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WWE

One week removed from WWE taking a trip down memory lane with Raw Reunion, Monday night's edition of Raw in Little Rock, Arkansas, signaled a return to business as usual as SummerSlam on Aug. 11 in Toronto approaches. And all in all, Raw again provided a bit of optimism as one of the most anticipated shows of the year has nearly arrived. 

Raw on Monday night gave us a little bit of everything from another interesting 24/7 title change, the tag team championship changing hands and even the universal champion gracing us with his presence in a violent manner when least expected. Let's have a look now at everything that went down on Monday's edition of Raw. 

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Brock Lesnar attacks Seth Rollins

Seth Rollins vs. Dolph Ziggler ended in a no contest when the universal champion put a violent halt to the bout. Ziggler trolled fans prior to the match by entering to Shawn Michaels' music on the heels of superkicking the WWE Hall of Famer last Tuesday on SmackDown Live. Rollins and Ziggler were having another entertaining match until the familiar music blared over the speakers. 

Not advertised for an appearance on Monday night, the quick assumption was that Lesnar's music was merely a head game being played by Paul Heyman. But the "Beast Incarnate" charged to the ring and began a violent beatdown of the former universal champion. Lesnar pummeled Rollins on the outside -- including an F5 into the post -- before taking the violence into the ring with a steel chair. With the chair set up in the ring, Lesnar executed F5s on Rollins onto the backrest of the chair. Rollins was coughing up blood as Heyman was surprisingly pleading with Lesnar to end the beating before the two walked off. Rollins was stretchered out, but that wasn't the end of Lesnar's carnage. As Rollins was being hauled away in the ambulance, the vehicle came to an abrupt stop prior to exiting the arena. Lesnar told the driver to stay put, and he proceeded to rip Rollins from the back while still strapped to the gurney. To put an exclamation point on everything, Lesnar gave Rollins one more F5, this time onto the gurney which was propped up on its side. 

This was simply Brock Lesnar at his finest. We all had a great laugh and got some good jokes off when Lesnar was using the Money in the Bank briefcase as a boombox a few weeks ago, but the fact is, the universal champion will always be at his most interesting when he's proving why he's the most feared competitor in the company. Rollins shouldn't be the one to take the title off of Lesnar come SummerSlam, and this beating taking place just two weeks out may have provided "The Architect" with a solid out in the event of a loss. Not to mention, the surprise of Lesnar actually being in attendance after the music has been teased time and time again in the past was a nice touch to it all. This may not have created a significant amount of interest in seeing Rollins vs. Lesnar again in Toronto, but it certainly reiterated the point that Lesnar is the most destructive force in WWE. Grade: B+

Samoan Summit turns chaotic

Prior to the scheduled Samoan Summit main event segment, Samoa Joe attacked Roman Reigns from behind as he was assisting The Usos from a beatdown at the hands of Gallows & Anderson backstage; this taking place as Rollins was being (almost) hauled away in the ambulance out of the arena. Joe hit the ring and immediately asked for a fight, and Reigns was more than happy to oblige. The two battled around the ring before Drew McIntyre, Cedric Alexander, The OC and The Usos all got involved. Chaos naturally ensued, which included Alexander leaping onto the collection of bodies below from the top of the titantron in a memorable moment. The babyfaces stood tall to end Raw on Monday night after taking out Joe in the ring via stereo superkicks from The Usos followed by the signature spear from Reigns. 

The reality is that the show probably should have concluded on Monday night with the Lesnar beatdown of Rollins as opposed to this segment which set up a multi-man tag match at SummerSlam ... I think? That at least seemed to be what was implied by all of this. It was a fun little brawl, sure, and it was nice to see Alexander get some shine again in a main event setting. But other than that, this was just misplaced within the allotted three hours on Monday night. Grade: C-

What else happened on Raw?

  • 24/7 Championship -- R-Truth & Carmella def. Drake Maverick & Renee Michelle in a Mosh Pit Mixed Tag Team Match to retain the title for Truth, who rolled up Maverick for the victory in Monday's opening segment. Afterwards, the plethora of superstars that were surrounding the outside entered the ring and piled on Truth, with the referee counting three for the new 24/7 champion ...
  • 24/7 Championship -- Mike Kanellis def. R-Truth via pinfall to win the title when he emerged from the scrum victorious. Kanellis then hightailed it to the back with the superstars giving chase. He found an officials office to hide in, and as the superstars were vying to get in, Maria showed up and feigned an issue with her pregnancy to get them to disperse. She was eventually let in the door even though the new 24/7 champ was skeptical it was his wife who was requesting entrance. 
  • Ricochet def. Andrade via pinfall in a gauntlet match after a 630 to earn a United States title match at SummerSlam against AJ Styles. In a post-match interview with Kayla Braxton in the ring, Ricochet said everyone will believe when he's holding the U.S. title over his head. Styles was shown watching backstage on a monitor laughing at the claim. Order of eliminations: Rey Mysterio def. Cesaro via pinfall, Rey Mysterio def. Sami Zayn via pinfall, Andrade def. Rey Mysterio via pinfall, Ricochet def. Andrade via pinfall
  • 24/7 Championship -- Maria Kanellis def. Mike Kanellis via pinfall to win the title. Maria ordered Mike to get on his back as she called in a referee, saying she wanted their unborn child to have a real champion as a parent. She put a foot on her husband for the 1-2-3 and the title, then proceeded to taunt the mid-card superstars standing outside because ... well, the whole pregnancy thing makes pinning her slightly difficult. 
  • "A Moment of Bliss" revealed an incident that occurred earlier in the day between Becky Lynch and Natalya. Alexa Bliss aired footage of Natalya training with Fit Finlay and three other women in the ring prior to Raw, learning how to counter the Dis-Arm-Her. Lynch showed up and chastised her fellow countryman Finlay for being a "traitor" before slapping the Dis-Arm-Her on Nattie. Lynch then appeared on screen and told Bliss to be ready for their match later in the night. 
  • Raw Tag Team Championship -- The Good Brothers def. The Usos (via pinfall) and The Revival via pinfall to win the titles after Gallows & Anderson hit the Magic Killer on Jimmy Uso amid chaos near the end of the match. After the victory, Gallows & Anderson met up backstage with Styles who had a celebration ready for his "OC" buddies. 
  • The Viking Raiders def. Cole Carter & Johnny James (enhancement talent) via pinfall in a squash match with the Viking Experience. 
  • Becky Lynch def. Alexa Bliss via forfeit after Bliss (kayfabe) suffered an ankle injury and was unable to continue. Post-match, Nikki Cross began jawing with Lynch and challenged her to a match of their own. 
  • Becky Lynch def. Nikki Cross via pinfall after the Manhandle Slam. Bliss then made a miraculous recovery, attacking Lynch from behind before she and Cross stomped the champ in the corner. Natalya was out, but obviously not for the save. She slapped Lynch in the Sharpshooter to earn some retribution from earlier in the day. Backstage, in a bit of an awkward moment, Natalya appeared to challenge Lynch to a submission match for their title bout at SummerSlam but pulled back at the end. 
  • Braun Strowman interrupted a Maria Kanellis photoshoot backstage. After Maria lectured Strowman on what it's like to be a pregnant female, she told him to show her how big and strong he is and he snarled to end the segment.