The highlight of the night was Seth Rollins clinching yet another opportunity at the Universal Championship. This is typical of WWE to repeat storylines as opposed to introducing new concepts. Rollins is definitely deserving of a rematch, just maybe not right now. I almost got a little too excited when Randy Orton was the second to last man in the battle royal, which was a genius idea by Paul Heyman. I was holding my breath in hopes that the WWE universe would get an opportunity to witness a rematch between Brock Lesnar and Randy Orton, revisiting the bloodbath from SummerSlam 2016.
The second biggest happening from Monday Night Raw had to do with Bray Wyatt returning and attacking Finn Balor, presumably setting up a SummerSlam match. This is great for Wyatt to return, but why does he have to wrestle this opponent? He already had a SummerSlam match with Balor back in 2017. The only difference is that he lost, and he might actually win this one. I personally feel that WWE should not seek to recycle old rivalries, but rather look to establish new ones, particularly at their second-biggest pay-per-view of the year.
It is great to see Natalya getting a Raw Women’s Championship opportunity at SummerSlam against Becky Lynch. She received a similar opportunity for the SmackDown Women’s Championship at the same event in 2017 against Naomi. It is also nice to see the women getting edgy. The edginess WWE is establishing again on TV is not just exclusive to the men. The women’s match on Raw was a rather excellent performance, particularly as it pertains to Alexa Bliss and Naomi. Nikki Cross is also getting visibly more comfortable on camera evidenced by her taunting of the crowd.
Side Note: It’s a solid idea for WWE to book a SummerSlam match between Dolph Ziggler and The Miz. Miz has done well for himself over the last two SummerSlams, having a great match with Daniel Bryan last year and being booked in a match this year that should produce the same results with Dolph Ziggler.