Monday night’s edition of Raw was a big one for advancing the place of champions and the state of the upcoming Money in the Bank pay-per-view.
World heavyweight champion Seth Rollins has a challenger for Money in the Bank. After Finn Balor couldn’t help himself and interfered in fellow Judgement Day member Damian Priest’s title match with Rollins the previous week, Balor made it official that he would challenge for the belt at the July 1 event in London.
The story of the match draws on the history between Rollins and Balor, which includes Rollins accidentally injuring Balor in their 2016 match to crown the first universal champion. That injury led to Balor having to give up the title less than 24 hours after winning it. Balor cited that moment as Rollins robbing his momentum when he’d reached the mountaintop.
The other major champion on Raw got a championship upgrade. Despite being on Raw, Rhea Ripley held the SmackDown women’s championship after using her Royal Rumble victory to target then-SmackDown champ Charlotte Flair.
On Monday, Ripley was awarded a new championship, the women’s world championship. This pairs with Asuka’s Raw women’s championship recently being renamed to the WWE women’s championship, removing the show branding and establishing the belts more firmly as world titles.
What else happened on WWE Raw?
- Cody Rhodes vs. Dominik Mysterio is official for Money in the Bank after multiple confrontations between the two led to a formal challenge to open the show. During the segment, The Miz snuck in to attack Rhodes, leading to the start of their match.
- Cody Rhodes def. The Miz via pinfall with Cross Rhodes. The match started immediately after Miz’s attack. Mysterio did not remain at ringside after he hit Rhodes with a cheap shot and ran to the back.
- Becky Lynch def. Chelsea Green via submission with the Dis-arm-her. Before the match, Lynch was confronted by Zoey Stark, with Stark saying Lynch can’t beat Trish Stratus and also won’t be able to win Money in the Bank.
- Money in the Bank Qualifying Match — Damian Priest def. Matt Riddle via pinfall with a Razor’s Edge. After the match, Gunther and Imperium came to the ring to further beat down Riddle.
- Indus Sher was interviewed and offered Cedric Alexander and Shelton Benjamin a “real match” after beating down the duo before their planned match last week.
- Bronson Reed def. Ricochet via disqualification after interference by Shinsuke Nakamura.
- Shayna Baszler def. Raquel Rodriguez via pinfall with a roll-up after Ronda Rousey distracted Rodriguez.
- Chad Gable def. Erik via pinfall with a sunset flip. During the match, Valhalla attacked Maxxine Dupri only for Dupri to hit an arm drag, a move Gable was seen teaching Dupri earlier in the night.
- WWE Undisputed Tag Team Championship — Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn (c) def. Imperium (Gunther & Ludwig Kaiser) via pinfall after Zayn hit Kaiser with a blue thunder driver. The match came about after yet another backstage confrontation between the groups. Imperium asked Owens and Zayn if they were confident enough to put their titles on the line, which the champs agreed to do. Matt Riddle came to the ring late in the match, drawing Gunther’s attention and leading to the finish.
