Tonight’s show preview is a little intriguing. Shane McMahon is visiting RAW for unspecified reasons. A new faction is due to arrive. Drew McIntyre and Randy Orton have a face to face. Asuka is likely to be out for Sasha Banks and Bayley’s blood after last week. And the whole thing kicks off with Apollo Crews versus MVP for the United States Championship.

I’m Amanda and this is the RAW review.

Match Results

Apollo Crews def. MVP

Ruby Riott & Liv Morgan def. The IIconics

Akira Tozawa def. R-Truth and Shelton Benjamin

Sasha Banks vs Shayna Baszler – No Contest

Angel Garza def. Angelo Dawkins

Andrade def. Montez Ford – Referee’s Stoppage

The Show

♦ There were some issues with the lights during the commentary intro. It was explained away as a problem in the tv truck. It happened again during Crews’ entrance for Apollo Crews vs MVP – United States Championship match – Bobby Lashley and Shelton Benjamin accompanied MVP to the ring. Sadly, there was no power issue during MVP’s pre-match rant, but at least it was short. Apollo Crews got to take everyone out with a somersault over the top rope going into the break, which was fair since Lashley and Benjamin had just pulled MVP out of the ring. Decent opening match. Apollo Crews got the win with a powerbomb but had to run to escape the clutches of Lashley and Benjamin.

Crews had a very upbeat interview with Charly Caruso backstage. He’s going to hang the old title belt on the wall of his kids’ bedroom.

MVP shouted about the flickering lights and called it unsafe working conditions. He said Crews should be ashamed of himself for taking advantage when he was distracted by the technical issues. He wants a rematch, and he wants it at SummerSlam.

♦ We were shown a shot of a door being guarded and told there was something going on that was the brainchild of Shane McMahon.

♦ Sarah Schreiber asked Bayley and Sasha Banks if they were going to defend any of their belts at SummerSlam. Instead of answering they showed footage of what happened last week with a voiceover saying Bayley beating up Kairi Sane to cost Asuka the title was their plan all long. The footage finished with a clip of Asuka. She yelled a lot and said, ‘Revenge will be very very sweet’.

They were outraged but Shayna Baszler interrupted their tantrum. She said she has a problem. Banks snaked her way to the RAW Women’s Championship, and Baszler has waited long enough for her shot. Then she punched Banks to the floor.

♦ The IIconics asked Kevin Owens if they could guest on the KO Show. He agreed they’d be great guests, but not tonight because he already has guests. When he got to the ring, he mentioned Shane McMahon only to say he wasn’t going to talk about him, then brought out Ruby Riott. In a segment plagued with mic dropouts, they talked about Riott’s run of bad luck and the bullying from The IIconics. She said that the only thing that would have made last week’s victory better was if Liv Morgan was there to celebrate with her. In response, Owens brought Morgan out. He’d convinced her to hear Riott out, but Morgan was clearly defensive. Owens talked to them about how important their friendship is, and told them he’s done a lot of crappy things to a lot of people and lost a lot of friends. It was always for his career, but he doesn’t know if it was worth it.

Riott said everything was different when she came back. Liv was different and Riott was scared she didn’t need her anymore. She took it out on her and she’s sorry. She talked about the tattoo they all got of their debut date and it all got a bit tearful. But before Morgan could say anything The IIconics came out. They went on and on about how great they are and how rubbish Morgan and Riott are. Liv Morgan said she and Ruby weren’t friends like them, but one thing they’d always agree on was no one started a riot like them.

Peyton Royce slapped Kevin Owens when he asked for more technical difficulties, but only for The IIconics’ mics, and when he asked if that was really necessary, Billie Kay slapped him too. He turned to Riott and Morgan and asked for a little help, so they jumped Royce and Kay and pounded on them.

The IIconics vs Liv Morgan & Ruby Riott started after the break. Kevin Owens joined commentary for the match, so they spent more time talking to him than anything else. It was much too short. Liv Morgan pinned Billie Kay then got attacked by Royce and Kay. Ruby Riott saved her from a double team beatdown and they worked together to plant Kay into the canvas. Liv Morgan still looks wary, but there’s hope for a proper reunion.

♦ Charly Caruso reported on some packing crates full of stuff falling over and the mysterious circumstances going on today. MVP interrupted her report to yell some more and she got to tell him Apollo Crews had accepted his challenge. Shelton Benjamin arrived and said someone had stolen the 24/7 title belt.

♦ Drew McIntyre said Randy Orton has spent 20 years preying on vulnerability. The sort of guy who would slither in after you’ve finished an Extreme Rules match and hit you with an RKO. He compared their career paths. Both of them, at one point, were told by Vince McMahon that they were the future of the industry, the chosen one. But they’re different because Orton never dreamed of getting to WWE. He didn’t work and fight and sacrifice for it, it was handed to him. He doesn’t resent him for it, but he finds it interesting when Orton brags about some of the accolades that were handed to him because of who his dad was. McIntyre also had no one to clean up after him like Orton did. When he made his mistakes he was fired instead of protected. He deserved it, but Orton has deserved it way more times and it never happened.

Randy Orton arrived with Ric Flair and said he does want to be there. If he didn’t, he wouldn’t be. He’s made his money he just likes delivering RKOs and punt kicking heads. McIntyre is right, he should have been fired. But he wasn’t because he’s more valuable to the company than McIntyre ever was or will be. He actually is the chosen one. Then Now and Forever. Orton challenged him to come up with one original opinion not quoted from a legend.

McIntyre said Orton represents everything that is wrong with WWE. On The Last Ride documentary, Orton disturbed him. The Undertaker reached down and pulled Orton up to his level and he didn’t have to do that. Randy Orton has never done that. He’s never helped someone else up the ladder. Ten years ago he had the opportunity to do that for McIntyre and he didn’t. At SummerSlam, McIntyre is cashing in all the receipts, for himself, for every person in the locker room past and present who Randy Orton has ever kicked in the head.

Backstage after a break, Ric Flair pulled Kevin Owens away from Riott and Morgan. Flair said he thinks Owens is becoming too much of a guidance person, too worried about helping the kids rather than taking care of himself. Owens said he was just helping his friends because he used to be the person who sacrificed friendships but now he wants to go a different way. He wants to be the leader Randy Orton could be if he wanted to, which he doesn’t. Flair took a little offence and told Owens to mind his own business and concentrate on himself. Instead, Owens challenged Orton to a match next week.

♦ Nia Jax was brought out to apologise to Pat Buck, the official she attacked last week. Instead, she called Buck a scrawny runt and told him she was giving him the opportunity to prove her wrong by fighting her there and then. If he won she’d apologise. He declined and suspended her without pay. She pulled his jacket down to pin his arms and headbutted him, then kicked him when he was down. I like her new hairdo though.

♦ R-Truth ran out holding the 24/7 title, pursued by Tozawa, ninjas, and Shelton Benjamin. Shelton Benjamin vs R-Truth vs Akira Tozawa started after a break. There were ninjas at ringside, and MVP and Lashley. A ninja stopped Benjamin pinning Truth and got kicked in the face. The Hurt Business then took out the rest of the ninjas and Tozawa pinned R-Truth. It was all over very quickly.

♦ Dominik Mysterio had a backstage interview with Sarah Schreiber. He said he’s there because his mind hasn’t been in a good place since he watched his dad get blinded. If people think he’s crazy now, they’ll think he’s even crazier when they know he’s challenging Seth Rollins to a match at SummerSlam.

♦ Sasha Banks vs Shayna Baszler was a non-title match. Banks decided to slap Baszler a couple of times was a good way to start. It really wasn’t. I’m genuinely intrigued by this combination. Bayley acting as distraction gave Banks the upper hand and she hurt Baszler’s arm, but Baszler still had enough strength to power out of a Bank Statement.

Baszler had Banks down after a kick to the head when Asuka arrived and took out Bayley on the outside. Weirdly that’s when the match was thrown out, but it would have been anyway because Asuka invaded the ring and chased Banks out.

Charly Caruso interviewed Asuka in-ring after the longest replay of last week’s shenanigans. Asuka said Kairi will be ok but she’s not here and Bayley and Sasha Banks are. She wants a rematch against Banks at SummerSlam.

Shayna Baszler interrupted to say she doesn’t want to fight Asuka yet. She’s rooting for her to win it back from Banks so she can take it off her.

Banks came back out and said Asuka can have her rematch only if she can beat Bayley next week. Bayley looked every bit as impressed as Banks usually does when Bayley volunteers her services.

♦ Zelina Vega interrupted Angel Garza flirting with Demi Burnett from The Bachelor. She looked massively unimpressed and dragged him away.

♦ Shane McMahon introduced RAW Underground. There are no ring ropes, just a platform. It looks like a skeevy fight club set up, complete with dancing girls, and mainly involved one big dude, Dabba-Kato, punching people in the head until he was called off. It’s different.

♦ Angelo Dawkins vs Angel Garza was the first of two matches involving the SummerSlam opponents. Garza’s stripper pants almost gave him the victory when they came off while Dawkins was trying to pull him off the turnbuckle. Montez Ford collapsed during the match and the distraction gave Garza the chance to kick Dawkins in the face, with a second kick to secure the win. Ford was still out of it for no obvious reason and due to the fight after a break.

Montez Ford vs Andrade did happen after the break, but Ford was obviously unwell throughout. He perked up a bit towards the end of the match and even gathered enough momentum to dive over the top, then collapsed in the ring and the match was stopped.

An update a few minutes later was interrupted by Zelina Vega, Andrade, and Angel Garza speculating about what their victories meant for the tag title picture. Angelo Dawkins came out of the trainer’s room and said it looked like Ford was poisoned. Bianca Belair joined him and gave Vega one chance to tell her what it was. Vega protested her innocence, so Belair took out her earrings and punched her. They had to be separated by the guys.

♦ Murphy asked Rollins if he was going to accept Dominik’s challenge, but Rollins just smiled. From the look on Murphy’s face, it would appear The Monday Night Messiah might be losing the blind faith of his number one disciple.

♦ Viking Raiders Erik took part in one of Shane McMahon’s RAW Underground fights and destroyed his opponent. The guy still hadn’t moved when the segment ended.

♦ We were shown security camera footage, from outside the performance centre earlier in the day, of five people dressed in black throwing Molotov cocktails at a power generator.

♦ Charly Caruso tried to interview MVP, Lashley, and Benjamin. MVP talked about all the things going on backstage and called it all sabotage. Shelton Benjamin suggested it was something to do with the Underground. Caruso let slip where it was happening, and they headed off there.

♦ Seth Rollins said he had some housekeeping to do before getting to the subject of Dominik Mysterio. He asked Tom Phillips if he thinks he’s a professional and unbiased journalist and if he takes pride in his body of work. Then he got up in Phillips’ face and yelled at him for cheering Dominik on while he was assaulting Rollins with a kendo stick. He told him he should call it down the middle or he introduces bias and becomes a liability. So it’s time to find a new voice of RAW. Rollins instructed Murphy to take him, but Samoa Joe wasn’t having it. He told Rollins he was laughing harder than anyone. Rollins said Joe doesn’t want to do this, Joe disagreed and took off his headset.

After a break, Joe was outside the ring while Rollins and Murphy were inside with chairs. They were so focused on him that they didn’t notice Dominik Mysterio coming up behind them with a kendo stick.

Dominik gave Rollins a 619 and dived off the top turnbuckle to the outside onto them. They ran away to the ramp where Rollins accepted the challenge.

♦ The final visit to RAW Underground featured Dolph Ziggler. He won by submission. The Hurt Business arrived and announced they were taking over management of RAW Underground. Lashley destroyed a guy then MVP took out a reluctant competitor. Shelton Benjamin’s opponent was eager but didn’t last any longer. Then they just took everyone out. Shane McMahon was unperturbed and said they could hang out as long as they wanted to because anything goes. MVP said ‘Ladies and Gentlemen, we are The Hurt Business and business is booming’, to close the show.

That was the strangest episode of RAW in a very long time. Next week, Bayley takes on Asuka to try to prevent Asuka from getting to Banks at SummerSlam. And Kevin Owens faces Randy Orton.