WWE Raw and Smackdown Live Recapatory for 7/17/19

The latest WWE Raw and Smackdown Live Recapatory begins with the new WWE Universal Champion Brock Lesnar with his advocate Paul Heyman in tow. They do a short video recap of Extreme Rules and show Brock Lesnar cashing in his MITB briefcase on Seth shortly after he picked up the victory by pinning Baron Corbin. Paul Heyman does his usual introduction and goes on to remark that when you tell people the truth, they’d rather you tell them a lie. This was in reference to his spoiler (not prediction) that Brock Lesnar would be cashing his money in the bank contract at Extreme Rules.

raw
Photo / WWE

The crowd began to boo, and Heyman told them to boo themselves for not listening. Heyman continues and says that in order to find Brock Lesnar‘s opponent for SummerSlam, Raw will feature a cross promotional ten man battle royal. Seth Rollins, Randy Orton, Big E, Cesaro, Braun Strowman, Rey Mysterio, Baron Corbin, Sami Zayn, Bobby Lashley, and Roman Reigns are shown on the Titan Tron as participants in the battle royal. He goes on to promote and build Brock Lesnar as a superstar so dangerous that if any other superstar stepped into the ring with him, they would be risking their health, well-being and possibly their life.

Ricochet comes out after Heyman drops the mic. After a commercial break, The Revival and Robert Roode are in the ring and it appears it will be a six-man tag team match. For the second week in a row, and oddly so, Jimmy and Jey Uso have their regular entrance last. The match begins and Dawson gets tagged with a superkick right away by Jey Uso, who then tags in Ricochet. Ricochet then nails him with what looks like a Chris Jericho Code Breaker, Michael Cole informs us that he calls it The Recoil. He hits Dawson with a standing moonsault and pins him for the victory as Ricochet and The Usos pick up the first fall. The Revival and Robert Roode pick up the second fall as Dawson pins Jimmy Uso after a blind tag into a face plant.

The third fall begins as Roode and The Revival continue to work on Jimmy Uso. He makes the hot tag to Ricochet who goes to work on Robert Roode. He attempts to give him the Glorious DDT but is countered into another Recoil before he ascends the top rope and hits Robert Roode with the 630 to pick up the final fall for himself and The Usos. As they celebrate in the ring, out comes The Club, AJ Styles along with Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows. A bRawl ensues as The Revival join the fray and attack The Usos. After hitting super kicks all around, the Usos attempt a suicide dive, but Robert Roode pulls one of them out of the ring while The Revival hits the Shatter Machine on the other. Ricochet flies into the ring from a springboard and nails Roode and The Revival, only to be laid out by a Phenomenal Forearm from AJ Styles. Anderson and Gallows hit the Magic Killer on Ricochet as AJ Styles and The Club stand over him. The Viking Raiders are shown before we head to commercial as they prepare to face their opponents. They squash two local jobbers in a very quick match.

They do a short recap of The Undertaker and Roman Reigns defeating Shane McMahon and Drew McIntyre from Extreme Rules. After the video segment, Drew McIntyre walks into a backstage locker room where Finn Balor, No Way Jose, and the Street Profits, and Cedric Alexander are all sharing a laugh. McIntyre confronts Cedric Alexander and tells him that he’s going to destroy him for sticking his nose in he and Shane‘s business on last week’s Raw. The Scottish Psychopath is out first as they recap last week when Cedric Alexander under a mask wrestled as Roman Reign’s tag team partner in a match against Shane McMahon and Drew McIntyre. He brutalizes Cedric for most of the match but as he prepared to nail him with a reverse Alabama slam, Cedric rolls him up for the three count and Drew is incensed. Huge win for Cedric Alexander on Raw.

Next, they show a short replay of Nakamura winning the Intercontinental Championship from Finn Balor on the Extreme Rules kickoff show. Finn is backstage and talks about how tough it was losing his Intercontinental Championship, but tonight he faces off against Samoa Joe, who also suffered a loss at Extreme Rules to WWE champion Kofi Kingston. Samoa Joe answers in a short promo of his own and promises to hand Finn yet another loss. Samoa Joe comes out to the ring as the show goes to commercial. Once back from commercial they oddly place a Romans Reigns backstage interview. He claims that he doesn’t care about what any of the other competitors say, it’s his week. From the ESPY’s to the premiere of Hobbs and Shaw, to teaming with the Undertaker, he’s ready to defeat those nine other superstars and face Lesnar at SummerSlam. Out, comes Finn to take on Joe in what could have possibly been a very interesting match but in actuality was very short as Samoa Joe rolled up Finn for the victory.

After the match, Joe continues to assault Balor. He attempts to choke him out but Finn counters and goes on the attack himself. He nails Joe with the Coup De Grace and stands alone in the ring to the adoration of the WWE Universe in attendance. Then the lights go out. It’s Bray Wyatt who nails Finn with a Sister Abigail.

After the commercial break, Drake Maverick and his wife are checking into a hotel, and he’s registered them under the name Mr. and Mrs. 24/7 Champion. It’s been almost a month now and they have yet to consummate their marriage. As they pay for the room in cash and walk away R-Truth is shown peeping from behind the customer service agent at the hotel. Truth and a referee appear as he asks the customer service person if they have a guest checked into the rooms by the name of Hornswoggle. He offers him a crispy one-dollar bill for some information. The Street Profits are backstage and they amp up the women’s fatal four-way match to determine Becky Lynch‘s challenger for SummerSlam.

Back in the ring and hometown hero Zack Ryder is ready for competition. Backstage they show Mike Kanellis who is preparing to head to the rain only to be stopped by his wife Maria who informs him that she’s taking his match. He tells her that she can’t do that because she’s pregnant, as revealed weeks ago on Raw. The music hits and she pushes him out of the way and makes her way down the ramp. He runs out after her as the referees blocked her from proceeding down the ramp. He enters the ring and is defeated in less than 30 seconds by Zack Ryder who hits the Rough Rider on him for the victory. Maria grabs the microphone and further emasculates her husband by saying their unborn child had a better chance in the match than he did. Why is this happening?

The Club is out next as they prepare to face the Lucha House Party. AJ Styles picked up the victory for The Club with a calf crusher on Kalisto but refuses to let it go after the bell.

Seth is backstage doing an interview and talking about how tough it was to lose his Universal Championship to Brock Lesnar, he also remarks that Becky Lynch may or may not show up tonight on Raw. He then goes on to say that he doesn’t care who he has to fight, he wants Lesnar and he wants his Universal Championship back.

The women’s fatal four-way elimination match is up next. Alexa Bliss along with Nikki Cross, Carmela, Naomi and Natalya all make their way to the ring. Before the bell rings, “The Man” comes out to a huge ovation. She’s walking with a slightly exaggerated limp as she is still selling her injury after suffering an End Of Days from Baron Corbin at Extreme Rules. As the match begins Alexa Bliss slides outside as Naomi and Natalya battle to a stalemate. They both hit clotheslines on each other then Carmella slides into the ring and attempts several pinfalls on both of them. She gets some offense in before Alexa slides into the ring and rolls her up to eliminate her. Three turns to two after Natalya rolls up Naomi to eliminate her and she will finish the match against Alexa Bliss. Nikki Cross grabs a microphone and tells the crowd that they should cheer for her best friend Alexa Bliss, to which the crowd boos massively.

Back in the ring, it’s Natalya who picks up the victory by making Alexa Bliss Tap to the Sharpshooter. She will go on to face Becky at SummerSlam for the Raw Women’s Championship. Natalya, after the match, is being interviewed and remarks about how so much has happened within the past year but she’s excited to be going to SummerSlam to face her friend Becky Lynch. Lynch grabs the mic and goes into the ring and tells her that there will be no friends come to SummerSlam and that she’s a lot better at war then she is at love. Natalya replies that she must really suck at being a lover and called her the B-word, then proceed to tell her that she’s going to pull the lucky horseshoe from out of Becky Lynch‘s ass and take the Raw Women’s Championship.

Randy Orton is shown backstage and says that after he wins tonight‘s ten-man battle royal, he has unfinished business to attend to with Brock Lesnar and that he brings with him the three most destructive letters in sports entertainment, R.K.O. The Miz comes out and he’s ready to host Miz TV with Dolph Ziggler, who has requested to be his guest. Dolph takes a seat in the ring and begins to chide Miz on the fact that he has become everything that he hates, tells him that he only cares about fortune and fame; tells him that he is a company yes-man. Miz TV ends after Dolph insults Maryse. The Miz attacks Dolph and drives him from the ring.

In a continuation of R-Truth and his pursuit of the 24/7 Championship, Drake Maverick and his wife are in their hotel room about to consummate their marriage when room service champagne shows up. Only it’s not room service it’s a referee and Truth is hiding underneath the cart. He pins Maverick on the bed and takes back his 24/7 Championship as Maverick’s wife screams hysterically. What am I watching?

After the 10 participants for the All-Star battle royal stand in the ring, Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman appear at the top of the ramp and Brock grabs a seat to watch the match. As the match begins Cesaro begins with a flurry of diving uppercuts and a giant swing to Rey Mysterio. Before he can put Big E in the giant swing, he’s attacked by Bobby Lashley and gorilla pressed, then thrown over the top rope and eliminated. Braun Strowman then eliminates Bobby Lashley. After big E hits Braun Strowman with the Big Ending, he falls victim to an RKO from out of nowhere and is eliminated by Sami Zayn. Sami celebrates a little too much and eats an RKO of his own followed by a 619 from Rey Mysterio and elimination by Randy Orton.

The eliminations are flying fast as Baron Corbin throws Rey Mysterio over the top rope. Seth Rollins, Braun Strowman and Roman Reigns all corner Baron Corbin and go to work on him. Rollins throws Corbin out and we are down to four, with Randy Orton lurking on the outside of the ring. As Roman Reigns struggles to eliminate Braun Strowman, Seth Rollins eliminates them both. It is now down to he and Randy Orton. Seth reverses an RKO and hits the Curb Stomp before throwing Randy Orton over the top rope to punch his ticket to SummerSlam to face Brock Lesnar for the WWE Universal Championship. The show ends after Heyman and Rollins exchange a few words and Brock threatens to enter the ring with a steel chair but ultimately retreats up the ramp with Seth Rollins standing in the ring.

SmackDown Live
Photo /@wwe.com

SmackDown Live begins with a video replay of Kevin Owens calling out Shane McMahon. Shane is backstage briefing his security team as Kevin Owens walks in. They have a short exchange in which Shane tells him that he has been given the night off.

The superstars of Smackdown Live are on the ramp for Shane McMahon‘s first-ever town hall meeting. Roman Reigns is the first to step up to the microphone and he tells Shane McMahon that no one respects him. He also tells Shane McMahon to kiss his ass, and Shane replies that he will be fined. Charlotte steps up next and puts over the McMahon family only to be confronted by Liv Morgan who insults her. Buddy Murphy is up next and he says that he doesn’t need Kevin Owens fighting his battles for him. Apollo Cruise steps up to the mic next and insults Shane before he is cut off by Andrade and Zelina. They set up a match for later.

Elias is up next on Smackdown Live and he’s cut off by The New Day who reminds us that they don’t like Kevin Owens but he has a point. As Kofi begins to talk about giving other superstars opportunities, Shane cuts his microphone and ends the Town Hall. As the superstars walk off and Shane’s music is playing, Cesaro comes down to the stage to challenge Aleister Black to a fight in a rematch of their extreme rules contest. Shane McMahon addresses the crown to put the finishing touches on this segment only to be surprised by Kevin Owens and given a Stunner.

Aleister Black and Cesaro battle again, and again Black picks up the victory with a Black Mass. Dolph shows up backstage and asks Shane McMahon for a fight with Kevin Owens on Smackdown Live.

Charlotte is competing for the first time in a while and defeats live Morgan with a figure 8 to pick up the victory on Smackdown Live. Mandy Rose and Sonia Deville prepared to face off with Ember Moon and a partner of her choosing, who turns out to be SmackDown women’s champion, Bayley. They pick up the victory and afterward Bayley says that she would like to face Ember Moon at summer slam.

Nakamura is backstage and promises to rain down chaos on the WWE universe, to which Ali appears and says congratulations Champ on Smackdown Live.

We then head to the ring with The New Day draped in all their championship go except Daniel Bryan‘s request for a rematch. Daniel Bryan and Rowan make their way out onto the ramp and Daniel Bryan has a mic but he says nothing and turns around and walks through the curtain. He comes back like he’s really going to speak this time but again says nothing. Samoa Joe shows up and asks for another WWE championship title match. Elias Tell Joe to take a back seat since he lost. Randy Orton comes out to throw his name in the hat for a title shot. Elias says he, Joe and Randy should face The New Day. Randy declines, “Nah, I’m good.” Kofi insults him and invites him to participate in the match. The team of Randy Orton, Elias, and Samoa Joe pick up the victory after Randy hit Kofi with an RKO on Smackdown Live.

R Truth and Carmella a backstage and she pulled him out of a washing machine as he is hiding. She tells him she has a better hiding place for him and off they go to Comic-Con leaving Smackdown Live. The IIconics are out next to face the Kabuki Warriors for the women’s tag team championships. After a count-out victory for the Kabuki Warriors, they attacked the Iiconics who faked an injury to receive the countout.

Andrade faced off with Apollo Cruise but Cruise picked up the victory after reversing a pin attempt on Smackdown Live.

The main event saw Dolph Ziggler face-off with Kevin Owens as dozens of heel superstar surrounded the ring. After Kevin hit the Stunner on Dolph, Shane pulled him out of the ring to break up the three count only to eat his second Stunner of the night. As the show ended Kevin Owens scurried up the ramp after being chased by the superstars that were around the ring. Shane McMahon along with Drew McIntyre proclaimed that Kevin Owens was going to pay. As the Smackdown Live came to an end.

What's up folks, I'm Hab and I've been a wrestling fan for more than thirty years. I grew up on the NWA and Crockett Promotions in the Triad City of Winston-Salem, North Carolina. My favorite wrestler of all time is Bret Hart. At the moment, I'm a Cesaro hipster and The World's Biggest Luke Harper fan. I was at the Smackdown! taping when Brock Lesnar threw Zach Gowen down a flight of steps in the New Orleans Arena and laughed about it for the next two days. I have a few loves in my life, my beautiful daughter, my family, professional wrestling and hip-hop are just some of them.