Raw rolled into Boston, Massachusetts on Aug. 14, 2017, with the intention of selling viewers on the upcoming SummerSlam pay-per-view on Aug. 20, 2017, and in the process, made one of their weirder shows of the year. They gave away matches meant for the Sunday show, and even gave away something better suited for a surprise.
Last week Seth Rollins finally got what he wanted as it appeared Dean Ambrose was back on board with being friends again. Then, The Architect turned his back on The Lunatic's outstretched fist. This week Ambrose understandably wanted answers and opened Monday's Raw in search of them. Rollins soon joined and after the two still couldn't get on the same page, the former Shield brothers wound up brawling. Sheamus and Cesaro saw it as an opportunity to attack but only ended up forcing Rollins and Ambrose to work together. The latter pair finally bumped fists after seeing off the champs, and GM Kurt Angle rewarded their renewed friendship with a tag title shot at SummerSlam.
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With Bayley injured it was down to Sasha Banks and Nia Jax to battle it out for the right to face Alexa Bliss for the Women's Championship at SummerSlam. On Raw, the two battled it out while Bliss watched on from a literal throne. Jax approached the match with the aggression we've come to expect from her, but once again, it wasn't quite enough to get her a title shot. The Boss overcame everything Nia had to throw at her and forced her opponent to tap out to the Bank Statement. It'll be Bliss versus Banks this Sunday at SummerSlam.
Elias Samson is making a habit of insulting the towns he visits in the form of song. Well, this week he was interrupted in doing so by another of WWE's questionable musicians, R-Truth. Why exactly Truth interrupted The Drifter is still uncertain as Elias didn't give the veteran a chance to explain himself. No sooner had he joined Samson was the former NXT man laying into Truth before picking up his guitar and taking his leave.
Big Cass closed hour one of Monday's Raw with a promo whose length rivaled that of an Enzo Amore speech. Speaking of whom, the man who will be suspended in a shark cage on Sunday eventually emerged to reply to Cass's claims that he'll defeat Big Show at SummerSlam. As usual, Enzo quickly summoned Show to back him up, the World's Largest Athlete didn't Gallows and Anderson coming. The Good Brothers helped Cass beat down Show, including smashing his precious right hand in the shark cage that Amore will find himself in at SummerSlam. Don't expect any Knock Out Punches from Show on Sunday.
Akira Tozawa versus Neville for the Cruiserweight Championship was supposed to happen at SummerSlam, instead, we were treated to the title match six days early. The King of the Cruiserweights has held the championship since January and would have had no desire to drop it to Tozawa on Raw or at SummerSlam this weekend. Well, I'm afraid you're out of luck Neville. In a great match between the two involving some terrific back and forth, we saw a new champion crowned. Tozawa avoided a Red Arrow and a Rings of Saturn to eventually hit Neville with a Senton, picking up the win and the title.
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Tozawa versus Neville wasn't the only SummerSlam match we saw on Raw though. Earlier in the night Bray Wyatt and Finn Balor had to be separated back stage. Since the Superstars clearly couldn't wait until Sunday, Kurt Angle had them do battle on Raw. From start to finish, the match was likely not what fans were expecting. There was no screwy finish and The Eater of Worlds simply beat Balor following a Sister Abigail, and he wasn't done there. Wyatt then proceeded to pour what looked like red paint over a defeated Balor. If he was trying to summon The Demon then mission accomplished. Balor hinted at exactly that later in the night after he was granted his request for a rematch at SummerSlam this Sunday then WWE confirmed that The Demon King would be at SummerSlam before the night was over.
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Emma has been complaining that no one will give her a chance to anyone that will listen. Well, last week she had a chance and squandered it, tapping to the Bank Statement in a triple threat. That didn't stop her whining to Mickie James, who kindly offered up another chance in the form of a match against the five time Women's Champion. Another chance wasted by Emma though as James earned herself a win. The hashtag #GiveEmmaAChance will likely live on, however.
Kurt Angle had an extremely busy night, also having to deal with an irate Miz looking for an apology following his run-in with Brock Lesnar last week. He didn't get one, but he did get a match with Jason Jordan after he forcibly took Curtis Axel's place. The match did not last long, though. As soon as Miz looked to be on the wrong end of things, his Miztourage stepped in. Jordan had a little back-up of his own though as The Hardy Boyz came to his aid, giving credence to the remark Miz made about Matt and Jeff being Angle's friends earlier in the evening. All men involved then wound up in an impromptu six man tag match, a bout won by Jordan and The Hardyz as Jeff hit a Swanton Bomb on Bo Dallas.
Raw had no main event match per se, but rather something much bigger. A face to face to face to face between the four men in SummerSlam's main event. Brock Lesnar was the first to the ring, him and Paul Heyman making their way past the wall of security guards. While Heyman was there to talk, it would appear that the three men who followed weren't so much, least of all Roman Reigns. The Big Dog was the last to the ring and said what he needed to say via a spear. All hell broke loose after that and following the melee, it was Stowman and Lesnar left standing. Security couldn't pull them apart, and the image we were left with as the curtain came down on Raw was the entire locker room doing all they could to hold the two behemoths back.
Overall, it was a pretty interesting show, but it felt like perhaps WWE gave away a little too much on free TV. Regardless, it made for an episode of Raw worth talking about, and that can't be a bad thing heading into one of the biggest pay-per-views of the year.