5 Takeaways from this week's WWE Raw (16 July 2018)
Eight matches took place as WWE Raw emanated from Buffalo, New York this week.
The show began with Paul Heyman interrupting Kurt Angle after the Raw GM threatened to strip Brock Lesnar of the Universal Championship. After a six-Superstar summit, it was decided that two Triple Threat matches would take place and the winners would face off in a #1 contender match next week to determine who challenges Lesnar at SummerSlam.
The first Triple Threat (Roman Reigns vs. Finn Balor vs. Drew McIntyre) was won by Reigns following a spear on Balor, while the night’s main event (Bobby Lashley vs. Elias vs. Seth Rollins) was won by Lashley after he pinned Elias.
In the women’s division, Bayley and Sasha Banks vs. Dana Brooke and Alicia Fox ended in a no contest after a brawl at ringside, Sarah Logan defeated Ember Moon, and Ronda Rousey made a surprise appearance to set up her Raw Women’s Championship match against Alexa Bliss at SummerSlam.
Elsewhere on the show, Dolph Ziggler and The B-Team recorded non-title victories over Bobby Roode and The Ascension, respectively, while Mojo Rawley defeated Tyler Breeze and The Authors of Pain were victorious against Titus Worldwide.
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In this article, let’s take a look at five things that stood out from the episode.
#5 Bobby Roode needs a heel turn now more than ever
Bobby Roode interrupted Dolph Ziggler on this week’s episode of Raw to issue a challenge to the Intercontinental champion. However, what he hoped would be a title match ended up being a non-title contest, which was won fair and square by Ziggler after a superkick.
“The Glorious One” has been anything but ‘glorious’ throughout his 11-month babyface run on the main roster, and this week’s segment was further proof that he needs to return to being the heel character that made him so successful in NXT.
Following the match, he was mocked backstage by Mojo Rawley, who stopped playing to the crowd last year and is now reaping the rewards as a bad guy – something Roode is destined to do in the not-too-distant future.