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WWE Monday Night Raw comes waltzing back into our lives tonight (June 22, 2020) from the Performance Center in Orlando, Florida, with all the latest build to the upcoming Extreme Rules pay-per-view scheduled for next month at the same venue.
Advertised for tonight: Multiple championship matches, Ric Flair crowns Randy Orton, and more!
Come right back here at 8 p.m. ET when the Raw live blog kicks off once the show starts on USA. It will be below this line here. (REMINDER: NO GIFS OR PICS ARE ALLOWED IN THE COMMENTS SECTION. OFFENDERS WILL BE BANNED.)
WWE RAW RESULTS AND LIVE BLOG FOR JUNE 22
Paralyzed in time, colorized and brilliant, the future paradigm would prove to be resilient. A completely flawed analysis of future tech’s tenacity caught the eye of the world as their hopes and dreams took fire right before their eyes, but me, I’m just here to liveblog this pro wrestling show, folks.
The show opens with a video package hyping up the concept of Championship Monday and tonight’s assorted festivities.
Drew McIntyre makes his entrance and gets on the mic.
He talks about how R-Truth accepted a winner-take-all tag match with his WWE Championship on the line last week but he still retained. That was the past, and now we’re looking to the future—
Enter Dolph Ziggler, who in now way, shape, or form is the future.
He gets on the mic and talks about being traded and how he’d hate to have Drew lose the title to anyone... but him. He talks about the part he played in McIntyre’s comeback story and how he needs a challenger for Extreme Rules, and all he’s asking is for is what he’s owed.
Drew says it’s not that he’s not talented, but because Dolph has become exactly what they used to despise— an entitled jackass. He thinks the world owes him something when he doesn’t, but he’s right in that he needs an opponent for Extreme Rules, and he just wants Ziggler to think about what he’ll do to him before he decides he really wants the match.
Dolph still wants it, so Drew makes it official.
Nia Jax makes her entrance.
She gets a chair and sets it up in the middle of the ring before taking a seat as we go to break.
Back from commercial, Nia Jax, still seated, gets on the mic.
She complains about Charlotte Flair being given a title match against Asuka tonight after she’s been cheated two weeks running.
Enter R-Truth.
He excuses himself and says he thinks Jax is confused, because he was supposed to have a match against evil leader of the ninja clan Akira Tozawa right now. He points out ninjas are masters of disguise and wonders if Nia is secretly Tozawa. She takes offense, he yells in her face, and Akira appears from behind the commentary desk.
His ninjas surround the ring and chase Truth to the back.
Enter Charlotte Flair.
She wants to explain what’s really going on— Nia dropped the ball and now she’s throwing a huge hissy fit because she didn’t get her way. Jax fires back that Flair gets whatever she wants because her daddy is the Nature Boy. Charlotte gets in the ring with the assistance of a crewmember and Nia calls her delusional if she thinks her dad didn’t pave the way for her.
Flair admits she’s delusional, it was her dad that beat Asuka twice last month! Jax says she hasn’t beaten her, and when they last met, she dominated Charlotte. Since then, she’s built her legacy on easy targets and avoided her, and they both know she’s the one woman built take her crown.
This gets a forearm from the Queen and we’ve got a brawl! Referees pull them apart.
We get a Viking Raiders / Street Profits video package / update and cut to Street Profits backstage hyping up tonight’s title match. Viking Raiders roll up and they talk about how despite their differences they’ve become friends. But Dawkins warns them— when the bell rings, they’ll do whatever it takes to keep their titles.
They head off together and Zelina Vega rolls up behind them to send us to break.
Street Profits (Angelo Dawkins & Montez Ford) (c) vs. Viking Raiders (Erik & Ivar) (WWE Raw Tag Team Championship)
Ivar and Dawkins to start, agile big men in the feeling out, Warbeard lays him out with a reverse roundhouse and tags Erik in. Working Angelo over, but it doesn’t turn into an extended control segment because Ford gets the tag. Turning the speed up, a dropkick sends erik to the floor, tope con giro... COUNTERED INTO A POWERBOMB THAT ALSO TAKES ANGELO OUT AS WE GO TO BREAK!
Back from commercial, Ivar is in control on Ford, working him over with an armbar. Montez gets away and makes the tag, Dawkins comes in hot, huge corkscrew uppercut takes Erik out! One-handed bulldog to follow it up, Profits hit the Viking Experience on Erik but Warbeard makes the save! Tag made, Ivar in, handspring back elbow lays Ford out!
Warbeard roars, dueling cartwheels into dueling kicks! Dawkins makes the tag, hits a cartwheel of his own and all four dudes end up cartwheeling! Stacking the champs up, Erik hits a two-for-one World’s Strongest Slam / Powerbomb! Ivar up top, nobody home on the diving splash! The match breaks down, Ford off the top...
Street Profits win by pinfall with the frog splash from Montez Ford on Erik to retain the WWE Raw Tag Team Championship.
Post-match, both teams share mutual respect.
Angel Garza and Andrade “Cien” Almas attack the Profits but Vikings make the save!
Seth Rollins is backstage being ominous to send us to break.
Back from commercial, commentary recaps Seth Rollins’ segment with the Mysterio family from last week.
Seth is still backstage and still ominous.
He talks about how sometimes we’re chosen for roles beyond our choices, like he and Rey have been. The difference is that he embraced his role for the greater good, but Mysterio has been defiant, and defiance breeds suffering. The saddest part of all of this is that he’s allowed his son to get involved in this situation.
He wants Mysterio to know that whatever becomes of him or his son, it’s guilt that he’ll have to harbor, because the greater good is coming for them all, and there’s nothing he can do to stop it. Legends never die, but they sure as hell can outlive their welcome.
We get a recap of our opening women’s segment, because Raw is three hours long. (Three hours long)
Charlotte Flair is interviewed backstage.
She denies any thought of postponing her title match due to an arm injury, invoking the tired old “it ain’t ballet” defense.
Charly Caruso rolls up on Zelina Vega and her boys for another interview.
Angel Garza makes a analogy as to how attacking the champs is like gazing into the eyes of a beautiful woman that’s mostly pretext to mack on Charly, and Zelina steps forward to talk about how her clients have taken their differences and turned them into strength, and they’re coming for the tag titles.
Asuka makes her entrance and we go to break.
Asuka (c) vs. Charlotte Flair (WWE Raw Women’s Championship)
Collar and elbow, off the ropes, Flair with a shoulder block before putting boots to her in the corner. Upkicks get stomps, whip blocked, arm wrenches from Asuka into an arm wringer. Leg kicks, sidestep the hip attack and Charlotte drops her with a forearm! Action to the floor, Flair sweeps her legs out and lays her out on the floor with a boot!
Back inside, figure four headscissors applied, up top for the moonsault, nobody home! STO backbreaker into the reverse STO into the turnbuckles and we go to break.
Back from commercial, Flair has a Dragon sleeper in the ropes! Letting go of it, she backs Asuka into the corner for chops, but her challenger hits a German suplex in return! Arm kicks, block the Uraken, block the chop, trading kicks, both women down and out! Flying armbar, but Charlotte keeps her hands clasped!
Asuka switches arms but still can’t break the champion’s grip! Flair gets a foot on the ropes to force the break! Spear, cover... ASUKA GETS HER HANDS ON THE ROPE! Chop block, figure four countered into a small package, Asuka back to the armbar! Charlotte barely able to keep her hands together, posting, deadlift... POWERBOMB!
But Asuka grabs her in the Asuka Lock on the landing! It’s over!
Asuka wins by submission with the Asuka Lock to retain the WWE Raw Women’s Championship.
Nia Jax is interviewed backstage.
She thinks it’d be a real shame if someone were to kick the Queen while she’s down.
And so we go to break.
Back from commercial, we get a recap of Edge vs. Randy Orton from Backlash and Orton’s “match” against Christian from last week.
Edge cuts a promo from a ring somewhere, seated in the corner.
He says Randy won but didn’t live up to his claim of being the better natural wrestler of the two of them. He may have tore Edge’s tricep off the bone, but he kept fighting, and he saw the panic in Orton, and he hit him with an “accidental” low blow? Okay. He saw Raw last week and Randy can shout that he’s the greatest wrestler ever from the mountaintop.
Do whatever you want, because beating him clearly means everything, but for Edge? Beating Orton is what he expects, and he’s disappointed that he didn’t see the low blow coming or do it first. It’s not gonna happen again. Orton says he lit a fire in his gut, reminded him he’s the Legend Killer, well, this match, this injury, not being able to pick up his daughters on Father’s Day, that showed him he’s gotta wake up a side of him that’s been dormant for too long.
The second he hit that punt, backed Jay into a corner despite not being cleared, and punted him...? Christian has been his friend for 36 years, he’s walked through every trial and tribulation in his life. Orton put the PG Superstar to bed, and for that, he’s thankful, because Randy woke up the side of him that will sink to any level to get what he wants.
He doesn’t care about winning a wrestling match now, he’s gonna embarrass Orton and emasculate him, make him wish Cowboy Bob was firing blanks on the night he was conceived. When he comes home, Randy’s kids are gonna come running up and ask him if he’s okay, and he won’t be. When he goes to hug his wife at night, they won’t be able to look each other in the eyes, because they both know what’s coming.
He knows Randy has voices in his head, but Edge is gonna be screaming louder than all of ‘em. He’ll see every aspect of his life infected, tear it apart brick by brick from the inside. He has no idea what he’s done, but he’s woke up the evil, he’s woken up the Rated R Superstar. Get some sleep while you can, Randy.
Cut to Orton being interviewed backstage.
He asks Charly if she knows what a snake does when it feels threatened. It bites, it strikes wildly, sometimes blindly. That snake is gonna do what mother nature intended, to defend its clutch of eggs and survive. Edge and Christian come back and try to have their comebacks at his expense? He’s gonna strike.
He sincerely wishes both men have a full recovery and live happy, healthy, full lives... as long as they do it far, far, far away from him.
He says he’s got something to discuss with the Nature Boy and we go to break.
Back from commercial, Charlotte Flair is interviewed— NIA JAX BLINDSIDES HER!
Nia slams her arm in a road case and wooos. A trainer rolls up to check on the Queen.
Akira Tozawa vs. R-Truth (c) (WWE 24/7 Championship)
Bobby Lashley and Montel Vontavious Porter make their entrances before the bell can ring.
Bob destroys Tozawa’s ninjas and he and MVP get in the ring. Montel runs the distraction, Lashley from behind with a full nelson! He swings Ron around until he’s broken and throws him aside.
They leave, and Tozawa rolls up...
Akira Tozawa wins by pinfall with a lateral press to become WWE 24/7 Champion.
Natalya is interviewed backstage.
She says Charlotte’s arm looked real bad and with Becky Lynch out, the Raw women’s division needs her leadership.
Asuka isn’t the best person to lead the locker room since she’s so hard to understand, and Nattie berates the interviewer for not scheduling this interview ahead of time, because she’s got a big announcement but no time to make it before her match.
And so we go to break.
Back from commercial, Lana accompanies Natalya for her entrance.
Liv Morgan vs. Natalya
Circling, collar and elbow, Morgan with a side headlock. Shot off, shoulder block, discus lariat... NOPE! Smashing Liv’s face into the turnbuckles, Neidhart puts boots to her, drawing her up, gutwrench into a Canadian backbreaker rack! Morgan gets the ropes and forces the break but Nattie knocks her to the floor with a shoulder thrust.
Following after, throwing her back inside, but Liv gets a tijeras from inside the ring! Lana running interference, it’s enough for Natalya to get a chop block, leg pick, step through...
Natalya wins by submission with the Sharpshooter.
Big Show is interviewed backstage.
He says just when he thinks he’s seen everything WWE has to offer, Monday Night Raw gets taken over by ninjas. He just stopped by to say hello to some friends last week, but when the opportunity arose to punch a ninja, he took it and gave the Viking Raiders a helping right hand. He says he’s mostly focused on the Big Show Show now but he’s here because of what happened to his friends last week.
People think he’s fun, but he’s also a heartless, angry giant, and when that guy comes out, he gets whatever he wants, and there’s nothing anybody can do about it. And that guy is headed to the ring right now.
“Nature Boy” Ric Flair makes his entrance to send us to break.
Back from commercial, we get a recap of our opening segment and confirmation that Drew McIntyre will defend against Dolph Ziggler at Extreme Rules.
The Nature Boy gets on the mic.
First he addresses Charlotte’s injury, saying that when she comes back, Nia Jax is gonna wish she worked and lived in another environment, because she’s gonna be in a lot of trouble.
To the subject at hand, Randy Orton. He’s been telling everyone that Orton is the greatest performer in the business today, and the word “arguable” doesn’t apply.
Enter Randy Orton.
Ric puts him over some more, calling him the best performer in the history of WWE before shaking his hand. Orton thanks him and says that means a lot. He talks about the nostalgia of half of Evolution being here in the ring, but nostalgia can be confused with legacy. It was nostalgic to see Ric be the dirtiest player in the game last week, for him to punt Christian, and for Edge to step in the ring for the very last time.
But his fire, his desire to be the Legend Killer again, is not nostalgic, it’s just him cementing his legacy, becoming the greatest ever, and euthanizing Edge and Christian’s careers. The voices in his head are on the same page and they all agree that being the Legend Killer again is great.
Enter the Big Show.
He’s had enough! He gets in the ring and says he’s not gonna sit there and let them glorify what Orton did to his friends, and he’s going to make him pay. He calls Orton a parasite that feeds on anyone who he thinks can take him to the next level, and that’s currently Ric Flair. He’s latched onto guys that make him better over and over, because he lacks the discipline and motivation to make himself better.
And once he gets what he wants, he leaves the host to die. Edge is going to get to pay Orton back, but he’s not getting the first crack, because this pissed-off giant is going to break every bone in Ric’s body. Orton gets in his way and says he’s not gonna touch a hair on the Nature Boy’s head. He puts Show over, saying he’s a future Hall of Famer.
He never would have guessed kicking two of his friends in the head would piss Big off so much, and it’d be tragic for him to suffer the same fate. Show wants to square up but Randy rolls away and says he’s had enough. They’ve been friends for twenty years but no longer. He’s focused and motivated and what happens next is on Show.
Randy and Ric leave together while Big Show fumes in the ring.
We get a recap of last week’s women’s tag segment and see the champs getting ready backstage to send us to break.
Back from commercial, Rey Mysterio’s return is hyped up for next week.
Boss and Hug Connection (Bayley & Sasha Banks) (c) vs. Iconic Duo (Billie Kay & Peyton Royce) (WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship)
Kay and Sasha, Billie right out the gates with a big boot... SO CLOSE! Looking to double-team but Bayley trips Peyton up and takes her to the floor as Banks comes back. Isolating Kay, working her over, but it doesn’t last and the challengers get their wheelbarrow knee on the apron to lay Bayley out as we go to break.
Back from commercial, Bayley and Kay are wailing on each other with punches in the middle of the ring. Billie whips her into the corner, but the SmackDown champ gets away, shoulder thrusts, mocking taunt, charging into a double stomp, tag from Royce. Fisherman suplex into the bridge... BANKS BREAKS IT UP!
Bayley gets the tag, Banks with a hard knee shot, double team slam, only two! Sasha looking for the Three Amigos, Peyton floats over the third, clear the apron, schoolboy for two! Back suplex lift, the Boss kicks Kay away and takes Royce down into the crossface...
Boss and Hug Connection win by submission with the Bank Statement crossface from Sasha Banks on Peyton Royce to retain the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship.
Post-match, the champs cut a promo.
Sasha says she’s been thinking, and admits to getting a little jealous whenever Bayley brings up being a double champion. She’s happy for her best friend but can’t help but want to experience that herself, and what she’s trying to say is she wants a title match. So at Extreme Rules, she’s officially challenging... Asuka for the Raw Women’s Championship!
Enter Asuka.
She cuts a promo in Japanese before telling Sasha she accepts!
Bayley immediately jumps her and the tag champs beat her down! Bank Statement!
Backstage, Bobby Lashley and Montel Vontavious Porter are interviewed.
Lashley complains that he should be WWE Champion but isn’t because of that clown R-Truth. MVP says Bob is a man revitalized, free of distractions, and he sells Apollo Crews on joining their stable. He says Apollo is tremendously talented but he doesn’t get the business side of things, and he needs to sit under his learning tree to be one of the best United States Champions since... well... him.
And so we go to break.
Back from commercial, we get some hype for this week’s edition of Raw Talk.
Liv Morgan is walking backstage when she runs into Ruby Riott.
Liv begs off and says she gets it, nothing has gone her way lately and she doesn’t need Ruby making her feel worse.
MVP is in the ring for the VIP Lounge.
He welcomes us to the show and introduces his guest, Apollo Crews.
MVP says it just feels right to have the United States Champion in the VIP Lounge, and he brings up Apollo wanting to be a fighting champion. He respects that and he respects Crews, but he had to go and recklessly blow out his knee and forfeit his spot in Money in the Bank, and that’s when he realized Crews needs help navigating those bad decisions.
He’s already made the mistakes, and he can help Apollo use the title to give his daughter the life she deserves. Crews says he got this far without any of Montel’s help, and he appreciates the offer, but his answer is still no. Porter says if he wasn’t dropping gems, Apollo wouldn’t still be hear listening, and he says there’s no rule he has to be out here week after week.
He can be champion for a very long time, and it’s not gonna happen unless he has MVP’s help. Crews is skeptical and runs through some of the ways Montel can ruin his title match tonight, and says he’s been dealing with people like him his entire career, and he’s not gonna let the title change who he is.
MVP points out that he was United States Champion for 343 days, and he tried to do this the nice way not once, but twice, and there won’t be a third time— whether Crews likes it or not, the title is coming home where it belongs.
Apollo gets in his face but backs off when his opponent tonight, Shelton Benjamin, makes his entrance. MVP bails and asks Shelton to give him just a moment. It’s a ruse, and Benjamin blindsides Crews! He puts the champ shoulder-first into the ringpost, and Montel tells him lesson one is “never put yourself in a two-on-one situation.”
On that wisdom, we go to break.
Apollo Crews (c) vs. Shelton Benjamin (WWE United States Championship)
Crews with an arm drag into forearms, Benjamin puts him in the corner and slingshots to a roundhouse kick! Cover for two, stepover armbreaker, kind of a short hip toss shoulder first into the turnbuckles! Shoulder armbreaker, Apollo breaks free with right hands into a dropkick, standing moonsault... CAUGHT INTO A CROSS ARMBAR!
Champion posts to his feet to break, duck a lariat, Cactus Clothesline sends both men to the floor! Apollo sidesteps a charge and Shelton eats ringpost! Back inside, enzuigiri staggers Benjamin, back suplex lift...
Apollo Crews wins by pinfall with the delayed Blue Thunder Driver to retain the WWE United States Championship.
Post-match, MVP runs interference and Bobby Lashley comes down and locks the full nelson on Crews! Shaking it around, he lays the champion out and Montel grabs the title belt and lays it across Apollo’s fallen body.
Rey Mysterio is shown chilling in a storage room somewhere when Dominick rolls up to ask if he’s sure he wants to do this. Rey wants to show Seth Rollins just what it means to be a Mysterio, and we go to break.
Back from commercial, Rey and Dominick Mysterio make their entrance.
They get in the ring and Rey gets on the mic. He says one of the most terrifying things that can happen to a parent is not being able to get ahold of your child, and last Monday he couldn’t get ahold of Dom and that scared the hell out of him. But when Dom got out of that 3-on-1 situation, he was proud, even though he’s still angry for him putting himself at risk.
He knows the risks, they’ve talked about it. Rey says he’s pissed at Seth but he’s learned to accept what he did, and even though Dominick is bigger than him, he’s still his old man, and no matter how big or strong he gets, he’ll always be his child. Since Dom fought for him, now it’s his turn to fight for Dom, and he’s got this one.
He needs to get revenge on Seth Rollins by himself and Dominick says this family wants a fight.
Enter Seth Rollins, mic in hand.
If they want a fight, they’re putting him in a very difficult position. He doesn’t know what to do, to go to the ring and slaughter a father in front of his son or make him watch as he sacrifices his boy. He decides it’s not up to him, and none of these decisions are his. This is destiny, and it seems to him that they’re both in the same place at the same time, and two eyes are better than one.
Rollins advances on the ring, arms wide, and falls to his knees at the end of the aisle as Buddy Murphy and Austin Theory come down behind him. He says Rey could have walked away easily... AND ALEISTER BLACK AND HUMBERTO CARRILLO APPEAR TO EVEN THE ODDS! The babyfaces work together and run the heels off, corkscrew tope from Carrillo!
Seth is alone and surrounded, begging off on the floor as Mysterio the elder nails him with a 619! The Mysterios hold him up and drag him over to the steel steps, clearly thinking an eye for an eye but Murphy and Theory recover and make the save! They hold Rey in place as Rollins manhandles Dominick and drags him over to the steel steps!
Trying to blind him as they did his father but Humberto arrives with a chair in time to run them off!
The babyfaces stand tall.
That’s the show, folks.