Raw airs tonight (July 4) with a live show from Pechanga Arena in San Diego, California. This is the first Raw episode during the four week build towards SummerSlam, coming up on July 30.
There’s a reason why Theory won the Money in the Bank 2022
WWF took their audience by surprise this year when they added a popular tag team to the men’s ladder match just moments before the match started, who ended up winning and now automatically gets a title shot whenever he wants one for the next year. Theory teamed with Brickhouse to win Money in the Bank.
With a limited amount of time before their next big WWE PPV (Money in the Bank), it seems likely that WWE made this booking decision to move forward with theory to fail his cash-in attempt on Roman Reigns.
Reigns has been a top champion on SmackDown for almost two consecutive years. Reigns also held the last two Money in the Bank contracts during his run. However, now that Reigns unified the WWE titles and is the WWE Universal Champion, the Money in the Bank contract is a booking inconvenience. WWE has big plans for Roman at WrestleMania 39, and he remains unlikely to drop the title before then. That means the Money in the Bank will probably fail this year’s cash-in attempt.
Roman Reigns is pretty much sure to win the Royal Rumble match, and Drew McIntyre or Seth Rollins could hurt their push if they win the contract. Problem is, Sami Zayn has little-to-no chance of beating Roman for the WWE Championship, which might translate in an “Underdog Reigns Wins!” situation. There’s still a compelling reason to believe that Vince McMahon will be on board with Theory eventually.
John Cena is not advertised for any upcoming WWE dates, and the match between him and Theory has been rumored for a while. This raises questions about that match taking place, as well as if Theory will be involved with SummerSlam at all.
Lesnar has recently lost two matches to Reigns in the past year, but isn’t expected to win tonight. The only way that Lesnar might protect himself is for Theory to cash in on both men when they are down and make the match a triple threat with a Last Man Standing rule. That scenario doesn’t mesh well with a ‘Last Man Standing’ rule, however WWE can always change the rules on the fly if needed.
Vince McMahon is reportedly scheduled to give Theory a huge push tonight. Will he announce the new champion as well?
The rest of the title
Bianca Belair retained her Raw Women’s Championship at Money in the Bank, and Carmella attacked her after the match. The feud between these two will continue, so it will either happen tonight or next week on Raw. A rematch during a time that Carmella isn’t booked for a singles event would make more sense than an action-packed show like SummerSlam.
Bob Lashley defeated Theory at Money in the Bank and is now the #1 ranked active men’s singles champion on Raw. With Roman Reigns not in the title picture, it makes The All Mighty #1 in that division. The briefcase holder Theory may want to for a rematch if he hasn’t already moved on.
Despite the controversial victory, The Usos still retain their WWE tag team titles after prevailing over Street Profits at Money in the Bank. It’s just a question of time before a rematch takes place. It’s likely but is contingent upon SummerSlam and the potential dissolution of Street Profits.
Dana made up for Dash’s week last Wednesday.
Logan Paul signed a contract with WWE and will be coming after WWE‘s little man, Miz.
Tonight at SummerSlam, we’ll be seeing a tag team match between The Judgment Day, Finn Balor and Damian Priest, to convince Dominik of the fact that his father is unfit for leadership. Beyond The Edge will return soon to take revenge on them.
– Liv Morgan won a Money in the Bank contract and defeated Ronda Rousey to become the SmackDown women’s champion. Will she appear on Raw tonight to celebrate her big moment, or is that being saved for later this week on the blue brand?
– Kevin Owens is not set to appear on Monday night’s Raw and it isn’t clear if he will.
– Because WWE sprinkled a little bait onto the Seth Rollins-Matt Riddle feud last week, it looks like the Original Bro will have another opportunity to execute his brutal finisher on the NXT Champion.
– It is being assumed by many that Becky Lynch will get a rematch for the title with Bianca Belair at a stadium show. SummerSlam is a stadium show, but Big Time Becks might have to deal with Asuka first before getting back into the title picture.
-Omos may have been the least talented pro-wrestling star in the WWE Money in the Bank ladder match, but it really didn’t affect his performance. As of now, WWE has no thoughts of giving up on him just yet, so expect to see Omos beat up on another opponent tonight.
Alexa Bliss spends her time these days talking to a doll that buys her things using the WWE credit card.
