WWE Raw Results: Biggest Winners, Losers and Moments from July 31

As July came to an end, the Raw brand turned its attention toward SummerSlam, presenting matches, Superstars and new rivalries for fans to track on the road to the August 20 spectacular.

Raw tag team champions Sheamus and Cesaro stood tallest, laying waste to Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose and dampening spirits amid a potential Shield reunion.

Finn Balor began the steady release of The Demon, playing mind games with Bray Wyatt and sending the Reaper of Souls into the crowd, which he used as a sanctuary from his intense new contender.

Not quite as effective as those internationally recognized stars were Jason Jordan and Bayley, two Superstars who found success in NXT but have been let down, to this point, by the WWE's crack creative staff.

Coming out of the July 31 broadcast, they are the Superstars who left the greatest impression.

For better or worse.

Winners: Sheamus and Cesaro

In a world of constantly victorious good guys and conquering heroes, it is refreshing to see the unabashedly villainous tag team champions Sheamus and Cesaro stand tall over both Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose the way they did Monday night.

Sure, The Celtic Warrior dropped his singles bout to Rollins, but no one will remember that come next week. Instead, fans will remember the two-on-one beatdown the champions perpetrated on The Kingslayer and the assault on Dean Ambrose that followed.

After months of being shown up by The Hardy Boyz, their championship reign tarnished by the fact that they could never seemingly defeat Matt and Jeff decisively, it was a welcome change to see Sheamus and Cesaro get one over on two former WWE champions.

Allowing them to continue building heat heading into SummerSlam will be key.

Rollins and Ambrose are still not on the same page, so booking them to get over on the champions makes no sense. In the coming weeks, Sheamus and Cesaro should continue to establish dominance while Rollins and Ambrose forge the alliance that will ultimately result in a title match in Brooklyn.

That match will only work, will only generate the desired reaction, if fans legitimately believe Sheamus and Cesaro have a chance in hell of winning it. That credibility is built on the road to the show and Monday night, WWE Creative got it right.

Now, it must maintain the momentum built this week over the next two.

Loser: Jason Jordan

Yes, Jason Jordan was better on the microphone this week than last.

That is not necessarily a ringing endorsement, though, given how truly and spectacularly bad he was during his backstage interview with Charly Caruso.

Unfortunately for Jordan, his deficiencies were still on full display, as someone with some creative power thought it would be a good idea to put him in the ring opposite The Miz for a promo segment. As is the case with almost everyone, he looked like an amateur trying to verbally spar with the silver-tongued intercontinental champion.

The result? A promo in which Jordan appeared too scripted and was clearly unable to match intensity and tone with his prospective rival. He looked like a peewee football player trying to hang with the starting lineup of the New England Patriots.

It is not a good look and will not do him any favors going forward. Yes, it is important to grow him beyond just being an adequate in-ring performer. With that said, it is even more important not to expose his weaknesses on a weekly basis or risk having any potential connection with audiences erased.

Tossing Miz around at the end of the segment worked. Build around that rather than shoehorning Jordan into segments where his lack of confidence and comfort on the mic is overexposed.

Winner: FInn Balor

Finn Balor channeled his inner Undertaker Monday night, emerging from the darkness following a Bray Wyatt promo and proving he is not above the mind games The Reaper of Souls has become synonymous with.

In one night, Balor looked like a bigger star, a more significant part of the show than he had since his return just after WrestleMania. Standing behind Wyatt, his arms spread, Balor dared his rival to attack. He suckered Wyatt in and took the fight to a Superstar, who quickly embraced the safety of the audience rather than return the fight.

Balor got the star treatment.

He finally was at the heart of a red-hot segment rather than ushered to the ring for a glorified squash against Karl Anderson or Curt Hawkins. On the heels of last week's show, where Balor unleashed furious vengeance on Elias during a No Disqualification, Balor is finally building momentum for himself and exhibiting elements of his character beyond the "cool guy who flips his collar" persona fans have been exposed to since April.

Meaner, nastier and more calculating than he was before, Balor is graduating from the ranks of "a guy" to the on-screen performer fans first familiarized themselves with in NXT.

That means great things for him and his rivalry with Wyatt, which has the potential to bring out the best of both men in the weeks ahead of SummerSlam.

Loser: Bayley

No. 1 contenders winning matches via count-out after lucking out is hardly the way to build credibility or, in Bayley's case, rebuild her damaged brand.

A week after beating Sasha Banks to earn a shot at Alexa Bliss' Raw Women's Championship at SummerSlam, Bayley was beaten down and tossed around by Nia Jax. She was presented as no match for the physically superior competitor and won her match by fluke rather than sheer skill.

Rather than looking like a Superstar riding a wave of momentum into SummerSlam, she once again looks like the ill-prepared, luckiest girl on the planet. She needs a string of quality wins to convince the fans that A) she deserves the opportunity more than Banks, who was more impressive in last week's match, and B) she can beat a nasty, cunning Bliss on a major pay-per-view stage.

Until that happens, WWE Creative is poised to make the same mistake with Bayley now that it did earlier this year.