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With just a few weeks left until the Money in the Bank event, WWE put in a lot of heavy lifting on Monday night during Raw. At the headline moment, it was announced that Rhea Ripley was not medically cleared for her scheduled title challenge against Raw Women’s Champion Bianca Belair, leaving a large seat to be filled.
Carmella would be the woman to get the newly available opportunity and win a fatal five to open the show and cement her spot in the July 2nd title match in Las Vegas.
Another title match was added to Money in the Bank, with Bobby Lashley defeating Chad Gable, Otis and Theory in one night to earn Theory’s US Title shot at the upcoming event.
CBS Sports was with you all night with recaps and highlights of the action at Pinnacle Bank Arena in Lincoln, Nebraska.
Bianca Belair gets a new Money in the Bank title challenger
Bianca Belair opened the show by announcing that Rhea Ripley was not medically cleared for her match at Money in the Bank for Belair’s Raw Women’s Championship. Belair then announced that Alexa Bliss, Liv Morgan, Carmella, Asuka and Becky Lynch would be fighting for the Money in the Bank title later that night. This led to the expected parade of interruptions from the women involved in the game.
Carmella def. Alexa Bliss, Liv Morgan, Asuka & Becky Lynch via Pinfall after hitting Morgan with a super kick. The win puts Carmella into the Raw women’s title match at Money in the Bank. Notably, Carmella was the first winner of a women’s Money in the Bank match, making the event somewhat of her “trademark show.”
Carmella made some sense as the choice to face Belair here. Her presence is not required in the Money in the Bank ladder match, and given her history, she is just legitimate enough to be a good challenger for the eventual replacement. A Carmella title challenge is unlikely to excite anyone or evoke the same sense of potential title change that Ripley provided, but sometimes all it takes is a patch to bridge a hole left by injury. This is Carmela. grade B-
What else happened at WWE Raw?
- Vince McMahon performed to talk about the history of Raw before hyping that John Cena would be appearing on next week’s show. Just like on SmackDown, McMahon seemed to make a point of showing up and making sure his face was on TV during the investigation into allegations of misconduct related to hush money paid to a staffer with whom he was having an affair.
- Omos def. Pinfall puzzles in a Money in the Bank qualifier. Riddle was still suffering from sore ribs from his SmackDown match with Roman Reigns. After the match, Seth Rollins made his way to the ring and curb stomp Riddle, who had called him out in a pre-match promo.
- Bobby Lashley interrupted an Austin Theory posedown. As Theory posed in the center of the ring and fired off a few shots at John Cena, Lashley dove into the ring behind Theory before hitting the US Champion with a javelin.
- Angelo Dawkins defeated. Jey Uso on Pinfall with a sitting powerbomb.
- Elias hit Kevin Owens with a guitar after Owens interrupted his concert. Elias and Ezekiel were shown having a “talk” backstage earlier in the show and Ezekiel also appeared in the Tron when Owens interrupted her. After Owens stumbled backstage and said he would challenge Elias or Ezekiel to a match on Raw next week, Ezekiel showed up at that point and accepted the challenge.
- Bobby Lashley defeated. Chad Gable, Otis and Theory in a gauntlet match. At the start of the show, Theory said he would give Lashley a shot at the US title at Money in the Bank if he could beat three opponents in a row, which Lashley did, most recently pinning Theory with a counterattack against A-Town Down .
- AJ Styles def. Ciampa via pinfall after a phenomenal forearm. The match came about after Styles blindly attacked Miz during Miz TV and Ciampa.
- Asuka defeated. Becky Lynch via pinfall in a Money in the Bank qualifier. Lynch, angered by her loss in the fatal five earlier in the night, demanded an opportunity to qualify for the Money in the Bank ladder game. She was told that she would have her chance against Asuka later that night, but was taken out by a large kick, causing her to throw a huge tantrum after the game before the show went off the air.
