WWE celebrates Monday Night Raw and the 4th of July this week from the Pechanga Arena in San Diego, California, named after the Pechanga chain of hotels and casinos… Which are in Central California, not the South. Color us confused with this branding choice. The last time WWE came here was 11 months ago, and while no Mysterios were present on that show, Logan Paul was. And weirdly enough, he was hostile towards The Miz. This was promptly followed up on with them teaming up at WrestleMania against The Mysterios. Now, again, Miz and Paul come into this building as enemies.
This arena was also the home of Vengeance 2001. On this night, Chris Jericho was able to first defeat The Rock to win the WCW (then just billed as World Championship) Championship, ending its lineage. Right after, Jericho defeated Stone Cold Steve Austin with help from Booker T to win the WWF Championship, hence Jericho’s long-standing claim of “beating The Rock and Stone Cold in the same night” and also becoming the first-ever WWE Undisputed Champion.
WWE Raw, 4th of July Edition (7/4/22) – Preview
The Mysterios Come Home
Rey Mysterio’s identity as a San Diego native has been a staple of the man throughout his entire WWE run, thanks to the name of his trademark 619 maneuver. And for the first time in many, many years, the man gets to wrestle in his hometown. In his tag team partner and son Dominik’s case, it’s, to our understanding, his first time wrestling in front of his hometown.
The duo will take on The Judgment Day in what will be the stable’s first outing in front of a live crowd since Finn Balor joined and they turned their back on Edge. Since the day after Hell in a Cell, they’ve only been presented in vignettes, backstage, or of all things, Main Event. This will be our first real looking into what the new Judgment Day is. Though, by the looks of it, at least as of now, it just looks like another tag team. We’ll have to wait and see.
TONIGHT:
How will @MikeTheMiz responds to @LoganPaul's #SummerSlam challenge?
📺 8/7c @USA_Network https://t.co/M4jPBrkdla pic.twitter.com/JDXeYNxK9w
— WWE (@WWE) July 4, 2022
Logan Paul In The House
Logan sure seems to love his long-distance travel. Flying from Puerto Rico to Southern California can be torturous; something I know from personal experience. But the controversial YouTube personality/semi-professional boxer will make his first appearance after signing a WWE contract and, at Money in the Bank, he was clear. He is NOT teaming up with The Miz. He wants revenge for the betrayal in WrestleMania.
We’ll have to see how WWE can manage a babyface Logan Paul, something they’ve been very insistent on, despite the clear negative crowd reactions. But, when does that ever stop them?
A-Town Up
The men’s Money in the Bank Ladder Match build was a weird one. At first, it was made clear that it would have 8 participants. Then, last week on Raw, a “last chance” Battle Royal was announced to fill the sixth slot. So, was it just six? Well no, because right after graphics showed the already announced 6 participants and a mystery seventh. This led to SmackDown for another “last chance” match which Madcap Moss won. That was it, right? 7 was the number of participants on the women’s version, so you would think. But no. Prior to the match, at the Money in the Bank event, Adam Pearce announced Theory’s late addition to the match.
The one previous time an entrant was announced in the match itself was for Brock Lesnar’s shock win in 2019. However, when that happened, he was replacing Sami Zayn, who was injured in storyline. It wasn’t preceded by such bizarre confusion regarding the number of participants in the match.
Either way, Theory has gone from U.S. Champion to Mr. Money in the Bank for 2022. We could make the joke that now he just has to actually find the one and only champion he can potentially cash in on, but by coincidence, Roman Reigns’ next title defense was announced well before Theory’s win for SummerSlam in a Last Man Standing match with Brock Lesnar. Could we possibly see Theory plan out a cash-in following that rather perfect setup?
The Liv Hive is buzzin' after #MITB! @YaOnlyLivvOnce pic.twitter.com/bnandeSdXr
— WWE (@WWE) July 4, 2022
Liv’s Going Blue, I Guess
Who knows how the Brand Split works these days. Not even WWE seems to know. But Liv Morgan is now the Smackdown Women’s Champion. This means that, likely, her time on Raw is ending. Perhaps she may get some sort of goodbye on the show. Though, one has to wonder where that plot thread regarding Alexa Bliss was leading, if it was just something to do on the way to Money in the Bank, or if there was initially some bigger plan there.
All that and more, tonight on the 4th of July edition of WWE Monday Night Raw.
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