The build to “The Biggest Party of the Summer” continues tonight.
WWE Monday Night Raw goes down this evening at 8/7c on the USA Network from the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas.
On tap for tonight’s WWE SummerSlam 2023 “go-home” edition of the weekly three-hour WWE on USA Network television program is Brock Lesnar and Cody Rhodes’ final interaction before their trilogy bout this coming Saturday night.
Additionally, the final Raw before SummerSlam will feature an appearance by Logan Paul, as he prepares for his match with Ricochet at SummerSlam, Maxxine Dupri will go one-on-one with Valhalla, and Seth Rollins & Sami Zayn team up to take on Damian Priest & Dominik Mysterio.
Featured below are complete WWE Monday Night Raw results from Monday, July 31, 2023 at the Toyota Center in Houston, TX. The following report was written by PWMania.com reporter Matt Boone (@MattBoone0709) as the show aired live on the USA Network from 8-11pm EST.
WWE MONDAY NIGHT RAW RESULTS (7/31/2023)
An “In Memory of Adrian Street” graphic flashes on the screen to acknowledge the passing of the U.K. wrestling legend. We then see the usual “WWE Then. Now. Forever. Together.” opening signature narrated by WWE legend John Cena to get us ready for this week’s show.
From there, we shoot into the Toyota Center in Houston, TX. for the final stop for the Raw brand on the Road to WWE SummerSlam 2023 this Saturday night in Detroit, MI. Kevin Patrick and Corey Graves welcomes us to the show as the camera pans the crowd.
Logan Paul, Ricochet Kick Off This Week’s Show
Patrick and Graves then immediately start running down the advertised lineup for tonight’s show. After they finish that up, we hear some music playing and out comes Logan Paul to a ton of boos from the Houston crowd.
We see highlights of his recent interaction with Ricochet on WWE television and then we return live inside the ring where Logan Paul has a microphone in his hand. He welcomes us to Monday Night Raw. The fans loudly boo.
He says he has this thing where he doesn’t like talking in front of brain dead people for too long. With that in mind, he says he’ll make this quick. He’s not here for us, he’s here for Ricochet.
The fans cut off Logan as he continues talking. This continues and gets worse each time he tries speaking again, ala every time Dominik Mysterio or Don Callis try and speak on TV. He forges ahead but then gets the loud “What?” treatment at the end of each sentence. He has some fun with that.
Paul goes on to talk about how he and Ricochet are going to have the most viral match in WWE history at SummerSlam. Ricochet’s theme hits and out he comes to chants of his name from the Houston crowd. He mocks Logan about being on his livestream last week. He says this week he’s clearly in Logan’s head.
Ricochet says Logan always tries to spin things to make himself look like the good guy in every situation. He says he’s not in front of the people he pays to follow him on social media, however, and that the WWE fans see through it.
He agrees with Logan about one thing, which is that their match at SummerSlam is going to be a memorable one. He says one thing he can give Logan props on is being a hell of a competitor and an athlete. He says he can respect that. Logan says he really appreciates that. He means it.
Logan tries to continue but is cut off by loud “You suck! You suck!” chants. He tells Ricochet he was one of the greatest to ever do it — until he showed up. He says they aren’t that different, in fact, sometimes they think alike.
He mentions how he made them both go viral at the Royal Rumble for their “epic double jump spot.” He then has the producers cue it up to be shown on the big screen. He gives himself all the credit for it once again and then tells Ricochet they’ll have a great match this weekend. He extends his hand for a fist bump.
Before Ricochet leaves, Logan tells him he’s got one more thing to say. He mentions how Ricochet is engaged to the WWE ring announcer Samantha Irvin. He waives to her and then tells Ricochet not to be mad when his girl is jealous of him after this Saturday. Ricochet loses his cool and decks Logan.
He continues to beat him down, with one spot being botched pretty good, before finally Ricochet goes for a slingshot splash off the ropes, only to get caught in mid-air with the knockout punch from Logan. He is laid out and Logan pulls out his phone to take a selfie with himself in front of Ricochet’s unconscious body.
GUNTHER With A Message For Ludwig Kaiser
We see footage of Drew McIntyre putting GUNTHER through the commentary table last week and then shoot backstage where Jackie Redmond is joined by Imperium members GUNTHER, Ludwig Kaiser and Giovani Vinci.
Redmond asks GUNTHER about his title defense against “The Scottish Warrior” at WWE SummerSlam 2023 this weekend. He says he doesn’t think past the present. He then turns and tells Kaiser he blames him for what happened last week.
GUNTHER goes on to give a stern talking to Kaiser ahead of his scheduled match tonight against Matt Riddle. He then closes by saying he will teach Drew McIntyre a lesson this Saturday.
Matt Riddle vs. Ludwig Kaiser
Now we return inside the Toyota Center where Samantha Irvin introduces one-half of our first match of the evening, Matt Riddle. “The Original BRO” makes his way to the ring and gets the fireworks treatment. As he settles inside the squared circle, we head to a pre-match commercial break.
When we return from the break, we see Riddle in the ring. We hear Patrick and Graves talking about the new “American Nightmare: Becoming Cody Rhodes” that premiered today on Peacock.
From there, the theme for Imperium plays and out comes the trio led by WWE Intercontinental Champion, GUNTHER, who settles at ringside with Giovanni Vinci as Ludwig Kaiser steps through the ring ropes for our scheduled opening match here on the SummerSlam go-home edition of Raw.
The bell sounds and we’re officially off-and-running with this one. We see Riddle jump off to a good start, as the fans cheer him on. Riddle hits back-to-back gut-wrench suplexes to Kaiser. Riddle blasts Kaiser with a big shot, which Graves speculates may have knocked him a bit silly.
Kaiser ends up fighting back and taking the offensive lead after ramming Riddle into the steel ring post shoulder-first. Kaiser leaps half-way across the ring and knocks Riddle out to the floor. On the floor, Kaiser blasts Riddle with a stiff European uppercut.
Back in the ring, Kaiser charges at Riddle, who snatches him up with his legs and drags him over the top-rope. Riddle follows up with a big drop kick that knocks Kaiser off the apron and back down to the floor. We see GUNTHER and Vinci trying to shout some words of instruction and/or encouragement to Kaiser as we head to a mid-match commercial break.
When we return from the break, we see Riddle still in control, but not for long, as Kaiser starts to shift the offensive momentum in his favor. He remains in the offensive lead for the next few minutes. Riddle gets one hope spot but Kaiser catches him on the ropes. GUNTHER tells him something and then he turns and takes out Riddle with a DDT for the pin fall victory.
Winner: Ludwig Kaiser
Maxxine Dupri vs. Valhalla
We see shots of Maxxine Dupri and Valhalla backstage before we head to another commercial break. The two women will do battle in one-on-one action when we return.
When we return from the break, Patrick and Graves hype Cody Rhodes vs. Brock Lesnar in their highly-anticipated trilogy match at Saturday’s WWE SummerSlam 2023 pay-per-view.
From there, they introduce a lengthy video package telling the whole story to date between “The American Nightmare” and “The Beast Incarnate.” Once it wraps up, we return inside the arena for our next match of the evening.
The theme music for Maxxine Dupri hits and out she comes accompanied by Alpha Academy duo Chad Gable and Otis. She heads to the ring for her scheduled singles match Raw debut. As she settles in the ring, we head to a pre-match commercial break.
When we return from the break, we see Valhalla make her way out. She heads to the ring accompanied by Erik and Ivar — The Viking Raiders. The bell sounds and we’re officially off-and-running with this one-on-one contest.
Early on we see Dupri showing off her basic wrestling skills taught to her by Coach Chad Gable, as she executes some picture-perfect arm-drags and other moves. She controls Valhalla on the mat with good grappling-based offense.
Valhalla starts to shift the offensive momentum in her favor and then we see her enjoy some time in the offensive driver’s seat. Ultimately, however, Dupri gets the roll-up after a couple of minutes for the victory in her singles match debut on Raw.
Winner: Maxxine Dupri
Rhea Ripley Beats Down Raquel Rodriguez
The familiar sounds of The Judgment Day’s theme music plays. Out comes the entire group, consisting of Finn Balor, “Senor” Money In The Bank Damian Priest, NXT North American Champion Dominik Mysterio and WWE Women’s World Champion Rhea Ripley.
As the group makes their way down to the ring, we head to a commercial break. When we return from the break, we see a quick backstage segment with Shinsuke Nakamura and Tommaso Ciampa addressing their recent issues and then we shoot back inside the Toyota Center.
The Judgment Day are shown standing in the ring. Their music wraps up and Damian Priest begins on the microphone by introducing the group in Spanish. He then says, “All rise for The Judgment Day” and hands the mic over to “Mami.” The fans pop as Rhea Ripley begins speaking. They break out in a loud “Mami! Mami!” chant.
Ripley gloats about how The Judgment Day runs Raw. She, Priest and Balor talk about how no one can stop them, running down some of the names of people that they have taken out during their journey to the top. Dominik goes to finally speak and the fans immediately start booing him like crazy, as always.
As “Mami” starts talking again, we hear the familiar sounds of Raquel Rodriguez’s theme. Out comes Rodriguez to the ring. Balor, Priest and Dominik head to the floor as Rodriguez and Ripley duke it out in the ring. Rodriguez beats Ripley down as the commentators remind us about her recent knee injury.
On the floor, Rodriguez continues beating down Ripley, sending her into the steel ring post and then the barricade. She turns to yell at Dominik Mysterio and the rest of The Judgment Day, which allows Ripley to blast her from behind with a chop-block to her injured knee. Ripley stomps on the knee as it is propped against the barricade. Several officials run to check on her to end the segment.
In-Depth Look At Friends Turned Rivals Ronda Rousey & Shayna Baszler
After the segment wraps up, we hear Patrick and Graves talking about the scheduled “MMA fight” between Ronda Rousey and Shayna Baszler at this Saturday’s WWE SummerSlam 2023 premium live event.
From there, we shoot into a lengthy, elaborate video package looking at the entire history of Rousey and Baszler’s friendship before they arrived in WWE, while competing in their respective MMA careers in the UFC.
The video package features comments from Rousey and Baszler talking about some of the key moments throughout their friendship, including them both finally ending up in WWE and eventually capturing the WWE Women’s Tag-Team Champions and unifying them with the NXT Women’s Tag-Team Championships.
Baszler starts to talk about Rousey’s selfish side and when she decided she had enough of it. The video stops there. Patrick and Graves hype the “MMA fight” between the two for SummerSlam 2023 and hype part two of this extensive video package for later tonight.
Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Tommaso Ciampa
Now we return inside the Toyota Center in Houston, TX. where we hear the familiar sounds of the entrance theme of “The King of Strong Style.” On that note, Japanese legend Shinsuke Nakamura makes his way out.
Nakamura settles inside the squared circle for our next match of the evening. On that note, we head to a quick pre-match commercial break. When we return, we shoot backstage.
We see Chad Gable and Otis celebrating with Maxxine Dupri after her successful in-ring debut earlier tonight. Up walks Imperium. GUNTHER mocks them, noting Ludwig Kaiser put on a performance that brought the respect back to their great sport, only for Alpha Academy to turn it back into a joke moments later.
As the two teams continue to bicker back-and-forth, things culminate with a 5 Minute Challenge being issued, with WWE Intercontinental Champion GUNTHER vowing that Chad Gable wouldn’t be able to survive five minutes in the ring with him.
Back inside the arena, Tommaso Ciampa is already in the ring along with Nakamura. The bell sounds and we’re officially off-and-running with this singles match between these two emerging rivals.
Early on we see some good back-and-forth action. Nakamura starts to take the lead, but not for long, as Ciampa blasts “The King of Strong Style” with a pair of strong knees on the floor at ringside. After that, we shift gears and head into a mid-match commercial break as the action continues.
When we return from the break, we see Bronson Reed watching on as Ciampa takes it to Nakamura. The Japanese legend starts fighting back, however, and ends up rolling up Ciampa and holding his tights for the pin fall victory out of nowhere.
Winner: Shinsuke Nakamura
Adam Pearce Gives His Word To Raquel Rodriguez
Once the Nakamura-Ciampa bout wraps up, we head to another commercial break. When we return, we shoot backstage and we see Raquel Rodriguez having her knee checked on in the doctors room.
In walks Adam Pearce, who assures her she’ll get the match against Rhea Ripley that she wants — but only when she is medically cleared to do so. He tells her she’s got his word on that.
Brock Lesnar, Cody Rhodes Under The Same Roof Before SummerSlam
Now we return inside the Toyota Center where we hear the familiar sounds of Brock Lesnar’s theme song. “The Beast Incarnate” makes his way to the ring as Patrick and Graves talk about the scheduled trilogy bout between Lesnar and Cody Rhodes, who go into the match split 1-1 after two matches.
Lesnar settles inside the squared circle and his entrance tune dies down. Lesnar gets on the mic and mentions how he’s a former NCAA Champion, UFC Champion and WWE Champion. He says he’s experienced when it comes to fight week. He says it’s fight week now and all the hype is done. He vows to kick Cody’s ass this weekend.
Brock decides he’s been in this town longer than he’s wanted to already. He tells Cody he can come out here and shake his hand before he kicks his ass on Saturday. He says if he doesn’t, he’s gonna kick his ass on Saturday. He tells him he’s got five seconds to get down to the ring.
He begins counting down from the five and the time he reaches two, the first note of Cody Rhodes’ theme song hits. Out comes “The American Nightmare” in a sleeveless t-shirt, which the commentators point out is indicative of him being ready to fight.
The crowd sings along with his theme and does the loud “WOAH-OH!” as fireworks explode. He settles in the ring and his music cuts off. Cody and Brock stare each other down. Brock walks off but Cody hits the ropes and connects with a suicide dive on the big man at ringside.
This leads to a big brawl between Cody and Brock. Brock smashes Cody back-first into the steel ring post. He picks up the top-half of the steel ring steps and begins bashing them into Cody. Brock’s theme hits again, he puts his cowboy hat back on, but then stops. His music cuts off and he beats up Cody some more before leaving up the ramp again.
Once more we see Brock stop and turn around. His music fades down again and now he throws Cody in the ring and heads in after him. He hoists him up and connects with a big F-5 in the middle of the ring. Lesnar picks up his cowboy hat and puts it on again as his theme plays for the fourth time in just a few minutes. This time he finally heads to the back for real as Cody is laid out in the ring. On that note, we head to another commercial break.
5 Minute Challenge
GUNTHER vs. Chad Gable
Now we head back inside the Toyota Center where the theme for Imperium hits. WWE Intercontinental Champion GUNTHER makes his way to the ring and settles inside for our next match of the evening.
On that note, we head to a pre-match commercial break. When we return, the Alpha Academy entrance music plays and out comes Chad Gable for the scheduled 5 Minute Challenge against “The Ring General.”
The bell sounds and we’re officially off-and-running with this one. We see GUNTHER dominate the majority of the action, however Gable manages to hang on until the five minute clock counts all the way down and the buzzer sounds.
This means Gable wins the 5 Minute Challenge. The ring announcer announces that this match will continue. We head to another mid-match commercial break as it does. When we return, we see GUNTHER dominate Gable and ultimately finish him off for a hard-fought victory over a very game and competitive Gable.
Winner: GUNTHER
GUNTHER Sends A Message To Drew McIntyre
After the match, the WWE Intercontinental Champion does his usual post-match routine and gets up on the commentary desk. He grabs a microphone and sends a message to Drew McIntyre. He tells “The Scottish Warrior” he just saw a preview of what he’s in store for at WWE SummerSlam 2023 this coming Saturday night.
A Fired Up Seth Rollins Backstage With Sami Zayn
We shoot backstage and we see a very, very fired up WWE World Heavyweight Champion, Seth “Freakin'” Rollins, standing beside one-half of the Undisputed WWE World Tag-Team Championships, Sami Zayn. He rambles about how no one can stop him or them tonight when they do battle with The Judgment Day. Sami tries calming him down.
Becky Lynch Brawls With Trish Stratus & Zoey Stark
Back inside the Toyota Center, we hear the familiar sounds of Becky Lynch’s theme music. “The Man” makes her way down to the ring as we head to a quick commercial break. When we return, we see footage of the Brock and Cody brawl from earlier tonight.
From there, we see footage of Becky Lynch’s recent victory over Zoey Stark to earn her rematch against Trish Stratus. Back live, Lynch gets on the mic and says “The Man has come back around to Houston!” She then mentions how she beat Zoey Stark and earned her rematch with Trish.
Lynch says there’s nothing left to do but to have the fight. She says there’s no better time than right now. She tells Trish to get out here and fight. The theme for Trish Stratus hits and out she comes with her face-protector on and Stark by her side. She stops and gets on the mic at the top of the entrance area.
Stratus talks about how no one tells her when or where to fight. She says she’d love to come beat her again but points to her face and says she’s got this issue going on and medically can’t. Adam Pearce appears and disputes the claim, saying Trish is cleared to compete and she will do so right here and right now.
The crowd goes wild as Trish and Lynch start brawling. Stark immediately gets involved and we see a two-on-one beat down break out. Lynch fights back, and even gets the face protector off of Trish’s face, however she and Stark ultimately leave her laying and head to the back talking trash as the fans boo. After this, we head to another commercial break.
Adam Pearce Makes Match For Raw In Two Weeks
When we return, we see Adam Pearce confront Trish Stratus and Zoey Stark backstage upset about them ruining the match he made with Becky Lynch moments ago. He informs Trish that in two weeks in her home country of Canada, she will be going one-on-one against Trish Stratus. This time, Zoey Stark will be banned from ringside.
After the segment wraps up, we see Kevin Patrick and Corey Graves on-camera at the commentary desk at ringside. The two introduce part two of the elaborate video package looking at the rivalry between good friends turned bitter enemies, Ronda Rousey and Shayna Baszler.
In the second installment of the very personal and very emotional package hyping up the “MMA fight” between Rousey and Baszler for Saturday’s WWE SummerSlam 2023 premium live event. Both Rousey and Baszler tear up while talking about how they felt betrayed by the other.
Sami Zayn & Seth Rollins vs. Damian Priest & Dominik Mysterio
It’s main event time!
We head back inside the Toyota Center after part two of the Rousey-Baszler video package wraps up. The theme for Sami Zayn hits and the crowd bonkers as one-half of the Undisputed WWE World Tag-Team Champions makes his way to the ring for our final match of the evening.
When we return from the break, the familiar sounds of Seth “Freakin'” Rollins theme music hits and out comes “The Visionary” and “The Revolutionary” as fans sing along with the “woah-oh’s” in his theme.
The Judgment Day end up coming out and brawling with Zayn and Rollins. The baby face duo end up beating them down and heading back to the ring as we head to another commercial break before this match gets officially underway.
As we settle back in from the commercial, we immediately hear the bell sound and our main event tag-team match here on the SummerSlam “go-home” episode of Raw is now officially off-and-running.
We see Zayn and Rollins jump into the early offensive lead. Rollins takes it to Priest until he is caught with a big shot from “Senor” Money In The Bank on the way down from a high spot attempted off the top-rope.
After that, Priest tags in “Dirty” Dom. The fans immediately boo their brains out as the reigning NXT North American Champion hits the ring and picks up where Priest left off, taking it to the WWE World Heavyweight Champion as “Mami” cheers him on at ringside. He doesn’t stay in long before tagging right back out.
Priest comes back in and drills Rollins before tagging Dom-Dom right back in. The second Dom’s feet touched the mat on the other side of the ring ropes on the apron, the boos spread throughout the Toyota Center. Priest ends up tagging right back in after one move from Dominik.
Rollins starts to fight back but literally the second he does, Finn Balor yanks Rollins down from ringside in a blatant cheap attack. On that note, we head to another mid-match commercial break as our Raw tag-team main event continues.
The final commercial break of the evening is now in the rear-view mirror, as we return live on the final Raw before Saturday’s SummerSlam premium live event. We see some more back-and-forth action and then we head into an eventful finish, which sees Priest wanting to cash-in his Money In The Bank briefcase on a hurt Rollins.
Finn Balor grabs the briefcase and when Priest asks for it so he can cash in, Balor hesitates. When he does finally give it to him, it’s too late, as Priest turns around to a big shot from Rollins. Zayn hits the Helluva Kick on Balor on the apron and Rollins follows up with a Stomp on Priest for the win. The show goes off the air as an animated Corey Graves questions on commentary what Damian Priest is thinking after what just transpired with Finn Balor and his near-miss of a MITB briefcase cash-in. Thanks for joining us!
Winners: Sami Zayn & Seth Rollins
