WWE RAW Live Coverage - July 29th, 2024

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Seth Rollins to deliver referee instructions to CM Punk and Drew McIntyre on Syfy!


With animosity boiling between CM Punk and Drew McIntyre, Seth “Freakin” Rollins entered the fray and became the Special Guest Referee for the SummerSlam match between The Best in the World and The Scottish Psychopath. Tonight, the three Superstars will meet inside the ring for a confrontation that is sure to be filled with vitriol and venom as Rollins will deliver his Referee Instructions to Punk and McIntyre. What will happen during the encounter?


:raw:

– "WWE Then. Now. Forever. Together." kicks things off as always, and then we shoot to footage of the Cleveland Browns Stadium being put together for the set of WWE SummerSlam for this weekend. Michael Cole and Pat McAfee welcome us to the show as we see some Superstar arrival shots.

– Inside the arena in St. Paul, MN., the theme for Seth "Freakin'" Rollins hits and out he comes in a glossy, almost bedazzled type of referee, zebra-striped gear. He settles in the ring to kick things off with the advertised referee rules meeting for CM Punk vs. Drew McIntyre at WWE SummerSlam.

The camera pans up and down Rollins' special referee gear and then he wastes no time introducing the participants for the highly-anticipated grudge match at "The Biggest Party of the Summer." First, the theme for CM Punk hits and out he comes with the slicked-back hair and cut-off sleeve t-shirt chumming it up with the St. Paul crowd on the way to the ring.

Before he says anything, the entrance tune for Drew McIntyre hits and out he comes. Before his theme even dies down, we hear Michael Cole sorta-kinda reference his photo with Jack Perry on X, pointing out he has "stirred things up on social media again" over the weekend. McIntyre and Punk glare at each other as the music dies down.

Rollins begins by informing Punk and McIntyre, per orders of the office, that neither man is to lay a finger on each other or Rollins or the match at SummerSlam is off. Punk jokingly slides out of the ring to say he's got no reason to stick around if that's the case. McIntyre tells him to exercise self control like him.

Punk says he's not worried about him, he's worried about what he will do. Punk finally gets in the ring per the demand of Rollins. Punk tells Rollins to enjoy him saying things and him having to listen to them while he can. Rollins makes it clear to McIntyre that the only person who hates Punk as much as him is he. He says the same to Punk about McIntyre.

He tells them if they'll shut up he'll finally get to the referee orders. He tells them they only give up when he says. He talks about how it's going to be a violent spectacle and says a lot will be left to referee's discretion. Punk takes a quick shot at Rollins, telling him that him being a referee is like a hat on a hat, which based on how he dresses, is something he probably likes.

McIntyre begins first and says he tore Punk's triceps and put him on the shelf for seven months and he wasn't even trying. He talks about Punk screwing him at WrestleMania and in front of his family. Punk tells McIntyre he's lucky to orbit him and says he's the third wheel in this. As they continue to talk, McIntyre taunts Punk with his bracelet. Punk gets in his face but won't touch him. They stare each other down very intensely.

Alpha Academy vs. The Creed Brothers

Backstage, we see The Judgment Day Clubhouse torn up. Rhea Ripley sees this and loses it. She tells The Judgment Day that Liv Morgan has gone too far and there will be consequences for this. Back inside the arena, the Alpha Academy theme hits and out comes Otis and Akira Tozawa accompanied by Maxxine Dupri.

As they settle in the ring for our opening contest, we shift gears and head into a pre-match commercial break. When we return, we see The Judgment Day still reacting to the clubhouse. Finn Balor says he'll handle GUNTHER tonight. He asks who's gonna handle Jey Uso and Sami Zayn. Rhea Ripley speaks against it again but sits back and let's them devise a gameplan.

Inside the arena, Chad Gable leads The Creed Brothers down to the ring for our first match of the show. Julius and Brutus Creed settle into the ring fresh off of action at Josh Barnett's Bloodsport XI event over the weekend. The bell sounds and we're officially off-and-running with this one. Otis and Julius Creed kick things off for their respective teams.

Julius is bull-rushed into the corner by Otis. Tozawa tags in and Creed takes over. He hits his impressive suplex spot, which starts with him hoisting Tozawa up in the suplex position while seated on the mat. He continues holding him upside down as he stands up and finishes the suplex. Tozawa starts to fire up with fast-paced, high-flying spots as we head into a mid-match commercial break.

When we return, we see Otis finally get a hot tag and take over. He hits a bunch of his trademark power spots as the crowd goes nuts. Eventually, The Creed Brothers hit a double back suplex to Otis off the ropes for the win.

After the match, Gable joins them in a beat down. Maxxine Dupri tries to attack. When they go to back her down, the lights go out and the single piano note hits. The Wyatt Sicks come down, unmask and attack The Creed Brothers as Chad Gable tries to escape. He backs up into Uncle Howdy and runs off through the crowd. We head to a break on that note.

Winners: The Creed Brothers

– Backstage, we hear that Dominik Mysterio vs. Sami Zayn is scheduled. Carlito misunderstood and got Adam Pearce to make that match instead of himself versus Zayn. Rhea Ripley stands with Dom as they tell Carlito he now needs to handle "Main Event" Jey Uso -- himself.

Sheamus vs. Bronson Reed

– Inside the arena, Sheamus' theme hits and out comes "The Celtic Warrior" for our next match of the evening. He settles in the ring and his music dies down. The theme for Bronson Reed hits next and out comes his opponent. As he settles in the ring, we see footage from last week of Sheamus interrupting the Reed and Pete Dunne bout.

– Back live, the theme for "Main Event" Jey Uso hits and out he comes as Michael Cole boasts increasing his "YEET!" time. He settles in the ring for our next match of the evening as we shift gears and head into a quick pre-match commercial break.

"Main Event" Jey Uso vs. Carlito

The bell sounds and we're officially off-and-running with this one. After the two trade shots to get things started, Sheamus settles into the early offensive lead. He clotheslines Reed out to the floor and hits a top-rope splash onto him at ringside. He goes to charge at Reed, but Reed back body-drops him onto the commentary desk.

We shift gears and head into a mid-match commercial break as the action continues.

We return and see Reed has settled into a comfortable offensive lead. This remains until Sheamus hits an insane Irish Curse back-breaker off the middle rope for a close two-count.

Sheamus takes over from there but as he tries to finish off Reed, we see Pete Dunne appear out of nowhere and blast Sheamus with a shillelagh and hide under the ring. Reed hits a Tsunami off the top-rope for the win.

Winner: Bronson Reed

We shoot to footage from last week of the interactions between GUNTHER and Damian Priest. After that, we see a new video featuring comments from the WWE World Heavyweight Champion talking about "street trash" to him translating to mean "Puerto Rican bad ass."

When we return, we see a Bron Breakker vignette hyping his shot at the Intercontinental Championship against Sami Zayn at SummerSlam. He talks about Zayn preparing for life after wrestling with his 'Sami Zayn & Friends' comedy shows and how he will leave SummerSlam with the I-C title.

Inside the arena, Carlito makes his way down to the ring. The bell sounds and off we go. We see Uso dominate the early action and then Carlito takes over. He hits a back-breaker off the ropes as we head to a mid-match break. When we return, Uso finishes things off for the win after Carlito's apple-biting backfires on him.

Winner: "Main Event" Jey Uso

– After the match, we see Zelina Vega being interviewed when Sonya Deville, Shayna Baszler and Zoey Stark confront her and attack her, snapping her already injured arm. Referees and officials rush to the scene to check on her as we head to another commercial break.

Xavier Woods vs. Karrion Kross

We learn that Kofi Kingston re-injured his shoulder on the WWE Supershow tour of Japan. We also see The Miz in a backstage interview announcing he is the host of WWE SummerSlam in his hometown of Cleveland, OH. R-Truth shows up and confuses this, per usual.

Back inside the arena, The New Day theme hits and out comes Xavier Woods for the next match of the evening. His scheduled opponent, Karrion Kross, comes out next. He gloats about Kofi being injured again and tells Woods to join The Final Testament.

He talks trash about Kofi, prompting Woods to jump him early to kick this match off with a bang. The bell sounds and Woods sends Kross out to the floor. He heads out after him as we head into a mid-match commercial break. When we return, AOP get involved leading to Kross winning.

Winner: Karrion Kross

– We see footage of Paul "Triple H" Levesque greeting Minnesota's own Jesse Ventura as he arrived to the building earlier tonight. After that, Jackie Redmond is standing by with Sami Zayn. He responds to Bron Breakker's comments from earlier tonight and explains why he's going to win this weekend.

Sami Zayn vs. Dominik Mysterio

The camera follows Sami as he heads through the curtain and makes his way out to the ring for our next match of the evening.

As he settles inside the squared circle, we shift gears and head into a pre-match commercial break. When we return, The bell rings and Dominik poses on the middle rope. He then delivers a boot to Zayn's midsection and fires off right hands on him in the corner, then slides out of the ring for a breather. Zayn chases Dominik back in the ring, but dumps him back out and delivers his signature springboard moonsault to him.

Back from the break, Dominik fires off a few stomps on Zayn and wears him down with a rear chin lock. Dominik connects with a back elbow on Zayn and follows it up with a Tornado DDT out of the corner, then goes for a pin but Zayn kicks out. Dominik then lands several right hands on Zayn's head, but Zayn runs him over with a clothesline and follows it up with a back elbow.

Zayn hits a double ax handle off the middle rope on Dominik and looks to connect with a Blue Thunder Bomb, but Dominik avoids the move and lands the Three Amigos. He ascends to the top and looks to land a splash, but Zayn moves out of the way and delivers an Exploder to Dominik into the corner. He looks to land the Helluva Kick, but Carlito and JD McDonagh appear at ringside.

Dominik looks to roll up a distracted Zayn, but Zayn kicks out. He fires off strikes on Zayn and looks to roll him up again, but Zayn counters into a back body drop. He clocks McDonagh and Carlito on the apron, but Dominik dropkicks him into the ropes. He looks to dial it up for a 619, but Zayn sees him coming and clocks him before he delivers a Blue Thunder Bomb. He goes for a pin, but McDonagh and Carlito break the fall causing the disqualification.

Winner via DQ: Sami Zayn

– At the commentary desk, Michael Cole and Pat McAfee set up the latest Wyatt Sicks VHS message. This time we see a very different looking Dexter Lumis. He talks in brief soundbytes in a very brief, nothing happening installment in what is continuing to be a watered down presentation of the new group.

– Back live, we see Chad Gable with The Creed Brothers. The very proud Gable reveals to Adam Pearce that he has figured out the identity of the three remaining members of The Wyatt Sicks. It's Joe Gacy, Dexter Lumis and Erick Rowan. He asks for a six-man tag-team match against the three for next week. Pearce obliges.

Lyra Valkyria, Kayden Carter & Katana Chance vs. Sonya Deville, Shayna Baszler & Zoey Stark

Inside the arena, Lyra Valkyria comes out, followed by Kayden Carter and Katana Chance. The three head to the ring for our next match of the evening, which is six-woman tag-team action. As they settle in the ring, we head to a pre-match commercial break.

When we return, the trio of Sonya Deville, Shayna Baszler and Zoey Stark make their way out. We see some brief back-and-forth action and then head into a mid-match break with the baby faces in control of things. When we return, after a cluster-f of back-to-back spots from all six, Stark hits Z360 for the win. After the match, Damage CTRL comes out and runs off the heel trio.

Winners: Sonya Deville, Shayna Baszler & Zoey Stark

– We shoot to a vignette with new comments from GUNTHER in response to the one from WWE World Heavyweight Champion Damian Priest earlier in the show. "The Ring General" talks about Priest being street trash that is using the business to make up for his childhood. As far as tonight, he says Finn Balor used to be one of the greats.

He says Balor was destined for more until he began surrounding himself with The Judgment Day, and then he became just like them, street trash. He's interested to find out how much of the old Finn Balor is left tonight. After this wraps up, we head to another commercial break.

– When we return, Damage CTRL react to their returns and Dakota Kai calls out Sonya Deville for singles action for next week. We then shoot to The Judgment Day, who agree they need to focus on SummerSlam. They tell Balor if he needs help with GUNTHER tonight, just say the word.

He tells Ripley and Priest they wanna go it alone at SummerSlam, so he wants to do the same tonight. Balor tells Priest he'll soften up GUNTHER tonight so he can finish the job this Saturday. Back inside the arena, GUNTHER's theme hits and out comes "The Ring General" for our main event of the evening.

GUNTHER vs. Finn Balor

As he settles in the ring, we shift gears and head into a pre-match commercial break. When we return, The Wyatt Sicks vs. Chad Gable & The Creed Brothers and Sonya Deville vs. Dakota Kai is confirmed for the 8/5 post-SummerSlam episode of Raw in Baltimore, MD.

Back in the arena live, the theme for Finn Balor hits and out comes one-half of the tag-team champions for our final match of the evening. The bell sounds and off we go. The two trade chops and then GUNTHER blasts Balor with a huge one that draws gasps from the St. Paul crowd.

Balor spikes GUNTHER on his dome and starts to settle into an early offensive lead. As Balor takes a moment to gloat to the crowd, GUNTHER recovers. Balor turns around and walks right into a big boot to the chops from the 2024 King of the Ring. On that note, we head into a mid-match commercial break.

After the final break of the evening wraps up, we return back in the ring to the main event in progress. GUNTHER keeps trying to choke out Balor with a sleeper hold, but Balor keeps escaping. Balor rallies late and hits a sling blade and looks to try and finish this one himself, but GUNTHER ends up putting him to sleep with the sleeper for the win.

Winner: GUNTHER

– Once the match wraps up, "The Ring General" is not satisfied yet, and looks to further choke out Balor more with another sleeper. This continues until the theme for Damian Priest hits. Out comes the street trash WWE World Heavyweight Champion himself, and the Puerto Rican bad-ass beats down his SummerSlam challenger on the announce desk. The show goes off the air as the brawl continues.