The July 22, 2019 Edition of RAW is a Professional wrestling television show of the WWE's RAW brand which took place on July 22, 2019 at Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida.
Summary[]
The largest reunion in Raw history began with a familiar if somewhat surprising face: 16-time World Champion John Cena made an unannounced appearance to kick off Raw Reunion, and The Cenation Leader was alternately bemused at the friendly reception, excited for the Legends slated to return and happy to return to his “family,” as he called the WWE Universe during the choked-up final moments of his address. He also gleefully traded a couple of bars with The Usos when the erstwhile battle-rappers hit the scene and called him out moments later, but what was shaping up to be a four-man dance alongside Jimmy & Jey’s father Rikishi was spoiled by the arrival of Raw Tag Team Champions The Revival, who emerged for their bout with The Usos with D-Von Dudley in tow. And with that, Raw Reunion was off.
Fittingly, the first match of Raw Reunion was a throwback in every sense of the word: In the ring were The Revival and The Usos, continuing the kind of old-school tag team rivalry that both tandems made their bones off of. Around the ring were the teams’ enforcers, famous tag team veterans — D-Von Dudley backed up the Raw Tag Team Champions, while Rikishi flanked his sons at ringside. And at commentary was Booker T, the two-time Hall of Famer who cut his teeth as one half of Harlem Heat in WCW.
That’s pretty much the ideal scenario for The Revival, who proudly idolize and emulate classic duos like The Enforcers. Unfortunately for the champs, they ended up on the wrong end of this one when Scott Dawson found himself distracted by a faceoff between D-Von and Rikishi at ringside, leaving him vulnerable to a superkick and the Double Uce. Thrilled with their win, Jimmy & Jey posed with their father in the ring, leaving the WWE Universe with the image of two generations of a legendary dynasty united in victory. That's about as old school as it gets, too.
Last week, Cedric Alexander shocked the world by defeating Drew McIntyre. The towering Scot made sure the former WWE Cruiserweight Champion wouldn’t even have an opportunity to do so again, as he exited the ring to attack Alexander halfway up the ramp before the bell. Alexander landed a few blows — that moonsault to the floor was gorgeous — but McIntyre simply would not tolerate any further embarrassment, driving his rival into the ring post before executing the reverse Alabama Slam he had been denied the previous week. The Scot added a sinister twist to the maneuver, sending Alexander careening face-first into the ring in a clear message that insubordination will not be tolerated, and any instance in which McIntyre is made a fool of will be repaid with punishment.
After weeks of running through hapless local competitors, The Viking Raiders have moved on to more prestigious fare: Erik & Ivar’s latest conquest was none other than Zack Ryder & Curt Hawkins, who are just a couple of weeks removed from being Raw Tag Team Champions but were nowhere near ready for the unpredictable attack from the former NXT Tag Team Champions. Despite Ryder & Hawkins wisely beginning the match with a flurry of offense, the Raiders turned the tables and ended the fight almost immediately thereafter with the Viking Experience to Hawkins. Even Christian, who sat in on commentary (Lilian Garcia handled ring-announcing duties), had to give the Raiders their props — not that the Erik & Ivar seem too concerned with racking up endorsements: There are enemies to crush, and Valhalla looms large in the distance.
A lot of people seemed to enjoy The Usos and Rikishi rubbing shoulders with John Cena at the beginning of Raw Reunion. Samoa Joe saw a cheap nostalgia ploy that took the spotlight off of Superstars like himself, but at least one Superstar took exception to that characterization: Roman Reigns, a proud member and defender of the same Anoa’i dynasty as The Usos and Rikishi, emerged with an ominous message for The Samoan Submission Machine: “We’re from the same island. You know what happens next.”
What happened next was a cheap-shot and savage mugging inflicted by Joe against the former Universal Champion, at least until The Big Dog landed a nasty Superman Punch. Joe seemed content to fight another day after that, but Reigns called him a coward and goaded him into a match. Joe certainly proved his in-ring skill with an extended dismantling of Reigns’ left shoulder; if anything saved Roman, it was his simple refusal to stay down. The Big Dog kicked out of several pin attempts and escaped the Coquina Clutch by sending his foe tumbling through the ropes. Joe rushed the ring quickly in response, but his overzealousness got the better of him: Reigns launched himself full-bore into a Spear just as Joe got to his feet, chopping the big man down to seal a victory for himself and, more importantly, his family.
It takes a lot to get Paul Heyman to trip over his words, but Seth Rollins figured out a way to do it. Appearing on a “Miz TV” interview to hype his SummerSlam title bout with Universal Champion Brock Lesnar, Rollins presented the theory that The Beast Incarnate is a pale imitation of Rollins himself. Paul Heyman appeared on the TitanTron in a flustered fury, getting more riled up by the second as The Kingslayer doubled down on his insults. Rollins’ eventual request that Heyman back up his talk with action proved enough to drive The Advocate away — Heyman scurried back behind the curtain when Rollins threatened to attack — but it was what he said once Heyman had gone that seemingly hit the hardest: “Brock Lesnar isn’t a conqueror; Brock Lesnar isn’t a beast; Brock Lesnar is a man, and any man can lose.” It’s not quite a prediction, and it may not even be a spoiler. It is, however, a fact: Brock Lesnar can lose. Whether he does? That's a different story.
It takes a lot to get Paul Heyman to trip over his words, but Seth Rollins figured out a way to do it. Appearing on a “Miz TV” interview to hype his SummerSlam title bout with Universal Champion Brock Lesnar, Rollins presented the theory that The Beast Incarnate is a pale imitation of Rollins himself. Paul Heyman appeared on the TitanTron in a flustered fury, getting more riled up by the second as The Kingslayer doubled down on his insults. Rollins’ eventual request that Heyman back up his talk with action proved enough to drive The Advocate away — Heyman scurried back behind the curtain when Rollins threatened to attack — but it was what he said once Heyman had gone that seemingly hit the hardest: “Brock Lesnar isn’t a conqueror; Brock Lesnar isn’t a beast; Brock Lesnar is a man, and any man can lose.” It’s not quite a prediction, and it may not even be a spoiler. It is, however, a fact: Brock Lesnar can lose. Whether he does? That's a different story.
Are AJ Styles, Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson — the nefarious trio now calling themselves The O.C., as in "Original Club" — truly the most dominant group on Raw? It might be true these days, but the good brothers certainly got put in their place by a pair of dominant factions during The Phenomenal One’s bout against Seth Rollins. The proceedings — which featured Jerry "The King" Lawler as guest commentator — were interrupted by Triple H & Shawn Michaels, who evened the odds in DX garb. The O.C. threw caution to the wind, and AJ took a disqualification loss when Gallows & Anderson jumped Rollins in the middle of the match rather than allow Styles to potentially suffer the Stomp.
The O.C., sensing kindred spirits that could be swayed, attempted to win over DX with a Too Sweet in the middle of the ring. In fairness, the tactic worked for Gallows & Anderson at Raw 25, but tonight, they received a DX chop and a hockey fight in response. When Styles, Gallows & Anderson regrouped at ringside, Road Dogg and X-Pac emerged from behind the curtain, as did Kevin Nash and Razor Ramon in nWo gear. It was, as Dogg said, The O.C.s vs. The O.G.s, and in this case, the former didn’t want none. They did, however, get something as they made their retreat: The two famous words, delivered by Rollins himself.
At least one WWE Hall of Famer’s homecoming wasn’t such a joyous affair: Mick Foley found himself victimized by Bray Wyatt before he could even get a word in edgewise, save for a brief mention of the night’s shenanigans involving the 24/7 Championship. (More on that later.) The Hardcore Legend had just started to elaborate on his favorite Raw memory (winning his first WWE Championship on the red brand in January 1999) when the lights cut out; once they flickered back on, Bray Wyatt was in the middle of the ring, his “Hurt” glove raised ominously in front of his mask. The Fiend quickly struck by locking in a macabre imitation of Foley’s own Mandible Claw on the Hall of Famer, bringing the legend down to the mat before fading once again into the black.
Was last week’s harsh confrontation between Raw Women’s Champion Becky Lynch and Natalya a heat-of-the-moment spat in the name of early momentum, or was it something deeper finally boiling to the surface? All signs point to the latter, as Lynch and Natalya came to blows when The Queen of Harts crashed Becky’s interview on “A Moment of Bliss.” Old grudges quickly came to the forefront, from their shared history in Japan years ago to Lynch’s reminder that she took the Raw Women’s Championship from Natalya’s “MMA pal” and was set to embarrass her in her home country at SummerSlam. Natalya countered that she was about to embarrass the champion then and there, and she threw hands to instigate a brawl that was quickly separated by WWE officials while the WWE Universe chanted “Let them fight.” Only three weeks until they do.
With so many Legends and Hall of Famers in the house for Raw Reunion, it was all but guaranteed that a few of them would try their hand at the 24/7 Championship. True to form, the returnees did not disappoint, and the championship changed hands a grand total of nine times throughout the night. First up was Drake Maverick, who pinned R-Truth to win the title after his wife Renee Michelle distracted the titleholder in a backstage confrontation.
Unfortunately, Maverick tripped over his own luggage after running afoul of The Boogeyman in the locker room, leaving himself open to a pinfall by Pat Patterson, who became the first Hall of Fame 24/7 Champion. Gerald Brisco relieved his old ally of the title during a commercial break, only to be kneed below the belt and pinned by Kelly Kelly, marking the first female 24/7 Champion. So far, so normal (relatively speaking), but things got particularly strange after that.
Kelly was then defeated by Candice Michelle (Melina counted the pin, having apparently earned a referee’s license), but Alundra Blayze swiftly submitted Candice to win the title. When the Hall of Famer made her way onto the stage and over to the announce desk, she attempted to throw the championship in the trash can — replicating the most infamous moment of her career — but she was stopped at the last moment by “The Million Dollar Man,” who bought the title off of her in an echo of one of his infamous purchases. Maverick reclaimed the title by apparently pinning DiBiase in his limo, at which point the traditional mob came calling. Maverick evaded his pursuers long enough to return to the limo, where Truth rolled him up (with a timely assist from Carmella) and made his getaway in the limo, with the title — and Renee Michelle — in tow.
“Don’t blink; this ain’t gonna last long,” Braun Strowman promised before squaring up against local competitor Randy Rowe, and The Monster Among Men proved to be accurate in his prediction: Strowman tossed his helpless opponent around the ring a couple of times, hoisted him into the lights with a one-handed chokeslam, and that was that.
What was Raw Reunion, at the end of the day? If you ask one Superstar in particular, it was a family reunion — and the man in question was never known for his sentimentality: None other than “Stone Cold” Steve Austin closed out the biggest reunion in Raw history, following up an emotional speech by Hulk Hogan with a thank-you to the Legends on stage, the crew who helped assemble the arena, and the WWE Universe in attendance and at home, all of whom are members of the WWE family as far as The Rattlesnake is concerned.
That meant Raw Reunion was a celebration for all of them, and Austin expressed his gratitude for everyone who made it happen. And as with most family reunions, things ended with a couple of cold ones, as the WWE Hall of Famer retrieved a cooler of Steveweisers, which he cracked open and shared with his fellow Superstars in the ring as Raw Reunion went off the air. It was a familiar image, comforting and classic, just like the old days. It was a good night to be in the family.
Results[]
- Numbers in parentheses indicate the length of the match.
- (c) refers to the champion(s) heading into the match.
- The Usos (Jey Uso & Jimmy Uso) (w/ Rikishi) defeated The Revival (Dash Wilder & Scott Dawson) (w/ D-Von Dudley) (7:50)
- Drake Maverick defeated R-Truth (c) to win the WWE 24-7 Championship
- Pat Patterson defeated Drake Maverick (c) to win the WWE 24-7 Championship
- The Viking Raiders (Erik & Ivar) defeated Curt Hawkins & Zack Ryder (2:40)
- Jerry Brisco defeated Pat Patterson (c) to win the WWE 24-7 Championship
- Kelly Kelly defeated Jerry Brisco (c) to win the WWE 24-7 Championship
- Roman Reigns defeated Samoa Joe (5:35)
- Candice Michelle defeated Kelly Kelly (c) to win the WWE 24-7 Championship
- Alundra Blayze defeated Candice Michelle (c) to win the WWE 24-7 Championship
- Rey Mysterio defeated Sami Zayn (5:00)
- "The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase bought the WWE 24-7 Championship from Alundra Blayze (c) to win the WWE 24-7 Championship
- Seth Rollins defeated A.J. Styles (w/ Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson) by DQ
- Drake Maverick defeated Ted DiBiase (c) to win the WWE 24-7 Championship
- R-Truth defeated Drake Maverick (c) to win the WWE 24-7 Championship
- Braun Strowman defeated Randy Rowe (0:41)
Other on-screen talent[]
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WWE Legends
- Steve Austin
- Jimmy Hart
- Hulk Hogan
- Alundra Blayze
- Candice Michelle
- Jillian Hall
- D-Von Dudley
- Eve Torres
- The Boogeyman
- Jerry Brisco
- Pat Patterson
- Ron Simmons
- Ted DiBiase
- Rob Van Dam
- The Hurricane
- Kaitlyn
- Eric Bischoff
- Kelly Kelly
- Kurt Angle
- Ric Flair
- Melina
- Mick Foley
- Torrie Wilson
- Rikishi
- Santino Marella
- Sgt. Slaughter
- John Cena
- Mark Henry
- The Godfather
- Triple H
- Shawn Michaels
- X-Pac
- Road Dogg
- Scott Hall
- Kevin Nash