Winners, News And Notes On August 15, 2022

WWE Raw advertised a first-time-ever matchup of Bobby Lashley vs. AJ Styles for the United States Championship, Alexa Bliss and Asuka vs. Nikki A.S.H. and Doudrop in the first round of the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship Tournament and the return of Riddle.

Last week’s broadcast of WWE Raw garnered 1.957 million viewers.

WWE Raw Ratings

• August 8, 2022 | 1.957 million
• August 1, 2022 | 2.230 million
• July 25, 2022 | 1.901 million
• July 18, 2022 | 1.814 million
• July 11, 2022 | 1.735 million

• WWE Raw Venue: Capital One Arena (Washington, D.C.)
• WWE Raw Tickets Distributed: 9,103
• WWE Raw Tickets Available: 359

WWE Raw Results| August 15, 2022

The Judgment Day Destroys Rey Mysterio

Damian Priest called Edge’s movies “wack” in what has to be his most impressive bar since this feud began.

Finn Balor’s Coup de Grace on Rey Mysterio, underneath a steel chair, looked brutal, but it received massive heat.

Rhea Ripley emphasized that she was Dominik Mysterio’s papi, and she’s not wrong as Dominik didn’t even bother making the save for Rey Mysterio.

Alexa Bliss and Asuka def. Nikki A.S.H. and Doudrop

Nikki A.S.H. ditched her cape for a leather jacket to look more like Doudrop.

This match was another example of WWE’s ongoing investment in the women’s division, particularly when it comes to tag team wrestling.

Bayley continues to go all-in on cargo attire with a record-setting number of pockets this week.

There was an impressive-looking backstage brawl that immediately went to commercial.

Ciampa and The Miz def. Mustafa Ali and Cedric Alexander

The Miz revealed a pair of Pokemon-inspired trading cards featuring Miz and Ciampa.

The team of Cedric Alexander and Mustafa Ali seems like a cruel tease with two talented performers that even the new regime doesn’t seem high on.

The purpose of this tag team match was an immediate rehab of Ciampa. They did that and then some, these people went crazy for that finish and I’ll bet a lot of this crowd is not familiar with his NXT run.

Jimmy Smith noted it would be a “long time recovery” for Ezekiel. This was followed by a hilarious family photo and update from Ezekiel’s “father,” played by Ezekiel.

Drew McIntyre def. Kevin Owens by Disqualification

Fans were on board for Drew McIntyre talking about carrying the company for the past coupe years.

McIntyre teased matches against Ciampa, AJ Styles, Karrion Kross and Seth Rollins and Kevin Owens for the WWE Universal Championship. From the sounds of it, this Drew McIntyre world championship title run is going to be a competitive snowstorm.

In an impassioned promo, Kevin Owens quoted Owen Hart by saying “enough is enough, and it’s time for a change.”

Owens and McIntyre had a tremendous promo exchange after being two of the most creatively “unleashed” wrestlers in the Triple H Era.

Both Owens and McIntyre performed “suck it” taunts during this match, possibly as a nod to Triple H for revitalizing their careers.

Owens and McIntyre followed up their great promos with a very good match that was so physical, but McIntyre’s back soreness will only figure to get worse.

When the camera stayed zoomed in on Drew McIntyre for what felt like an eternity, it became clear that this great match was going to have a terrible finish. Right on cue, The Usos ambushed McIntyre.

Riddle and Seth Rollins Brawl

Seth Rollins leaned into the babyface reaction he received from the Capital One Arena

Riddle came out of this segment looking like an absolute star, celebrating with fans while in the crowd.

There was another video package hyping up the United States Championship and Bobby Lashley vs. AJ Styles. The United States Championship feels like the world championship on Raw, and for that matter, in WWE.

Veer def. Beaux Keller

Veer’s impressive squash of Beaux Keller lacked the crowd heat of previous segments.

While Veer delivered a clothesline, Jimmy Smith referred to his “Million-Dollar Arm,” which led to his own Disney movie.

Bobby Lashley def. AJ Styles

As predicted by Corey Graves, there was split support for Bobby Lashley and AJ Styles, almost right down the middle.

Prior to a commercial break, Dexter Lumis made another worked-shoot appearance and was immediately apprehended by security. It appears as if Lumis is looking to feud with AJ Styles.

AJ Styles and Bobby Lashley appeared to be on two entirely different pages during parts of this match. As this once-divided crowd went silent, Jimmy Smith had to cover for them by saying they were “loving every minute of it.”

Lashley and Styles recovered with a great finishing sequence as Lashley won clean.

Dakota Kai def. Dana Brooke

Corey Graves is jumping down Jimmy Smith’s throat for suggesting Dakota Kai isn’t a “veteran.” Graves even talked up her experience outside of WWE. When the Chairman was in his ear, I’ve seen Graves get on people for even mentioning they had a hobby outside of WWE.

Graves noted that Dakota Kai wants to get the Dana Brooke’s out of WWE, which also seemed like a mission statement from the new regime.

Theory def. Dolph Ziggler

Ironically, Theory got this tiring crowd to wake up by telling them to “shut up.”

Theory vs. Ziggler got around 20 minutes and served as the night’s surprise main event.

Dolph Ziggler might have messed around and let Theory to his best match to date.