It’s WWE Raw featuring an IC Title match between Bron Breakker and Sami Zayn, Rhea Ripley opens the show, and more.
I thought last week’s episode of Raw was arguably the best episode of the year, I gave it a 9 out of 10, so we’ll see how WWE responds. There are a lot of storylines with big names, which makes it a fun time to watch the show and rate it.
This is the Raw Deal for episode #1629 of Monday Night Raw. It takes place at the Moody Center in Austin, Texas. Follow me on Twitter/X @johnreport. Let’s get started.
There was a recap video of last week’s great episode of Raw.
They showed some new additions earlier in the day to set up the later match between Bron Breakker and Sami Zayn.
Michael Cole and Pat McAfee commentated on the show. The Raw in Austin is sold out.
Let’s hear from Rhea Ripley
Rhea Ripley took the stage to huge applause as she is now in full babyface mode. Ripley said she had a lot of time to figure out exactly what happened at SummerSlam. Ripley said she relived it and felt every possible emotion one can feel. Ripley said she was embarrassed and heartbroken, but right now she feels like she’s pissed as hell. Ripley fired off at Dominik, saying he stabbed her in the back but not deep enough, which he’s heard before. Ripley reminded Liv Morgan that she’s Rhea Bloody Ripley and then comes the interruption.
Liv Morgan, the world champion women’s soccer player, sat in the cheap seats with “Daddy” Dominik Mysterio. This led to Dominik, wearing his wedding ring, trying to explain why he left Ripley, but the fans booed him heavily. Dominik said he was a man and deserved to be treated like one, so the fans chanted “you suck” to him. Dominik said Ripley tried to change him instead of letting Dom be himself. Dominik claimed Ripley bossed him around, which was embarrassing. Dominik said he now has a girl who calls him “Daddy.” Dominik said she gives him tendies (chicken tenders), she lets him play video games, and she lets him be himself. Dominik told Ripley she did something Ripley never helped him do – finally beat his work-shy father.
Ripley responded by saying she was proud of Dominik. Ripley said she was proud of what Dominik has accomplished over the past few years and that one of her greatest accomplishments was watching him grow into the man he is today. Ripley told him he won gold and accomplished so much. Ripley wanted Dominik to beat his father on his own merits so there was no excuse when he beat him. Ripley told Dominik this was the last decision he would ever make.
Morgan said it was true that Ripley said Dominik was a man and all hers. Morgan ripped Ripley off because her real family was hundreds of miles away and her family on Judgement Day – Liv – took her. Morgan said Dominik was hers and the women’s world title was hers. Morgan said this women’s division was hers. Morgan said everything Ripley loved was hers.
Ripley told Morgan to shut the fuck up. Ripley said Morgan took her weak points. Ripley told Morgan she was going to go after her and Liv had to kill her to stop her. Ripley talked about finding her again and then Damian Priest showed up with a loud bang. Priest fought with Dominik with punches and they went downstairs while Ripley went upstairs to go after Morgan.
Priest hit Dominik over the ringside barrier. They went into the ring where Priest tried to chokeslam Dominik, but Carlito was there and hit Priest in the back. Priest clotheslined Carlito out of the ring and that led to a break.
Analysis: That was a long speech segment, but it was good that Ripley showed that she can handle herself very well as a babyface who has the full support of the fans. Morgan is also really good in her role as a villain, while Dominik always gets in trouble for everything he says. The storyline works really well. Morgan also made a good argument for taking everything away from Ripley, so at least what Liv said made sense. I like how they set it up so that Damian Priest was there to attack Dominik and end the segment on a high note. It looks like they are setting up a mixed tag with the babyface team of Priest & Ripley against Dominik & Liv. That should be fun.
(Commercially)
