The Aug. 14 episode of WWE: Monday Night Raw, featuring a main event between Cody Rhodes and Finn Balor, averaged 1.757 million viewers and did a 0.55 rating (P18-49).

This was slightly down from last week's post-SummerSlam episode (1.888 million viewers, 0.61 rating).

WWE is making a strong effort to make The Judgement Day(Finn Balor, Damien Priest, Dominik Mysterio & Rhea Ripley) one of the main focuses of the Monday show. The ongoing storyline in the faction is tension between Balor and Priest. The former WWE Universal Champion is still upset with Priest for accidentally costing him matches against Seth Rollins for the World Heavyweight Championship. Despite their issues, they have tried to work together and remain a dominant faction.

In the match with Rhodes, Priest once again costs Balor the match by accidentally giving the Money In The Bank Briefcase to his opponent. "The American Nightmare" capitalized on the mistake by hitting Balor with the briefcase and followed up with his Cross Rhodes finisher for the win.


After the match, Priest and Mysterio attacked Rhodes before he could celebrate his win. Sami Zayn tried to make the save, but JD McDonagh made it to the ring to help the Judgement Day. The group continued to beat down Rhodes and Zayn while McDonagh looked on to end the show.

While the company has been teasing conflict between Balor and Priest, they could hold it off for a while. WWE has slowly introduced McDonagh into the storyline, and he could be the glue(for now) that keeps the faction together longer. Based on helping them with Zayn, the next episode could have The Judgement Day be more welcoming to Balor's protege and eventually make him a member.


WWE's next premium live event, Payback, will occur on Sep. 2. no match has been made official for the PLE. However, the Aug. 14 episode seemingly started the build for Rollins to defend his title against Shinsuke Nakamura at Payback.

Nakamura made the "heel turn" after attacking Rollins in their tag team match on the Aug. 7 episode of Monday Night Raw. On Monday's episode, Nakamura addressed his actions and shared that he wants to challenge for the World Heavyweight Championship.


Rollins came to the ring to accept his challenge and gave the "King Of Strong Style" the opportunity to pick when it would happen. After they shook hands and agreed to face each other, fans were puzzled when Nakamura whispered something in the champion's ear. Rollins looked stunned by what Nakamura said, and his future opponent took him out again.

On WWE: Raw Talk after the show, Nakamura was asked about he said his Rollin's ear. He didn't share what was whispered but said, "My word is going to stay in his head until next week." It seems we may get an answer to what was told by the champion in next week's episode as they continue to build toward their title match, potentially at Payback.