5 Ups & 6 Downs From WWE Raw (22 July - Results & Review)

4. A Different Kind Of Triangle

WWE Raw Drew McIntyre Seth Rollins CM Punk
WWE

No, this isn’t about the Liv Morgan/Dominik Mysterio/Rhea Ripley fiasco.

The rivalry between CM Punk, Drew McIntyre, and Seth Rollins is going to reach a fever pitch in a couple weeks at SummerSlam when Drew and Punk collide with Rollins as the special guest referee. For months, the McIntyre/Punk feud has simmered, boiled over, reheated, and scalded everything in sight, despite Punk being on the sidelines due to his injury. That ended Monday night when he announced that he was medically cleared.

But Raw GM Adam Pearce put a halt to that after seeing the chaos of the opening segment between Gunther and Damian Priest, which flowed nicely and ensured that the first time they truly come to blows will be at the PLE. The segment worked fine to make the match official and set the expectation that this will just be a war of words for a bit longer.

The reveal of Rollins as special ref wasn’t unexpected, and for once, it carries some real heat. Seth has legit gripes with both men, which should lead to some fireworks at SummerSlam. Let’s just hope everything holds together and Punk and McIntyre deliver on this six-month build.

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Contributor

Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.