After besting Drew McIntyre in their Strap match at WWE Bash in Berlin, CM Punk appeared on Raw to further express he’s moving on from McIntyre and set his sights on the World Heavyweight Champion GUNTHER. McIntyre would ambush Punk. Commentator Wade Barrett pulled Drew off, but he moved Barrett out of the way to Claymore Kick Punk. McIntyre took the bracelet with A.J. Mendez (A.J. Lee) and Punk’s dog Larry’s name on it and snapped it. He put the beads in Punk’s mouth and Claymore kicked him. Punk was stretchered out but McIntyre went after him. @victoriaaze_ on X reacted as she is the individual that gifted Punk the bracelet in April. McIntyre quote tweeted her and said his blood is on her hands. She responded to Drew by tweeting the time in which he held the World Heavyweight Title before losing it at WrestleMania XL.
Sami Zayn made his way to the ring to ask GUNTHER for a World Heavyweight Title match. GUNTHER denied him and then Zayn brought up that he beat GUNTHER at WrestleMania XL.
The field is set for the Fatal 4-Way Intercontinental Title number one contender’s match on the season premiere of Raw on 9/9. The final qualifying matches to secure a spot saw Ilja Dragunov versus Dragon Lee versus Dominik Mysterio. Carlito attempted to cost Lee the match, so Damian Priest made his way out to stop him and ended up running Dominik away from the ringside area. Dragunov pinned Lee to advance. The second of the two qualifiers saw Sheamus versus Ludwig Kaiser versus Braun Strowman, who replaced Bronson Reed as he’s sidelined with COVID-19. Strowman was taped up from Reed hitting the Tsunami on him on the roof of a car. Pete Dunne went after Sheamus during the match, so he was removed from the equation and Strowman went on to win. It’ll be Strowman versus Dragunov versus Jey Uso versus Pete Dunne on 9/9 with the winner challenging Bron Breakker for the Intercontinental Title.
ESPN and ABC commentator Joe Tessitore made his commentary debut.
Zelina Vega had a singles match against Shayna Baszler and during her entrance, there was a sign in the crowd that read, ‘Michael Trinidad has the best seat in the house. 9-11-01. NEVER FORGET.’ Michael Trinidad is Zelina’s father, who lost his life in the 9/11 attacks. Baszler went on to defeat Vega. Pure Fusion Collective (Sonya Deville, Shayna Baszler & Zoey Stark) targeted Zelina post-match and Lyra Valkyria tried to stop it but the numbers were uneven. Backstage, both Vega and Valkyria expressed their frustration with Pure Fusion Collective. Lyra mentioned that the Raw season premiere is in Calgary, Alberta, Canada and she has an idea of how to match Deville, Baszler and Stark.
Chad Gable called out The Wyatt Sicks for an eight-person Street Fight on 9/9. Uncle Howdy accepted on the group’s behalf.
At Bash in Berlin, Jade Cargill and Bianca Belair bested Alba Fyre and Isla Dawn to become two-time WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions. On the 9/2 Raw, Fyre and Dawn defeated IYO SKY and Kairi Sane in a number one contender’s match to get a shot at Belair and Cargill on 9/9.
Kicking off the program, Dominik Mysterio told Rhea Ripley that Liv Morgan is game to defend the Women’s World Title against her. Rhea said any time and any place. She was then ambushed by Morgan. Damian Priest made the save as Ripley’s ankle got caught in-between the ring ropes. In the main event, Ripley ran off Morgan as Priest and Jey Uso defeated World Tag Team Champions Finn Bálor and J.D. McDonagh.
