WWE Recap of the Week: Top News, Rumors, Results, and Storyline Progressions from RAW, SmackDown and NXT (July 18, 2020)
Welcome to the second edition of "WWE Recap of the Week", where we'll take a look at every major thing that took place in WWE this past week. Starting from Monday Night RAW, we'll take a look at all the storyline progressions and results from the red brand, and then the same for NXT and SmackDown. In the end, we'll take a look at the top WWE news and rumors from the week.
The entire focus of this week on RAW and SmackDown was to build and hype-up this Sunday's "The Horror Show at Extreme Rules". The PPV has an intriguing match card with some first-of-its-kind matches set to take place. As for NXT, three of its Championships were defended on this week's show.
Without further ado, let's dive straight into the WWE recap of the week. Be sure to comment down and let us know whether you enjoyed this week's WWE programming or not. Also, how hyped are you for Extreme Rules?
#5 WWE Monday Night RAW
WWE RAW kicked off with MVP and his VIP Lounge with Dolph Ziggler as the guest. Ziggler was confident of defeating Drew McIntyre at WWE Extreme Rules and becoming the new WWE Champion. McIntyre came out warned Ziggler to be prepared for the suffering this Sunday before knocking him out.
Next, we saw the Elimination Tag Team match between Andrade & Angel Garza and the Viking Raiders. After Erik and Andrade were eliminated, Garza picked up the victory for his team. Backstage, Ruby Riott revealed her new friend Biance Beliar, who made her return to WWE TV after quite some time. Riott and Belair went on to defeat The IIconics in their tag team match.
After a backstage altercation with Akira Tozawa, R-Truth came out for a 24/7 Championship match against him. But before they could start, Shayna Baszler made her return and took out Tozawa's ninjas. R-Truth, quite sensibly, gave Baszler the mic and she went on to reveal that she's back to set things straight in the women's division.
Seth Rollins came out to cut a promo about his "Eye for an Eye" match against Rey Mysterio at WWE Extreme Rules and blamed Mysterio. He was interrupted by Kevin Owens, who gifted The Monday Night Messiah an eye-patch. This led to Murphy and Aleister Black coming out, which resulted in a match between the two that ended in a no-result after Rollins interfered.
Rey Mysterio and his son Dominik came out and surrounded Rollins. We then got a match between Seth and Kevin Owens. With some help from the Mysterios, Owens defeated Seth Rollins. Backstage, we saw Ric Flair warn Big Show and then Randy Orton cut a promo, threatening Show.
Randy Orton defeated R-Truth with the RKO. Just when he was going for the Punt Kick, The Big Show came out and stopped him. Orton challenged Show to an unsanctioned match on RAW next week, which he accepted. Backstage, MVP once again tried to convince Cedric Alexander to join him but was rejected. Next, Bobby Lashley defeated Ricochet in a dominating fashion.
The main event of WWE RAW saw Sasha Banks & Bayley defended their Women's Tag Team titles against Asuka and Kairi Sane. After an amazing back and forth match, Sasha Banks caught Sane in the Banks Statement, forcing her to tap out to win the match for her team.