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This week's Monday Night Raw began with Cody Rhodes and ended with a Men's Tag Team Championship match. In the middle, the Women's Tag Team Titles changed hands, there was a Viking Rules Match. An action-packed Raw from start to finish, this was one of the better shows WWE has offered on a Monday night in quite some time.Here are your winners and losers for Monday Night Raw, July 17, 2023:

Winner: Cody Attacked By Lesnar

As Raw began, the Atlanta crowd warmly embraced an emotional hometown hero in Cody Rhodes and he pointed out his mother in the front row to set the tone for the promo he was about to cut. He talked about being Dusty's son and then shifted his focus to The Beast who was a no-show when his music hit. Leaving the ringside area to confront Lesnar at the entryway, Lesnar blasted Cody with a chair backstage and then fought with him out to the ring. Lesnar pummeled Cody in front of his mother and then accepted Cody's challenge for SummerSlam. He tried to break Cody's arm again and during the commercial break, he hit The American Nightmare with a chair again, which WWE showed in a replay.

Lesnar intensified their feud and began the show with some real action and drama. Forcing Cody's mother to watch as he punished his future opponent, bringing the family into things upped the ante. This was a good way to kick off the show and was one of the first matches officially confirmed for SummerSlam.

Winner: Riddle vs. Gunther

In a Money in the Bank rematch, Matt Riddle faced Gunther without the interference of Ludwig Kaiser or Giovani Vinci, who were banned from ringside. Riddle didn't have Drew McIntyre to help either, as McIntyre revealed last week he wouldn't be in attendance. This was an intensely physical match with the champion laying in thunderous chops and Riddle connecting with heavy-hitting kicks. Riddle fought hard, and this was a great bout, but this wasn't a match where anyone should have envisioned Riddle coming out on top.

The crowd was into it, as they were booing The Ring General as he took the mic, stood on the announce table, and ran down the crowd after picking up a win with his powerbomb. Gunther is the most old-school antagonist WWE has and it works incredibly well to get fans to despise him. At the same time, everyone respects him for what he does every time he steps between the ropes.

After Rhea Ripley attacked Raquel Rodriguez backstage, WWE took a few minutes to have Judgment Day cut an in-ring promo. Again, Dominik Mysterio received the loudest chorus of boos, but the fans have fun booing every member of the group. Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn interrupted, engaging in verbal sparring that led to Damian Priest challenging them to put the tag titles on the line. A furious Owens accepted the challenge.

Winner: Deville and Green Win the Women's Tag Team Titles

Chelsea Green and Sonya Deville won the Women's Tag Team Championships. Taking advantage of the fact Raquel Rodriguez was injured during her backstage fight with Ripley, the injury was too much to overcome. Liv Morgan did her best to hold her own, but Green and Deville hit her with multiple finishers to secure the win and take home the titles.

Some will argue that WWE hasn't done the division any favors with the constant title changes, but these teams are doing their best to make all of these matches entertaining. That has really helped, as has the fact WWE has invested in these teams looking like teams.

Winner: Viking Rules Match

In a wildly-entertaining match that had a little bit of everything, The Viking Raiders picked up a victory over Alpha Academy in tag team action. The rules of that match were simply no disqualification and no count outs, the only difference being that Viking weapons and sets were everywhere. The match went back and forth with the wrestlers competing in the ring and on the boat, but things really got fun when Maxxine Dupri and Valhalla got involved.

The strength and athleticism that made the bout awesome in the first half made way for entertainment as Dupri helped clear the ring and then celebrated with Gable who gave her back the lost letter jacket. She put it on, raised her arms with a "Thank you!" and got sent through a table by Valhalla in a very cool spot that will really warm Dupri up to the fans. Otis caught wind of the attack and lost it, ready to destroy everyone. But, when he hit the middle rope for a splash, Valhalla struck him too and the Raiders hit a Ragnarok finisher for the win.

This was so much fun and it was produced perfectly.

Winner: WWE Course Corrects With Rousey and Baszler

After last week when it wasn't clear who the babyface was and any hint that the company wanted it to be Rousey was met with boos, WWE got it right this week. Making Rousey the obvious villain, she pulled out every heel trope from insulting Baszler from the safety of the press box, to saying she's the greatest combat athlete in history, to running down wrestlers who took the long road and paid their dues to get to WWE.

When Baszler chirped back by saying she's a better version of Rousey in WWE than Rousey herself, the fans were clearly behind The Queen of Spades. When Baszler tried to jump through the crowd and get at Rousey only to be stopped by security, the WWE Universe liked her even more. This was much better than last week, even though the match was a throw away because Baszler beat Nikki Cross in a matter of seconds.

Winner: Trish Sets Conditions For Her Match With Becky Lynch

Another promo, this time it was Becky Lynch who was a guest on Miz TV. Knowing the drill, Lynch was ready for The Miz to set her up and she told him to call out Trish Stratus and Zoey Stark. He did and the two bragged about having beaten Lynch so many times, they were done with her. There was no need to prove anything else. Lynch got on the mic and riled up Trish so much that Stratus accepted the challenge but with a few conditions. Lynch had to beat Zoey Stark first. If she didn't, she had to get on her knees and say "Thank you Trish." Finally, she had to have the phrase tattooed on her chest. Lynch accepted and they all brawled.

These were interesting stipulations that seem to guarantee a Lynch win, but WWE might have something up their sleeve that no one will expect.

Winner/Loser: Ciampa Costs Nakamura

In another solid match on Raw, Shinsuke Nakamura took on Bronson Reed in a one-on-one encounter. It got interrupted by a vengeful Tommaso Ciampa, Nakamura lost to Bronson Reed via disqualification. Nakamura wasn't happy, even though Ciampa tried to apologize for letting himself get carried away. He kicked Ciampa down and kicked the rope in frustration before WWE cut to a break. It's not clear if WWE was trying to set up a Nakamura heel turn or if the King on Strong Style was just upset.

Winner: Main Event Title Defense

The tag match to end the show might have been the best match of the night with Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens successfully defending their titles versus Damian Priest and Dominik Mysterio. Seth Rollins chased off Finn Balor to start the match and Liv Morgan came down near to end to take out Rhea Ripley. That left the two teams to go two-on-two and Zayn hit a Helluva Kick on Dom, with Owens hitting a Stunner on Priest. The ref counted Dirty Dom down for the count.

This was a great way to close an already solid Raw. It was a ton of fun, the crowd stayed hot for the contest and there was action all over the place with close calls and real drama. There were literally no real misses this week.