WWE Raw Results: Winners, Live Grades, Reaction and Highlights Before SummerSlam

Just five days before SummerSlam, WWE stopped off at the Xcel Energy Center in Saint Paul, Minnesota for the go-home episode of WWE Raw, headlined by Seth Rollins delivering his referee instructions to Drew McIntyre and CM Punk ahead of their long-awaited grudge match.

Meanwhile, Finn Bálor squared off with Gunther, and Xavier Woods wrote the latest chapter of his feud with Karrion Kross. We also found out what Liv Morgan had in store for Rhea Ripley and Dominik Mysterio after being humiliated publicly a week ago.

What went down and how did it grade out?

Find out with this recap of the final episode of Raw before SummerSlam, including an analysis of each segment.

Announced in advance of Monday's show:

• Seth Rollins' referee instructions to Drew McIntyre and CM Punk
• Finn Bálor vs. Gunther
• Sheamus vs. Bronson Reed
• Lyra Valkyria, Katana Chance and Kayden Carter vs. Shayna Baszler, Zoey Stark and Sonya Deville
• Xavier Woods vs. Karrion Kross

Seth Rollins delivered his referee instructions to CM Punk and Drew McIntyre to kick off Monday's show, revealing there is just one rule for Saturday's match in Cleveland: Both men must listen to everything he says.

From there, the segment became a sales pitch for the most intensely personal contest on the SummerSlam card.

The Best in the World took credit for McIntyre's success this year, attributing it to breathing the same air in the CM Punk atmosphere. The Scottish Warrior vowed to silence his rival, and Rollins voiced his disdain for both men.

The segment was perfectly acceptable but felt messy, with too many voices spouting sentiments we already knew long before now.

However, this was a fun start to the show and generated some excitement for the match, but the somewhat repetitive nature of it did little to sell the premium live event than the eight months of build previously.

Grade

C+

Top Moments and Takeaways

• Cole noted that Punk's match Saturday is his first one-on-one bout in WWE in 10-and-a-half years.
• Punk referred to Rollins as a "bootlicking office boy."
• "I'm going to get paid so much money to do something I would do for free," the Scot said of beating Punk up in Cleveland.
• Punk told McIntyre he hoped he enjoyed the last six months because the best thing he ever did for his career was hurting him. It was also the worst thing he ever did for his career.

Chad Gable won the battle as his new proteges, Julius and Brutus Creed, defeated Otis and Akira Tozawa in tag team action Monday night.

The fun, energetic contest preceded a post-match beatdown by the heels, including an ankle lock on the fallen big man.

Maxxine Dupri entered the ring and slapped Gable.

As the 2012 Olympian confronted Dupri, the lights dimmed and the crowd rose to its feet with "fireflies" illuminating the arena.

The Wyatt Sicks entered the arena, with Erick Rowan, Joe Gacy and Dexter Lumis removing their masks and revealing their identities before laying out the heels.

Nikki Cross wiped out Gable with a crossbody block, and Uncle Howdy chased him off to end the segment.

Result

The Creed Brothers defeated Otis and Tozawa

Grade

B+

Top Moments and Takeaways

• The heat for Otis' hot tag is off the charts.
• It was interesting to see Otis take the fall. He has the most sympathy with fans, and his loss necessitated Dupri's defiant slap to Gable. With that in mind, it worked and he likely loses no momentum as a result.
• Speaking of Dupri, she continues to have the greatest fortitude of anyone on the babyface side. From the beginning, she has not hesitated to stand up to Gable.
• The Wyatt Sicks stuff worked well here, though there is an argument to be made that removing the masks should have been held off until we saw the videos for Lumis and Gacy. Still, it generated the desired reaction, and the presentation of all involved was executed perfectly.

Bronson Reed...*checks notes*...won a match on Raw.

The 2024 Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal winner defeated Sheamus in a rematch, capitalizing on late interference from Pete Dunne and delivering the Tsunami for the victory.

A good, physical contest with some quality near-falls late on, this was a great showing for two talented big men who can be counted on to deliver as workhorses of the brand.

Reed scoring a win is a big deal because he has lacked those defining victories while Sheamus losing the way he did only puts him one step closer to a showdown with Dunne in what should be a show-stealing match on any card.

Result

Reed pinned Sheamus

Grade

B+

Top Moments and Takeaways

• The White Noise from the ropes by Sheamus was an impressive spot.
• How is The Celtic Warrior still having the best, most aggressive and physical matches of his career? The man is a fountain of youth between the ropes and may be better now than ever. 
• Dunne with the shillelagh was a great callback to the Brawling Brutes.

Jey Uso may not have a match at SummerSlam, but he did not allow that to affect him as he squared off with Judgment Day hopeful, Carlito, in one-on-one action.

Main Event found himself on the the defensive leading into and coming out of the commercial, and he ate a spinebuster from his opponent at one point.

Carlito's hubris proved costly, though, as he grabbed his trademark apple and set up to spit it in Uso's face, only to eat a picture-perfect Spear as the babyface earned a big come-from-behind victory.

Result

Uso defeated Carlito

Grade

C+

Top Moments and Takeaways

• How does Uso not have a match on one of the biggest shows of the year? He headlined last year's SummerSlam but isn't on the card this year despite being more popular than ever.
• Carlito's facial expressions have been on-point in recent weeks. He does the little things well, making him even more valuable than he would have been otherwise.
• The match was unspectacular, but it highlighted Uso and continued the side story of the heel's quest to be accepted as a member of The Judgment Day, so it served a purpose if nothing else.

Backstage, Sonya Deville, Zoey Stark and Shayna Baszler jumped Zelina Vega and reinjured her arm.

In the arena, Xavier Woods and The Final Testament's Karrion Kross escalated their rivalry with their latest in-ring showdown.

Kross taunted Woods before the bell, igniting a fire in the babyface that manifested itself in the form of an early onslaught.

Kross slowed things down, overpowering Woods coming out of the commercial break.

The babyface attempted a comeback, but Kross delivered the Final Prayer for the pinfall victory.

Result

Kross pinned Woods

Grade

C

Top Moments and Takeaways

• Kross told Woods that Kofi Kingston should have retired after losing the WWE Championship in six seconds.
• The Final Testament will not succeed until there is some sort of explanation as to what the group is supposed to be. Kross cuts promos, but there has been zero expansion on the faction's motivation, and the result is a crowd that has no investment in it.

Earlier Monday, women's world champion Liv Morgan cut a pre-taped promo over a barrel of fire, in which she dumped different memorabilia from her time with Dominik Mysterio.

In the arena, Mysterio squared off with intercontinental champion Sami Zayn in a non-title match.

The competitive bout saw Mysterio manage to seize control, only for Zayn to fight back and roll late. Carlito and JD McDonagh got involved, breaking up a pinfall attempt and drawing a disqualification victory for the babyface.

Jey Uso made the save, though, and cleared the ring of the heels.

Bron Breakker, looking to send one last message to Zayn, attacked but found himself retreating to close out the segment.

Result

Zayn defeated Mysterio via disqualification

Grade

B+

Top Moments and Takeaways

• Zayn responded to a great pre-taped promo from Breakker earlier in the night, taking exception to the No. 1 contender criticizing his comedy show the night before SummerSlam because he had another show the night before Money in the Bank and he still beat Breakker. Touche.
• Pat McAfee referred to Mysterio as the "Michael Phelps of insufferability." It was a great line from a guy who has not been nearly as good as he was in his first run on commentary with WWE.
• Dom's Phantom/Halloween Havoc-inspired gear is always tops in the business.
• This was one instance where we did not need Breakker on this show after his promo earlier in the night. It hit the right notes and served as the perfect conclusion to the build for the match with Zayn. The run-in here was unnecessary.

Lyra Valkyria, Katana Chance and Kayden Carter battled Sonya Deville, Zoey Stark and Shayna Baszler in six-woman tag team action next.

The heels isolated Valkyria for the majority of the match, but the Queen of the Ring runner-up fended them off and made the tag to Carter.

The action broke down from there, with the babyfaces mounting a comeback and appearing poised to score the win.

An alert Deville broke up the After Party by Chance, and Stark put her away with the Z-360 for the win.

After the match, Damage CTRL returned and cleared the ring of the heels before standing tall to close things out.

Result

Stark, Baszler and Deville defeated Chance, Carter and Valkyria

Grade

C+

Top Moments and Takeaways

• Valkyria does not feel as important as she did two months ago, but she continues to enjoy consistent TV time that keeps her in the fans' eyes, thus keeping her relevant.
• So, are Damage CTRL babyfaces now? That was the vibe here, but the group has done nothing to earn that role or the connection with the audience that comes with it.

Days before he challenges Damian Priest for the World Heavyweight Championship at SummerSlam, Gunther battled Finn Bálor in a dream match.

It was a physical, competitive bout that saw The Ring General control the pace and force his opponent to fight from underneath. The Irishman did just that, he has countless times over his WWE career, to the point where he had the Coup de Grace ready.

Gunther moved out of the way, though, and trapped Balor in a sleeper and scored the win via referee stoppage.

After the match, he reapplied the hold until Priest hit the ring and the two Superstars brawled to close out the show.

Result

Gunther defeated Bálor

Grade

B

Top Moments and Takeaways

• When reminded that Rhea Ripley and Priest have his back in his match against Gunther, Bálor questioned them: "You don't think I'm good enough?" Expect that to come into play in the next few days as the mounting tension between Bálor and Priest comes to a head.
• The match was strong but felt like two guys working in neutral rather than going all-out ahead of SummerSlam. Revisiting this down the line would be greatly appreciated.

WWE did a solid job of booking this show to be the final hype for Saturday's SummerSlam.

We saw the key players highlighted, with Punk, McIntyre, Rollins, Zayn, Breakker, Ripley, Morgan, Priest and Gunther all prominently featured in one way or another.

More importantly, Triple H and the WWE creative team never allowed the PLE to overshadow the rest of Monday's show. There were storyline developments, such as the latest from The Wyatt Sicks and Chad Gable, that will have longer-reaching effects beyond SummerSlam.

Vega is set up as opposition to Deville, Stark and Baszler, as are Damage CTRL. Dunne intensified his rivalry with Sheamus; Kross earned another key victory over Woods; and Uso remained a thorn in the side of The Judgment Day.

It remains to be seen if/when those stories write their final chapters, but the idea that efforts are being made is promising in a way that it hasn't been for many years in WWE.