This week, WWE enters the home stretch for SummerSlam and TakeOver, as each brand finalizes their cards and get the ducks in order for the biggest party of the summer. So, let’s see how everyone’s doing.

RAW

WWE Universal Championship: If anyone had any illusions that Brock Lesnar would face any kind of punishment for his actions last week, they were sorely mistaken. Lesnar will not be punished for his unwarranted attack on Angle or Paul Heyman, and Heyman still has a job with WWE.

Reigns took the opportunity during the opening segment to call out Angle’s seeming impotence and Corbin’s cowardice last week, saying that if they hadn’t thrown him out of the building for no reason, there would’ve been someone to stop Brock Lesnar. Angle, in a rare moment of favoritism, said that he hoped Reigns would kick Lesnar’s ass at SummerSlam.

Reigns was also in action against Constable Corbin, who ran his mouth once too often and was put in a match by Kurt Angle at the top of the show. Corbin tried to take a Countout loss, but Finn Balor stopped that pretty quickly and helped Reigns secure a pinfall.

Reigns had a sitdown interview with Corey Graves and continued to make his case against Lesnar, citing the latter’s disrespect of the business and his half assed championship reign.

On the Lesnar side of this match, Paul Heyman had a sit down interview with Renee Young. Heyman gave a very emotional interview, leading us to believe that the sixteen-year business relationship has ended permanently and that Heyman doesn’t know what to do about it. Though Heyman seems sincere enough, most of the people I talk to smell a rat, and I agree with them, this break up seems too convenient.

WWE Intercontinental Championship: After last week’s sneak attack, Seth was out for McIntyre and Ziggler’s collective ass. Angle told Rollins to find a partner and he could take on Ziggler and McIntyre in a tag match. Seth had his pick of partners, including Tyler Breeze, who has had little to do since his partner, Fandango, was injured and seemed to fancy himself a replacement for the injured Dean Ambrose, who got a mention on RAW as the one person who WOULDN’T be Seth’s partner. Fortunately, Roman Reigns stepped up to help save his Shield brother from the possibility of Crossfit Breezus (I swear, that’s what he said!).

Unfortunately, Stephanie McMahon arbitrarily decided that Roman could not be allowed to wrestle twice in the same night, in the name of protecting the SummerSlam main event, leaving Seth, again, without a partner. Rather than settle for a second-rate partner, Rollins chose to go it alone and paid for it by being defeated by Ziggler and McIntyre, though it was a very close thing. It’s clear that Rollins is going to need some backup for SummerSlam, but it’s not clear who it’s going to be.

RAW Women’s Championship: Ronda Rousey made her RAW debut against Alicia Fox this week after Fox attacked Rousey from behind last week after beating Rousey’s buddy, Natalya, with an assist from Alexa Bliss. Despite the best efforts of Alexa Bliss, all her and Fox’s antics did was piss off Rousey, which is criminal level stupidity. Rousey got the submission victory and sent a very loud message to the RAW Women’s Champion: Your days as RAW Women’s Champion are numbered. Bliss tried to regain some momentum, but just further pissed off the Baddest Woman on the Planet. It finally seems to be registering with Bliss that she’s bitten off a lot more than she can chew with Rousey, but time will tell what the self-proclaimed Goddess of RAW has up her sleeves.

In a post-show interview, Bliss claimed to not be scared of Rousey, but it’s clear that Bliss is trying to save face, considering that Rousey seems to be unstoppable.

RAW Tag Team Championship: B Team was in action tonight against the Revival, who made their argument for being in the Tag Team Championship conversation by beating the Deleters of Worlds last week. The match was broken up by a run in by the Deleters of Worlds, who took out both teams, signaling that they’re not out the conversation yet.

Towards the end of RAW, it was announced that there will be a Triple Threat Match for the tag titles on RAW next week between B Team, Deleters of Worlds, and the Revival. It’s too soon to say this means that the Tag Titles WON’T be on the line at SummerSlam, but this could also mean that WWE’s trying to trim down the number of matches.

Sasha and Bayley: The Boss Hug Connection was in action again against Sarah Logan and Liv Morgan of the Riott Squad. Though Banks and Bayley worked well together, Riott Squad were in the mood to fight and got a big assist from the returning Ruby Riott for the win. Since Banks and Bayley are still getting along two weeks out from SummerSlam, it looks like their eventual PPV confrontation is being held off again.

In a post-RAW interview, the returning Ruby Riott and her Squad celebrated her return and vowed to take the Boss Hug Connection apart, which could mean that there will be a match at SummerSlam.

Kevin Owens vs Braun Strowman: The Kevin Owens show made its return this week. His guest was the Modern Day Maharaja, Jinder Mahal. After a lot of mutual ass kissing, Owens and company found their stage on the move, as it was toppled over, with them on it.

Strowman was in the mood to fight, still not over the countout defeat he suffered due to the machinations of Mahal and Owens last week, but once again, a distraction by Owens taking off with the MITB briefcase gave Mahal a victory but didn’t save him from getting his butt kicked. Owens again took off with the briefcase and got slapped into next week, as did Singh, who tried to come to Mahal’s aid

 Finn Balor: Balor’s road to SummerSlam has a map, after assisting Reigns in defeating Corbin early in the show, Balor furthered the humiliation of the Constable of RAW, by attacking him post-match and hitting the Coup de Grace on Corbin’s already sore ribs. General Manager Angle, tired of Corbin’s constant meddling and undermining, put his unwanted Constable in a match against the man he’s continually tried to humiliate in an Extreme Rules rematch.

Elias vs Bobby Lashley: The issue between Elias and Lashley got nastier this week with Lashley disrespecting Elias and his talent after getting tired of Elias’ prima donna antics, calling him a joke. Unsurprisingly, Elias didn’t appreciate the criticism, sucker punching Lashley. Lashley fired back and commandeered the camera crew that was following Elias around so that Elias’ ass kicking could get a close up.

Titus Worldwide vs Authors of Pain: AOP member Rezar (again, I’m not sure which one that is) was in action against Titus O’Neil. Rezar put out a pretty dominate performance and got the win on O’Neil. I don’t know if this feud will go to SummerSlam, but it would be a fun one.

Bobby Roode vs Mojo Rawley: Roode and Rawley’s issues came to a boil last week when they had a fistfight in the locker room after Roode got tired of Rawley disrespecting the locker room. The two met in a one-on-one confrontation tonight. Roode came out on top, but I have a feeling this issue isn’t over yet.

Kurt Angle vs Baron Corbin: Things between Angle and Corbin continue to disintegrate as Corbin stepped up his undermining efforts, calling Angle out in the ring, as well as Roman Reigns. Angle finally seems to be tiring of being neutered by Corbin and Stephanie McMahon, so it’s safe to assume that Angle will be watching Corbin’s match with Finn Balor very closely.

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