Last night's Raw got things back on track in building up SummerSlam, which is now only two weeks away. Raw will have one more episode to do the heavy lifting, so time is short. While last night's show wasn't brilliant by any means, it was an improvement over last week, with most of the major angles being advanced.
Who got the most and least out of this show? Let's go take a look.
Winner: Ricochet
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Ricochet punched his ticket to SummerSlam last night by winning a gauntlet match that also consisted of Andrade, Cesaro, Rey Mysterio, and Sami Zayn (not in that order). This puts him on a collision course with the man that stole the title from him, AJ Styles. It's a prominent spot for Ricochet to be in at SummerSlam. It's yet another indicator that he's the biggest NXT success story this year, surprisingly enough.
Ricochet vs. Styles II already looks like it should be the best match of the night, so we can look forward to that!
Winners: Gallows and Anderson
Gallows and Anderson look like they're being rewarded for signing a new contract recently. In a triple threat tag team match between them, The Usos, and The Revival, they won and became the new Raw Tag Team Champions.
It was the right decision. The Revival's second reign was as forgettable as their first. Meanwhile, Gallows and Anderson, united with AJ Styles, have momentum. Now, their faction, the O.C., is the dominant force in the Raw mid-card. It's a refreshing change.
Now they'll have a prominent spot at SummerSlam, and after the ending segment with Roman Reigns, Samoa Joe, Drew McIntyre, The Usos, and Cedric Alexander, it looks like that spot will be in a monumental eight-man tag team match.
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Losers: The Viking Raiders
Can we say wheel spinning, anyone? There's no purpose to these jobber squash matches. The Viking Raiders look sorely out of place as heels now that the O.C. have become the dominant faction on Raw, so it looks like the wheel spinning is going to continue.
As it stands, we have no idea what direction these two are going in, and they aren't over with fans in the slightest.
Winner: Natalya
Credit to her, Natalya came off as more interesting here than she has in a long time. That was needed, because Becky Lynch vs. Natalya doesn't feel like a SummerSlam match. It feels like a minor pay per view match. Now, there's a lot more heat in it.
Though the submission match stipulation isn't anything too exciting, given that women tap each other out all the time, her run into the ring and beat down of the champion was well executed. Now we need to see how Becky Lynch responds.
Winner: Seth Rollins
The Brock Lesnar vs. Seth Rollins feud throughout this year just hasn't been very good. It's fell flat. Something like this was needed, though it's truthfully the same old song and dance we've seen with Brock Lesnar time and time again. Still, if he needed to be champion again, better for him to be doing stuff like this than just jumping around in the ring as Paul Heyman delivers the latest spin to make the same promo he's been saying for the last five years feel like it's something different.
Now Seth Rollins will want revenge, but seems like he's too injured to get it. It's basic storytelling, but basic works compared to what had been going on before.
Winners: Roman Reigns and Cedric Alexander
It looks like Roman Reigns' path to SummerSlam is clear now. It isn't exactly a great one. His bizarre failure to ultimately defeat Shane McMahon looms large over him, but it's better than nothing. Plus, the eight-man tag should be a lot of fun if they let it become a weapons match.
For Cedric Alexander, the win is bigger. He couldn't get on TV in the spring after leaving 205 Live. Now it looks like he will have a good spot at SummerSlam. We'll see how next week follows up on these developments.