7 Ups & 6 Downs For WWE Raw (21 July - Results & Review)

Last week, WWE charged ahead with SummerSlam just a few weeks away, lining up matches for the big two-night event.

Monday night, Raw fleshed out some of those matches a bit more and lined up a couple more as the company’s biggest show of the summer looms on the horizon.

Raw offered up more goodness from the women, with Becky Lynch and Lyra Valkyria setting the stakes for their Women’s Intercontinental Championship match, and Iyo Sky and Stephanie Vaquer reminding fans of what pairings and programs still have yet to be fully realized. CM Punk and Gunther set measured expectations for their clash, while AJ Styles continued to hone his comedic chops by showing up wherever Dominik Mysterio appeared.

The biggest appearance, though, clearly was Roman Reigns, who delivered one of his more meaningful promos in some time, though it sandwiched a disappointing turn on the mic by Bron Breakker.

Raw fell victim to a couple of bad booking tropes and some confusing decisions regarding characters, but the show managed to avoid serious pitfalls.

SummerSlam on the Raw side is shaping up decently, though WWE needs to stick the landing next week on the Women’s World Championship feud since there’s a new champ in Naomi. The expected tag match pitting Roman and Jey Uso against Breakker and Bronson Reed might survive on Reigns’ aura alone. And Punk/Gunther is a roll of the dice when it comes to the best outcome versus managed expectations.

Let’s get to it…