WWE Monday Night Raw results and observations (7/3/17): Final hype for Great Balls of Fire

The final episode of television before a pay-per-view is typically used to inject the last bit of hype before the upcoming big event.

And while WWE used to perform this task to near perfection, it has become a bit of a lost art for the company over the last couple of years.

For whatever reason, whether it's the lack of emphasis on traditional pay-per-view or something else, WWE has made a habit of turning what is called the "go-home" edition of television into just another edition of television.

That troubling trend was broken this past Monday night when WWE presented the final installment of Raw before the Great Balls of Fire pay-per-view this coming Sunday night, and I am pleasantly surprised to say that WWE did a good job of getting me excited to see the show.

There was nothing all that memorable about what happened inside the ring Monday night, but the angles and stories WWE told were quite entertaining.

I still hate the actual name of the pay-per-view, but Great Balls of Fire is shaping up to be an exciting event. Let us just hope WWE doesn't fall woefully short of my expectations come Sunday night.

Until then, it is time for me to dig into my thoughts from Raw, but before I do, here are the full match results from the Talking Stick Resort Arena in Phoenix:

- Sasha Banks & Bayley def. Nia Jax & Alexa Bliss

- Cedric Alexander def. Noam Dar

- WWE Intercontinental championship – The Miz def. Heath Slater

- Set Rollins def. Curt Hawkins

- Neville def. Mustafa Ali

- Finn Balor def. Cesaro

- Braun Strowman def. Apollo Crews

Samoa Joe is done talking

Joe and Lesnar didn't engage in any physical contact this week, but still managed to be responsible for the segment that felt the most real on the show.

Joe and Lesnar were both in the building Monday night, but were kept on opposite sides of the arena, as Michael Cole interviewed them at the same time.

Joe was not in the mood for answering any of Cole's questions and proceeded to yell at Lesnar about all of the damage he was going to do to him at Great Balls of Fire.

Lesnar responded by calmly telling Joe the same. There wasn't anything fancy or poetic about what they were saying. It was simple and believable, which made it effective.

Eventually, Joe grew tired of talking and left his position in the arena to go find Lesnar. Raw general manager Kurt Angle, along with agents and security guards, tried to deter Joe from hunting Lesnar down, but their pleas fell on deaf ears, as Joe eventually found where Lesnar was stationed and attempted to charge into the room.

The fleet of security guards acted quickly and intercepted Joe before he could get his hands on Lesnar, who simply stood there and taunted Joe, as security dragged him away.

Everything that Joe and Lesnar have done together since Extreme Rules has been expertly booked by WWE and it has made for the most excited I have been for a WWE main event in quite some time.

Roman Reigns finally gets the better of Strowman

Before I get into when Reigns entered the picture I have to talk about the match between Strowman and Crews, which was pretty standard for Strowman bouts until Crews attempted a standing moonsault.

Strowman countered the maneuver by literally kicking Crews out of mid air, which caused him to fly across the ring while he in the middle of his backflip. Unfortunately for Crews, he failed to rotate all the before hitting the mat, causing him to fall on the back of his head in what looked like a brutal landing.

I mean it looked absolutely devastating and Crews was extremely lucky that he seemingly didn't suffer a serious injury.

After pinning Crews, Strowman easily dispatched of his manager, Titus O'Neil. Strowman tried to put Crews in the ambulance, but Reigns emerged from the driver's side and went after Strowman.

Reigns was eventually able to spear Strowman off the stage and through some staging equipment. Despite taking the big fall, Strowman was up on his feet merely moments later, as Raw went off the air.

The Reigns-Strowman stuff was standard mostly because it was expected. What I'll remember most about all of this is Crews helplessly flying through the air as if a car had hit him.

Enzo Amore spits hot fire about Big Cass, attacked him backstage

A week after spilling his guts out to his former tag team partner, Amore opened Raw a changed man, complete with a tear drop tattooed under his right eye, which typically signifies that the wearer had murdered someone.

In this case, the only thing that died was the friendship between Amore and Big Cass.

Amore was not in the ring looking to patch things up with Big Cass. Instead, he was out for revenge and he will have a chance to get it at Great Balls of Fire.

After Amore cut another pretty good promo, Big Cass was asked backstage for his reaction. Before Big Cass could get too much out of his mouth, Amore attacked from him behind.

I guess turnabout was fair play.

I'm not sure how the match is going to go. I'm honestly not looking forward to it all that much because I don't think people genuinely want to see Amore and Big Cass fight.

However, the angle leading up to this match has been well done.

Tag team ironman match incoming

Much like the Big Cass-Amore match, I wasn't all that enamored with yet another title match between The Hardy Boyz and Sheamus/Cesaro.

That's not to say that I haven't enjoyed their work in the past. It's just that they have not done much lately to get me excited to see another encounter between the two sides.

WWE certainly piqued my interest Monday night when it announced that they would face each other in a 30-minute ironman match at Great Balls of Fire.

At first, I thought that a tag team ironman match had never been done before, but after further investigation it actually has — twice.

Coincidently, both matches involved Johnny Mundo, who was known as John Morrison in WWE.

The first tag team ironman match in WWE history took place back on the June 2, 2005 edition of Smackdown when MNM (Mundo and Joey Mercury) defeated Charlie Haas and Hardcore Holly.

The second was on the Jan. 8, 2008 installment of ECW when Mundo and The Miz went to a draw with Jimmy Wang Yang and Shannon Moore. Both of those matches were only 15 minutes.

The second was actually dubbed a "15 Minutes of Fame" match, but I guess it was contested under ironman rules.

Either way, this concept is not brand new to WWE, but the one coming up at Great Balls of Fire should easily top what WWE presented years and years ago.

Vaughn Johnson has a podcast with Nick Piccone called the Straight Shooters on WildfireRadio.com. Check it out here HERE.