WWE starts the week by making a stop back at the Key Bank Center in Buffalo, New York. A pretty interesting venue. WWE Raw made its last stop here back on April 18 last year saw the last appearance of Naomi & Sasha Banks for WWE, with them defeating Liv Morgan and Rhea Ripley to retain the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships.
This episode also saw Austin Theory, just Theory back then, defeating Finn Balor to win his first of now two United States Championships. While SmackDown on December 2nd last year saw Ricochet defeating Santos Escobar in the finals of the SmackDown World Cup Tournament to then challenge Gunther for the Intercontinental title.
Chasing The Beast
“The American Nightmare” Cody Rhodes has made it very clear that he is deadset on getting a rubber match with “The Beast Incarnate” Brock Lesnar for SummerSlam. While Brock Lesnar appeared and tried to attack Cody, the grandson of a plumber got the better of him. However, no match has been confirmed yet. Tonight, Cody Rhodes looks to “send a message” and goad the former WWE and UFC World Champion into that elusive third match. And at this point, it’s very hard to believe that it will just be a standard one on one match.
How can Cody Rhodes convince Brock Lesnar to accept the challenge?
THIS MONDAY on #WWERaw@CodyRhodes has a message for @BrockLesnar!@DMcIntyreWWE returns to action!@LoganPaul and @KingRicochet meet face-to-face!
And more! pic.twitter.com/bl31dZzAl8— WWE (@WWE) July 8, 2023
This Month’s Face To Face
On the latest “Face To Face” segment WWE promotes, the recently engaged pride of Dorado Beach, Puerto Rico, Logan Paul is set to put his face in front of the former Intercontinental, United States, and NXT North American Champion Ricochet.
The two had a memorable…… Crash, at the Royal Rumble. Then crossed paths more directly at Money in the Bank at the titular match. Now we seem set to put these two athletes en route to have a match at SummerSlam. Given that we’ve already seen how far Logan Paul will go to prove his meddle after his matches with Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins and knowing how incredibly agile and talented the former Prince Puma, Ricochet, can be, this is quite the interesting match-up to set up.
A chance for Logan Paul to perform without the same pressure as he did when he met with WWE’s top two stars, while also being the chance for a very talented but undervalued talent in Ricochet a major chance to carry one of WWE’s now very prized “celebrity wrestlers.”
I Wish I Could’ve Graduated That Fast
Maxxine Dupri, oddly enough, went from trying to lure Otis away from Chad Gable for her Maximum Male Models to becoming a member of Alpha Academy and studying under their learning tree. To the point that she can now perform a decent Vertical Suplex and makes the crowd pop. After she assisted in winning a mixed Trios match over the Viking Raiders and Valhalla, she’s now set to “graduate.”
We don’t know what that could entail. But it’s not the first time we see these academics-themed segments from Alpha Academy that wind up being quite entertaining. One has to recall the spelling bee they had with Randy Orton and Matt Riddle last year.
A Bro And Three Europeans
Matt Riddle came up short against Gunther at Money in the Bank for the Intercontinental Championship. This was followed up by the return of Drew McIntyre, who has since saved Matt Riddle from yet another Imperium beatdown. As such, they now team up to take on the former NXT Tag Team Champions Ludwig Kaiser & Giovanni Vinci of Imperium.
We Were Expecting This One
Zoey Stark cost Becky Lynch her match against WWE Hall Of Famer Trish Stratus back at Night of Champions in Saudi Arabia and aligned herself with Stratus. All three wound up being a part of the Women’s Money in the Bank ladder match as the feud between Lynch and Stratus has been raging since after WrestleMania.
We now get that match that was rather obviously coming since Zoey’s choice was made. We now get Becky Lynch facing Zoey Stark tonight on Raw as we likely set our sights on the likely second match between Lynch and Stratus for SummerSlam.
All that is already slated for WWE Raw tonight. We also need to set up a potential challenger for Women’s World Champion Rhea Ripley as well as likely challengers for Undisputed Tag Team Champions Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens. All that and more, tonight on WWE Raw.
More From LWOS Pro Wrestling
Stay tuned to the Last Word on Pro Wrestling for more on this and other stories from around the world of wrestling, as they develop. You can always count on LWOPW to be on top of the major news in the wrestling world, as well as to provide you with analysis, previews, videos, interviews, and editorials on the wrestling world. You can check out an almost unlimited array of WWE content on the WWE Network and Peacock.
