Raw opened up in grand fashion as we once again welcomed back Brock Lesnar on the show he’d been missing from for most of his first Universal Championship reign.

The three-time Universal Champion took center stage as Paul Heyman hyped his client throughout the segment while revealing the men who will battle in the Battle Royal later in the night.

The middle part of the show also gave us the challenger for the Raw Women’s Championship for SummerSlam. Apart from that, there were a number of interesting segments and surprising moments during the show which kept us captivated throughout.

In this article, we will look at the 4 shocking moments and surprises that the first episode of Raw after Extreme Rules threw at us.

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#4 The Miz & Dolph Ziggler

Miz TV returned to Raw and brought in Dolph Ziggler as its guest. Ziggler returned to WWE some weeks with a bang but was unsuccessful in defeating WWE Champion Kofi Kingston at Stomping Grounds and Kevin Owens at Extreme Rules.

The Showoff asked Miz if everything he has done to kiss a** and represent WWE was worth it to be left off the pay-per-view. In return, Miz spoke about Kevin Owens beating Ziggler in merely 17 seconds.

After a few exchanges, Miz unloaded on his longtime rival, and we seem to surprisingly have yet another rivalry between Miz and Ziggler working up into the midcard.

While these two have had good feuds in the past, there is currently no way they can sell this off without any heat or without a championship on the line. Miz has lost few too many matches recently, while Ziggler is on a losing spree of his own.

Both veterans should not be competing against each other for one to come out on top at this point in their career when neither has been able to get back to the top this year.

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#3 The Battle Royal participants

Jumping off Brock Lesnar’s surprise win on Sunday, WWE wasted little time in deciding his challenger for SummerSlam, which is just a month away.

While we could have waited for another week for the challenger to be crowned as Paul Heyman would have gotten a chance to over glorify his client, but that wasn’t given a chance.

A Battle Royal was announced for Monday Night Raw, but what was surprising were the participants of the match. Four of the ten participants, Bobby Lashley, Cesaro, Rey Mysterio, and Baron Corbin, were fresh of losses while Randy Orton just returned to competition.

Baron Corbin’s name was even more surprising because he was fresh off a loss in a Universal Championship match and the match was supposed to be his final chance, at least for some time.

Instead, WWE could have just picked the winners from Sunday and added Rollins to the mix to have a five men elimination match between Braun Strowman, Big E, Aleister Black, and Roman Reigns.

#2 Cedric Alexander’s big win

If you’ve been following Cedric Alexander’s journey since his days in 205 Live and as then his reign as the Cruiserweight Champion, then you know exactly what this man is all about.

After being pulled onto the main roster, Alexander was made a part of ordinary matches, the 24/7 Championship drama, and some battle royals. Only last week on Raw did he manage to become part of a major match, but he fought as someone else.

This week, however, Alexander got his biggest main roster match to date as himself as he faced Drew McIntyre in singles competition. While we expected McIntyre to make quick work of the smaller superstar, Alexander performed his heart out and shocked everyone with a surprise victory.

McIntyre’s recent losing streak is embarrassing, keeping in mind that he is built as a heel who can overcome anyone and anything.

Alexander’s shocking victory will hopefully help him gain prominence on the main roster and won’t just be a one-off victory.

#1 Return of Bray Wyatt

WWE questionably booked Samoa Joe and Finn Balor in a singles match on Monday Night Raw. Both men were fresh off championship match losses, and neither could really afford another loss just 24 hours later.

However, WWE allowed Balor to take the pinfall at the hands of Joe and then let Balor avenge his loss by beating down Joe.

What happened after the beatdown was what mattered, as Bray Wyatt finally made his surprise return to the ring after a very long time.

The lights dimmed as Balor celebrated his victory. When they came back up, The Fiend persona of Bray Wyatt dropped Balor with Sister Abigail.

The babyface Balor seems to be the perfect first victim for The Fiend as the crowd’s reaction to Wyatt’s actions spoke volumes as everyone was surprised at what had just happened.

The only complaint we have is why WWE had to book Balor to lose in a match before The Fiend to appear and not do it in some other way.