After all the madness from Monday Night Raw, there are so many questions!

Will Reggie have to worry about contenders while doing his interview? Are Ali & Mansoor alright, physically and mentally? Will Drew McIntyre bring his sword to Raw Talk?!

Kayla Braxton and Matt Camp welcome us back to the show!

And we open with a highlight reel of the No Holds Barred match between Nikki A.S.H. and Charlotte Flair! Kayla says this was perhaps the most intense match of the night and Matt Camp agrees. Nikki learned from the loss last week, get put through tables and barriers but then paid Charlotte back with a table spot of her own, and the draping neckbreaker finish for the win! A lot of confidence going through Nikki’s veins now as she heads into SummerSlam’s Triple Threat for the Raw Women’s Championship, with Chicago completely behind her. Kayla says opponents continue to underestimating Nikki, but maybe not any longer. Go Nikki!

But an electrifying end to Raw and we’re just a couple weeks away from SummerSlam and there’s a lot to discuss from tonight. Like for one, the WWE World Championship as Bobby Lashley finally gave Goldberg the answer he wanted! It is official for SummerSlam but more on that later. Also, don’t mess with a guy who has a sword the size of Kayla. A 5 foot sword can take down three chairs as Veer, Shanky and Jinder Mahal learned. Drew McIntyre will be one of tonight’s guests, as will Reggie, who is still WWE 24/7 Champion. How does he keeps moving like that? Well he can dip, dive, flip, and knows the science of flipping, as he shared on The Bump recently. He’s defended the title in the ring three times and has hit it out of the park three times, we’ll hear from him, too.

Then there was “David VS Broliath,” Riddle VS Omos, and things didn’t really go The Bro’s way. Riddle swore he felt Randy Orton’s presence but it did not help against the towering Raw Tag Team Champion. Omos has been impressive but especially here  tonight. And then there was some payback in a rematch of Mace & T-Bar VS Mansoor & Mustafa Ali. Mansoor & Ali made it work last week but not this week. And in Chicago, Ali’s hometown, he gets taken out. Maybe they were a little too confident from last week? Well they haven’t been a team long and Ali still doesn’t see them as a team, but they were trying to do some stuff and the double team maneuvers failed. T-Bar clobbered Mansoor with that boot, and there is no 2-0.

Kayla says the disappointment was clear on Ali’s face, but moving forward, is he going to stick with Mansoor? Matt says Mansoor’s been wanting to learn from Ali, so maybe. But what was interesting to Matt was that Ali, knowing T-Bar & Mace were coming, he got Mansoor out of the way before the attack. That was the first time Ali showed an ounce of compassion to Mansoor. Maybe big picture, they actually took a step forward. Well they’re standing by, so they throw it to Kevin Patrick in Chicago.

Kevin says, “Yeah, Kayla, back here with the gentlemen, Mustafa Ali & Mansoor.” He asks them what happened. Oh what a gReAt question! Ali wants Mansoor to tell us what happened. Mansoor says every new team goes through the feeing out process- Yes, where one member doesn’t know how to follow instructions! He doesn’t follow directions! And when the opportunity comes, he drops the ball. Ali of course means Mansoor, and then he asks Kevin if he has any more “great” questions.

Well, actually, just as Matt Camp put it, that sacrifice play was perhaps the first bit of compassion towards Mansoor from Ali. Mansoor grins and now Ali has to explain what happened. Ali plays dumb and storms off but Mansoor says Ali is starting to warm up to him. And then Mansoor has an idea on how to fix this! Mansoor hurries after Ali, and Kevin sends it back to the studio.

Kayla thought that was heartwarming. Matt says this is going to be great, surely Mansoor’s going to get Ali one of those awesome shirts and it’ll work out great. Kayla says this is like her and Matt working together, where sometimes  he “bothers” her a little too early and she just wants to be alone but he’s all optimistic about her taking a liking to him. Matt thought they were cool now after the two years of working together. But they wish Mansoor & Ali luck and maybe Mansoor could bring out Ali’s happier side. There’s still more to come, stay tuned.

Raw Talk returns to talk Riddle VS Omos.

There was a little bit of a size difference, and Riddle put his best foot forward, but it just wasn’t enough. Matt says there’s nothing little about this match, but Riddle tried to get on Omos’ back, used his quickness to his advantage, but everyone was watching Omos dominate. How do you defeat Omos? He lifted Riddle, not a small man at all, and SLAM! Omos’ in-ring debut was at WrestleMania 37, and he won the Raw Tag Team Championships his first try, and that’s all impressive, but he just took down a former WWE US Champion and former NXT Tag Team Champion, all without AJ Styles in his corner. Omos even has theme music! If Matt’s Riddle, he’s wondering what he did wrong to get that beating. Kayla says Riddle at least has a scooter still. Good point.

Not to take anything away from Riddle, because he’s formidable. But Kayla is curious to see how this continues. Riddle needs Orton. We miss Randy!

But moving on to the 24/7 Champion, Reggie, not Reginald, successfully retained against Akira Tozawa with some flips and bounces like he has springs in his feet. Matt says we’ve seen Reggie defend and retain against R-Truth, Chad Gable, now Tozawa, but Tozawa was perhaps the best match-up given his own aerial moves. But Reggie really wowed everyone with those unique evasions. It’s hard to even know what to call those. The springs in the legs hit the 450 seated senton and that’s how he is still 24/7 Champion. Reggie’s on a roll, carving out his own path, and it’s cool to listen to the fans cheering him on. Everyone’s getting behind the new champion, but Reggie better be careful. Watch out for the refs!

But speaking of Reggie, Kevin’s standing by with… Well, Reggie was here a second ago. He’s elusive. There he is! C’mon in, bud. Kevin promises to keep his eyes out for R-Truth, Akira Tozawa and whoever else. But after defeating them, Reggie must be flying high with confidence. Flying high? He’s definitely on cloud nine. And tonight was his first time in front of a live Chicago crowd, and that crowd was pretty, pretty good. So he’s enjoying his time here, then? Though probably not the type to have deep dish pizza. Well after tonight, maybe Reggie deserves a slice.

Kevin likes that, then asks about sleep. Obviously Reggie was just hiding out, he keeps looking around, Truth is roaming around and you can’t trust Tozawa at all. So how is Reggie handling the anxiety and sleep? Reggie doesn’t sleep much. Sometimes he sleeps on the plane, but that’s it. The 24/7 Champion has to watch his back 24/7, at night, during the day, and sadly even in the bathroom. Wow. Less info about those attempts, the better. But the atmosphere was electric here and Reggie feels great to have beaten accomplished champions in front of these great crowds.

Kevin asks if Reggie could possibly teach him one of those amazing flips. Oh Kevin. Not a chance. But nice suit by the way. Well that’s harsh. Back to the studio.

Kayla feels bad that Reggie dissed K-Peezy, and notes that Reggie was willing to help Matt. Well Matt and Reggie were wearing the same orange blazer, cut from the same cloth, but Matt remembers Kevin willing to help Truth when they were they Raw Talk cohosts, like a 24/7 Championship guardian. But Reggie’s all alone right now, though he retains. The fans are behind him so Reggie just has to watch if there’s a ref. Be careful at baggage claim, at the restroom, at the pizzeria. Kayla suggests getting a dog so it can sniff out challengers approach. Matt likes that, especially if it’s a guard dog. Congrats to Reggie again, and after the break, it’ll be the Scottish Warrior, Drew McIntyre!

Raw Talk returns to talk Drew McIntyre and the 2v1 Handicap match.

Veer & Shanky took on McIntyre but did this go how they thought it would? Matt said it kinda did. McIntyre doesn’t back down from a fight, he wants to go after Jinder Mahal’s men, he’s beaten them both down separately the last couple of weeks, and Mahal is the true target. McIntyre was sending a message, “If I can take these two out tonight, then there will nothing standing in my way of getting at Jinder Mahal.” Kayla says this goes back to what they have been saying every week: McIntyre has nothing to lose, he’ll do whatever it takes, and if that means shutting up Mahal through taking out his sidekicks, that’s what McIntyre will do.

But for the first time in weeks, Mahal had something on McIntyre there with the chair attacks. But then McIntyre brought out Angela the claymore sword! First time for a sword defeating chairs, and Mahal was smart enough to get away while Shanky basically stepped forward. McIntyre has a sword and is angry, Mahal knew better. It took Shanky a little too long to realize the same thing, but McIntyre reeling back made it clear. Mahal, Veer and Shanky are fortunate they weren’t in worse shape. Kayla is still in shock that Shanky came that close to the sword. Maybe he thought he could be a hero. But when the ringleader got away, follow his lead.

So what is coming next? How will this continue? Matt says they need to see McIntyre VS Mahal, no one else involved. These two settle it. McIntyre has a score to settle because for as long as Bobby Lashley is still world champion, McIntyre can’t challenge for it. Mahal caused that problem at MITB by taking McIntyre out of the match. Now it has to be these two having it out, with swords or chairs or whatever, but those two superstars need to settle this. McIntyre won’t just wipe Mahal out, Mahal’s a great opponent and former world champion, too. But we need to see them get to it in the ring. Well Kevin has McIntyre with him right now.

Kevin says McIntyre sent quite the message. Mahal, Veer & Shanky were petrified, running away from the arena after McIntyre started waving the sword. What brought McIntyre to do such a thing after he used a chair 34 times on Shanky? Well, it was going to happen eventually. This sword isn’t just a prop, and someone was going to push McIntyre a little too far and the sword would be used. Those guys put him in a 3v1 situation where they also had chairs, so what was McIntyre to do? He got his sword, started swinging, and ran their asses out of there. Then is this going to continue? If Mahal keeps coming back, what’s next?

Oh, Mahal will come back, but he’ll also keep running away, as he should. The problem for Mahal is now, McIntyre will keep chasing him. Every week, every city, for a long time. McIntyre wants Mahal showing up to work terrified to think what’s in McIntyre’s head. Mahal knows McIntyre so well, from the best of times to the worst of times. Mahal once watched McIntyre throw a man off a bridge just cuz that guy added his drinks to their bar tab. Mahal knows what McIntyre is capable of, and he knows what’s going to happen to him, and it’s going to be very, very violent.

Then Kevin wants to know more about the sword. It was stated on Raw that it has a name now? Yes, it is Angela, in honor of his late mother. Not to tinge the tone of the conversation, but any chance McIntyre gets to pay tribute to his mother, he likes to take it. So for those who know him a bit better, perhaps having read his book, Chosen Destiny, still available. But you should then know how influential she was in McIntyre’s life, so strong but afflicted by a rare disorder in her early 20’s. She was told she’d never have children, but then got pregnant with McIntyre. She was told to abort the baby, it’d never survive, but clearly that didn’t happen.

Growing up with a mother with a “disability” but you’d never know it watching her zooming around the house, using the walls of the small apartment to get around and do what any mother would do. It made it normal for him and his brother. She’d make dinner, pick it up, balance against the wall, serve it to Drew, and do it again for his brother. Then if their friends were over, some would tell Drew to help his mom, but mom never complained. She always felt she shouldn’t because there were still those worse off than her, that’s how strong she was, and she’s why he is the man he is today, so he couldn’t help but name this sword after her.

Also, she had vengeful side. She’s truly by McIntyre’s side now, so Mahal better be ready because Drew and Angela are coming for him! Kevin loves that and thanks McIntyre for his time before sending it back to studio.

Kayla thanks Kevin for the work tonight, and thanks McIntyre for that great story. McIntyre has a lot to fight for, she and Matt are fans of his so they wish him luck.

Now it’s time to talk about the big news!

Raw Talk replays Goldberg getting in the face of Bobby Lashley, saying it doesn’t matter if he’s 35, 45 or 105, Goldberg will always be Goldberg! “Goldberg lives by the Spear, and you, champ, will DIE by the Spear! That’s why I am Goldberg! And because I’m Goldberg, at SummerSlam, champ, you’re next!” It is now official that Lashley will defend his WWE World Championship against Goldberg, but the tense confrontation didn’t end with Goldberg walking away. MVP pointed out Gage, son of Goldberg, got in his face about the match, and then Goldberg came back to SPEAR him down! This personal edge is adding something to this match already, it’s dream match booking.

Two of the biggest giants in WWE history, veterans of the business, and the fact they’d never faced off before is a bit of a surprise to Matt. Sure, if you have WWE 2K22, you’re putting these guys in a match without waiting for SummerSlam. But can Goldberg finally get THE WWE Championship in Vegas? That’ll be a talk task against the All Mighty. Both men have a little extra to fight for in a few weeks. As analysts, they’re not supposed to be biased, but Kayla asks if Matt has a prediction here. No, no, he needs a few more weeks on it. Matt’s talked to both men, likes them too much, so he needs time. But it is tough to topple the All Mighty, after all. Kayla says that’s a cop out.

But again, Kayla wants fans to let them know what they think, thanks us for watching, and hopes we tune in again next time.

My Thoughts:

A good episode here that went swiftly and smoothly. I do find it a bit redundant that someone had to bring up Ali’s sacrifice move to Ali and Mansoor instead of making it more a conversation between them. But I am intrigued to see what Mansoor’s idea is for cheering Ali up. Reggie had a good segment but I appreciate Matt bringing up R-Truth and K-Peezy cohosting this show, and I feel like that story really should be playing out on Raw Talk. Every week that Reggie is on, Truth needs to be lurking and expecting Kevin to help him.

McIntyre’s segments are always good, but I really like this one because of that genuine story about his mother and how the (kayfabe) family heirloom is so much more valuable now because of the emotional element. A story like that is why Vince should allow more of his wrestlers leeway in determining their characters, so that there can be emotional connections with them and not just him telling them what to be.