{"id":62335,"date":"2018-07-02T13:39:01","date_gmt":"2018-07-02T18:39:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/?p=62335"},"modified":"2018-07-02T13:39:01","modified_gmt":"2018-07-02T18:39:01","slug":"wwe-raw-primer-7-2-bayley-sasha-in-counseling-intercontinental-championship-fallout-bliss-b-team-strowman-owens-situation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2018\/07\/02\/wwe-raw-primer-7-2-bayley-sasha-in-counseling-intercontinental-championship-fallout-bliss-b-team-strowman-owens-situation\/","title":{"rendered":"WWE RAW PRIMER 7\/2: Bayley &#038; Sasha in counseling, Intercontinental Championship fallout, Bliss, B Team, Strowman-Owens situation"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"pwtor-3529998923\" class=\"pwtor-before-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><hr \/><b>SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)... <\/b>\r\n\r\n<iframe src=\"https:\/\/widget.spreaker.com\/player?show_id=3076978&theme=light&playlist=false&playlist-continuous=false&autoplay=false&live-autoplay=false&chapters-image=true&episode_image_position=right&hide-logo=false&hide-likes=false&hide-comments=false&hide-sharing=false&hide-download=true\" width=\"100%\" height=\"140px\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe>\r\n<hr \/><\/div><h3><b>WWE MONDAY NIGHT RAW PRIMER<br \/>\nJULY 2, 2018<br \/>\nSIOUX FALLS, S.D. AT\u00a0DENNY SANFORD PREMIER CENTER<br \/>\nAIRS ON USA NETWORK, 8:00PM EDT<br \/>\nBY FRANK PETEANI, PWTORCH CONTRIBUTOR<\/b><\/h3>\n<h3><b>Foreward: Matt Cappotelli<\/b><\/h3>\n<p>I want to take a moment to acknowledge another loss we experienced in the WWE\/Wrestling family this past week.\u00a0 Matt Cappotelli, a former Tough Enough contestant and winner, lost a long battle with brain cancer at too young of an age at 38.<\/p>\n<p>I wasn\u2019t a Tough Enough viewer, but I knew of the story.\u00a0 Having lost a father and a friend to cancer and nearly losing another, my thoughts and prayers are with his family and close ones.\u00a0 May Matt rest in peace and may the people close to him have the comfort they need in this difficult time.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3><b>Arena \/ Opening Thoughts<\/b><\/h3>\n<p>WWE will arrive in Sioux Falls, S.D. this evening, as the Denny Sanford Premier Center will host Monday Night Raw for the first time in the its history.\u00a0 The arena, which was open for business starting in 2014, has previously hosted Smackdown and 205Live in 2017.\u00a0 We continue to get ready for Extreme Rules which is now just under two weeks away.<\/p>\n<p>Last week things certainly took a turn in a lot of ways.\u00a0 Bayley snapped and attacked her former best friend Sasha Banks.\u00a0 Braun Strowman continued his destruction of vehicles as he tipped over Kevin Owens\u2019s car, which I hope had \u201cco-worker tip-over insurance.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>We learned that Brock Lesnar will not defend the WWE Universal Championship as scheduled.\u00a0 Bear in mind, it wasn\u2019t confirmed on what date Lesnar would defend the title, but something was supposedly in place.\u00a0 There was a \u201csnag in the contract\u201d as G.M. Kurt Angle pointed out in the opening segment.\u00a0 There was a Facebook post by Paul Heyman that might tell us more of what\u2019s really happening.\u00a0 Angle also told us the multi-man match will not take place at Extreme Rules to determine the #1 contender for the championship.\u00a0 Refer to Wade Keller\u2019s or Zack Heydorn\u2019s \u00a0Raw reports for details on the opening segment, but let me say a few things.<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019ve seen countless champions stripped of titles for various reasons.\u00a0 In the last two years, both Finn Balor and Naomi had to relinquish their titles almost immediately upon learning about their injuries.\u00a0 If there\u2019s a supposed \u201csnag,\u201d why can\u2019t Lesnar be stripped of the championship?\u00a0 By my watch it\u2019s been more than 30 days since the Greatest Royal Rumble thus, aren\u2019t they violating the \u201c30-day rule?\u201d\u00a0 Even if they don\u2019t want to do that for whatever reason, why can\u2019t a #1 contender be determined?\u00a0 I would think whatever issue that may be pending would get resolved allowing WWE and Lesnar to come to an agreement and have him defend the Universal Championship in the near future.\u00a0 Please understand, my issue is not with Lesnar.\u00a0 My issue is with WWE, as they are responsible for their product.\u00a0 They have put the Universal Championship picture in this situation and have the power to change things.\u00a0 The \u201cissue with Lesnar\u201d could also be storyline, but I can\u2019t imagine the explanation and potential payoff.\u00a0 We shall stand by and learn.<\/p>\n<h3><b>Mandatory Counseling for Bailey and Sasha Banks<\/b><\/h3>\n<p>Last week, G.M. Kurt Angle forced Bayley to team with Sasha Banks and Ember Moon to face the Riott Squad.\u00a0 Bayley scoffed at the idea, considering her issues over the past six months or so with Sasha. Following a loss, Bayley went on the attack against her partner Sasha Banks.\u00a0 The attack went on for a while and was received in quite a positive way from the WWE fans as they chanted \u201cYes! Yes! Yes!\u201d and \u201cWe Want Tables!\u201d\u00a0 It was something like we\u2019ve never seen from Bayley, especially when she stood over Sasha saying, \u201cYou Think You\u2019re Better Than Me?!\u201d\u00a0 Later in the evening, Angle would tell Bayley she would be taking mandatory counseling.\u00a0 Sasha was told the same by Angle in a WWE.com exclusive.<\/p>\n<p><i>Thoughts:\u00a0 The plan had to be for Bayley to turn heel, especially the way she aggressively attacked Sasha and stood over her as I described earlier.\u00a0 I don\u2019t think they expected the crowd to cheer, but that tells me they\u2019re misreading the situation.\u00a0 This situation between Bayley and Sasha has dragged on, and on, and on to the point of apathy at least for me.\u00a0 I would have cheered Bayley because we FINALLY got a direction, and it showed a different side of her.\u00a0 That\u2019s the most passion I\u2019ve seen out of Bayley since her arrival on the main roster back in 2016.\u00a0 The counseling bit for me is counterproductive and goes against Angle\u2019s narrative of \u201cwe settle things in the ring.\u201d\u00a0 What\u2019s different here?\u00a0 Why does he care if Bayley and Sasha get along?\u00a0 Let\u2019s think about something else here.\u00a0 What if Sasha went on the attack?\u00a0 She may have gotten the same positive reaction.\u00a0 All I know is if they call upon Dr. Shelby again following his success with Team Hell No in 2012, the WWE Hall of Fame may be calling somewhere in the near future.<\/i><\/p><div id=\"pwtor-2539993785\" class=\"pwtor-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280 __336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\n<h3><b>Rollins-Ziggler Fallout<\/b><\/h3>\n<p>Seth Rollins and Dolph Ziggler (Champion) battled for nearly 30 minutes in an Intercontinental Championship match, which saw Rollins win via disqualification following interference by Drew McIntyre.\u00a0 Rollins looked to have the match won after hitting Ziggler with the falcon arrow when McIntyre pulled the ref out and attacked Rollins.\u00a0 That caused the DQ which gave Rollins the victory but not the title, as championships can\u2019t change hands via DQ or count-out.\u00a0 Ziggler and McIntyre would continue the double-team until Roman Reigns came out to save his former Shield \u201cbrother\u201d Rollins.<\/p>\n<p><i>Thoughts:\u00a0 There\u2019s nothing specifically advertised on WWE.com at the moment, but a tag match can\u2019t be a far-fetched possibility.\u00a0 It\u2019s interesting to see Roman Reigns wedged into this situation while being involved in what appears to be a budding rivalry between himself and Bobby Lashley.\u00a0 I don\u2019t see him getting into the Intercontinental Championships picture, but he did hold the title earlier in the year and that came somewhat out of nowhere.\u00a0 My money is still on the title revolving around Rollins and Ziggler with McIntyre as the wild card.\u00a0 WWE could have also wanted an opportunity to get a positive reaction for Reigns saving his \u201cbuddy,\u201d the incredibly popular Rollins.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n<h3><b>Next Up for Bliss<\/b><\/h3>\n<p>Last week WWE Raw Women\u2019s Champion Alexa Bliss, with Mickie James in her corner, had an impromptu non-title match with Natalya who had a returning Nia Jax in her corner.\u00a0 To sum up, Mickie praised Alexa for being out in the arena after what Ronda Rousey did to her to previous week.\u00a0 They also laughed about Ronda\u2019s suspension and Mickie called Alexa \u201cthe one and only goddess of WWE.\u201d\u00a0 Natalya would come out and talk about how Ronda\u2019s suspension had only 23 days left.\u00a0 Alexa questioned why Natalya was out here considering wasn\u2019t she just on vacation, and why she posts EVERYTHING about her life on social media.\u00a0 (Excuse me, but yay Alexa for saying it!\u00a0 No, I am not reviewing Natalya\u2019s Twitter feed for this report.\u00a0 I don\u2019t have all day today.)\u00a0 At any rate, Nia would eventually come out as I said earlier to be in Natalya\u2019s corner and the match went on.\u00a0 Alexa would tap to the sharpshooter, giving Natalya a victory over the current champion.\u00a0 WWE doesn\u2019t show anything specific for tonight at the moment but given their ways I wouldn\u2019t be surprised if we get a tag match tonight with Natalya\/Nia vs. Alexa\/Mickie.<\/p>\n<p><i>Thoughts:<\/i>\u00a0<i> We\u2019ve seen plenty of times even going back to the 80s where the heel champion would lose clean in non-title matches, perhaps giving hope they would drop the title in an actual championship match.\u00a0 I don\u2019t think that\u2019s what happened here but having grown up in that time I couldn\u2019t help but have such thoughts.\u00a0 As far as the social media stuff I agree with Alexa, but if you look at her feed she doesn\u2019t hesitate to post stuff she may be doing at the moment.\u00a0 The big issue for me coming out of last week was Nia coming out smiling and happy like a white meat babyface to assist Natalya.\u00a0 Wasn\u2019t it just a few weeks ago she was acting heelish attacking a jobber in front of Ronda Rousey? \u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n<h3><b>B Team\u00a0<\/b><\/h3>\n<p>Last week Curtis Axel of The B-Team scored a quick victory over \u201cWoken\u201d Matt Hardy, one half of the WWE Raw Tag Team Champions.\u00a0 Two days later, WWE announced on their Twitter account that the B-Team would have a tag team championship opportunity at Extreme Rules against Hardy and his partner, Bray Wyatt.\u00a0 We can expect some follow-up tonight as WWE is pointing the situation out in their preview.<\/p>\n<p><i>Thoughts:\u00a0 Wade Keller pointed out something in his Raw review that I was thinking about at the time.\u00a0 Hardy and Wyatt have been a babyface team since they came together; however, The B-Team is very popular at the moment.\u00a0 For whom are we supposed to cheer?\u00a0 In addition, on my end, I\u2019m all for \u201cquick victories\u201d when they make sense.\u00a0 I would have preferred to see a real match with Axel and Hardy as I feel Axel is an underused asset.\u00a0 I\u2019m not saying he\u2019s world championship material, but I\u2019m not sure WWE has maximized what he has to offer.\u00a0 This is problematic across the roster.<\/i><\/p>\n<h3><b>Owens and Strowman: With Friends Like These, Who Needs Enemies?<\/b><\/h3>\n<p>In sort of a \u201cflip the script\u201d way, WWE gave us a tag match last week which saw \u201cMr. Monster in the Bank\u201d Braun Strowman team with Kevin Owens to face Finn Balor (Strowman\u2019s \u201cbuddy\u201d) and \u201cConstable\u201d Corbin.\u00a0 Strowman interrupted a backstage segment involving Kurt Angle, Corbin, and Balor where he claimed he had been a little rough on Owens lately and wanted to be his friend and tag partner this week.\u00a0 Angle asked whom Strowman had in mind for opponents, to which he said \u201chow about these two\u201d referring to Balor and Corbin.\u00a0 The match took place later in the evening.<\/p>\n<p>Strowman and Owens would come out victorious when Corbin ended up being counted out.\u00a0 He and Balor could not get along and fought all the way up to the entrance while Corbin was the legal man.\u00a0 Following the match, Owens offered his hand in friendship to Strowman which ended up being rejected.\u00a0 The two worked well together in match and Owens showed no tendency to work against Strowman, so his rejection came off a bit odd.\u00a0 He chased Owens to the back and after commercial break, we learned what Strowman had done.\u00a0 Owens tried to leave and when he asked the valet for his car keys, he said \u201che has them,\u201d meaning Strowman.\u00a0 Strowman said \u201cI hope you have insurance,\u201d after which we saw Owens\u2019s car tipped over.\u00a0 Tonight, we can expect these two to cross paths in some way unless Owens hasn\u2019t warmed up to Uber or Lyft yet.<\/p><div id=\"pwtor-691429109\" class=\"pwtor-content-1 pwtor-entity-placement\"><!-- Tag ID: pwtorchcom_test_300x600 -->\r\n<div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280 __300x600\" id=\"pwtorchcom_test_300x600\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x600\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x600\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p><i>Thoughts:\u00a0 Strowman tips over a vehicle, but Bayley and Sash have to go to counseling?\u00a0 I\u2019m sorry but there\u2019s a misconnect there for me.\u00a0 With that said I can\u2019t foresee a match between Strowman and Owens tonight as they have already fought on Raw.\u00a0 With the multi-man match at Extreme Rules cancelled, I would guess we plant the seeds for Strowman-Owens at that event with some sort of stipulation. \u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n<p><b>Other Items<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>After showing his participation in the Special Olympics, Mojo Rawley berated Todd of No Way Jose\u2019s conga line prior to what was supposed to be their scheduled rematch from two weeks ago.\u00a0 Why is he berating a man with who shares the name of a respected PWTorch VIP analyst, Todd Martin?\u00a0 That\u2019s just not cool.\u00a0 Joking aside it\u2019s a lack of consistency in Mojo\u2019s character showing him doing something great to looking like a total jerk.\u00a0 WWE needs to protect their on-screen characters better up and down the card.<\/li>\n<li>The Authors of Pain returned and won a squash match.\u00a0 They continued to beat the jobbers when Titus Worldwide came out for the save.\u00a0 Let\u2019s look for something between these teams to develop.<\/li>\n<li>While Jinder Mahal and Sunil Singh were having a photo shoot, The Riott Squad interrupted and destroyed the camera in bully-type fashion as they have been doing as of late.\u00a0 Remember that anti-bully campaign WWE ran a few years ago?<\/li>\n<li>The Revival scored a victory over Roman Reigns and Bobby Lashley in the opening match.\u00a0 Logically that would tell you they could be thrust into the tag team title picture, but with the B-Team involved with champs Hardy &amp; Wyatt at the moment I can\u2019t be certain.\u00a0 It\u2019s not crazy to think The Revival could get some heat by somehow spoiling the \u201crun\u201d of the popular B-Team and wedging themselves into the mix.<\/li>\n<li>We did not see Elias last week.\u00a0 If he is there this week, I look to see if he cherry picks his way back into the Intercontinental Championship picture following his loss at Money in the Bank.<\/li>\n<li>Roman Reigns called Bobby Lashley \u201cBob\u201d again.\u00a0 If they have a match at Extreme Rules, look for dueling chants of \u201cLet\u2019s Go Roman!\u00a0 Let\u2019s Go Bob!\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><b>Dark Matches \/ Wrestlers Advertised<\/b><\/h3>\n<p>As had been the pattern, The Denny Sanford Premier Center\u2019s website has not been updated.\u00a0 Like the Valley View Casino Center last week, they are advertising a \u201cmassive\u201d eight-man tag match featuring Roman Reigns, Intercontinental Champion Seth Rollins (no longer champion), Braun Strowman, and Bobby Lashley vs. Jinder Mahal, Kevin Owens, Baron Corbin, and Elias.\u00a0 They also show G.M. Kurt Angle, Raw Women\u2019s Champion Nia Jax (she\u2019s no longer champion), and Sasha Banks. They oddly don\u2019t have the disclaimer of \u201cCARD IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Start time shown is 6:30 p.m. local time with doors opening at 5:00 p.m.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><i>Follow me on Twitter @FrankPeteani or email me at fpeteani@gmail.com<\/i><\/p>\n<div class=\"pwtor-end-article-groups pwtor-entity-placement\" id=\"pwtor-2010930803\"><div id=\"pwtor-2245710718\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\nTHANK YOU FOR VISITING<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>WWE MONDAY NIGHT RAW PRIMER JULY 2, 2018 SIOUX FALLS, S.D. AT\u00a0DENNY SANFORD PREMIER CENTER AIRS ON USA NETWORK, 8:00PM EDT BY FRANK PETEANI, PWTORCH CONTRIBUTOR Foreward: Matt Cappotelli I want to take a moment <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2018\/07\/02\/wwe-raw-primer-7-2-bayley-sasha-in-counseling-intercontinental-championship-fallout-bliss-b-team-strowman-owens-situation\/\" title=\"WWE RAW PRIMER 7\/2: Bayley &#038; Sasha in counseling, Intercontinental Championship fallout, Bliss, B Team, Strowman-Owens situation\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":25050,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[52,4354,27,5893],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-62335","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opnionandanalysis","category-raw-primer","category-specialists","category-tvprimers"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/post\/2016\/07\/bayley_3x2TG-1.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62335","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62335"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62335\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":62336,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62335\/revisions\/62336"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25050"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62335"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62335"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62335"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}