WWE RAW HITS & MISSES (7/24): Cody promo, Ricochet-Logan, Ripley destroyed Liv Morgan, Dominik vs. Sami, more

Opening Segment – HIT: WWE continues to do a nice job of building up the Judgment Day as a strong heel faction. Dominik Mysterio keeps getting off the charts heat. The rest of the group is also clicking with the fans. They were all good to start the show, as were Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn in coming out to interrupt. This set up the Zayn vs. Mysterio North American Championship match for later in the show which provided a nice hook.

Lynch vs. Stark – HIT: This was another good match between Becky Lynch and Zoey Stark. Stark has been impressive in her brief run on Raw so far, and I continue to be a fan of her pairing with Trish Stratus. By winning, Becky earned another match against Trish at SummerSlam. The ending was predictable, but that’s ok.

Cody Rhodes – HIT: Cody Rhodes continues to give good babyface star promos like this one where he talked about ending the feud with Brock Lesnar. I particularly liked the line about how he wasn’t poking the bear, he was slapping the bear in its face. He does a nice job of connecting with the audience in the arena, without losing the audience at home. He comes across as very confident and ready to take on such a tough, even scary opponent. It was well done.

Mysterio vs. Zayn – HIT: I have no problem with this type of heel Champion who always cheats to win and then gloats like he’s achieved some great feat. The problem is that it can get old, so I wouldn’t have Dirty Dom defending the North American Title so frequently. Having him dodge challenges can get that same cheap heat. We got a good match here before the distraction finish, so I am giving this a Hit as it was fun to watch, and continues to build a feud between Owens & Zayn and the Judgement Day (will we get a Tag Title match at SS? If so, I think that brings the total matches up to about 12).

Reed vs. Ciampa – MISS: This was a case of a good match with a crappy finish. WWE has done this far too often with Bronson Reed, Shinsuke Nakamura, Ricochet (although he’s moved on), and now Tommaso Ciampa. Lynch vs. Stark had interference from Stratus. Zayn vs. Mysterio had distractions from Owens, Damian Priest and Rhea Ripley. Here, we got another outside distraction for the third time in a row. It is getting repetitive at this point. I wish WWE would build to a singles match, but they insist on building to a triple threat match instead. This is the only way they can get there, with these disappointing finishes like we had last week and here.

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Ripley Destroys Morgan – HIT: I was perfectly fine with this non-match as Rhea Ripley dominated Liv Morgan by jumping her before their match could start. She continues to be the force in the women’s division on Raw. She looked vicious in her attack on Morgan’s arm. Morgan was good in selling the arm injury. This will give Raquel Rodriguez more of a reason to want revenge on Ripley, adding to her own knee injury and the fact that Ripley cost them the Women’s Tag Team Championship. They can certainly have a good Title match against each other which will have some heat behind it.

Ricochet – Paul – HIT: Ricochet continues to give better performances on the mic than we’ve seen from him for most of his time in WWE. Logan Paul is always good in his role. I loved how he was filming himself live on his phone as he came out to accept Ricochet’s challenge for a match at SS. Ricochet keeps getting the better of Paul physically. Presumably, Paul will leave Ricochet lying in the ring (or somewhere on the ground) next week.

Priest vs. Crews – HIT: This was a simple, short, strong win for Damian Priest. It was exactly what it needed to be to continue to make Señor Money in the Bank look like someone who could actually become a World Champion.

McIntyre – Imperium – HIT: I am definitely looking forward to seeing Drew McIntyre taking on Gunther for the Intercontinental Championship at SS. It was interesting how McIntyre talked about how he and Sheamus got in each other’s way at WrestleMania, but this will be one-on-one. Gunther was good at insulting the audience as an excuse to not fight that night (although how does he know that the audience at SS won’t be full of degenerates like the fans in Tampa?). After what happened last week, I thought that it might be Giovanni Vinci who would lose to Drew here, but it was Ludwig Kaiser instead. Their match was good. Corey Graves was hilarious in his Kaiser impression. Matt Riddle making the save made sense, but the focus was kept on McIntyre who stood tall over Gunther to end the segment.

Contract Signing – HIT: This was another in a string of good Raws and it had a good ending with this contract signing between Finn Balor and Seth Rollins. The way WWE is building Balor makes him seem like a possible new World Champion. The intrigue over Priest possibly cashing in on Balor adds to the interest in the match. The mic work from Balor and Rollins was strong here. The physicality with Judgement Day and then Zayn getting involved worked well. Overall, it was an effective way to build to that big Title match at the PLE.

Jon Mezzera is PWTorch.com’s WWE Raw Hits & Misses Specialist, providing his point of view for Raw each week. Email him at jmezz_torch@yahoo.com. Follow him on Twitter @JonMezzera.

CHECK OUT LAST WEEK’S HITS & MISSES: WWE RAW HITS & MISSES (7/17): Rousey-Baszler, Owens & Sami vs. Dominik & Priest, Samantha Irvin’s ring announcing, Miz TV, Nakamura’s shift

OR CHECK THIS OUT AT PROWRESTLING.NET: Rory McAllister vents over Drew McIntyre labeling himself the first Scottish wrestler in WWE, recalls a Vince McMahon hairless edict, working hurt in WWE

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