WWE Raw Results: Biggest Winners and Losers After July 14

Victory on the July 14 WWE Raw meant pre-Battleground momentum for some and a significant step in one Superstar's career.

Rusev and Jack Swagger benefited from WWE Creative's attention, The Miz scored an upset, and Sting must have been grinning as he watched WWE broadcast from the Richmond Coliseum.

The night focused on the participants of the Fatal 4-Way for the WWE title, but it's the aforementioned men who got the biggest bumps from the show. Their upward movement is sure to make Fandango and Damien Sandow jealous.

The two Superstars with two of WWE's sillier gimmicks were asked to take a few steps down the ladder. They had to discover that there were lower rungs on it than they knew.

Meanwhile, The Miz had another reason to gloat when Monday's Raw was over. 

Winner: The Miz

The Miz is not only entering the Battleground Battle Royal for the Intercontinental Championship, but he's also doing so with handfuls of momentum.

Zack Ryder, Sin Cara and Heath Slater are now official entrants in that match. They were tossed in with no fanfare, though.

The Miz smugly announced he was entering the fray before demanding that his face be shown on the big screen as he battled Sheamus.

With as infrequently as Sheamus loses (as of July 12, he was 36-17-1 in 2014) and how easily Chris Jericho took care of The Miz last week, one would have assumed The Awesome One was bound for another beatdown.

Instead, The Miz survived Sheamus' smashmouth offense. He evaded the bruiser, sent him flying over the ropes and eventually rolled him for a surprise win.

Credit: WWE.com

That victory signals that The Miz's new Hollywood persona won't have him turn into the resident punching bag. He heads into Battleground as one of the more spotlighted stars in the Battle Royal. The escalating tension between him and Sheamus should be one of the bigger subplots of the match.

The Miz is set to face Sheamus once again on Tuesday's Main Event. In addition, according to F4WOnline (h/t WrestlingInc.com), The Miz and Sheamus are scheduled to feud for a number of weeks.

That amount of attention and opportunity is something Sandow can only dream about these days.

Loser: Damien Sandow

Sandow has slipped into a variety of costumes as he has become WWE's pushover these past few months.

Wrestling in a Magneto costume or even competing in a leotard must seem far better to him now that he's been used in an even more embarrassing way.

He donned a Sonic uniform on Monday's Raw in a segment with Adam Rose. The two argued over a chili dog. Rose eventually sent Sandow flying on his roller skates and ate the dog.

While one could argue that his new identity-shifting persona has at least been a way to consistently appear on TV, it's hard to find the positives here.

Sandow is not getting to show much of his personality, and his mic skills are being wasted. The shtick hasn't showcased his ring work much either, and it had him working backstage on Monday rather than in the ring.

What exactly is he supposed to do with a skit like that anyway? Even the funniest folks in the business wouldn't be able to entertain when weighed down by that script.

With Santino Marella gone, it appears it's Sandow's job to hock product and be the company's official buffoon.

Winners: Rusev and Jack Swagger

Rusev vs. Swagger is now official for Battleground.

Those foes and their managers met in what was supposed to be a detente. Instead of easing tensions between the U.S. and Russia, the heated debate served to amplify the animosity between Rusev and Swagger.

Trading insults morphed into a brawl, which Swagger won when he forced Rusev to skitter out of the ring after an ankle lock.

This is the first time Rusev has been pushed around like this. Swagger looks capable of knocking off the powerhouse, making the outcome of their bout less obvious.

While several Superstars are going to have to share the spotlight in the Battle Royal, Swagger and Rusev get a chance to shine in a potential show-stealer.

The fact that WWE has highlighted this upcoming match so much is a great sign for both men. AJ Lee and Paige's title bout is suffering from a lack of spark, while the electric response Rusev and Swagger received from the fans in Richmond, Virginia, has them charging toward Battleground with momentum aplenty.

Loser: Fandango

Fandango is sliding in the wrong direction.

Once high on his character, WWE has seemingly devalued what the ballroom dancer brings. On Monday's Raw, he didn't get a televised entrance before his match with Dolph Ziggler.

That's not generally a good sign of where the company thinks you belong, but it's an even bigger deal for Fandango.

His entrance, his theme music and his dancing are huge parts of his character. Layla and Summer Rae have both ditched him, though. They danced on the announce table to distract him.

That led to Dolph Ziggler hitting the Fameasser for the win before the two women danced flirtatiously with The Showoff. Layla and Summer's actions seems to confirm the apparent split between dance partners that fans saw on last week's SmackDown.

Fandango is now without a key part of his gimmick.

Perhaps WWE finds another lady to pair him with. For now, he's on the losing end of a pseudo-feud with Ziggler and in danger of losing major components of his character.

Winner: Sting

Sting debuted for WWE. Well, sort of.

A commercial ran during Monday's Raw for WWE 2K15. It announced that two versions of Sting would be available as playable characters as a pre-order bonus for the video game.

Sting fans hoping for more ended the night disappointed, but The Stinger profits in a major way.

The ad treated Sting like a huge star. He will no doubt get some royalty checks for having his face in the game, and this is likely just the first step for him in his WWE journey.

He's already featured on merchandise on WWE.com.

Even with all the hype for Battleground the go-home Raw offered, it will be Sting who inspires much of the discussion following that show. Fans will be buzzing about what's next for him and when we will see him in WWE for real. Twitter is already choked with talk of the former WCW and TNA star.

Not bad for a wrestler who didn't even have to get off his couch Monday night.